Mecha Era

"Players, please customize your character!"

An electronic voice rang out in the Void, and a spirited young man in his twenties stared at the virtual character in front of him, who looked exactly like him, and fell into deep thought.

Then he got to work.

"Hmm... Make the bridge of the nose a little higher...

The cheekbones, too...

Move the eyes a little farther apart...

As for the hairstyle, let's go with this mohawk.

..."

Soon, a legendary hero named Caveman appeared before him. The young man turned the virtual character around, then abruptly made him turn back around,

and voiced him in a Tianjin accent:

"What is it?"

"Whoa, that's a bit much!

If that monkey had been born into this world, things would've gotten pretty interesting..."

The young man looked at his creation and grinned, then grew a little wistful.

His name was Wang Qianduo, and he was twenty-six years old.

Qianduo meant "lots of money"—a simple, heartfelt wish from his parents.

Unfortunately, their hopes had come to nothing. Because he was a transmigrator, people had called him a child prodigy when he was young.

But more than twenty years had passed, and now he was just another wage slave.

Far from having lots of money, he owed someone a huge amount (...on his mortgage).

That was right: Wang Qianduo was one of the many transmigrators from Earth, but he'd let down all the predecessors who came before him.

Though, to the people of Earth Star, his life looked like the perfect example of someone else's kid.

Even as a child, he'd been more mature than his peers, with excellent grades and good character.

After graduating from college, he'd gone straight to work for a Fortune 500 company. In less than three years, he'd become a junior manager...

But compared to those invincible predecessors, he was...

Best not to mention it!

In most other novels, people became top billionaires by the time they were twenty-five or twenty-six, right?

Worst of all, he was still single.

But that wasn't entirely his fault. He'd transmigrated into a future interstellar era, after all.

It was the year 3021!

The scraps of knowledge he'd brought from Earth were more or less useless in a world a thousand years ahead of it.

Besides, in his previous life, he'd been perfectly ordinary. He couldn't remember lyrics or scripts, so he had no shot at making it in entertainment.

All he could do was study hard and be an ordinary wage slave...

As for the game he was playing now, it was called Mecha Era, a virtual-reality simulation game centered around piloting mechs.

The game hadn't just launched. It had already been running for a year, or he wouldn't have been fooling around in character creation.

Wang Qianduo had always loved games, especially mech games. He was absolutely crazy about them.

But the year since graduation had been a crucial time for him to work hard at the company, and he'd regretfully missed out on the game, which had been quite popular at the time.

Now he had no choice but to join, because something world-shaking had happened during the game's first anniversary celebration.

The game's core feature, the Mana Mech, could actually be brought into the real world.

The news sent the game into a frenzy.

Mechs had already been developed and in use for a long time, but they were still advanced equipment that only frontline soldiers and researchers could access.

They were like the missiles of Wang Qianduo's old Earth: strategic assets.

Never mind the astronomical cost. The specialized knowledge needed to pilot one alone was enough to put most people off.

Now, though, there was a game that let players obtain a mech, with the government backing it. Naturally, it became an overnight sensation.

Wang Qianduo's company had even ordered every employee to join the game. Those who made contributions might receive extra rewards.

"Man... I wonder how long it'll take me to catch up with the regular players who got in early?"

Wang Qianduo dismissed the virtual character he'd been customizing, then sighed and made a few small tweaks to his own appearance.

"Confirm your virtual appearance? Once confirmed, it cannot be changed!"

Wang Qianduo confirmed without hesitation.

He wasn't brave enough to enter the game looking like the legendary hero Caveman.

Besides, the virtual character couldn't differ from his real appearance by more than twenty percent. He'd only been messing around.

After setting up his appearance, he moved on to choosing a nickname. He'd used the same one since childhood: "Qian Duoduo."

But the system said that nickname was already taken, so he had no choice but to change it.

The game was seriously popular. Wang Qianduo tried more than ten nicknames in a row, and in the end, the only one he could use was "Thousand King."

After creating his character, Wang Qianduo didn't enter the game. Instead, he logged off.

