The Mech Touch novel Chapter 880

Security officers surrounded the entire section of the camp, cordoning it off from curious Vandal onlookers.

Something serious happened here. Something so serious, it forced Captain Byrd and a handful of mech officers and senior staff to visit the site of the incident in question.

The Pale Dancer stood in the middle of an extremely well-equipped workshop. Miss Lisbeth Eta-Denmersken bawled out her eyes on Chief Keys’ shoulder. The other mech technicians assigned under their leadership looked distraught as well.

A security officer specialised in investigation exited the cockpit of the dormant Pale Dancer with a serious expression. He put away his forensic tools and shook his head towards Captain Byrd.

"What did you find?" Captain Byrd asked with a stony face.

"Nothing, ma’am. The perpetrator left no trace behind. The logs of the mech are wiped clean so we don’t know how they managed to enter the Pale Dancer in the first place."

"The body?"

"Venerable Xie died instantly from a sneak attack. A laser beam bore through his skull from behind at close range. There is no way for anyone to miss such a shot. The only question is how the infiltrator managed to get into that position in the first place. Further investigation is required."

Captain Byrd sighed in resignation. "Someone as professional as this won’t leave any traces behind for us to find. Prioritize your men on guarding our officers and deterring further assassinations. As for Venerable Xie... the man died an unworthy death."

The gravity of the situation fell on everyone’s shoulders. Ves stood absolutely frozen as he stared up to the open cockpit of the expert mech.

An expert pilot fell so easily.

This was someone who became an absolute terror on the battlefield once they piloted an expert mech. The general rule of thumb stated that expert mechs could easily defeat a hundred mechs by themselves.

Venerable Xie easily exceeded that standard despite his low resonance strength and unfocused training. His unparalleled accuracy combined with his powerful laser rifle could have annihilated the Meandering Monkeys no matter how well they dodged and weaved around.

Not only that, he could easily entangle an enemy expert pilot and protect the rank-and-file.

Yet he died so easily. Ves couldn’t even fathom how the assassin managed to enter the Pale Dancer’s cockpit. Even if the mech remained inactive during the assassination, it still should have been impossible to sneak inside of it without alarming its occupant.

Whoever killed Venerable Xie could easily assassinate every other person in the camp!

"Those sneaky Vesians!"

"The Vesians killed the one person who matters the most!"

The value of Venerable Xie exceeded the value of Captain Byrd. Everyone present believed the Vesians did the deed. While everyone expressed varying amounts of anger, despair and helplessness, Ves pretended to be grim as well.

"It’s a shame." Ves lamented in a stilted manner, though no one paid much attention to his awkward demeanor. "The Vesians... they robbed us of our only hope. Venerable Xie didn’t deserve to die a dog’s death."

Now that they lost this crucial figure, the Flagrant Swordmaidens became completely vulnerable to the deprivations of an expert pilot!

When Ves took posed the request to Miss Calabast earlier, she didn’t accept immediately. In fact, she looked like she adamantly wanted to refuse the request.

"Assassinating an expert pilot is no joke." She responded, even dropping her smirk. "They’re highly trained soldiers and possess superhuman reflexes. Their danger sense is off the charts. Do you think it’s easy to assassinate an expert pilot? Even if the MTA prohibited the practice, we still won’t do it. One slip-up and the one who kills won’t be us, but him. An expert pilot is a monster in battle even without a mech."

This was the first time that Calabast revealed that she came with accomplices. Ves figured that they were probably covering the entire perimeter right now in order to guard against any attacks against Calabast.

Ves did not accept her refusal. "This is non-negotiable, I’m afraid. Due to reasons that are none of your business, I’ve built up a bit of a beef with Venerable Xie. If he is truly set out to betray the Vandals, then I’m the first person on his kill list. I’m sure of it. So if you still want me alive to help you out at the Starlight Megalodon, then you better address this threat."

If Venerable Xie really set up his mind to stab the Flagrant Vandals in the back, then Ves expected the first action the Pale Dancer would perform was to shoot his mech-sized laser rifle straight at Ves!

With the expert pilot’s impeccable accuracy and marksmanship, Ves wouldn’t even have time to scream before the immense power behind the laser rifle vaporized his body and everything he carried. Even his Earth Ant light combat armor wouldn’t last a millisecond against the awesome power meant to pierce through mech armor.

"And why should we do your dirty work?" Miss Calabast crossed her arms. "Right now, I’m reconsidering if it’s less troublesome to kidnap you outright and whisk you away from this camp."

Ves paused a bit before he came up with another argument. "No matter if Venerable Xie is colluding with the Vesians, there’s a chance he’s merely pretending. Killing him will weaken the Flagrant Vandals and impact their morale. It could be said that our defeat is pretty much set in stone if he dies. Won’t our quick defeat benefit you more?"

Calabast smirked again. "You make a good point, though you are basically condemning one of the only potential hopes of your mech regiments to death. How callous of you. Do the lives of the Flagrant Vandals and Lydia’s Swordmaidens truly mean nothing to you?"

"I’m pretty confident that this is the best course of action for us. Better take an unstable factor off the board than to hope it plays out for us."