Chapter 147: What If I Believe It?

The audience erupted in boos and jeers. The mecha combat department had been knocked out in a single exchange by someone from the mecha maintenance department.

Could they possibly be any more disgraced?

Conversely, every year the mecha maintenance department was notoriously ridiculed as the ultimate drag. People from maintenance were usually too embarrassed to even attend the freshman competition. Yet this time, they had made a massive splash, to the point where even the students from the mecha design department started loudly chanting Zheng Chao's name.

Their opponents clearly had not expected their first fighter to be eliminated so quickly, and their captain could no longer remain seated. This Zheng Chao was truly bizarre, but the rules prohibited changing the order of fighters once a match began. No matter how anxious he was, there was nothing he could do.

Calming himself down, he thought it through carefully. Zheng Chao did not play by the rules, and their mecha also seemed unorthodox. He gave instructions to his second fighter: do not be careless, use the most standard methods to force close-quarters combat, and do not give Zheng Chao any opening to attack. If he could neutralize him, great; if not, he should at least entangle him. He believed that no matter how unusual this Zheng Chao might be, he could not possibly be that formidable. After all, he was merely a maintenance student. Even if he was currently in the mecha design department, anyone with genuine mecha piloting talent would naturally have gone to the mecha combat department.

Hearing the cheers from above, Zheng Chao felt so triumphant that he practically floated as he walked. Who would have thought their maintenance department would ever have a day like this?

Of course, no matter how powerful Zheng Chao's mecha was, it was exactly as the opposing captain had surmised: Zheng Chao was, after all, only from the maintenance department and had far too little understanding of mecha piloting. Even after undergoing intense training under Kuang Shao and the others for a period of time, he had barely managed to eliminate the second opponent before completely exhausting his stamina.

Although the opponent repeatedly guarded against him, Zheng Chao possessed not only astonishing mecha speed, but even faster reaction times and exceptionally keen observation. The opponent found no loopholes whatsoever and was kept pinned under Zheng Chao's relentless assault. After a brief struggle, he was ultimately knocked out of the arena by Zheng Chao at the first opportunity.

Zheng Chao wanted to try his hand at the third opponent as well, but he still had a realistic grasp of his own limits. At Xuan Xuan's signal, he obediently stepped down and let Moying Weihao take the stage.

Though he didn't get to fight the third person, Zheng Chao was beaming with joy. He stepped out of the mecha and walked over to Xuan Xuan. Moying Weihan had already been in a foul mood, and seeing Zheng Chao acting so smug only irritated him further. He glared fiercely at Zheng Chao.

Zheng Chao couldn't be bothered with Moying Weihan. He scurried over to Xuan Xuan like a devoted sycophant. Xuan Xuan was his absolute idol now—starting from today; no, starting all the way back from military training.

Trusting this formidable young lady guaranteed eternal life. The mecha maintenance department of the Federal First Military Academy finally had its day in the sun.

Xuan Xuan glanced at him dismissively, then turned her gaze back to Moying Weihao on the stage.

Zheng Chao didn't mind in the least and stood like a loyal attendant behind Xuan Xuan.

With virtually zero suspense, Moying Weihao wiped out the remaining five members of the opposing team.

Compared to Zheng Chao, Moying Weihao was even faster, with quicker reflexes and a far deeper familiarity with mecha combat. His combat techniques were vastly superior; among the enemy team, only their captain managed to last ten moves against him. None of the others survived past ten rounds.

Moying Weihao looked at them with a hint of mild regret and disappointment; their strength was still insufficient. He glanced not far away at Ai Zhe. Even though their team had drawn a bye in this round, Ai Zhe hadn't left and was still watching the matches in the martial arena.

Ai Zhe stared right back at him, a fierce competitive fire burning in both of their eyes.

Xuan Xuan glanced sideways at the two of them. Weren't they being utterly ridiculous, engaging in a staring contest from across the arena?

The referee seemed somewhat dumbfounded by Moying Weihao's speed, while the commentator happened to be the same one from last time. He felt like he had a jinx with Moying Weihao's squad; every time he covered their matches, something inevitably went wrong.

Once again, he froze for a split second. His reputation as a gold-medal commentator was about to go down the drain because of this.

Seeing the referee rule in favor of Moying Weihao's "Instant Kill" squad, the commentator was just about to pick up where he left off when someone abruptly stepped onto the martial arena and shouted loudly, "Wait!"

The commentator froze yet again. The large screen happened to be facing the arena where Moying Weihao's team was stationed, and the person on the field was walking right toward that direction. The commentator's eyes widened in disbelief—it was her!

The person on the field was none other than Xuan Guo. She swept a cold glance over the noisy audience and fixed her eyes on Xuan Xuan. "I am reporting that there is a problem with their mecha."

Xuan Guo wasn't just making baseless claims. The spirit residing within her possessed immense mental power, and recently it had only grown more formidable. Even from the audience seats, it could clearly observe the unusual traits displayed by Moying Weihao and Zheng Chao during their matches—particularly the abnormal reaction speed of their mecha.

This was especially glaring under the control of an amateur like Zheng Chao. At times, Zheng Chao himself couldn't even control the mecha because its response time was simply too fast.

Xuan Guo sneered inwardly. If it were only Zheng Chao, she might have chalked it up to some special ability on his part. But Moying Weihao was performing the same way, which made no sense. While she couldn't fully gauge Moying Weihao's true strength, she had a general idea of it; how could his abilities suddenly experience such a skyrocketing leap?

