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Mu Fan knew nothing about any of this!
Because the fat guy had arrived. Young Master Harry had been in a bit of a rush on the way over today—mainly because he had slept in.
When he entered the hall, he heard a commotion not far away. But in a martial arts hall with so many people, that was probably normal. He did not pay it much attention and headed upstairs.
Who knew when Mu Fan would actually go? He needed to talk him out of it properly again.
Thus came the scene of the fat guy pushing open the door and seeing Mu Fan sitting on the training chair, staring at him. Big eyes met big eyes, just like when they had first met.
"You... haven't gone yet?" The fat guy glanced around warily and asked in bewilderment.
Mu Fan sat there ramrod straight, his upper body so tense it looked ready to bend backward. His face was twisted, teeth bared in a grimace, giving the fat guy quite a fright.
Something about this atmosphere was off. By rights, Mu Fan should either have been in one of the individual training rooms in this Training Field or wearing his optical brain Helmet. What was this supposed to be?
Brother Fatty had not done anything guilty. The fat guy carefully reviewed everything he had done these past few days. Nothing seemed wrong.
"Cough, cough." The fat guy pretended to clear his throat, raising his fist to his mouth.
"Um, Mu Fan, what are you doing? Waiting for me?" Already lost in his own imagination, the fat guy asked dryly.
Mu Fan's face suddenly twitched. "Hiss, that hurts!"
The fat guy's heart clenched. Had this kid taken the wrong medicine? What was with that freakish tone?
Suddenly, the communicator by the room's entrance rang. "Beep. Sparring partner Mu Fan, please answer promptly."
"Sparring partner Mu Fan, please answer promptly."
The call repeated continuously. It was clearly an internal line.
"This is Mu Fan."
The fat guy watched Mu Fan answer without hesitation, and his heart tightened. Was Mu Fan going to see Wen Zheming? His brows furrowed as he prepared to blow up, but what he heard next left him dumbfounded.
"This is Chanisen. Hahahaha! Kid, you did well. I'm giving you an extra 2,000 Star Coins bonus today. Young Master Wen is in a great mood and has already left. He even left some money for Man Kun and Jerff. This is practically a miracle! Jerff isn't crippled and can keep fighting, while Man Kun can handle logistics from now on. They really benefited because of you. Kid, you're something else! You actually held out against Young Master Wen! From now on, you're the Starfall Martial Arts Hall's gold-medal sparring partner. Hahaha... Oh, right, do you know exactly what happened with Young Master Wen?" The instant the call connected, Chanisen's booming laughter came through. He was obviously in an excellent mood, and his stream of words poured from the communicator, leaving Mu Fan and the fat guy staring blankly at the wall.
"Um..." the fat guy said weakly.
"Um what?! I asked what happened with Young Master Wen!" Chanisen was clearly displeased that someone had interrupted him after just two words, but he forgave it considering Mu Fan was today's hero!
"I'm Harry Fuvin, Manager Chanisen!" The fat guy got angry when Chanisen would not let him speak, especially with Mu Fan right there. Brother Fatty had no face left, okay?!
"Ah, greetings, Young Master Harry. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here." The tone from the communicator stalled, then made a complete one-eighty, naturally becoming exceedingly fawning.
"Mm." The fat guy nodded in satisfaction. "Mu Fan is my sparring partner. If I'm not here, are you?"
That single sentence shut Manager Chanisen right up. After dryly exchanging a few pleasantries, he hung up.
Then the fat guy looked at him with sparkling eyes. Mu Fan rubbed his nose and said awkwardly, "Um, the matter with Young Master Wen has been settled."
The fat guy stood frozen for three seconds before lunging for Mu Fan's thigh. "A thigh! Let me hug it!"
"Get lost!" Mu Fan blocked the fat guy's huge face with one hand and shoved him away.
"Your hand?"
"It's injured. That Young Master Wen was very strong when he burst out all at once. It's fine. It's actually lighter than it looks."
