Volume 7: Abandoned Sandstone City Chapter 344: Encirclement and Killing!
The Dark Crows came to gather information in order to silence us!
Are they... planning to kill Valentina during the competition?
In full view of everyone?
Are you crazy?
No...that's not right, they are not crazy - this game is the best opportunity to kill.
In the previous session, Valentina accidentally killed a contestant, but the punishment she faced was only disqualification from the competition. Not only was she not banned, she was not even required to bear any criminal responsibility... Although the rules have become stricter this time, contestants still have criminal immunity if manslaughter occurs - after all, real guns and live ammunition are used in the competition, and it is almost impossible to completely avoid accidental injuries or killings.
If they killed Valentina during the game, as long as it was judged as "manslaughter" rather than "intentional murder", they would only face a fine of no more than 300,000 credit points and a ban of more than three years and less than fifteen years.
Even if the circumstances are extremely bad, such as not stopping the fight when the opponent has completely lost the ability to resist, resulting in the opponent's death, the most that can be imposed is a lifetime ban.
The price of killing is really too low...
Even if the Dark Raven Club would be pushed to the forefront of public opinion because of this, for the guy hiding behind the scenes, the loss would at most be a club and the careers of several ace pilots - the club could be re-established with a new name, the ace pilots could be re-trained, or simply poached from other clubs during the transfer period... A problem that can be solved with money is not a problem.
After Ke Lan realized what was happening, her first thought was to give up the competition. If they continued to compete, they would most likely face three ace pilots who were determined to kill them. These people would not care about other contestants or the ranking of the competition. The rules of the competition could no longer restrain them. They were no longer contestants, but assassins following orders... Their goal was no longer the championship, but Valentina's life.
This is no longer a competitive match that ends in a decisive battle, but a fight for life and death.
Giving up the competition and getting out of it safely may be the wisest choice at the moment. This is just a competition. Valentina and Chi Hanfeng’s original goal: to raise medical expenses - has also been achieved. Continuing to participate in the competition may put them in danger.
but……
If I propose to give up the game at this time, wouldn't it be equivalent to telling that person that I have noticed the other party's movements...Will doing so alert the other party and cause them to take more radical actions?
Ke Lan couldn't tell.
If they choose to participate, as long as they can get rid of the three people from the Raven Club, they can also use this competition as an opportunity to expose the other party's conspiracy under the eyes of tens of millions of viewers. This will not only protect themselves, but also maybe they can catch the guy who harmed the Strangler Squadron back then.
Should we make a decisive move or take advantage of the situation?
Ke Lan hesitated for a while and walked to the dining table.
"Major Chi, Old Dog... and Zofia, please come to my room for a moment. Also, Asano Akira, please guard the door for us. Don't let anyone get close, not even our own people."
Ke Lan's expression was very serious. The Hound, who was telling dirty jokes with Layton and others, immediately sensed something was wrong, and immediately shut up and followed.
Chi Hanfeng and Sofia didn't say much and quickly followed Ke Lan into the room.
Ke Lan closed the door, and Asano Akira stood with his back against the door like a sentry, holding his sheath.
"There is something I need to ask for your opinions on... In addition, I am also telling this to Asano Akira. After all, you are also one of the contestants." Ke Lan said. He knew that with Asano Akira's hearing, he could hear clearly what they were talking about in the room. In this way, among the three contestants, Valentina was the only one who was unaware.
Ke Lan directly told the information provided by the intelligence dealer and the results of his previous analysis... He noticed that when he mentioned that the Dark Crow Club might be related to "Mann", Chi Hanfeng's body trembled obviously, but soon, he returned to his original appearance.
"Thank you." Chi Hanfeng said to Ke Lan.
Ke Lan knew that he was thanking her for not telling Valentina about this, otherwise, she would have rushed to the private room of the Dark Crow Club with a gun in hand.
"Pretend you don't know, or submit a withdrawal application to the organizer... There are two options, which one do you choose?"
"I think... we should give up the race." Chi Hanfeng hesitated for a moment and said, "Three ace pilots, the risk is too great."
