Chapter 149 Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes

Xuan Xuan gave Wanxiu Weihao a very surprised look. She had never thought that Wanxiu Weihao would say such words, nor did she know that the Wanxiu brothers were aware of other matters.

However, the two of them spoke in very low voices, so the audience in the arena did not hear them. Yet, every word Wanxiu Weihao articulated clearly was captured by Bai Ruchen, who saw it all too well. Even without hearing the audio, reading the lip movements was enough. Bai Ruchen’s face instantly turned extremely unsightly. He looked at the two of them, the corners of his mouth curving slightly into a mocking sneer. It seemed his father had indeed miscalculated; how could these two possibly conform to the desires of the Bai family?

Though Bai Ruchen’s expression was grim, he said nothing more. He understood the principle that family scandals should not be aired in public. He cast a deep look at the two Wanxiu brothers before turning his gaze to Director Wu, asking, "For the sake of fairness, Director Wu, you wouldn't favor one of the teams, would you?"

Director Wu’s expression was also less than pleasant. Pushed into this corner by Bai Ruchen in such a public setting, if he said no, it would imply he intended to show favoritism—yet wasn't the current situation precisely about protecting the Wanxiu family?

"Of course the inspection cannot be made public. That would infringe upon the rights and interests of Wanxiu Weihao's team," Director Wu refused without hesitation.

The smile at the corner of Bai Ruchen’s mouth deepened. "Is Director Wu truly determined to favor them?"

"You—" Before Director Wu could finish his sentence, someone beside him waved a hand. He stepped back and saw Liao Kun, the President of the Federal First Military Academy, standing beside him and taking over the conversation. "Fairness must naturally be upheld, but not at the expense of others' interests."

Bai Ruchen looked toward him and said very deferentially, "President Liao will naturally uphold fairness."

Liao Kun looked at Bai Ruchen with an ambiguous smile. The Bai family certainly harbored great ambitions. "To publicly dismantle the mecha of the 'One-Hit Kill' team for inspection is naturally out of the question. All our mechas are equipped with anti-cheating systems. We will conduct an internal inspection to verify whether these mechas are indeed the work of the 'One-Hit Kill' team, and the results will be made public."

Liao Kun had decided on this method of internal inspection only after obtaining the consent of Wanxiu Yi from the Wanxiu family and Kuang Hongyi from the Kuang family. He glanced at Xuan Xuan down in the arena and asked in a gentle voice, "Does your team agree?"

Wanxiu Weihao and the others all looked at Xuan Xuan. After all, the mecha modifications were entirely Xuan Xuan's achievement. Xuan Xuan glanced at her father and, seeing him nod almost imperceptibly, replied, "We agree."

Liao Kun was quite satisfied. The Wanxiu family not only had two fine grandsons, but this granddaughter was equally extraordinary.

Bai Ruchen looked toward the center of the martial arena. "It's not that I doubt President Liao's impartiality, but who knows if your subordinates might pay lip service while acting otherwise? I think it would be better if the mecha repairers from all the present families conducted the inspection together."

"Do you doubt my ability to manage my subordinates?" Liao Kun let out a cold snort and asked directly.

Bai Ruchen did not dare to provoke Liao Kun to that extent and could only reply, "I wouldn't dare."

"You wouldn't dare? So you still harbor doubts?" Liao Kun's dominance was unmistakable; just anyone thought they could come to the Federal First Military Academy and point fingers.

Bai Ruchen fell silent. Unwilling to let this opportunity slip away so easily, his communicator vibrated. He glanced at it, the corner of his mouth curving upward, and said, "President Liao is joking. Ruchen was once your student, after all, and naturally would not doubt your ability."

Kang, on the other hand, gave Bai Ruchen a rather strange look, his eyes narrowing slightly. This did not seem to be the style of the Bai family. Could they still have a backup plan? He then looked at Kang in the arena and felt another surge of irritation; this son only listened to his grandfather and completely ignored his own words—he had raised him for nothing.

Xuan Guo seemed even more resentful, but since the school authorities were willing to conduct an inspection, she refused to believe they would dare to blatantly favor Wanxiu Xuan Xuan and the others.

Liao Kun nodded and said to the audience in the arena, "The school authorities will investigate this matter. Please rest assured that the Federal First Military Academy will not show any favoritism."

Since Bai Ruchen did not dare to utter any words of dissent, the others in the arena naturally said nothing further.

The competition continued in the arena. Liao Kun arranged for Wanxiu Weihao to pilot the mecha to the school's mecha laboratory to begin the inspection. To prevent cheating, all mechas were equipped with monitoring systems that recorded the mecha's modification process at all times.

Therefore, to determine whether Xuan Xuan's team had cheated, they only needed to open the monitoring logs on the mecha. For the sake of fairness, Wanxiu Weihao and the others were asked to leave. Only after everyone had departed did Liao Kun arrange for technicians to open the video footage on the mecha. In truth, although he believed the words of Wanxiu Yi and Kuang Hongyi that the mecha must have been built by Xuan Xuan, he also assumed Kuang Hongyi must have provided guidance alongside her.

After all, she was only a teenager of a little over ten years old. Furthermore, he had watched the Rookie Tournament; as an experienced mecha pilot, one could tell the quality of a mecha at a glance. Just how formidable this modified MC-250 was could be seen immediately, so he did not believe Xuan Xuan could have completed it entirely on her own.

