Chapter 259: One Mountain Cannot Accommodate Two Tigers

Accompanied by the sneers of some, the expressions of the entire North Caro team turned solemn; they were all the elite of Tianqi back in the day.

Lu Donglei watched the two sides at daggers drawn; he looked cold on the surface, but inside he was actually a bit happy. Finally, damn it, there was some backbone. He wanted to see exactly what level Chao Qinglong had reached. As for Li Hao, there was no help for it; although the teacher had given instructions, if he could temper North Caro and give Chao Qinglong a boost, it would also be a contribution to Earth. After all, there could only be one leader.

"Very well, I choose four events: evasion, impact resistance, shooting, and a one-on-one duel. Each individual event is worth one point, and the final duel is worth two. You have half an hour to prepare."

Lu Donglei said, while simultaneously ordering the staff to begin preparations.

This was really about to start. The atmosphere in the entire training ground suddenly became lively. What could be more attractive to everyone than this? Those who understood knew that this was a war between the new king and the old king; one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers.

For those watching the spectacle, they could also understand the subsequent training through the battles of these people.

In the operations room, the Tianjing Martial Arts side was silent. Wuzang and the others all had heavy expressions. Ma Long slumped in his chair. What was this? What had he done? Why did he have to experience this?

Was the Tianjing Martial Arts journey in the Mid-Season Tournament, or even the S Tournament, going to end right here? This was too unfair. They had zero hope of beating North Caro; Aofei and Depuya had to win, but Qiongdong and Kaierfu were not weak at all.

Perhaps just a moment ago, there was only one possibility: for Li Hao to admit defeat and find a weaker team.

But things had reached this point; was it too late to go back on it? There was no strategy, no tactics, and time kept moving forward.

It was finally about to begin.

The first to duel were Depuya's Prometheus and Perkins's Kaierfu. This time, the two did not bicker as they had in the past. In fact, back at Tianqi, they had the best relationship, but they parted ways because of the accident. With this battle, the old friendship was gone. The onlookers whispered; even those who didn't understand the situation at this time knew the gist of it. The root cause was the dispute between Chao Qinglong and Li Hao.

Lu Donglei personally acted as the referee. "The first event: evasion training."

For Prometheus, Lander went up, and for Kaierfu, it was Seth.

In front of the two was a smooth, flat metal wall with a silver texture. Both were in Light Type Mecha; evasion and agility were fundamental, and it was even more so without the constraints of a mecha. They also had various evasion training in their daily routines.

Lu Donglei looked at the two. "The first to be hit loses. Begin."

The two instantly focused their minds. The next second, a patch of silver light points erupted from the wall. The two were only three meters away from the wall; by the time they realized something was wrong and wanted to activate their Red Pupil, it was already too late. Accompanied by screams, the two were turned into "sieves." Lu Donglei didn't even look. "Double loss!"

These people were too arrogant. Did they really think the military hadn't made any preparations? Did they really think they would let them play house?

"A reminder to you all: all participants will have their scores recorded as part of your final total score."

Second event: impact resistance.

The sturdiest team members from both sides took the stage. The impact resistance of Heavy Armor was undoubtedly the strongest. This time, both were prepared. As soon as they got up there, they let out a roar and entered the Golden Zone, their muscles tensed, ready for battle.

The next second, a metal cylinder with a diameter of one meter blasted out like a cannonball. Both had a circle under their feet; whoever was knocked out first lost, and they were not allowed to evade.

Seeing an attack of this magnitude, the first reaction of both was to evade, but after all, they were members of top USE teams, and long-term training suppressed their instincts. They braced their arms and took the hit head-on, then both flew backward seven or eight meters and fell to the ground. Neither of them had managed to withstand a single hit; they struggled to crawl up, but had no strength left.

Lu Donglei didn't even look. "All failed."

They had thought it would be a fierce battle, but it turned out that the training itself was stealing the show. Prometheus and Kaierfu, which definitely counted as strong teams, had played to a zero-to-zero draw.

Lu Donglei's expression was very dark, but if he had a choice, he would probably eliminate these ill-prepared losers directly. Of course, he also had to give all the participating

teams a warning. These people were far too relaxed and had no sense of responsibility or crisis regarding the grim situation.

"Third event: shooting training!"

Lu Donglei said in a deep voice.

Depuya and Perkins also had extremely ugly expressions. This was just training, damn it; didn't they have any face? At the very least, they had always been first-rate teams.

The main Snipers went up. Being able to hold the Sniper position meant they were inevitably skilled with various firearms. They were much more accurate when shooting themselves than when piloting a Mecha, which ensured their feel as pilots. The Snipers who took the stage were quite confident.

Looking at the situation, it should be shooting clay pigeons or something similar, at most adding some obstacles to create difficulty, but these were all daily routines.

For Prometheus, it was Xilan, and Kaierfu's Sniper was Monazayi, also a famous Sniper in the USE. Both had participated in the S10. Tactical execution aside, shooting was a basic skill.

"This event is very simple: just hit the clay pigeons. The one with the higher hit rate wins."

After Lu Donglei finished speaking, Xilan and Monazayi couldn't hide a trace of smugness at the corners of their mouths. In fact, who didn't want to show themselves off in the spotlight? Although there weren't many spectators below, they were all top-tier figures in the industry. "Let's begin, General!"

The soldiers brought out pistols, the standard-issue sidearms of the current military, the Huwei M2. This was even more of a training fundamental. But the next second, the two couldn't laugh anymore. With the guns in hand, the soldiers put blindfolds on them.

"These are specially made for the Mid-Season Tournament; even if you possess a clairvoyance ability, it's useless."

