Chapter 31: Military Rank? Even a Dog Wouldn’t Want It!

Someone at the Base saw Yang Bo rushing out, murmuring to themselves. ‘That Bird Slasher really must have some issues.’ Even others at the Base were puzzled.

When Yang Bo arrived at the mission hand-in point, the staff opened the bag and were dumbfounded. The silver fur signified status. The staff quickly called the Base’s administrator.

In Yang Bo’s vision, the Base administrator appeared like an NPC. But in reality, after seeing the corpse of a silver-furred rat and Yang Bo’s third-generation, rudimentary Razor Mecha, the administrator was shocked. This was an A-ranked mutated creature! Since the Base’s establishment, none had been killed.

Yang Bo waited bored for the examination results. The Base didn’t believe that someone at Yang Bo’s level could collect such a prize using his mecha.

“Is this really the D-ranked mutated rat?” Several people in the Base looked at the report and identified it instantly. A D-rank mutated rat. It’s been around a long time. The terrain in that area is complex, making it difficult to capture. It’s been a long-standing issue.

“I never imagined it would be an A-rank creature. It must have unique abilities. Report this.” The Base administrator filed the report.

Thousands of kilometers high in space, aboard a massive warship over a hundred kilometers long, a woman wearing the uniform of a Federation major general was reading the report from Base 16 on the planet below.

“Send it over immediately.” The woman’s oversized uniform obscured her figure, but her face was undeniably beautiful—though cold. She spoke curtly.

“Activate the S-rank research lab. I want to know everything about this rat as soon as possible, and quickly use its materials to develop a Gene Serum for testing.”

“For now, don’t announce the news.”

“The individual should be rewarded with a military rank.”

A series of orders were relayed from the woman. On the warship, the AI systems executed the commands. Even on this advanced ship, AI was merely auxiliary—anyone capable of becoming a Captain was at least an A-rank Gene Enhancement, specializing in intelligence evolution. It’s said that such Genetic Evolvers’ brainpower could surpass that of AI.

“A military rank? No thanks, I just want gold.” Yang Bo had waited an hour, and finally, the result was confirmed: an A-rank mutated creature, and a rare, special one at that.

“Uh, are you sure you don’t want it?” The Base administrator was dumbstruck. Accepting the rank would open up access to a lot of information and special privileges.

Yang Bo smirked inwardly. Sure, a military rank had benefits. But Yang Bo knew full well that this was no game. It was real. Once he accepted it, his identity would become an issue, and worse, he’d be eligible for conscription at any moment. Although he didn’t know if in-game ranks were tied to real-world ranks, he wasn’t willing to gamble.

Yang Bo didn’t care much about the Federation. If, one day, the Federation was invaded, he’d be the first to flee to another country.

“No thanks. Geez, what’s with all the fuss over a game?” Yang Bo replied grumpily.

“Well then, dear player, we’d like to conduct a survey with you. Is that okay?” The Base administrator asked again, eager to understand how Yang Bo had killed an A-rank mutated creature.

“Not convenient. But I’ll do it for some game currency.” Yang Bo shook his head.

“Uh, okay then. For turning in the A-rank mutated creature, you’ll be rewarded thirty million game coins. And because it was a special variant, an additional twenty million will be awarded, making a total of fifty million gold coins.” The Base officials felt a mix of emotions—this was fifty million coins!

Normally, it would make sense for large teams at the Base, with advanced mechas and equipment, to kill an A-rank creature. But here, it was a plain mecha and some random player…”

“Hehe.” Yang Bo had already looked into it. A-rank creatures were worth thirty million. A+ was valued at one hundred million, and S-rank at a staggering one billion.

However, Yang Bo also knew the game’s developers weren’t taking a loss. An A-rank creature could be used to make Gene Injections that, once successful, would produce countless A-rank Genetic Evolvers.

Of course, there was also the possibility of failure. A-rank mutated creatures came in several varieties, and some, without any special abilities, weren’t worth that much.

Yang Bo didn’t envy those who used Gene Injections at all, since his own abilities were far beyond theirs.

“Dear player, we’d also like to view your battle recording. We’re willing to pay five million gold coins for it.”

“Five million is too little.” Yang Bo mused. Couldn’t the officials just view it from the server’s backend?

What Yang Bo didn’t know was that the officials indeed could—but it required an application, various authorizations, and a lengthy process involving data security. There were also military concerns and ties to mecha manufacturers and players’ in-game terminals.

In the Federation, procedures always came first. As long as the rules were followed, even if one killed a hundred people, there’d be no punishment…

“Our Base permissions are limited.”

“Alright, then five million.” Yang Bo nodded, and following their instructions, he signed an agreement and handed over the recording.

“Haha. Haha!” Yang Bo logged out of the game. Though he hadn’t fully wrapped his head around it all, his haul was undeniable.

Looking at his inventory: Invisibility: Advanced (105/1000); Camouflage: Master (8210/10000). Meanwhile, at the Base, viewers of the video immediately rushed into action, deploying dozens of guards and warplanes to the site. They collected every bit of organic matter they could find, no matter how small.

During this process, they discovered five mostly intact C-rank mutated rat corpses and other shattered remains. These seemed to belong to the same clan as the A-rank rat.

“Tsk, tsk.” The female officer aboard the warship watched Yang Bo’s battle footage. He’d only submitted the footage of the encounter, leaving out the rest. Her ice-cold expression finally showed some change.

The female officer closed her eyes, then rapidly typed on her console. Minutes later, the information was sent to higher-level departments.

Back on the ground, those who saw the report concluded that the A-rank mutated creature had been completely fooled. This creature had lived for so long, cautious, fearful, and very careful.

The rat had smelled food, saw other small animals eating, and led its family to the feast—little knowing that Yang Bo, the wily player he was, had hidden a hydrogen bomb beneath the cow’s corpse.

The rat’s powerful defense withstood the hydrogen bomb’s shockwave, but its internal organs were gravely injured. The confined space contributed to this. In an open field, its speed might have allowed it to escape unharmed.

This rat had grown from a D-rank creature to an A-rank, but it had kept its timid, overly cautious nature.

At that moment, the female officer aboard the warship gaped in disbelief as she looked at the paper report in her hands: “Its special ability…is invisibility?”