Master of Kaidan
Chapter 356: The Answer from the Old Era

Chapter 356: Chapter 356: The Answer from the Old Era

The explosion kicked up a dust cloud that covered dozens of meters, but the mecha piloted by Augustus didn’t use it as a chance to flee. Instead, he immediately dismantled the missile launchers that had run out of ammo, making the newly attached arms look as lean and skeletal as the other parts. At the same time, he reached over and stripped some fighting equipment and two power boxes from the wreckage nearby, then began to move along the ruined streets.

"This choice of weapons, it’s like a dream back to the 2.0 era," Victor sighed as he looked at the lightly equipped Shield of George. Yelo, the professional commentator beside him, immediately followed up with an explanation:

"What Victor is referring to as the 2.0 era is the Battlefield Mecha version before the S1 season, that version of the game. Back then, due to its hardcore nature, the player base was small, but the gameplay was equally hardcore. If the 1.0 era was when players were getting familiar with the game, then 2.0 was when players engaged in cutthroat competition. Many of the Battlefield Mecha memes that circulate online today emerged from that period. It was the breakout of the 2.0 era that led to today’s Battlefield Alliance."

Yelo paused there, and Victor, also quite nostalgic, added:

"I had just retired back then. It was my former comrades who recommended the game to me. The community was filled with military enthusiasts and actual veterans, and the gameplay was quite realistic. There were two notoriously infamous schools back then, one called Mine Dog, the other Blade Thief. The reason they were infamous was that players with these tactics polarized opinions significantly: experts could make their opponents so frustrated they’d quit the game, while novices could drive their teammates to give up. And now, Mr. George’s approach of discarding all armor to use only fighting equipment, that’s a classic Blade Thief build."

"But, Mr. Victor, you just said that you guys wouldn’t dare to play like that in your game!" Yelo unabashedly called him out, but Victor simply waved his hand and said:

"What I said was that the continuous double S maneuver isn’t viable, and this extreme armorless Blade Thief style is no longer suitable for the current version.

"In the 2.0 era, the game’s data was completely realistic, very hardcore. The armorless Shield of George had a huge advantage in speed; as long as he could successfully get within ten meters of the enemy, he could achieve a one-hit kill.

"But the current version, in the interest of playability, has made concessions on realism. For instance, under normal circumstances, a high explosive bomb would be enough to completely break the will to resist, but in the game, a little bit of armor talent can withstand three direct hits. This has caused the armorless Blade Thief to lose that ’if successful, one-hit kill; if failed, get instantly killed’ thrill.

"However, even in Alliance competition, after running out of ammo, fighting and slashing without armor is a common tactic, and I’ve got highlight reels in my livestream... uh, did I already recommend it?"

Yelo heard this but didn’t join in the conversation. Instead, he suddenly spoke in a very loud tone:

"Okay, we can see, Mr. George’s mecha has re-entered the enemy radar zone. This time the target is five machines with purple paint jobs. These are the 6th generation mechs ’Phantom Pain’ from the Purple Light Consortium.

"When it comes to the data of Battlefield Mecha, these types of mechs have fire control modules, AI-assist modules, and weapon configurations that are superior to Constantin’s Shield of George. They are priced about twenty percent higher, but the enemy detection system is somewhat worse, reportedly due to issues with graphic recognition patents...

"Additionally, it is rumored that these mechs are quite difficult to maintain, and the weapon interfaces are not compatible with those of mainstream mechs on the market. Therefore, aside from the companies owned by the Purple Light Consortium, they mostly receive private orders..."

"That’s right, the appearance of Purple Light’s ’Phantom Pain’ on the battlefield is a burden for both sides. When I was in the military, someone once captured a Purple Light mech; the maintenance team threw it out, telling him if he wanted to pilot that thing, he’d have to pay for an extra maintenance squad..."

Victor recounted his military experience with a sincere smile, but as he watched the Shield of George on the screen, now chased by the ’Phantom Pain,’ he grew stern and said:

"Though the maintenance is a hassle, it’s undeniable that Purple Light’s fire control is absolutely the best among all 6th generation mechs. At this distance, even the armorless Shield of George will find it hard to escape targeting. If my guess is correct, at the next intersection, those few Purple Lights will start..."

"Bang!"

Before Victor could finish his sentence, the [Phantom Pain] trailing behind Shield of George suddenly exploded into a burst of flames. Yelo’s professional instinct kicked in immediately, almost simultaneously hitting the split-screen playback.

With the slow-motion replay from the high-speed camera, everyone then noticed that, as that mech cautiously advanced, a flying knife suddenly sprung from the ground and hit the Phantom Pain’s cockpit with unerring precision.

"Fuck! Landmine dogs!" Victor blurted out almost subconsciously, while Yelo said in disbelief,

"Is that an anti-tank flying knife? But when?"

"Keep backing up!" Victor obviously hadn’t noticed when exactly the launcher had been placed either and immediately hit the playback button. As the video on the split screen rewound, they finally got back to the scene where the armorless Shield of George passed by.

"Slow it down a bit, one-fifth... there!" Victor slammed the pause button, and at one-fifth speed, the audience noticed that during the armorless Shield of George’s fluid movement, like figure skating, in an apparent manual action of balancing on the ground, an anti-tank flying knife along with its launcher was wedged between a pile of rubble.

"Why would it be placed here? How could he be certain the enemy would step exactly on this spot?" Yelo looked dumbfounded at the flying knife launcher, which had no remote control system and could only be triggered by physical contact. He couldn’t figure it out, but Victor didn’t bother thinking and said directly:

"That kind of thing is for post-battle analysis. Right now, the focus is on the remaining four! Oh, three! That flying knife was beautiful!"

Yelo immediately shifted his attention back to the main screen, where he saw a [Phantom Pain] spraying out a large amount of condensate, like a fountain.

The remaining three [Phantom Pain] had already completed their merging and seemed to have learned from their previous lesson. This time, they didn’t perform any third-rate act of "licking their lips in front of their prey," but instead, distributed their ammo in fixed waves towards the area where Shield of George was located.

"It’s over! There’s no way the double S maneuver can dodge this!" Yelo exclaimed, while Victor narrowed his eyes and frowned:

"Shut up, watch closely..."

"Pop!"

Just as Victor spoke, a square box burst out from the dense smoke with a soft sound. Victor, seeing this, slammed the keyboard furiously and waved his arm excitedly:

"It’s the escape pod! There are actually crazy fuckers who dare to do this in reality!"

However, before he could finish, he watched, wide-eyed, as the escape pod precisely smashed onto the head of a [Phantom Pain].

"Fuck! Did they miscalculate the escape pod’s elevation angle?"