The Monster

"System notice: Quest [Transport the Ore] has been refreshed. Escape the pursuit of three space pirates while carrying the ore!"

The system's prompt was practically identical to the player-posted walkthrough.

According to the story, he was supposed to start running, and then the three space pirates would give chase.

After he'd been running for a while, two of the pirates would lose patience and give up, leaving one who refused to quit—only to get killed in a counterattack.

After that, he'd take the space pirate's mecha wreckage to the base and hand it over to General Huang, fully unlocking the main storyline: investigating this gang of space pirates and introducing the common enemy of all players in the current version,

the Black Shark Pirate Group!

Wang Qianduo controlled Unit Zero, raised its crossbow, and fired a bolt at the three pirates. Then he was supposed to start running, just like the walkthrough said.

But before he could turn around, something unexpected happened. The bolt he'd fired casually turned into a streak of silver light and struck one of the three space pirates.

Critical Hit -230

A huge number appeared above the pirate's head. The next moment, his HP was completely depleted.

With a thunderous crash, his mecha dropped to its knees.

Everyone on both sides stopped moving. The scene turned awkward for a moment...

"You defeated Space Pirate LV1. Unit Zero gained 5 experience points!"

Damn, I was being an idiot. With my current stats, why would I be afraid of these ordinary pirates? Even a starting mecha could take one of them down.

The system prompt brought Wang Qianduo to his senses.

According to the walkthrough on the forum, the space pirates in front of him only had a little over 120 HP.

And they weren't piloting Mana Mechs. They were using man-made mechas, Gale II, which were fundamentally different from Mana Mechs.

They couldn't even withstand two blows from Wang Qianduo. He could easily take on all three.

The two remaining pirates seemed to have very high intelligence. When they saw their companion get killed in one hit, they seemed terrified.

After standing frozen for a moment, they turned and ran.

Wang Qianduo: "..."

"This isn't how the story's supposed to go. What do I do? Forget it, whatever. I'll chase them!"

With that, he set off on a route completely different from the other players'.

He picked up the Blue Crystal dropped by the pirate and began pursuing the space pirates.

He fired bolt after bolt at the two fleeing pirates, but his aim was terrible because of his poor control...

Or rather, he had no aim at all. Every shot just struck the ground around them, grazing past both pirates.

The bolts, fired with 91 attack power, blasted into the ground and blew out one crater after another, making the two pirates panic even more.

Wang Qianduo had considered switching to the Minghong Blade and charging in to cut them down, but he was simply too slow to run after them...

Before long, the two space pirates had taken a winding route to a camp hidden in the mountains.

There were more than ten mechas inside the camp. One stood out in particular, towering over the others.

"Boss, help!"

The two pirates started shouting for help before they even reached the camp. The pirates inside reacted quickly, rushing out to help as soon as they heard the cries.

Just then, a bolt flew past the two pirates Wang Qianduo was chasing and struck their boss's towering mecha.

-80!

A blood-red number appeared above the boss's head, and his health bar dropped by more than one-fifth.

Then a mechanical arm flew off. The pirate leader's mecha had lost an arm to that single bolt.

He hid behind cover and stared at the severed arm, still sparking with electricity. A chill ran down his spine.

"You two useless idiots—what kind of monster did you bring back?"

The pirate leader asked in a trembling voice. His mecha wasn't like those of the ordinary pirates. He was piloting a level-three elite mecha, Yellow Sand III!

Neither its attack nor its defense could be compared to the ordinary pirates' level-one Yellow Sand II mechas.

But this unknown enemy had just shot his arm off with a single bolt. It was terrifying.

"We don't know either, boss.

"His mecha looks like an ordinary starting model, but he killed Third Brother with one shot!"

"With strength like that, you still brought him back to the camp?"

"What do we do now?"

"Fight him!"

"You go first?"

"..."

While the space pirates in the camp argued about how to deal with Wang Qianduo, he got a good look at their situation.

