Every time this notion popped into Zhao Jun's mind, he would find himself extremely baffled. It should be known that one's core mecha should be the strongest mecha among all the mecha one possessed. Yet, his good friend, Li Lanfeng, went against the grain, choosing the weakest rabbit mecha as his core mecha. What hidden charisma did the rabbit mecha have? Enough to cause Li Lanfeng to be so fond of it, to the extent that he would do such an insane thing?
In response to his good friend's questions, Li Lanfeng was as unforthcoming as usual.
Zhao Jun was already used to it by this point, and so did not really expect Li Lanfeng to suddenly have a fit of kindness and tell him his thoughts. He casually continued to say, "Lanfeng, that rabbit mecha operator's abilities seem to be pretty good. Even in standby mode, he has set the rabbit mecha to rest in an extremely cute manner. Twitching its head and nibbling on a carrot, very interesting!"
Li Lanfeng jerked. "What?"
Zhao Jun sad, "Huh?""What did you just say?" Li Lanfeng did not seem to have heard what Zhao Jun had to say clearly, asking him to repeat himself.
Zhao Jun racked his brains to think back on what he had said, and then offered somewhat uncertainly, "About that rabbit mecha being interesting? How its standby action is to twitch its head and nibble a carrot?" Was this what he had said earlier?
Li Lanfeng only responded to this after a long while. "That is indeed very interesting!"
Zhao Jun glanced dubiously at Li Lanfeng. His good friend's voice sounded a little hoarse — could it be that he had caught a cold from enjoying the breeze with him last night? Zhao Jun suddenly felt guilty. If he had not been so restless, he would not have pulled Li Lanfeng along with him to the top of the high tower to enjoy the night breeze.
Li Lanfeng did not know what Zhao Jun was thinking. Inside his mecha's cockpit, his gaze became unfathomable, as if he were recalling something.
********
At this moment, Ling Lan had long arrived at the mission hall, and was currently resting with her eyes closed. Of course, she was not killing time — it was just that there was already a diligent little worker Little Four helping her sift through the hundreds and thousands of available missions to pick those most suited for her. Leaving Little Four to it was clearly much more professional and efficient than if she were to do it herself.Like right now, it had only been 30 seconds when Little Four's smug voice rang out within her mindspace. "Boss, I've found it."
"What do you have?" said Ling Lan with an approving expression as she stroked Little Four's head.
Little Four was all smiles as he basked in his boss's affection, replying, "There is only one player-assigned mission, while there are three special missions from the system. They all suit us very well, and don't seem to require much time or effort. Of course, the points given are also not bad." With a wave of his hand, a sheet of white paper appeared in Little Four's hand, which he then passed to Ling Lan. Little Four felt that the information was too detailed to explain clearly, so he decided to just use text to display what he had found.
Ling Lan accepted the paper and saw the following written on it:
Special System Mission:
1) Find the missing 'starlight conversion power core' of Three-Seas Town, allowing Three-Seas Town to possess night-time defensive ability! Reward — 1 mecha starlight conversion power core (equipment adapted for mecha use); 500 points.
2) One week later, Three-Seas Town shall be the target of a coordinated attack by the mutated beasts of the wildlands. The mayor of Three-Seas Town received the news, and in order to save the town, he has requested you, warrior, to bring a letter to the mayor of Suncreed City 1 , in hopes that the other can send some elite troops to come and help defend the town ... Reward — 1 Supreme Frost Moon Battle Sword (equippable back weapon for mecha); 200 points.
3) On the only road between Three-Seas Town and Suncreed City, a horde of mutated savage beasts have appeared. Three-Seas Town has issued a generous bounty for their elimination! Reward — 1 low-level mecha evolution stone (adds a certain degree of success when modifying lower mecha); 1 high-performance beam gun (equippable right-hand weapon for mecha); 200 points.
Player-assigned Mission:
An advanced mecha warrior requested to escort the client safely inside Suncreed City. Completion reward: 1 mecha repair toolkit (perfectly repairs any mecha below advanced mecha level once); 1 application of emergency repair (temporarily restores an intermediate mecha with damage of 60% and above back to perfect condition, time duration 1 minute! If used when damage level is below 60%, condition is only restored by 35%! Percentage of restoration will decrease in correlation with lowered damage levels); 200 points.
Ling Lan flicked a finger at the paper and said, "Your meaning is to accept all four missions together?" 1100 points in total — that would cover the minimum requirement of 1010 points for the mecha challenge hall.
"Yes," replied Little Four decisively.
"Why? The second and third system's special missions and the player-assigned mission do seem related, so it makes sense to accept them together. But the first system mission ... I just can't see how it relates to the other missions." commented Ling Lan with a frown.
Little Four chuckled gleefully, "Other people might of course not know the secret behind this, but who am I? A large-scale search is indeed very difficult, but this small-scale search is no trouble for me. The starlight conversion power core is actually in the main nest of the savage beasts. We should just pick it up along the way and bring it together to the mayor of Three-Seas Town to collect the reward."
Ling Lan cuffed Little Four lightly on the back of his head, "Smart aleck, accept them all then."
Little Four said smugly, "I've already done so! I was afraid if I waited, someone else would take them first."
Looking at Little Four's 'praise me, praise me!' expression, Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop. This little brat was beginning to get too full of himself again — this called for some discipline ... and so, she fiercely pinched Little Four's chubby little cheeks.
