If she thought about it carefully, Bella understood that the reason her heart had raced back then might not have been entirely because of the boy. The danger had played a part, too.
But those two feelings had blended together, and just looking at Xu De made her heart race.
There was no denying it: the boy could always stir her emotions with ease.
And Bella was a straightforward girl. If her heart had been moved, she went for it.
But...
While the girl was torn between nervousness, uncertainty, and resentment toward the other two,
Xu De was focused on controlling the foot thrusters. With all his attention on the lower half of his body, he was clearly piloting the mobile suit more smoothly than the other two. He couldn't quite fly just above the ground, but he could run and jump.
"Got a problem with standing still?"
Watching the boy sprint across the lunar surface, Moody sounded thoroughly exasperated.
He was usually fairly level-headed, but after failing to land a hit for so long, even Moody was starting to lose his cool.
And that was Moody's weakness.
"Why don't you two try taking me on one-on-one?"
"I'll stop running right now."
Unlike before, Xu De taunted them as he spoke.
"..."
Moody was so taken aback by Xu De's retort that he nearly choked.
After what Xu De had just shown, challenging him one-on-one would be asking for trouble.
Both Moody and Draco understood that.
It might not be a fair fight, but when had there ever been fairness on a battlefield?
"Keep after him. We have two mobile suits. Drive him toward the heart of the mining zone and make it harder for him to dodge."
As Draco spoke, he shared a set of coordinates with Moody.
By now, the three of them had chased one another from the crater to the outskirts of the mining zone. They were only a short distance from its depths.
"No. He's very good at setting traps. If we go into the heart of the zone, we could fall for one!"
"We need to take him out before he gets there."
Moody frowned as he objected.
"You—"
Draco was about to say something more when a glaring electric arc suddenly flashed across Xu De's already-damaged left shoulder. Ginn's body tilted unnaturally, as if he'd lost control while drifting around a turn.
After the past few days of getting to know Ginn, both men understood that the other mobile suit had probably overheated. The exposed damage to its frame was interfering with the movement of its joints.
"Thrusters overloaded! Limb imbalance! This is our chance!"
Moody's eyes lit up. Convinced that this was the perfect opportunity, the young man leaped high from the shadows, urging himself on as he fired a continuous burst from the 76mm Machine Gun at Xu De.
With his back turned to them, Xu De could only make a rapid turn to face the attack from behind.
It was a preset maneuver, much like the kind found in certain games.
But trying to turn rapidly while off balance was like being drunk. His shots went wide, and he could barely keep the mobile suit upright.
Even when he returned fire, Xu De only hit the lunar surface, kicking up clouds of dust.
Moody landed several more hits on Xu De's right chest armor, and it was now nearly wrecked.
"Got him!"
Moody shouted excitedly. Then his mobile suit landed on the lunar dust, and he moved in to aim again. But—
Xu De, who should have been off balance, tossed aside his machine gun and drew the Heavy Cleaver. He drove it deep into the Lunar Soil, then used its force to drop to one knee and steady his stance.
But that left Xu De completely defenseless in front of Moody.
"Something's not right?!"
Xu De never did anything without a reason. But with the shot already lined up, Moody could only aim and fire, even though he'd sensed something was off.
Besides, he couldn't see how Xu De could possibly turn things around...
Just as Moody thought this and raised his weapon to aim after landing, his mobile suit suddenly lost its balance.
Taking advantage of Moody's stumble, Xu De steadied himself, yanked the Heavy Cleaver free, and charged.
"Do you know how the Cyclops affects the geology here?"
Xu De spoke as he charged.
Moody trusted his instincts too much. That was his weakness.
Just as Moody had sunk into the Lunar Soil at first, he trusted what he saw more than data and instruments.
That was also why Xu De had deliberately shut off the cooling system in his left arm to lure him in.
With the Cyclops here, the Lunar Soil in the mining zone was clearly softer than elsewhere.
It wasn't hard to understand why. Aside from the vibrations in the mineral crystals, the microwaves had melted the ice. Liquid water seeped into the pores of the Lunar Soil, then vaporized in the vacuum, disrupting the bonds between its particles.
Fortunately, they'd made the setting so realistic. During the earlier three-versus-six fight, Xu De had already been quietly testing whether his plan would work.
That was how he'd come up with this strategy.
Next, he'd only needed to fire into the ground to kick up dust and block Moody's view. Then came the move he'd just pulled.
"Next time, pay more attention to the data."
Xu De spoke as he ran his blade straight through Moody's cockpit.
Xu De's series of moves stunned the audience.
Most of them had no idea what had happened. But in the observation room, Halberton, who had remained composed throughout, watched the scene with a faint gleam in his eyes.
He had proposed creating this setting.
Their next battlefield might well be the Moon, and he wanted to see whether any of these elites could come up with a plan that would impress him.
Xu De's trap, which exploited the differences in the properties of the Lunar Soil, was certainly interesting.
It would probably only work once, but it could save a life at a critical moment.
And that was in addition to the Cyclops's many other potential uses on the Moon.
Halberton was growing more and more impressed with Xu De.
"I knew it was right to make the Lunar Soil's properties as realistic as possible."
Halberton said cheerfully to Maliu, who'd been working overtime for two days and was practically a panda.
"I can't believe he actually used it."
Maliu had just downed two cans of energy drink. Despite not having slept in two days, she was still full of energy, and she looked at Xu De with admiration.
She'd never thought anyone would actually use it when she'd designed it.
"But there's still one more hurdle."
Cook spoke, gazing down at Bella in the corner below, who was also staring at Xu De.
He had a feeling their young lady was falling deeper and deeper.
After that performance, even Cook—a man—couldn't help being impressed, let alone Bella.
Moody had been eliminated, but there was still someone right behind him.
Before everyone could recover from Xu De's performance, Draco was already closing in at high speed.
He leaned his legs forward into a C-shaped posture. Blue light flared from all ten thrusters on his legs, and there was no doubt he'd activated the emergency stop mode.
At the same time, Draco brought up the machine gun in his hands and unleashed a stream of fire straight at Xu De, whose blade was still embedded in Moody.
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