Chapter 74: How Hard is a Martian's Mouth?

"What are you looking at? Haven't you finished the replay analysis yet?" Depuya shouted. As the oldest in the team and the Team Leader, his authority was rock solid. The little brats on the side just loved to watch the excitement; losing was one thing, but it mattered who they lost to.

You can start imagining it now; the Moon Person nannies and these Martian bastards can just wait to die.

The replay analysis was out. Huonan was still holding his breath, not having sent his tip yet. He wanted to wait; if he was going to die, he wanted to die knowing why. Maybe there was still a turning point? Maybe Depuya had gone easy on him? As long as he could catch one detail, he would save two Space Fortresses.

The earlier part of the fight was fine. After a brief pause, Depuya launched a fierce offensive—the breathtaking Devil Waltz. After all, he was one of the Fifteen Generals. He used the Strong Control Continuous Arc Step, maxing out his operations. This was something that could only be achieved with a thorough understanding of the Silver Fox mecha, and it definitely had to suit his own characteristics. Extreme mecha operation is hard to replicate because it carries a strong personal touch. The more top-tier the expert, the more they focus on developing an offensive style that fits their own operations and personality to reach the goal of surpassing limits.

In the first circle, there were only four strikes, two layers of eight blades. In the second circle, an average person's stamina would be waning, but Depuya executed an even faster two layers of ten blades. At this point, regardless of whether the attack landed, once the rotational force reached its limit, he would swing out. It was simply: if a strike didn't land, immediately pull back to a sufficient safety distance. It truly shone brightly in the S Tournament, and it was something that could only be formed by the performance and fluidity of the Silver Fox mecha. If it had been any other mecha, it would have tumbled off to who knows where after one circle.

However, the Armor Leopard only performed an inward spin and blocked all the attacks. It wasn't just a block; every blade carried an indescribable... flavor.

Zhou Naiyi could see it; women are more sensitive when it comes to intuition. This block was as delicate as threading a needle, without a trace of aggression. It was certain that the pilot's inner state was like a calm lake reflecting the entire set of movements. This kind of psychological quality was simply like... a machine.

And Depuya, having finished a set of attacks, also sensed the crisis. Not only did he swing out, but he also accelerated to break away, and at this moment, the fatal pursuit appeared.

Flash Strike. It was indeed a Flash Strike. Usually, one uses a Frontal Flash Strike—fast and efficient. But the Puppet's Armor Leopard used a Side Flash Strike, flashing to the rear of the Silver Fox. The Silver Fox had judged it correctly and performed a block.

But why?

The slow-motion replay showed that during this side Flash Strike, the Titanium Blade and the Laser Sword made contact for a moment, but the force was clearly insufficient—it was a feint. And immediately following that, there was another sound, and the Armor Leopard vanished.

This...

A secondary Reverse Flash Strike???

Can a mecha's engine energy storage perform a secondary Flash Strike? That doesn't exist! Even the Silver Fox couldn't do it; how could the Armor Leopard?

Zhuang Zhou also felt that something was wrong here. He glanced at Huonan, and Huonan bared his teeth on his conflicted face, saying nothing. To be honest, he just wanted to wait and let time linger a little longer.

Sighing, a massive Space Fortress fell onto the live stream's chat feed.

Huonan's heart and liver were trembling; this was his life savings.

When the second Space Fortress fell, the rims of Huonan's eyes turned red. He felt his "little sweetie" was about to leave him. This damn professional integrity.

After a moment, Huonan cleared his throat. "The first strike wasn't a Flash Strike; it was a unique dash of the Armor Leopard, also a feature from its original design. It can perform continuous, short-distance, rigid linear dashes, just a little bit faster." When he said "rigid," Huonan felt even more heartbroken. "The second segment was the Flash Strike, and it was the real killing blow—simple, insidious, and highly deceptive. But if you judged it wrong, the first strike could also kill."

The chat feed took off. It had to be said, Huonan was still more knowledgeable than Zhuang Zhou. This was also the effect that the Father of Armor Series, Jiabo, wanted to achieve back then. The performance and styling were all designed for the way of the assassin who strikes suddenly. At the time, everyone thought he had gone mad with his design, but...

The Armor Leopard could win too?

In a short time, it rushed to the trending searches. The live stream's popularity had already exceeded 15 million. The main reason was the sheer hype; Depuya was taken out in seconds after using the Devil Waltz. From the very beginning, he hadn't formed any suppression, and he was forced to use his trump card only to have his defense completely deflected by the Armor Leopard, resulting in a one-hit kill. He had never lost like this in the S Tournament.

The Puppet continued the myth. This time, he used the Armor Leopard. He had used all of the USE's "Fries Brothers," and he seemed to have developed a way to use the Armor Leopard.

