Chapter 42: Ace Mecha Master?
Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Ace Mecha Master?
"Nobody move! Don’t panic! Listen up, everyone," a booming voice echoed across the dome. "Please wait patiently. We have dismantled half of the anti-radiation bombs. There are five minutes left. Genetic Evolvers are not allowed to fly either. Anyone caught flying will be deemed a member of the Red Earl extremist organization."
Yang Bo, using his invisibility to hide on the sidelines, thought carefully. Today had been full of complete surprises—he had just come to settle his salary. And then he casually killed a few people along the way? Or maybe a dozen? There would definitely be a news report about it later.
An hour later.
Yang Bo was standing in his own clothes outside Dome Entertainment City, waiting to be inspected. As soon as they announced it was safe earlier, the crowd had swarmed for the exits. Yang Bo had grabbed his clothes and smartwatch, slipping out amid the chaos.
"Mr. Liu!" Yang Bo called out immediately, having suddenly spotted Liu Zhijie chatting with a police officer whom he seemed to know quite well.
"Yang Bo, are you alright?" Liu Zhijie, thick-skinned as always, walked over to ask as soon as he saw him.
"Mr. Liu, it’s all your fault today. If you hadn’t called me over to settle my salary, I would’ve almost died here," Yang Bo complained.
Liu Zhijie lowered his voice. "Dome Entertainment City will compensate everyone for mental distress, and the company will offer compensation too. I’ll fight for a promotion for you."
Yang Bo grumbled inwardly, wondering if the fat guy’s company had suffered heavy losses this time. Did he want him to do dirty work? In his dreams! He would just stick to being a bottom-tier cleaner; any higher, and who knew what immoral tasks he might be asked to do.
"Mr. Liu, the danger of this job is too high," Yang Bo said with feigned fear, turning down the offer.
"Take a few days off to rest properly—paid leave. This was a true accident. Those scumbags from the Red Earl..." Liu Zhijie gritted his teeth.
Yang Bo was a regular resident. After a facial scan, a smartwatch check, and a manual pat-down—since regular residents couldn’t withstand the machine security checks, which supposedly emitted harmful radiation—Yang Bo was let go.
"How about I buy you a drink?" Liu Zhijie asked after watching Yang Bo finish his inspection and walk out.
"Alright." Yang Bo had originally wanted to go back and check out the stronghold those guys had in his community, but on second thought, many perpetrators got caught precisely because they liked returning to the scene of the crime.
They arrived at a casual teahouse a fair distance away. Before they could even sit down, Yang Bo heard a live interview broadcasting on the teahouse’s virtual TV.
"That’s right. The person piloting the Blade Mecha this time was an Advanced executive from our Dimension Company. This Advanced executive not only knows the weaknesses of various mechas but is also a Mecha Master. As for the specific rank, that is a company secret," a pot-bellied, middle-aged higher-up from the Dimensional Modification Company said to the camera.
Yang Bo was rendered speechless. How were they stealing the credit so damn fast?
What Yang Bo didn’t know was that Dimension Company had been authorized by the government to do this. The person piloting the Blade Mecha absolutely could not be someone from the Red Earl; otherwise, the government’s reputation would be pitch black without a single redeeming ray of light. Furthermore, the government was also desperate to find this person. After all, how massive of a security risk would an unknown figure who could unleash a mecha at any time and place pose? Moreover, the person piloting the mecha might be an Ace Mecha Master. Would the high officials and nobles have any sense of security left?
Letting Dimension Company take the fall was the first step. In truth, Dimension Company was extremely reluctant, as this meant forging a blood feud with the extremist organization, the Red Earl. However, they had no choice. First, a mecha from Dimension Company had been involved in killing all those people, which gave the government leverage over them. Second, Dimension Company didn’t want to go bankrupt. If they publicly announced that the Blade Mecha had been stolen, the company would be ruined. Forced to choose between bankruptcy and making an enemy out of the Red Earl, every higher-up in Dimension Company knew which option to pick. Otherwise, the government might even suspect them of colluding with the Red Earl.
Liu Zhijie lowered his voice. "Don’t believe this. It’s all nonsense."
"Huh?"
"Everything on the news is nonsense. Those politicians and celebrities are full of crap," Liu Zhijie continued.
Liu Zhijie took a sip of tea before speaking again. "The Space Button for the Blade Mecha was stolen yesterday, which was why Dimension Company closed its exhibition hall. I only just found out myself.
"Besides, could a place like Dimension Company afford an Ace Mecha Master? Do they really think Ace Mecha Masters are as common as weeds on the roadside?" Liu Zhijie set down his teacup.
Yang Bo was very surprised. "The person piloting the mecha is an Ace Mecha Master?" He genuinely was astonished. He was an Ace Mecha Master? How did he not know that?
"There are many internal level classifications for Mecha Masters. Look at the one today—using a Low Level third-generation mecha, they achieved a zero-to-thirteen battle record. Even though there are many underlying factors, the record can’t be changed. The certification of a Mecha Master doesn’t consider anything else; it solely relies on battle records.
"Because there is no fairness on the battlefield; only results matter. Furthermore, this Mecha Master was extremely familiar with the weaknesses of the other mechas. The stock prices of those two companies are definitely going to plummet," Liu Zhijie said with a tone of admiration.
Yang Bo pondered this inwardly and quickly understood. He had used Sound Wave Control to inspect the mecha in the exhibition hall. When a mecha was powered off, it relied entirely on its own materials to prevent external probing. The exhibition hall was equipped with interference shielding systems, rendering other probing methods useless. His Sound Waves were the sole exception...
"Additionally, this Mecha Master executed their tactics brilliantly from the very beginning. The first thing they did was take out the enemy’s Commander. Inside an extremist organization like this, it’s not like the military where command can seamlessly transfer to someone else if the Commander falls. The reason the rest of those mechas failed to form an attack formation later was precisely because they couldn’t coordinate with their companions without unified command.
"Of course, these Mecha Masters from the Red Earl also made a fatal mistake—they didn’t bring melee Weapons. Since their targets were defenseless humans, they didn’t think they’d need them. If the Commander had just equipped two mechas with melee Weapons, it wouldn’t have ended so tragically for them.
"However, lacking two ranged mechas might have left a hole in their plan," Liu Zhijie said, looking out the window at the streaks of light rising and falling. Those were Air-Ground Combat Aircraft.
Yang Bo understood what Liu Zhijie meant. The attackers had limited manpower and limited mechas. In order to capture the maximum number of hostages, they were forced to equip all their mechas with High-Frequency Laser Cannons and the like. Thinking back on it now, Yang Bo realized that his control over the mecha didn’t feel like piloting a machine at all; it felt more like controlling his own body.
"Could it be related to the Space Button? Didn’t Dimension Company say that the Space Button shares the same frequency as the mecha’s Energy Metal?" Yang Bo wondered inwardly, taking a sip of his tea. There had been far too many surprises today.
Right at this moment, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded on the virtual TV. It showed footage from after Yang Bo had descended into the stage basement. A person flew down from the dome, surrounded by a crescent-shaped red Blade. It wasn’t large—only a dozen centimeters long—but this small red Blade, much like a Flying Sword from a novel, instantly pierced through the cockpits of three mechas that were holding a large group of hostages.
"Rift," Yang Bo muttered, staring at the flash of light in astonishment. If he had run away even a second later, his fate...
"It’s a Planet Guardian’s equipment. Ordinary people can’t afford to play with these things. Moreover, without the special communication satellites of the military and government, don’t even think about using it," Liu Zhijie replied quite calmly.