Chapter 251: Doomsday Game

“However, this jamming mode is still very useful in normal times. After all, not everything has anti-radiation missiles.”

“We still need to find a way to simulate the surrounding energy fluctuations or use stealth technology that absorbs the radar waves the opponent releases.”

“But this is a complicated project. You’d need access to various radar systems for testing and a lot of advanced equipment.” Yang Bo sensed the energy waves released by the universe were too chaotic. These energy waves weren’t as regular as those released by planetary security system satellites.

“In the next phase, I can focus on communications. On the Mining Planet, as a mechanic, I managed to eavesdrop on their calls. I could also buy related equipment for research.”

What bothered Yang Bo was that while his overall plan was solid, the specific training and other aspects needed a lot of equipment support.

After all, if you don’t know your opponent’s radar operation mode and what kind of energy waves they are emitting, it’s hard to work from there.

“Also, we should buy tech products whenever possible. Use technology to defeat technology. The Bounty Hunter Guild surely has these products.” Training himself was one thing for Yang Bo, but more importantly, he needed gear.

In this society, superhumans were still at a disadvantage. Otherwise, this technological world would have collapsed long ago, overthrown by superhumans.

The next morning, Yang Bo drove his hovercar to the agreed teahouse.

“Ms. Zhou, I didn’t expect you to be so early.” Yang Bo looked at the watch. There were still about ten minutes before the appointed time, but Zhou Rui was already waiting.

The Fat Boss felt a bit frustrated but not surprised. After all, growing up, he had seen plenty of geniuses treated preferentially. Still, it made him a little uncomfortable.

“Mr. Yang, our guild has high hopes for you.” Zhou Rui was businesslike with the Fat Boss but smiled genuinely at Yang Bo. She couldn’t help but like him from the bottom of her heart.

Seeing Zhou Rui behave like this, the Fat Boss grew wary inside: “Could this woman be deliberately sent by the Bounty Hunter Guild? Yang Bo seems like the kind of guy she could easily seduce. I’ll have to badmouth her later.”

“Would it trouble you?” Yang Bo glanced at the Fat Boss, who nodded. He then agreed.

This was all part of Yang Bo’s act, giving both of them the impression he was inexperienced in the world.

Zhou Rui wasn’t surprised. After all, yesterday the Fat Boss had come to negotiate for Yang Bo. She had expected this sort of naiveté from a resident like him, someone who hadn’t interacted much with others, but once they trust someone, they trust deeply.

Zhou Rui made up her mind to interact with Yang Bo more in the future, so he would trust her.

The Fat Boss was pleased by Yang Bo’s reaction. It showed he trusted him.

Yang Bo realized he had become a bit wiser. At least in how he dealt with people, he was much smarter than in his previous life. He wondered if it was because he was a superhuman or if death had taught him something.

“Mr. Yang, you are a special member of our guild. You have permission to redeem items at an 80% points discount, with no annual cap.” After Yang Bo agreed, Zhou Rui explained.

“Because our guild is illegal in the Alliance, we don’t recommend biometric authentication. Although we can guarantee members’ personal information and privacy, it’s best not to rely on it. After all, everything made by man has flaws.” Zhou Rui gently reminded Yang Bo after handing him his Electronic Token.

The Fat Boss showed no reaction, but he was already on guard. He wasn’t bothered by the differential treatment, having grown used to it from childhood.

“I joined the Bounty Hunter Guild yesterday, and that woman didn’t say anything. Now Yang Bo’s hearing all this.” The Fat Boss muttered to himself, glancing around before noticing another beautiful woman sitting in a distant private booth. The woman was tall and had a cold, elegant aura.

The private booths at the teahouse had transparent walls—windows and entryways. This was a requirement of the Alliance.

However, the materials used were special, with soundproofing and signal-blocking capabilities. The entire teahouse had such shielding. While in use, the booths were considered private spaces.

The elegant woman in the distance looked down at the tablet in her hand, displaying the Fat Boss’s information.

