108 - 113

Chapter 108 - A Dangerous Man!

"That's true. But compared to a modern science-fiction type setting, I like this better." Ling Lan smiled. The familiar architecture and the familiar surroundings made her feel at ease instantly, sweeping away the tiredness that had been accumulated over several months of high-intensity training.

When Little Four heard that Ling Lan liked it here, all his nerves and anxiety fled. Now wasn't this just a fortuitous mistake? Thinking of this, Little Four started to become a little smug — as I thought, I'm really the smartest intelligent bio-entity. Even when I make a mistake, I make it in such a perfect way!

Leaving Little Four's private celebration aside, Ling Lan brought Little Four along as she toured the entire capital city. Of course, she was only window shopping. For one, this identity didn't have a corresponding central bank account, and so had no way to pay with credits. Although Little Four could have found a way to handle it, Ling Lan was of the mind that they should avoid doing unnecessary things to avoid trouble. Most importantly, she was afraid that the central bank would run scans at irregular intervals — if anything was exposed, it would be troublesome for both her and Little Four.

Secondly, this identity also didn't have any safe dummy mailing address. Was she supposed to get the stores to deliver anything she bought to the Ling family estates? Then what would be the point of going to the trouble of making this fake identity?

Ling Lan was just like an imprisoned bird which had been set free — she was full of enthusiasm no matter what she saw. Being able to freely walk the streets and browse was fulfilling a dream of hers which spanned both her lives.

In her previous life, she had always been confined to her sickbed. She dreamt every day of having the chance to go out and explore the streets, but unfortunately, till the end, that dream had never been realised. And then, since she had been born in this world, she had always been restricted to her home. And after that, she became restricted to the scout academy — although the virtual world of the scout academy also had shops, the items they offered were extremely monotonous, all having something to do with learning. Furthermore, the shops were all too science-fictiony, so Ling Lan just couldn't experience any of the enjoyment of regular shopping there.

However, this capital was completely different. The classical buildings, as well as the decorations of the stores were all very similar to that of the stores in her previous life, giving her the satisfying feeling of 'flattening a road' 1 . Her mood was endlessly buoyant.

If it weren't for the fact that every time she entered a store, a store introduction would pop up right before her eyes, Ling Lan might have believed that she was actually browsing a real street.

The capital truly lived up to its status as the capital. Whether it was in terms of fashion, food, activity, or accommodation, the sheer variety was dazzling. Just as Ling Lan was engrossed in her sightseeing, the people around her, who had also been busy with their shopping, suddenly stopped walking, as if receiving some unknown signal. On their faces were expressions of excitement. Some of them even yelled out involuntarily.

Very quickly, they changed their personal plans, all of them heading mutually towards the same direction.

"What's going on?" Ling Lan was a little bewildered by this, and hurried to ask Little Four.

Without delay, Little Four immediately began a search. Then, with a surprised expression, he said, "There's actually a mecha combat tournament happening here. And it's a cross-level J6 challenge against a J8, can this be real?"

Ling Lan, who knew almost nothing about the world outside in this life, said dumbly, "J6? J8? What's that?"

Little Four slapped his forehead; only now did he remember that he had forgotten to supplement Ling Lan's knowledge on this front. So, he quickly gave a general overview of what mecha combat tournaments were all about.

In the virtual world, this mecha combat tournament was actually a type of combat game that was open to all members of the public. Any citizen could participate in the combat game as long as they were 13 years old and above. Meanwhile, the students of the scout academy could get rid of the seal of the scout academy once they turned 13, and enter the real virtual world. In other words, if they followed the normal schedule, Ling Lan would only be able to come here after she turned 13.

Regardless of age, any newbie who just started the game would be at level J0. They needed to learn how to operate mecha and go through related combat training before unlocking the newbie arena. After earning 100 points, they would successfully move forward into level J1; and after accumulating 1000 points, they'd enter level J2. Calculating forwards from this, you can just imagine what an astronomical number of points was needed to achieve level J9.

Little Four told Ling Lan that very few mecha operators managed to advance to level J9 — of the billions of people in the entire Federation, there were only about three to four thousand people who had done it. Of course, there is also a level higher than J9, but those people who could achieve it would not bother with this sort of mecha combat game for the masses. Little Four didn't elaborate much on that, for he felt that these things were still a little too far off for Ling Lan to worry about.

"It's lucky then that cross-level challenges are allowed?" Otherwise, going according to the regular flow, slowly accumulating points bit by bit, who knows how many months and years it would take to enter J9? Ling Lan felt a little dizzy just looking at the countless number of zeroes behind that extrapolated number.

"It's allowed, but the conditions for a cross-level challenge is very strict. If a challenger fails, the punishment may make the person regret it so much that they'd kill themselves ..." said Little Four in a flat tone. Advantages are not so easily obtained.

"For a cross-level challenge, winning one fight isn't enough. You would have to consecutively defeat three randomly selected high-level opponents over the course of three days before your cross-level challenge is considered successful. Only then will you really enter the ranks of that level. But if you lose, the point deduction is extremely harsh. Take that J6 for example, he might very likely lose so many marks that he would fall directly back to level J3, maybe even J2." Little Four explained the rules and punishment related to this cross-level challenge.

"Well, it still seems worth it. Even if he falls down to J2 or J3, he can just challenge a J7 or J8 next time. As long as he can manage 3 wins sometime, won't he be right back up?" said Ling Lan, disagreeing.

"How could it be that easy? Each person only has three chances to initiate a cross-level challenge every year. Unless he wins all three times, otherwise, if he loses just once, he would have to start over and accumulate points again. As everyone knows, points are extremely hard to collect in the mecha combat tournaments. It requires a lot of time and matches. More importantly, the so-called cross-level challenges are actually just a cross-1-level challenge. A J2 can only challenge a J4, a J3 can only challenge a J5 ... so even if he waits a whole year, he still wouldn't be able to return to his original position. Boss, do you still think this kind of cross-level challenge is worth it?"

Little Four's words stunned Ling Lan. "So that's how it is. Then, isn't the cross-level challenge just for show? Probably very few people would choose to try a cross-level challenge, right?" It looked like the creator of the game really hated people who took shortcuts, actually posing such imposing restrictions and obstacles.

"Of course, otherwise the people here wouldn't be so worked up over this current challenge. There might still be many cross-level challenges in the lower levels, but a high-level cross-level challenge is very rarely seen. Especially this type of J6 vs J8 challenge — I've heard that you might not even see one within 100 years. Boss, you're really quite lucky." Little Four reported everything he had learned from his searches to Ling Lan, telling her that this upcoming mecha fight was really very uncommon.

"Then let's go take a look." Ling Lan's interest was thoroughly piqued by Little Four. They moved along with the crowd towards their destination — a seven-storey tall pagoda.

"Drats, we need to buy tickets." Ling Lan was about to walk through the entrance when a line of text suddenly appeared before her. Her mood fell — apparently tickets were required to enter.

This was also the first time Little Four was entering a battle stadium to watch a mecha fight, so he hadn't known they had needed tickets either. Hearing Ling Lan's words, he said, "Wait one moment," and disappeared.

Ling Lan thought that Little Four would be away for some time, but surprisingly, it had only been a few seconds when Little Four returned. He made a victory pose with his hands and said smugly, "Boss, everything's settled."

As Little Four was speaking, another person completely covered up in a black windbreaker was just about to buy the ticket number he was interested in when a notification popped up on his communicator: "Sorry, the ticket number you've selected is no longer available. Please make a new selection."

"Eh? Weird, someone was actually faster than me? It's been taken ..." muttered the person to himself. He had no choice but to choose the seat right next to the one he had wanted. Seeing the words 'purchase successful' appear, he closed his communicator and walked into the battle stadium.

At this moment, Little Four was extremely pleased with himself. He had finally gotten the chance to show off his skills as an omnipotent underling in front of Ling Lan — for a godlike existence like him, sneaking Ling Lan in without a ticket was nothing.

