Chapter 23: Chaos in the Water

“So many fish!” Yang Bo piloted his mecha for a while before discovering a huge school of fish.

The lake’s surface was covered by them, but Yang Bo couldn’t recognize the species.

He scanned with the radar, detecting over 10,000 fish. Grinning, he removed a blue shockwave bomb from the chest of his mecha, resembling an Earth-made 500-pound bomb.

Setting the explosive, he backed up his mecha and hurled the bomb.

For an eight-meter-tall mecha, it was nothing. The shockwave bomb flew over 500 meters, landing in the water.

Boom! The lake, over ten meters deep, trembled. A column of water shot dozens of meters into the air.

Swimming +1!

A torrent of information washed through Yang Bo’s mind. Sitting in his room, he keenly felt enormous changes surging through his body, as if he was about to explode with power.

Overwhelming hunger overcame him, forcing Yang Bo to exit the game, gulping down milk while recharging his battery.

Ten minutes later, he noticed that his battery was down to less than 10%, and he had finished off an entire case of 1-liter milk cartons.

Clenching his fists, he felt like he could crush steel.

“Back to the game.” Without checking his skills, Yang Bo quickly logged in, afraid his mecha might be damaged amidst something unexpected.

Fish filled the lake’s surface, all belly-up. The sheer number defied description.

Some were even blasted apart, and the lake’s water seemed to change color.

“Let’s wait and see.” Yang Bo had a hunch. Maybe this would attract other fish? He activated the radar scan and checked his skills.

The biggest upgrade was Swimming: Grandmaster (11450/100000). There was also Camouflage: Advanced (142/1000). Yang Bo scratched his head. What creature had he blown up? Maybe it was a camouflaging fish or something else from the lake? He considered briefly and let it go; this was an alien world after all.

He also gained a new skill: Slap: Intermediate (12/100). Dynamic Vision, Flight, and Electric Power Control also improved, likely because there were electric eels in the lake.

This spot was where several water currents converged. The concentrated stench of blood quickly spread, and soon Yang Bo noticed bigger fish appearing one by one.

Some of them were like orcas from Earth, smacking other fish away using their tails.

“Oh, it’s you, little Kalami.” Yang Bo didn’t recognize the species, though it resembled a smaller version of an orca mixed with some dolphin features.

An hour later, Yang Bo checked his radar, which showed tens of thousands of fish in the lake. The biggest ones were over ten meters long, while the smallest were the size of a palm.

“Game on!” Yang Bo grinned and threw another shockwave bomb.

Once again, the ground shook, and the mecha wobbled as a column of water shot up.

Yang Bo had prepared for this, outfitting a larger and more powerful battery capable of storing 50,000 kilowatts of power. He replaced the old one. The milk was restocked.

A sudden overwhelming power coursed through him again. His body felt empty. Yang Bo quickly recharged and gulped down more milk.

Ten minutes later, the emptiness vanished, but his battery had started to overheat… it was discharging too rapidly.

He had used up 22% of his battery’s power, but thankfully, it was a high-quality brand.

Yang Bo’s actions left many onlookers confused. The so-called game base had broadcast his first shockwave bomb explosion live from a space-based device.

“Is this guy mentally unstable?” one of the base staff commented while watching the white fish corpses floating on the lake.

“Let’s keep watching.” The base manager was also puzzled, but Yang Bo had a history. One time, he snuck all the way into the innermost security layers of the base during a stealth mission. Fortunately, they had recovered the wreckage and would soon crack the enemy’s secrets.

The mutants were equally perplexed. They needed food for survival, and large-scale hunting on land was impractical. Therefore, the water creatures were their main food source. Nobody kept track of lake species populations.

In the underground chamber, even the General frowned. Yang Bo’s behavior was too odd. Wasting shockwave bombs on fish? Was he out of his mind, or just making up for not playing as a kid?

Yang Bo checked his Swimming skill. He needed just over 30,000 more points to max out at 100,000. His goal was simple: to see what happens when he maxes it out.

“General, the scent of blood has intensified. More fish will likely gather. What should we do?” a mutant in the underground base asked loudly.

“Send the hunting squad to disperse the fish,” the General replied after some thought.

“Understood.” The mutant immediately relayed the order.

The mutants had many abilities. Their lake-hunting squads could move underwater, emitting a special soundwave to either gather or disperse fish.

Yang Bo felt satisfied. The authorities hadn’t mailed him yet, so he assumed everything was fine.

“No more next time. There’s no point in maxing out Swimming. What’s it even good for?” Yang Bo didn’t understand the purpose of the skill and decided to check it. As for the other skills, he thought they were a waste of time.

His radar picked up another gathering school of fish. Yang Bo decided to wait, though he thought perhaps he was wasting time.

In the distance, a bird was hopping around in the bushes, catching Yang Bo’s eye. But then he realized…

“Wait, why is this bird hanging around so close when there’s such a huge commotion? Is it some sort of decoy?” Yang Bo felt something was off.

At first, he wanted to let it be, but the bird was bouncing around in the bushes while staring at him. It got on his nerves. His Jetpack activated and he launched into a leaping strike!

“Huh!” Just as he launched, the bird flew up, then suddenly reversed direction, heading straight for where he had been standing. Yang Bo was taken aback.

However, his shield was already flying towards the bird. It smashed it to the ground.

“Gotcha!” Yang Bo landed from his leap, feeling rather pleased with himself.

“Wait, why didn’t that add to my Flight ability?” Puzzled, Yang Bo bent down to retrieve his shield.

Just then, he heard strange sounds coming from the lake. Grabbing his shield, he first inspected the bird’s corpse. Using his mecha’s scanner, he found abnormal bone density and unfamiliar materials in the bird’s composition.

“Could this be a mutant spy?” Yang Bo muttered as he tossed the bird into his mecha’s loot compartment.

“Damn it, where did all my fish go?!” Returning to the lake, he found that the fish that had been gathering in droves had disappeared. Was this some kind of joke? He had spent all this effort attracting them!