The tables had turned after Mu Fan eliminated those two mechs; it became three versus two between the green team and the red team.

“Body motion synchronization deactivated.”

Mu Fan stumbled as the black metal tubes retracted away. He stood inside his cockpit as he shook his head, trying to clear up his mind. He had lost senses of his right arm, and now his brain could control it again.

He looked at Black who was flying around him and asked, “What was that just now?”

There were many hidden questions in this one question. But somehow after Black had entered the PO Battle Network, something about it evolved, and it didn’t have any trouble understanding Mu Fan’s question.

“The pressure from the external environment after your synchronization with the mech probably triggered your stress response,” Black said in a calm manner as it flew around Mu Fan and continued, “Your body is a bit special. More precisely speaking, there’s something unique about your bloodline.”

“Okay,” Mu Fan said after remaining quiet for a few seconds, “So what were you doing before that?”

The two dots representing Black’s eyes transformed into vertical straight lines. “Before accessing the PO, I had confirmed with you that you would give me the authority of making plans in the virtual world. I had been collecting related information, reactivating my dormant data, and thus updating my database. ”

“My name is unusual.”

“It’s normal!”

“My rookie training camp was odd as well.”

“It’s normal!

“Was my mech abnormal as well?”

“It’s normal!” Black wasn’t going to admit to anything; he could be shameless since he wasn’t human anyways.

“Why?” Mu Fan asked, ignoring Black’s answers.

“It is a part of the plan.”

“Alright, I accept that answer,” Mu Fan sighed.

“Now, I have merged into the PO Battle Network, and I’m currently trying to merge into the UGF administrative network. I already have some authorizations to amend certain features in the network, including the body motion synchronization that you have just experienced. However, as a part of the plan, you wouldn’t get a second chance to experience that again this year. You will need to get familiar with mechs and how to operate them starting from the generation-zero, getting prepared for real mech battles in reality,” Black said to Mu Fan seriously this time.

Mu Fan nodded and moved his right arm as he tilted his head and asked, “Then, what do we do next?”

“Wait for death,” Black said while squinting its eyes.

It quickly flew away and merged into the wall of the cockpit before Mu Fan could do anything. Its voice echoed in the cockpit, “You don’t know how to operate a mech, so that’s the same thing as waiting to die, isn’t it? Don’t worry, the next time you use this mech, I’ll restore it to its original condition.”

Silence spread across the cockpit as Black had ran away again.

So mischievous! Why couldn’t it be a genuine A.I. and learn something good.

Mu Fan glanced at the empty cockpit around him. The black metal tubes were gone as well, and he wondered why Black had to wait until next time to restore everything. After the modification, there was only the display screen remaining. However, he still didn’t know how to reply to Chubby Harry who was on the other end of the team voice communication channel.

At six o’clock direction on the map, there was a half-crippled white skeleton-like mech that stood still, stepping on a destroyed Raider. Without a sound, it emitted the vibe of a pro player.

“Hey, Lord Egg, add me as a friend after we exit the battle, will you? It’s amazing how a generation-zero mech eliminated two first-generation mechs within seconds.”

“Mu Fan? Mu Fan, bro, can you say something?” Chubby Harry asked, but silence was the answer.

“Fine, I’ll come and find you.” Chubby Harry gave up.

Mu Fan also gave up. He decided to stand in this cockpit until the battle was over because too many things happened today, and he needed some time to digest them all.

Chubby Harry decided to move towards the red dot that represented Mu Fan. What’s he doing? He didn’t move nor talk after that double kill.

Chubby Harry took out an Illusion Grenade, which was a unique one-time-use item that could be purchased with a reasonable price in the PO Battle Network; it could project a three-dimensional holograph of the user. From afar, others wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from the real player.

This is called being fully prepared and armed using money. I’m a Silver-level warrior. As a pro, I need to act low-key here. Chubby Harry thought to himself secretly.

He then pressed on the activation button and threw it over to a rock not far away from him. Dust flew into the air, and an exactly the same Striker was projected from the Illusion Grenade. Chubby Harry was even experienced and skilled enough to purposely let a small portion of one of the arms show outside of the rock.