After Lu Donglei finished speaking, there was a round of whispering below. Was this trying to kill people without mercy?

They had heard that this year's Mid-Season Tournament was different, but did it have to be this perverted?

Xilan and Monazayi were dumbfounded. After putting on the blindfolds, they completely lost their sight. But almost subconsciously, the ears of both twitched twice. Listening for position was difficult, but this time they were competing for hit rate; all they had to do was be better than their opponent.

Then, a piercing roar sounded in their ears, their heads buzzing. The next second, the clay pigeons flew out.

They had to enter the Golden Zone. Powerful Mental Power would form a sharp lock on the outside world. They had to use Mental Power to lock on, while relying on a powerful "feel"—the muscle instinct formed by long-term training—to hit the targets.

Xilan and Monazayi had ugly expressions; their minds were blank. They couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything. The Red Pupil would give them some keenness, allowing them to sense the clay pigeons coming out, but they couldn't grasp this speed or this trajectory at all.

Ten seconds passed. The two held their guns, not firing a single shot.

"Failure!"

Three rounds passed, and the two incredibly arrogant teams were rubbed into the dirt, receiving a harsh slap in the face. Xilan and Monazayi, having taken off their blindfolds, also lowered their heads.

It wasn't that they didn't want to guess, but before they could react, their rhythm and judgment were completely disrupted. By the time they thought about it, time was already up.

At this moment, all the remaining forty teams let go of their previous superiority. Yes, even after the baptism of the Giant Insects, they looked down on the Mid-Season Tournament in their bones, believing that the so-called training itself had no meaning at all. They were still being picked from among them, and it was still they who determined the standard.

This was because the performance of previous training team members was definitely higher than the military average, which made the Mid-Season Training seem flashy but without substance. Of course, the military couldn't increase difficulty just for the sake of difficulty, but this time was different. The three basic training sessions were not aimless; they all had specific targets.

Evasion was the simplest; ejecting metal balls was nothing new, but the difficulty was indeed high. This was considering the powerful pre-judgment and reaction after the awakening of the Golden Zone. At the same time, it required that once a pre-judgment was made, the body had to keep up, otherwise it was useless. The military realized that awakening was not the goal; the power awakened needed the body's cooperation to achieve unity.

The second event, impact resistance, was a requirement for Heavy Armor. This item was not just for confrontation, but a requirement for when situations arose on Kepler. It required Heavy Armor to have an extremely strong ability to face formidable external forces. This also referenced the intensity of Titan.

The third event was a further requirement for Snipers. Compared to other positions, Snipers were the least impacted by the Golden Zone,

but this also meant that Snipers had to improve their impact resistance to face the shocks of other positions that had awakened stronger power, stronger reaction speed, and insight.

It could be said that the survival space for future Snipers would become even more difficult. After discussions, the military department believed that the Sniper position could not be canceled, but should be strengthened. If one awakened the Golden Zone, there must be value in existence, and that power needed to be further excavated.

Of course, these were all foundations. What height one could ultimately reach still depended on the team members' own realization.

All the team members failed the challenge, and the expressions of Depuya and Perkins were also quite ugly.

Lu Donglei didn't save them any face. "This is your so-called confidence and first-rate status. Finally, the two of you will decide the outcome of this match with a one-on-one duel."

The serious-looking Lu Donglei was not in a hurry. What was the mission of the Mid-Season Tournament? It was to solve problems. Before solving problems, he had to make everyone realize the problems. On one hand, it was to determine a leader, and on the other, it was to kill the chicken to warn the monkey. Depuya glanced at Perkins. "Damn it!"

"Are you going to use your mouth!"

Perkins mocked, "What else can you do besides clinging to someone's coattails!"

"That's still much better than you kneeling and licking a traitor's boots!"

The two had been old rivals back in Tianjing, and since both specialized in Light Type Mecha, they truly represented the top level in this area; everyone knew they had been fighting in private, but in terms of overall combat aircraft, Perkins was indeed a bit stronger than Depuya.

"Let's not just blather on; whoever loses will walk the other way from now on!"

Perkins was also getting heated; he had originally wanted to leave the other party some leeway, but the result was every sentence stabbing at his jugular.

"I've been waiting for this day for a long time!"

Depuya threw off his coat; things had reached this point, and he couldn't care about anything else. Damn it, either he would be the one lying down today, or Perkins would be, but in any case, he absolutely could not let his second brother leave the Mid-Season Tournament just like that.

The two arrived at the center of the training ground, where soldiers had already brought up weapon racks containing various cold weapons matching the Mecha types; both silently chose titanium daggers, and in an instant, their expressions fell into Silence, though neither knew how they had ended up at this day, when the two who once had the most similar styles and the best relationship in Tianjing had simply had one follow Li Hao and the other follow Chao Qinglong.

Past events flashed by; what Depuya hated most was a traitor, and if one could say there was no evidence for what happened back then and it could only count as speculation, then kicking someone while they were down today when Chao Qinglong was at his most critical moment in Tianjing explained everything, and this lackey Perkins must pay the price.

*Shing*... Depuya's eyes turned a blood-red color, and Perkins's eyes likewise entered a blood-red state; clearly, both sides had developed the intent to kill.

*Bang bang*... Accompanied by two almost overlapping sounds, both figures arrived at the center simultaneously; Depuya was known for his fast hands, while Perkins had flexible leg techniques, and the attacks of both Light Type pilots were characterized by being fast, accurate, and ruthless; the two engaged in a flurry of offense and defense, both aiming for their opponent's vital points, but there was almost no direct collision as they constantly probed each other, searching for an opportunity for a fatal strike.