p speed; it would be futile even if he were to attempt increasing his distance just to evade the enemies’ attacks. After all, he couldn’t dodge the missiles if he’s too slow, and that means he wouldn’t be able to get rid of their pursuit.

“That’s why Xia Fei had his power system concentrate on his defensive systems, taking advantage of that moment when his proton bomb exploded to accomplish a tactical turn while in the ensuing conflagration, diving right into the midst of his enemies.”

Layton looked at Williams’s reaction once he was done, only to see the redhead still taking large bites of fruits soaked in syrup, completely unresponsive. This meant that Williams also agreed with his assessment of the combat maneuvers employed, and they had yet to find a point of contention.

“Okay, it’s your turn; I’m taking a break,” Layton said.

Williams nodded, wiping his mouth clean with a handkerchief as he took a sip of the quality coffee.

“The reason Xia Fei’s missiles could take down an enemy ship in two volleys is the installation of a target painter on his ship. He also made certain modifications on the equipment itself, or else it would be impossible for him to take down a Kestrel-class frigate with merely eight spitfire light missiles, given their lethality.

“As for how he modified them, it’s my guess that he installed a signal-positioning component in his target painters, increasing not only the enemy’s signal radius, but also the accuracy of his missile strikes. That’s a clear indication that he has knowledge of precision-positioning, or else he wouldn’t have been able to make his missiles strike their targets with such fidelity.”

Layton nodded. “Agreed. Continue.”

Williams gave it some thought before saying, “We’re wasting far too much time doing it like this. How about I just posit a bold hypothesis of mine? We’ll surely find our point of contention this time.”

With a point of contention, that meant they could begin their argument. Layton eagerly nodded, perking up as he got ready to argue with Williams. It was funny; others would often promote friendship after finding commonality with each other, yet these two bigshots in the Alliance Military were desperate to find differences in perspective so that they could argue with each other.

“Do you recall that escape pod which Xia Fei destroyed in the end?” Williams asked.

“Of course, I do.”

Williams gave a mysterious chuckle. “I think Xia Fei did that on purpose. What I mean is, he intentionally created the impression that he had lost control of his ship and killed that man.”

Layton slapped his thigh. “You think so, too? I could tell that Xia Fei had intentionally not targeted that warship no. 79 throughout the fight. There were several instances when that ship was clearly the most suitable target of his attacks, yet Xia Fei simply chose to attack others, and with the decent piloting skills he demonstrated then, he’s surely capable of controlling his ship from smashing into that escape pod.”

With that said, Layton became frustrated once again, for they could not find a point of contention this time, either; could the two have spent too much time together that they were now of one and the same mind?

Williams was also slightly disappointed. He poured himself a fresh cup of coffee and said, “Your turn.”

...

Time passed quickly. Chief of Staff Williams and Chief of Navy Layton were both very dejected. Usually they would have found a point to argue on by then, yet today, it seemed that no matter what was raised, the two surprisingly shared the same assessment.

Williams had begun to contemplate leaving; after all, having the free time to argue like this was just a pastime and he could not let it get in the way of his work. If that happened, Tai would most likely be furious with them.

“Just what is going on? What a freaky day we’re having. To think we have nothing to argue about regarding Xia Fei and his unkillable warship. I’m far too disappointed,” Layton said.

Williams sighed. “Of course, he can be killed; there’s no such thing as a ship that can’t be scuttled. Xia Fei’s little frigate’s strongest suit was its energy shield system. If they had just managed to penetrate his energy shield, they could’ve very easily beaten him.”

“That’s right. That energy-shield system of his sure was weird. Others would take a very long time to replenish their energy shields after they were down, yet the rate of replenishment of his energy shield defied reason. Just look at his energy shield value increasing; who knows how he achieved it?” Layton quickly followed up.

Williams wrinkled his brows. “Do you think that he perhaps installed something unique to his ship?”

“Possibly.” Layton grunted. “From my personal experience, the rate of his ship’s energy shield recovery then was at least seventy percent faster than most warships’, maybe even reaching eighty percent. There’s no way it could achieve such a rate of efficiency without some special modifications made.”

The two were unable to find a point of contention, though they did find a common doubt they shared. The issue of Xia Fei’s energy shield recharge speed was like a pack of ants crawling about in their hearts, a lingering itch that they could not yet scratch.

Williams spoke. “The Association of Machinists will naturally announce every participants’ warship configuration list after the tournament ends, but it will be kept secret before that time. We’ll be able to know by then, and I believe that there are quite a lot of people in the Alliance that share this question we have.”

“How many days is that?” Layton asked.

“It ought to be in six days’ time if this was under the usual circumstances, but after a participant’s death, I’m sure that they will spend a few days investigating the incident, and the tournament itself will be interrupted because of it. I reckon that it’ll be delayed for about ten days.”

“Ten days...” Layton rubbed his chin. “Isn’t that a little long?”

......

“Esteemed judges, back then I really lost control of my warship, and I only ended up crashing into the other participant’s escape pod because of that. I’m very sorry about this incident, but I don’t feel any guilty. That’s because I carried everything out in accordance with the rules and I didn’t violate anything whatsoever,” Xia Fei said, expressionless.

“Then, how do you explain the fact that you only ejected your escape pod after smashing into the other participant’s escape pod?”

Xia Fei responded with a straight face, “Back then, I could already tell that the trajectory of my warship would result in such an accident, so I desperately tried to correct its course in an attempt to avoid the collision. Unfortunately, my warship was too heavily damaged, so I lost control of it completely.

“My warship sustained even greater damage after that collision, and seeing that it was about to explode, I had no choice but to activate the emergency ejection protocol.”

Actually, everyone suspected that Xia Fei had intentionally rammed into Baldy’s escape pod, but there was nothing they could do about this, for they had no proof.

The chief referee, Years of Floating Light, sighed. Given the account Xia Fei had given, he really had no way to prove that the young man was lying.

“Are there any other questions? If none, this inquiry will come to a close here, and the results of this investigation will be announced to the public,” Years of Floating Light said.

Nobody had any questions to raise. Years of Floating Light then called Xia Fei over. “There’s a messenger from the Alliance Military outside waiting for you. He has a warrant from their admiral to call you over.”

Xia Fei was slightly stunned, “Admiral? What admiral?”