All the Alphas had exceptional vision, clearly seeing every single one of the Beta’s shots hit the vulnerable points with pinpoint accuracy.
It was safe to call it a 100% hit rate.
“Detecting your current mental fatigue level is above 70%. Lord Bo Tang, are how are you holding up?” asked Swallow.
Bo Tang dodged a dual crossfire from a frigate and a destroyer, replying, “I’m fine.”
Simon sent a private chat. “Bo Tang, my points reached 800. Thanks for the strategy you thought of.”
He felt no awkwardness whatsoever about an Alpha taking orders from a Beta, sincerely thanking Bo Tang for his tactical commands. It reminded Bo Tang of a golden retriever, honest to a fault, yet slightly stiff.
A hint of genuine warmth appeared in Bo Tang’s smile. Your welcome. A Beta with insufficient strength always has to think from different angles to avoid falling behind.”
Simon nodded in deep agreement.
The core of the education Alphas received was about competition and conquest. Even a mild-tempered Alpha like Simon, upon seeing the mission parameters, instinctively wanted to fight solo.
Given enough time, they certainly would have thought of cooperating to solve the problem, but it was an undeniable fact that the Beta had realized the key to solving it a step ahead of them.
Bo Tang glanced at his task progress, it had already climbed to 770 points.
As long as he maintained the current rhythm, 1000 points should be reached very soon,
“Watch out!”
Bo Tang used the skull of an enemy aircraft to kick off, spinning around with a backhanded parry.
Sharp sparks flashed across the pure black mecha shell, slicing a thin slit into the left arm cannon barrel.
He looked up.
A white exterior enemy mecha slowly rose from behind the frigate, its right hand cannon muzzle not yet closed.
Judging by its appearance, it seemed to be part of the mecha tide, but Bo Tang felt a deep sense of vigilance rising in his heart.
Although no pilot could be seen inside the cockpit, Bo Tang had a gut feeling that this particular enemy mecha was subtly different from the others.
His gaze fell on the light sword in its left hand.
At that moment, the tip of that light sword was pointing down at him from a height, radiating condescension.
…Yes, exactly that feeling.
This kind of towering arrogance, looking down upon everything just like a real person.
This enemy mecha, regardless of whose combat style it was simulating, was absolute bad news.
The Alphas of Medical Class A seized the gaps in the point war to keep an eye on the Beta’s movements.
Noticing that he was being targeted by an ordinary white enemy mecha, everyone watched with a schadenfreude mindset, waiting to enjoy the show.
Wicket held a light sword, carving a long, deep slash into the starboard side of the supply ship. After flying away from the blast radius, he narrowed his eyes toward Bo Tang’s position.
There seemed to be a strange atmosphere between the black and white mechas. The black mecha, which had been showing off extraordinary combat power just moments ago, didn’t charge forward immediately, instead, it tilted its head slightly, as if pondering something.
What shady trick is that Beta thinking of now? Wicket couldn’t help but guess.
The other Alphas were guessing too.
The next second, the black mecha turned around and ran without the slightest hesitation.
Everyone: “???”
The white enemy mecha clearly hadn’t anticipated this either. It paused imperceptibly for a fraction of a second before giving chase tightly.
If Bo Tang was the Swallow, then this white enemy mecha was like a ghost snake. No matter how tricky the angles Bo Tang chose, the white mecha clung closely right behind him.
Seeing the red dot persistently chasing him on the radar, Bo Tang executed a steep dive, raising his hand to blast fiercely into the underside of a low health destroyer right above him.
The explosion successfully bought him a two second separation from the white mecha. Two seconds later, the white mecha activated its energy shield, spun through the flames, and raised its hand cannon at Bo Tang.
A silent gunshot hit Bo Tang’s left leg.
Mechas didn’t transmit physical pain, but Bo Tang felt that he had lost control of the ECTS23’s left calf. The original balance was broken, and he instinctively tilted to the left.
Bang.
His right shoulder transmitted a vibration before losing control as well.
Bo Tang had no doubt this was the result of the white mecha’s precise calculations.
