In this vast world, nothing was more important than eating and sleeping; everything else could be dealt with one step at a time. The next day at work, Yang Bo was assigned to clean a small warehouse. It was filled with all sorts of books featuring explicit, embarrassing illustrations, as well as some ancient CDs.
This was considered relatively normal. The low-level cleaners at the Anzhijie company usually handled the shady, unpresentable secrets of celebrities and elites. Yang Bo guessed that Anzhijie was essentially a "dirty work" company, and that cleaners with higher clearance levels might even engage in illegal activities.
Taking the bus home after work, he passed a giant building where people were setting up decorations. A closer look revealed that the pop diva Li Aiduo was holding a concert there at the Dome Grand Entertainment City.
Li Aiduo had a baby face and a petite, attractive figure. More importantly, she had an incredible voice with an ethereal quality. Rumor had it that she had awakened voice-related genetic traits. The original owner of this body had been a huge fan of hers. Unfortunately, he was such a total loser that he couldn't even gain entry into her fan club. Now that Yang Bo had taken over, he couldn't care less about chasing stars. As long as the singing sounded good, that was enough for him.
Upon arriving home, Yang Bo followed his usual routine. He took a bath and used the opportunity to release all his pent-up energy. He could clearly feel that his strength had increased significantly because the bathwater heated up drastically. Good thing he kept the tap running, or the water would have reached a boiling point.
"Thirty-five percent. That means my current body has stored about 1,750 kilowatt-hours of energy. That's not a lot," Yang Bo muttered.
Logging into the Mecha World game, Yang Bo had no idea that he was already famous on the forums. The legendary name "Bird Slayer Brother" had spread far and wide throughout the game.
Bird Slayer Brother first made his debut by using a five-meter-long Mecha sword to slice a tiny flying bird in half. Then, he used his Mecha to mow the grass, subsequently setting the prairie ablaze and destroying the environment. Against all odds, this chaotic behavior actually forced a B-rank Infiltrator out of hiding! If the story had ended there, it would have been perfect.
Unfortunately, the base's defense system intervened and blew up both the Infiltrator and Bird Slayer Brother together! While accidental friendly fire from the defense systems did happen in the game, it was an incredibly rare occurrence. Ultimately, data analysts concluded that Bird Slayer Brother's grass-mowing session would earn him a reward of at least 500,000 Gold Coins.
Yang Bo also looked up the B-rank Infiltrator.
An Infiltrator was a class branch of the enemy faction, specializing in stealth, Disguise, and sneak attacks. Furthermore, his opponent had been using a Biological Mecha. These Mechas were cultivated from living organisms and could amplify a Genetic Evolver's innate Superpower. However, researching Biological Mechas was strictly forbidden within the Federation for unknown reasons.
Yang Bo carefully studied the in-game store while simultaneously searching for information on the web. He ultimately chose a type of Shock Bomb designed to deal with monsters hiding in caves, as it could generate a massive shockwave.
They cost 10,000 Gold Coins each, and Yang Bo bought three. He actually wanted to buy Miniature Hydrogen Bombs, but unfortunately, those cost 100,000 Gold Coins a piece. He decided to test the Shock Bombs first; if they proved ineffective, he would bite the bullet and buy the Miniature Hydrogen Bombs. However, Yang Bo didn't intend to use the Miniature Hydrogen Bombs for explosions. Instead, he planned to dismantle them and use their toxic, hazardous materials to poison small animals.
He figured that since the game developers marketed this as a highly open-world game, he would test just how boundless that freedom could be. He would simply pretend he didn't know he was remote-controlling a real machine in the real world.
Armed with the three Shock Bombs, Yang Bo set off. The lowest-level Mecha lacked Flying capabilities, so it could only stride forward on its long legs, moving toward the target with a loud RUMBLE. The endless plains were covered in wild grass, bushes, and scattered swamps. However, with a Rocket Backpack equipped, the Mecha had nothing to fear from any swamp. Plus, the Mecha's built-in radar system provided suggestions on the best routes to take.
The moment Yang Bo piloted his Mecha out of the base, he was spotted by others. Very few people used low-level Mechas, and most of those had been heavily modified. Yang Bo's unit, on the other hand, was as basic as it could possibly get. He wanted to upgrade it too, but that would cost a fortune. For example, installing a Flight Propulsion System was expensive, and those thrusters were strictly single-use and had to be discarded after one flight. Besides, Yang Bo wasn't out to hunt Mutants or genetically polluted creatures. Why would he need expensive modifications just to bully ordinary animals?
Covering the distance of over two hundred kilometers took half an hour. Yang Bo felt a pang of pain in his wallet, realizing that the journey alone had cost him at least five hundred credits in energy fees.
"This is a danger zone. I need to be careful," Yang Bo muttered as he checked the map. The area was classified as dangerous specifically based on his Mecha's low level.
A seemingly endless lake stretched out before him, surrounded by dense wild grass. Hardly anyone ever came here. Although the Mechas were waterproof, operating them underwater wasn't recommended since all their functions would be severely impaired. The game offered specialized underwater Mechas for those environments.
He marveled to himself, "Damn, if I brought this biological search radar back to Earth, anglers would fight to the death over it. It doesn't just detect the size of the fish, but also the species." With that, Yang Bo activated the radar. Depending on the environment, the detection range and depth of the Mecha's compact radar varied.
Electric eels lived in freshwater rivers and lakes. After a quick scan, Yang Bo soon located one in the lake, fifty meters away and three meters deep.
He thought, "This is a bit tricky. I can't possibly waste a bomb on a single electric eel.
"Should I rig up a new-energy fishing system?
"I'll observe for now."
Not in a rush, Yang Bo decided to walk along the shore and take a look first.
Unbeknownst to Yang Bo, less than a kilometer away, a small gray bird hiding in a bush was staring intently at his Mecha.
Meanwhile, in an underground space hundreds of kilometers away, a virtual screen displayed the shadow of Yang Bo's Mecha.
"General, should we strike now?" In the highly organized underground base, a person with horns on their head asked loudly.
"No rush. There must be a reason this guy could detect our Advanced spy," the General replied. He was a towering, burly middle-aged man, standing nearly two meters tall with bulging muscles. Uniquely, his face was covered in yellowish-black fuzz, complete with a large nose and whiskers, making him look strikingly like a tiger. "These shameless bastards actually use remote-controlled Mechas. Over the years, we've lost flesh-and-blood people, while they've only lost some disposable machines."
If Yang Bo had seen this, he would have instantly recognized them as the genetically mutated Mutants the game developers advertised.
"General, let me go capture him alive. A low-level Mecha like that is barely better than a pile of raw materials," a curvaceous woman said seductively. Strangely, her hands resembled clawed paws covered in gray fur, though the rest of her body appeared perfectly normal.
"No rush. Let's wait a bit longer," the General said, waving his hand.
Back at the lake, Yang Bo had walked a short distance along the shore and complained, "This is tough. These electric eels are scattered everywhere."
The crux of the problem was that he wanted to harvest them at the lowest possible cost. Killing them one by one would simply be too slow. It couldn't be helped; after experiencing the thrill of leveling up two Master-level Skills just by starting a single fire, grinding isolated mobs felt completely unrewarding.
He sighed, "Too bad I'm not piloting a Warship. If I had a Warship, I could obliterate this lake with a single shot.
"Looks like poisoning is the only way. If I remember correctly, the raw materials inside certain bombs are highly toxic?"
Yang Bo decided to keep scouting the area and figure out a concrete plan later. Some chemical substances were incredibly lethal, but since he was already here, he might as well explore first.