I smashed through the trees and made a beeline towards the Red Dragon base. After a few minutes of running, I finally found what I was looking for. A clearing!

I immediately launched my helicopter blades and took to the skies. I kept low, just slightly above the tree line and flew off to the south, away from both the military and the Red Dragon gang.

It was a master stroke from me.

The military would later follow my trail and find it suddenly cut off with no viable explanation on how it happened.

They would get very alarmed. Not only did the Red Dragon gang provoke them, it appeared that they have some sort of a secret too. They would raise the priority of obliterating this Red Dragon base to the highest. A confrontation was no longer avoidable.

Phase Four - Create Pandemonium. Complete.

It’s time for Phase Five - Absorb the White Mecha.

And for that, I needed the confrontation to happen first. I needed to find a place where I could observe the battle, and somehow still be far enough from being detected by the two belligerents of the mini-war that was about to begin.

Very soon, I saw the edge of the forest. I found a small clearing nearby where I could land and quickly landed.

Whoosh!

The mecha suit disappeared into my body. I turned around and looked at Emma, who had a calm and rather cold look on her face.

“Hey.” I said.

Emma stared at me for a moment before replying with a “Hey.” of her own.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Emma Whitefrost.” She replied.

I blinked a few times. Trying to remember where exactly I’ve heard of the family name Whitefrost before.

“Uhh… Daughter of a rich businessman?” I ventured a guess.

Emma shook her head.

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“Famous politician?”

She shook her head once more.

“Famous general?” I asked, randomly throwing out important roles in the government. Of course, I was well and truly surprised when she finally nodded her head.

“General Whitefrost?” I frowned.

“GENERAL WHITEFROST!!” I shouted as I finally remembered why that name sounded so familiar.

“Yes.” Emma replied. “Ex-General Whitefrost of The Chinese Federation. Not daughter, though. Grand daughter”

I stared at her in absolute surprise. No wonder she asked me to kill that pilot. General Whitefrost was a ferocious soldier. He rose from the lowest rank of a mere private to become the most feared general of The Chinese Federation.

During the Third World War near the end of the 22nd century, he led the Chinese Army to victory from one insane battle to the next, going against all odds and defeating every army sent his way until he was finally captured by the combined might of nations that would eventually be USAA and The European Empire.

And even then, his capture was merely due to the fact that he had run out of ammunition. Fifty thousand men against almost a million men. And he only lost because he ran out of bullets.

His capture was the only reason why The Chinese Federation was not a superpower at that point in time. The Chinese Federation had so much riding on him that after he was captured, it only took the other countries five weeks to end the war.

If you’re not a student of history, it is kind of difficult to explain the notoriety of General Whitefrost. You might think he was merely another captured great general of an enemy country. Yes, he was all that.

But he was more than that.

His tactics and strategies were incredibly beautiful. So beautiful and ground breaking that they caused the rewriting of countless military textbooks. His applications of the ancient 36 Strategems of Sun Tzhi were absolute works of art and deserved to be included into the modern rendition of that famed military book as glowing examples of how creativity and ancient strategy could lead to incredible results.

And not only was he a great strategist, he was also a famed Mecha Pilot as well. His White Mecha held the record at that time of one thousand seven hundred fifty three kills. Of course, I broke that record rather easily early on in my career. But during the time of the Third World War, one thousand seven hundred fifty three mechas was a LARGE number. He was impressive. Very, very impressive.

He was THE general of that generation.

I had delved so deep into my new life as a junkyard scrapper that the memories of my life before my father died seemed so very far away. It was actually quite incredible that I forgot who General Whitefrost was, considering that he was my idol. Maybe it was a defensive mechanism that my mind took instinctively to protect me from the pain of remembering too much.

I read countless books about General Whitefrost in my father’s library a long time ago. He was my one and only idol. The person I wanted to be when I grew up. Before my father was murdered before my eyes, of course, and that dream disappeared like the morning mist before the afternoon sun.

And before me was the granddaughter of that man.

What could I do? I gulped and gave her a weak smile.

“How… How’s your grandfather?” I asked carefully.

“Looking for me, I presume. Worried sick. Killing people left and right.” Emma shrugged, talking about her grandpa killing people as though he was merely out going shopping.

“Oh.” I said stupidly. And gulped once more.

“What is that?” Emma asked as she pointed at my chest curiously.

I glanced down and saw that my chest was glowing red.

“Oh this. This is some sort of a mecha core, it allows me to absorb machines and then use them at will as mecha suits. Just like I did just now.” I explained.

Emma nodded in understanding, her eyes open wide in wonder.

I smiled at her look of awe and felt really happy at myself.

“Look. I can do this.” I summoned a mecha armor over my arms and gave them little helicopter blades. I switched them on and directed them at Emma which blew at her powerfully.

Emma squealed with laughter. “You can turn them into portable fans. That’s really useful! Especially during summer.”

I stared at her, mesmerized.

I still remember that moment as though it was only yesterday.

It was the first time I saw her laugh, and by God she was beautiful. When she smiled, it truly felt like time the whole world stopped and stared at her for a while.

Although I was only around ten at that time and she, eight, I knew I was in love.