Lu Ranxu finally squeezed in from behind, panting. When he finally reached Yun Xingze and heard these words, he immediately lost his breath, and his eyes widened: “What are you talking about?!”
“Sign up.” Yun Xingze looked at Lu Ranxu, “Don’t you want to register?”
“Xingze, listen to me, this contest is very dangerous…” Lu Ranxu persuaded with all his heart.
Yun Xingze was unmoved. “There is always risk in a contest.”
At this time, the staff smiled and said: “As long as you have your own mecha, you can sign up for the contest.”
Yun Xingze was stunned. “Doesn’t the game use the same mechas?”
“Of course not.” The staff member was amused by his words and explained, “Everyone has different mental power ratings, and the types of mechas used to operate each mecha also different. Why would it be the same?”
Lu Ranxu breathed a sigh of relief: “Fortunately, you don’t have a mecha.”
Yun Xingze left the registration booth unhappily.
Before leaving, he stood in front of the propaganda robot again, turned on the light spot that the robot threw in front of him, watched the wonderful scene of the mechas fighting again, and then reluctantly left.
Lu Ranxu scratched his hair upon seeing his depressed face. “Xingze, you don’t usually like mechas. Why did you suddenly want to sign up for this competition?”
“I like it now.” Yun Xingze raised his eyes and looked up. “I want to drive a mecha, and I want to participate in the competition.”
Lu Ranxu was stunned, and said in surprise: “Yun Xingze, are you irritated because of lost love? I used to encourage you learn some mecha knowledge, but you said omegas don’t drive such an ugly big guy. Now you…”
“I’m not doing this due to lost love.”
Yun Xingze sighed, he didn’t know how to explain to Lu Ranxu. After thinking about it, he could only explain. “I took the initiative to break my engagement with Chi Yu. Now I want to make a change. I want to experience a different life.”
The afterglow fell on the boy. His black hair and cold white skin were smeared with a warm orange. The sunset glow reflected in his dark eyes, and the firm conviction in those obsidian orbs was more dazzling than the sunset.
Lu Ranxu looked at Yun Xingze. After a long time, his expression changed from dull to serious.
Afterwards, he gently patted Yun Xingze on the shoulder and said seriously: “I understand. If you want to change, I support you.”
“But I don’t have a mecha…” Yun Xingze wrinkled his eyebrows with a troubled face. “Where can I buy a cheap C-class mecha?”
His mental power is C-class, and the world’s neural connection technology is relatively backward, so he can only drive a C-class machine.
“Are you kidding?” Lu Ranxu showed disbelief. “Yun Xingze, doesn’t your dad, Yun Changsheng, own the Changsheng Mecha Company? Just ask him if you want one?”
“After I broke our marriage contract with Chi Yu, the family became angry.” Yun Xingze shrugged helplessly. “Now I can only save money to buy mechas.”
With that, Yun Xingze turned on his optical brain to search for the price of mechas online. Within seconds, he showed a shocked expression: “The cheapest lightsaber mecha costs three million star coins?!”
In his original world, mechas were also very expensive, but the cheapest machines only cost a few hundred thousand star coins.
Following, Yun Xingze checked the price of secondhand mechas, and discovered they also started at millions of star coins.
“The price of mechas on the market has always been very high. You should be very clear.” Lu Ranxu was confused at first, but immediately figured it out. Yun Xingze usually doesn’t care about mechas at all, so it was naturally he did not understand. “If you want to save your own money to buy mechas, it’s better to go to places like the black market.”
With that, Lu Ranxu called up his optical brain, found the map, marked the black market location with his finger, and shared it with Yun Xingze’s light brain.1Optical brain and light brain are both terms for their mobile-like computer device with (video)calling, browsing, purchasing, and other capabilities.
“The security is not very good over the black market at night. You can go early tomorrow.” Lu Ranxu explained conscientiously.
“Thank you, Ranxu.” Yun Xingze looked at Lu Ranxu gratefully, “You are very kind.”
Lu Ranxu has also helped Yun Xingze many times in the past, but Yun Xingze has never shown such sincerity before.
“You rarely want to do things for yourself.” Lu Ranxu scratched his head, his expression was a bit awkward. His personality was more like alpha, and the roots of his white ears were a little red. “The guy is a stupid…”
Yun Xingze’s mood became depressed because he couldn’t compete, and he got better at this moment.
After the two left the registration booth, Lu Ranxu turned his head and looked at the crowd.
