Ch32 - In Edwin’s mind, the word “surrender” emerged
According to the rules of the competition, the competitors could choose not to expose their faces or their real names. Pei Shijian had entered concealing his face and name.
But while his identity was hidden from the common people, he couldn’t hide it from Ji Zhaoyun and people with a background. In minutes, they guessed who he was.
In the original novel, this competition was also Pei Shijian’s first step on the path of glory. After Ji Zhaoyun saw the competition, he became a fanboy of his technique. Besides Ji Zhaoyun, he also met several friends who were talented and of strong backgrounds. They became the base that he used to seize the throne in the future.
In the end, Pei Shijian took first place and became famous throughout the entire empire, and he defeated the Zerg spy that had been planted in the capital planet (all kinds of interstellar novels had these overused villains). After that, his reputation spread far and wide. Overnight, the number of have fans he had broke through to several billion. They retaliated against the people who had humiliated him in the past, and they couldn’t stay in the capital any longer.
As a cannon fodder who had been expelled from his school not long ago because of such a shameful reason, Shao Ci’s mood was complicated. He just had to think to know that Pei Shijian’s revenge wasn’t over. When he gained more power in the future, who knew if Shao Ci would even be able to continue living.
And he had to capture Pei Shijian before he could leave!! The favorability score was absolutely in the high negatives already.
Shao Ci felt a huge mental burden just thinking about it. It would be good if he could follow the original protagonist’s path and participate in a mecha competition like this. He wouldn’t be shut in a room and beaten because his strength was so trash.
[Host, you can go participate in a virtual mecha competition if you want. Also, because everyone is a projection in the virtual world, you won’t bind to a new capture target.]
“The important thing isn’t whatever about the capture target. Although that’s also very important… If someone who has the strength of a radish like me goes participate in a mecha competition, I’ll get wiped out in the first first round,” Shao Ci instinctively retorted, but his heart was wavering.
Although the original relied on inhibitors to act as a beta for over ten years, his physique was about the same level as other omegas. He was just a little stronger than other omegas, so his grades in school were also at the bottom of the rankings and he would just bully commoner students like the original protagonist.
The reason the original host had taunted Pei Shijian was probably really because he was secretly jealous that he was an alpha. Although he didn’t want to admit it, alphas were just naturally superior in terms of strength.
But as long as it was a boy, who wouldn’t be excited by a mecha? When Shao Ci first became a homebody nerd, he really liked watching mecha war movies. Every time he saw the protagonist start the mecha, he wanted to try it himself. Now, the opportunity was right before his eyes. If he didn’t give it a try, he wouldn’t be able to explain himself.
Shao Ci turned to look at the rules screen at the side. As long as he paid sixty empire coins, he could participate. Of course, sixty empire coins only provided the lowest training mecha. If he wanted a better one, he had to pay more.
In some sense, it was possible to net good results from these competitions buy throwing money at it. For the most part, anyone else who broke into the rankings was skilled. Still, someone like Pei Shijian, who could crush other people using a high-grade mecha that cost several billion empire coins with just practiced ease of an outdated mecha, was someone who came once in a hundred years. That was why he attracted so many fans.
Now, as long as they wanted to, anyone could join the competitions. The competition adopted a point system. The top one hundred people by the end of the competition could rise to the finals. If they won, they would get 2 points. If they lost, they would lose 2 points. A draw was 0 points.
Although it was just a battle in the virtual world, it would use up spiritual energy. When there was less spiritual energy, it would affect their performance, so most people would only fight two or three battles.
“Well, it’s just sixty empire coins. It’s about the same cost to go see a movie. Besides, I can be anonymous.” Shao Ci walked to the side where he could register automatically, without the slightest burden, swiping his personal terminal. Immediately, his surroundings faded to black, and several virtual screens appeared in front of him.
[Please select the mecha you would like to use.] An emotionless, robotic voice sounded.
Shao Ci looked at the screen in front of him. There were all kinds of mechas in all kinds of colors and all kinds of weapons. Several were kinds that common people in the outside world had no way to even touch, but in the virtual world, they just needed to pay some empire coins to use it.
Of course, Shao Ci selected the free older generation mecha without hesitation. As if he would spend a single extra empire coin on a competition he had no chance to win!
Next was whether he wanted to conceal his face, and the name he would use to compete.
Shao Ci naturally picked to conceal his face, and he barely thought about the name. He typed in the words Prince Latiao… Actually, this was the nickname he used to use when he was surfing the internet.
