Arena Unstoppable 1

"Are you... are you trying to comfort me?" Natata stammered.

An S-class mech—there were only three in the entire interstellar realm so far, and no mech master except Master Duanmeng had ever built one.

Xu Lingqu probably didn't intend for her to pay it back; she had just casually mentioned something entirely impossible.

"No, I'm serious," Xu Lingqu said calmly.

An A-class mech, even with the more advanced mech parts production technology these days, still cost over a hundred million. Natata's chances of building an S-class mech wouldn't be zero, and if she did, fifteen thousand for an S-class mech would be an incredibly lucrative deal. This was an investment, and from a comprehensive standpoint, Xu Lingqu thought it was feasible.

"But I might never build one in my lifetime. An S-class mech, that's S-class," Natata said, feeling like one of them must be crazy. She was sure it wasn't her, but Xu Lingqu's expression and tone were frighteningly calm.

"You can do it," Xu Lingqu said, still in that indifferent tone, as if she were talking about making cream puffs instead of an S-class mech.

"I... I can?" Natata pointed at herself, confused. Whether Xu Lingqu was too confident in her, or she was too unconfident in herself, she was starting to feel muddled.

"Remember to accept the money, and finish what's on the table," Xu Lingqu said, seeing that Natata was gradually accepting it, and stood up. "I'll transfer the rest to you soon. Don't worry."

Natata sat there dumbfounded, watching Xu Lingqu's retreating figure, then looked at the transfer request on her smart device and the pile of food on the table.

Her nose tingled, and she felt like crying.

"How is that person? How is she?"

As soon as Xu Lingqu returned to the dorm, Liu Ming pounced on her, asking about the situation. She reached out and poked the dog's head. "Nothing serious, just hungry."

"Huh? She actually fainted from hunger? Humans are so weird. Human food is so good..."

"You're the one who's weird," Xu Lingqu said, remembering the first time they met at the Xu residence, when this dog had insisted on eating roast chicken, but when they got it, he couldn't eat it at all.

His way of wanting to eat was to watch his owner eat, and then he'd drink pet-type nutrient solution.

With that, she connected to the Sky Network for the third time today, and Liu Ming quickly followed. Once inside the Sky Network, he saw that Xu Lingqu had passed the friend request from Weiwu Great King Rabbit Aowu and was taking the initiative to communicate.

[ Boss, what's the price for a ranked boost? ]

"...You called him boss! Wait, didn't you refuse to take money from a kid before?" Liu Ming said in shock.

Xu Lingqu also paused, only then remembering that before the apocalypse, she had also done ranked boost work for others to earn money for her graduate tuition.

She had lost that memory, but her subconscious had helped her recall it.

"No choice, my balance is running low."

Indeed, treating money like dirt was only possible when life was full of dirt.

Logan Bill, on the other hand, was even more flustered. This weirdo had actually replied to him! The way this person had left without looking back earlier had made him suspect that they might be using some kind of virus hack.

He had been persistently messaging this person purely because he thought they wouldn't dare reply, because they felt guilty.

Unexpectedly, they replied! And even called him, a kid, boss!

There was a conspiracy, definitely a conspiracy.

Weiwu Great King Rabbit Aowu hesitated for a while before replying carefully.

[ What rank can you reach? ]

Xu Lingqu replied directly: [ First ]

How arrogant! How could this person be so arrogant! In the top fifty, there were a bunch of military academy students and mech soldiers, yet they dared to say first?

But Logan Bill was shamelessly tempted. That was the Sky Network mech arena's first place!

Since they had the confidence to tell him first, maybe they really could help him get there?

Logan Bill probed cautiously: [ You're not going to use some, uh, hack that'll get my account in trouble, are you? ]

[ Pure manual play ]

Xu Lingqu looked at Liu Ming. "Can you hack in the arena?"

"Yeah, I saw on the Star Network forum that someone once made a flying hack and hung from the ceiling the whole time," Liu Ming said, holding his cheeks. "But now the arena is very strict. Basically, if it's detected, you get blacklisted. Even if a hack is especially good and hidden, it'll be caught the second or third time. Why?"

Xu Lingqu shook her head. She had asked because Weiwu Great King Rabbit Aowu's question made her think the arena was full of hackers, and she'd only be fighting hackers.

[ If you get first place, I'll give you a hundred thousand, and you can also take the arena's thirty thousand prize money. How about it? ]

Logan Bill thought it over carefully and decided to offer the money his parents had given him, which he had nowhere to spend.

The Sky Network mech arena's first place—that would earn him a lifetime title from the Sky Network. When he showed it off in crowded places, it would be so cool!

Even if he didn't get first, top fifty would still be impressive enough, and if he didn't get first, he'd have a reason to pay less.

The Bill family's merchant blood was burning. Logan Bill figured he would be the one profiting either way.

On Xu Lingqu's side, Liu Ming was envious: "This kid is really rich!"

"Is this the market price?" Xu Lingqu wasn't familiar with Sky Network rates.

"Who would put the Sky Network mech first place on the market?" Liu Ming couldn't help complaining. "They hire boosters for ranks below fifty, but this kid is paying a lot, and he's letting you take the prize money too."

"Alright, then," Xu Lingqu replied directly to Weiwu Great King Rabbit Aowu: [ Is there a time limit? If there are no other requirements, I can log in and play now. Oh, by the way, after logging into your account, I'll switch the appearance to female. I won't modify anything else. Any objections? ]

Logan Bill was stunned for a moment: [ You're a girl? ]

Then he added: [ No objections. Give me your pod number, and I'll set the permissions for you. ]

Xu Lingqu waited for him to operate, then exited first. After half an hour, figuring Weiwu Great King Rabbit Aowu had finished, she entered the cocoon pod again. This time, two avatars appeared for her to choose to log in.

She switched Weiwu Great King Rabbit Aowu's gender to female. A booster normally shouldn't have so many requirements, but in an all-immersive environment like the Sky Network, maintaining a male identity was too strange—it felt like undergoing cyber sex reassignment surgery.

This time, upon entering the Sky Network, Liu Ming circled around her, full of praise: "This is how you should look! The kid put so much thought into the original appearance that switching from male to female is really refined and not jarring at all!"

Xu Lingqu didn't care about that. She opened the arena and took a look. Weiwu Great King Rabbit Aowu's score was still zero, while the current first place had a score of 97,880, close to a hundred thousand.

As different as clouds and mud. But fortunately, the arena was humanized enough that with just 500 points, you could challenge the top 100 and earn points through cross-tier matches.

Right now, the important thing was to get a ten-win streak and earn those 500 points.