Chapter 175: A Light Bulb Moment

wo mechs were engaged in a tight battle. Red and green chased after each other like shadows, the sound of metal against metal occasionally heard as they came into contact. The spectators were all excited by the battle.

Ye Chong was shocked. He had spent some time in the virtual world, and was familiar with the close range combat level here. It was only a year or two since he last visited, but the mechs were now much better in close range combat! The two mechs he was seeing now were quite capable, much better than the so called aces he fought against in the NR Training Center. They were also not too far from his level!

Ye Chong did not know that during his time in the Orbits in the last year or two, close range combat between mechs had improved sharply in the virtual world! This was all initiated by him. He had once won against many aces under the name YC, and his many battle recordings went viral. From then on, people began to realize the potential of close range mechs, and the excitement that came with battle at close quarters, something that long range bullet exchanges could never match. Young people grew to love close range combat, since the virtual world was not all about winning or losing, but the exhilaration it could bring. That was how, in the virtual world, close range battles between mechs improved so much. However, in the real world, long range mechs were still the preferred choice.

Ye Chong noticed immediately with his keen eyes that the red mech was attacking in a way that was similar to bare handed fights.

Why had he never thought of that before? Ye Chong slowly grew convinced. Indeed, two mechs engaged in close range combat was similar in principle to two humans in a fight. What if he could apply combat skills in close range battles between mechs? It was worth a shot! On the other hand, if he could apply combat skills to a battle between mechs, could he also apply some skills in mech battles to human combat?

Suddenly, it was like a large door opened wide before Ye Chong, and on the other side was a whole new world!

Ye Chong stood in a daze under the floating holographic broadcast. In the broadcast, the two mechs fought aggressively, throwing sparks as metal met metal. It was an intense battle, but Ye Chong was frowning in thought, in his own world.

Spacing off in the virtual world? Passersby’s gave Ye Chong a few odd looks.

After half an hour, Ye Chong finally took a long exhale. His mind back in the virtual world, Ye Chong rushed to the nearest NR Training Center he could find.

Ye Chong had always wondered if all NR Training Centers look the same. Up till now, his experience told him it was affirmative. This made it easy for him.

Ye Chong entered the NR Training Center with his old name – YC. With Mu’s protection, Ye Chong believed that no one would know who he really was.

The NR Training Center was crowded as usual. Ye Chong’s last mech, Dark Shadow was already obliterated by Invincible Firepower. Now, he had no mechs under his name, and would have to buy a new one. Fortunately, his points were enough to buy a few advanced level mechs.

Ye Chong followed the familiar route to the maintenance hub. While every NR Training Center was similar in terms of their structure, the mechs available were different. The advanced level mechs here could no longer excite Ye Chong, but for now, he needed a humanoid mech for training.

Ye Chong found a blue-black humanoid mech. It was about 10 meters tall, its dark blue body not as bulky as mechs usually were, and its well proportioned build was something Ye Chong appreciated. Its four limbs were black, its surface covered with a matte polish that made it look cold and sturdy. More importantly, its surface would not be reflective. The mech had a cool looking profile, the hard lines matching the blue and black, making it almost as cold as Ye Chong himself! Its forehead had a bright red diamond, burning angrily against the blue and black, a bewitching touch to the mech!

This mech with the name Tissot immediately caught Ye Chong’s attention.

Tissot had no supporting fins, its arm devoid of any shields, and it was poorly armed. The two handles by the waist must be the handles of two laser swords. There were also the two parrying spears fitted closely to the arms! These two weapons were the only ones it had.

This was a model that was launched two years ago, but the points required to redeem it was a bit surprising to Ye Chong, as it was worth three times more than his old Dark Shadow.

Once he entered the mech, Ye Chong could understand what made this mech special!

Maneuvering was a smooth affair, and the mech’s engines were impressive, capable of powerful short bursts. The mech also had incredibly tough armor, almost like a lesser copy of Black Cove’s war mech! However, its choice of weapons were even more extreme than Black Cove’s – two laser swords and two parrying spears were too little for a mech! Without any long range weapons, Tissot’s range would be severely limited.

Was being extreme a popular trend nowadays? Ye Chong thought of Duan’s mech, similar in concept to Tissot, only that one of them was suited for close range battles, and the other for long range ones!

Ye Chong tried a few maneuvers and loved the feel of i! The mech’s practicality may be suspect, but it was perfect as a training mech for Ye Chong.

Ye Chong did not intend to use any weapons, since he wanted to try out the idea he had in that light bulb moment. He was best in short range combat, and having no hindering equipment actually worked well for him.

The idea of applying combat skills in mech battles was not original, and there were already many existing techniques. Many combat enthusiasts fell in love with mech battles, since they were often more skilled than lesser mech pilots. In the last two years, many new names rose to fame due to their close range combat skills, and they were known as combat mech pilots. These combat mech pilots had their own fan base, and some even opened their own dojo in the virtual world to teach not combat skills, but mech combat skills.

Of course, becoming a combat mech pilot was not easy. Battles between mechs was still different than between humans. Besides battle moves, there was still the overly clunky mech maneuvering to consider. It was rare for one to conquer both. While combat experts were skilled in their field, mech piloting was still best learned from a young age. As for mech pilots, while many of them have superb mech piloting skills, few had ever formally learned the dying skill of actual combat.

Hence, the so called combat mech pilots today were not up to par. However, it was undeniable that mech battles were heading towards uncharted waters, and the fading world of combat was beginning to gain some life.

Ye Chong found a basic training room. The room still looked the same as before, and visitors were scarce as usual.

Ye Chong found an empty spot, but did not began training immediately. He was trying to analyse the differences between mech combat and normal combat.

Normal combat was driven by muscle power, while mech combat was driven by engines. This was the fundamental difference. WIth the help of engines, mechs can stay in midair longer, something that the human body could not allow. The body’s soft elasticity was also something mechs could not achieve.

Ye Chong tried some simple combat moves. Initially, he could not get the hang of it, but very soon he began to understand the tricks behind it. This was because of his superb mech maneuvering skills. It was because of his skillful maneuvering that he could perform the moves that his mind conjured.

Of course, he was far from achieving the ideal results. Even if he could perform the moves, it did not mean that the moves were practical. He still needed to improve, step by step, to make the moves more reasonable and suitable for mechs.

In the end, however, Ye Chong had finally taken his first step forward. This was the first time he created something by himself without Mu’s instructions. Mu seemed to understand him, and did not appear to intrude.

As for his second idea of applying mech battle skills into actual combat, it would have to wait until he was done with his first idea.

Ye Chong trained in full concentration, repeatedly practicing some basic moves patiently. Mu had said that the basics were the most important, and Ye Chong kept his words at heart. Gradually, Ye Chong could move more smoothly, and Tissot’s attacks grew faster. Soon, Ye Chong reached the limits of what Tissot’s mechanical parts could allow.

Tissot seemed like a mech specially designed for mech combat. Ye Chong maneuvered smoothly, and found that the mech’s joints had engines designed to strengthen its attacks. He also noticed many of Tissot’s less obvious design features.

Tissot’s external equipments were only a front; its true weapon was its body. All potential attacking parts of the mech were specially designed. For example, Tissot’s two palms had edges that cut like knifes, and its knuckles were just as sharp. When its elbow was bent, it became a sharp awl that could punch a dent into its enemy. The knees had auxiliary engine that were thrice as powerful as for normal mechs.

Ye Chong finally understood why the mech was so extreme in its design – it was a mech made for close range combat.

Time flew past unnoticed as Ye Chong trained, and he found himself growing proficient with those basic moves.

Mu suddenly materialized like a ghost and said, “Ye, there might be a place just for you!”

“Where?” Ye Chong knew that Mu would never speak carelessly.

“Here?” Ye Chong asked curiously. The room was pitch black.

“Yes, here. This is a room used for reaction practice, but it’s perfect for your training! There will be many glowing spheres shot towards you, and you’ll have to either hit or avoid those spheres. This is a pointless training for you, so what you have to do now is to not avoid the spheres, and try to keep attacking the spheres for as long as possible. Are you ready?” Mu asked.

Ye Chong drew in a deep breathe. “Alright! Let’s get started!”

As he finished speaking, numerous glowing spheres appeared on a holographic screen, shooting towards him. Tissot moved into a horse stance as a calm combat expert would.

At the beginning, Ye Chong felt it was still manageable, and even had time to appreciate the sparkles that came from the destroyed glowing spheres that he hit.