People from the future definitely didn’t know what latiao were. This way, he could maintain a sense of mystery as well as allowing him to remember the latiao he liked to eat before he transmigrated… After he thought about it, he suddenly felt this name was simply perfect.
After he finished his selections, the screen glowing in front of Shao Ci’s eyes dimmed completely.
[Selected the old style mecha… Succeeded in registering for the competition… You currently have 0 points… Matching with an opponent…]
After a series of mechanical noises, Shao Ci’s vision turned bright. He discovered that he was currently sitting in an old mecha, and the exterior was the field. It felt unnaturally genuine. There wasn’t the slightest difference reality. Shao Ci felt around the mecha with excitement.
This round of the mecha competition had already been running for several months. It would end in just half a month, and most of the people at the top of the rankings had fans already. Every time they competed, countless people would fight to spend money and buy tickets to watch up close. People like Pei Shijian had already reached the level where their competitions would be broadcasted outside.
Generally speaking, people wouldn’t come to watch the matches of people who were low in the points rankings, and the competition system would match people with similar points, so Shao Ci’s opponent should be someone who was at the end of the ranks.
But the field was full of people, and across from Shao Ci was a top-grade mecha. The crowd around him was cheering unceasingly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Shao Ci had a bad feeling. He looked to see who his opponent was, and he was stunned. “…What the fuck?!”
Shao Ci was different from other people, because he understood who this was. Edwin’s real identity was actually the crown prince’s younger cousin. His family was a superpower that could influence the entire empire’s trade, and his mother was the descendant of a family with a strong reputation.
In addition to this, he was also Pei Shijian’s close friend. Later, he even betrayed his older cousin, the crown prince, to support Pei Shijian. This was why the crown prince, the villain boss, lost so quickly.
Shao Ci didn’t expect that as soon as he came out he would meet an opponent like this. He felt like he had been abandoned by the world.
Shao Ci wasn’t the only one who was shocked. When Edwin and the crowd saw the enemy was actually a hopeless lose with 0 points and using an outdated mecha, they were also shocked.
“Did the system run into an error?”
“You can tell right away that someone like this just came to join in on the fun, but he can actually be with Edwin?”
“In the case, I can also participate in the competition, right?!”
“And Prince Latiao is a weird name. It just sounds funny.”
These people thought the name Prince Latiao was already so far from down-to-earth it was at the level of an punk edgelord.
Edwin, sitting in a high-level mecha, pondered earnestly. He had brilliant blonde hair, jade green eyes, and a handsome face. Just a single smile from him was intoxicating. He hadn’t announced his identity, otherwise his fans would be ten times as numerous.
“I heard that even if it’s your first time competing, if the system detects a strong spiritual strength, it will still match you up with an opponent with a corresponding strength… Maybe it’s that kind of situation.” When Edwin thought of it, he immediately turned serious, fixing his gaze on the enemy opposite him.
The match hadn’t officially started yet. Using a technique gained from the host’s school memories, Shao Ci began to operate the mecha with difficulty. He fumbled around for the controls, trying to move.
To the crowd outside, this outdated mecha suddenly began to shake like a drunkard. It couldn’t even walk properly. Several times, it even fell to the ground for real, then crawling back up with difficulty.
Jeers immediately exploded from the stands. “My god, this is totally a mecha newbie, isn’t it? Even my little brother in elementary school can move better than him.”
“Where did this kind of guy get the courage to join a mecha competition? What a joke.”
“I’m going to record this match and put it on the forum so everyone can have a laugh.”
Even Edwin was a bit hesitant. No matter how he looked at it, it was obvious his opponent was a beginner. Was the system matching really wrong?
After a moving his limbs a flurry for a long time, Shao Ci suddenly remembered that they had also been taught how to use spiritual energy to connect directly to the mecha. Because this method needed formidable spiritual energy, most people couldn’t do it.
But if they succeeded in connecting to the mecha, they would feel as though they were the mecha themselves. It was many times better than operating it by hand. If the mecha was injured, the operator would also be wounded, and it was also a more dangerous method.
[Count down. 10, 9, 8, 7… 4, 3, 2, 1—begin!]
Shao Ci gritted his teeth, closing his eyes and trying to use his spiritual energy to connect to the mecha. In moments, it was as though a blue ocean appeared before his eyes, and he was a tiny speck of light in the sea.
“Is this my spiritual world?” Shao Ci was frozen.