Um ... no, Little Four was an obedient babe — he would never do this sort of underhanded thing. He was just ... doing a favour, yep, doing a favour by showing up to watch.

Receiving Little Four's confirmation, Ling Lan walked towards the entrance of the battle stadium once more. This time, the words that appeared before her was no longer a reminder to buy a ticket. Instead, the words were a welcome — thank you for your patronage, your seat number is XX-section XX-row XX-number.

Ling Lan sighed in wonder yet again; Little Four was truly very useful. Whether it was in the real world or in the virtual world, she just couldn't get by without Little Four's help.

Ling Lan stepped through the gates and felt the scenery twist before eyes. And then, she found herself standing at the entrance to a random passage, rows and rows of seats before her.

"Could you please give way?" An icy voice rang out from behind Ling Lan. She quickly turned and saw a man in a windbreaker standing there. What surprised Ling Lan was that the man's face was almost wrapped up completely by the large hood of the windbreaker — only his lower jaw and slightly quirked thin lips could be seen from within its shadow.

"Uh ... sorry." Ling Lan ducked her head apologetically, and hurried to give way. Her head lowered, Ling Lan did not let the other discover her shock. She clenched her fists tightly, annoyed at herself for being careless.

Just now, Ling Lan actually hadn't sensed the presence of anyone behind her. This was the first time someone had been able to get close to her without her noticing — if the other had had any bad intentions and ambushed her, she would definitely have been KO-ed directly and become deader than dead.

And when she had faced the man, a pressing sense of danger had risen from her heart. This was the first time she could actually feel danger emanating from a person's body.

The man did not say anything, only nodding at Ling Lan lightly to signify thanks before moving past Ling Lan. It looked like he was also an audience member who had come to watch the match.

Ling Lan did not follow after him right away; she was still a little wary of that man, and decided that it would be a better idea to keep some distance from him. The man finally walked off into the distance, far enough that Ling Lan could no longer see his silhouette. Then, she heard Little Four say, "Oh crap, that fellow is a hacker ... no, he's very likely one of those rumoured spectres."

"Little Four, by spectre, do you mean those beings capable of wiping out a person's consciousness in the virtual world?"

"Of course! The aura of that person is very similar — it's a type of spiritual mutation that belongs to a spectre hacker," confirmed Little Four.

Even within the virtual world, Ling Lan could feel cold sweat breaking out on her forehead at these words. No wonder she had sensed so much danger from the man — it turned out that he was a being who could kill someone without a trace ... Boo hoo hoo, this virtual world was really very dangerous.

Even if Ling Lan could KO a person like this a hundred thousand times over in real life, in the virtual world, she still needed to give these people a wide berth.

1. This is a saying that was typically applied to young couples in the past, who walked back and forth over roads as they talked and deepened their relationship. There weren't that many dating spots then, hence the hanging out on the roads. Here, Ling Lan is just talking about being able to happily walk up and down the streets as many times as she wants. :p

Chapter 109 - God View!

"Boss, do you want to know that person's real identity? I can go find out!" Little Four's eyes were sparkling, as if he had found some great new toy.

Ling Lan was just about to agree when she suddenly grew cautious and asked, "How are you planning to find out?"

Little Four said excitedly, "Of course by infiltrating the other's spiritual self! Then I'll be able to see the other's true identity."

"Not allowed!" barked Ling Lan fiercely inside the mind-space.

Ling Lan had not forgotten about what had happened within her dad's mission space. Little Four had said then that a strong person's spiritual self would be able to discover him, and may even take control of Little Four to harm him. Who knew if this hacker-evolved spectre would be able to cause some catastrophic damage to Little Four?

"Why?" Little Four was taken aback by Ling Lan's sharp rebuke. Mind you, even when Ling Lan had been applying domestic violence in the past, she had never before treated him so sternly. That scary expression and tone of voice didn't just shock Little Four but also hurt him. He wilted, a depressed expression on his face. He started to wonder if Ling Lan didn't like him anymore, treating him this way.

"First off, we have no conflict with him. Why poke a sleeping tiger? If we anger him, and he decides to come after us, we'll be in a lot of trouble ..."

Little Four was just about to say that he wasn't at all afraid of that, because he could handle everything just fine, but Ling Lan pressed down on his little shoulder at that moment. She said earnestly, "Most importantly, I don't want you, Little Four, to be in danger. If anything happened to you, I would regret it for the rest of my life. So, Little Four, you must promise me. You must protect yourself well, so that you can stay by my side forever and ever, until the day I leave this world ..."

Hearing this little speech by Ling Lan, all of Little Four's sadness and resentment disappeared ... he felt as if his CPU was overloaded — not just that, his core chip was starting to heat up, becoming hotter and hotter, almost reaching critical levels. He should have been frantic and panicked, and tried to find a way to cool his core chip down rapidly ... but, goddammit, he just didn't want to. He even felt that the existence of this heat was truly wondrous — he loved this feeling so much he could die.

Ling Lan saw Little Four's slack and unresponsive face and was afraid he hadn't understood what she had been trying to say. So, with emphasis, she repeated again, "Little Four, listen, I forbid you from going off on your own from now on to investigate the spiritual selves of anyone strong or dangerous. As long as the other leaves us alone, we'll leave them alone too. Remember, you must protect yourself. Didn't you want to be my number one follower? If you don't listen to me, I'll take away your precious number one follower position." Ling Lan decided that a threat was necessary along with the warning to show just how serious she was about this.

At this point, Little Four had already lost all ability to think, but that grand goal of being the number one follower had always been a top priority in his heart, so when he heard Ling Lan's warning threat, he hurriedly nodded obediently, giving up any thought of checking out that man.

He could lose anything else, but that number one follower position must not be lost! This was Little Four's only major ambition ever since he had become aware.

In that case, he would let that man go this time. Still ... Little Four finally returned to normal. His CPU was no longer running on overdrive, and his chip was no longer in danger of shorting. He looked towards the direction where the man had vanished and fiercely swung his fist into the air. He was determined to not let that man hurt his boss, otherwise, even if he had to go against his boss's words, he would still give that man a piece of his mind.

After obtaining Little Four's promise, Ling Lan could finally relax. She waited for a few minutes, then slowly made her way to the designated eating area at the front to look for her seat.

It should be said that looking for a seat in the virtual world was extremely easy — the moment she entered the seating area, a chart of the seating layout automatically appeared before her eyes. A red light was blinking on one of the seats on the chart, while a green dot was gradually moving forwards. Yup, that green dot was herself.

Very quickly, Ling Lan had followed the chart to find her seat. Once she sat down, the chart before her eyes disappeared, and she regained her usual vision.

Ling Lan looked around curiously at the audience around her. A familiar outfit caught her eye, rendering her speechless instantly, curse words pouring out in a torrent inside her mind ... Why was she so unlucky? Actually meeting up once again with this dangerous fellow.

It turned out that Ling Lan's neighbouring seat was occupied by that dangerous man with a mutating mentality who was evolving into a spectre. However, the man's attitude was not bad — when he saw Ling Lan approaching, he nodded slightly in greeting.

"Uh ... hello!" Ling Lan squeezed out a weak smile before turning away moodily.

Even so, Ling Lan wasn't really all that scared inside. Although the other was very dangerous, the two of them were just passing strangers with no bad blood between them; it was unlikely that the other would harm her for no reason.

Furthermore, although Ling Lan had forbidden Little Four from exploring, she knew that if the other tried to do something bad to her, Little Four would definitely counterattack and protect her from getting injured. In addition, Ling Lan was very confident in her own abilities. As long as she could hold off the other's sneak attack at the start, it wouldn't be that easy to harm her afterwards. She was mostly unrivalled within the Central Scout Academy — although she was a little weaker within the virtual world, she wasn't so weak that she would be completely helpless against attack. In short, Ling Lan felt prepared no matter what happened.

