Chapter 46: Beaten Up

Inside the bathtub, the painting was placed, and a bucket of strong cleaning agent was poured in, immediately producing a lot of bubbles.

In high-end communities, they use cleaning agents freely because the water is treated at a sewage plant. When Yang Bo used to live in government housing, only eco-friendly cleaners were used, and trash had to be sorted.

In high-end communities, they don’t bother since treatment is in place, and waste disposal is paid for, so they discard things freely.

“What kind of material is this canvas? It seems metallic?” Yang Bo looked at the remaining canvas, as even scissors had no effect on it.

Yang Bo filled the tub with water again, held the canvas with both hands, and let the Electric Power flow.

Soon the canvas turned red, became soft, and then melted, falling into the bathtub as small particles, which were washed away with the water.

Yang Bo’s hands were protected by light energy, so he remained unharmed.

The two painting scrolls seemed to be made of jade, with high hardness. Yang Bo heated them in the oven and then poured water over them, shattering them. After doing this process several times, they broke into tiny particles.

Yang Bo finally breathed a sigh of relief. The reason he took the paintings away from someone else’s room was that he feared they were related to the Red Earl. If discovered, the security department might carry out strict inspections of the entire room, building, or even the community.

Yang Bo wasn’t sure if his Invisibility would leave any traces. As long as it wasn’t related to the Red Earl, given the current chaos, no one would likely investigate small matters. The community’s property management might handle it themselves since if someone disappeared from the community, the reputation would plummet. As for the missing people?

Who could know? Amidst such a mess, they may have died, left, or gone somewhere else. The less trouble, the better.

What Yang Bo didn’t know was that the leader’s appearance was unknown to anyone. During broadcasts, he wore a silver helmet. When shot in the head by a Laser Gun with high-energy beeams, not even his bones could be pieced together – only dust remained. Therefore, his original appearance couldn’t be restored. The low-ranking ones carried body-dissolving liquid with them, and after being hit by a Mecha, they dissolved themselves.

Very few identifiable bodies were left behind.

The luxury Space Button he bought for 800,000 was returned by Yang Bo. The Energy Stone was too poor in quality. The seller initially refused to process the refund, but when Yang Bo mentioned he was a resident, the seller instantly complied.

“Housing prices are plummeting… sounds great.” Yang Bo finished tidying up and then went online to check out properties. There was a lot of Mecha training to do, and many things still needed to be validated.

Property prices were continuously falling because of the heavy losses the Red Earl suffered here. Who knew if those lunatics might return?

However, the government hadn’t started working yet, so for now, property transactions couldn’t be finalized. This caused prices to drop further, with more properties being listed for sale.

“Let’s start with online training.” Yang Bo opened the Mecha game, but instead of entering the game, he went into Mecha training.

At the moment, Yang Bo’s results in the game training were barely passing. Hence, when he entered the game, he was only given the lowest Razor Mecha. The type of Mecha assigned depended on the training assessment score.

This time Yang Bo prepared for Mecha combat training. He had the Razor Mecha, and so did his opponent.

Yang Bo controlled the Razor Mecha in the game, but it didn’t react as quickly as a real Mecha. When controlling the Mecha, his left hand held a joystick, which managed basic movements like walking, running, and jumping. Several buttons on the joystick controlled radar, the flight pack, and other features.

His right hand operated a touch-sensitive keyboard connected to his light-brain, where the command sequences could be customized or follow official presets.

Mechas were essentially cannon fodder in the war sequence, at least based on Yang Bo’s understanding. They were akin to infantry in modern warfare, mainly used for ground combat.

During Mecha battles, electronic interference and suppression often caused intelligent systems to make wrong judgments and respond sluggishly. Sometimes, even onboard radar would be disabled, forcing pilots to rely solely on their line of sight.

When factions were fighting to seize resources or something else, they agreed on a rule: whoever won the Mecha battle would claim the resources.

If no one adhered to this rule, then everyone might as well use warships to blow things up from the start rather than wasting resources on a protracted struggle.

Boom! In the simulation training, the opponent’s strength increased every minute, and after five minutes, the enemy Mecha executed a flying kick, sending Yang Bo flying and crashing to the ground. The screen went black.

“Again!” Yang Bo felt that his simulated Mecha opponent moved with perfect finesse and elegance, its actions clean and efficient, almost as if it were performing. For the first two minutes, he could still hold his ground, but after that, he became utterly outmatched.

After repeated training sessions, Yang Bo learned many things. His opponent could make sharp turns at five times the speed of sound. How many commands would that require? Fortunately, the Razor Mecha had limited capabilities, so Yang Bo spent his free time training and eventually started treating the Mecha as if two people were fighting. He designed many commands.

In Mecha combat, speed, precision, and accuracy were everything. There was no other path. Speed and accuracy were twofold: hand speed and designing specific commands. You could assign a single action to one or two keys.

Yet creating command sequences was a complex task. Changing one command often required adjustments to many others unless you sacrificed certain non-essential commands.

The default commands were balanced, but each Mecha pilot had different strengths, so they would customize commands that highlighted their preferred mechanics.

“Ten minutes!” Yang Bo exhaled in relief. He had finally lasted ten minutes in training. If he could hold out for ten minutes in the game, he would be able to choose a higher-level Mecha for future simulation training.

Seeing there was a long-distance combat training option, Yang Bo became interested and decided to give it a try.

“Wow.” His opponent had a long-range version of the Razor Mecha, and less than 30 seconds into the battle, Yang Bo’s screen went black.

The opponent’s Laser Gun targeted his Mecha’’s basic control functions, and its predictive abilities were top-notch, leaving Yang Bo no room to dodge.

Pilots of long-range Mechas needed intelligence-based evolution traits. They could predict movements, making you feel like you were running straight into their shots every time. It felt like playing a rigged game with no chance of survival.

“Again.” Yang Bo rushed in immediately, charging at the enemy with his Energy Shield up. The opponent’s Laser Gun fired so rapidly thhat Yang Bo’s Mecha was continuously bombarded with warning alarms.

After less than 30 seconds, the screen went black again as his Mecha suffered multiple critical hits, losing part of its mobility.

“Forget it. Melee combat it is.” All day long, Yang Bo faced frustration. His opponent’s predictive skills were too strong, and his best attempt only lasted a minute.

“No wonder why there are so few long-range support Mecha models, and they’re all so expensive. It actually makes sense.” Yang Bo shook his head. For now, he’d stick to being a common melee Mecha pilot.

“The Red Earl declares a retaliatory attack on the Edin Alliance.” Yang Bo exited the game and opened the news to a shocking headline. He quickly clicked on the article.

In the video, a person wearing golden Armor stood with eleven others clad in silver Armor. These individuals had golden and red hair, but their faces were obscured by helmets. They appeared to be inside a castle.

The figure in golden Armor declared a retaliatory attack on the Edin Alliance and warned other countries not to interfere.

“Should I flee? How are the residents going to escape?” Yang Bo felt deeply uneasy after seeing the news.