Chapter 7

Wu De's face changed slightly, and he said, "Isn't this just bullying? Everyone knows you've already passed the初级机动战士 (初级 mobile warrior) qualification exam! If you want to help your lackeys, it's not necessary to go this far..."

The young man slightly raised his hand to stop his friend, turned to Xiao Pingyue, and said, "A sparring match is fine, but how about adding a little stake? Five hundred star coins! And the loser pays all the equipment usage fees!"

Five hundred star coins were equivalent to three months' living expenses for an average student, but of course, this guy was wealthy and wouldn't care about such a small amount of money.

Xiao Pingyue chuckled and nodded, "Alright, it's a deal! I hope you don't disappoint me too much!"

The military academy had a virtual network combat hall where, whether it was regular teaching training, mobile warrior level qualification exams, or various sparring games among students, everything could be done here. Of course, private training by students was not free and required a substantial fee.

In the spacious hall hundreds of meters long, rows of semi-circular shark rhinoceros leather sofas were arranged, beautifully shaped and smoothly lined, designed according to the most ergonomic standards. In front of each sofa, a half-meter-diameter sky-blue spherical body floated, quietly rotating, with a faint glow shimmering on its surface.

This was the high-grade military-standard optical brain group purchased by the school, with extremely powerful performance. When fully powered, it could support virtual mecha combat training with a realism of up to 95%.

"Guys, how much money do you have in your accounts? Lend it to me for now, I'll pay you back after the match," Qin Huang whispered to the two brothers.

Wu Neng was a bit worried, "Leader, do you have a chance of winning? This guy is not easy to deal with! Losing money is a small matter, but being humiliated again wouldn't be worth it!"

Wu De's eyes twinkled, and he smiled, "Leader never does anything without being sure! I trust him, here's the money! Give that guy a good thrashing! Let's see how he can still act so arrogantly in front of us!"

After paying, the two each chose a virtual combat optical brain, sat in the sofa below the optical brain, and outside, a large 3D projection screen clearly showed the entire combat process, with no detail overlooked.

There were many students around, including Wu De's brothers and Liu Caihui's few lackeys, as well as a group of onlookers who had come uninvited.

"… I heard Xiao Pingyue is already a formal mobile warrior, and the guy surnamed Qin still dares to challenge him. Isn't he just asking for a beating?"

"… Who knows! If it were the old him, even if he couldn't win, he could still exchange a few moves. But now…"

"… I hope he can last a bit longer, at least not lose too disgracefully…"

The crowd chattered, mostly believing that Xiao Pingyue's victory was a foregone conclusion.

The optical brain started smoothly, the surface of the spherical body rippled, and then a half-meter-wide bright blue light beam poured down, enveloping the young man's figure, isolating him from the outside world.

Inside the gentle blue light beam, the familiar mecha control panel appeared before Qin Huang. He was already in the cockpit of a standard mecha, with various instruments and colorful signal lights clearly visible. A faint fragrance permeated, with a refreshing effect. Everything was no different from the real mecha's internal environment!

Due to the high realism, the optical brain's central system needed to allocate a massive amount of computational resources, and the waiting time was more than ten seconds longer than usual.

When the green signal light indicating everything was normal lit up, he skillfully checked all the equipment, confirmed there were no issues, and then created a temporary account and logged in.

The system randomly selected the combat location: the surface of the moon.

The tall silver-gray mecha stood steadily in the shadow of a crater, surrounded by desolation, with a dark and cold starry sky above.

With the help of the source energy control system, his mental perception quickly spread to every corner of the mecha. Any command that appeared in his mind would be quickly and accurately executed by the mecha, as if he had truly merged with this powerful combat machine! Correspondingly, a noticeable pressure appeared in his mental state, like a heavy stone pressing on his body!

Indeed, if his own strength was not up to par, it would be very uncomfortable, he sighed inwardly.

The emergence of the source energy drive control technology was undoubtedly a major revolution in the mecha field. True human-machine integration was no longer just a theoretical concept, and its direct benefit was to maximize the mecha's combat effectiveness! It made a significant contribution to enhancing the military strength of human civilization!

Of course, there was no absolutely perfect technology in the world. High-level mechas equipped with the source energy control system, while having astonishing destructive power, also required a high level of physical and mental energy to operate. The physical fitness requirements for mobile warriors were extremely high, and without the corresponding strength, it was impossible to even attempt to operate them!

A pleasant and harmonious electronic voice sounded, "System self-check... starting physical function data scan... Sorry, due to your source energy index not meeting the standard and poor physical fitness, to avoid accidents, it is recommended to choose a lower realism level to prevent adverse consequences!"

Qin Huang resolutely chose to reject it, and the voice continued to warn, "With your current physical condition, you can only support up to 350 seconds, after which you will be forcibly terminated from the game!"

This was an inevitable result, just like fighter pilots in the Earth era, high-level mechas were not something anyone could operate. Those whose physical fitness did not meet the requirements could only dream of becoming qualified mobile warriors.

This bronze one-star mecha required students with the strength of a beginner mobile warrior to operate smoothly, which meant a source energy index of 12, but the time would not be long.

According to military standards, only pilots with a source energy index of 20 or higher, i.e., those with the strength of a second-stage mobile warrior, were qualified to choose the bronze one-star mecha as their regular equipment. Beginner mobile warriors could only choose mass-produced standard mechas.

The young man took a light breath, opened the active radar to scan the surrounding terrain, and began to cautiously control the mecha's movement.

The mecha virtual combat game did not have such extreme requirements for players' qualities; anyone could try it. However, the realism could not be too high, generally not exceeding 50%.

The 95% realism proposed by Xiao Pingyue was almost indistinguishable from real combat! The physical fitness requirements for mecha operators would also become extremely strict. Those who did not meet the standards would quickly be forced to exit due to excessive physical strain.

Therefore, Qin Huang now had only a little over five minutes to use. If he could not defeat his opponent before the time was up, he would be forcibly logged out by the optical brain's central system and would naturally be judged as the loser.

Xiao Pingyue was at the bottom of a crater, less than thirty kilometers away from Qin Huang. After confirming that all the mecha systems were running normally, he had quickly devised several feasible combat plans.

The simplest approach would be to avoid combat and drag out the time. Qin Huang's physical fitness could not be compared to his. As long as he dragged until Qin Huang's mental energy was exhausted and was forced to exit, he would win!

However, this strategy was too low in challenge and would seem unfair to outsiders. His proud and arrogant nature immediately rejected it. He had specifically challenged the opponent, not just to take a walk and show off a few moves.

If he did not defeat his opponent honorably, how could he demonstrate his true superiority and status?

With his mind made up, he immediately controlled the mecha to rush out of the crater, opened the active scanning radar, and began to search for the opponent's location without any restraint, not worried about his position being revealed prematurely.

To increase the difficulty, he had agreed with Qin Huang before the match that neither could choose long-range weapons, only close-combat weapons. So even if the opponent found him first, he was not concerned.

This was not overconfidence. As a formal mobile warrior, he had a natural advantage in the highly energy-consuming close-combat fighting, and Qin Huang, with his poor physical fitness, could not gain any advantage in this aspect!

Therefore, when the usually low-key and taciturn young man agreed to his challenge, the outcome of the match was already a foregone conclusion! This was how Xiao Pingyue saw it.

Ninety seconds later, the two mechas simultaneously entered each other's visual range. Xiao Pingyue let out an excited howl and charged forward at full speed!