Just like that, Ling Lan regained her equilibrium once more and turned to coolly survey the battle stadium.

The battle stadium was large, so large that it was rather frightening. It was a lot like an enlarged version of the basketball stadiums of her previous world, just that the rectangular court in the middle had been changed into a huge circular ring. On all sides were audience stands, packed tightly one level after another. Ling Lan carefully counted and found that there were actually as many as 12 levels from top to bottom. By her estimations, this stadium could hold up to 500,000 audience members — if compared to her previous world, this venue would definitely be considered one of the more massive stadiums. If this building existed in reality, what an enormous structure it would be.

Ling Lan sighed; the architecture of the future was heading more and more towards massive sizes, it seemed. Currently, Ling Lan didn't know that this mecha battle stadium that she found so massive was actually just a small venue in this world. Planet Azure was a third-rate planet, so its capital was also considered a third-rate city — it could only have this sort of small mecha battle stadium.

The capital of a second-rate planet would be able to possess a medium-sized stadium, which could hold 800,000 people. Meanwhile, a first-rate planet could have a large stadium, which could hold 10,000,000 people. As for the capitals of capital planets like Doha, they could have giant stadiums. These stadiums could hold up to 20,000,000 people — now that's what you would really call an enormous structure. All we can say is that the current Ling Lan was really a country bumpkin, having seen very little of the real world thus far.

It wasn't long before the entire stadium was filled with people, a crowd of heads all packed together. Soon, the sound of a bell rang out beside their ears — the sound of this bell was very melodious, sounding more like the tinkling of water than a metal bell.

Following this sound, warm applause broke out across the whole stadium. At the same time, two mecha slowly descended from the skies, making their way down slowly to land on the ground.

One of the mecha was entirely red while the other was a sheet of silver. When Ling Lan focused on any one of the mecha, the image before her eyes would reveal that mecha's basic information. From this, Ling Lan found out that the red mecha was the J6 challenger, while the silver mecha was the J8 recipient of the challenge.

The two mecha belonged to two different categories of mecha. The red mecha was a winged transformer type mecha — its advantage was optimum flexibility in the air, and it could switch freely between a humanoid shape and a pure aviation model — considered a mecha suited for both land and air. Its right arm was equipped with a beam gun, while its left hand was left empty for general use. The sides of its two legs each held one high-alloy dagger, and below its wings were several high-efficiency guided missiles. Of course, this was just standard regulation equipment; as for whether there were any hidden secret weapons, no one could tell.

Concealed weaponry was also a type of strategy in these mecha combat fights, so all mecha would typically have something up their sleeves.

Meanwhile, the silver mecha was a land-based humanoid mecha, extremely agile on land. On its back was a radiation gun, which was a specialised anti-aircraft weapon. In the mecha's right hand was a beam saber and its left hand was similarly empty on standby. All its other equipment were just like the red mecha's, standard regulation weapons.

The two mecha faced each other from a distance, both moving their limbs as they liked; they seemed to be warming up.

Right then, a strange scene suddenly occurred on the match grounds, causing Ling Lan to yell out in surprise.

On the field, the scenery suddenly changed — the normal floorboards swiftly turned into an endless desert. The audience was also whisked away from the stadium into the middle of this desert ... Ling Lan could even feel the scorching heat of the sun on her body, as well as the limitless heat reflected by the sand beneath her feet.

Ling Lan quickly understood that this must be a type of simulation method, creating a realistic desert environment in an instant. Ling Lan still hadn't shaken herself out of the shock of finding herself in a desert when she was blindsided again. Apparently, the red winged transformer mecha had switched into aviation mode while the background was changing into this desert. Now, it was zooming off into the distance, directly becoming a small black dot before disappearing from sight completely. The silver mecha was equally fast — with a few great bounds, it had also disappeared into the dunes in the distance ...

How was she supposed to watch the match if she couldn't see the mecha?

She asked Little Four, but Little Four was just as clueless. He quickly rushed to search for a solution, but just then, a cold voice abruptly rang out from beside her, almost scaring Ling Lan witless. "First time watching a match?"

Ling Lan turned her head. Sure enough, it was the mysterious man with his hidden eyes, ears, and nose who had spoken. Ling Lan was a little startled. She had obviously sensed that the other was very cold, so why would he take the initiative to speak to her?

Still, Ling Lan wasn't so foolish as to refuse someone who was willing to help. "Yes, it's my first time watching this kind of match."

"Focus and say 'selection' in your mind, a menu will appear," the man instructed Ling Lan.

Ling Lan did as he said, and a line of text appeared before her eyes: Please choose the viewing angle you want. 1: God View. 2: Challenger View. 3: Defender View.

Ling Lan didn't know which viewing angle was better, and so decided it would be wiser to ask an old hand at this. Thus, she unreservedly asked the man beside her, "Which viewing angle should I choose?"

"If you want to see an exciting match, choose God view. If you want to know how to operate a mecha or ways to counter, you can choose the other two options." The man was not as aloof and hard to get along with as Ling Lan had feared; he patiently responded to Ling Lan's question.

Ling Lan thought for a moment. She did not know how to operate mecha at all, so it would be a waste to watch from the other two perspectives. She might as well watch the two mechas fight — perhaps it would spark some inspiration for her own combat skills. Thus, she decisively chose God view.

"Thanks." Before making her selection, Ling Lan politely thanked the man beside her.

Chapter 110 - Hide and Seek?

After giving her thanks, Ling Lan no longer paid any attention to the man or his response; all her focus was now on the mecha combat match about to begin. This caused the man beside her to throw a speechless glance at her — well, that was rather perfunctory. Shouldn't she be more sincere when thanking someone?!

Ling Lan was oblivious to the internal grumbles of the man beside her. After choosing God view, the image before her eyes shifted instantly, revealing two very different images. One image was focused on the red mecha, while the other showed that the silver mecha had already hidden itself underneath one of the sand dunes. The colour of the mecha was gradually changing to match the colour of the dune.

Ling Lan found this rather interesting, and put her attention on the silver mecha's image, silently saying in her mind to zoom out ... Unthinkingly, she had stumbled upon the correct controls. The image zoomed out, showing that the hiding place of the silver mecha was completely invisible from a high bird's eye view.

Using the same method again, Ling Lan zoomed out the image of the red mecha as well. Only then did she find out that the red mecha was actually not that far away from the silver mecha — it was just that the red mecha had been circling around without getting close to the other's hiding spot. Now, the whereabouts of both mecha had been observed.

On the lower left corner of the image, there was a number counting down. Ling Lan guessed that this was probably the official start time of the match. The number was now already at 73, so the match would probably start about a minute or so later.

Moreover, Ling Lan also noticed that after she chose a viewing angle, it was as if she had entered a separate space. She couldn't feel the presence of anyone around her — it was as if she was the only one watching this battle, all disturbances screened away. Ling Lan was comfortable with this — at least that man with the dangerous presence would not be able to disrupt her from enjoying the mecha fight.

Meanwhile, on Little Four's end, not only did he search out all kinds of control systems for mecha fighting games, he also looted all the information about other control systems that could be found within the virtual world. After he returned from his pillaging, Little Four told Ling Lan that this kind of low-level mistake would never happen ever again.

Little Four's mood was actually terrible right then. He had never expected that the virtual world would have a game directly implanted inside it, and that every game would have different control systems. This threw him, a virtual god, for a loop, causing him to lose face greatly in front of his boss this time. He still remembered how he had proudly proclaimed himself as the god of the virtual world to his boss once ...

Who could have expected that there were things a god didn't know ... it was such a slap in the face!