It was work hours, and he still had things to do. He'd only logged in to create a character because the company required it.

You might say the game let you bring mechs into the real world, so you could "rule the roost"?!

Don't make me laugh. Never mind that you were a year behind everyone else, could an ordinary person match professional players who treated gaming like a career? Or compete with interstellar mech pilots?

There was a saying that put it perfectly: "Don't pit your hobby against someone else's livelihood."

They trained hard for more than ten hours every day. Was your hobby supposed to be enough to beat that?!

He wanted to catch up with the regular players, and even if he planned to do it quickly, there was no need to rush.

"Old Wang, logging off already? Didn't you go in to try it out?"

Wang Qianduo had barely taken off his gaming helmet when a voice came from behind him.

Without even turning around, Wang Qianduo replied, "And you're not in there either, Old Wang."

The newcomer looked about thirty, though he was actually over forty. Dressed in a sharp suit, he looked every bit the corporate professional.

And that was exactly what he was. His name was Wang Jun, Wang Qianduo's direct supervisor and the head of their department.

Wang Jun was upright and optimistic, the kind of person who got along well with his subordinates. He and Wang Qianduo had a good relationship, and he greatly admired the young man for being "unusually down-to-earth."

Wang Jun said, "I've played before. I haven't finished the beginner quests or gotten a mech yet, but I'm still not like you!"

"Sure, sure. I know you're a veteran. I'll finish this month's work summary, go home, and start grinding. I'll try to catch up with you, all right?" Wang Qianduo replied helplessly.

"That'll do. But you have to work hard! The company's holding an internal competition at the end of the year, and it'll affect our year-end bonuses.

Our department's full of old and broken-down folks. We're counting on you to get a good result!" Wang Jun said, nodding.

"A competition at the end of the year, and it'll affect our bonuses?!

What idiot came up with that idea?

There are only a few months left until the end of the year, aren't there? How many early adopters does a company this big have?"

Wang Qianduo was stunned when he heard Wang Jun. This was ridiculous!

He'd never imagined that a game would affect his year-end bonus. What a load of nonsense!

"I came up with it. Got a problem with that?"

Just as Wang Qianduo finished speaking, a pleasant female voice sounded beside them. But that pleasant voice made him break out in a cold sweat.

The newcomer wore a fashionable office skirt, paired with black stockings and a pair of strikingly glossy high heels. She was impossible to look away from.

Her arched brows and long lashes fluttered slightly. Her eyes shone like gemstones, and her flawless, fair skin carried a faint blush. Her soft lips were as delicate as rose petals.

She was like an enchanting beauty straight out of a story, breathtakingly beautiful.

But Wang Qianduo wasn't in the mood to admire her.

"Good morning, Manager!" they both said.

They turned to face her, silently reminding themselves:

Don't stare! Don't stare!

This enchanting beauty was the manager in charge of their department, and Wang Jun's direct superior.

The person above Wang Qianduo's boss...

Having offended a senior leader right in front of her, Wang Qianduo might as well have died of embarrassment.

The worst part was that she'd only recently been parachuted into the role.

Emmm...

The enchantress was named Lin Qimeng. Her looks had absolutely nothing to do with her reaching such a position at her age.

She'd earned it entirely through her exceptional ability, with just a "tiny" bit of help from her grandfather, the chairman of the board.

"Young man, you have a lot of objections?"

Lin Qimeng walked over to him, her supposed right-hand man, and spoke softly.

Clearly, the enchantress wanted to use her appeal to men to teach Wang Qianduo a lesson.

But Old Wang was a man who'd lived for decades across two lives. He still found it hard to resist her, but he held his ground.

"I wouldn't dare. I just don't think it's very appropriate," Wang Qianduo said calmly.

"Whether you think it's appropriate or not, you can put up with it. If you don't place well in the year-end competition, I'm telling you, your bonus is going to vanish!"

After speaking, Lin Qimeng shot Wang Qianduo a beautiful glare and walked away without looking back, leaving the two Old Wangs staring at each other,

utterly dumbfounded.