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Character ListQiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.
Chu Rong: Marshal ML.
Ren Mo: aka Master Ren. A mecha master making full manually-piloted mecha.
Fan Xiangnan: ML’s second-in-command.
Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC.
Chu Huai: ML’s older brother, he’s in politics.
Gu Yan’an: Chu Huai’s wife. She’s a doctor.
Yuan Xiu: Chu Yan’s bestfriend.
Sang Bu: MC’s roommate. Transferred from Information System to Mecha Manufacturing.
Yun Xiachu: MC’s ex-classmate, about first-grader age, but skipped a couple of grades to match MC’s pace. Advertisement
Xiang Kun: Chu Yan’s mortal enemy. Xiang Hui’s younger brother. Mecha manufacturing student.
Xiang Hui: A colonel. The Xiang family’s current heir. Xiang Kun’s older brother.
Chairman Ning aka Ning Tianxing: Ning family’s head. Ning Kongran’s father.
Ning Kongran: Ning family current heir. Studying mecha manufacturing, unlike his family.
Bearded Teacher aka Master Shang: Qiao Zhiya’s Mecha teacher in VR. Chu Rong’s mother’s teacher. Is currently a mecha manufacturing teacher.
Luo Li: Qiao Zhiya’s senior older brother. He won the online Mecha Manufacturing Contest. Now Qiao Zhiya’s (and Sang Bu’s) homeroom teacher.
An Leen: Imperial Princess.
Charmmi: The Imperial Royal Mecha Master Brendan’s granddaughter. Studies mecha manufacturing.
Feng: The Imperial High Advisor.
Jian: Feng, the Imperial High Advisor’s son. Studies History. Now has a forced amnesia.
Qiao Zhiya was confused at first, and then stood up excitedly. He wanted to teleport out of the player room to see Chu Rong, but found that the room had been sealed and he could not go out before the end of the game.
Just as his anxiety creeped up, Chu Rong’s call request came up. Then he remembered that he could still use this contact, so he hurriedly connected it. Trying to suppress his bubbling excitement, he carefully answered: “Chu Rong?”
“It’s me,” Chu Rong replied. After his voice came out, a flash of pixel materialized in front of him, then finally, his avatar appeared in front of him.
Qiao Zhiya was stunned. Then, with a low exclamation, he pounced on him without hesitation.
Chu Rong opened his arms and hugged him contentedly, tightened his arms, lowered his head and rubbed the top of his head. He whispered, “Sorry, I haven’t contacted you in the past few days.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, I know you are busy.” Qiao Zhiya wanted to see his face, but was reluctant to let go of him, so he squirmed in his embrace, trying to raise his head but only able to see the taller man’s chin. With a surprised tone, he asked, “The contestant’s room is closed before the start of the game, and the audience can’t come in. How did you get in?”
“I used a little privilege,” Chu Rong replied, sitting on the player’s chair on the side and holding him on his lap.
account is indeed special. It has fewer restrictions than ordinary people. As long as it does not affect the fairness of the competition, he can come in as the contestant’s relative to encourage them. The system will not stop it.
After sitting down, Qiao Zhiya saw Chu Rong’s face and found that the image of his account was exactly the same as his appearance in reality. It didn’t look like the avatar he used since a decade ago. Therefore, he should’ve resetted the appearance recently.
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The last time the two met on the VR, they stayed in their respective mecha and did not meet directly. This was the first time the two of them used their online avatars to actually face each other.
‘
It’s a pity that I couldn’t see what Chu Rong looked like ten years ago.’
Qiao Zhiya thought with some regret, but immediately became excited again. He took the initiative to rest his head on Chu Rong’s shoulder, tilted his head and rubbed his face with his ears. Both of them still retain their real-life appearance, so his pointy ears were also retained in his avatar.
This is not bad, both of them use their real appearance, and it feels like they are meeting in reality.
Feeling Qiao Zhiya’s rubbing against him, his expression softened. He leaned in and kissed the soft pointy ear.
After more than a month, he finally hugged this clingy guy again. Although they were just a bunch of data, it was much better than the projection that could only be seen but not touched.