Most of the people who signed up were alphas, and most of them were seniors. He and Yun Xingze seemed incompatible here.
A touch of worry flicked through his eyes, and then it was covered up again.
Last year, an omega named Su Zinan who could drive mecha appeared in Xinghai Academy. Even though his mental and physical strength was inherently stronger than others, he could only become a substitute for the school team.
Lu Ranxu thought, when Yun Xingze leaned how difficult it was for an omega to use mecha, he would probably give up on his own.
But now, when Yun Xingze needs something to take him out of the shadow of lost love, he would support him wholly.
After dinner, Lu Ranxu had something to leave the school, and Yun Xingze asked for leave on the grounds that he was unwell, and left the school to go to the black market.
He didn’t want to wait for a moment, and he wished to drive a mecha sooner.
Because of Lu Ranxu’s instructions, Yun Xingze put on a black mask. Due to his taller height, he looked more like a beta.
Taking an aircraft to the station near the black market, Yun Xingze looked for the entrance among the tall buildings.
High-rises crowded together in the highly civilized metropolis. After night fell, the neat lights and colorful virtual projections on the buildings gradually turned on. The aircraft occasionally passing between the lights and shadows turned into black spots the size of ants.
Yun Xingze basically never went out in his previous life. Now that he had an opportunity, he found himself looking curiously around, and unknowingly came to the door of an unmanned convenience store.
Yun Xingze walked through the convenience store, through an alley, and entered the underground black market.
Stepping on the steps leading to the black market, his damp breath drifted over his face, with a slight chill. It was a sensation Yun Xingze never experienced before in his life; each breath was cold and air.
Compared with the openness on the ground earlier, the shops in the black market are not large. Signs of dazzlingly colors and varying heights were haphazardly squeezed together.
The first floor sold clothing, the second floor was a variety of bars and gambling establishments, and the third floor sold various weapons and equipment.
Mechas were on the third floor.
Yun Xingze saw a lot of mecha shops, but most of them were selling brand new mechas.
There was only only one hundred thousand star coins in his account, and he can only afford a second-hand machine…No, he may not even be able to buy a second-hand one.
After searching for a long time, a sign in the corner that said “Secondhand mechas” came into Yun Xingze’s eyes, and he hurriedly walked into the store.
A mecha pictorial was displayed the wall of the shop, and on the shelves were magic cubes for storing mecha.
The boss, a fat middle-aged man, glanced up and down at the white and clean boy wearing a mask. Seeing that he was wearing brand-name clothes, he stepped up to greet him warmly: “Oh, what does this handsome brother want to buy?”
Yun Xingze replied, “Mecha.”
“I have all models here. I’ll show you.” The boss turned on the light screen and showed Yun Xingze the mecha models. Most of the mecha models displayed were more expensive. “The quality is guaranteed and the price is absolutely cheap.”
Yun Xingze looked at the price tags, and saw they were still very high. He directly asked: “How much is the cheapest mecha?”
The boss was stunned for a moment, losing most of his previous enthusiasm. “The cheapest? Let me see…”
He then pointed to a black cube on the shelf: “That C-class lightsaber mecha is second-hand. I bought it from an alpha student of Xinghai Academy. Although it was damaged before, it was repaired. The performance is good.”
Yun Xingze thought that a lightsaber mecha was relatively simple, but it is also a good choice, so he asked, “How much is it?”
“I think you are quite young, like a student. I will give you a friendly price,” the boss replied. “503,800 star coins.”
It was absolutely impossible to find a lightsaber mecha on the market for such a price, but it was still out of Yun Xingze’s budget.
“Can it be cheaper?” Yun Xingze asked cautiously.
The boss rubbed his chin, thought for a while, and asked, “How much can you accept?”
Yun Xingze swallowed and said seriously, “Can you remove a zero?”
The boss smiled, thinking it was not a problem, but a moment later, the boy followed in a nervously, sincere question: “Is 50,000 okay?”
The boss’s smile suddenly froze on his face.
About five seconds later, a very angry voice rang out from the second-hand mecha store, resounding through the entire third floor: “I think you look like a zero!”
I love how the MC is. Calm and collected during fights, but also bumbling cute as a mecha-con. And then there’s the mecha-con him trying to buy a mecha. Cracks me up each time… I read YXZ trying to haggle 500k down to 50k.
1Optical brain and light brain are both terms for their mobile-like computer device with (video)calling, browsing, purchasing, and other capabilities.