Bullying a Kid (?)
Xu Lingqu decided to test out all the other mech types first, getting a feel for the five models. They truly lived up to their names.
The Defense and Heavy mechs were bulkier, but the Defense came with two defensive weapons, while the Heavy had an axe. The Defense had no offensive capabilities, and the Heavy, though armed, was too clunky.
The Power and Attack mechs mostly differed in their weapons: the Power had a long blade and a short dagger, which could be switched between or used together, while the Attack carried two cannons—one short-range requiring close combat, the other long-range but with limited ammo that left it powerless once spent.
All things considered, Xu Lingqu felt that Power and Speed suited her best. Power allowed her to maximize her strengths.
Speed was more balanced—it had a bit of everything and was agile—but Liu Ming said it was the most criticized. Many thought its mix of cold and hot weapons was useless. Besides, it was so light that people used to other mechs often overexerted and launched themselves off the arena platform.
In Liu Ming's eyes, though, Xu Lingqu handled all five types smoothly. If only his original body were still around for her to pilot—that would be awesome!
Xu Lingqu rested for a while. The sensations in the Sky Network were nearly identical to real life, and physical exertion here translated to some degree back to her real body in the cocoon chamber. But with ample nutrient solution, she recovered quickly.
She soon stood up—time to try the arena.
Leaving the training room and returning to the option screen, she selected Arena and arrived at a place resembling a boxing ring, except the platform was several times larger, surrounded by massive transparent shields to protect spectators from stray damage.
It was a grand, beautiful arena. However, since Xu Lingqu was currently an unregistered resident of the interstellar network, her score was still zero, and matchmaking was taking forever. Just as she was about to give up and head out for a meal, an account entered her arena.
【Mighty King Bunny Ao】has joined the room.
That name...
"Is this a kid?" Xu Lingqu whispered to Liu Ming, who was on her wrist.
"Yeah! Rabbit Ao is the most popular character in the interstellar cartoon 'Interstellar Cute Pets'! Kids love him!" Liu Ming said excitedly.
"You watch it a lot, don't you?" She could practically recite the show from his tone, and she asked casually.
Liu Ming started whining: "It's because you're never around to play with me..."
Bunny Ao's Sky Network avatar was a handsome black-haired, black-eyed man standing 1.9 meters tall. The one controlling him, nine-year-old Logan Bill, was very nervous, afraid his opponent would see his real age and refuse to match.
His parents were famous mech material sellers in Star System No. 2, always flying across the galaxy for business. The only companionship Logan Bill had was through the interstellar Sky Network—especially virtual mechs.
Once, due to work, his parents had taken him to see a real Magician mech, and he'd been deeply captivated by the beautiful, intricate giant weapon.
Since virtual mechs had no psychic power restrictions, even kids could play. Logan Bill had been training himself, avoiding the arena for fear of being mistaken for a child. He'd even hired a hacker to forge a certification as a local military academy student and crafted a cool, handsome avatar, all to hide his kid identity.
Today was his first step into the arena! He'd been matched with someone whose name looked like gibberish and whose appearance was plain, but he figured he could handle it smoothly...
【Are you a kid?】
Logan Bill saw the question from the other side and nearly burst into tears.
How did she find out?! What went wrong?!
No, no, stay calm. I need to respond with an adult mindset.
【How could I be a kid! You're overthinking it! Are you scared of fighting me now? Hahaha!】
Xu Lingqu: ...
"I'm just gonna quit," she said, a bit helpless.
But Liu Ming stopped her: "Don't look down on kids—maybe this one's good? If you quit now, it'll hurt his feelings."
"You sure know him well," Xu Lingqu snorted. "Good thing you wiped my ID, or when people dig up my past, the first thing they'd find is me bullying a kid."
Interstellar villain Xu Lingqu—beats instructors, beats kids, bullies the old and the young.
"Anyway, you can't match with anyone else right now, so why not give it a shot?" Liu Ming kept persuading, mainly because he couldn't bear to reject Bunny Ao!
Xu Lingqu eventually sent the opponent a request to start the battle.
Logan Bill was sweating with nerves, but when he saw that the other side seemed to have dropped the suspicion about his age, he sighed in relief and happily entered his first arena match.
Xu Lingqu chose Speed; Mighty King Bunny Ao chose Attack.
Two massive mechs appeared on opposite sides of the arena, both pilots ready.
As soon as the match began, Logan Bill, wanting to test the skills he'd trained so hard, opened the Attack mech's cannons and unleashed a barrage at Xu Lingqu.
"Whoa, he's pretty fierce," Liu Ming commented quietly.
Amid the storm of fire, Xu Lingqu maneuvered the Speed mech like a game of dodge, the gray-cyan machine flowing gracefully through the rain of projectiles, smoothly evading every strike.
Logan Bill was stunned. He'd never seen such fluid mech movement—not even in the top-ranked arena matches on Sky Network!
Who exactly was this person? Were these moves even humanly possible? Or had some virus evolved to the point of auto-piloting virtual mechs?!
Panicking, he activated the Attack mech's special skill—a homing missile. No way she could dodge that!
Blue flames shot straight at Xu Lingqu. Noticing its odd trajectory, she recognized it as a homing shot; simply dodging wouldn't help.
She adjusted her direction and charged straight at Mighty King Bunny Ao's mech. She was so fast that by the time Logan Bill reacted, she'd already jumped behind him. The missile, too close to turn, slammed into its own pilot.
"Boom!" Mighty King Bunny Ao's mech crashed to the ground. But a single hit wasn't enough for the system to declare him defeated, so Xu Lingqu walked over and finished him with a few more strikes.
The victory screen appeared—one win, ten arena points added.
Xu Lingqu was about to quit, but Mighty King Bunny Ao suddenly sent her a message.
【Are you a real person or a virus?】
Could he not accept losing to a human?
Xu Lingqu replied: 【Real person】
【Then can you be my stand-in? I'll pay you!】
Xu Lingqu: ...
She immediately logged off, and Liu Ming strongly condemned her: "He wanted to give you money, why didn't you take it?!"
"Bullying a kid and then taking his money? I'd really be a tyrant."