Chapter 27: The Top-Notch Strategies of Pros
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
After I got mentally prepared, you show me this?
You posed for this long so that you could be a pretty target? We are a team, and that’s how you play and f*ck me?
Chubby Harry felt like today was an unlucky day for him as he was the only one left in the battle. He wondered if he was going to lose this battle as well. He wasn’t sure if his howitzer could eliminate the two Arrow I mechs at such a distance. Maybe wait until they get closer? Eh, I’ll die faster that way too.
The two Arrow I mechs were surprised and froze for a short while since they killed that white skeleton-like mech so easily. They quickly checked the system record, and it was indeed ‘Lord Egg’ who they had eliminated.
What happened? Are the two dead Raiders newbies? This seemed like the only reasonable explanation.
The two players in the two Arrow I mechs sighed in relief as they felt the pressure suddenly disappearing. Now that the generation-zero mech that somehow got a double kill like a monster was gone, they could play however they wanted to and win.
Chubby Harry’s Striker had taken out the howitzer again smoothly. It was amazing how skilled he was in long-range attacks when he operated a short-range mech model.
The two enemy mechs were slowly approaching the best place for Chubby Harry to shoot, and he could feel his hands turn sweaty. Today’s battle was the most thrilling that it had ever been for the past two weeks for him, and he thought to himself, I’m not an amateur anymore… I’m not an amateur anymore. If someone were to stand beside Chubby Harry, they would hear him repeating this phrase over and over again as if he was possessed.
Coming closer and closer. Hmm? Why are these two heading towards the Raiders? Wait no, they are heading toward Mu Fan’s generation-zero mech.
“Bro, we took out this generation-zero mech.”
“Ya, I’ve never seen a generation-zero mech since I started in the PO Battle Network. Let’s take a picture together as a memento. Add me as a friend, and send me the picture after.”
“No problem.”
The two Arrow I mechs were originally heading toward Chubby Harry’s direction, but they suddenly turned towards Mu Fan’s EH01 instead. They turned on the active detection radar just in case to prevent any sneak-attacks from the green team, which only comprised of Chubby Harry now.
The poor Mu Fan had been teleported out of the battlefield after the explosion, and he was back in the VIP room. He stared at the projection screen and watched the live battle, feeling a loss for words.
“This Raider is blocking the way!”
“Ya, this Raider under the generation-zero mech is so annoying, it’s in the way of our selfies.”
“Let’s move this kneeling one away.”
“Sure.”
The two Arrow I mechs reached out their metal arms as they tried to lift the kneeling Raider and move it aside.
Chubby Harry from not far away was already calibrating his aim, but then he saw these two trying to move the Raider through his lens.
Chubby Harry started to wonder if he was indeed a lowkey pro player and all the opponents he encountered before were all actors. Right now, these two enemies were moving the Raider that was on top of an army ant anti-material land mine.
Oh my God! They really won’t die if they don’t try to do something stupid.
Beep-Beep!
“What’s this? Sh*t, land mines. So damn cunning!”
Boom! With the sound of an explosion, smoke rushed into the sky as the two Arrow I mechs got blown away. Although they were both long-range mechs, the power of the land mine explosion wasn’t strong enough to completely destroy them, so they tried to adjust their direction while still in mid-air.
Unfortunately, they were blown away in the direction of Mu Fan’s EH01.
They weighed more than ten tonnes together. When they collided into the white skeleton-like mech, they all fell to the ground.
Beep-Beep!
Boom! This time, the energy reactors on the two mechs got blown up as a cloud of red smoke went up into the sky.
Chubby Harry couldn’t care about anything else as he stood up immediately and shot the two Arrow I mechs with his howitzer, allowing them to explode completely.
The two Arrow I mechs were more than dead.
An announcement broadcasted through the battlefield, “Double Kill for ‘Lemon Balloon.'”
Re:Striker froze as it stood on the rocks, and Chubby Harry decided that he was going to purchase these land mines for future battles as they were more than useful. Meanwhile, Mu Fan who was back in the VIP room watching the battle also had his jaw dropped as it was like a miracle how Chubby Harry had won.
What the heck! This was the thought that these two both had towards this outcome.
Damn…! Was Mu Fan helping me? Did he see that I had put the land mines, so he used himself as a bait? Such a pro! So skilled and strategic.
Young Master Harry was praising Mu Fan in his mind as his admiration toward Mu Fan couldn’t even be measured.
[The green team won!
System calculating scores…
MVP of this battle: Lemon Balloon.