The opponent was definitely a battle hardened veteran.
Watching his energy gauge drop from 32% to 27%, Bo Tang kept his expression completely neutral while stepping up the thruster combustion rate.
Warning: Current speed has exceeded the maximum limit your mental power rank can withstand. Swallow’s tone turned stern.
“I know,” Bo Tang managed to smile slightly at Swallow. “Can’t help it, though. If I get caught, I’ll be eliminated.”
The white mecha stayed locked onto Bo Tang’s tail, heavily resembling the scene earlier where Bo Tang chased the enemy mechas.
Ooh hoo! Look who’s about to get eliminated! Someone whistled.
The next second, they saw Bo Tang’s mecha flying directly toward their direction.
Holy shit, what is he trying to do?! The Alpha yelled in panic, and even with a rapid reaction, his left-hand light sword was blown away by the incoming blast.
A gentle, smiling voice rang out in the public channel: “I request your assistance.”
Wicket sneered: “Why should we? The opponent is clearly coming for you.”
Right as he finished speaking, Bo Tang’s black mecha made a sharp turn, flying precisely toward the golden mecha.
Wicket’s pupils contracted. He narrowly dodged the incoming cannon shell and roared furiously. “You’re abusing public office for private vendettas!”
“I request your assistance,” Bo Tang repeated. “Is anyone unwilling?”
Everyone: ?
If anyone dares say no, he’s flying straight at them, isn’t he?!
Simon’s response was to immediately raise his cannon and fire a shot at the white mecha, disrupting its flight trajectory.
Given a brief moment to breathe, Bo Tang immediately flew toward where his classmates were gathered.
The Alphas scattered in utter panic, but unfortunately, Bo Tang always managed to find some unlucky bastard to hide behind like a shield.
The chosen unlucky bastard had a face darker than ink: “Let me go!”
Anyone with eyes could see that white mecha possessed formidable strength, he didn’t want to get eliminated here!
Bo Tang smiled lightly. “If this were a real battlefield, would you also watch your comrades get hunted down like this?”
“I…” The Alpha clearly hesitated.
And right at that moment of hesitation, gunfire blasted his chest armor into fine pieces.
“Damn it! I’ll fight you to the death!” The Alpha grew furious, raising his cannon to bombard the white mecha, while shouting in the public channel. “Cover me, you guys! Thirty-six of us can’t possibly lose to just one person, right?”
As if finding a suitable excuse, the previously hesitant Alphas immediately activated their thrusters, circling the white mecha to provide interference.
Anatoly was indeed disrupted for a few minutes. Having voluntarily suppressed his mental power rank, dealing with thirty-five Alphas simultaneously was still a bit taxing.
However, Anatoly shifted his cannon muzzle and fired multiple shots directly into the supply ship beside him.
The next moment, a massive explosion created a wide separation between the mechas behind him and his white mecha. Anatoly smoothly used the frigate’s cover to glide forward.
The black mecha was still flying in the distance. Anatoly calculated that Bo Tang’s energy should only have about 13% remaining, yet the Beta had funneled all that remaining energy entirely into his thrusters.
Not struggling anymore?
Anatoly had been watching from the start of this point war. Bo Tang was the first to figure out a collaborative way to clear the mission, successfully cooperating with teammates inside the force field and acquiring points with maximum efficiency.
When a single blast shattered two ships, Anatoly clearly saw the Beta’s face illuminated by the firelight.
The corners of his lips were hooked lazily, showing no excessive excitement, but Anatoly gazed steadily into those dark, deep eyes.
Even amidst the blinding light, those eyes remained as pitch black as an abyss.
Only, at that exact moment, something faintly surging within the abyss resembled excitement… or perhaps, a touch of madness.
Anatoly was familiar with that kind of look.
With only 10 minutes left in the mission, Anatoly kept shaking off the pursuing Alphas, single mindedly chasing that light, leaping black mecha.
Strictly speaking, this was where Anatoly should have ended it.
The Alphas had already learned the meaning of cooperation, whether voluntarily or passively.
