IMAO Chapter 103

“Thank goodness, those murderers have been driven away! Hooray!” After being weighed down by despair moments ago, both the slum residents and those who had fled from the North Rio battlefield were overwhelmed with excitement upon seeing the mercenaries leave. They looked up at the two mechas in the sky with fervent eyes, viewing them as guardian deities.

They had been saved! The bombs that should have landed and caused massive casualties were all intercepted in mid-air by their ‘guardian deities’!

Cheers filled the entire slum district. Envy let out a shout toward Alice and Aka, who were perched on the rooftop, “Mom, Uncle Aka!”

With so many people cheering, the sounds merged into a buzzing noise in the mecha’s audio receivers, making it impossible to distinguish what people below were saying. But it was clear they were celebrating their survival.

After Aka calmed down from his excitement, despite knowing they were only temporarily safe, he couldn’t help feeling happy. Suppressing his excitement, he spoke hurriedly, “My lady, just wait a little longer. Our people will arrive soon, and then we can escort you back to the warship.”

“Mm, by the way, have you contacted Uncle Fars?” Once Selena had composed herself, her cool voice matched her striking face, which balanced military decisiveness with feminine Omega gentleness.

“Lord Fars made one communication with everyone after the explosion, temporarily transferring command to Commander Aurelius[mfn]In Chapter 100, he left it to Achilles.[/mfn].”

Upon hearing this, Selena’s brows furrowed slightly, and she immediately said, “Contact Fars at once.”

“Yes, my lady!” Both tried to contact Fars, but while the communication tone rang, their request was never connected.

Selena’s heart sank. Actually, when she had escaped from the crashed warship area, she had already prepared herself for the worst, but accepting Fars’ death, her only remaining family, was too cruel for her.

“Contact Aurelius.” 

“Yes, my lady!”

Although the jump ship’s energy was low, making contact was still possible. Soon the communication connected, and Aurelius’s deep voice came through, “My lady, are you alright? They’re almost there!”

“I’m fine. You were the last one to contact Fars. I just tried to reach him but couldn’t get through…”

There was a long silence in the communication. After a moment, they heard Aurelius say in a sorrowful tone, “Lord Fars has found eternal rest.”

Aurelius phrased it delicately, but everyone understood his meaning.

Selena’s expression didn’t change much, but Alice caught the flash of grief in her eyes. Selena nodded slightly, saying, “Alright, I understand. I’ll return to command the battle as soon as possible.”

“I’ll need you to continue coordinating command during this time.”

Seeing that Lord Fars’s death didn’t affect Commander Selena’s composure, Aurelius finally relaxed, “We await your return!”

Selena nodded emotionlessly. At this moment, the people below suddenly converged toward one spot, surrounding two people in their midst.

Serena was taken aback. This… was completely different from what she had imagined. Although she only saw their backs, it was clear that these two were quite young.

In her imagination, these pilots should have been older, closer to the mercenaries’ age, but the two before her were surprisingly young.

“Thank goodness for Xiao Jiang and Xiao Ji. If it weren’t for you two, we’d be dead for sure.”

The chubby old man said with a beaming face, patting Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong’s shoulders with his plump hands.

“Isn’t that right? Fortunately, we had Xiao Jiang and Xiao Ji here. Who knows when communications will be restored.”

An elderly woman looked up at the sky worriedly as she spoke.

“What’s going on here anyway? Why did those people suddenly attack this place?”

“I saw them earlier, it looked like they were chasing someone?”

Jiang Yuan had just climbed down from the mecha. Although the battle hadn’t drained him much, his hair was still soaked with sweat. Ji Rong wasn’t in any better condition.

The crowd surrounded the two, discussing the situation from all angles. While these people weren’t clear about what had just happened, Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong understood perfectly. When they piloted their mechas to fight, they had already spotted Alice and her two companions returning, including Alice, Aka, and an unfamiliar woman.

Anyone with half a brain could figure out that these mercenaries had invaded the slums for this strange woman.

“Mom!” Envy’s shout caught Jiang Yuan’s attention.

Jiang Yuan’s gaze shifted through the crowd. Envy and Nina were locked in a tight embrace with their mother Alice. Though the scene was touching, Jiang Yuan’s brows creased ever so slightly.

After Aka approached, the two crying children reached for his hands as well.

Noticing Jiang Yuan looking behind them, everyone turned to look and discovered an unfamiliar person standing behind factory owners Aka and Alice. They all cast inquiring glances.

Their eyes seemed to say:

‘Who is she? Where did she come from?’

‘Where did they go earlier?!’

Selena wasn’t bothered by everyone’s naked stares. She met their gazes, suddenly locking eyes with a pair of emotionless pupils, causing her eyelid to twitch inexplicably.

“They’ve retreated for now.” Jiang Yuan glanced at the strange woman before shifting his gaze back to the sky. Although he and Ji Rong had driven these people away, as long as this woman stayed, no one could guarantee the mercenaries wouldn’t return.

“It’s fortunate we had you and Xiao Ji protecting us, or we wouldn’t have known what to do! Ah, when will we be able to leave this place?”

“Yeah, it’s been two days already… who knows how long the fighting will continue. At this rate, even this place might not be safe.”

Everyone was worried about the coming days. He Chuan was also concerned, but as a soldier, he couldn’t show the same anxiety as civilians. Instead, he reassured everyone, “Don’t worry, we’ll protect you.”