Ling Lan had no idea Little Four was tying himself up in knots over this; right now, she was patiently waiting for the countdown to reach zero. Finally, when the clock displayed a string of zeroes, the initially circling red mecha abruptly changed directions and flew straight towards the silver mecha's hiding spot. Ling Lan supposed that it was very likely that, to avoid wasting time with hide-and-seek, the system had directly informed the red mecha of its opponent's general position.

Ling Lan believed that, for fairness' sake, the system wouldn't give specific coordinates on the other's location to either side. Sure enough, the red mecha's subsequent actions proved this point. In the air, while still about 5 km away from the silver mecha's position, the red mecha suddenly launched a guided missile.

The moment the missile was fired, Ling Lan felt ripples pass through the image. Little Four jumped in with an immediate explanation, "This is a NNEMP 1 missile. It can disrupt the radar scanning of a mecha."

It looked like in order to make the audience feel the scene better, the system had added in these visual effects to represent these originally invisible interactions.

"What is the furthest distance that a mecha's radar scanning can reach?" asked Ling Lan thoughtfully.

"Depends on the mecha's radar model. A common mecha will typically be able to scan up to 2000 metres, an intermediate mecha up to 2500 metres, and an advanced mecha up to 3000 metres. Of course, there's still special-class mecha which can scan up to 4000 metres."

"Could the silver mecha be a special-class mecha?"

"At J8 level, it's very likely to possess a special-class mecha. But for a special-class mecha, not only must the mecha operator's operational skill be up to level, the operator must also have gathered a certain amount of meritorious exploits," explained Little Four to Ling Lan as he browsed through the information he had found.

Ling Lan nodded. Now she understood why the red mecha had fired the NNEMP missile from 5 km away. It was probably afraid the opponent was a special-class mecha, whose radar was capable of sensing 1000 metres further than his own mecha.

It was a reality that the red mecha couldn't afford to lose, so he couldn't gamble on this possibility.

The red mecha had just fired the NNEMP missile when it transformed into humanoid shape in mid-air and slowly descended to land on the ground. Next, the red mecha's colour slowly faded to match the colour of the desert.

"This is the 'chameleon system' only equipped on advanced mecha and beyond. It allows a mecha's external colour to change according to its environment." Little Four continued to clarify things for Ling Lan. Originally, all this information would be taught to Ling Lan in the scout academy before she turned 13; however, since Little Four had let Ling Lan come into contact with the virtual world and mecha fights prematurely, Little Four had no choice but to become the transmitter of knowledge.

A ring-shaped object slowly emerged from the shoulder area of the red mecha which had turned into the colour of the desert. Then, the object slowly and carefully snuck towards the position of the silver mecha.

"The ring-shaped object is an IE-type 1 heat detector, the newest model on the market. It's considered a type of retrofit, not an original component of mecha. This model of heat detector can sense heat up to a distance of 1500 metres." Little Four was quick to react, introducing this new item that had appeared to Ling Lan immediately.

Ling Lan nodded silently. Even if the K8 mecha also had an IE-type heat detector equipped, the red mecha would not be disadvantaged. The two mechas had initially been set apart greatly by their long-range sensing capabilities, but with this move by the red mecha, the playing field had been levelled. Of course, if the other side didn't have the newest heat detector equipped, this move would have given the red mecha the upper hand.

A well-timed and well-used NNEMP missile — it looked like the red mecha had come fully prepared for this cross-level challenge. It hadn't issued the challenge recklessly, and had come armed with meticulous strategy and tactics to handle the J8. It seemed like this match wouldn't be a quick one-sided battle; if the J8 wasn't careful, an upset might really be possible ... Ling Lan felt her enthusiasm surge.

Ling Lan wanted to know how the silver mecha would react after facing the loss of its radar. She turned her attention to the silver mecha's side and was promptly shocked still by the other's decision. Apparently, when the silver mecha had seen its radar fizzle out, it had stopped to think. After about one minute, the operator chose to submerge the mecha's entire body into the sand dune and shut down the mecha. The scene truly became deathly silent.

This action naturally stunned Ling Lan. Even though Ling Lan didn't know much about mecha, she still knew that shutting down a mecha would also remove the defensive shield originally shielding the outside of the mecha. In other words, the defensive ability of the mecha currently would depend solely on the strength of the metal it was made of. If it was coincidentally shot by the opponent's laser gun, it would definitely take heavy damage.

Ling Lan knew very well that doing this on the battlefield was pretty much a suicidal act. However, in this one-on-one fight, it worked wonders. This move by the J8 mecha made the J6 mecha's heat detector become utterly useless. In other words, the J8's choice levelled the playing field once again. To discover the other, they could rely on nothing else but their eyes; no external force or gadget could be borrowed.

At this point, Ling Lan thought of another question. "The mecha is inactivated, losing its defences. Our human bodies naturally produce heat — won't that be picked up by the heat detector?"

Little Four answered, "Because the protective clothing that mecha operators wear have heat-shielding properties, so the heat detector won't be able to pick up their body heat."

Ling Lan understood now. No wonder the J8 mecha had chosen to shut down without any hesitation. He had this to fall back on.

The J6 mecha which had already changed colour to merge with the desert sand began to walk across the desert. Ling Lan thought that the weight of the mecha itself would make it very difficult for the mecha to move, but unexpectedly, the mecha walked on the sand as if it were normal flat ground, as if it took no extra effort whatsoever. She took a closer look at the mecha's feet, and found that only its sole would sink into the sand, as if its big and heavy body did not exist.

Could it be that this virtual world wasn't able to simulate realistic effects? Ling Lan was doubtful.

Little Four sensed Ling Lan's puzzlement, and hurried to clear it up. "It's not like that. These mecha come with their own levitation system, which can decrease the mecha's body weight. Here, the J6 mecha is still not being operated to its maximum capabilities. If a top-notch mecha operator were controlling it, its feet wouldn't sink at all into the yellow sand. Now that would truly be a display of walking on firm ground."

So that's how it was! Ling Lan felt as if she had become more knowledgeable. She found that things related to mecha couldn't be viewed through the lens of normal logic. Right now, her interest towards mecha was rising in a vertical line — the long-slumbering mecha dream of hers began to stir and flare up once more.

Goddammit, she really wished she owned a mecha right now! Ling Lan's heart throbbed with excitement and impatience.

"Boss, if you want mecha, please get over your fear of heights first!" whined Little Four with a pout. The main reason he still hadn't given Ling Lan any sort of mecha training till now was that Ling Lan was still afraid of heights.

Little Four's words caused even Ling Lan's thick-skinned face to turn red. Although her fear of heights had indeed gotten better under forceful training over this duration of time, she wasn't sure if she was really over it yet ... and so, Ling Lan pretended not to have heard anything, looking away from Little Four's accusative stare. She turned her attention back to the images before her.

The red mecha carefully approached the silver mecha's position. However, all he knew was the other's general position and not the actual position, so when he found that the heat detector wasn't picking anything up, he stopped moving and began to consider what to do next. By now, the J6 mecha must have probably figured out that the heat detector was useless.

The J6 mecha seemed to become a little nervous now. Ling Lan saw that, with every step he took, he would look around warily. After many close brushes, he finally got closer and closer to the sand dune that the J8 was hiding in.

Who would discover the other first? The J8 was hidden within the sand dune, making it very difficult for the J6 to discover it. On the other hand, the J8 had shut down his mecha, and was in a blinded state. Both sides were not able to see the other — was this match destined to be a game of hide-and-seek from beginning to end?

1. Non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse

2. IE is an acronym used by the author with no explanation.

Chapter 111 - Calling Me Big Brother?

Right then, Ling Lan saw the J8 mecha move — some colour suddenly appeared on the entirely grey mecha.

"This is emergency activation. Now it all depends on what mecha it is. The emergency activation time of special-class mecha is between 4 to 7 seconds, while an advanced mecha's is between 7 to 9 seconds ..." Little Four also began to feel a bit nervous; this would determine which mecha would gain the initiative.

