Chapter 72: Life on the Transport Ship

In the vast cosmos, it’s hard to intercept a spaceship accurately. You don’t know its speed or route. By the time you arrive, the ship could be tens of millions of kilometers away. How would you chase it? “Big brother, the fat sheep has moved, but there’s a C-rank agent from An Zhijie Corporation on that ship,” someone quickly reported, holding decrypted information inside a thousand-meter-long warship in the dark void.

“So what if it’s An Zhijie? They’re just a bunch of underground rats. We’ve got energy suits, mechs, and fighter jets. If anyone doesn’t comply, we kill them. This batch of fat sheep has already been booked. The price is good. Anyone who isn’t too aggressive, we keep them. Plus, most of An Zhijie’s residents have undergone Gene Evolution. These people fetch a higher price from buyers,” the leader sneered.

“Yes!”

“Big brother, do you want one of our guys to pretend to be Brother Bird Slasher and start a live stream game? We lost big last time. Our mechs are expensive. No wonder people are cursing this lousy game; the compensation price can buy a real mech!”

“Hmm? That’s a good idea, after all, Brother Bird Slasher just uses the same tricks. But whom should we choose to pilot the third-gen mech? We’re all elites.”

“There definitely are fat sheep this time. We should keep a few.”

“True.”

“That group of bastards from the Justice Gang is cursing us on the forums. If I ever find out who they are, I’ll kill those dogs!”

“They’re just the ones who got owned in real life.”

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Yang Bo now had a headache. The book was given by the Fat Boss. Forget about Secret Techniques; it required breaking through one’s limits. Holding one’s breath, meditating, between life and death… Damn it, was he crazy? He already had superpowers. Why risk his life? What if he really died?

Ancient Martial Arts were even more obscure. Just a few basic moves—handstands, sitting meditation, strange hand seals he didn’t understand. He just couldn’t make sense of it.

“Looks like my individual talent isn’t up to par. If it weren’t for these mysterious abilities, I would have lived my whole life as a pig,” Yang Bo muttered, tossing the book aside. It was like trying to read advanced mechanics or higher algebra—completely incomprehensible.

People are like that. Those with talent can understand it; those without, simply can’t.

“Forget it, I’ll treat it as a break.” Yang Bo wandered out to look around. There was a restaurant, a bar, an entertainment center, and even gambling machines with live dealers.

At one of the gambling machines, Yang Bo lightly patted it and discovered it was purely mechanical. Looking closely at the explanation,

It turned out that the gambling company, to avoid accusations of cheating, had made everything purely mechanical, without any circuit boards; it’s all down to luck.

“Should I make some money for fun?” When Yang Bo touched the machine, he used sound waves to examine the machine’s structure. After touching it more closely, with his Metal Superpower ability, he could even sense the more intricate parts inside.

It was mechanical, all right, but even mechanical probability could be adjusted. Yang Bo didn’t gamble in the end. It’s too easy to get addicted, and companies that run such places are shameless. If you lose, you’re kicked out. If you win… you’re still kicked out. Ahem.

Yang Bo then went to the gaming area. His eyes lit up. There was an entertainment setup similar to Earth’s shooting games. He entered a small private room, put on the gaming helmet, grabbed a simulated laser gun, and started his addventure.

This game was free, a single-player type. Yang Bo entered the small room, closed the door, followed the instructions, put on the helmet, and picked up the laser gun..

“So that’s how you use a laser gun?” Yang Bo finally uunderstood how to use one. Funny, he never had access to this stuff before, but now he was learning through a game.

Many toys are designed after real things.

“Exciting.” The laser gun didn’t make any souund, but the game simulated sound, all while adventuring on a foreign planet.

The floor was like a treadmill but could rotate 360 degrees. You could walk, turn, and so on, and it would all be reflected in the game.

At first, Yang Bo struggled, but he grew more familiar with it, eventually relying on his dynamic vision.

The laser gun did have some lead time at different distances, but it was minimal, and mastering it was tricky.

After an hour, Yang Bo exited the game thoughtfully. Even though it was single-player, some settings in the game felt real. He had seen some of these things in mech games, only without mutants.

Especially while hunting mutated beasts, some had special abilities, and you needed to target weak points. Going head-to-head wouldn’t work.

“Looks like I need to play more.”

His eyes lit up again when he saw there were also mech games. The control room looked exactly like a real mech cockpit.

“Tsk, tsk, these gaming companies are fierce.” This reminded Yang Bo of Earth’s toy companies in America, which dared to sell nuclear reactor toys, almost allowing some kid to destroy a city. Then there were the submarine toys that showed the entire internal layout. They even sold radium when it first came out, incorporated into glow-in-the-dark glass.

“Could it be that these gaming companies are also part of some government strategy? If mutants ever really appear, at least there’d be a group of people with some skills?” But Yang Bo’s mind quickly switched gears, considering another possibility.

He selected another post-apocalyptic game, dealing with various mutants and mutated creatures, collecting supplies, trying to survive…

“Whether or not these games become real someday, I don’t care. I’ve got nothing better to do.” Yang Bo didn’t really get familiar with the Fat Boss’s other subordinates. Others seemed to look down on him a bit. After all, the older employees probably had all cooperated with one another. Wu Bing wasn’t here; who knows where he was.

Plus, Yang Bo’s strength was the lowest. In any company or workplace, old-timers are never too kind to newcomers. Some even intimidate rookies on purpose, fearing the boss might favor the new workers over them.

The Fat Boss saw Yang Bo playing games all day and didn’t mind. Once on March Planet, whether or not Yang Bo had the Gene Evolution talent, the Company had enough ordinary tasks to keep him busy. There was no way the boss would lose out.

Still, the Fat Boss planned to have a chat with Yang Bo. The two sat down together again. The Fat Boss asked, “How’s interstellar travel treating you?”

“Thanks, boss. It’s better than I imagined.” Yang Bo lifted a drink to his lips and took a sip.

The Fat Boss asked again, “Anything on your mind from reading the books?”

“Boss, I don’t understand it. I recognize each individual character, but when they’re together, I just can’t make sense of it.” Yang Bo shook his head, looking frustrated.

The Fat Boss chuckled, “That’s just how it is. Both Secret Techniques and Ancient Martial Arts need to be taught. That’s why Ancient Martial Arts has been in decline for so long. It demands a high talent threshold.”

“But with Ancient Martial Arts and Secret Techniques, there’s no growth limit. Gene Evolution does have limits.”

Yang Bo was startled, asking, “Why is that?”

“Because the raw materials used for Gene Evolution have an upper limit. The genetic changes triggered by those materials also have a cap. Ancient Martial Arts and Secret Techniques rely on a person’s own power to activate. Of course, most people don’t need to worry about this, because everyone has limits, and those with higher limits are exceedingly rare,” the Fat Boss explained.

Yang Bo nodded. True. Everyone thinks they’re special in the beginning. But in the end? Most people are ordinary.

Yang Bo took the opportunity to ask a question he had been pondering for a long time: “Boss, how are the levels of Gene Evolutioners ranked, and how are those ranks determined?”