Chapter 23 Part 3

“Moreover, many veteran players can tell you’re a newbie from your mecha’s paint job. Once they spot a newbie, they’ll definitely farm you to climb the rankings.”

No way…

Bai Ruonian was completely stunned. The game was this unfriendly to new players?

The ground rumbled with the vibration of a large mecha. Trembling, Bai Ruonian looked up to see a massive, blood-red mecha. A chainsaw rose behind it, emitting a chilling sound, bearing down on him with what seemed like an intent to cleave him in two.

[Venom Sting]: Little newbie, blame your bad luck.

The crimson mecha’s ID was Venom Sting. This guy had specifically spoken on the public channel.

[Venom Sting]: You newbies don’t know the height of the sky and the depth of the earth. Beating you up helps you find your place.

The taunt was thick with contempt. Bai Ruonian was very unhappy.

So what if he was a newbie? Who wasn’t a newbie at some point?

What was wrong with working hard? Was that any reason to mock him?

The bugs nearby were still buzzing. Fuming, Bai Ruonian dodged while making time to type back.

[ID: Where’s My Tail?]: You just bully newbies. You’re so amazing, are you on the leaderboard?

The opponent was instantly enraged. This guy clearly wasn’t on the rankings; anyone who was wouldn’t stoop to farming easy newbie points. The chainsaw roared down, and simultaneously, a photon cannon blast struck Bai Ruonian’s chest.

Staggering, Bai Ruonian instinctively rolled hard, barely dodging. The saw tore another huge crack into the ground.

As acidic spray grazed past the cockpit, the white mech was forced back into a rock crevice.

[Venom Sting]: I’ve memorized your ID. I’ll beat you until you don’t dare log in. Then you’ll know how formidable I am.

Venom Sting sent another ominous message. Bai Ruonian wasn’t intimidated.

[ID: Where’s My Tail?]: Bullying the weak, fearing the strong.

Panting, Bai Ruonian watched the chainsaw come again. He dodged once more, but he was at his limit. One more attack, and he probably wouldn’t avoid it.

People on the public chat couldn’t watch any longer.

[No need to go that far, bro…]

[Farming points is one thing, but why be so arrogant?]

Venom Sting was wildly arrogant. [I’m gonna dismantle his mech piece by piece, right now.]

In the Arena, players couldn’t voluntarily exit. Dismantling a mech was roughly equivalent to spawn-camping in a MOBA game—utterly humiliating. And since the game was neurally linked to reality, it also generated pain sensations.

Truly terrifying.

Under the public’s watchful eyes, the red mech, easily twice the size, swung its chainsaw, charging at the noticeably slighter white mech.

Another saw strike came. Bai Ruonian leaped, dodging it.

He was almost out of energy. Seeing Venom Sting charge again, he leaped high, jumping right behind Venom Sting.

This Arena bout of a veteran bullying a newbie was gradually drawing the attention of more spectating players outside.

[Hey, this newbie is kinda interesting.]

[After all this shuffling around, hasn’t even touched a single hair at Level 1.]

[Maybe the little newbie has a fighting chance.]

Bai Ruonian, however, was self-aware of his situation. In a straight fight, he had zero chance.

After all, it was his first day playing. His stamina was low, and his mind wouldn’t hold out much longer. Dragging it out meant death sooner or later. In the distance, buzzing rose again. A new wave of Zerg had respawned, surging over thick and fast.

Venom Sting clearly heard it too, instinctively pulling back to get away. Bai Ruonian, however, hadn’t moved.

[Holy crap, is this newbie insane? Not gonna run?]

[Probably scared stiff.]

Bai Ruonian wasn’t scared stiff. When he was a cat, he loved pouncing on bugs. He didn’t have the innate human fear of insects. But he wasn’t a pure fool either; he wasn’t just standing there frozen.

He was searching his backpack.

“Found it!!” Bai Ruonian excitedly pulled out an item, grinning with a triumphant flash of his canine teeth.

At the same time, the spectating players realized what he was about to do. The screen exploded.

[I know what he’s gonna do!!]

[Holy crap… this newbie is so evil.]

[What’s he gonna do???]

[Incredible hahahahaha absolutely incredible!!]

