Chapter 213: Chapter 213: Don’t Provoke Me Like This
’Who asks for permission to kiss someone?’
The hot breath by her ear was electrifying, making her go weak.
Zoe Pierce steeled herself and switched the Mecha to autopilot. Seeing it wouldn’t slow them down, she turned, grabbed Miles Sherman by the collar, and crushed her lips against his.
After a few tangled seconds, she pulled back her flushed lips. "Miles, you shouldn’t provoke me like this..."
’Who could hear that voice, so low it was almost a gasp in her ear, and possibly refuse him?’
His unique gentleness was on full display.
She looked at Miles again. His neck was red where she’d yanked his collar, and now his thin lips were a deep crimson from her kiss, his eyes shimmering with moisture.
’Why did it look like I was the one bullying him?’
"Be good..."
Zoe Pierce felt she’d made a mistake. She never should have let Miles say that to her.
Now, in that especially husky voice, it felt like an electric current shot through her.
’I never should have kissed him here in the first place. Once we crossed that line, it became impossible for either of us to keep things professional.’
’They were officially a couple, but this level of intimacy was pushing the boundaries.’
’And it made it much easier to do... more.’
’He’d left marks on her, so wasn’t it only fair that she leave her own marks on him?’
’Lust clouds the mind.’
’And she had no intention of being good.’
She pulled down the zipper on his suit to his chest and covered his mouth with her hand.
Two inches below his collarbone, in a spot that would be perfectly hidden by his collar, the first mark quietly appeared.
The first one took a while, but once she got the hang of it, she could leave a red mark in just five seconds.
Her lips traveled up to his Adam’s apple and, as if possessed, she gave it a soft suck.
As expected, she heard a muffled groan. The man, usually so composed, could no longer maintain his calm and pushed her away.
"Zoe..." Miles also felt they couldn’t go on. In this small, cramped environment, everything felt wrong.
’The time was wrong. The place was wrong.’
’They were both losing control. This had to stop.’
Zoe pursed her lips, looking at him. "Hm?"
Miles took a deep breath. "Let’s wait. Let’s wait until we get back. Be good, okay?"
His willpower was crumbling because of her. They really couldn’t continue like this.
Zoe knew it, too. Things had gotten heated, and ultimately, they were both responsible.
She lowered the temperature in the Mech Bay. A cool breeze, cold enough to be chilling, blew over them.
A full ten minutes passed before she turned it up a few degrees again.
Miles and Zoe unconsciously kept a bit of distance from each other.
They just had to endure this stretch in the Mecha. Once they reached the area where Mechas were unusable, this particular problem would disappear.
「Two hours passed quietly.」
During that time, Nathan Lockwood identified the location where their next clash was likely to occur.
Just as Miles had said.
Zoe chimed in on the channel, "How’s your spirit sea?"
’Erin’s been using her spiritual power for so long. Can her spirit sea take it?’
"I’m fine."
Erin was tempted to be cheeky and say, ’Zoe, you wanna come over here?’
But the thought that everyone would hear it made her swallow her words, replacing them with two that couldn’t be faulted.
’Getting Zoe to soothe me is impossible right now anyway.’
’The Imperial Squad would never give us an opening like that.’
Though she was a bit uncomfortable, it was far from unbearable.
Sure enough, the moment they reached the critical point, the Imperial Squad’s patience wore thin and they attacked.
Their Mechas suddenly surged to full power, surrounding Erin in an instant.
’Since Miles can’t use his spiritual power here, we won’t either. This will be a pure contest of Mecha piloting skill.’
A long whip lashed out, striking Erin’s hand. Then a Longsword pressed her back as its wielder tried to snatch the Token from her grasp.
Erin suddenly raised her arm and threw it with all her might. "Miles, catch!"
From that distance, Zoe gunned the engines, maneuvering Miles’s Mecha to catch the Token. She then immediately reversed course, charging the Mecha back toward their starting point.
The Imperial Squad behind them reacted, giving chase at once.
Nathan Lockwood said, "We’ll hold them off. Miles, you and Zoe go on ahead."
Zoe’s expression was focused as she accelerated. Miles’s Mecha wasn’t as fast as Erin’s Light Mecha, but once the power output hit a certain threshold, she could still feel the world rushing past her.
Following the optimal route plotted by the Mecha, she piloted it as if it had eyes in the back of its head, perfectly dodging wave after wave of attacks.
Even when The Empire deployed energy cannons, they couldn’t stop Zoe.
"That’s insane! Is Miles’s piloting skill that incredible? His Mecha seems so fast, he’s almost keeping up with Erin."
"AAAAH! That chain of evasive maneuvers was insane! He dodged every single one!"
"Is Miles’s ability really Nullification? It feels more like he has every ability. He’s so strong."
"Miles is from the Mechanical System to begin with! Other people’s spiritual power doesn’t work on him anyway. He’s just that good on his own!!"
...
Zoe didn’t know that everyone was praising "Miles."
Or rather, even if she knew, she wouldn’t care.
The continuous high-intensity dodges and sprints, combined with the particle cannons fired by the Imperial Squad, made her feel that something was wrong with the surrounding snow-capped mountains.
Her greatest fear was about to become reality.
The snow clinging to the mountainside gave way completely.
The moment her Perception registered the first chunk of falling snow, Zoe opened the communication channel. "All units, increase altitude by twenty meters."
Her tone was calm, bordering on a command.
Her voice alone sent the audience into an uproar.
"Holy shit, Zoe Pierce? Is she giving orders?"
"That sounds nothing like her voice when she was asking Erin a question just now. It’s so cold."
"Zoe, slay me! Ugh, *this* is the voice..."
"What’s going on? Why is she suddenly giving orders? Did Miles tell her to do it?"
More critically, the audience saw that the moment Zoe finished speaking, the other three pilots immediately flew upward, just as she’d commanded.
As if they were executing her command without question.
Zoe didn’t need to explain. The drone cameras circling the area soon showed the audience exactly what was happening.
A tremendous roar that even the night couldn’t muffle. White powder plumed up as a chain reaction started on the highest peak, and the entire snowpack began to tumble down.
"Another twenty meters up." Zoe’s brow furrowed as she stared at the projected route. "Block the Imperials at the forward mountain for three seconds."
Just three seconds was no problem, of course.
Zoe shot forward.
3, 2, 1.
Zoe counted down from three. Just as she finished, the tense, precarious snowpack on an adjacent mountain finally gave way, instantly collapsing and joining the avalanche to kick up a wave of snow dozens of meters high.
Only Zoe made it through.
Everyone else was blocked off.
The black Mecha continued to race onward, moving even faster than before. It shot across the night sky like a meteor.