Scores are as follows:
…]
Then, as the battlefield faded away, Chubby Harry was also teleported back into the VIP room.
“I can’t believe I won! I even won so cleanly like a pro!” Chubby Harry was chirpy as he still won after all the ups-and-downs he had experienced today! The thrill was real.
He bragged for a while and then turned his head while asking Mu Fan, “Can you tell me how you got your generation-zero mech? I searched through the shop, and this one isn’t something that can be bought!”
Mu Fan shrugged and said, “I really don’t know; it was the only one that I could pick when I entered the battlefield.”
“That’s strange… Are there Easter eggs? Are there hidden mechs in this game? Someone should have said something if there are any,” Chubby Harry murmured in confusion, scratching his chin.
He couldn’t find a reasonable explanation after thinking for a while, and it seemed like Mu Fan didn’t want to say anything else, so he gave up. Then, his interest was suddenly piqued, and he asked, “How did you beat the two Raiders earlier? I saw your mech’s specs; it was originally for civil-use before it was modified and became military-use. How could this mech battle against those military-made mechs, especially since yours is one generation behind.”
Mu Fan thought for a while, but he found it hard to explain as he couldn’t mention Black’s existence. Therefore, he shrugged again and replied, “It felt like I was back in the wilderness, and I was face-to-face with death. I don’t know what happened, but all I wanted was to survive. So it was just like fighting beasts, but it was human this time. Then, I won.”
Chubby Harry couldn’t accept this answer as it sounded even more ridiculous than some of the things that broadcasters on the administration channels had said.
This isn’t the same as fist-to-fist combat. The mechs are dozens of times bigger, and they require an unbelievable amount of control from their operators to perform those human-like movements. Even if he was inside a first-general mech, how fast do his hands have to be to turn all the levers and press all the buttons?
When Harry looked at Mu Fan, the latter still had that same expression on his face. The look told everyone that Mu Fan wasn’t going to explain anything else.
Chubby Harry didn’t give up and said, “You should have told me first if you were going to be a bait. I almost surrendered.”
Mu Fan felt slightly embarrassed as he thought about the way that he died in the explosion, so he apologized to Chubby Harry sincerely. “My bad this time. I’m sorry that I almost dragged you down with me.”
Admiration! The presence of a master! So wise!
He isn’t even bragging to his teammate! This show-off receives the perfect score from me! Young Master Harry was now respectful toward Mu Fan for what he had done, and he gave Mu Fan the thumbs up in his mind.
“What a shame that I didn’t get to see how you fought. Did you have first person perspective video recording? Show me, show me.”
“How do I record?” Mu Fan was stunned.
Chubby Harry face palmed and gave up. I’m sure that this guy didn’t record anything. Players need to first confirm and activate the system to record any videos.
Are all pros this unique? It was Harry’s first time in contact with a pro player, and he was completely led onto the wrong path by Mu Fan. No one was here to tell him that his path was getting further and further away from the main path.
Mu Fan saw Chubby Harry’s disappointed expression and recalled that he stood there like a target in his first battle. It was bad on his part as a teammate, and it was only because of Harry’s land mines that won them the battle in the end.
He thought for a while, raised his hand, and was about to pat on Chubby Harry’s shoulder, but he paused in mid-air.
“What?” Chubby Harry saw his movement and asked. “What? Don’t comfort me. I admit that you were heroic in your first battle, but didn’t you see how I used those land mines like a pro? Hmm? Oh ya, maybe I should consider using more land mines and walk on the path of explosives. Then, the universe would know me as Lemon Balloon, the Bomb Maniac. Hahahahaha. What a dashing name!”
This time, Mu Fan was led onto the wrong path by Chubby Harry.
Chubby Harry laughed for a while before he stopped and said seriously, “Mu Fan, let’s go for a second battle. Then, we could rest after that.”
“Um… I’m really sorry, but I think I need to get more familiar with mech operation,” Mu Fan said carefully as Black had told him clearly that the body motion synchronization was just for him to get a sense of what it was, and he wouldn’t be able to use that for a while. He wasn’t going to enter the battlefield again and stand there doing nothing instead of looking at levers and buttons that he knew nothing about. He would be scolded to death by his teammates if that happened.
Therefore, Mu Fan decided to tell Harry his thoughts. “I think I need to get more familiar with the basic operations, so I want to head back to the training camp and go through the tutorials.”
It was silent for a while.
Respect! This was all that Chubby Harry could think of when he heard what Mu Fan had said.