[You know, the newbie gift pack really does give this. Never knew what to use it for before.]

Venom Sting watched the scrolling public chat with a growing sense of dread. He looked back and saw Bai Ruonian’s mech holding something. With a snap, it landed squarely on him.

[Zerg Attractant]

Almost instantaneously, he was engulfed in white smoke. At the same time, a sky-darkening horde of Zerg flew through the air, their wingbeats terrifying, descending upon him.

Just a second before the Zerg descended, Bai Ruonian shot himself backward, clearing the contamination zone and rolling far away.

Venom Sting’s screams echoed across the sky.

Bai Ruonian couldn’t help but shiver. Good heavens, a Zerg swarm battle was this terrifying?

This was what Master had to fight…

Soon, Venom Sting’s mech vanished, clearly knocked offline. A pile of equipment dropped to the ground. Because Bai Ruonian was the last person to attack him, the kill was credited to him, and the equipment was automatically settled to his inventory.

The guy’s temporary backpack was fairly packed: a bunch of experience stones and a shiny, glittering gem.

The little firefly exclaimed in shock, “Wow, it’s a Mental Stone!!”

Bai Ruonian jumped at its reaction. “Why are you so excited?”

The firefly did a spin, its wings fluttering rapidly. “That’s a Mental Stone!! Just like a real Mental Stone, equipping it can boost your Mental Power! It’s super rare!!”

Bai Ruonian looked at the stone. He didn’t really think it was that rare; he just thought the bling-bling was very pretty.

He gave an enlightened “Oh” and put the stone away.

“Aren’t you gonna use it? Aren’t you gonna use it? Aren’t you gonna use it?” the firefly jabbered on.

“Never mind.” Bai Ruonian shook his head. “Since it’s that rare… I’ll save it and return it to him next time.”

Mainly because he didn’t lack it.

He had looked it up later—the effect of Blue Snowflake was to raise a person’s Mental Power to seventy percent of its maximum potential. Why would he need this?

The firefly choked.

Didn’t know how to answer that.

After taking down Venom Sting, Bai Ruonian almost immediately exited the Arena without a second thought.

“That was way too scary…”

Little Firefly fluttered its wings. “Can’t be helped. Many people hope to change their fate through this game. It’s less a game, more an upward mobility channel… Your performance today was already great! Maybe some higher-ups will notice you!”

“Notice me for what?” Bai Ruonian tilted his head.

“Notice your Mental Power and combat capability. Many with strong abilities get selected for the Imperial Academy, Military Command, and so on… Look, the public chat is already buzzing.”

[That dude was bragging about beating that newbie till he quit. End result? Exploded into a pile of gold coins.]

[That newbie is pretty fierce too. Quick-witted, decent moves. Has real talent.]

[Thinking up that attractant counter-kill, absolutely brilliant, so smart.]

[Should we note down the ID for a witch hunt? If he really makes the rankings later, there won’t be any spots for us.]

[What’s the difference between you and that Free-Points Bro?]

[If you guys witch-hunt him, we newbies will gang up and surround you.]

[Like I’m scared of you!]

[Alright, alright, all of you, stop stirring the pot.]

Soon enough, the veterans and newbies were arguing again. Bai Ruonian shut off the chaotic public chat and sighed. “What’s the use of being noticed? Better to just focus on practicing.”

A married omega had to at least reach the Top Three on the leaderboard. He recalled Rui Rui’s words, and his little face fell. He had thought it would be hard, but he hadn’t expected reality to be this tough. Bai Ruonian’s arms were so sore he couldn’t even lift them. No wonder his original body had been so driven to pursue this. It really was so difficult…

Bai Ruonian had a small bout of melancholy but quickly perked up, ready to continue training. His friend list flashed a couple of times; many people were sending friend requests. He tapped the panel and accepted them all.

Moments after accepting, someone pinged him.

[ID: Call Me Majesty Highness]: Not bad, thinking of that trick.

[ID: Call Me Majesty Highness]: You have great potential.

Before Bai Ruonian could even type a reply, a golden-winged, glittering mecha appeared before him, rising into the air—dazzling and grandiose.

On the other side, Shen Zeyi was controlling his mech, casually typing a line.

