Forcefully Doting On You - v2c14

 

Chapter 46

The giant screen displayed a close-up of Mu Cai, who was slender, radiant, and had a charming smile. He waved at the audience and then left the arena.

As Mu Cai left the field, the slim, exquisite, and pure white young figure also disappeared from people's sight. For a moment, except for the spectators in the front row, the thousands of people in attendance and the millions watching the live stream through the interstellar network felt an emptiness in their hearts.

Leon watched as the young man left the field, and his mind, momentarily blank, finally returned to its normal function.

Only at this point, did he reflect on the battle just now. During Mu Cai's fight with Ivan, his movements were extremely fast. Leon roughly estimated that the time it took the opposing mecha to start and come to Ivan's face was even quicker than the time it took to input the command.

This meant that Mu Cai's mecha might have simplified command inputs, strengthened mental control, or - even more likely - reached a stage of complete control using mental power.

Leon turned his head to look at Claire, a hint of curiosity in his eyes, and asked, "Has the Empire developed a new type of mecha?"

Claire finally gave him a straight look and just smiled, "What do you think?"

Leon: "..."

Claire didn't bother with him, went straight past Leon, and quickly walked out from the nearby railing exit.

Mu Cai was intercepted by a reporter.

After each match in the Mecha Tournament, the winners would always be interviewed by reporters off-field. After responding to a few routine questions, the reporter suddenly brought up a rather sharp one:

"Mu Cai, your performance in the match just now was very impressive. However, some experts have calculated the movement time of Qingluan on the field and found that its speed has exceeded the limits of current mech operation modes, even surpassing the time for command input. We would like to know, does your mecha differ from the current standard ones?"

Mu Cai couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He was aware that Claire, as the person in charge of the Leon family, had years of dealings with the military. His operation of Qingluan in the tournament must have been influenced by the military's influence. Any inconsistencies being noticed would have been anticipated.

However, when confronted with this interview, he was unsure how to respond.

On one hand, if he didn't tell the truth, he wouldn't know how to bluff his way through. On the other hand, if he did tell the truth, he wasn't sure to what extent he should mix fiction with the reality.

Just when Mu Cai was troubled, the distant sound of boots stepping on the ground echoed closer. As he turned his head, he saw Claire walking over in a deep-green military uniform.

Facing the camera, Claire, with a formulaic smile on his face and white-gloved hands gently resting on Mu Cai's shoulders, pulled him close in a protective stance. "Mu Cai operates a new model of mecha from the Empire which simplifies part of the command input and enhances mental control over the mecha. Theoretically, that is why his mecha moves faster than the regular ones. Of course, much of this is the result of his own practice."

Mu Cai looked up at Claire, feeling a sense of relief inside.

With Claire stepping in to finish the interview on his behalf, the weight on his heart naturally lightened.

Feeling the relaxed body in his arms, Claire lowered his head and gave Mu Cai a gentle smile.

When the reporter tried to ask more, Claire intervened: "Mu Cai has just finished his match and he needs to rest now. Let's end the interview here."

With that, Claire led Mu Cai away without giving the interviewing reporter any chance to ask more questions.

Mu Cai's match took place in the morning, and it was nearing noon already. After walking out of the arena with Claire, they headed directly towards the cafeteria.

Mulling over the reporter's questions and thinking about his own match, Mu Cai couldn't help but ask the person next to him, "Brother Claire, doesn't using a new model mecha in the arena feel like cheating?"

At Mu Cai's question, Claire laughed. "Of course not." he replied.

As he spoke, he paused to consider something before looking down at Mu Cai and saying softly, "The popularity of your match was quite high, and we've released some explosive information. This video will surely be released. You can check the comments on the StarNet later, don't worry, I'm confident they won't have anything negative to say about you."

Although Mu Cai was unsure why Claire was so certain, he nodded obediently. After having lunch together in the cafeteria, they went back to their rooms.

Once in his room, Mu Cai switched on his smartbrain and logged onto the official site of the Mecha Tournament. As expected, there was a video of him being interviewed.

In just over an hour, the video had been viewed more than a hundred million times.

Looking at the comments under the video, Mu Cai indeed found some questioning the fairness of his actions:

["Hold on, if Mu Cai is using a new type of mecha, isn't that considered cheating? With more psychic power controlling the mech, the speed would definitely be much faster than using command input, right?"]

Comments below were fiercely disputing this one:

["The person above clearly hasn’t piloted a mecha, or doesn't understand how they work. As a senior in mecha manufacturing, I can confidently tell you, although command inputs may be slower, they're much simpler than psychic controls! More psychic controls mean the mecha is harder to master, more factors to consider, and faster brain speed is required. To reach such fast speeds, the effort Mu Cai put in must be more than the other contestants!"]