As the spheres grew in numbers and came in faster, Ye Chong began to feel pressured, and no longer as relaxed. His precise attacks were now desperate, clumsy movements.

Tissot’s arms, legs, knees, elbows and shoulders were all utilized, but Ye Chong was finally hit by a glowing sphere after enduring for about one minute.

Giving up halfway was not Ye Chong’s style, and he could also feel the benefits of this training.

As he tried again and again, Ye Chong began to enjoy the process and gained new insights. He could hold against the spheres longer and longer, and slowly began to realize the subtleties involved. He found that as his attacks became more concise, the effectiveness increases. Controlled breathing was important, and any slight hiccups in that would almost certainly lead to the end of another practice round.

Ye Chong found a mysterious phenomenon – whenever his speed reached a threshold, Ye Chong could feel himself entering a strange state, as if his body could move by itself without conscious thoughts, while his mind became an observer at the side, incapable of any clear thoughts.

In this state, his movements were curiously sharp, but it was not often for him to reach this state. Ye Chong trained for more than 30 rounds, and only reached this state twice. Each time, it lasted for only a few seconds, after which Ye Chong would wake up, as if from a dream, and would inevitably be hit by a glowing sphere.

Was is a hallucination? Ye Chong did not mind it so much.

“Hmm, Ye, it’s about time for you to leave!” Mu saw that Ye Chong was deeply absorbed in his training, and reminded him.

“Okay, one last time!” Ye Chong replied after a moment’s thought.

Chapter 176: Banquet

n the pilot’s cabin, looking at the holographic screen before him, his hands resting easily on the controls, Ye Chong breathed in deep and closed his eyes, his chest expanding and contracting vigorously like a wind box. After a few seconds, Ye Chong’s chest movements began to lessen, and his breathing slowed. He ran through the last thirty or so rounds of training in his head repeatedly, analyzing his mistakes.

Ye Chong abruptly opened his eyes and yelled, “Begin!”

Tissot stood silently like a black warrior, moving only when the first glowing sphere was almost touching it, its right arm hitting the sphere dead center. The glowing sphere immediately fragmented into a thousand pieces, fading into the darkness. At the same time, the mech angled to the right, its left elbow hitting another glowing sphere with uncanny accuracy, and the sphere fragmented and vanished like before.

Its movements grew faster and faster, every joint deftly utilized as a weapon to attack the spheres!

If anyone were witnessing this, they would be mesmerized by the beautiful sight. Around Tissot was a circle of light, and one could roughly make out Tissot’s figure in the center. Numerous glowing spheres flew towards the glowing circle around Tissot like moth to fire, and immediately scattered silently into sparkling fragments, fluttering into nonexistence from the circle of light. The scene was beautiful as a dream.

Ye Chong still could not endure past the five-minute mark. After three minutes, the difficulty level increased drastically. If he could avoid the glowing spheres instead of hitting them all, Ye Chong believed that he could endure for at least 10 minutes.

Returning back to the real world, Ye Chong finally felt the lethargy hit him. More accurately, it was mental lethargy due to long periods of high concentration. After leaving the virtual world, Ye Chong felt a little dizzy, and breathed deeply for a few times before recovering himself.

Soon, someone came to invite Ye Chong for dinner.

Robert and Shang Zhangming discussed for a few hours in the inner halls. No one knew what they were discussing, only that they were both looking pleasant after the meeting, marking a smooth discussion.

The dinner crowd was large. Or rather, that was what Ye Chong thought, attending a banquet like this for the first time.

On Robert’s side were Robert himself, Bai Linan, Duan and Ye Chong. Behind him were his four bodyguards, and Ye Chong could now finally see the faces of these four mysterious bodyguards.

They were all very pale, wearing cold expressions, much like Ye Chong himself. They look better in suits, compared to Ye Chong. They stood unmoving with their hands on the sides behind Robert.

Ye Chong felt a tic in the corner of his eyes.

By the ear of the nearest bodyguard to him, Ye Chong noticed an inconspicuous impression of a line. This impression extended all the way from the ear to the collar, marking the boundary between two very different skin colors. The side towards the nape was in normal skin color, unlike the unnatural paleness of the face due to prolonged lack of stellar radiation.

Ye Chong noticed similar impressions on the other three bodyguards, and he was inwardly shocked! He immediately thought of the masks! Only putting on masks for long periods would cause such a disparity in skin colour! Their Double Curved Steps already made him suspicious of them being from Black Cove, and now, he was almost sure of it! Only Black Cove people would wear masks, and since he had seen those masks before, he knew that the mask matched the impressions on the skin perfectly! Wearing the masks for a long time would naturally lead to this kind of pallor.

If these four men were from Black Cove, then how was Robert connected to Black Cove? If Black Cove would send four soldiers to him as bodyguards, he must be very important to them!

It looked like Robert was more than he seemed to be!

Ye Chong tried desperately to maintain his normal expression, and luckily, no one was noticing him at the moment. After taking in the shocking fact, Ye Chong quickly calmed down. Why did they not make any moves against him? Black Cove was out for him, and would not give up easily as was their usual style.

Could the opponents be faking their ignorance, and secretly sending for backup?

Shang Zhangming had many of his own people attending the banquet. Besides Shang Zhangming himself and Zhang Xin, there were also other important members of the Shang family. Shang Zhangming was a little surprised to find Ye Chong at the dinner table, but he swiftly accepted the fact and became at ease.

The banquet began with a joyful atmosphere. Ye Chong, occupied with his problems, could barely taste what he was eating.

“Mu, I think we’re gonna have to leave soon!” Ye Chong spoke to Mu in his mind.

“Yes, but we must pick a more suitable time, or it will attract unwanted attention! This advice is from Shang, but I agree!” Mu and Shang communicated in a way that Ye Chong could not understand, but Mu would always relay Shang’s thoughts whenever he was in unfamiliar territory. This was not a courtesy that Shang would ever extend!

Shang’s words were reasonable, and Ye Chong understood that if he moved too hastily, it would only attract unwanted attention. What he needed now was to be left alone!

After experiencing so much, Ye Chong had grown more mature! If it was his earlier self, Ye Chong would immediately deploy his mech and escape!

Since it was decided that they would find a suitable time to make their move, Ye Chong could finally notice the delicious food in his mouth. Since he did not want attention, he continued to eat without looking up. He had never attended such an event, and did not know that his actions were out of the ordinary. Everyone else was only delicately sampling their dishes, but only he was eating by the mouthful! In a banquet like this, everyone would try to demonstrate their refinement. The meal was only an ends to a mean, as everyone actually hoping to bond with each other in the setting.

The rest of the table looked at Ye Chong strangely, most of them being members of the Shang family, looking at Ye Chong with aloofness and contempt.

Mu relayed Shang’s words dutifully to Ye Chong, “Ye, you idiot, you’re destroying your reputation. Heavens, how did I got to know someone like you?” Mu imitated Shang’s tone to a T. Of course, he did not forget to add, “Ye, that was Shang. You know, I’m not familiar with this! Shang may be more reliable in this matter!”

“Did I do anything wrong?” Ye Chong was baffled.

“Ye, I think Shang should be the one to handle this!” Mu was just like that, always choosing the best solution to the problem.

“Haha, I thought I’d still need to wait a few days to come out, but now here I am! It’s only for three hours, but it’s so much better than being stuffed in there! All thanks to our most adorable Ye!” Shang laughed like a maniac.

Ye Chong groaned inside. The fellow was obviously bored to death inside! He could only hope that the mech would not suggest any crazy ideas!

“Okay, Ye, now do as I say!” Shang spoke complacently, like a child who found himself an interesting toy.

Shang’s tone immediately triggered a sense of foreboding in Ye Chong, but he had no choice but to acquiesce. “Alright!, But, Shang, don’t push it!”

“Sure, I would never!” Shang’s tone gave Ye Chong a very good idea of what the mech thought of his warning.

“Alright, let’s begin!” Shang spoke excitedly.

“Ye, you’ve managed to make yourself the center of everyone’s attention, even if in an absolutely gross way. But don’t worry, hehe, this problem is a piece of cake for me! However, to avoid your repeating the same mistake, allow me to explain!” Shang was obviously very confident of himself.

“Oh, what did I do?” Ye Chong was also curious about what went wrong.

Noting Ye Chong’s interest, Shang was even more encouraged. “Ye, socializing is a very difficult skill, looks like you’ll have to be formally coached in social etiquette. Take this banquet, for example. For aristocrats, it’s not an occasion to fill their stomachs. They will usually eat a little something before attending the banquet, since they can then focus on socializing with other people, instead of eating! Don’t underestimate the power of dining etiquette; it’s the most important way for the upper class to socialize, and a very effective strategy to bring people together.”