In the end, considering Mu Fan's current condition, the fat guy dragged him into the PO Battle Network. His reason was perfectly sound: let his arm muscles relax first.
They both logged in!
Lemon Balloon—Location: Combat Hall 171, VIP Room CC1029. Egg Lord—Location: Base 341 Training Center.
Lemon Balloon: "Mu Fan, why did you go back to the recruit Training Base?"
Egg Lord: "Yeah, I need to practice mecha some more. You go fight first."
Lemon Balloon: "How can that work? If you keep hanging around there every day, how are we supposed to team up?"
Egg Lord: "Give me five days." Mu Fan gritted his teeth as he sent the voice message. He had to start learning from basic mecha knowledge. He did not even know the theory yet, and Black had shut off Body Coordination combat. He simply did not know how to pilot one!
He had to call Black.
Lemon Balloon: "How boring. Fine, I wasn't expecting your mecha skills to be anything outrageous anyway. You're better suited to hanging around the combat zone."
The fat guy finally let Mu Fan off.
Mu Fan stood before the familiar metal revolving door as the system prompt sounded.
"Hello, recruit 'Egg Lord.' This is your Base 341 Training Center." "Please select a training program. One: Individual Combat Training. Two: Mecha Piloting Training." "Mecha Piloting Training."
Night descended, stars adorning the curtain of the sky. This time, what lay beneath his feet was no longer synthetic material, but smooth earthen ground—soil found everywhere on the planet. Even at 85% simulation, Mu Fan could clearly feel the wind blowing against him.
"Thump." "Thump." "Thump."
Suddenly, the sound of powerful floodlights switching on came from both sides, extending all the way ahead. The sounds of electrical currents activating rang out without end.
Mu Fan narrowed his eyes at the sudden glare before opening them again. This was a vast, empty base surrounded by walls. At the edge of his vision stood the very same White Skeleton he had used before—the First Generation Humanoid General-Purpose Heavy Machine, EH01 Type!
Mu Fan could not forget the time he had become this mecha and fought desperately against those two Raiders. Even less could he forget how its cockpit had finally been blown apart by a barrage of gunfire.
Though this skeletal white mecha was clumsy, crude, and outdated, none of that diminished the joy it brought Mu Fan as the first mecha of his life!
When the coldness of steel passed through the warmth of his palm and into his mind, Mu Fan was beyond words with excitement as he once again felt his first mecha.
"Click!" A camera shutter suddenly sounded.
Mu Fan jumped away alertly, on guard.
"Hahahaha, Mu Fan, I left a backdoor in the mecha combat training tutorial. The moment you entered, it activated my program, and I was lucky enough to see you fondling the mecha so obscenely just now." A silver sphere suddenly flew out and cheerfully circled Mu Fan.
Black!
Mu Fan was nearly at a loss for words! This guy was impossible to shake off. He often vanished when needed, yet appeared on his own whenever he was not. After gaining a body in the PO Battle Network, this shameless AI had become even more unrestrained.
"You finally picked mecha combat. I'll teach you this. Mecha is your weak point right now, so go back to combat training at other times." Mu Fan could imagine Black's animated expression, but all he saw was a hovering sphere with a smiling face.
"Get into the cockpit now!"
Mu Fan stood there for a while without reacting, then scratched his head and looked at Black. "How do I get in?"
"Ah-oh, I forgot to introduce it. This mecha is quite old, so it still uses a traditional mechanical entry system. So... go climb up from behind its leg. You're so agile, it won't be a problem." There was not the slightest hint of embarrassment in Black's electronic voice.
Mu Fan: "..."
Under the lights illuminating the night sky, a young man clung like a snail to the back of a six-meter-tall giant skeleton.
"Then tell me how to open the door!" The young man's furious roar echoed throughout the entire base.
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P.S. Thanks to readers "Remnant★Snow Without Trace" and "Lian Yuanyuan Hong" for the 588 rewards!
Thanks to readers "Poetic Mood and Artistic Conception, Ren Xiaowei" and "Yesterday's Beauty" for their generous rewards!
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