Ye Muo couldn’t see the pilots, he could only see the mecha glinting with metallic luster under the sun looking down at him. He met their gazes unabashed, studying them curiously.
Ye Qingsheng and the rest of his squad stared back at Ye Muo through the visual sensors of their suits. They had a better look at Ye Muo’s appearance now that he was still.
The preteen watched them from a distance like a curious kitten.
The squad channel was already in chaos.
[He looks tiny. There’s no way he’s an adult yet. I can’t believe his strength when his limbs are so slim…]
[With just a sword, a cold weapon? This must be a joke. Are the king insects really dead?]
[Maybe I’m hallucinating…]
Ye Qingsheng continued to silently focus on Ye Muo.
Ye Muo stood there for a while before stepping forward. He leapt up and started scaling the cliff with the agility of a cat or leopard cub. The ease with which he navigated and the outline of his body that were sometimes visible as he moved showed there was more substance beyond beauty to the comparison.
The pilots subconsciously shifted their suits back to give Ye Muo enough room.
Ye Muo returned his sword to its sheath. “Aren’t you guys going to leave?”
There was a moment of silence in the channel. The ‘eyes’ of one of the mecha flashed as an electronic voice sounded: [What? Leave? Where to?]
Ye Muo patiently explained, “The king insects are dead, so the hive will soon spiral out of control.”
One pilot couldn’t help but ask: [Then what about you? Are you alone? You can come with us if you want. The Major General will probably take a liking to you.]
The Major General was the highest ranking officer on this mission. He cared a lot about promoting talents and kept the most promising interns by his side.
When it came to this child, the Major General might just raise him as a cherished protege.
Even though they just witness Ye Muo slaughtering a king insect, his appearance made them unable to not worry about him. It was hard to not imagine what circumstances led to a child being left all alone in the middle of nowhere.
With that, one mech shifted like it was about to come over.
But it came to a stop moments later. A sword stabbed deen into the cockpit, right next to the pilot inside. Cold sweat poured out of every pore by the time he reacted.
It was Ano’s sword.
With that, Ano shot over like a cannonball from the tree he was standing on nearby. He landed on the mech’s slightly bowed shoulder.
The gigantic mech was pushed down slightly due to the weight behind his landing.
Ano’s eyes were ice cold. Animosity dripped from his every word, “Are you guys really trying to kidnap a Grantz right in front of me?”
This close up, the suit’s microphones had no problem transmitting Ano’s voice to the squad channel.
They were astounded. Ano had been so close by with them none the wiser.
Even if there was plenty of cover nearby, their suits’ sensors were accurate enough to even detect individual beetles in the area.
Ye Qingsheng instinctively shifted into a wary, defensive stance. He cautiously conveyed: [Apologies for any offence we may have caused.]
“You guys are quite offensive, casually intruding on our training grounds and interrupting the lesson.”
[We hold no malice. We were simply worried for this child as he seemed unsupervised.]
Ano’s gaze swept over them. Of course he knew they meant no harm. Bert wouldn’t have let them even land if they did. However, this didn’t mean Ano could tolerate them trying to kidnap Ye Muo. “It would be best if that was true.”
“Leave this place. Now.”
Ye Qingsheng tried his best to maintain a neutral, nonoffensive tone. Remaining humble in the face of the strong was an unspoken rule across galaxies: [As you wish, sir. We will leave right away.]
Ano hopped off the mech’s shoulder, pulling out the sword he had thrown like a spear while he was at it.
Ye Muo quietly trotted over to stand by Ano’s side.
Ye Qingsheng glanced at the child still peering at them one last time before leaving without hesitation.
The other mecha followed suit. Ye Muo’s gaze followed them as they gradually became dots on the horizon.
Someone finally spoke in the silent squad channel after they travelled for a distance.
[Even a child that young requires training? I mean, this kind of training?? I was still learning how to draw at school at his age. I doubt even those so-called elites of the Federation’s military academies have trained like this. Sorry, Ye. I’m not singling you out. They have nothing on you.]
Ye Qingsheng initially wanted to remark that even he didn’t train like this. He had only faced king insects in battle simulations at most. In the end, he maintained his characteristic silence.
[Aren’t they afraid of something going wrong?]
Some people’s hearts were still pounding.
[I almost thought I was dead meat just now. Are all the people here like that?]
[Seems like kidnappers are treated the same everywhere.]
[Hey! There’s nothing out here but wild plants and animals! I thought that kid had been abandoned here or been in some sort of accident.]
[Is your brain just for show? Think about it: if that was the case, how could he appear in front of you in a clean and tidy uniform?]
[So what do we do now? Do we continue to search for suitable planets?]
Ye Qingsheng finally spoke up: [We’ll return to the mothership.]
Ye Qingsheng’s expression was solemn. They shouldn’t have let bias cloud their judgement on this mission.
……
Ye Muo was still marveling over the mecha as Ano took him back to the ship. “Those mecha are huge, larger than anything I’ve seen before…”
Ano led him towards the command centre. “Hungry? I brought the gummies you like so much.”
Ye Muo was immediately captivated. “Yes!”
“You have to eat properly once we get back, alright? Don’t let Norton or Sylvia notice.”
“Alright.”
Ano handed Ye Muo the candy jar before looking at Bert.
“They don’t seem to recognize us. Seems like they’re from a different faction that the ones in the Exile Sectors.”
“Their armour isn’t that hard. Harder than some insect carapaces, but not enough to be impenetrable. It doesn’t rule out the possibility that they have better equipped models capable of taking on king insects. They seem to show a preference for hot weaponry. The mecha were only equipped with the most basic of cold weapons. They probably don’t think much of psychic weapons over there.”
Bert got serious for once. “That may change in the future.”
“After all, I would be quite interested in their mecha if one managed to defeat me.”
“I’m really interested too.” Ye Muo interjected.
“You haven’t been defeated by their mecha, and what’s with the ‘too’ part? Fine, fine. I admit I’m a bit interested right now, but I only care for things stronger than me.”
Bert ruffled Ye Muo’s hair. “Whoever cares more loses.”
Ye Muo thought for a moment before sincerely stating, “I care a lot about Bert. Even if I become stronger than Bert someday, I’ll still care about you.”
Bert stared at Ye Muo before silently tidying the hair he just messed up.
……
The scout ship Ye Qingsheng was on was the first to return to the mothership. The people who came to receive them seemed somewhat surprised. There was no way they could have canvassed the area they had been assigned yet. The task wasn’t really dangerous either since it was just collecting data. That was why it had been given to these students.
High acheivers could even pick some suitable planets to collect more in-depth data.
In reality, the Federation did not see this mission as some monumental task, which was why so many military academy students nearing graduation were brought along to gain experience. They were just here to lend the remnant civilization a helping hand, optimally establish a mutually beneficial cooperation, and take a look at the place they had come from. In any case, they couldn’t let the Empire steal their thunder.
[Squad 32, have you completed your task? Any findings?]
[An unexpected event occurred during the task, one we unanimously judged to be of higher priority that necessitated returning before task completion.]
There was a rule like that, but hardly anyone ever used it.
The attending staff didn’t really take them seriously. They simply informed Squad 32’s assigned superior before opening the hatch and letting the scouting ship dock back with the mothership.Â