“I see!” Ye Chong said unsurely.

“You’ve made five mistakes just now. One, you should eat the dessert laid before you first, and not the main dish in your plate. Two, you’re using your cutleries wrong. Three, usually, you should take a sip of the wine on your left after a few bites of food. Four, ignoring other people while you eat is very rude. Five, the way you eat is criminally offensive.”

“Heavens, do you still call that dining?” Ye Chong was vexed, and groaned inside.

“Ye, this is a very elegant field of knowledge!” Shang spoke eagerly.

“Hmph, I don’t see what’s so elegant about it!” Ye Chong could not agree. To him, all these difficult rules only served to complicate what was originally a very simple affair of eating. Besides, it was very inefficient.

“Sigh, I know you can’t understand everything right now, just do as I say!” Shang gave up on convincing Ye Chong for the moment.

“Hmm, alright!” Ye Chong had no qualms with that. After all, he understood his current situation. Since he was not powerful enough to break the rule, he could only protect himself by following them.

“Ye, see that third cutlery from the left?”

“This one?” Ye Chong picked up a table knife with a serrated edge and a hook on the other side.

“Yes! This one. Now hold another table knife in your left hand, the one with the metallic handle! Hehe, using two table knives is a very ancient way of dining for aristocrats. Since it’s difficult, not many people eat like this anymore, but it’ll make you look like an aristocrat yourself, surely someone will recognize this posture. All we have to do is to convince them of this! Hehe …” Shang gave an evil laugh.

“Move your hands slowly, always cut your food into thumb sized pieces. Keep your elbows slightly open to the side. Control your expression, make sure you look calm. Sigh, I suppose that last thing is your forte!”

Ye Chong did exactly as told. His accurate control of his strength allowed for easy handling of the knives.

Most of the people at the table were chatting enthusiastically, and did not notice Ye Chong’s change in demeanor. However, a few of the Shang family’s older members exchanged looks of surprise, obviously noticing Ye Chong’s “uniqueness”. However, most of them still looked at Ye Chong with condescension.

“Ye, you can resume your normal way of eating now!” Shang laughed like a knave.

“Why is that?” Ye Chong felt lost.

Shang explained carefully, “Don’t worry, these people here are all very cunning. They’ll definitely notice your short demonstration. If they recognize this ancient and difficult way of eating, they’ll definitely change their minds about you! Ye, remember, never let your opponent guess your next move! Sudden actions like this will make them think that you’re unpredictable, and not some ignorant peasant. They might think that you did it unintentionally, and even believe that you’re actually the descendant of some long forgotten ancient aristocratic family! Haha, of course, they’d never guess what you’re hiding. However, that’s all none of your business! Isn’t that right?”

“Yes!” These were definitely not complications that he needed to know.

Food was excellent, the best that Ye Chong had ever had. Since Shang assured him it was alright, Ye Chong ate to his heart’s content. This attracted curious glances from everyone on the table, and the few older members of the Shang family exchanged some meaningful looks. Something unintelligible flashed past Robert’s eyes, but he quickly resumed his conversation with Shang Zhangming.

Dinner ended, and Ye Chong did not do anything strange again. Shang managed to keep silent throughout the affair, which surprised him! Just when Ye Chong thought it was all over, Shang finally broke his silence, announcing excitedly, “Ye, it’s finally time for the main event!”

Chapter 177: Ye Chong’s First Soirée

The what?” Ye Chong did not seem to compute it, “The main event?” In his perspective, when a meal had ended, it meant everything had ended, a finale where people should leave, the place should be cleaned.

“Yes, the main event, habitually there would be Soirée after dinner – a social event exclusively for the gentries of course. Technically members of the upper social class would take the opportunity to interact with each other. But well, in comparison to a table dining course, Soirée is freer in the methodologies, also much more colorful. You would not be sealed on the dining table and restricted by table mannerism.” And Ye Chong thought he had mastered the worst kind of jargons in his mech studies. Apparently, “Soirée” was a suave, fancy term to call a private social function held between the men and women in wealth.

“At this place…,” continued Shang, signaling Ye Chong to take a look, “they usually would exchange certain information of their backgrounds. Most of them would not converse with each other about serious businesses on this occasion. Precisely saying, this is known as a kind of recreation, solely for enjoyment. To some youngsters however, such function appeared to be an important stage to spotlight their appeal. And… this is also the social circle for the Madame, you know, the ladies, the dowager. Sigh, I don’t think you understand a word I’ve said! But just watch and learn, you’ll know soon enough!” sounded like an expert from the Great Britain, Shang gave a lengthy lecture about life.

“Whatever…” Ye Chong responded uninterestedly, as he clearly knew such lifestyle was not what he desired. Thus his current objective would be listening to Shang’s advice so that he could stay low in this party, especially when he knew nothing about the lethargic mannerism of this alien society. It would not be good if he made a joke out of himself, though he was pretty curious the fact that Shang actually had interests in these meretricious things.

The dining tables were soon removed by the butlers. A few coffee tables with sliced fruits, wines and sweets were placed instead. The center of the hall was emptied and couches rested at the corners. The servants hurried their works like a fast-forwarded renovation. The premium hologram music player formed the classy atmosphere with the quality music the whole time.

The relaxing music wafted through the hall, as everyone entered the hall one after another.

“Ye, don’t just stand there! Go grab yourself a glass of wine. Hold it in your hand, even if you don’t feel like drinking,” reminded Shang.

And Ye Chong reached one of the glasses of red wine on the table nearby. “Now…,” added Shang, “you shall walk slowly around the hall. Gently lift your glass whenever you bump into people. If they lifted their glasses before you, you lift your glasses too to signal your friendliness. The whole point is to act naturally and good-natured.”

“B-o-r-i-n-g!” Muttered Ye Chong in his head, “You mean we are doing this for the whole night?”

“Heh!” Laughed Shang, “Ye, you call this ‘boring’? Don’t be such a hasty man, the more boring part comes after this.” His laugh sounded more like a steady snicker.

A small crowd flooded into the hall after that, with each man having a lady by his side. Shang Zhangming was obviously occupied at the moment, as he walked around to send his loving greetings to acquaintances with glass in his hand.

Mr. Robert walked to Ye Chong, also with a glass in his hand, “Wang my brother, what’s up with that Pokerface? There will be beauties coming to us after this! You can’t be spending your youth without some spices of lovemaking! Too bad the beauties missed the chance to witness your strength or you would be drowned by their cuddles and smooches. Hahaha!” he chuckled as he lifted his glass.

“It’s nothing, really,” flatly he replied, as Ye Chong was never reactive towards such kind of comments, he just mimicked Mr. Robert’s gesture as he briefly lifted his glass.

“Good,” complimented Shang in his head. “That action you took was great!”

“Really?” Seeing through the expression of Ye Chong, he laughed his way out.

The hall was getting more crowded over the night. To make this function much fulfilling, Shang Zhangming actually invited almost every public figure on Rique planet.

Ye Chong walked around aimlessly with that glass of wine wrinkling his fingers. Hardly there was anybody lifting their glasses for him. Pleasing it was to our hero, although he kept sensing strange stares coming from the females around him… “Ugh.” It was discomforting. He wanted to know why but he failed to, as suddenly the flock of females would evacuate themselves the moment he turned his head over them. “Ugh!” Ye Chong was not delighted.

I give up. Stares won’t kill me anyway!

“Isn’t this lonely man Mr. Wang?” The sweet voice rang from his back. Ye Chong turned to his back and he saw Shang Xin, holding her glass of wine, walked towards him fashionably with a man in white suit. One of the young man’s eyes were veiled by that silvery white hair of his, which gave off a kind of obscurity to his expression. The corners of his lips were hazily raised and lowered, on that fair smooth face of his. He was truly handsome. And that was when Ye Chong felt the sights he collected were suddenly all shifted to that man in split seconds.

It was relieving to Hermit Ye Chong.

The young man bowed, expressing courtesy towards Ye Chong, in grace and humbleness.

“Ugh! Ye! This kiddo is more striking than you! Dammit!” Shang sounded bad-tempered.

“Striking? What you mean?” It was the first time he heard of such adjective.

“Yes, a man is called ‘striking’ when he’s good-looking,” Shang gave a concise explanation.