“A waste of the An Zhijie family!” Liu Zhijie’s information was displayed on the tablet.

“Judging by his physique, he can’t break through his cultivation level anytime soon.” The elegant woman muttered to herself as she swiped the tablet.

Next up was Yang Bo’s personal information. His adult photo looked incredibly calm.

“This guy is quite good at disguising himself. If I hadn’t compared extensive data from various channels, I wouldn’t have confirmed that the person I met on Green Demon Planet was him.”

“What kind of special ability does he have? Back then, he even fooled me!” The elegant woman recalled how Yang Bo had tricked her on Green Demon Planet. After returning to her ship, she had sent someone to rescue him, only for him to disappear.

When she checked his identity information, she found that the owner of the ID had never left the battleship.

“No one else in the world should know he’s an imposter. During the suppression of the Pado Planet rebellion, I was the captain and easily located him. If he hadn’t been jumping around on rooftops with a mecha, I wouldn’t have noticed him.”

“After all, thousands of mechas landed on Pado Planet at the same time. It was only because the Military was monitoring him that I managed to view his combat footage at all.”

“But why go to such lengths to hide his identity?”

“Not even 20 years old, yet possessing strength comparable to a mecha master. His superhuman level must be at least B, possibly higher.”

“How could he have hidden this for so long? Based on his current strength, his superhuman abilities must have awakened more than a decade ago.”

“Such an interesting person!”

“The longevity energy stone mine incident… what role did he play in that?”

“This guy is really intriguing!” The elegant woman looked at Yang Bo’s resume, which was as clean as a blank piece of paper.

But the woman didn’t believe it, knowing full well what kind of company An Zhijie was.

Another reason she felt a bit indignant was that nobody had ever outwitted her before.

Even on Green Demon Planet, she hadn’t expected him to Camouflage himself. After all, his armor style and numbering were identical to standard military equipment. Given how chaotic things were at the time, she was more focused on other concerns and failed to notice him.

At the same time, the woman felt a little fear. If Yang Bo had been up to something malicious, she wouldn’t have been able to escape, given his mecha manipulation skills.

“Unlocking mechas… if other mecha companies learned about this, they’d probably hunt him across the universe.” The woman glanced again at Yang Bo, who seemed to be speaking with another beautiful woman, finding him even more fascinating.

“Yang Bo, this is my contact number. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out, or leave a message if I’m unavailable.” Zhou Rui handed Yang Bo her contact information as she wrapped up their business.

Yang Bo memorized it and gave her his number in return. Yang Bo’s communicator only had two numbers saved—one for the Fat Boss, the other for Zhou Rui.

“How about I treat you both to lunch?” Zhou Rui smiled as she looked at Yang Bo’s number.

The Fat Boss hurriedly interjected: “Assistant Zhou, we have some matters to take care of. There’s always another time.”

“That’s quite alright. We wouldn’t want to impose, Assistant Zhou.” Yang Bo quickly chimed in after hearing the Fat Boss.

Zhou Rui gave the Fat Boss a sweet smile but muttered to herself: “You wait, you fatso.”

Outwardly, she simply stood up and said, “Well, in that case, I won’t disturb you any longer.”

“We need to head back to the company as well,” the Fat Boss said as he stood.

The three of them left the teahouse at almost the same time.

The elegant woman in the private booth wrinkled her brow slightly upon seeing Zhou Rui’s face: “Why is it her?”

When they returned to the company, the Fat Boss remarked to Yang Bo: “The Bounty Hunter Guild might be trying to seduce you!”

“Seduce me?” Yang Bo thought for a moment. Zhou Rui was indeed attractive, but his lasting impression was of the bald brute.

“Nothing comes for free in this world. The 20% discount they’re offering you is no random act of goodwill; they’re expecting far more in return. When dealing with them, be cautious. If you’re ever unsure, come talk to me. We’re partners now.” The Fat Boss elaborated carefully.