Moreover, their mecha was clearly just a standard military-issue MC-250, yet it possessed such drastically enhanced speed without any compromise to its baseline power.

Xuan Guo stared at Xuan Xuan. Aside from having outsiders modify their mecha, the only possible culprit was Kuang Hongyi. How else could such a drastic transformation be explained? Achieving modifications of this caliber was completely impossible for a mere handful of students.

They had actually resorted to cheating—a path to self-destruction. Xuan Guo almost wanted to burst out laughing right then and there. Cheating! Could the Moying and Kuang families afford to shoulder a scandal of this magnitude?

There was a moment of absolute silence in the arena, followed immediately by an uproar. The entire crowd broke into chaos. The mecha belonging to this squad truly seemed defying of the natural order, but... cheating? Was it really cheating?

The commotion from the audience finally snapped the commentator back to reality. He slapped his forehead. His lifelong reputation, his title as a gold-medal commentator, was completely ruined today.

"Please quiet down, everyone. Will the members of the 'Instant Kill' squad please respond?" While trying to restore order around him, he hurriedly contacted the school administration. This was no ordinary martial bout; it was the freshman competition of the Federal First Military Academy. If any major mishap occurred, leaving aside the status of the wealthy young heirs in the arena, a single word from the academy's board of directors could permanently blacklist him.

Quite a few people stood up in the audience sector, finding it hard to believe that someone from the Moying family would actually resort to cheating.

The corners of the mouths of the two members from the Bai family, alongside Ai Zhe and a few other aristocratic clans, curled up slightly. Their eyes held a trace of mockery and a fair share of schadenfreude, eager to see how this fiasco would ultimately be resolved.

Moying Lianhao furrowed his brows slightly. He glanced at the still-composed figures down in the arena, a trace of gratification flashing in his eyes. The kids really had grown up and learned to handle things.

Zhan Yu stared at Xuan Xuan with a tightly knitted brow. Seeing that they showed no reaction and remained relatively calm, he relaxed somewhat.

Kuang Shao almost slammed his desk and stood up. Fortunately, Zhan Yu shot him a warning glare, causing him to sink back down bitterly. Before sitting down, he glared daggers at Bai Ruchen—who knew if their faction was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes? Did this Xuan Guo even have the guts on her own?

Xuan Xuan let out a mocking chuckle as she looked at Xuan Guo across the way. Was Xuan Guo really that desperate, insecure, or out of her mind to dare spout such reckless nonsense?

Even Moying Weihao and Moying Weihan sneered coldly.

Seeing that they remained silent, Xuan Guo's arrogance flared even higher. She demanded, "What, are you struck dumb with silence?"

Zheng Chao could no longer hold back. This mecha was built by himself and Xuan Xuan—though mostly under Xuan Xuan's guidance—and he certainly wouldn't let anyone insult Xuan Xuan. He shot back at Xuan Guo, "Then who do you think built our mecha?"

"A mecha inspection will reveal the truth. I demand the public disclosure of their mecha modification schematics," Xuan Guo sneered.

Many people arched their brows. The mecha used by Moying Weihao and his team were visibly superior to many models currently on the market in numerous aspects. If those blueprints were truly made public, quite a few people here would be laughing all the way to the bank.

Even a number of figures on the VIP platform lit up with interest. If such mecha technology were made public, they, sitting right here, would be the ultimate beneficiaries. However, they immediately cast sideways glances at Kuang Shao and the others. What was the exact relationship between the Moying, Kuang, and Zhan families right now?

Had they genuinely formed an alliance?

If that were true, it was a force worthy of serious apprehension.

Zheng Chao angrily retorted, "This is our own achievement! Why should we make it public?"

"Yours?" Xuan Guo challenged with a sarcastic laugh. "Do you expect anyone to believe that your level of skill could produce a mecha like this? I advise you to confess early about who actually helped you build it."

"What makes you say this isn't their achievement?" Kuang Shao stood up directly from the VIP platform, using the audio equipment beside him to broadcast his voice. "I can vouch for the fact that they built it themselves."

Xuan Guo smiled derisively. "Everyone knows your relationship with them isn't ordinary. You're vouching for them? Who would believe that?"

"I believe it," Zhan Yu and Ai Zhe said simultaneously.

As soon as the words left their mouths, the two men exchanged a sideways glance, both harboring an inexplicable trace of hostility.

Xuan Xuan raised an eyebrow. Were these people accusing them of cheating, or were they interrogating Kuang Shao and the others?

Why was everyone getting so worked up over nothing?

Bai Ruchen abruptly stood up from the VIP platform and said, "Don't you think you guys should recuse yourselves to avoid a conflict of interest?"

The corners of Xuan Guo's mouth twitched upward. Hadn't Moying Xuan Xuan failed to notice it as well?

Ai Kang's communicator vibrated slightly, prompting him to contact Ai Zhe. At a time like this, they ought to sit back and watch the tigers fight from the mountain top; perhaps they would be the fishermen who reap the ultimate profit.

Ai Zhe glanced down at the communicator in his hand, then up at the VIP platform. After a moment of hesitation, he terminated the connection.

Ai Kang flew into a rage.

Yet Ai Zhe merely offered a faint smile and asked Xuan Guo down in the arena, "What if I choose to believe them?"