“Good-looking? The heck I could do with being ‘good-looking’? Not like I could get a meal with it. If this is also an advantage, it is an empty advantage!” indifferently he replied.

Ye Chong returned a bow at the young man, “Yes, Ms. Shang, what do you want from me?” and he spoke to Shang Xin.

?

??

Both of their expressions turned stale right before Ye Chong.

“Wrong! Wrooong!” Shang sounded absolutely annoyed, “Ye, don’t you use that Mu style here! It’s only a recreational activity! You know? Leisure? Relax? I can’t believe there would be someone asking what the counterpart wanted him to do upon the first greeting on a Soirée! Oh my Rique! Save me! This is too much!”

“What in Rique do I say then?” asked Ye Chong.

“Say anything! Like a simple ‘hello, Ms. Shang. Nice weather tonight isn’t it?” Or an expressive ‘Ms. Shang you look gorgeous tonight.’ There’s nothing you can’t say, except for something like that Mu’s signature ‘what do you want from me?’!”

“Nonsense. Aren’t those gibberish?” muttered Ye Chong.

“This is a place for people to spit gibberish!” accurately Shang concluded.

Even for an adaptive lady like Shang Xin was shut down for a moment by that striking line she heard for the first time of her life on a Soirée from Ye Chong. She was muted. The atmosphere got awkward. Ye Chong feared delivering a critical blow without notice again, so he shut up completely. The silence lasted till that young man came to break the stunning spell, “I heard from Sister Xi that you were actually able to snipe an enemy 60 meters away with a dagger. This is seriously amazing to me!” A charming smile he lobbed as he spoke.

“Oh! This is Shang Ling!” Shang Xi introduced hastily, “He had heard of your stories and became really determined of seeing you to express his admiration.”

“Oh, thank you. But that was mere luck,” another flat response from Ye Chong. Frankly speaking, that blow was indeed with a little factor of luck. He was not confident to say that he would be able to produce the same satisfying result as before.

Hmm?

Shang Ling drew a lifting curve on his face, “You can’t gamble if you don’t have the strength to begin with! Mr. Wang, stop being so humble! You deserve it!” Somehow there was some underlying meaning heard from his words.

“Mr. Shang you don’t have to butter me up…” Ye Chong’s expression remained as indifferent.

Shrugged the young man gracefully, “It’ll be an enjoyable experience if I was ever able to have a competition with Mr. Wang! I’m sure!” A brief second later, somehow he sensed his misconduct, he ceased the conversation, “Joking! Joking! I was just joking! How could I ever be even your opponent? Mr. Wang. Although I wonder if Mr. Wang has an interest in piloting mechs…”

“Just normal,” alarmed Ye Chong inside as he simply worded his response.

“I seriously would love to witness Mr. Wang’s technique in piloting the mechs.” The eyes of Shang Ling was of expectation, strong expectation.

“I see,” Ye Chong gave a random response. Why the heck did he suddenly mention about mech-piloting? Does he know something? Does his offer mean something else? Ye Chong decided to not send off responses on a whim, considering how he barely knew the capability of the man.

As conveyed Ye Chong’s interest on the conversation, both Shang Ling and Shang Xin excused themselves. They waltzed to the other guests instead.

Ye Chong decided to stay at one corner and sipped the wine in his glass. He refused to head back to the center of the hall in spite of Shang’s nag.

“Ling, how do you find the guy?” asked Shang Xin as she walked by Shang Ling’s side.

“It’s a strange yet interesting guy. Very cold too.,” he seemed intrigued.

“Right. He’s really strange and seemed to be completely unaware of the mannerism of society. Although my uncle did mention about that to me, he saw Wang Xing using some weird double knife ceremony during the course randomly. It was very briefly done however. My uncle was suspecting if Wang Xing is actually a nobleman of some kind,” added Shang Xi. “I seriously do not buy his suspect nevertheless, he doesn’t look like a nobleman at all. But assuming if he did receive education of nobility before, what’s up with all these camouflages he’d been putting up then?” Shang Xin’s expression was filled with perplexity.

“D-Double Knife Ceremony?” shocked Shang Ling.

“Ling, you know this double knife trick too?” asked Shang Xi in curiosity.

“Yes. The Double Knife Ceremony is a primeval table mannerism which only was handed down among the nobility of the upperclass, yes, the nobility of the nobilities. Different from the modern table mannerism we do today, they wield two knifes at once. It is very challenging to dine like this because you could not wield them by your will and you could easily hurt your mouth without being properly trained on this, which was also why we eventually use fork and knife instead. One who is able to perform the Double Knife Ceremony is very likely to be the descendant of the nobility, especially when it is also an extremely rare sight to see one who wields such way in the aristocrat or families of the wealth today,” explained Shang Ling in detail.

“Judging by what you’ve mentioned, he should have received very superior education. Then why was he acting such gracelessly? Is it an act? What’s the purpose then?” Shang Xin began pondering.

“Well, seems like we had gotten into a very interesting person.” The excitement grew on Shang Ling’s face, as peculiar glows flashed in his eyes.

…

Ye Chong sipped the wine in his hand mechanically in repetition. The alcohol by volume of this red wine was exceptionally low. It tasted slightly sweet, like some sort of fruit juice. It was the first time he tasted red wine, so it left him a good impression on the taste. Nonetheless, the imagery of Lunatic Guan being drunk and claiming that she was all conscious and sound came haunting him, reminding him to never turn into that uncontrollable sight.

Ye Chong at the corner alone was not feeling lonely at all, as he chatted with Shang on and off.

The music had changed into a dance before he noticed it. Out of the blue, people gathered at the empty ground in the middle. And they tended to enter in pairs – one man and one woman – fluttering into the crowd as they grooved along the tune.

Ye Chong seemed a little interested at first, but it did not take long before he started yawning at the slow and hypnotizing music to his ears.

Of course, Shang had to take a part of the credits to that. He did not stop the paradigm transformation inside Ye Chong’s head since the beginning. Anyone could inevitably be murdered by the information overload, the jargon bombardments by an artificial indulgence.

“Ye, you must learn how to get the indulgence of your life!” stated the A.I. “The world is still relatively at peace and harmony! It’s not all about killing-and-surviving!” Halted Shang abruptly as he realized his ongoing lecture did not seem to match Ye Chong’s experience, so he discarded his peace ideology and went on with something else, “I mean, combats undeniably shared an importance of you. But having life is equally important! If there was no fun in life, you are no different from a killing machine! Ye, I knew the enjoyment of life well enough despite being an artificial intelligence, what about you…”

Why Shang stopped?

Ye Chong knew the answer well, if there was nothing unexpected happening, he would not stop his thesis anytime soon.

“Would you like a dance with me?” A voice of a girl came shyly into his ears.

Ye Chong lifted his head. It was a girl in a faint beige one-piece. Her long hair stranded over her shoulders as her head lowered in some degree of shyness. Her hands crossed in front of her body and through his sharp eyes Ye Chong could discern her hands twiddling the dress of hers.

“Are you talking to me?” said Ye Chong as he took a look around.

“Mhm,” reddened the face of the girl, tomato-red it was, “C-Could you dance with me?” muttered her.

“Holy Matrimony! Such a beauty! So naive, yet so charming! Ye, say yes. Go! Go! Go! Say the Y-word! You insensitive boy! How could you be so fortunate! You always get the nice girls! Holy Molly! This is too unreasonable! Boy you are sure lucky! Hahahahaha! You actually bumped into a beauty within the first 3 hours here!” Shang’s excitement roared within his head.

I knew it… Sobbed Ye Chong. Shang always managed to lose control of himself whenever he saw a female, especially if the female turned out to be the so-called beauty by his standards. He would go malfunctioned, short-circuit. Well at least that was what Ye Chong saw.

“Why must I dance with her?” asked Ye Chong in a laid-back tone. Listening to Shang’s lecture was a torture, but then, crashing down Shang’s lecture would be a joy instead.

“Ye, you inhuman ignorant bull! You beast! There’s a pure-looking lady came inviting you for a dance after mustering her whole night of courage and you ask me why you must? I-Is this even a question coming from a man?” scolded Shang madly.

The girl lifted her head too as she saw no response from the man before her.

That was when Ye Chong had a better look on her face. The skin was fair as the snow, fragile yet tickling, the face of hers depicted some naivety of her character, the tiny nose of hers, the pouted lips of hers, that one-piece with laces at the edge of hers, an exact setting of a princess in fairytales… Gorgeous.

