Starry Rebirth: The Warden and the Outlaw’s Interstellar Revenge | Chapter 52 | A Clash of Equals | Novela.app

Watching Ji Wei emerge from the combat chamber with a pale, strained complexion, the assault squad leader—who had just finished his own bout with the young man—felt a surge of sympathy. Having been ruthlessly disciplined by Commander Xu many times himself, he stepped forward and patted Ji Wei on the shoulder. As a veteran of such beatings, the squad leader offered words of comfort. "You’re already quite impressive. Lasting that long... you’re much stronger than I was back then." He meant every word. He remembered his first time challenging "Yama Xu"; he hadn't even lasted thirty seconds before the Commander closed the distance and ended the match in a single move. Recalling the agonizing variety of ways the Commander had "refined" him in the past, the squad leader—once a notorious troublemaker himself—wiped his face and gave Ji Wei a look of genuine approval. "Young man, you have a bright future." In the First Legion, Xu Yi was famously known as Yama Xu—the devil among devils. Beneath his command lay a metaphorical field of corpses. Every recruit qualified enough to enter his mecha special training camp had been stripped of several layers of skin by this terrifying man. In Yama Xu’s eyes, there was no such thing as "showing mercy." There were only rebellious brats left gasping for air after being subjected to his endless creative tortures. Anyone who could last thirty seconds against a rampaging Yama Xu was considered the elite of the elite. Ji Wei was a mere student who hadn't even graduated, yet in his first one-on-one close-quarters mecha duel against the Commander, he had held out for nearly two minutes. It was a rare feat. Seeing Ji Wei’s grim expression, the squad leader continued his well-intentioned encouragement. The military’s holographic combat system was designed to be a perfect simulation of reality; in short, Ji Wei had just experienced the visceral terror of staring death in the face. To suffer such a brutal, merciless defeat for the first time and only come out looking slightly pale while maintaining his basic composure was a testament to his strength. The squad leader remembered his own first time—when the Commander had blown his mecha's head off, he had spent the next few minutes retching on the floor and two days recovering, only to have it happen again and again until he was thoroughly tamed. "You really are strong," the squad leader praised, his heart full of shared trauma. "The Commander is just in a bad mood today. Look at that kid who just went in—he’ll probably be out even faster than you." He was sincerely trying to console and compliment Ji Wei. However, faced with this "malicious" comfort from someone he had already defeated, Ji Wei’s face contorted for a moment. He didn't perceive the squad leader’s kindness; instead, he felt mocked. Specifically, he felt insulted that this man was comparing him to that useless waste, Ji Yeran. How could Ji Yeran even be mentioned in the same breath as him? To be compared to a failure he despised by a man he had already beaten filled Ji Wei with rage. Yet, no matter how much he seethed with disdain, he kept his mask of civility firmly in place, maintaining his persona as a talented, humble future general. Gritting his teeth to swallow his fury, Ji Wei feigned modesty. "There is always someone better. I still have a long way to go." "True. At least you have some self-awareness," a voice rang out. The tone was relaxed, tinged with a faint note of mockery, seemingly agreeing with Ji Wei’s words. Ji Wei froze. Who said that? He hadn't expected anyone to actually take his false modesty at face value. Stunned and stifled, his composure slipped for a fraction of a second. He followed the sound and found that the person lacking eyes was an Omega—the one who was always with Ji Yeran. Ji Wei’s expression turned momentarily hideous. Ignoring the arrogant Alpha’s ugly look, Feng Zhixi met Ji Wei’s gaze with equanimity. With a look that clearly said *'You think you're on his level?'*, he spoke words that cut like a knife. "Want to place a bet on the outcome?" He directed the question to the assault squad leader. The implication was clear: with Ji Wei, the only thing worth betting on was how long he could survive. With Ji Yeran, the bet was on who would actually win. In his eyes, there was no comparison between the two; they existed on entirely different levels. To be looked down upon by an Omega—a creature he viewed as a mere appendage to an Alpha—sent Ji Wei into a silent fury. *Is this Omega blind?!