Novel Bin Chapter 192: The First Marshal!
"Push forwards! Intercept the starships, do not give them any chance to fire their main cannons!" roared Major General Tang Xu in the comms channel. At this point, they could only fight it out. If things became truly dire, blocking off the cannonfire with one of their starships would also be worth it. Following this order, all the Federation starships began to move. Unfortunately, the starships were too large and clumsy — it was not that easy to turn their bodies.
This was also why starships, despite having powerful main cannons, could not be the main fighting force in an interstellar battle. In contrast to the agile mecha, the heavy and slow bulky starships were not at all suited for quick battles, completely toyed with by mecha. If not for the fact that starships themselves were bulked up with great defences and the damage of mecha attacks were insignificant against their bulk, incapable of finishing them off, starships may likely have to quit appearing in battle completely.
"Lock onto Ling Xiao, and fire!" The main cannon of the first starship finally had its sights on Ling Xiao, and so the starship’s main cannoneer was charged to attack Ling Xiao, who was hovering in place in the air.
A deafening "Boom!" — the main cannon’s fire hit Ling Xiao’s mecha directly. Smoke and fire shot out in all directions, completely engulfing .
The starship’s main cannoneer leapt up and danced in excitement, hollering, "I’ve hit him! I’ve hit him!" If Ling Xiao were to die at his hands, he would become the hero of the Twilight Empire!
The smoke cleared and the flames vanished! When Ling Xiao’s mecha appeared perfectly unharmed before the crowd once more, the dancing cannoneer froze, and his excited words became lodged in his throat as if his neck were being strangled. His face was the picture of disbelief. This was because the massive firepower of the main cannon had actually been unable to leave any mark at all on Ling Xiao’s mecha .
The Federation soldiers were as equally mystified, unsure how Ling Xiao’s had managed to come out of such powerful cannon-fire utterly unscathed. Some sharp-sighted people then noticed the faint sheen of multi-coloured light on ’s outer shell, and immediately understood. "Divine Shield! It’s the god-class mecha’s exclusive Divine Shield system!"
The reason why god-class mecha could become god-class mecha was that the A.I. of the mecha could support several systems which regular mecha A.I.s could not. One of these was the Divine Shield system — it could convert energy into an almost flawless, practically invincible divine light shield. It could be said that any weapon invented by humankind at the moment was incapable of breaking through Ling Xiao’s defences. Of course, the Divine Shield system was not without weaknesses. It drained too much energy — even a god-class mecha’s supposedly endless power could only sustain the system for a short 3 minutes.
Ling Xiao’s mecha withstood the main cannon’s attack this time but did not continue to remain stationary to be a sitting target. The air around the mecha suddenly warped, and in the very next second, it had appeared by the other’s starship.
"The Divine Wind system!" This was yet another of the god-class mecha’s exclusive systems. Once it was activated, the mecha could reach up to 4 times the speed of light, truly achieving instantaneous teleportation.
Right then, Ling Xiao, who had already appeared beside the starship, swiftly removed a giant sword hilt from his back. His mecha gripped the sword hilt tightly in its right hand, and a 100-metre long beam saber abruptly appeared out of nowhere in this starry space.
Ling Xiao gripped this giant saber tightly and then swung it down powerfully in a great arc at the starship ...
A lift of his hand, a swing of his saber — Ling Xiao did not look again at the starship, keeping away his giant beam saber instantly after his attack to hang it once more behind his back.
And then, the air around warped again and it reappeared within the enemy mecha horde.
Just at that moment, that starship suddenly split apart. Due to the unexpected explosion, the people inside it were thrown into space, officially becoming space trash and dying instantly.
Ling Xiao’s killing spree did not end there — like a wolf charging into a flock of sheep, Ling Xiao flew among the enemy mecha horde. At this time, two short swords had appeared in his hands. They were the most basic of mecha equipment, high-frequency blades. Still, just these two most basic of weapons sliced through the opponent’s mecha as easily as cutting right through a watermelon. The speed of the Divine Wind system, paired with god-class control and unearthly footwork, caused the mecha to flicker in and out of sight. In the blink of an eye, Ling Xiao had destroyed several tens of mecha, among them quite a significant number of ace mecha.
At this moment, everyone understood why it was said in the human world that god-class operators could dictate the outcome of war — there was just no one who could withstand a god-class operator’s attack, nor were there any weapons capable of penetrating the other’s defence. Only by relying on forces of nature, such as black holes (this should be eliminated now), or explosions of primordial magnetic energy 1 (this was questionable), or consecutive supernovas (almost impossible to happen), or the butcher’s knife of time (pretty much the most helpless waiting game), etcetera etcetera etcetera ... perhaps those might have the possibility of finishing them off 2 .
Seeing this scene, the Twilight Empire general knew that he would certainly be unable to achieve his objective today. Even if they sacrificed every single person on their side, they would still be unable to kill Ling Xiao here. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he decisively ordered their retreat. He needed to report the news that Ling Xiao still lived post-haste to the Empire’s military headquarters.
The Twilight Empire fleet retreated swiftly, very quickly disappearing without a trace. Seeing their opponents scurry off with their tails between their legs back to their own space border, all the Federation warriors cheered! They were cheering for the triumph of this battle, as well as cheering for the return of the god-class operator Ling Xiao.