For a heat detector to detect heat and relay its findings back to the mecha's cockpit, there would be a 2 second delay. From this point onwards, this mecha battle would become a match of fighting over time ... to see which mecha could react faster, and which mecha operator could respond quicker.

Two seconds after the J8 activated, the J6 mecha found that a red heat spot had appeared on the screen connected to its heat detector. The J6 mecha, whose back was to the red spot, spun on one leg to turn around swiftly, and aimed precisely at the coordinate position indicated by the flashing red dot. But there was nothing there ...

Even so, the J6 mecha did not hesitate. It swiftly pressed down on the trigger of the laser beam gun in its hands. Energy from a clip of the gun's energy storage unit was converted into beam rays, and the rays shot out in a torrent towards the sand dune before the mecha. This round of intense firepower actually turned the dune into a pit in an instant, but there were no mecha remains to be found inside. Besides yellow sand, there was just more yellow sand.

"Emergency activation 5.537 seconds. That J8 mecha is most certainly a special-class mecha. Its luck isn't bad, managing to finish activation within 6 seconds," remarked Little Four. If the mecha had finished activating just half a second slower, it would have been impossible for the J8 mecha to evade the J6 mecha's beam gun attack.

"Not good!" The J6 mecha, which had been attacking the dune, abruptly leapt into the air. In mid-air, it pointed the laser gun in its hands straight down towards the ground below it and pulled the trigger, sending a wave of energy pouring out once more.

At the same time, a beam saber shot out from the sand, heading straight for the J6, while a sturdy beam shield emerged to block off the J6's beam attacks.

Seeing that its beam gun attacks wouldn't be able to fend off the other, the wings on the J6's back spread open to reveal six high-efficiency guided missiles and fired them immediately.

The J8 mecha had intended to pierce the J6 mecha with its saber, but seeing the six missiles headed towards it, it knew that it wouldn't be able to hold them off with just a beam shield.

It quickly reversed directions in mid-air, and under the combined screeching of the mecha's thrusters, it forcefully pushed its own large frame several hundred metres away from the missile's trajectory. At the same time, the mecha's arms crossed behind it, and the J8 took out a beam laser cannon in an instant, keeping away its beam saber on its back.

The mecha lifted the laser cannon with a strong left arm and steadied it with its right hand. It turned to face the six guided missiles coming after it, and the operator decisively pulled the trigger. An immense surge of energy spewed out from the mouth of the cannon, rushing up into the sky.

When this energy surge made contact with the missiles, the missiles were blown up one after another. These consecutive explosions shook Ling Lan's entire body violently, making her feel as if she were really on a battlefield.

The J8 mecha had finally wiped out the six threatening guided missiles, but the J6 had also regained the attacking initiative. It flew up high into the air, aiming its laser beam gun at the J8 on the ground and fired once more.

Meanwhile, the J8 had no means to retaliate at the moment, and could only scurry all over the ground to dodge the J6's attacks. However, Ling Lan didn't think the J6 had the upper hand — instead, she felt that the J8 was already slowly reclaiming the initiative in this match.

This was because Ling Lan could see very clearly that the J8's steps had never become disorganised. It was obviously using the most widespread and most adaptable footwork —— split steps.

Although the J8 looked like it was being forced to flee helter-skelter like a mouse, every step it took was calculated to be on the most advantageous position, neutralizing every attack from the J6 in the air.

The J6 seemed to also have figured out that it wouldn't be able to hit its opponent just by relying on its laser beam gun. It lifted its wings once more, and a new round of high-efficiency guided missiles were launched. The six new missiles descended upon the J8 mecha below in a horizontal line.

The J8 mecha didn't choose to retreat. It lifted its laser cannon again, and this time, it fired three laser beams simultaneously.

What was surprising was that the three shots were timed in such a way that they also created a horizontal line, flying forwards to meet the six missiles head-on.

When the first missile was set off, the following two missiles exploded as well. The concussive force from the explosion of the three missiles and the laser beams then set off the remaining three missiles. Once again, the J6's attacks were a bust. Besides that, due to the violent tremors from the explosion, yellow sand filled the air, obscuring the vision of the J6, preventing him from seeing what was happening below ...

Without thinking about it, the J6 shot downwards desperately with the beam gun in his hand. In the meantime, he was anxiously looking over the indicators from his heat detector, worried that the opponent would take advantage of his momentary loss of vision to fire its laser cannon.

Right then, he suddenly noticed a beam of light shooting towards his lower belly without a sound. This attack came too swiftly — he had no time at all to defend; the body of his mecha was already out of time to dodge the attack.

Quicker than words could say, the J6 decisively threw the laser beam gun in its hand onto the coming light beam. There was a loud 'boom' as the two collided and the J6's laser gun was utterly destroyed by the beam. Still, the J6 was thrown back by the resulting force, away from the path of the light ray, narrowly avoiding the fate of being pierced clean through the stomach. (That area was where the cockpit was. If it were hit, even if the operator didn't die, he would still lose control of the mecha. Either way, the J6 would have lost.)

It was then when everyone could finally see what was happening. It turned out that after swathes of yellow sand had been blown into the air, and while visibility was poor, the J8 mecha had sprung upwards and, working with the power of its thrusters, it had flown up into the air in a split second. It had gotten close to the J6, and then, the J8 had purposefully discarded its laser cannon in favour of stabbing its beam saber at the J6.

A laser cannon shot produced heat, which would have been captured by the mecha's defensive systems, taking out the element of surprise from its attack. Thus, the J8 had chosen to use its beam saber, which was formed from cold light, because it was undetectable.

However, the J6 had reacted extremely quickly. It had sensed danger within that split second and decisively surrendered its weapon in exchange for a chance at survival.

Still, having lost its beam gun, the J6 could only fight with the J8 in melee combat. The moment they clashed, Ling Lan knew that the J6 mecha was definitely going to lose. In terms of combat instinct, the J6 was clearly weaker than the J8; they were on completely different levels.

Of course, the other audience members did not have Ling Lan's vision and couldn't tell. After all, the two mecha were both fighting passionately, no clear winner or loser between the two of them. The fight looked like it was neck-and-neck, extremely exciting. The reason why Ling Lan could tell at a glance was completely due to her innate talent —— Profound Insight. From the very beginning, she had identified the J6's weakness, and had also noticed that the J8 was not yet fighting with its full strength.

Thus, Ling Lan knew that the difference between the J6's and J8's melee combat skills were actually very large. As expected, a cross-level challenge was not that easy.

She lowered her head and sighed, choosing to withdraw. A mecha fight was actually not that much different from a real physical fight. With just a glance, Ling Lan could tell that quite a few of the moves had been inspired and based off of real physical combat. It was just that these moves were much swifter and more incisive in real combat, while they looked obviously clumsier when executed with mecha.

Ling Lan had just withdrawn from the scene of the fight when she sensed something strange. The entire battle stadium was eerily silent and still. Everyone was sitting in their seats, unmoving — it looked like their attention had been completely captivated by the game fight in the other space.

Still, she was a little creeped out by the stillness of the silent scene. She couldn't help but twist her neck around, just moving a little to prove that she was still a living person.

"You didn't watch till the end?" The man beside her suddenly spoke up. Caught unprepared, Ling Lan was almost scared witless. Still, Ling Lan was still Ling Lan after all — after going through the insane torments of the learning space for so long, Ling Lan's little heart was unbelievably strong.

"Yes, aren't you doing the same?" asked Ling Lan reflexively after collecting her wits.

"The J6 is losing for sure. What else is there to see?" The man didn't seem to be in a good mood.

"You chose the J6's viewing angle?" asked Ling Lan, tone almost certain.

"I had wanted to see how a weaker person would be able to beat a stronger opponent ... unfortunately, that J6 wasted his own advantage." The man seemed to have a lot to complain about the J6's performance.