Yang Bo understood why the Fat Boss was saying this and nodded: “If anything comes up, I’ll talk to you first. Though, honestly, working with you has been a string of disasters, I still made some money.”

“Don’t blame me!” The Fat Boss, recalling their recent troubles, felt deeply wronged.

“Let’s play it steady from now on. No more risky jobs. We’ve both made a decent amount.” The recent scare had clearly rattled the Fat Boss. He had nearly not made it back alive.

“Come by my place tomorrow. The potion ingredients I ordered should arrive then.”

Yang Bo nodded. Then the Fat Boss added: “We should lay low for a bit. The incident on the mining planet might have some ripple effects on us.”

“After all, we completed our mission and returned in one piece. People will notice. Still, we should be fine as long as we stay off private property.”

“As long as we don’t set foot in anyone’s private domain, we’ll be fine,” The Fat Boss reminded him again.

“The Bounty Hunter Guild should clean up all loose ends. They’re an international organization with plenty of ways to do so.”

“That’s why I had you join them. If they recognized your talents and you refused, they might’ve sold your identity information.” The Fat Boss warned again.

Yang Bo nodded. Yeah, as long as they stayed on the planet, there wouldn’t be any real danger. The key was to avoid walking into someone’s personal space. In the Alliance, homes are treated as absolute territories. Without solid evidence, no enforcement agency would barge in.

It’s not that the Alliance fears anyone, but enforcement officers would be the ones to suffer the consequences. Even drones require someone to issue orders.

The Fat Boss treated Yang Bo to lunch again that afternoon.

Lately, Yang Bo didn’t have to work. Wu Bing and the others would be out enjoying life for the month.

In the afternoon, Yang Bo grabbed his fishing rod and headed to the coast that belonged to him.

“The energy waves from the satellites above sure vary. Looks like they’re different models.” Yang Bo sat atop the rocks, mainly sensing the energy waves sent out by the satellites overhead.

Plus, he was fishing to see if there were any tasty catches. After the recent hurricane, all kinds of strange mollusks had settled in the coastal rocks, snacking on the debris swept ashore.

Most of the garbage blown onto the coast had been washed back out to sea. Environmental experts claimed it would decompose naturally.

The mollusks were munching on seaweed and various decaying marine life.

However, most of the mollusks in this area didn’t taste good, having a bitter flavor. Locals said it was because of the seaweed they ate.

“That satellite’s fast. 28 minutes, and it’s already returned.” After two hours, Yang Bo could now distinguish the energy waves of each satellite.

“I can even sense their altitude now.” Yang Bo was discovering more and more through his increasingly fine-tuned senses.

He tossed back the strange-looking fish he caught.

“Guess I’ll need to go fishing more often.” After an afternoon’s worth of fishing, Yang Bo found that his abilities had definitely grown sharper. The more he practiced, the better he became.

“I should check out the apocalyptic mecha game tonight.” Looking at the time, Yang Bo packed up his fishing rod and headed home.

“If I had a coastline this big on Earth, I’d be set for life.”

“Too bad I always have to shell out for clean-ups after every hurricane.”

“At least the beach is well-maintained after being cleaned up.” Yang Bo reflected as he walked along the sand.

After dinner, Yang Bo headed to his computer room. It was the only room in his home with a signal, wired in. His smartwatch only worked here; the other rooms had no signal.

“Tomorrow, I’ll check on Iron Bull.” Yang Bo’s thoughts drifted back to Iron Bull, but his tribe was safe in his territory, so there should be no danger.

“The expansion pack details are out.” Yang Bo noticed the details for the apocalyptic game expansion had been released.

The gist was that a certain planet had been struck by a meteorite, bringing a mutagenic virus that triggered a full-blown human crisis. A portion of uninfected humans had to move to artificial satellites in nearby space.

Only 50 million people managed to escape, while the remaining 2 billion became virus carriers.

