Chapter 22: Fried Fish

The world is vast, but eating and sleeping are the most important. Everything else, we deal with as it comes. On the second day, I cleared out a small storage room. It was filled with all kinds of books, some with embarrassing illustrations. There were even some old CDs.

It was fairly normal for cleaners from the An Zhijie Corporation. The low-level ones just handled the dirty secrets of the rich and famous. Yang Bo suspected that the company was doing shady business. The higher-level cleaners probably did even more illegal stuff.

After work, I took the bus home. On the way, I passed a massive building. Some people were decorating it. Upon closer look, it was for Li Aidu, the pop diva. She was hosting a concert at this Grand Dome Entertainment Center.

Li Aidu had a baby face and a nice figure, petite yet well-proportioned. The key, however, was her ethereal voice. Some even speculated she had awakened a gene talent related to sound.

The original host of this body was a fan of hers. Unfortunately, he was a nobody who couldn’t even join the fan club.

But after Yang Bo took over? No more idol-chasing. As long as the singing was good, that was enough.

When he got home, Yang Bo followed his usual routine. First, he took a bath, releasing the pent-up energy within him. Yang Bo could feel his strength growing significantly. The water in the bathtub had evaporated a lot. Fortunately, he kept the faucet running, or it would’ve boiled away.

“35%, which means my body has stored about 1,750 kilowatt-hours of energy. Not much,” muttered Yang Bo.

Entering the Mecha World game, Yang Bo had no idea he was now famous on the forums. The name ‘Bird-Cutting Bro’ had spread far and wide.

‘Bird-Cutting Bro’ made his debut by using a five-meter-long mecha sword to slash tiny flying birds.

Then, he used the mecha to mow down grass, set fire to the plains, and destroy the environment.

After that, he even forced out a B-class infiltrator! It was quite impressive.

But the unlucky part? The base’s defense system blew up the infiltrator alongside Bird-Cutting Bro!

In-game accidents involving the defense systems were quite rare, but they did happen.

According to data analysis, Bird-Cutting Bro’s grass-cutting stunt would earn him at least 500,000 gold coins…

Yang Bo also looked up B-class infiltrators! Infiltrators are a profession from hostile forces specializing in stealth, camouflage, and ambushes. They use biological mechas, which are grown with organisms and can amplify the abilities of Genetic Evolvers. But biological mechas are banned in the Federation, so it’s unclear why they exist.

Yang Bo carefully studied the in-game shop, while also searching online. He eventually chose a shock bomb, which was used for hunting monsters hiding in caves. The bomb created a large shockwave.

They cost 10,000 gold coins each. Yang Bo bought three of them. Actually, he wanted to buy a mini hydrogen bomb, but those cost 100,000 gold coins each. He decided to try the shock bomb first. If it didn’t work, he’d buy the mini hydrogen bomb.

Interestingly, Yang Bo didn’t buy the mini hydrogen bomb for its explosion power. He planned to dismantle it and use its toxic materials to harm small animals.

Didn’t the game developers always say it was a highly free-form game? Let’s see who can get more creative. I’ll just pretend I don’t know this is a remote-controlled setup.

With the three shock bombs on him, Yang Bo set out. His basic mecha didn’t have flight capabilities, so he just stretched out its long legs and started stomping towards his target. The endless plains were covered with wild grass and shrubs. There were even swamps, but for a mecha with a Jetpack, no swamp was a problem.

Moreover, the mecha had a radar system that suggested the best routes.

Not long after Yang Bo’s mecha left the base, someone spotted him. Low-level mechas were rarely used, and many had been modified. But Yang Bo’s was as basic as it could get.

Yang Bo wanted to modify it too, but that would cost a fortune. For example, a flight booster system was a one-time-use item. Once used, it was discarded.

Anyway, Yang Bo didn’t plan on hunting mutants or genetically polluted creatures. Bullying ordinary animals didn’t require any modifications.

After traveling over 200 kilometers in half an hour, Yang Bo felt the pinch. It had cost him at least 500 gold coins already.

“This is a danger zone. Gotta be careful,” said Yang Bo, glancing at the map. This area was designated dangerous for someone of his mecha’s level.

The lake ahead stretched beyond the horizon. The surroundings were all wild grass, and people rarely came here. Mechas were waterproof but weren’t recommended for underwater use because many functions would degrade. There were specialized underwater mechas for that.

“Damn, if a radar like this existed back on Earth, fishermen would go crazy over it. It not only detects fish size but also species,” Yang Bo muttered as he activated the radar. Different environments caused the mecha’s small radar to adjust its detection range and depth.

Electric eels lived in freshwater rivers. Yang Bo quickly found one. It was 50 meters from him, about three meters deep in the lake.

“This is a bit tricky,” Yang Bo thought. He couldn’t justify using a bomb for a single electric eel.

“Maybe I need some kind of new energy fishing system?”

“Let’s observe for now,” Yang Bo wasn’t in a rush. He kept walking and surveying.

What Yang Bo didn’t know was that less than a kilometer away, a small gray bird was hiding in the bushes, staring intently at his mecha.

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, in an underground facility, a virtual screen displayed the outline of Yang Bo’s mecha.

“General, should we take action now?” The underground facility was clean and orderly. A man with horns on his head asked loudly.

“No rush. This guy noticed our advanced scout for a reason. Those sneaky folks are using remote-controlled mechas. We’ve lost real people, while they only lose some machines,” said the general, a tall middle-aged man at least two meters tall. His whole body was muscular. His face was covered with yellow and black fur, and he had a big nose and thick facial hair, looking very much like a tiger.

If Yang Bo saw him, he’d recognize him as one of the mutants from the game’s official promotions—either a Gene Mutant or a Mutant Human.

“General, let me catch him alive. This low-level mecha is barely better than a pile of scrap,” said a voluptuous woman with a seductive voice. Her hands resembled claws, covered in gray fur. The rest of her body looked normal.

“Not yet, we’ll wait,” the general waved dismissively.

Back at the lake, Yang Bo walked along the shoreline for some distance. “Tricky. These electric eels are scattered around here and there.”

The challenge was that Yang Bo wanted to do this as cheaply as possible. Killing one eel at a time took too long.

No choice. If anyone else started a fire, it’d activate two master-level skills. Now, it was tedious doing it solo.

“Too bad I’m not commanding a battleship; one shot would obliterate this whole lake,” he sighed.

“Looks like poison is the only option. I think some of these bomb materials are toxic, right?” Yang Bo decided to check things out a bit more before heading back to brainstorm ideas. Some chemicals were incredibly deadly. Since I’m here, might as well keep looking.