The mecha modification segments were not overly extensive, and the footage was quickly reviewed using fast-forward. After watching it once, many people re-watched the video obtained from the surveillance logs. Liao Kun sighed softly. Back then, Kuang Hongyi had requested to send in a specially recruited student. Given Kuang Hongyi's status, his student naturally would not be ordinary, especially someone from the Wanxiu family, so he had admitted her without testing.

Never had he imagined that he had unwittingly stumbled upon such a priceless treasure without even realizing it.

The Wanxiu family was truly blessed.

Throughout the entire video, Xuan Xuan was only seen directing Zheng Chao, a companion by her side, while some parts were manufactured by Zhan Yu based on blueprints provided by Xuan Xuan. Kuang Hongyi, surprisingly, stood by in an attitude of learning. Even more unbelievable was the latter part, where Xuan Xuan explained the capabilities of the modified mecha.

Looking at the mecha before him, Liao Kun felt a stirring of temptation. To a mecha pilot, an exceptional mecha was much like a fine pack of cigarettes to a heavy smoker; for soldiers and mecha pilots alike, a great mecha held an irresistible allure.

The group of mecha designers under Liao Kun's command retrieved Xuan Xuan and her team's performance footage from the tournament and consulted Liao Kun regarding the combat prowess of these mecha pilots. A blazing light burned in everyone's eyes; gazing at the mecha before them made them look more infatuated than a groom looking at his bride.

Everyone wanted to dismantle it to take a look, but Liao Kun immediately put a stop to the idea. If they actually took it apart, those two old foxes from the Wanxiu and Kuang families would probably skin him alive. Even without dismantling it, however, the group proceeded to conduct a test drive of the mecha and recorded all its data.

Xuan Xuan grew impatient with the wait as no news came from the mecha laboratory, so she and Wanxiu Weihan left for home first, while Wanxiu Weihao remained behind.

While everyone was engrossed in discussing the mecha, even Liao Kun failed to notice that the communicator of one of the mecha designers had flashed.

Due to the excitement of this group, until the end of all matches for the day, the audience in the arena still had not received any definitive news. Meanwhile, the cold sneer in Xuan Guo's eyes deepened; if Wanxiu Xuan Xuan's team's mecha hadn't malfunctioned, how could it possibly have taken this long?

Without Xuan Xuan's team and Ai Zhe's team in today's matches, Xuan Guo and her group effortlessly eliminated another team to advance to the finals.

As they were leaving the venue, she cast a mocking glance at Wanxiu Weihao. "What? Too ashamed to stay, leaving only the sole survivor?"

"You court death, you won't die—why bother?" Wanxiu Weihao remarked. Framing others so casually this time should be enough to teach her a harsh lesson, shouldn't it?

"Hmph, you're the ones refusing to turn back before hitting a brick wall, aren't you?" Xuan Guo gave a cold laugh, astonished that Wanxiu Weihao could still act so righteous at this point. "Heh, I'd like to see how miserably you're all chased out of the school tomorrow."

Wanxiu Weihao merely smiled. Where did her misplaced confidence even come from?

Without wasting any more breath on Xuan Guo, he turned and left.

After the venue cleared out, Bai Ruchen dropped Bai Rumeng and exchanged a few words with Xuan Guo before hurrying home. The reason he had backed down and compromised so readily earlier was because his father had suddenly contacted him.

"Father." As soon as Bai Ruchen returned home, he went straight into the study and asked with deep puzzlement, "Why did you tell me to yield? Won't that waste this opportunity?"

Bai Zhenhua motioned for him to sit down. "Take a look at this first."

Had Liao Kun been present, he would have recognized this as the very same surveillance footage of the mecha they had just viewed—yet somehow, it had been leaked.

After watching everything, Bai Ruchen was somewhat shaken. Although he knew that particular mecha modification method had a certain utility and unique traits, he had never expected it to be of this caliber. Moreover, Wanxiu Xuan Xuan's talent in mecha manufacturing far exceeded all expectations.

"Is this real?" Bai Ruchen still found it hard to believe.

Bai Zhenhua sighed and said, "I truly underestimated the Wanxiu family. This was transmitted to me by someone I contacted inside the Federal First Military Academy right when you informed me about the matter."

"We still have people inside the Federal First Military Academy?" Bai Ruchen asked in astonishment.

Bai Zhenhua looked at him with a mix of exasperation and disappointment; this son still fell short of his expectations. Nevertheless, he instructed him, "Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat. In this world, the most important thing is not merely brute force, but information. Only when you possess sufficient data and intelligence can you control the every move of others and turn situations to your advantage."

Bai Ruchen nodded submissively and accepted the lesson. Bai Zhenhua sighed inwardly: their martial strength was inferior to the Wanxiu family, their prestige lagged behind the Zhan family, their financial resources could not match the Kuang family, and their connections fell short of the Federal First Military Academy. If not for their shrewd methods in the political arena, how could the Bai family possibly survive among these major clans?

"How do you think this should be handled?" Bai Zhenhua asked. Matters of this magnitude still had to be taught step by step.

Bai Ruchen pondered for a moment. "If Wanxiu Xuan Xuan cannot be made to serve us, she must be eliminated directly. But I still want to try recruiting her first, along with that student who performed the hands-on work—he should know a thing or two about these techniques as well."

"And what else? What other issues did you notice?" Bai Zhenhua probed further.