Seeing so many pirates in the camp startled him. He immediately found some cover and hid.

But his piloting skills were so bad that half his backside stuck out from behind it.

Still, the space pirates had no ranged weapons, so it didn't really matter.

The quest had come this far, and Wang Qianduo had no intention of giving up. He took out his crossbow again and started "spraying" bolts at the pirates in the camp.

Soon, damage numbers began appearing above the pirates' heads...

-86

-87

Critical Hit -230

With more pirates in the camp, his aim improved too.

Wang Qianduo's attack speed wasn't fast, and his aim wasn't good.

But his attack power more than made up for it. The space pirates were practically wounded by the slightest graze and killed by the slightest touch.

Before long, several mechas had fallen. When the pirates had lost more than half their number but still couldn't reach Wang Qianduo, the story entered its next phase.

"This isn't working. At this rate, we'll all die! Hold them off while I release the thing from the experiment. We might still have a chance!"

After shouting, the pirate leader immediately ran toward a cave behind the camp.

Wang Qianduo had noticed him. He tried shooting twice, but (he was just too bad... scratch that...) the distance was too great, and both shots went wide.

Wang Qianduo: "There were twelve mechas in the camp originally. I've already blasted seven of them..."

Zero: "Five remain!"

"Are you crazy? I can count. Analyze whether I can cut them down if I charge in now."

"Your odds of winning a melee fight against them are 99.1%."

"Why isn't it 100%? Is it because of my control?"

"No. It's because the planet might suddenly undergo a cataclysm, causing you and them to die together!"

Wang Qianduo: "..."

This AI was messed up. It could even crack jokes at his expense.

But since his odds were so high, there was no need to waste time with them. Otherwise, that pirate mini-boss might get away.

Wang Qianduo clenched his hand in the air. The phantom of the Minghong Blade appeared in it, while the real Minghong Blade, gleaming with blue energy, appeared in Unit Zero's hand.

The next moment, he charged into the middle of the pirates with the treasured blade and unleashed a bout of Wild Slashing, chopping all four remaining mechas to pieces.

One of the space pirates managed to slash Wang Qianduo with his weapon. The "-3" damage and the white mark left on Unit Zero plunged the pirate into despair.

After dealing with the pirates, Wang Qianduo chased the leader into the cave. He saw the one-armed pirate leader's mecha tossing piles of Energy Star Ore into a "Cave Lake," as if he were busy with something.

Critical Hit -208

Wang Qianduo landed a critical hit with a bolt, dropping the pirate leader's health to one-quarter. The leader stumbled, and his mecha plunged straight into the lake.

The water was unimaginably corrosive. The mecha barely managed to struggle before it was completely dissolved.

The sight was too much for Wang Qianduo, even in the real world. He didn't even have the heart to feel bad about losing the loot.

Without the pirate leader supplying Energy Star Ore, the lake, which had been radiating energy, soon calmed down.

Just as Wang Qianduo was about to leave, the lake's placid surface suddenly boiled. A monster with two enormous pincers and a body covered in a chitinous shell burst out of the highly corrosive lake. It was hideous and almost as big as his mecha.

As soon as it appeared, it swung its enormous pincers at Wang Qianduo. He tried to dodge by stepping back, but lost his balance and fell flat on his backside.

The monster seized the opportunity and pounced on him again. Wang Qianduo couldn't dodge in time, and it slammed into him...

-15

A sizable number appeared above Wang Qianduo's head. The monster hadn't managed to do much to him, leaving the scene awkward for a moment.

"Damn, so you're all bark and no bite!"

Wang Qianduo finished speaking, raised the Minghong Blade, and chopped off one of the monster's pincers with a single swing.

Critical Hit -235

The monster had a huge health bar, but one blow from Wang Qianduo reduced it to a sliver. Then he used the Double Strike skill.

-90

-90

The monster still owed him plenty of health, but it never got the chance to pay it back. It fell, unwilling to accept its defeat.

Looks like the space pirates' backup plan was no good either!