"What advantage did the J6 have?" His combat instinct was obviously off, so Ling Lan really couldn't think of a way the J6 could win.

"That J6 is a famous marksman, but unfortunately, he didn't show any of that skill in this match," said the man regretfully. It looked like he was very familiar with the J6's skills.

"Marksman? With beam shields, there shouldn't be much a marksman can do though. Right?" Ling Lan was recalling how the J8 mecha's beam shield had pretty much withstood the power of the laser gun.

"The J6 should have chosen to snipe. Melee combat is the J8's specialty." The man knew both combatants well.

Ling Lan thought back to the attack when she had first started school — it had been so troublesome to be targeted by snipers — and nodded in agreement.

Sniping was the best ambush, impossible to guard against absolutely. After all, a beam shield could only protect a specific spot and not the entire body. Moreover, sniping was undetectable. If the J6 had chosen to snipe from the very beginning, the outcome of this match might have been harder to tell.

Seeing Ling Lan agree with his opinion, the man's mood took a turn for the better. "But an upset is still a very difficult thing after all. Even if the J6 had scraped a win in this match, he would still lose the next match. The outcome would not change."

Ling Lan understood what the man meant. If the J6 had sniped his way to victory in this match, his opponent in the next match would definitely be prepared with anti-sniping gear. In other words, the J6's sniping advantage would only be effective once, in the end, he would still have to rely on his own physical skills to pass.

"Perhaps the J6 understood this, and so decided to try a ranged attack where both sides could see one another. I think that if he won two times in a row, he would definitely use his trump, sniping, in the third match." commented Ling Lan, putting herself in the J6's shoes. If it were her, she also wouldn't have used her pocket ace right at the start and let the opponents figure out a counterstrategy.

The man was silent, a little taken aback, before he made a low noise of agreement. Yet, Ling Lan could clearly sense that the other's mood had gotten worse somehow ...

This wasn't looking good. If the other's emotions became so terrible that he lost control, wouldn't she be in danger? Ling Lan had not forgotten that the other was a spiritual mutant turned spectre that was capable of killing her consciousness.

"I have to go now. Bye, Big Brother!" That should be right, right? Even though she couldn't see his face clearly, just based off that lower jaw and those upturned lips, the man was clearly an adult ...

"Ah? Big brother?! Uh, goodbye!" The man seemed to be rather taken aback by Ling Lan's address, pausing for a beat before responding.

Ling Lan did not notice this; she was anxious to get as far away as she could from this dangerous man. After she heard him say goodbye, she hurriedly walked off, quickly leaving the man behind as she distanced herself from the mecha battle stadium.

The man muttered moodily to himself, "Could it be that I really look that old now? Calling me big brother? ..." In a dark mood, he chose to exit from the battle stadium and then left the virtual world.

Chapter 112 - Mecha Training Hall

In a private manor on planet Azure, an old man was staring anxiously at a closed login pod to the virtual world. Soon, he saw the lights inside the login pod turn off and the pod's door suddenly opened. An androgynous, pretty child of about eleven or twelve years old was lying inside the pod. His face was pale and his entire body was currently drenched with sweat, as if he had been through some strenuous exercise.

After several seconds, the child slowly opened his eyes. Seeing the old man before him, he smiled weakly and said, "Major-domo, why are you waiting here?"

"Are you still planning to fool me? Young Master, your body is not well. Didn't your grandfather tell you not to go online?" The major-domo's eyes held a trace of remonstration, but was mostly heartache.

The pretty child continued to smile and said, "No matter what, I still have to go online a few times. Otherwise, I won't be able to keep up with the pace of studies at school."

The major-domo held back and said nothing more; he could not tell his young master not to study after all ... he could only walk up to lift his young master out of the login pod, and put him into the prepped recovery pod at the side to rest.

Looking at the sleeping figure of the lovely child before him, the major-domo heaved a heavy sigh. His heart was filled with affection and heartache for the child — it wasn't that easy to be the first in line to inherit ... the young master excelled in every way, but his physical body was just too weak. His spiritual self mutation was just too much of a burden on the body.

********

Meanwhile, Ling Lan, celebrating for finally leaving the dangerous person behind, continued to browse the streets of the capital. It had taken so much trouble to come out this once — she should make full use of the chance and see her fill. Unknowingly, she found herself on yet another mecha street. This mecha street wasn't made up of mecha stores selling toys and figurines like those in the Central Scout Academy, but actually had stores selling real mecha, the strongest weapons of the Federation.

Ling Lan took a cursory look as she walked down the street, and then chose to enter the Anji 1 mecha store at random.

The moment Ling Lan entered the store, she saw several shop assistants chatting behind the store counter. The men and women were about to come forward to offer their assistance, but seeing Ling Lan walk in on her own, they stopped.

Little Four pouted and complained, "Not coming forward to serve us ... do they think we have no money?"

In contrast, Ling Lan wasn't too surprised. "My current appearance is that of a 16 year old, with no accompanying guardian. Would you think that I'd be able to afford mecha? It's perfectly normal for them to ignore us. Besides, without them following us around, won't it be easier to browse as we like? Even more fun?"

Little Four seemed to come to a realisation, "That's true! But I must still make sure they know in the future that Boss is a wealthy person. Buying the best mecha here is not a problem!" Little Four's expression was proud and cocky.

Ling Lan's glanced at him. "Looks like you've earned quite a bit in the virtual world?"

"It's alright, not that much, probably about several hundred thousand billion." This world may be lacking in some things, but it was certainly not lacking in people, especially bored people. He had just randomly posted several novels online, and they were now all doing very well. Just the 'monetary awards' from fans alone had contributed several hundred billion to Little Four's account.

Ling Lan smiled and said, "Good job. Keep up the good work."

Receiving Ling Lan's praise, Little Four was extremely happy. He was even happier over this than when he had 'conquered' this virtual world. In his heart, he was more determined than ever to get all the Federation's money into his wallet.

Let us give a round of applause for Little Four's grand goal ... and let us wonder when Little Four will find out that the Federation's money will never ever run out.

Right then, from among the shop assistants, a cheerful young man stepped out voluntarily. He approached Ling Lan and greeted her politely, "Hello, I'm assistant 017 of Anji Mecha Store. May I know if you require any assistance?"

"Thank you, but I'm just looking around." Ling Lan was a bit startled, but she demurely refused 017's offer of service.

When Assistant 017 heard Ling Lan's response, he did not reveal any sign of disappointment. He just continued to smile brightly and said, "Customer, this should be your first time getting close to mecha, right?"

This customer with eyes full of curiosity — this should be the first time she is stepping into a mecha store. This scene made him recall his nervous excitement the first time he himself stepped into a mecha store. Back then, he had not known where to start and had really hoped someone would help him out; perhaps this girl would also require some guidance like him did ... it was this feeling that made 017 ignore the other shop assistants' jeering and come over voluntarily.

Ling Lan nodded firmly in answer to his question, for this was the truth.

Assistant 017 smiled at this and indicated for Ling Lan to walk with him. He then brought Ling Lan to a section filled with basic mecha — this area was a place suitable for novices to purchase mecha. Inside was various models of basic mecha, totalling about ten different types.

Ling Lan took a quick look and couldn't help but frown. These ten or so mecha all had differing shapes, but could overall be split into three categories. One category was bestial mecha, another was avian mecha, and the remaining category was the most commonly seen humanoid mecha.

The reason Ling Lan was frowning was that these mecha models were much cruder than the two mecha she had seen at the mecha battle stadium. Whether it was in terms of colouring, form, or even in terms of weaponry and equipment, these mecha here were completely incomparable. If the two mecha she had seen at the mecha battle stadium were considered adults, then these mecha here were undoubtedly toddler-level. This made Ling Lan feel rather disappointed.

Ling Lan's displeasure was clearly seen by assistant 017, but he wasn't at all surprised by this.