Bo Tang’s performance also matched the standard level of a D-rank Beta, perhaps he had some clever little tricks, but against hard power, he had no room to fight back.
Was that really all?
Then why keep chasing?
Perhaps… perhaps he was anticipating it. Anticipating that this somewhat unusual Beta might show him something new.
Something that would cause those pitch-black eyes to reveal that trace of madness once more.
Yet, until the time ran out, Bo Tang ultimately revealed no new talents, his score stopped at 896 points.
A giant light screen projected above their faction’s mothership, displaying Iman’s face.
His voice echoed through the public channel. “Mission ended.”
A ranking list appeared on the right side of the screen, sorted from highest to lowest points.
First place was Wicket with 1328 points, followed by Simon with 1232 points, and unfamiliar names further down.
As expected, Bo Tang’s name was dead last, and because he hadn’t reached the 1000 points threshold, the words “Mission Failed” appeared in a single line next to his name.
Everyone’s expressions grew subtle.
During the final half-hour, Bo Tang had spent the entire time running for his life. All his remaining strength was dedicated to defending against the white mecha’s attacks, leaving him zero time to farm points.
Yet prior to that, both Bo Tang and Simon’s scores had far exceeded everyone else’s.
Iman’s face showed neither anger nor joy. “Your performance is the worst batch of freshmen I have ever led.”
Everyone: “…”
“Not a single ounce of team spirit. You spent the first hour stupidly attacking each other, copied teammates’ experiences to succeed, yet tried to preserve yourselves when those very teammates were being hunted down…” Iman ruthlessly listed everyone’s sins. “If you go onto the battlefield like this, which soldier would ever be willing to entrust you with their back?”
Most of the Alphas, who had received education on benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, couldn’t help lowering their heads.
“Bo Tang, step out of formation!” Iman’s voice was frigid.
Hearing his name, the Beta lowered his eyes slightly, stepping forward subobediently.
Off to the side, the white mecha, still unlinked from the docking bay, tilted its head and watched quietly.
The Alphas suddenly lifted their heads. The unlucky bastard Alpha whom Bo Tang had targeted earlier couldn’t help jumping out. “Instructor, Bo Tang was chased by an enemy mecha, which is why he had no time to worry about points! There are extenuating circumstances!”
Wicket raised an eyebrow. “When all is said and done, isn’t it just a lack of strength? At the very least, he could’ve destroyed a few mechas while running, right?”
The unlucky bastard frowned and glared back. “Can you have some Alpha responsibility? Bo Tang didn’t provoke you. When you were copying others to farm points, why didn’t you mention whether you could destroy 100 mechas in 2 hours?”
Wicket hadn’t expected a “traitor” to emerge from the Alpha camp, leaving him momentarily speechless until his neck turned red.
Iman said leisurely. “Bo Tang, explain why you gave up progress and only thought about running for your life during the last half hour?”
Pricked by the instructor’s sharp phrasing, several Alphas opened their mouths to speak, only to be suppressed by another cold glance from Iman.
Bo Tang blinked and said softly, “I believe that is the meaning of cooperation.”
The crowd fell into confusion.
“As you can see,” Bo Tang pointed to the scoreboard, “though I failed, everyone else’s missions succeeded.”
He said gently, “If comrades can rely on me to draw away all the enemy’s firepower, isn’t that also a form of cooperation?”
“Anyway… as a price to pay, someone like me… isn’t really worth mentioning, right?”
The white mecha’s head twitched by a fraction.
The unlucky bastard Alpha’s eyes turned red. Wuwu…
He wanted to apologize for looking down on Bo Tang earlier! A thorough apology!
Anatoly gazed at the dark haired Beta’s expression.
The corners of his lips were drawn into a helpless little pout, his brows furrowed slightly, as if he genuinely accepted being that “price to pay.”
That heartfelt dialogue touched the Alphas, causing these high and mighty fellows to start reflecting on their previous prejudices against Betas.
However,
Anatoly did not miss the flash of mocking amusement deep within the Beta’s eyes.
What a liar.