The original novel said that normal people had spiritual world that was just the size of a well. Even the peerlessly talented main character Pei Shijian had a spiritual world just the size of a lake.
But the host, as a cannon fodder, didn’t even register as a B-grade spiritual energy… In other words, the sea in front of him wasn’t the original host’s spiritual energy. It was his own spiritual energy.
“……”
“…”
When the countdown ended, the barrier between the two mechas immediately disappeared.
The crowd in the stands began to shout. “Knock down this newbie who doesn’t know the limits of the sky!”
“We bought tickets to see experts, not to a rookie like this.”
“A weak chicken has the guts to use an outdated mecha? Do they think they’re God Time?”
Edwin just manipulated his mecha to charge in front of his enemy. His mecha was the newest model that had been developed, and it was much faster than a normal mecha. The power of its weapons were also extremely strong. He could cut open his opponent’s cockpit with ease.
Unexpectedly the other party’s mecha still hadn’t begun to move. It was obvious the person in the cockpit had already gave up on opposition.
It seemed as though the system really had an error during matching. Somebody who gave out without even a fight was simply a disgrace on the competition.
Disappointment flashed through Edwin’s eyes. He had come to the competition to cross swords with even more strong people, not to waste his time on trash like this.
Edwin manipulated the laser scalpel directly to point directly at his opponent’s cockpit. At this point, this enemy wasn’t worth his serious attention. He just wanted to use the quickest method to deal with him.
The stands rose with cheers. Almost everyone could imagine how the outdated mecha’s cockpit would be skewered by the laser scalpel in the next moment.
But Shao Ci’s eyes suddenly snapped open.
In that moment, it was as though he had become the mecha… No, his powerful spiritual energy had nearly encompassed the entire space. He saw everything. He could even see the expressions of the crowd in the stands as clear as day.
And in Shao Ci’s eyes, Edwin’s nimble laser scalpel was as slow as if it was in a slow motion film. He could avoid it with ease.
Shao Ci avoided the surprise attack without thinking.
When the anticipated result of slicing open the cockpit didn’t happen, Edwin was stunned. He realized that his opponent had actually evaded him at a rapid speed.
The people on the stands were stupefied. Several people thought their vision had gone blurry, reaching up to rub their eyes.
“What just happened?”
“Is it a coincidence…? Just now he couldn’t even control his mecha properly, how could he suddenly avoid it?”
“It must be a coincidence. Even a genius couldn’t learn how the controls in a second… Unless he connected with his spiritual energy just now. But how could that be?”
Someone unwittingly spoke the truth.
Edwin furrowed his brows, lunging for Shao Ci with the laser scalpel in his hand. But it was just like it was seconds ago. The opponent easily dodged. Even the mecha’s speed was no slower than his own modern mecha.
Generally speaking, if it wasn’t superb technique, it was only possible to reach such a level by connecting to the mecha with spiritual energy.
Edwin was also using his spiritual energy to control the mecha, but he hadn’t achieved such a complete, seamless connection. Among the people he knew, people who could achieve such a level of connection with an outdated mecha…
In that moment, Edwin unexpectedly thought of the friend he thought of in high esteem, Pei Shijian.
“How could it be, this guy is just trash.” When he realized that he had actually put this newbie and Pei Shijian on the same level, Edwin felt a wave of fury. Comparing Pei Shijian with this person was an insult.
Edwin looked up at the outdated mecha, chopping at his opponent. At the same time, he prepared to fire ammunition at the opposing mecha’s four limbs to destroy it. “Aren’t you good at hiding? You don’t have luck on your side this time.”
But this time his opponent didn’t dodge. He pulled out a worn-out laser weapon to block Edwin’s attack.
Naturally, the outdated mecha’s weapons couldn’t be compared with the latest laser scalpel. In a few breaths, it was destroyed, but in those few breaths, the old mecha had already charged in front of Edwin. It grabbed Edwin’s mecha’s arms.
In the next moment, Edwin could see several different ways to struggle free, but no matter how he tried to move his body, he couldn’t move. The places his mecha was touching his opponent’s made him feel very clearly the other party’s spiritual strength.
It was a terrifyingly strong spiritual energy. In that moment, Edwin felt as though he was drowning in the sea. He couldn’t breathe. His spiritual strength was S-rank, the cream of the crop, but compared to his opponent he had no way to resist. He couldn’t even struggle. He just wanted to surrender himself to this powerful person.
Exactly… At that moment, in Edwin’s mind, the word “surrender” emerged.