He explained kindly, "Customer, all the mecha in our Federation are actually variations evolved from these three categories of basic mecha. If you want to become an outstanding mecha operator, you'll need to master the controls of these three types of basic mecha. If you do this, no matter what type of advanced mecha you try to operate in the future, you'll be able to pick it up quickly."

Hearing this, Ling Lan was moved; she packed away her initial scorn. She would never forget the importance of basics — both the learning space and her father Ling Xiao had strongly emphasised the importance of basics — it played a large role in determining the final outcome of an individual's personal growth.

A warning flag rose up in Ling Lan's heart; she couldn't believe that she had actually made the low-level mistake of judging by appearances. It looked like the previous period of smooth sailing had made her forget to be humble and cautious, and actually become as arrogant as Yelang 1 .

Ling Lan's shift in attitude made Assistant 017 nod internally, his impression of her becoming even better. He continued to say, "Actually, I don't recommend you to buy a mecha right now. In fact, the virtual world has mecha training halls that specialize in teaching the controls of the basic mecha. Customer, you can first go there to learn more."

Ling Lan thanked Assistant 017. If it weren't for his help, she wouldn't have known that the virtual world had these things. After she asked Assistant 017 how to get to a mecha training hall, she left the Anji Mecha Store.

Assistant 017 sent Ling Lan off with a smile, and returned to the counter. He was welcomed back by the scornful jeers of the other shop assistants.

"Wasted your energy, didn't you? I told you that that girl had no money ..."

"At that age with no guardian along, she was definitely just here to look around. She would never have bought something as expensive as a mecha. 017, you just wouldn't believe it and still wanted to go forward. See, you've got nothing to show for it ..."

"Even if you wanted to gain more sales to earn a higher commission, you still need to find the right targets."

Assistant 017 did not get angry, only replying with a smile, "I wasn't doing it for sales. I just felt that she naturally belonged with mecha."

Assistant 017's words caused the other shop assistants to burst out into uncontrollable laughter, all of them mocking him and asking him when he had become a fortune teller. Mind you, girls, due to biological reasons, very very rarely advanced to become high-level mecha operators. So, among the millions and millions of mecha operators in the Federation, just having a thousand female mecha operators was already considered a lot.

017 was unperturbed by the mass mocking, only smiling and shaking his head in response. This carefree attitude of his soon sapped the interest of the others in mocking him, and they all left to do their own things.

All of them did not know what 017 was thinking — the closer he got to that girl, the more he had sensed it — the future of that girl on the path of mecha was boundless ... 017 smiled again. "It's also a good thing to build up some good karma ..."

********

Very quickly, Ling Lan had found the mecha training hall. The moment she neared the entrance, a line of text appeared before her eyes. "Do you want to formally enter mecha combat?"

"Oh ... so this here is also a mecha fighting game!" Little Four exclaimed when he saw these words.

Ling Lan understood then that the mecha training was most likely connected to the mecha fighting game. Ling Lan would naturally have to join the game, or else how would she be able to learn and train in the mecha controls?

The moment Ling Lan made her choice, she was transported straight into a large hall. Inside, there stood a handsome soldier, and there were three hulking basic mecha standing beside him.

Ling Lan walked to stand before the soldier, but before she could say anything, the soldier asked, "Recruit, do you want to first understand more about the combat styles of the three mecha, their controls, or do you just want to choose a mecha directly?"

Ling Lan was a cautious person — she did not understand much about mecha yet, so she of course chose to first learn more about the three mecha's combat styles and controls.

Very quickly, two images appeared before Ling Lan. One of the panels was playing a video of the movements of the mecha from the outside, while the other panel showed the movements of the mecha operator inside the cockpit which caused that movement.

Ling Lan saw a pair of hands flying rapidly within the cockpit, and following the motions, the mecha in the other panel made a reactionary movement. For just one basic movement, the fingers in the cockpit had to make over 10 motions.

For instance, just taking one step involved the mecha's pelvis, knee, ankle, balance, as well as the energy distribution between its two legs. Ling Lan had counted, and just such a simple movement required 18 control motions from the cockpit in an instant — and this was still considered an easy movement.

"It's very challenging, actually being all manually controlled. There's a lot of pressure on hand speed." Ling Lan was very surprised. She had always thought that operating a mecha was just like driving, with a control stick or something similar.

"Aren't these things what Daddy has been teaching? If it weren't for the fact that Boss you were having trouble with it, we wouldn't have come out to sightsee. I wonder if you mix your training with operating a mecha, would the effect be better. If we could just break past Boss's bottleneck in one go, that'd be great," suggested Little Four.

By now, Little Four was already calling Ling Xiao 'daddy'. This was because Ling Lan had once heard Little Four say Boss's daddy something something blah blah blah ... and felt that it sounded somewhat awkward. Besides, she had always considered Little Four, who had travelled along with her to this future, as her little brother, so she decided to just ask Little Four to call Ling Xiao 'daddy' alongside her.

1. Actual sound of the Chinese characters. Literal translation of the name would be: Serene Luck

2. i.e. arrogance due to ignorance

This is in reference to a tale about the king of Yelang. To suck up to him, his advisers told him that Yelang was the largest country in the world. Not knowing any better, the king believed them and was proud in his ignorance. So much so that he challenged an emissary from Han later on by asking, "Which country is larger, Han or Yelang?" (For context, Han was a large nation, with Yelang being just the size of one of its counties.)

Chapter 113 - Rabbit Mecha?

Perhaps the learning space had tweaked Ling Lan to become more boyish in personality, for her interest towards mecha was at an unprecedented high. She not only looked over the controls of all three basic mecha, but also eyed all the basic mecha models greedily. She found that she really liked every single type of mecha she saw, so much so that she really wished that she could own all of them.

Sensing Ling Lan's greed, the soldier told Ling Lan steadily that all recruits were only allowed to choose one mecha to start. If she wanted to own more, she would have to rely on her own efforts to earn more points to redeem new mecha ...

The soldier's words caused Ling Lan to calm down instantly. She began to consider which type of mecha she should choose as her initiate mecha. Ling Lan was a little uneasy, afraid that she would choose wrongly.

Still, Ling Lan was a good child — she just loved to ask questions, a habit trained up in the learning space. So, she asked the soldier — as a beginner, which mecha was best suited for her?

In fact, the first person Ling Lan asked was Little Four, but unfortunately, Little Four also didn't know which of the three mecha before them was best or most appropriate for her. His familiarity with this world's mecha was not much better than Ling Lan's.

Ling Lan had no choice but to go to her second option and ask the soldier. Unexpectedly, Ling Lan really struck the nail on the head — the game's system had indeed arranged it so that the soldier would be able to answer this type of question. When the soldier heard Ling Lan's question, he gave a straight answer. "The mecha with the easiest controls, which are the easiest for beginners to learn, is the bestial mecha. I recommend you begin training from bestial mecha."

Since the soldier who was familiar with mecha had already said so, it shouldn't be wrong. Ling Lan immediately selected the bestial mecha without any hesitation. She had barely spoken when with a wave of the soldier's hand, a large spin wheel appeared abruptly before Ling Lan.

On the spin wheel, Ling Lan could see countless images of bestial mecha. There was a ferocious cheetah and lion, and an ugly spider and giant ant, and of course, right in the middle of the wheel was a large compass needle pointing at those images of bestial mecha.

"What is this?" Ling Lan stared at it all blankly. Then, shocked realisation stole over her face. "Could it be that obtaining a mecha also depends on luck?"

"A beginner's mecha is gifted by the system. So, a beginner has no right to choose the mecha. Which mecha model they get will be determined randomly by this spin wheel," explained the soldier. "Luck, is also a form of strength. You should anticipate your luck and hope it brings you a strong and powerful mecha!"