“We know that. Fortunately, we met you all at the spaceport, or we really wouldn’t have known what to do…”

These words echoed everyone’s feelings. Even those who weren’t Federation citizens felt the same way. If they hadn’t met this Federation team on the road, who knows how many times they would have died already. It was only because of this soldier and these two military school students protecting them that they had survived until now.

These three could have abandoned them and only looked after themselves, but to protect them, the two students even risked finding mechas, all to keep them safe. Even though they weren’t soldiers yet, these two students took protecting citizens as their responsibility because of their status!

Under He Chuan’s reassurance, everyone’s tension eased somewhat, and they returned to their rooms.

“When are you leaving?”

A calm, flat voice rang out.

“Soon.”

Hearing Jiang Yuan’s direct question, Selena gave him a deep look. By now, she had recognized Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong. “My people will come to get me soon. If you escort me back to the command ship, I guarantee the fighting won’t spread to the slum district.”

“Oh?”

Jiang Yuan’s voice lifted noticeably.

“Even if we don’t escort you, you still won’t let the fighting spread here.”

Although he had been puzzled about the attackers’ identity earlier, when Alice and Aka appeared with this woman, he had already guessed these attackers’ true identity – the missing people from the slums!

The blood-colored crescent moon flag was the inverse of North Mali’s flag, and weren’t North Mali’s North Rio and the slums just two sides of the same coin?

Selena shrugged, “Well, seems like you’ve figured out our purpose.”

…

The mercenaries, who had been driven away by Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong’s joint effort, encountered the Black Blood Moon mecha squad rushing to the rescue during their retreat.

After the two forces met in North Rio’s southern district, Jeffrey’s heart sank. His squad had been sent to rescue their highest commander, Lady Selena. Meeting the enemy here, with their large numbers, meant this would surely be a fierce battle.

He wasn’t afraid of fighting. Everyone who dared to appear here had already prepared themselves for death, but –

Jeffery’s gaze fell on the distant slum district. His mission was to get the commander back to the warship to continue directing their battle!

Damn it, what should he do?

Leave some people to hold these guys off while the rest rush to the factory to find the commander?

Or fight it out here first with these money-hungry bastards?

Before Jeffery could decide, the mercenary mechas they’d met in the air revved their engines and charged straight at them, clearly determined to kill!

Jeffery immediately ordered his squad to maintain battle formation. This was going to be a brutal fight!

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

During their charge, both sides tested each other with laser fire.

They’re coming!

One hundred meters!

Eighty meters!

…

Fifty!

…

Ten meters!

Jeffery was about to counter the mecha charging at him. He sidestepped to dodge, turned to face the next attack, and then stood dumbfounded.

Where did they go?

Jeffery stared blankly at the mercenary mecha that had become a tiny dot in the distance: Did… did this guy just run away?

The other mechas were the same. Jeffery’s entire squad’s comms were dead silent. After a while, a squad member quietly asked, “Captain, did they just run?”

“Seems so…”

“Why run? They had more people.”

Jeffery: “How should I know? Let’s complete the mission first!”

“Yes, sir!”

Meanwhile, in the fleeing mercenaries’ communication channel—

“Damn, good thing we ran fast. If we’d fought these guys and those two from the slums caught up, we’d never have escaped!”

“I’ve seen some shit today. That mecha that ambushed us was insane! Even pierced straight through a Heaven’s Punishment heavy mecha!”

“And that sniper covering the assault mecha wasn’t normal either! That’s so scary! The gun control was so fast you couldn’t even follow with your eyes, and they could intercept all lasers and bombs with pinpoint shots! After that sniper showed up, not a single bomb or laser reached the ground. Everything exploded mid-air!”

“Can’t win against that… Good thing we made the quick decision not to tangle with these guys who came later, or those two demons would’ve caught up and finished us.”

“Once this war’s over, I’m going home. I’m done with being a mercenary!”

…

Jiang Yuan quickly finished the bread Envy had given him. He glanced at the three people outside quietly discussing something.

“Who knows what those three are whispering about.” He Chuan’s expression soured as he looked at Selena and the others.

“Who knows.” Ji Rong saw Jiang Yuan finish his bread and handed his own piece to him.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Jiang Yuan turned to look at him.

Ji Rong shook his head, about to speak when he suddenly caught a familiar scent. His expression changed slightly as he lowered his voice, “Jiang Yuan, I think your pheromones are leaking…”

“Huh?” Hearing this, Jiang Yuan immediately sniffed himself, and indeed there was a faint sweet scent.

His condition was already unstable, and after piloting the mecha yesterday and today, his body’s pheromones had changed… possibly showing signs of heat. Jiang Yuan turned to look at Ji Rong. Although he didn’t want to take advantage of his brother, under these conditions, he really couldn’t be blamed, and surely Ji Rong would understand. Besides, he still had pheromone dependency on Ji Rong…

The doctor said a temporary mark might help ease the situation. Jiang Yuan said somewhat guiltily to Ji Rong, “Ji Rong, given the special circumstances, could you temporarily mark me? The doctor said it might help with my symptoms.”

Hearing Jiang Yuan’s words, Ji Rong’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and his body grew warm. “Do you… know what you’re saying?”

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please consider supporting the author directly.

You can also follow me on Ko-fi to get access to the latest updates on my translation progress and new projects. I appreciate your love and feedback.