"Federation 7th Division vice commander, Ling Xiao, requesting provisional docking from an allied starship!" Ling Xiao connected to the general military channel and submitted a docking request.
Tang Xu breathed in deeply, suppressing the elation in his heart as he pressed the button to communicate. "I, Tang Xu, the commander of the First Defence Fleet of the Western Border Guard, permit Major General Ling Xiao to dock on my ship." Following that declaration, the command ship began transmitting a guidance signal.
Ling Xiao operated his mecha to slowly descend onto the starship’s navigation frame. Sliding along the frame, he slid swiftly into the interior of the starship.
Ling Xiao’s control was extremely precise, accurately stopping right at the stop-line. At this moment, a sweet and gentle voice rang out in the mecha comms channel. "Major General Ling Xiao, hello! I am the JMC guiding your mecha into the hangar this time. Please follow my instructions to carry out the following movements."
"Roger!" Somewhat familiar, the sweet and pretty voice caused Ling Xiao to zone out for a moment before regaining his awareness. That voice had called up his memories of Lan Luofeng — back then at the start, she had been his exclusive JMC. He had not seen her for almost a full 17 years ... he wondered how she was doing now. And there was still their child Ling Lan ... a swell of fear and uncertainty actually rose up in Ling Xiao’s heart, his heart beginning to pound. He was homesick, yet he feared the reception he would receive when he returned.
Under the JMC’s lead, Ling Xiao piloted his mecha accurately into the frame, and then leaving it to the operation of the starship’s systems, his mecha was brought straight into the command ship’s mecha hold.
Ling Xiao turned off his mecha and opened the cockpit door. At this time, the entire mecha hold had already become filled with the soldiers of the command ship, both men and women. They all wanted to take the opportunity to catch a glimpse of Major General Ling Xiao in person — he was a heroic figure from legend who had been believed dead for 17 years, after all.
Ling Xiao had long become used to this type of gazes. He had always been an elite among the elites, an aberrant prodigy, idolised by people wherever he went. Although he had been away from the Federation for 17 years, he was not at all unfamiliar with this sort of gawking.
A lift carried Ling Xiao to the ground. His original mecha suit had already become worn and tattered, but even so, it did not detract from his looks. A warm and elegant smile on an unbelievably handsome face — all the female soldiers’ were blushing as their hearts throbbed. They wished they could just rush forward and hug him, leaving a beautiful memory for themselves.
But these were all just fantasies; they would never dare to act so impudently. Although Major General Ling Xiao looked exceedingly gentle and mild-mannered, just like a humble gentleman, there was just some mystical force about him that stayed their restlessness, discouraging them from going too far.
"Major General Ling Xiao, welcome back!" Tang Xu had already hurried to the mecha hold by this time. Seeing Ling Xiao land, he rushed forwards and clasped Ling Xiao’s hands in his, face filled with elation as he greeted Ling Xiao.
The two men had met a few times 17 years ago and had shared a brief conversation, but following Ling Xiao’s unfortunate ’demise’, their budding relationship had been ended abruptly. Back then, Tang Xu had deeply lamented the loss of a like-minded brother-in-arms.
"Major General Tang Xu, long time no see!" Before greeting Tang Xu, Ling Xiao had peeked at the other’s epaulette 3 , thus finding out the other’s current military rank. 17 years were enough for many of his friends to change military ranks. He wondered if the same could be said for his enemies ... a trace of killing intent flashed through Ling Xiao’s eyes.
Although Tang Xu really wanted to say something to Ling Xiao, he just could not find any words. He could only shake Ling Xiao’s hands solemnly, even though he knew that it was actually more appropriate for them to interact via military salutes.
Ling Xiao swept his gaze around at the surrounding people and smiled wearily, "If possible, please prepare somewhere for me to rest first. I have lived in that damnable black hole for a really long time. I’m physically and mentally worn out."
At the reminder, Tang Xu hurriedly nodded and said, "Done. I’ll prepare things immediately!" Ling Xiao’s fatigued state proved that his struggle out of the black hole was definitely not as simple and easy as it had seemed to them. He must have paid an extremely steep price in the process.
Just like that, Ling Xiao temporarily settled in with the First Defence Fleet of the Western Border Guard, to rest and recuperate. On the other hand, due to technical issues and a lack of appropriate materials, the mecha could not be serviced. It would have to wait till Ling Xiao returned to Doha to receive proper care and maintenance.
Meanwhile, at this very moment, Ling Lan, who had already found out that Qi Long and the other five had all passed and been accepted into the First Men’s Military Academy, did not know that a man who would change the future course of her life was on his way home ...
********
One week later, the Federation’s first marshal secretly arrived at the headquarters of the First Division. A staff officer by his side informed him that the guest was waiting for him in the living room.
The moment the marshal entered the living room, he saw a man sitting primly on the sofa. The man was about 27 to 28 years old, or maybe even around 30, and on his handsome face was an indistinct trace of a smile, naturally drawing the favour of others. However, because he was dressed from head to toe in brand new martial attire, the trim and almost pressed-creaseless general’s uniform made him look sharp and dashing. This lessened his original gentle air somewhat, giving him a rare share of stateliness.
"Ling Xiao, you still live! This is wonderful!" said the marshal emotionally the moment he saw the other, his footsteps speeding up subconsciously.
Seeing that the marshal was here, Ling Xiao immediately stood up at attention and gave the other a proper military salute. "Marshal, long time no see!"