In Ling Lan's eyes, the soldier's current smile was filled with schadenfreude. Ling Lan didn't know what the other beginners felt during their first time here, but Ling Lan's teeth were currently aching from holding back her irritation. She really wished she could just send a punch flying, and blow that despicable smile off the other's face ...

Of course, Ling Lan could only think about it and not actually do it. After all, she still had to rely on the other to get her mecha. Ling Lan spun the spin wheel forcefully. The spin wheel spun frenetically, and then gradually slowed down as time went by. Finally, it got slower and slower, and just as it was about to stop on a panther-type mecha, the needle jumped unexpectedly.

Ling Lan hadn't even managed to take a good look at which mecha model the needle was pointing at when with a 'pop', confetti swirled through the air. Then, an extremely cute giant rabbit abruptly appeared before her.

Ling Lan was gobsmacked ... a rabbit? Why a rabbit?! Even an ugly spider or ant would be more fearsome than a rabbit!

With some difficulty, Ling Lan calmed herself down. Then, she saw the weapon in the rabbit's hands, and Ling Lan found herself utterly lost for words ... Dammit, this nonsense system! You're really shameless! Actually equipping a rabbit mecha with a carrot — do you really think this rabbit here is a real rabbit?!

Within the mind-space, however, Little Four had stars in his eyes. With his hands framing his face, he wriggled his butt and shouted, "Boss, this mecha is so pretty and cute! I like it!"

When the soldier saw the rabbit mecha appear, the smile on his face grew even wider. "Congratulations, recruit, on obtaining our Federation's newest rabbit mecha model." That said, he reached out a hand to pass a white item that resembled a remote control to Ling Lan.

Ling Lan took the item; it was obvious that this was the activation key of the rabbit mecha. She said sullenly, "If you don't congratulate me, I think I might be happier."

The soldier seemed oblivious to Ling Lan's sour mood. His expression suddenly turned grim, and he issued a command, "In that case, recruit, get into your mecha immediately. We'll begin training in the basic controls now."

"Yes!" Ling Lan stood at attention to receive the order, and then pressed a button on the remote key. The door to the cockpit on the belly of the rabbit mecha swung open. Ling Lan leapt up in one big stride, and then with several consecutive hops, she smoothly made her way into the cockpit. Lying down, she pressed the button once again and the cockpit door closed, turning the rabbit into a whole rabbit once again.

Ling Lan had just finished doing this when the soldier waved his hand, and the rabbit mecha with Ling Lan inside it disappeared from this login point. They reappeared in a room specially for training the basic movements, such as jumping and running.

At this moment, Ling Lan chose to activate the mecha. Of course, she chose regular activation — after approximately 3 minutes, the rabbit mecha completed its activation.

Just as Ling Lan was about to turn on all the screens, she noticed that a line of text had appeared on the main screen before her eyes. "Basic control instructions for the rabbit mecha ... "

Following these instructions, Ling Lan finally understood the functions of the buttons before her. She had initially thought there was no control stick, but in fact, there was. It's just that the control stick was located among a sea of buttons. Back when Ling Lan had been watching the demo operations, because she had been dazzled by the hand speed, she hadn't noticed it. As those fingers had flown over the control panel, the control stick was actually the item that was used most frequently.

"Who knew mecha controls are actually this complicated? In the past, when I watched the mecha fights, I thought it would be as simple as physical combat ... looks like I've underestimated mecha operators after all." Just trying to understand and remember the array of buttons before her, Ling Lan felt the onset of a minor headache.

"Relax, Boss. As long as the mecha's A.I. is evolved, it won't be as complicated to operate anymore." Little Four had been looking over the mecha's A.I. closely, considering how he could improve it to help his boss save some energy.

But Ling Lan stopped Little Four, saying, "Little Four, don't improve the mecha's A.I.."

Little Four was puzzled, "Why not?"

"I came here to learn, so I should do it like the other children and start from the basics. The instructors in the learning space and my dad all repeatedly stress the importance of the basics — I cannot just avoid them because I'm afraid of trouble," explained Ling Lan. "Besides, this is the virtual world. Not only is there systemic monitoring, there are also those dangerous figures with mutated spiritual selves. No one knows whether this area is being monitored; I don't wish for you to be in any danger."

Ling Lan's concerned words made Little Four unable to protest, so he could only nod obediently and promise not to do anything to help Ling Lan with this. However, as a result, Little Four wasn't in a very good mood, because he found that the areas where he could help his boss were really just too few.

Seeing this, Ling Lan quickly changed the topic. "Little Four, what do you think was the mecha type our dad used when he first started learning? If it was a bestial type, was the mecha he received also very silly?" The more Ling Lan talked about it, the more curious she was.

As expected, Little Four's attention was pulled away by Ling Lan, and he found he had something new to do. Excitedly, he told Ling Lan to wait for a moment, and he then scampered off to collect all the information he could find on Ling Xiao.

Although Ling Xiao's data was labelled as S-class, who was Little Four? He was a virtual god! There wasn't anything that couldn't be done as long as he wanted to do it — previously, it was just that he hadn't thought to collect Ling Xiao's data, which was why he didn't have any on him right now. But now that Boss had indicated interest, as his boss's follower, he would definitely satisfy his boss's curiosity.

Very quickly, Little Four returned. Face filled with excitement, he said, "Boss, Boss, do you know who our daddy is? Oh wow, he's just too incredible!"

Ling Lan's curiosity was instantly ignited by Little Four. After some thought, she said, "Dad's military rank is major general ... could it be that he's a special-class mecha operator?" Ling Lan vaguely remembered that Little Four had mentioned special-class mecha before; the associated operator rank should be special-class mecha operator, right?

Little Four shook a finger as he said proudly, "Nope! Mecha operators are not categorised that way." Following that, Little Four gave a breakdown on the levels of mecha operators in this world.

"Mecha operators are also called mecha warrior-masters. From the name alone, you can tell that there are two titles included. One is mecha warrior, while the other is mecha master. Operators of advanced mecha and below (inclusive of advanced mecha themselves), are collectively called mecha warriors, while those who operate special-class mecha and above are called mecha masters.

"Mecha warriors, are then further divided into trainee mecha warriors, junior mecha warriors, intermediate mecha warriors, and advanced mecha warriors. The corresponding mecha they pilot are trainee mecha, junior mecha, intermediate mecha, and advanced mecha.

"Meanwhile, mecha masters are divided into special-class mecha masters, ace mecha masters, imperial mecha masters, and god-class mecha masters. Special-class mecha masters and ace mecha masters both pilot special-class mecha, though an ace mecha master would have a higher level of control over their mecha. Imperial mecha masters pilot imperial mecha, while god-class mecha masters naturally operate the Federation's ultimate weapons, god-class mecha 1 .

"But this is just the military's internal categorization. For the public, the distinctions are not that discrete. All the mecha warriors and mecha masters are just called mecha operators.

"Generally speaking, imperial operators and above will not be deployed in cases of war. This is because these type of mecha operators are beings that can decide the outcome of a war. As such, each country has agreements binding them, which will not be broken unless under special circumstances.

"God-class operators are an even more fearsome and threatening existence. The Federation can possess such a vast expanse of land and distant boundaries all because the Federation has the highest number of god-class operators among the neighbouring countries ...

"Boss, now take a guess. Which level of operator does our dad belong to?" Little Four's brows and eyes were all scrunched up in a line from his exuberant smile; it was clear that he was in an excellent mood.

"Seeing you so happy, our dad must be pretty well ranked. Could it be that he had already become an ace operator?" Ling Lan thought back to her dad in the legacy mission — he was so unbelievably young; if he had really managed to achieve ace operator status, he would definitely already be among the best and brightest.

"No, no, no, that's wrong, that's wrong." Little Four glared at Ling Lan with contempt, somewhat miffed at Ling Lan for underestimating their dad ...

1. This is what the author says here. No idea yet if this is the same as IN mecha, since that was what the author called the 'ultimate weapons of the Federation' previously.