The big expressive eyes of hers stared at Ye Chong carefully. The eyes of avoidant somehow expressed bit of expectation, which reminded Ye Chong of Nan Nan he had not seen in the past few months for some reason.

He remembered how Nan Nan also came approaching him with a fearful eyes, being all cautious and frightened. Her eyes and her expression, they looked very identical! Ye Chong’s mind wandered off…

“Ye! What in the Rique you are waiting for! Say yes! Hurry up!” rushed Shang in his head. The tone sounded as if he was going to do the dance for Ye Chong instead.

“But Shang, you obviously know I don’t know how to dance!” Ye Chong disapproved it.

“Heh!” Shang actually pinpointed the shaking will in between the lines, “No problem, Ye, I have a plan!” He carried on convincing the robotic boy to do a dance.

“You sure?” Ye Chong was skeptical about it.

“Heh! Sure! No worries!” guaranteed Shang, even though the laugh he made afterwards felt sort of proud.

Chapter 178: Sway, Swirl and Sensation

ai Linan was wandering in the hall. He would greet with a nod at anybody coming to him, be the person an acquaintance or a total stranger. He would even have a brief conversation with them. He would say he did not waste the time he spent with his boss, as he got very familiar with such lifestyle and understood deep down inside the meaning behind each gesture at a ballroom.

His sight drifted through the crowd as he was identifying the potential guest worthy for interaction. If he lacked such skill, the efficiency of his effort would be halved. He had been taking all sorts of jobs way before his ballroom career. Being extra cautious had always been his personality, or chances were he might never be able to stand out among the pirates that well and survive till now.

The music rolled on as people scurried to find a partner to dance with so that they could join the dancing crew at the center.

The guests flashed quickly before Bai Linan, which made him wondered if he should get into dancing as well.

Let’s see…

?

!

Bai Linan zoned out suddenly. His willow expression went hollow. It was somehow strange as he stared on for the next few seconds. He then rubbed his eyes in strong disbelief. Am I seeing things?

Oh my Robert Sir… What had happened? T-This is too creepy… What sorcery is this?

Bai Linan could conclude that he had never been into such witchcraft before in his entire life, for he actually witnessed Ye Chong leading a lady into a dance! Honestly, it would be less shocking for him to witness a mutated gorilla grabbing a lady and having a Samba at the center with spotlight on. Dancing was nothing amazing, especially when he was an expert himself. Dancing with a woman was absolutely child’s play, of course he would not do a dance with a man to impress anyone as much as Ye Chong did. These premises were so normal, till they were applied on Ye Chong. Creepy! Creepy indeed! The creepiness was unable to be worded!

Did a big bang just occur? Or was there a super nova he was unaware of?

Ye Chong had his hand holding the tender, smooth hand of this unknown lady, which he would have to put a majority of his attention on, since he feared the God-given hand (as stated by Shang) snapping and shattering into a paste of screamer if he would apply slight strength on the grip. Furthermore he was not used to holding people’s hands, there were literally a few instances where he nearly tossed the girl he was holding like a sandbag subconsciously. Fortunately, miraculously he was quick in reaction, as he ceased his muscle movement swiftly… or the music might stop, people might shriek and the center might get evacuated.

“Ye, c’mon, relax a little. Just listen to my instruction. Heh! First, your body must be flexible, not brittle!” Shang’s tone grew prouder somehow.

“Shang, I just hope that your ‘instruction’ would not get any messier! And please don’t ask me to do some weird screwed up stuffs!” The last line of Ye Chong came out quite like a warning.

“Heh! No worries,” the devilish sneer gave Ye Chong a shudder. But well, since Ye Chong had already made his first step onto the dance floor, guess he could only make his following steps.

The sole relief to Ye Chong’s situation was this scaredy cat lady acting more nervous than he himself. Ye Chong could even hear her throbbing heart and feel the quivering hand in his grip. For Ye Chong himself, he did not see the point of being nervous at this, since he did not care whatever that could happen on the dance floor. If anything would go wrong, he believed no one could stop him once he hopped into the Guardian. The one, single fear was… probably Shang, who liked to play with fire and he played with it too much! But it seemed more like his usual style… and unavoidable.

Ye Chong was not the foolish kind. He fully observed that one pair of guest already dancing at the center in one glance. The posture of the gent and the placement of his hand over his partner’s body, he mimicked them all, flawlessly.

“Keep your top still, look after the direction of your feet, yes, do it slow. Left feet, radius vector : 6 degree, 40 centimeters away!” Hurrahed the devil.

Ye Chong accurately landed his step at the location stated by Shang.

“Now, right leg of yours, radius vector: 42 degree, 40 centimeters away too!”

Ye Chong again, accurately trod according to the coordinate.

“Great. Now, also your right leg, radius vector: 72 degree, 50 centimeters away this time!”

Ye Chong did as he was exactly told.

…

“Relax, muscle relax. Your action must not be awkward. Be with the music. When you shift your direction, you exert a little force to your female counterpart. How was it? Not hard as you’ve assumed, isn’t it?” The devil sounded more thrilled than before.

The sweat of his back had already wetted every single corner of the shirt, since he was literally performing every instruction given by Shang via the control over his muscle. It was torturing! He had invested all his focus on controlling his body, he did not have the grace to take a look at the stare coming from the lady.

“Doronath Step this is called. It’s a dance step of middle difficulty, which fits perfectly to the music right now. Isn’t it interesting?”

Ye Chong after regaining his inertia could not help but to spit, “Doronath step? You call this a step? This is terrible and lack practical purposes! It’s nothing compared to the T-step, the Curved Step and the Cross Step! This is silly!” Those steps Ye Chong mentioned were steps frequently used in combats.

The devil’s eyes rolled like a slot machine. He almost passed out from Ye Chong’s comment. The vein bloated on his head after stabilizing his fall, “Y-You combat maniac!”

Meanwhile Shang Ling who had been all gentle and kind, greeting the guest around, froze his smile entirely the moment he turned.

“Sister, have you heard of things like your young sister Lan dancing with an actual man?” His whisper trailed off. “Yes what?” she nodded her head, Shang Xin did not turn to check it out, “No way.” A conclusion of absolution from her, “How could that ever happen? I was the one who taught her dancing. Other than being under me and my sister’s lead, no way she would know how to dance with others,” her judgement sounded highly confident. She was utterly sure.

“I think I’m seeing things,” mumbled Shang Ling.

“Yikes! Things you’ve been thinking of. My sister would touch nothing else other than the corner of the room.” She turned her head to Shang Ling, who was staring at one specific direction in blank dismay.

“What again?” Shang Xin was confused as she looked at Shang Ling’s direction. In almost a second, Shang Xin’s eyes enlarged like saucers, as her face froze along.

“W-Was this an illusion?” Shang Ling was wondering if he was daydreaming.

“Yes. It is. It has to be!” Shang Xin was definitely daydreaming.

They looked at each other as they had come into agreement, shouting simultaneously, “It’s an illusion!”

Seeing that bright smile of Shang Lan, both of the bystanders could hardly believe the fact that the shrinking violet Younger Sister Lan was the girl dancing joyfully with a man on the dance floor.

“What enchantment of this Wang Xing?” Shang Ling was very intrigued of the working behind this.

“What intention of this Wang Xing?” This was what Shang Xin truly cared.

Of course, Ye Chong was unaware of these comments at all. He remained attentive at Shang’s instruction as he treated the whole session as a kind of body reaction training instead.

Shang Lan looked into the eyes of this man with a frozen heart before him. Her lips shaking, as they were lifted into jolly curves. Back on the dining table she had noticed such an extraordinary man who would chomp throughout his course. She was amused by it for she had never seen a grown man eating in such a manner, he must be an interesting kind! If she could have ever tried it once… sadly the education she had been receiving was against it. He then spent the night of soirée all alone at the corner, not talking to anybody – just like how she had always been. Somehow, an urge to invite him for a dance seized her mind. She was actually body-and-soul ready for a rejection from this cold man. He was too cold, freezing cold, that he even disregarded the greetings from Sister Xin and Brother Ling occasionally. He seemed totally unapproachable! B-But! I did not expect him to accept my offer right after a moment of silence!

Their faces were very close to each other, that she could discern every single detail of his face. The indifference of his, the dignity in him and those marks after struggles of survivals… His expression was all solemn and stern by then, which looked like… the face of Brother Ling when he piloted his mech.

You could get this serious when dancing? Such an odd man!

She realized how the man had never noticed her observation, her heart raced as her eyes went larger in caution… uncontrollably, the hint of smile tinted her face.

