"Ugh..."
Unlike the iron-willed shipgirls who remained calm, Lin Lan felt a wave of nausea upon witnessing the horrific scene before him. He covered his mouth and dry-heaved.
Even though he knew these were illusions—fabrications of the Sirens through the Mirror Sea—
The sheer realism of the gruesome sight, coupled with the stench of rotting corpses, overwhelmed his senses and triggered his gag reflex.
Seeing this, Teacher Nimi and Z46 hurried over to support him.
"Commander, if it's too much for you, let Sister Ägir and the others handle it. I'll stay here with you."
Looking at the two little girls, their faces filled with concern, Lin Lan felt a bit better.
He waved his hand, forcing himself to suppress the nausea.
"I'm fine. These are all fake... I'm just not used to it..."
Once Lin Lan steadied himself, Ägir finally spoke up, analyzing the scene:
"So many bodies... What exactly happened here before?"
With a grimace, Lin Lan braced himself and surveyed the surroundings.
The relatively small clearing was littered with corpses. Among them were soldiers clad in deep black armor, but most were ordinary civilians in simple clothing.
Given the situation, Lin Lan quickly deduced what had transpired here.
"The Natlan Empire gathered all the Orlan civilians from Huaiwu City and brought them here for a mass execution."
"And those armored soldiers... They were likely the Natlan guards stationed here. Something must have gone wrong during the execution."
Though supported by Teacher Nimi and Z46, Lin Lan's face remained deathly pale as the thick stench of burnt flesh and blood continued to assault his senses.
He could already imagine the sheer terror and despair these people must have felt in their final moments.
A rough estimate suggested nearly a thousand Orlan corpses lay here.
Such blatant disregard for human life... Just how deep did the Natlan Empire's hatred for Orlan run?
Lin Lan wasn't an Orlan citizen, but even so, his fists clenched in silent fury.
As he pondered the Purifier's words regarding the Mirror Sea's node, a sudden loud noise erupted from the far end of the clearing.
Immediately after, a dark figure rushed toward them at high speed.
"Monster! Monster! Stay away!"
The figure ran frantically while screaming in terror.
Lin Lan turned to look—it was a one-armed woman in a light blue robe.
The same female Extremist who had fought the Overlord Mech outside the city and lost an arm in the battle.
Just as the Iron Blood shipgirls locked onto her with their main cannons, ready to fire, an unexpected change occurred.
From the direction the Extremist had fled, a meteor trailing a blue flame streaked across the sky, closing in rapidly. Its speed was far greater than that of the heavily wounded Extremist.
"N-no, stay back! Monst—"
In mere seconds, the blue-flamed meteor caught up to the Extremist.
Boom!
A bright orange energy slash tore through the air, sending debris and corpses flying. The Extremist's desperate cries were cut off instantly.
Only then did Lin Lan finally see the "meteor" clearly, his eyes widening in shock.
It was a mecha girl—white-haired, blue-eyed, and radiating an aura of cold indifference.
The girl's delicate features were framed by long white hair, and she hovered in midair.
She wore a tight-fitting white combat suit reinforced with metallic armor at the joints.
Behind her, several sleek, blue, wing-like projections extended outward, exuding a high-tech, sci-fi aesthetic.
In her right hand, suspended in midair, was an enormous energy blade—far too large for her petite frame. With an icy gaze, she looked down at the Extremist's lifeless body.
"She... Could she be the Overlord Mech?"
Lin Lan's mouth twitched slightly. The moment he saw this highly mechanized and futuristic girl, his mind immediately connected her appearance to characters from mecha girl games.
And then, he recalled what the Overlord Mech Lieyun had told him before its energy depleted.
Their captain had changed and could now be taken away.
The identity of this girl was clear—she had to be the "Qiong Ying" that she had mentioned.
"Commander, should we attack her?" Ägir whispered.
For some reason, she felt a presence from this girl similar to that of a shipgirl.
Moreover, the girl remained floating in midair without making any hostile moves, which was why they hadn't fired immediately.
"I'll try talking to her first. I have a feeling she's connected to the Mirror Sea node the Purifier mentioned."
Lin Lan wanted to help Lieyun, but if Skyhawk was unresponsive—or worse, hostile—he would have no choice but to destroy her.
After all, everything in the Mirror Sea was an illusion. His only priority now was to destroy this place as soon as possible and confirm if Akashi was still safe.
However, before he could even step forward to speak, the white-haired girl slowly descended toward them.
Lin Lan paused for a moment, then cleared his throat, gathering his words.
After all, he had no desire to wade through a field of corpses—it was simply too unsettling.
Under the wary gazes of the Iron Blood shipgirls, whose cannons remained locked on the girl, the mecha girl landed before them.
Her colossal energy blade hovered behind her, seemingly held in place by some invisible force.
Seeing the moment was right, Lin Lan gave a subtle signal to Prinz Eugen.
Catching the cue, Eugen followed closely behind as Lin Lan stepped forward, maintaining a safe distance from the mecha girl.
"Hello, I am Lin Lan, the naval port commander of the Orlan Federal Republic."
Lin Lan spoke as gently as possible, trying to establish communication.
Prinz Eugen stood by his side, ready to deploy her Unbreakable Shield and unleash her dragon-like ship rigging in case of an attack.
But the girl did not respond to his greeting.
Instead, her blue eyes flickered with bright light as she analyzed him.
"Sui Qiong. Scanning... Confirmed: Unregistered human in the data system."
"Searching for identity information... Search result: Highest-ranking battlefield commander of our forces."
"Salute to you, Commander. Sui Qiong has successfully completed the rearguard mission for the Great Evacuation of Huaiwu City. Awaiting your next orders."
The petite white-haired girl spoke in a soft, almost childlike voice.
As the blue glow in her eyes dimmed, she suddenly straightened her posture and executed a formal Orlan military salute—one from an era long past.
Both Lin Lan and Prinz Eugen froze on the spot, exchanging bewildered glances.
Lin Lan studied the cold yet expectant mecha girl before him. Her speech pattern and combat style were undoubtedly characteristic of the Overlord Mechs.
But why did she introduce herself as "Sui Qiong" instead of the "Qiong Ying" Lieyun had mentioned?
Could it be that more than one Overlord Mech had transformed into a mecha girl?
No... Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Just this one mecha girl, now in human form, possessed combat power leagues beyond the three Overlord Mechs from before.
He had no doubt that "Sui Qiong" alone could have easily slaughtered those three Extremists outside the city.
If there were multiple Overlord Mecha girls, the Natlan Extremists in this area would have been wiped out long ago.
There wouldn't have been such heavy casualties.
Lin Lan scrutinized the white-haired mecha girl, now awaiting his command. One question after another surged through his mind.
But the most critical one was—
Why did she call him... the highest-ranking battlefield commander of the Orlan military?
Since when did he have such a title?
_______
50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
_______
If any of you noticed an error, please point it out in comments!