Bam! Bam! Dust flew into the air as bullets flew through the holographic projection and into the ground.

I was right, they are so sneaky. But obviously, I am more professional in this line of work. Do you think that you can challenge me? Chubby Harry looked down at his opponents again in his mind.

Then, Chubby Fatty dashed forward and dodged smoothly. In a not so elegant manner, he squeezed through the slit between two boulders, flipped over them, and ran towards where Mu Fan was in his Striker.

He was one hill away from Mu Fan, and his performance in this battle was quite impressive.

Oh my God! The Striker braked suddenly as Chubby Harry saw Mu Fan’s EH01 standing there with its back against the starlight. Half of the white skeleton was shattered with occasional sparks flashing on it due to the short circuits, and a dead Raider was on its knees beside the EH01 while the other Raider was underneath the EH01’s foot.

Bow down to the pro! Chubby Harry had read EH01’s description as well. This generation-zero mech was for civilian-use before it was modified to fit military-use. Didn’t the textbook say that it is more like a piece of large machinery… Since when could it be used in battles, and with this much power!

“Mu Fan.” Chubby Harry shouted again in the team voice communication channel, and there was still no reply. Such style.

“So damn cunning. Hey, you two over there, do you want to win or not? I’m about to die here; it’s so unfortunate that I got placed in a team full of dumb people,” the other teammate shouted in the voice communication channel, and the map showed that he had encountered the enemy team; two enemy mechs had sneaked up on him. He thought that Lemon Balloon and Lord Egg would come and help him, but he didn’t expect Lemon Balloon ditching him to go elsewhere.

“Didn’t expect this…”

That was the last message that the player inside the cockpit shouted before his mech that was on the green team got turned into pieces.

Oh no, it’s evenly matched again; a 2 vs 2. It seems like they are going to get here soon. Should I collaborate with Mu Fan and face them off… But Mu Fan doesn’t look like he’s up for anything. Man! Don’t pretend to be cool at this point; hurry up and move a bit.

Of course, Mu Fan didn’t disappoint Chubby Harry as his generation-zero human-form general purpose mech, Model EH01, stood there unmoved by anything, looking just like a true master!

You win, I give up.

In the Re: Striker, Chubby Harry retreated to the area behind Mu Fan where a ton of broken rocks could be seen. When he retreated, he suddenly paused and took out two items that were only equipped on first-generation mechs that rich people owned – army ant anti-material land mines! He placed them underneath the two Raiders’ waists.

Chubby Harry moved fast, and Mu Fan smiled bitterly as he saw what Harry had done.

You’re still not leaving even after I put down the land mines? Chubby Harry raised his head and look up at the white skeleton that was a head taller than his Re: Striker.

Alright, you win everything. Chubby Harry thought as he continued to find cover.

“Phew, I’m covered. Stop pretending, Mu Fan, hurry up and leave. The two are coming towards us; how are you going to fight without any long-range firepower?”

Mu Fan was still silence on the voice communication channel.

Fine. I knew it. Chubby Harry clenched his teeth as he laid down again, and the camouflage on his Re: Striker merged perfectly with the scattered rocks around him.

A message popped up on the passive tracing radar as two red dots flashed across on the map. [Enemies detected.]

The enemies are here! Chubby Harry quietly raised the howitzer as he planned to sneak-attack the enemies.

Meanwhile, he could still see ‘Lord Egg’ standing still in his vision.

The enemies appeared. They were two standard model, Arrow I. They each carried a long anti-material rifle on their slim chassis. Both had their rifles aimed at the standing white skeleton-like mech.

Is Mu Fan going to cast his ultimate skill?

Pang! Pang! The two rifles fired at the same time, and that mighty EH01 in Chubby Harry’s eyes was eliminated just like that.

The EH01 that was named ‘Lord Egg’ had exploded… Exploded… Explo…

“God damn it!”

Chubby Harry shouted in rage in his cockpit.