Shang Zhangming who had long perceived the strange behavior of his daughter after the kind reminder of his servants, had his eyes wet and filled with strong protectiveness as his body shuddered seeing the expression of her daughter while dancing.

And that was when Mr. Robert got enraged witnessing Ye Chong, the boy he had been attentive of, being with the daughter of Shang Zhangming. What a cunning merchant! For he actually could use her daughter to seduce my Wang Xing! Such charisma! Not! His blood boiled but with admiration.

“Well, Ye. Time for your last pose. When I said ‘go’, you toss her out. And you let go of your hand immediately once you tossed her out. Wait her to make a flip in the air. She would reach her hands for you when she is landing. You grab her hand and get her in your embrace. She would fall naturally into it, don’t worry. You just lift her waist with your right hand. And remember! Do it gently! You are not kneading noodles! Don’t exert brute force on a lady!” Shang simply did not want a romance to turn into a horror of a lass being torn apart by a monster called Ye Chong, considering the horrifying strength of his.

“Ok,” responded Ye Chong. Phew, finally, it’s ending. It felt more tiring than marble training.

“Go!” boomed Shang.

Ye Chong was ready for it! His left arm shook, from shoulder to the arm to the elbow to the wrist, like a wave rolling from the sea to the shore!

Shang Lan could feel a potent yet gentle force pushing her upwards. She was lifted into the air as her hand felt a loss in weight. A never-before-felt excitement stimulated her soul. She was all exhilarated as she heard the sound her dress made as the inflowing air breathing through her. It felt refreshing!

The split second she was landing, she reached out her fair slender arms. Before she could ponder of how to land, an arm grabbed her and a whirlwind dragged her down. Soon her nose was poked with a scent of masculinity. She knew, she knew! She had melted into the embrace of this man.

At that moment, a breath of soul raided the neck of the naive girl.

The last move was an unblemished record to Ye Chong’s dancing, even Shang could not get a flaw to criticize with, though it had certainly frightened the spirit out of the Shangs. They feared to see the doll to fall into a million pieces. If that were to happen, Wang Xing this damned man must be thrown into a shredder!

The current posture between two of them was rather suggestive. Shang Lan collapsed in his embrace, with the right hand holding her waist. Her face was only 2 to 3 centimeters away from… from…

Shang Lan’s brain was partially jammed.

Ye Chong had his eyes fixed on the lady in his embrace. That creamy neck of hers, that rolling eyes of hers in lingering stimulation, bewitching… he could feel a kind of heat rumbling in his stomach… The white garb, the smooth skin flashed in his head… The fist, of utter force… The girl he was holding somehow was emanating the identical, peculiar scent from the girl he had been with before…

For some reason, he lowered his head intuitively as he gently gave a lick on her neck!

Chapter 179: Undercurrent I

hen Ye Chong got back to his room he could already feel his bones crumbling, as he had been applying full force over his body muscles to perform that freaking Doronath Step instructed by Shang the love tutor. The main issue of the performance was to inhibit the force of his hand. Shang demanded gentleness and elegance in every movement he made, which put him under obligation to remind himself to not exert his inhuman strength from time to time. And that was literally new to him. To top all that, Shang just had to repetitively nag in his head to retain the flexibility of his body in the postures. It took countless of times with the artificial indulgence’s harassment before Ye Chong acquired the sense of flexibility in his body, which was exactly the split second of relaxation of his muscle right before he sprang into action every time. Well that was undeniably a torment to Ye Chong, as maintaining the posture of anticipation was bringing an overwhelming amount of burden to his body and mind, which unavoidably boiled down as the main cause to his fatigue at the moment.

Regarding to that final blow he delivered… Ye Chong had yet gotten any idea what the heck happened in his head that time. He did not foresee what the lick of his would have caused which led to an uncontrollable development of his story.

The two major spectators of the entire show in the dark, in their finest suit and dress, had their faces dramatically bloomed into something unrecognizable. Too bad Ye Chong missed their epic reaction, as he only heard the sound of glasses shattering upon falling onto the ground, which shocked Ye Chong awake from the strange condition of his after that lick. He was surprised of seeing himself acting so, as he quickly retreated his hands upon seeing the reddish face of the lady in his embrace. Shang Lan had lost control of her body by then. However, as she could not stand properly with the sloppy feet of hers, she fell into the embrace of Ye Chong again. The man in confusion could only helplessly reach his hands out to hold the poor lady once more.

Right when Ye Chong was figuring an appropriate solution for this mishap of his day, Shang Xin and Shang Ling were already racing towards him. Shang Xin lifted the melted sister of hers and fired a glare at Ye Chong, while Shang Ling… he was giving a very strange gaze at Ye Chong for some reason. As usual, Ye Chong wasn’t concern about the thoughts of others, as he expressed ignorance. The arrival of the two spectators resolved his issue of carrying this melted girl perfectly. The girl as lifted by her sister, gave a quick glance at Ye Chong before she left. Her watery eyes flowed a sign which Ye Chong could not comprehend. It was the first time he saw it, was it anger? Or was it something else?

Well. No use crying over spilled milk. What happens, happens. Ye Chong was too lazy to give more thoughts to the accident. But it was weird, somehow, that white garb flashed in his head during the dance… Ye Chong laughed bitterly.

The artificial indulgence had gone full rampage with his laughter ever since that historical lick Ye Chong made on the girl.

“Shang, why could I not resist doing that back then?” Ye Chong could not understand the working of this back when he was shocked awake.

“Mhm, biologically speaking, it is a kind of intuition. A kind of built-in ability.” Shang sounded serious when he spoke… for the first 2 seconds, “Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!” And he burst out laughing once more, “Ye, you are too strong! You are a potent beast! Yes you are! The intuition of the beast! The definition of nature! Hahahahahahahahahaha!” Shang’s mechanical laughter roared in his head.

Towards this artificial indulgence, despite the annoyance, Ye Chong could do nothing about him. The saving grace to his misfortune was that Shang’s personal 3 hours ended pretty soon after. Mu’s silence of rationality sent Ye Chong to a peaceful sleep quickly afterwards.

Oh hell he knows… that the outside had gone hectic, chaotic.

“Have you found anything on Wang Xing?” Shang Zhangming’s face was of a fearsome black hole, as his voice rumbled profoundly, since he was also one of the witnesses to one of the best moments in the history of humankind. He could reminisce how his head had blanked out completely, his thoughts jammed into BSOD. He was sentimental thinking of how his younger daughter was behaving lonesome during the days before. It was heart-wrenching to see the blossom all alone at the corner. Still! The moment he recalled the night that jerk Wang Xing who actually was daring enough to do such a preposterous action over his precious Lan in public. Oh the temper erupted in his mind. “What the hell all of you are waiting for? Get to work!” Under his rage, the homicide could be smelled even under each word of his lines. His subordinates were threatened, trembling and acted cautiously with their work, as they feared of becoming one of the scapegoats to the incident.

“Y-yes, we got it sir. Wang Xing, 21, a native from planet Fedar. Parents were both deceased. No relative was found. Other information, unknown; examination, qualification of any level, any kind, negative!” The man reported in carefully.

“You took this long and this was all you could get?” Knotting his brows, looking slightly unsatisfied.

“As apparently this man is not in list of Mr. Robert’s men and this information was obtained from the investigation under the demand of Ms. Shang Xin. We have just started it. Also, we were informed that only the butler of Mr. Robert, Bai Linan was aware of Wang Xing’s background. Even Mr. Robert himself was unaware of the identity. Wang Xing got Ms. Shang Xin’s attention on his prompt rescue during the raid at Mr. Robert. In addition, it seemed like he wields great skills,” the man sounded fearful, but his words remained concise and clear.

“Mhm.” Shang Zhangming’s tone sounded less threatening, as he understood how difficult the investigation was for his men, “Alright. All of you can excuse yourself. You have done well. But I would like all of you to keep an eye on this Wang Xing.”

“Yes sir!” The man nodded his head immediately. He was supposed to leave yet his steps moved with hesitation. “What else?” Shang Zhangming understood the gesture, it was a sign that his men had something else to report, frowning, he asked.

“Reporting in. It is a piece of information we obtained from the virtual world,” courteously the man started reporting. “The man whose I.D. was known as ‘YC’ had suddenly reappeared in the virtual world. And he was actually at the NR Training base on planet Rique. And according to the confirmation of our mavericks, this YC should be residing right on our planet. Well, sir, since you had ordered us to watch on this person, so…” The voice of the man sounded shaky.