"No, Lao Chi, I cannot agree with you this time." The Hound said, "Although I have always been a coward, I also know one thing: people cannot be cowardly all the time, otherwise the other party will only take advantage of them... Do you think that if you can escape this time, you can escape every time?"
Hound took out a cigarette from his pocket, thought about it, and put it back, and continued: "Ke Lan is right about one thing. This competition is not only their opportunity, but also ours. With the attention of the competition, it is a good opportunity to redress the injustice of the Strangler Squadron...Are you really willing to let the beast who killed more than a hundred of your brothers continue to go unpunished?"
"I..." Chi Hanfeng was suddenly speechless.
"Major Chi, the other party is determined to kill us... Even if we choose to give up the competition, Valentina has already been targeted by them... At least in the competition, we are in a relatively 'fair' environment with the other party. If we leave the competition, the killers who come to us will not talk about 'fairness' with you." Ke Lan continued, "Besides, you don't want Valentina to live in hatred forever, right?"
"Zofia." Ke Lan turned her head and looked at Zofia, "Which option do you prefer?"
"When you asked me, didn't you already have the answer in your heart?" Sofia said with a smile.
"I want to know your choice." Ke Lan said.
"Same as you."
"Although we are the majority," said the Hound, "we will not force you and Valentina to obey us. The choice is still in your hands, Old Chi."
"Then..." Chi Hanfeng gritted his teeth, "Continue the game."
"Well, now we need to solve two problems." Ke Lan snapped his fingers, walked to the porthole, and looked down at the competition field below. "First, we have to eliminate the people from the Dark Crow Club in the game. Even if we can't, at least we have to ensure our own safety... At the same time, we have to collect as much evidence as possible of their 'intentional murder'."
"Second, we need to be prepared for the other side's back-up plan. In the arena, besides the three members of Dark Raven, I'm not sure if the other side will bribe players from other clubs... In other words, there may not be only three assassins. And outside the arena, it is not necessarily safe... If I were that 'Mann', if my attack failed in the arena, he would definitely send someone to kill us at all costs, even if all the spectators saw it. As long as we were all dead, without the key witnesses and evidence, it would be difficult to continue the investigation... And the heat of the incident itself will fade sooner or later. They only need to drag it out for a few years, and the case will be like ten years ago, unresolved."
"Look," Ke Lan continued, "Zofia, can you transfer the few people in your security team here... Old Dog, call the people who stayed at the headquarters and have them board the 'Greece' and wait near the stadium... I will find a way to contact Maginot and the Security Bureau to have them keep a close eye on the Dark Crow Club and all the people related to it."
"In this case, the arrangements outside the stadium are almost complete. What remains to be dealt with is the matters inside the stadium."
…
…
Three days later.
The 21st Ark Mecha Competition, finals.
The "Zulong" super airship followed the same route as last time and slowly passed over the sandstone abandoned city. However, this time, no team jumped out of the cabin even after one-third of the route had been covered.
Almost all the contestants focused their attention on the same spot...
That is the Black Temple located in the upper city on the west side. It is the largest building complex in the entire sandstone abandoned city. The entire temple, including its ancillary buildings and squares, covers an area of more than 1.5 million square meters, which is almost five times the size of other blocks.
The main body of the temple, which resembles a Mayan pyramid, and the large floor tiles in the square are all made of obsidian - this kind of stone is not produced in the surrounding areas of the sandstone abandoned city. It is obvious that it was transported from far away. This shows that this temple has a very high status in this city.
Looking down from the airship, the black temple looked like a blot of ink smudged in the gray-brown sand, extremely eye-catching... However, what was even more eye-catching were the green beams of light emitted by nearly a hundred laser beacons!
There are only about 200 marked resource points in the entire stadium, and the organizers of the event have crammed nearly half of them into this temple!
These crowded green light pillars are spectacular - although the marking light pillars in the finals no longer have different brightness, with so many resource points concentrated together, you can imagine that there must be super resource points among them. Even if there are not, the total amount of materials in the temple is enough to arm several full-strength teams.
