Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 113: Dropping The Fake Persona (1)

On the Misty Land map, Yuka was choosing sturdy trees around her when she noticed the Red Dragonfly she had been working with suddenly flickered and then fell to the ground with a "pop".

"Is it out of power?" Yuka muttered to herself quietly.

But the butler in her pocket thought Yuka was asking it. It scanned the Red Dragonfly and then told Yuka, "It’s not out of power. Its live streaming system has been attacked. Now the live stream of the entire arena should have stopped."

"The live stream stopped? It’s probably a system malfunction, who would attack a live stream?" Yuka said.

She thought for a moment. To avoid stepping on the Red Dragonfly while moving, she bent down, picked it up, and placed it on a tree branch nearby.

Suddenly, rapid footsteps came from behind. Yuka turned around and saw a silver-white mecha emerging from the thick fog. When it saw Yuka, it immediately ran towards her with a knife.

Learning from the lesson of Shawn’s failure to injure her last time, Yuka shouted at the mecha, "Come and get me!"

The mecha seemed stunned by her voice for a moment, but then quickly sped up, raising its knife and slashing at Yuka, aiming for her cockpit.

Yuka watched its movements and felt that the tip of the knife was a bit off. So, she slightly moved her body, allowing the mecha’s blade to hit the sensors on her cockpit but not damaging the cockpit itself. Then she took a step back and sincerely said to the mecha in front of her, "Thanks, dude, I’m leaving now."

She quickly pressed the stress button that finally popped up in her cockpit, but it made no sound. Yuka pressed it again, but still, nothing happened; the Alliance Army didn’t come to take her away.

’Wait. That mecha’s cockpit doesn’t seem to have sensors, and there’s no exam number on its shoulder either?’

Behind her, there was a faint sound again. Yuka’s expression changed, and she immediately lay down.

The firepower cannon shot from the silver mecha behind her flew over the spot where Yuka had been standing, exploding on a nearby tree stump and creating thick black smoke.

The smoke mixed with the still dense white fog and disappeared.

Now Yuka realized that the mecha in front of her was not her classmate.

She propped up her mechanical arm but didn’t hurry to stand up. Instead, she threw the hammer in her hand behind her.

The chain of the hammer gently wrapped around the silver-white mecha’s mechanical legs. Caught off guard, it continued to step forward, then was tightly pulled by the chain, its legs coming together, and it fell forward.

Yuka quickly flipped over and stepped on the back of the silver mecha, pinning it firmly to the ground, and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"

The opponent didn’t speak and struggled to stand up, but Yuka forcefully suppressed him.

During the silence, Yuka carefully considered the possible identity of her opponent. She had suspected that the attacker might be from the Alliance Army, thinking that the attack was an additional test during the exam, meant to assess their adaptability. But she soon dismissed this idea—If the Alliance Army really wanted to test them, they wouldn’t start by using lethal methods.

There was another possibility...

Yuka bent down, snatched the long knife from the opponent’s hand, and then relaxed her foot’s pressure. The silver mecha struggled to stand up but was flipped over by Yuka, revealing its cockpit.

Before the opponent could react, Yuka plunged the knife fiercely into the cockpit of the silver-white mecha, shattering its protective barrier. She released the knife and pulled the man out of the cockpit with her mechanical arm.

The man, grabbed by the mechanical hand of Number 666, didn’t dare to move too much. He knew that if Yuka wanted to kill him, she just had to squeeze her mechanical hand slightly, and his internal organs would burst, leading to his death.

Yuka asked the butler, "Can you identify who he is?"

The butler rolled out of Yuka’s pocket, hopped onto the control panel, and scanned the man’s face through the protective barrier. It retrieved the information Yuka wanted from the database, "He is an A-tier fugitive from the Alliance, a member of the space pirates, and a participant in the Slaughter Factory incident."

Yuka’s expression changed. She confirmed again, "A participant in the Slaughter Factory incident?"

The butler replied decisively, "Yes."

The Slaughter Factory incident was an old case from ten years ago in the Alliance. It occurred on a small planet at the edge of the Alliance, which was discovered to have a rare mineral.

The mineral attracted many businessmen to invest and build factories on the planet. That rapidly improved the living standards of the local people, because they became factory workers there.

However, this displeased the space pirates, as they had earmarked that planet for themselves. The second-in-command of the pirates immediately sent his men to the planet. They stormed into the operating factories, massacred everyone inside, including the investors and over a thousand workers, and finally set fire to those who could have been saved.

Although the Alliance Army later managed the planet, no one dared to build factories there again after that incident.

Yuka released her grip on the man. freewёbnoνel.com

The man fell to the ground, thinking he was unrecognized, and attempted to flee. He assumed Yuka, just a teenager, had mistaken him for a member of the Alliance Army. He planned to find another target and continue his mission for his boss.

As he took a step forward, a long knife flew from behind him, piercing through his abdomen, forcing him to kneel and pinning him to the ground.

Yuka ignored the space pirate behind her, who was writhing and coughing up blood. She tried to open her team’s voice communication to alert the others and warn them to be cautious, but the line was noisy and nonfunctional.

The butler, after a check, informed Yuka, "The voice communication system is cut off."

Yuka, frowning, asked, "Can you fix it?"

The butler, shaking its round head, replied, "No, because I don’t have any tools now, but if I can get to the control room’s operation panel, I may be able to fix it."

Realizing the team voice was unusable, Yuka approached the mecha she had just shattered.

Peering into the cockpit, she pulled out a communicator, but it was also inoperable and bore the Alliance Army’s insignia.

The space pirate had been piloting an Alliance Army mecha.

This implied a traitor within the Alliance Army. Yuka now wondered how many space pirates were there, and if the Alliance Army surrounding the valley, supposedly for their protection, were all disguised space pirates.

Without an opticomputer in the mecha and her own handed in for the examination, Yuka couldn’t contact anyone.

Meanwhile, outside the competition arena, many spectators were anxious, unable to contact the students or view their live streams.

Rapid comments flew across screens. Yonda, holding back the urge to explain, waited until he received a message from the five academies.

Then, he opened his headset and addressed the public, "We apologize, but space pirates have breached the Tournament map and attacked the system, disconnecting the live stream. However, the Alliance Army has already rushed for rescue. Please rest assured, we are doing everything to ensure the safety of each student."

Audience reactions varied:

[Space pirates? Did I hear that right? They broke into the tournament?]

[What’s happening with the Alliance Army? What a shame!]

[Did you contact the students? Are they safe? Hurry and save them!]

[I’ve always said the Alliance Army is incompetent. See? Even the Academy Tournament got breached by space pirates. They’re utterly unfit, just a bunch of losers idly occupying their positions!]