Zhuang Zhou looked at the chat feed and didn't know when the chat started to line up in perfect unison: USE Rise~~~

This was not just a victory; it let all Earthlings stop denying themselves. The three major Armor Series mechas are the foundation of human mechas—not Earth's, but all of humanity's. But with development, the USE began a cycle of constant denial, recognition, and denial. And now, all the major military academies seem to be a bit lost. Many military academies have started blindly imitating the NUP; anything NUP is advanced, anything NUP is good. If you don't understand it, it's because you don't get it. This kind of blindness is not rare. Even top experts like Depuya are studying NUP's Light Type mechas, which in itself explains a lot of problems. Of course, this isn't pointing fingers at Depuya; many military academies demand exactly this. Mentors and instructors all say, "Don't go against the trend; learn with an open mind."

The logic isn't wrong, but is the origin of the mecha wrong?

Some people have doubts and have raised questions, but no one can give an answer.

Now, someone has given the answer: the Armor Series is very strong!

"Brothers, the Puppet God is telling us that there are no weak mechas, only pilots who don't know how to use them," Zhuang Zhou said. "We cannot deny the strength and uniqueness of other theaters, but our USE's combat tactics and mechas are definitely not weak. We also have our own style!"

This sentence completely resonated with everyone. This was also what many people had been thinking. They had always felt the Puppet wanted to tell everyone something, and that was it.

Although Huonan was trying his best to hide it, his pale complexion and slightly trembling fingers exposed everything. Hearing this, he felt like he had been stabbed again. "What does your rise have to do with me?" The hypocrisy and vanity of Earthlings, plus his own two Space Fortresses—what kind of background does this guy have? How could anyone use an Armor Leopard like this?

"Huo Laoshi... do you want to take a break?" Zhuang Zhou said subconsciously. This really wasn't mockery; Huonan's complexion was truly terrible right now.

Huonan was about to ignite upon hearing this, but seeing Zhuang Zhou's sincere eyes, he curled his lips. "Little Zhuang, I'm a professional. I can handle this little accident..."

He felt his heart ache again.

"Maybe we should call off our bet." Zhuang Zhou felt a bit reluctant; at the critical moment, Huonan hadn't welched.

But as a man, a Martian man, the thing he couldn't bear most was pity.

"It can't be called off. Little Zhuang, you're a good kid, but I'm not targeting anyone. I've locked horns with this guy. If he has the guts, he can bankrupt me, or I'll watch him get killed with my own eyes. I don't believe it; there's no one who can deal with him!"

And you have to say, Huonan's gritted-teeth look gathered a huge wave of people on Mars. At this time, they needed a Martian expert to stand up and sanction this arrogant Earthling. He even dared to use an Armor Leopard; this was not putting the experts of the entire Solar System in his eyes.

"Huonan, a real Martian man! Our Martian Warriors will definitely be able to sanction him!"

"Brothers, go, go, go! Initiate a challenge, support Huonan!"

"Exactly! Even the Armor Leopard came out? What kind of nonsense is this? It must be a self-directed act by the Earthlings. They definitely went easy on him. Martian Warriors, charge!"

The ding-dong sounds in Li Hao's ears were like firecrackers. He was too lazy to open them and went straight into ranked play.

Seeing the Puppet enter ranked play, the Martian audience exploded. "Look at this! This is absolute cowardice! He's definitely looking for noobs within the USE."

"If he has the ability, let him win once against another theater using the Armor Leopard."

"Depuya is definitely an actor. I've watched five years of EMP; it's never fought like this. There was no real confrontation, and suddenly, like a performance, he used his trump card and then got taken out. It was all flashy and fake!"

"That's for sure! He's one of the USE's Fifteen Generals, and he got crushed by an Armor Leopard? Isn't this obviously acting?"

"Yeah, I also feel something is wrong. It looked lively, but it shouldn't be like this. How was the Waltz broken?"

"Broken my ass! Details! Look at the replay yourselves. The Armor Leopard's body barely had any violent shaking during the rotational defense. What does that mean?"

"It means Depuya was just going through the motions and not putting in effort, just putting on a show?"

"Definitely! How could the collision of Light Type mechas be so light and breezy? Unless the Puppet's strength and control are two grades higher than Depuya's. Isn't that a joke?"

"Yeah, I also think the last match was very strange. They were fighting and then it was over, and he used a big move that didn't do anything."

"This is definitely not Depuya's real level. It's definitely rigged! Earthlings love doing this kind of thing!"

For a time, voices of doubt were rampant, with Martians as the main force and Moon People fanning the flames. The Earth side was actively fighting back at first, but as they fought back, they were suppressed because... they also felt it was absurd.

It was just too absurd. As one of the Fifteen Generals, Depuya was a serious warrior. Even if he was careless this time, could it be such a coincidence?

Other mechas would be one thing, but this was the Armor Leopard.

A completely abandoned work, deemed a failure by countless pilots, suddenly made a comeback?

Ding-dong...

Opponent confirmed—Salasi, from the ROM theater, Huoyun Military Academy, an A-Grade military academy. Without a doubt, a disciple of the Ghost Martial Sect. There was a shining badge on the ID; this was an Ace badge for the theater, meaning the player's win rate with a certain mecha (guaranteeing a certain number of matches) was in the top ten of the entire theater.

(Let the plot fly for a while; maybe this is a suspense novel disguised as a power fantasy ^_^)