Edwin didn’t know how long it took before he returned to his senses. By then, his opponent’s weapons were already resting against his cockpit. As long as the mecha used a little bit more strength, it would be able to cut through his cockpit and skewer through him.
[Number 09364 is victorious.]
A mechanical voice like the competition system’s rang along with the sound of the crowd sucking in a cold breath. Nobody had expected that a beginner that nobody thought highly of could actually defeat Edwin so easily.
The people who had been mocking Shao Ci now felt that they couldn’t face the situation. If it wasn’t for the rule that someone could only compete with one identity, they would even suspect if this Prince Latiao was a side entry for the terrifying Time.
There were even people who turned into Shao Ci’s fans on the spot. They completely forgot about Edwin, cheering Shao Ci’s name continuously from the side.
“Ahh… I—lost.” Edwin finally reacted. He had actually lost to a newbie with 0 points.
If this was spread around, it would be absolutely humiliating, but Edwin didn’t feel humiliated at all. Instead, a strange feeling began to bubble in his heart.
“No, if there’s someone as strong as this, how could he be a newbie.” When he thought about how he had been totally steamrollered by this other peron’s strength, his complete inability to fight back, the feeling of being almost suffocated, a red glow appeared on Edwin’s pale, handsome face. He was ecstatic.
That was the feeling he was chasing after. Before, Edwin thought that the person who fit these requirements was Pei Shijian, but now…
“Exactly. This is the person I’ve always been looking for.” Edwin looked at the opposing mecha with shining eyes, but instead discovered that the mecha had already left.
–
After he won, Shao Ci rapidly left the competition. He was stupefied.
“What just happened? Why is my spiritual energy so strong?” Shao Ci felt like he had just been dreaming. After he connected to the mecha with his spiritual energy, it was as though he had been given a cheat. He had defeated his opponent as easily as if he was fighting an elementary schooler.
And that wasn’t a normal opponent. It was the most important male character in the original novel, Edwin!
Even now, the rush of victory was still left in Shao Ci’s blood, and he couldn’t calm himself down. It was as though he could still see everything in the blink of an eye, as though he could still behead his opponent easily.
[Host, it’s because after you experienced so many worlds and underwent all different kinds of transmigrations, your soul’s strength is already much stronger than the average person’s. When you participate in this kind of competition, you naturally would have no problem. Of course, if this was reality, the strong spiritual energy would make host’s body fall apart.]
“…Since it’s already like this, can’t you give me a body that’s a bit better?!” Shao Ci’s impassioned heart quickly cooled. He had even thought that he could finally become one of the strong and wouldn’t need to get thrown about by a nutjob. He didn’t expect that he could only be strong in the virtual world.
[If host is too strong, it will draw the world consciousness’s attention. Host’s identity was already hidden in the competition this time, otherwise if you’re found out by others it will cause unnecessary trouble.]
“Well, that’s true.” Shao Ci thought that he wasn’t a Gary Stu protagonist anyway, and he didn’t have a protagonist halo. If some there was anyone with incredible strength, he might get his lunchbox in minutes.
But after resting for a bit, Shao Ci’s mind filled with high aspirations. “Since I can only be strong in the virtual world, I won’t let this opportunity get away. I’m going to get into the finals.” If he changed worlds in the future, where would he get this kind of chance?
After making his decision, Shao Ci immediately continued into the competition site.
Meanwhile, the people who had just watched Edwin and Shao Ci’s match had put a video up on the forums.
The people of the empire worshipped the strong and often had mecha competitions around the country. Almost everyone paid attention to virtual mecha competitions. There were also always countless people visiting the forums every day.
And a post titled “A newbie with zero points using an outdated mecha actually killed one of the top hundred in seconds, could it be that a second God Time has come up into the clouds?” attracted countless people’s eyes. After the people who thought it was some fake rumors and disdained to click in saw the video, they were stunned.
In just a day, the post had countless replies. Several people questioned it simultaneously, all in shock, asking whether Edwin had made a mistake, or if Edwin and that Prince Latiao had some dirty transactions between them.
But Edwin’s fans jumped on them like a pack of rabid dogs. Everyone knew Edwin was a nouveau riche who had all the money he wanted. How could he ruin his own name for something like this? It was even less likely he would take any bribes.
As the people in the post were fighting endlessly, someone suddenly tossed out a video, saying they had happened to see Prince Latiao at the competition by chance. Because they were too shocked, they had recorded it, and they would also let the people in the post see what the circumstances were really like.