Over Little Four's cries for mercy, Ling Lan asked, "How do we contact that player?"
Little Four escaped from Ling Lan's demon fingers with great difficulty, and rubbing his brutalised cheeks mournfully, he said, "He will contact us on his own."
Right at that moment, the A.I. of Ling Lan's mecha suddenly sounded an alert. [No Mecha Unrepaired] requesting communications, YES or NO?
Little Four hurriedly shouted, "That's him!"
Ling Lan pressed the button to accept, and instantly heard a feeble voice say, "Excuse me, are you the one who accepted my mission?"
Ling Lan said calmly, "Yes!"
"This mission is to Suncreed City. The savage beasts there are very powerful; it's impossible to pass if you're not an advanced mecha warrior. I would like to ask, are you an advanced mecha warrior?" The other did not seem to have a lot of confidence in Ling Lan, and could not help but give a warning.
"Since I accepted your mission, I will definitely send you to your destination. You don't have to worry." Ling Lan looked at the rabbit mecha representing trainee status and her face was dark. This mecha truly did not have much persuasive power.
The other seemed to glean Ling Lan's connotation from her words, and so said, "Then I'm afraid I can't give you this mission. A while earlier, three intermediate mecha warriors accepted this mission together, and still they did not manage to pass ..." As if thinking of something, he added, "The more people are involved in this mission, the more savage beasts there are, which makes it even harder. Trying to power through with sheer numbers is useless in the mecha world; individual ability is all that matters here."
Hearing this, Little Four immediately said, "Boss, do you want me to help you create an illusion, making your mecha look like an advanced mecha to the other party?"
The corner of Ling Lan's lips quirked. "No need. I will use my strength to prove that this mission is mine to complete." Glancing at Little Four, Ling Lan reminded once more, "Little Four, you must remember, right now I am using my real identity. So, anything involving the outside world cannot be manipulated. Don't let anyone discover your existence."
Startled, Little Four quickly nodded his head and said, "Understood, Boss!"
Ling Lan ruffled his hair and said, "You must be careful with your actions in the future. I cannot lose you, Little Four!" The emphasised concern in her tone made Little Four's eyes turn red. He hurriedly nodded emphatically, mentally reminding himself not to let his boss worry anymore. Boo hoo hoo, so this is what Boss's care and concern was like. There was a sweet and sour feeling in his heart, but he was energised by it! No, he couldn't take it anymore, his core chip seemed to be a little overheated ...
Ling Lan did not sense Little Four's reaction to her words. Currently, all her attention was on [No Mecha Unrepaired] as she responded coolly, "Even for advanced mecha warriors, if their control skills are not up to par, they still will not be able to complete the mission. Besides, to find an advanced mecha warrior in this Three-Seas Town is most likely very difficult." Along the way, Ling Lan had observed that this area was basically a mecca for trainee mecha and lower mecha; there were very few intermediate mecha, and as for advanced mecha, Ling Lan had not seen even one.
Ling Lan's words made the other choke, because what Ling Lan said was the truth. Setting aside the question of whether advanced mecha warriors would appear in Three-Seas Town, just looking at the reward the client was offering, he would not be able to attract any advanced mecha. He could only hope for an advanced mecha who just happened to be on his way to Suncreed City to accept his mission as a matter of convenience. He could never have imagined that Ling Lan was in fact accepting his mission precisely because it was conveniently along her way for her other missions ...
"Instead of waiting indefinitely for an unknown possibility, you might as well take a gamble on me. Of course, you can first take a look at my combat ability. If you still think it's no good, it won't be too late to reject me then," Ling Lan continued to say.
Ling Lan's suggestion convinced the other, who replied, "What you say makes sense. Let me see your combat ability first then. If it's fine, I'll give this assignment to you. Let's do this, let's meet at the town's western gate."
Ling Lan naturally agreed to this. It was necessary to pass through the western gate of the town on the way to Suncreed City anyway, so the other's suggestion would not waste too much of either of their time.
However, Ling Lan did not let Little Four go just because of this. She rapped Little Four sharply on the back of his head, causing Little Four to look at her in confusion, unsure why Boss was hitting him for no reason again.
"This doesn't count as troublesome? A waste of time?" Ling Lan threw an icy glare at Little Four, scaring him so much that he could only bow his head timidly, muttering in a small voice only he could hear, "Isn't this because you, Boss, are unwilling to let me manipulate things ..." His final thought that this was all Ling Lan's own fault remained unsaid, as no matter what, Little Four would not dare to give voice to it, only able to forcefully swallow it back into his gullet.
With a 'whack', Little Four's head was given another firm cuff. Tears bloomed from Little Four's two eyes, and he glanced at Ling Lan in complaint. Boo hoo hoo, Boss, why are you bullying me again?
"It's my own fault?" said Ling Lan with a half-smile as she stared at Little Four. That stare made Little Four's entire body feel cold — how had he forgotten that his and Boss's minds were connected? Even if he did not voice that thought, Boss would still know about it ...
Little Four was indeed very shameless; he immediately said with an innocent look, "Boss, never, definitely not, you must have heard wrong. No, no, no, sensed wrong!" Feeling as if this was not persuasive enough, Little Four suddenly said with an enlightened expression, "Ah ... it must definitely be an invasion of an unidentified virus! Little Four must go kill the virus! Boss, Little Four has to go handle things now ..." That said, he ran away with a whoosh.