* But just as Ji Wei was about to lose his cool, someone else added fuel to the fire. Emir, who had become a total die-hard fan of the Class Monitor, raised his hand in support. "I’m in on the bet too!" It had to be Ji Yeran. The Monitor’s judgment was never wrong! Emir’s words were like salt in Ji Wei’s wounds. And right at that moment, the officers who were eagerly watching the rampaging Commander deliver another beating suddenly erupted into cheers. "Beautiful! I didn't know there was a master like this among the students!" someone in the crowd shouted. That sentence struck Ji Wei like a physical blow to the lungs. The student, who had been struggling to maintain his facade, saw his expression darken instantly. He forgot to hide his nature; a venomous, hateful glare fixed onto the holographic screen. The jealousy radiating from him twisted his features, making him look like a petty, spiteful clown. The cheers of the crowd were like poisoned thorns driven into his heart. With a mind full of resentment, he stared at the real-time combat feed. On the screen, the battle between the two mechas had already reached a fever pitch. They had selected the most basic close-quarters combat mode. The initial positions of the black and white humanoid mechas were only ten meters apart. There was no doubt that the black mecha was piloted by Commander Xu Yi. As a renowned "violence machine," the Commander had entered "berserk mode" the moment he stepped onto the holographic battlefield. As the system countdown hit zero, the black mecha transformed into an arrow released from a bow, lunging forward. Its speed was so great that the holographic computer’s motion-capture system lagged for a microsecond, leaving long afterimages in its wake. The officers, who had learned through painful experience, knew immediately that the Commander was playing for keeps. *That kid is done for...* That was the first thought in everyone’s mind. At such supersonic speeds, the opponent usually wouldn't even have time to activate their weapons before being taken out. Most wouldn't last ten seconds. However, the events that followed defied all expectations. Just as the energy dagger in the black mecha’s hand was about to pierce the white mecha’s core cockpit, the black mecha suddenly abandoned its plan. It retreated at high speed, swinging its energy dagger horizontally in front of it. In the instant the black mecha retreated, an energy shield formed by the dagger blocked a sudden incoming strike. Judging by the way the shield shattered instantly and the precision of the hit, it was a lethal attack designed to pierce a mecha’s defense system and destroy its core power source. If the black mecha hadn't retreated in time, it would have been destroyed before its own dagger could land a killing blow. Using the kinetic impact of the attack, the black mecha vaulted back, putting distance between itself and the range of a long-range energy sniper rifle. The white humanoid mecha, which hadn't moved from its starting position, now had its sniper rifle leveled directly at Xu Yi. The blue light swirling around the barrel was the source of the attack that had just forced the Commander back. The crowd was stunned. This student hadn't just survived Yama Xu’s opening gambit; he had used a sniper rifle—a weapon with a startup time infinitely slower than an energy dagger—to force Yama Xu into a retreat? The officers were bewildered. What kind of miracle was this? The initial distance was only ten meters—extreme close-quarters range. Against a "Mecha Tyrannosaurus" like Yama Xu, who could break the sound barrier in microseconds, the time between the start of the fight and the strike was practically non-existent. Against such speed, an opponent who could even predict the move and activate a shield in time to survive the first wave of the storm would be considered a genius. But to use a long-range sniper rifle to repel him? Under normal circumstances, the startup time for a sniper rifle is at least four times slower than an energy dagger. But against a close-combat king like Yama Xu, that gap was more like twenty-fold. It happened in the blink of an eye. How did the white mecha synchronize the rifle’s activation with the dagger’s strike? While the soldiers were still trying to wrap their heads around it, the combat mode on the screen shifted. The distance between the two mechas had now widened to long-range engagement territory. Xu Yi changed his tactics. As he retreated from the shattered shield's impact, he had already deployed his own long-range energy sniper rifle. Soon, energy rounds collided in mid-air. Two antimatter rounds of equal grade struck each other, their impact creating a visible sonic boom barrier. To the utter shock of the officers, the live broadcast had transformed into a high-stakes sniper duel between two humanoid mechas. Every single energy round met its counterpart with pinpoint accuracy. The resulting explosions formed a continuous, undulating wall of energy between the two machines, rising and falling like waves on the sea. Such a result required both pilots to have combat awareness, predictive capabilities, and mecha control skills on the exact same level to maintain such a precise, deadlocked tug-of-war. The officers were speechless. What kind of impossible scene were they witnessing? Someone was actually going toe-to-toe in a sniper duel with Yama Xu without losing an inch of ground. *Are kids these days really this terrifying?* *** **Glossary**