The power consumption of the satellites was enormous. To replace their power sources, they needed to retrieve various supplies from the ground while also eliminating the mutated humans below.

Players would have to eliminate mutated humans and gather mission-critical items from the planet.

“No mechas?” Yang Bo noted something odd in the description and felt puzzled.

He continued reading, realizing there really were no mechas. The mutated humans were all hiding in buildings or underground. The materials players needed were also in buildings or underground.

“It seems like a typical post-apocalyptic game.” Yang Bo muttered after finishing.

This game had characters, various equipment, armor, laser guns of all kinds, melee weapons, and different protective gear. Players could even summon air support, although it required special summoning tools.

Yang Bo then opened the forums and saw many people already discussing it.

“What a crappy game—such an old setup?”

“This game isn’t even hard. I’ve played plenty of post-apocalyptic games.”

“As long as it makes money, I’d play it even if it were trash.”

“At least it’s unlimited. Unlike the mecha game where you go in ready to play only to fail qualifying.”

“Who are you calling a noob? You can’t even match the minimum hand speed requirements. What are you doing in a mecha game, anyway? You’re just wasting money.”

“You idiot, I have money.”

“If you’re so rich, why are you playing this garbage game? You’re the one with the broken brain.”

“You’re the dumb one. I haven’t tried the game, how was I supposed to know it was trash? I couldn’t even get in.”

“Confirmed, the two idiots above have no brains.”

After scrolling through the apocalypse-game forum, Yang Bo found nothing valuable, so he switched over to the mecha game forum.

“Those Justice Gang brats!” As soon as Yang Bo entered, he found that the two most popular posts had to do with him.

The first was a bounty post offering 50 million credits to uncover his personal information.

The second was a challenge post. The Justice Gang was challenging him with a meeting set at Base 16.

“I’ll meet you tomorrow. Perfect opportunity to bring Iron Bull some snacks.” Yang Bo smirked coldly.

When the time came, Yang Bo logged into the apocalyptic expansion game.

“Do I have to take a test first?” Upon entering, Yang Bo discovered a test was required.

Upon closer inspection, he realized the test results would generate his character’s stats.

After reviewing the controls and each key’s function in detail, Yang Bo proceeded with the test.

The test covered various skills—melee combat with cold weapons, marksmanship, and the player’s speed in controlling the character.

Half an hour later, Yang Bo completed the tests. He performed moderately.

“500 credits for one hour? They must be robbing people!”

“And the basic equipment is just this?”

“At least there’s no penalty.”

“But if the character dies, you can’t make another for a year.”

“Strange…” Yang Bo muttered as he reached the character naming screen and read the fine print.

They only gave you a set of clothes and a knife. Any other gear had to be bought through in-game purchases.

There were all kinds of guns—physical weapons with bullets, laser guns, various grenades, and other tools, like calling in airstrikes for support.

“Wasteland Swordman!”  Yang Bo named his character and entered the game with his system-issued knife and basic outfit.

Yang Bo found himself on a mountain in the outskirts of a city. In the valley in the distance, he could see the ruins of the city, which seemed fairly large.

“Looks like an airport for landing transport ships?” Yang Bo noticed more and more players around him, most equipped with at least some gear.

“Alright, everyone, let’s fire a round!” A cocky voice shouted, and a guy launched a grenade toward a building below.

The grenade hit a building not far down the hill.

Instantly, several zombie-like creatures emerged from the building.

Even further away, more zombies appeared in various corners of the city.

Those few zombies rushing up the hill were quickly gunned down by the surrounding players. The rest of the zombies, as though nothing had happened, gradually disappeared, returning to their hidden spots.

“Didn’t even drop a thing, and I wasted 1000 credits! This game is a scam. Not even any XP!” A player who killed one of the zombies cursed.

Yang Bo approached one of the downed zombies and noticed its head was still twitching. He stabbed it.

“Mining +1!”

A notification popped into Yang Bo’s mind, making his eyes light up.