[ID: Call Me Majesty Highness]: Send your coordinates. I’ll guide you.

=

Eldest Prince’s Manor.

Bai Shouyi had brought Bai Jianyin here to admit their mistake.

The Bai family had gone to great lengths to curry favor with the Eldest Prince, but the very first task meant to demonstrate loyalty had been botched terribly.

Planting a spy next to Lu Mingjin—the designated person was Bai Jianyin, but it ended up being Bai Ruonian. And Bai Ruonian was disobedient. On that day, the Bai family caused such a massive disruption that it drew Lu Mingjin over. Not only that, the precious potion that was to be administered was shattered and taken away by Lu Mingjin’s people.

The Eldest Prince’s Manor occupied an entire sovereign planet and was enormous. Deliberately denied transport, the two men walked an exceedingly long time to reach the main hall, panting heavily from exhaustion. Bai Shouyi, a middle-aged man, was already gasping for breath. Bai Jianyin was also drenched in sweat, his meticulously styled appearance now playing no role, instead clinging stickily to his skin, intensely uncomfortable.

Utterly lacking the air of business elites.

Before the Royal Family and Military Command, they were nothing but dogs.

At that moment, Shen Zeyi was gaming in his Gaming Pod. The two of them could neither sit nor stand, so they were forced to just stand there, rooted.

Bai Jianyin was momentarily stunned, not expecting the Eldest Prince to also play this game.

Before arriving at the Capital Planet, he hadn’t known a single thing about its existence. So much so that after getting into the Imperial Academy, he had been smug, thinking he had latched onto a channel for upward mobility.

Who knew there was still an entrance exam, testing practical application of Mental Power?

He had only ever learned textbook material. He was completely inept at these things… he hadn’t even seen a Gaming Pod before. And he heard that those who failed would still be expelled. The sky felt like it was falling.

He should have been the one married to Lu Mingjin, becoming the promising young Major General’s wife and enjoying such a life.

Bai Jianyin’s eyes flickered with greed and hatred.

If it weren’t for Bai Ruonian.

Having witnessed the true “higher heavens beyond the heavens,” this reality was far more concrete, solid, and piercingly painful than the imagined ones. It stabbed into his heart, causing a deep, throbbing ache.

A sense of powerlessness that permeated from his soul to his physical body made his sweat flow even faster.

Shen Zeyi finally emerged slowly from the Gaming Pod, his face full of impatience. Seeing the two men in the room, his first question to the Internal Affairs Officer was: “Who let them in?”

The Internal Affairs Officer looked somewhat panicked. “Earlier, you said…”

“Oh.”

Too engrossed in the game, he had forgotten.

He gave the two a chilling glance and instantly recalled a series of vexing matters.

Somehow, recently, one thing after another had gone wrong.

First, his experimental base was forced to be relocated because of Lu Mingjin.

The spy they planted not only turned out to be unreliable but was also a lunatic who shattered the potion.

And more recently, several points in his Capital Star trade network had been destroyed for no good reason.

Damn it.

Bai Shouyi wiped the cold sweat from his brow. “We have delayed your matters.”

Bai Shouyi wiped his sweat, completely lacking his previous authority and sternness as the family head. Instead, he was fawning to the extreme.

Bai Jianyin stared at the floor, his lips trembling. The ticking of the antique clock was hammering at his heart; every second was torture. He had never been in such a world before.

He had thought being recognized and brought back was his entry into glory and wealth. But there were always mountains beyond mountains, and people beyond people. His back could never be straightened.

“You have delayed my important matters.” Shen Zeyi sneered from above, not bothering with pleasantries in the slightest.

Bai Shouyi opened his mouth to explain, but Shen Zeyi cut him off.

His gaze was sinister, somewhat reminiscent of a serpent.

“I don’t care what methods you use. Either get rid of him or kill him. I want an obedient spy.”

Bai Jianyin’s brain, which had been blanking out, suddenly lit up.

He abruptly looked up.

By the Eldest Prince’s implication… if he dealt with Bai Ruonian, could he take his place?

He opened his mouth to say something, but Shen Zeyi was already thoroughly impatient. “Get lost now, while I’m still in a decent mood.”

Wasting his game time. He had finally found an interesting little newbie to pick up.

Good grief.