The number of likes is 20k+

["As a fifth-year student in the mecha combat program and a current contestant, I feel that if Mu Cai's mecha really is as described in the interview, then maybe all of us other contestants are the ones cheating orz."]

The number of likes is 30k+

From the start of his mecha piloting, Mu Cai was introduced to Qingluan, which is entirely controlled by psychic power. He had never operated any of the standard mechas currently in use. He had no understanding of the difference in difficulty, which is why he had asked Claire if he was cheating.

Now that he saw the positive turn of comments, he chose to go offline and get some rest. Today's match was mentally draining, so he needed to unwind.

Therefore, Mu Cai missed the growing discussions about him on StarNet, and the content of these discussions was getting quite off-track:

["Mu Cai is so incredibly good-looking, I can't take it!"]

["The one above, what are you thinking about?"]

["Why is there such a great, so beautiful, so cute, and knows-how-to-pilot-a-mecha omega? Ahhhh! I want to smell his pheromones! They must be as sweet as he is!"]

["The one above, forget it. Look at how Claire is holding him close. It's clear to any alpha. Before fantasizing, better compare the gap between Claire and yourselves. Yes, I'm bitter."]

["I'm bitter as well +1"]

[.....]

________________________

The Mecha Tournament continued its fervent progress.

In the following days, Mu Cai's time was spent in a continuous cycle of training and competing.

The training venue was located 500 meters away from the competition venue. The venue was divided into a public training area and private training rooms. The public training area required no payment of universal points, but only contestants who had not been eliminated had the privilege to continue their training there.

As the competition went on, fewer and fewer people remained in the public training area.

The private training rooms, on the other hand, asked for a high payment in universal points, but anyone could enter, even those not participating in the competition. Each private room could accommodate two to three people, providing environments for both mech combat training and various scenario simulations.

Claire consistently rented a private training room within the training venue. Apart from their own match times and other matches they needed to watch closely, Claire and Mu Cai spent their remaining time training in the room together.

This was the same routine for the day following Mu Cai's competition.

On the broad field, an azure mecha and a silver mecha stood facing each other at opposite ends of the field. (Note: I decided to keep translating 青 as azure, although it could also mean green, sky-blue, and even black. Azure just fits better given the mythological beast Mu Cai's mecha is named after.)

Compared to Bai Ze, Qingluan was one size smaller. It could even be said that Qingluan was smaller than most mechas. Due to Mu Cai's physical limitations, he was never supposed to be strong. Controlling a mecha of normal size would be burdensome for Mu Cai.

Hence, Master Baze made Qingluan slightly smaller when upgrading and refurbishing it. This modification made it easier for Mu Cai to control the entire mecha with his psychic power, along with conserving more energy to work on the development of other mecha functionalities.

After a prolonged standoff, Bai Ze was the first to initiate the attack.

Ever since Qingluan was successfully upgraded to an S-level mech and tested satisfactorily by Mu Cai, Baze began the modification of other mechas in the factory, Bai Ze being the first one to be upgraded.

Bai Ze's commands have now been simplified somewhat. This enables Claire to gradually adapt to controlling the mecha with more psychic power, aiming to eventually achieve full control via psychic energy.

So, their training was not solely about Claire teaching Mu Cai combat tactics; it also involved Mu Cai teaching Claire how to fluidly control the mecha using psychic power.

Though Bai Ze rushed forward swiftly, Qingluan was even faster.

Focused, Mu Cai maneuvered the mecha to sidestep and dodge Bai Ze's head-on charge. However, the next instant, Bai Ze's arm stretched towards Qingluan's arm.

The distance he had leaped was not that far, and Bai Ze's mechanical arm was long. It appeared as if it would grab hold any second.

Instantly, Mu Cai tapped the ground with his foot, spinning the mecha in place, just barely avoiding Bai Ze's grasp with Qingluan's arm.

Through his prolonged training, Mu Cai had discovered this evasion method, utilizing the least psychic energy. Due to his limited physical strength, he tried to minimize body movement and leap the shortest distance possible to conserve psychic power while controlling the mecha for extended periods.

Unexpectedly, Bai Ze made no effort to change direction. Its mechanical arm reached straight for Qingluan's waist, and due to the proximity, it grabbed on almost instantly.

Immediately afterward, Bai Ze's entire mecha lunged forward. Its mechanical arm dragged Qingluan into a spin, embracing the mech from behind and firmly trapping it within its grasp.

Mu Cai: "???"

Mu Cai felt that something was wrong about this position.

________________________

Author's note:

Claire: Is this the legendary "embrace and kill" technique? I can't believe Bai Ze managed to pull it off before I could!

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