The two hugged each other quietly for a while, and Qiao Zhiya’s excitement gradually calmed down. Remembering that Chu Rong had not contacted him in the past few days, he sat up slightly, raised his hand and gently touched Chu Rong’s face. His tone clearly indicated his worry. “How are you doing in the Empire? Has the Emperor given you any trouble?”
When he mentioned this, the warmth on Chu Rong’s face dissipated into a frown. Seeing that it only made Qiao Zhiya more worried, he quickly relaxed his brow and raised his hand. He rubbed the back of his head and adjusted something on his account before replying, “It’s okay, the old Emperor just wants to use me as a shield to delay the time until he could fully recover his health. This is a preventative measure to halt the adult princes and their subordinates’ conspiracy. Their opposition started to wane once they realized that the old Emperor started to recover. I helped him survive this time. He gave me two kinds of tenth-level materials that the Chu family didn’t have. It was a good deal.”
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Qiao Zhiya found that his voice suddenly became very low, ringing in his ears. He immediately understood that it was not safe to talk about this here. He pursed his lips and changed the topic. He leaned over again, his nose was basically stuck to the taller man’s neck. It somehow felt nostalgic. “Then when can you come back? The rabbits miss you too.”
‘Those rabbits only know how to eat and play. Do they even miss me?’ Chu Rong was amused by his implicit expression, and it drastically improved his mood. He hugged him tightly again and raised his hands to play with the youth’s ears. “Come on, I’m on the ship returning to the Empire’s capital planet now. I will set off back to the Federation immediately after arriving. I can get home in a week at most.”
‘A week? I can spend next weekend with Chu Rong?’
As the youth’s mood soars, he hugged Chu Rong with a big smile and fluttery ears. His face flushed slightly red, and he said in a shy but firm manner, “Then I will wait for you at home. I will take off the ring and wait for you to come back. I want to see you put it on my finger with my own eyes!”
Chu Rong’s pupils shook.  His chest was filled with a soft, fluffy feeling. The taut of his eyebrows were gone, and now they were rounded with gentleness. He stroked the youth’s back slowly, then nodded. “Once I put it on you, you can’t take it off.”
Inside that private room, the two separated fiances were being intimate, trying to chase away their feelings of loneliness. Meanwhile, the online public was going crazy. The atmosphere was like boiling water, and the heat reached its peak.
——Marshal Chu is online again!
——Rong Tian, who ranks first in the mecha battle rankings, is finally online!
——But he cunningly hid his movements! Unless he unlocked the privacy settings on his battle and let the system display the room number, the public won’t be able to see him at all!
The fans were devastated. After a few months, Marshal Chu finally came online again, but this time they were even worse than the last time. They didn’t even have the chance to watch or participate in a duel against him. He kept staying in his private room! They have no way to peek at him!
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Everyone was scratching their heads to find out Chu Rong’s location. Some rich people even bought the All-Star Network overhead broadcast to solicit Chu Rong’s location. However, the result was even those rich people joined the commoner masses and scratched their heads alongside them.
The Internet, which was already bursting with people thanks to the Starnet Mecha Manufacturing Competition, became even more lively. The number of people online continued to increase. The relevant forums were full of posts looking for Chu Rong’s location. Fans and passersby alike were constantly posting in those forums.
Then someone made a post and reasonably speculated: [Today is the first round of the Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition. Is Marshal Chu online just to watch the competition? I heard that Marshal Chu’s fiancĂ© studied mecha manufacturing after being promoted to an advanced college. Did he participate in this competition?]
That speculation woke up the masses. Just as they were getting excited, a netizen who studied mecha manufacturing poured cold water on him.
Passerby A: [But isn’t this cute Exoplanet Native boy still a first-year student? He hasn’t really started yet, so he probably won’t be able to participate in the competition. Does he want to lose in the first round?]
When everyone thought about it, they all agreed that it made sense. A big family like the Chu family, would not let their fiancé embarrass themselves by losing the first round in such a big competition. However, this was the only reasonable guess at the moment. After some hesitation and entanglement, they all rushed to the main square of the competition with expectations, entered the official website of the Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition, and searched for player information.
There’s about 500 million contestants, so the search was tiring. However, they actually found a participant with the ID of . After repeatedly confirming that the ID number was indeed that of Qiao Zhiya and not someone else with the same name, the people went crazy.
[Big news! Marshal Chu’s fiancĂ© signed up for the Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition!]