"Random? Just random..." The Hound couldn't help cursing, "If the farts of the event organizers could come true, the old sows would have climbed a tree."
"Although it's a bit unexpected, this is exactly what I want." Ke Lan said. Concentrating most of the participating teams in a small area coincided with his plan.
"We're almost there, ready to jump!"
In the short ten seconds when the "Zulong" passed over the black temple, all sixteen participating teams chose to jump out of the cabin at this time, and forty-eight contrails left a colorful smoke screen in the air.
"Pay attention to the rear, at the four o'clock direction, there are three machines that seem to be following us. Adjust the landing direction, and deviate fifteen degrees to the right." Ke Lan glanced at the monitor screen at the rear. Sure enough, the three machines of the Dark Crow Club were following closely behind them. The crow head paint with white lines and a black background on the shoulders of the mecha was particularly eye-catching.
The three of them slightly changed direction, and the three Dark Crow machines immediately responded - in this way, Ke Lan could basically be sure that the previous guesses were correct, and they really wanted to take action in the finals.
"Unit 1 notifies the entire team to prepare for a second change of direction. The landing location has been changed to the center of the temple area, at the top of the pyramid-shaped building." Ke Lan said in the team channel.
"Why? Isn't our plan to land outside the square and then conduct mobile operations?" asked Valentina, who was confused.
"Someone is targeting us..." Ke Lan did not explain too much. "The original plan of 'fishing in troubled waters' is scrapped and plan B is activated." Ke Lan said.
"There is a plan B? You never told me that." Valentina said in surprise, but she still changed direction and landed towards the location marked by Ke Lan.
"Plan B, 'add fuel to the fire', we'll go wherever there are the most people!"
The three machines almost made a sharp turn in mid-air, and then merged into the "large force" - including them and the Dark Raven, there were seven teams eyeing the pyramid in the middle, and an inevitable melee was about to begin!
Half of the resources of the entire sandstone abandoned city are concentrated in the Black Temple, and half of the resources of the Black Temple are concentrated in the central pyramid... In the air, they have already seen a large number of equipment boxes, as well as many unpackaged weapons and ammunition scattered on the ground.
This building, which is very similar to the Mayan pyramid, has a square platform on the top, and a magnificent temple is built on the platform. There are eight entrances in total in this temple, each of which is ten meters high and six meters wide, which is enough for mechas to pass through. As for the interior of the temple, it is full of intricate, maze-like passages - there are also more than a dozen green light pillars on the top of the temple. Obviously, a large number of resource points have been set up inside the maze.
"After landing, pick up unsealed weapons nearby, and don't linger in the battle, go straight into the temple!" In the last few seconds before landing, Ke Lan said in the team channel, "Asano Akira, throw away your armor and get in my cockpit!"
With a slight vibration, twenty-one mechas landed on the platform at the top of the pyramid almost at the same time. Ke Lan grabbed a large-caliber shotgun in his hand, but before he could load the ammunition into the barrel, the entire mecha had lost its balance - a black-painted skeleton without any weapons attacked Ke Lan directly from behind, and the opponent 's arms directly strangled Ke Lan's shoulders, fixing Ke Lan in place.
"...How come the Dark Crows are so fast?" Ke Lan found that he had miscalculated a little bit - after landing, the other party had no intention of looking for weapons, but rushed directly towards him... In their opinion, there was no need for the three ace pilots to pick up guns to deal with the three of them.
Both sides had blank frames and the output of their power reactors was almost the same. Ke Lan couldn't break free from the guy behind him for a while, and the other Dark Raven directly raised its combat dagger and stabbed it towards Ke Lan's cockpit!
With a "clang", Valentina's body fell from the sky. The thruster nozzles all turned sideways the moment it landed, and directly hit the side of the sword-wielding body. The dagger in the opponent's hand suddenly lost its accuracy and slid out along the edge of Ke Lan's cockpit, creating a large cluster of sparks on the frame.
Valentina did not even pick up her weapon. She did not even have time to draw her sword. She just swung her fist at the opponent's body. The clanging sound of metal colliding with metal continued to ring out.