And that was when Shang Zhangming remembered the fact that he did ask his men to follow up on this YC guy… that was something centuries ago however. “I see. I remembered it. Just keep watching.” He tried to not sound irritated, since those were his trustworthy men, though he was literally suffocated by his daughter’s misfortune, wondering how in the Rique he would have the mood to take care of this random player online.

The reemergence of YC the legend had once again brought up a storm in the virtual world.

Ye Chong was too focused on his training, that he again did not realize how the base on Rique also contained an automatic full-recording system, which he did not opt-out before logging in. Hence, every frame of his performance was recorded wholly. Even though Mu had already launched the anti-detection program on the merchants around, he did not take any further action, since the merchants did not impose actual threat on Ye Chong.

There would be tons of void hologram visuals from the NR training base daily. Void as in, uninteresting, random and trivial. There would be workers specially selecting the masterpieces hidden within the trash, considering the chances of discovering visuals of some real deals in training. The visuals and the analyzed information on it would be most valuable to everybody else.

At the first second when the worker spotted the I.D. on the screen being YC, he knew he had hit the jackpot of the day.

As expected from YC, even his training course was a total shocker, for he actually thought of using the avoidable training room to master his stance and offenses. The worker was stupefied seeing the scene produced on the last training session of YC of the day.

He uploaded the visual to the public right away and had landed a bomb to the netizens in the virtual world.

Ye Chong might not be considered as the founder of mech close-combats, but he was certainly related to the rise of close-combats in the virtual world. Watching YC’s visuals was known as a must-do to every mech combat enthusiast, especially when the techniques used inside could be deemed as the textbook for mech combats. One could almost be certain to state that, the reputation possessed by this YC guy was much greater than those ridiculous top ranked fighters in the virtual world. The sudden disappearance of YC two years before had always been a major mystery in the heart of the people.

The last match he had was against Invincible Firepower. Even though he lost the last match, people benefited from his experience as they absorbed the various techniques he used against ranged attackers.

Quitting because of losing? That came first as a speculation in the mind of most people, though it was debunked by some fans, taking into account that it was not the YC’s first losing match. He did not simply look like a coward who would retire because of losing.

There were a variety of versions for the ending of this legend, regarding on the hows and whys of his abrupt retirement. None of them was convincing to the people though, which eventually gave him a stronger vibe of mystery. And because of such vibe of mystery, YC became more charming to the people as he ascended to become the idol of many youngsters out there.

Majestic! A majestic performance it was absolutely! The majestic yet mysterious YC came in a flash, with visuals of his training open to the public and immediately was chased upon in madness. The streaming signal within Rique was about to be permanently interrupted by this immense amount of population surging the transmitter. Phew, what a horror to the department of signal transmitting maintenance.

Amazement! The lingering sensation of every viewer of the visual! The scenic sequence coming up like a dream had transformed into an unforgettable memory inside almost all witnesses.

The white veil shrouded like the silhouette of a phantom, with the photospheres conglomerating from all angles slowly to quickly, forming few times of slashes of white beams imprinting the corneas of the audience, as they were smashed upon the veil, shattering into countless specks of beam scattered all over the place.

People were astounded. YC had once again given every believer a taste of miracle after being cloistered away for 2 years.

Quite a number of pilots who held great confidence in their skills rushed upon the NR training base, as they inputted the exact room number, with the exact setting. They were confident, but none of them lasted more than 3 minutes inside. The strength of YC had been justified to the people, including the skeptical witnesses. And there was one, wow, YC lasted 5 minutes in this room of terror? What a quick response he gave. Spectacular! Anyone who had tried the training room with their own bodies could understand by heart. When the timer hit the 3rd minute, the velocity of the photosphere and the number of them would be increased tremendously. So far only YC was able to surpass the cursed 3rd minute mark as proven by his visual.

YC and his new unique trading course had become the hottest topic on the network for some time.

Ugh! Looked at the paused timer at 3:59, the man sighed. He had tried his very best. It was depressing as he was also using a Polysky, but he just could not make it past the 4th minute mark. He seriously could not imagine how there would be one man who could last 5 minute in this room. If it was not the visual he would never buy that statement. Pathetically he had witnessed the miracle and his experience had verified the validity of the visual.

The name of YC, he had perceived it before. The visuals of YC, he had watched some of them before. Yes, a few moments of YC was an eye-opener, but YC was still weaker, considerably. He was positive to state that YC in the past might be identified as an expert in combat between mechs by the public, but never YC was once in his eyes. Nonetheless, the current standard of YC’s skills were shocking to him. With his sight, naturally he would never be mesmerized by the majestic performance of YC like the others, what mattered to him was the extraordinary reaction speed, that exceptionally firm fundamentality as well as the skillfulness in combats of his expressed in this show.

He could say that, compared to YC two years before, it was of a total different tangent.

Never expected this YC guy could accelerate to such standard after hiding for 2 years.

Interesting. He smiled. Even though he failed to hit the 5th minute mark in the room, he was not disappointed at all. Everyone has their own perks. He understood such principle of life way back. Reaction speed was never his perk, although the principle did not reduce his amazement over YC, since even No. A-6 whose reaction speed was known to be the highest was having issues to remain in the room past the 5th minute.

Nevertheless, Black Coves shall always be the strongest in combats. That was the very essence of mech combating. And he was the arsenal of the Black Coves, he would fear no one! This was his faith, his most potent faith. Being a man in pride absolutely had something in hand to be in pride of.

If I was ever able to fight with this YC guy, it has got to be an interesting chore to do. His interest towards YC grew.

The spread of news went outrageously rapid around the people. Soon, everybody else from outer space knew it, that there was this recording from Rique of YC’s performance at the training base. No actual geographical boundary existed in the vast virtual world, even though signal would inevitably suffer from loss over long distance transmission disregarding the type or the power of it. So a highly demanded virtual facility like the NR training base would be set up on every planet. Thus, the netizens’ habit of lingering at their own training base, instead of checking out on others, since obviously the delay would be much lesser.

Despite all that, innumerable amount of people flooded the NR training base, with the hope of encountering the legendary YC in person. The NR training base for the pilots was crowded for the following days, as people including his worshippers, the challengers and spectators, grabbed that one in a million chance of seeing YC. One could easily find a thread talking about this mysterious YC on the network daily. The different analysis based on his latest visual were especially massive of them.

…

Zzzz

And that was when Ye Chong, who had already submerged into his slumber out of the fatigue from grooves, was literally unaware of anything that happened outside.

Chapter 180: Undercurrent II

eople were everywhere inside the training base. Sadly there were hardly any of them in the actual training room. Countless pillars stood at the lobby of the NR training base, with countless people surrounding them. Everyone left and returned, as they tapped to activate the partially transparent interface again and again. A swift glance over the list and disappointment stormed upon their faces.

…

“Excuse me, De Gong, if it was not for your harmless act of submitting the visual of that ludicrous YC guy online, we wouldn’t have to suffer like this now,” ranted one of the members of the maintenance department at the NR training base.

The staff whose name was addressed as De Gong laughed bitterly as he replied, “How would I think this much ahead? I got so hyped up that I just clicked the “submit” button on a whim. I seriously did not reckon these maniacs going this mad, riding their spaceships and traveling all the way here! If I would have foreseen such insanity, I would have clicked to cancel. Just to save the trouble for us.” Well, that was what he said, though his expression contained a dash of honor.

“Sigh, that aside, what on Rique do you think these people were doing?” inquired another member from the side.

“I know right! No one would know who the heck that YC guy truly is as long as he stayed quiet about it!” agreed one of the members to that statement.

In the virtual world, the appearance of the character would have about 80 to 90% similarity to the actual person in reality by default. That was not applicable however, since people could always modify their appearance after logging into the virtual world. So the definite appearance of the person online holds no direct relation to the appearance offline. As the staff had mentioned, it would be indeed a difficulty to determine one’s identity online.

That was why the conversation happened.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk!” De Gong snatched the spotlight as he spoke, “Both of you are quite new here I supposed. Of course you wouldn’t know this place well enough! Heh! Regarding your issue of identification, our center, this very base, has its own perks you know,” the answer came off flaunting.

“Oh really?”

“How?” both of them hurriedly asked.

“Hehe, well, all users must have a name registered at the MPA before using the NR facilities, like ‘YC’ for instance. Hell knows what his real name is, but as long as he is in the facility, he would be known as ‘YC’. As you are aware of, every NR training base is interconnected with MPA. To even own the rights to use the NR facilities, one must have their names registered,” while jiggling his head, he said playfully.