[Marshal Chu’s Exoplanet Native fiancĂ© signed up for the Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition before he officially started manufacturing mechas and only learned how to make elementary parts!]
[Marshal Chu’s fiancĂ© is about to lose in the first round of the competition!]
This news spread across the Star Network like wildfire. The fans that Qiao Zhiya attracted during the holiday live broadcast event were moved by the news and rushed towards the mecha manufacturing square with a faint green light in their eyes – this little cutie rarely ever went online to begin with, and those handful of times were spent playing with Third Young Master Chu. They have been waiting to see him for a long time!
In the corner of the mecha manufacturing square, Chu Yan glanced at the growing number of excited melon-eaters around him. The corner of his mouth twitched, then he put a face-blurring decorative mask on his face. He poked Yuan Xiu next to him, and said, “It’s just a competition, why are they
 so exaggerated?”
“Celebrity effect, with your erge’s status and Qiao’s popularity, it’s not unusual for this to happen. Now I’m starting to worry about the servers.” Yuan Xiu also wore a funny mask as he scanned the increasingly-thick crowd of onlookers.
Chu Yan smacked his lips, and suddenly thought of something. “More than half of these people will enter the stadium to watch Qiao’s game, but there is a fee to watch the game, and the players can get a share. With this number of people, Qiao will really make a killing.”
When Yuan Xiu was reminded by him, he also thought about this. He silently calculated it in his mind and became jealous. “In this day and age, popularity is money.”
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“It’s a pity that the first round of the competition is not open for betting, otherwise we can gamble in favor of him,” Chu Yan’s eyes flashed with money. He continued with a whisper, “These people don’t know Qiao’s mecha manufacturing capabilities, they will definitely bet on him losing, so Qiao’s odds will be lopsided. Then when I bet, I will win a fuck-ton of money
 hehehe.”
“Despicable.”
Chu Yan was stunned for a fraction of a second. Then he frowned at Yuan Xiu with raised eyebrows. “You actually called me despicable. Aren’t I sharing with you the way to make a fortune?”
Yuan Xiu looked back at him, confusion clearly all over his face. “Who scolded you? I didn’t say anything just now.”
“Where did that voice come from? It sounds so familiar.”
The two looked at each other for a few seconds, and then they both indeed felt like they were being stared at. In unison, they turned their heads and looked behind them.
At some point, a third person actually appeared in their hidden corner. That person was very frank and did not wear a mask like them. He showed the disdain on his face to them.
Seeing them looking over, the young man snorted and cursed in a louder voice, “Damnable leech.”
Yuan Xiu’s face immediately darkened. He tensed his muscles and was prepared to fight. “Xiang Kun, are you eavesdropping on us?”
Chu Yan’s reaction was rather strange. He raised his hand and patted Yuan Xiu’s shoulder reassuringly to tell him to calm down. Then he looked at Xiang Kun very gently and asked sincerely, “Xiang Kun, is your uncle here again?”
“Uncle? What do you mean?” Yuan Xiu turned to look at him in confusion.
Xiang Kun’s face suddenly darkened, then he flushed crimson as his voice went pitch-high. He raised his hand and pointed at him angrily. “You, you, you!!!” He couldn’t say a complete sentence for a long time. Finally, he glared at him fiercely and said, “Just wait!”1a popular euphemism for menstruation/having your period is “(my) aunt is here/ (my) aunt is visiting. Because Xiang Kun is a boy, Chu Yan teased him with “uncle” instead. He’s basically saying that Xiang Kun’s awful temper is because of PMS.
Then, he went offline.
Yuan Xiu showed admiration at him. “You are still cruel, but what happened to Xiang Kun recently? He always feels a little weird.”
“He deserves a beating,” Chu Yan answered lightly, raising his arm to put on his shoulder, and changed the subject. “The game is about to start, prepare to teleport. Do you still remember what Qiao’s room number is?”
Yuan Xiu rolled his eyes. “You recited it 800 times already, how can I not remember it?”
1a popular euphemism for menstruation/having your period is “(my) aunt is here/ (my) aunt is visiting. Because Xiang Kun is a boy, Chu Yan teased him with “uncle” instead. He’s basically saying that Xiang Kun’s awful temper is because of PMS.