“That was why we could not tell who he really is!” one staff replied.

“Yeah, it’s not like there would be a nameplate written ‘YC’ floating on top of his head,” added the other staff.

“Well, looks like both of you aren’t aware of it. If this YC guy logged in and only took a stroll at the facility, no one would recognize him, even if he spent a week loitering at the lobby. The catch is, the moment he picked a room and accessed it, disregarding what training he was going to participate, he would be exposed! Anyone who have spent long enough at the training base would know, that very second you made your entry, you would be found on the terminal at the lobby. This is why all of you have never heard of people impersonating this YC, since no matter how hard the person claimed to be YC, his or her identity would be uncovered when the access was done, which justified the crowd at the lobby all day long. Didn’t you see them refreshing the data on the terminal constantly? Yes, they are trying to find YC out using such a way,” De Gong explained patiently.

“Well, aren’t they stupid? For they are blind-waiting.”

“If you say so, so be it. They are blind-waiting, they only wanted to test out their luck,” shrugged De Gong as he spoke.

…

The moment when Ye Chong woke up was the morning after that. He had already recovered from the fatigue last night after a whole night of sufficient sleep. The unaware boy never expected the chaos occurring at the Shang family currently after that historical lick he committed last night.

The family meeting among the Shangs ended at 3 o’ clock… in the morning! And the attendants were none other than Shang Zhangming and his wife, Shang Ling and Shang Xin. For Shang Lan, she did not participate the meeting this time for some reason.

That knotted brows of Shang Zhangming had hardly loosened since then. He glanced upon his wife, “Xin, how do you see this Wang Xing?”

His wife was in her fifties, a well-maintained fifties specifically, as she looked like in her thirties – poised, grand and amiable – which gave off a friendly vibes to people around. They were a loving husband-and-wife.

“What’s the worry, my Ming?” chuckled the lady.

Shang Zhangming forced a smile, “The happening tonight is terrible. I no longer know how to deal with it!” Shang Zhangming had always been pampering his youngest daughter, Shang Lan. Regretfully, Shang Lan had always been extremely introverted. Other than the brothers and sisters in her family, she had barely interacted with the outside world. The two heads of the family were wondering if she had psychological disorder of some kind at the beginning, they had sought consultations from numerous psychologists. She had undergone various treatments, counseling sessions… none of them worked. Shang Lan remained her withdrawn self, which explained how the entire family spoiled this little princess a lot.

Shang Zhangming’s descendants, there were 5 of them. The eldest son died after contracting a strange disease at the age of 1. The second eldest being his daughter, Shang Yue; the third being Shang Xin, the fourth would be his son, Shang Ling. And Shang Lan was clearly the youngest among them.

Shang Zhangming was rather satisfied of his children. Shang Yue was calm and resourceful, wise and capable; Shang Xin was strong and dignified, tenacious the whole time; Shang Ling was talented, a gentleman of nobility with a sensitive mind; Shang Lan, however… was the most of his worry. She often was in a stance of melancholy, a heart-wrenching sight to behold.

“Apparently, Sister Lan was the one who initiated the dance.” It took a moment of hesitation of Shang Xin to spit out the truth.

“Oh? Lan, my daughter actually invited someone else for a dance?” the lady of the family was shocked, while her husband was in utter disbelief the first time he heard the news. Throughout the aftermath, he had been assuming that Wang Xing was the wolf who proactively spoke to his daughter, which gave off a dubious vibe of his motive to Shang Zhangming… but then if it was initiated by his daughter, the whole dance should not be part of some diabolical master plan.

Still… Lan my beloved invited someone for a dance… and it’s a man? A man she never came across before in her entire life? Shang Zhangming could feel his nerves getting a short-circuit.

“I had seen that Wang Xing before during our course. What a way he ate…,” spoke his wife, in bit of interests. Both Shang Ling and Shang Xin put up a grin upon hearing their mother said so. Shang Zhangming was having an awkward expression at the side.

“Wang Xing’s appearance, I must say, is merely average. I have no idea which part of his attracted my Lan…,” his wife sounded curious as she spoke.

“Me neither. Supposedly our daughter should have never met the man before… but why this now…?” Shang Zhangming could not get it despite all these while he had been thinking.

“Background of this man… may I ask?” His wife shifted her focus to Shang Xin, as her eyes expressed inquiries. Shang Xin was technically in charge of the security and information management in the family.

“It’s unknown they say!” Shang Zhangming seized the mic, “I had asked our men. They only managed to find out the fact that he’s from Fedar, Fal. The odd thing about this man is he did not have any record of assessment on his skills. No other information was found other than these.”

“Impossible!” Shang Xin was not convinced. She and her brother Shang Ling were busy dragging their younger sister Shang Lan back to her room right after the event. The mistress of the family rushed to the place and began inquiring them. So they never had the chance to check out details about this Wang Xing.

“Why? What’s the matter?” hurried the mistress.

“Wang Xing is exceptionally skillful in combats. How could there not be records of any form of assessment before?” Shang Xin could still reminisced that epic toss by Wang Xing. Conquering a distance of 68 meters by a simple throw of dagger while retaining the strength and accuracy, a man capable of this had no record of assessment? The society was well-facilitated with assessments suitable for all sorts of expertise from all walks of life, which was the essential requirement for any occupation in the market. And an oddity like Wang Xing who lacked record of assessments would be a creepy sight frankly…

“Not a problem.” Shang Zhangming did not find it as weird, “A lot of the descendants of aristocrats hadn’t ever taken part in those assessments. Even families that lasted ages would not be surprising to have such a tradition. It’s just that you had not seen enough, my daughter,” he waved his hands as he stated.

“Ah.” Shang Ling somehow recalled something of that night, “Assuming that he is truly a descendant of the aristocrats… or even someone from an ancient family, it is actually not far-fetched. I have seen him using the Double Knife Ceremony back on that night during the course. Such ceremony is only used among some of the truly ancient families,” stated his judgement.

Shang Zhangming turned his head to Shang Xin, “Ask the men to inquire about the aristocrats on Fedar, Fal, including families which had existed a long time ago, especially those with the surname Wang.” He literally never thought of the possibility that Wang Xing could have been a result of modification of personal information…

Shang Xin responded with a nod, keeping that in her mind.

“Excuse me…” A key question suddenly came into the mistress’s mind, “Have any of you asked Lan her thoughts on this?”

Shang Xin and Shang Ling looked at each other, they expressed peculiarity towards the question. It took them a while before Shang Xin decided to reply, “After that jerk Wang Xing kissed Sister Lan, she collapsed in his hold! We were so afraid that this terrible beast would do something more outrageous on our sister so we rushed to the scene and grabbed her away. On the way back to her room, she did not say a word.” Since they were farther away from the scene, the licking of Ye Chong looked more like kissing.

“What was her expression?” asked the mother in panic.

“Hmm…” Both of them pondered a little, Shang Ling was trying to put his thoughts into words, “It seemed like… she was not really angry…?” He turned his face to Shang Xin, awaiting confirmation from his sister. “Mhm…” Shang Xin tried recalling it as well, showing approval, “Sister Lan did not look really angry in fact…”

“Hmph!” Her father seemed angry though, as his face tightened. Anyone could tell how exceedingly angry the man could be upon seeing his precious being kissed by a stranger like Wang Xing.

“Don’t do anything funny, honey.” His wife gave him a stare. The atmosphere brightened somehow, as the wrath on his face faded away. Shang Xin was smirking along with her brother, thinking of how amusing it was to see their father behaving like the hero at the public, but was well-trained by his delicate wife at home. “Lan is a headstrong girl. If she really has something to that man, whatever all of you did to him would only hurt Lan eventually.”

“As expected from my lovely Xing, thoughtful and kind!” Grinned Shang Zhangming, that brave and bold self of his was nowhere to be seen…

“Sighs, we’ve got to wait for Yue first. Lan had only been talking to Yue by heart slightly… Fortunately she’s coming back in two days.” The mistress then lifted her slender arms, as she pointed to everyone in the room, “Before Lan’s thoughts on this get unfolded, none of you are allowed to make a move. Watch that man carefully and make sure he is in one piece instead!” She looked a little naive as she spoke.

“Xing my dear, no worries! I shall guard that man till the end!” Shang Zhangming made his promise right away. He did it so fast that it made both Ling and Xin smiled smugly again.

If Shang Zhangming’s men ever saw their leader being so underwhelmed, imagine their reaction…