“Damn it, we can’t beat them!”
Once they fell into battle, Fiery and Impetuous and Little Wooden Boat realized that both of them had still underestimated these long worms.
The power systems were running at maximum capacity, and the mechas roared. However, when their photon swords hacked into the bodies of the long worms, the wounds they managed to slice open were healed instantly by the secreted mucus.
The two of them backed against each other, struggling to maintain their defense.
Wave after wave of long worms kept pouring in. They barely dodged one attack only to face the next wave immediately.
“Which planet’s route on earth are we heading to? Damn, why is the difficulty so high?” Constantly forced into defense without being able to deal any damage, Fiery and Impetuous couldn’t help but curse and swear out loud.
The energy gauge issued a warning, unable to hold out much longer.
Little Wooden Boat was quite open-minded about it. “Just fight as best as we can. We probably almost made the top ten percent anyway.”
Speaking of this, he paused. Through the cockpit screen, everything around them was writhing long worms.
Fiery and Impetuous sighed. “…I wonder how Boring is doing over there.”
Ever since they were forced apart, the team signal had also been cut off. There was simply no way of knowing what condition Boring, who had separated from them, was in.
“Maybe his situation is better than ours.” Little Wooden Boat smiled helplessly.
Still talking, another long worm struck, and the two of them plunged into battle once again.
In contrast, the other side of the battlefield was quite peaceful.
“They’ve already finished the twenty-third planet? So fast.” Inside the study outside the screen, seeing this familiar monster, Wen Fengyu couldn’t help letting out an exclamation.
Wen Fengyu had a very deep impression of the long worm monsters on the trade route leading from the twenty-third planet to the twenty-fourth.
The reason for such a deep impression was mainly due to their high numbers, high defense, and very fast movement speed, making them quite disgusting to fight.
Yet saying they were hard to fight wasn’t entirely true either.
As long as your attack power and speed were sufficient, you could still beat them.
It was just that their numbers were so vast that without finding a special strategy, this single battle would probably take half an hour.
Over on Fiery and Impetuses’ side inside the screen, the reason they couldn’t win boiled down to their mecha equipment being too weak and their offense being insufficient.
Unable to break through the enemy’s defense to deal damage, they could only defend passively, and their mecha energy would also rapidly deplete through repeated dodging.
After watching for a few glances, Wen Fengyu could determine that in less than ten minutes, these two would suffer defeat.
“Alright, let me take a look at the other side.” The moment he thought of how his friend request had been rejected, Wen Fengyu’s teeth started to itch slightly. He hummed, impatiently switching his spectator target to see what kind of combat style this “Boring” guy—who had rejected both his friend request and the Admiral’s—actually had.
However, unexpectedly, on the other side of the battlefield, the long worms acted as if they had lost their target of pursuit, attacking wildly and aimlessly.
And right amidst the gaps between the long worms, a white shadow floated quietly in the center.
It was a white mecha. Within half a meter of its surface, space warped slightly, which simultaneously insulated it from all of its aura.
“He’s concealed.”
Hearing the voice, Wen Fengyu raised an eyebrow and turned his head.
Beside him, the black-haired man in military uniform lowered his eyes slightly. His handsome face carried little expression, as if he were somewhat tired. He leaned slightly against the back of his chair, his fingers lazily brushing the small cat resting on his lap.
Wen Fengyu hummed, taking it as agreement with Lu Xingcheng’s assessment. However… he looked back at the projected screen, a thoughtful look filling his eyes.
In a concealment state, unless one’s psychic power far exceeded the opponent’s, it was very difficult to find the other party’s location. Furthermore, these long worms had extremely high defense and massive numbers; under the principle of conservation, their psychic power naturally wouldn’t be high.
It’s just that concealment could only last a maximum of five minutes, and five minutes was simply not enough time to escape layers of encirclement. Once he reappeared, he would still be attacked.
He didn’t understand why “Boring” had chosen to conceal himself.
At this moment, as if having confirmed something, the white shadow suddenly moved, weaving with clear purpose between the long worms.
Realizing something, Wen Fengyu’s eyes widened slightly. Then he rubbed his chin, cracked a smile, and teased, “Oh? Did he figure out the core of this battle?”
If you zoomed the camera out, you could see that these worms actually followed a certain pattern as they writhed. The more they moved, the more interconnected they became, forming a massive nest that enveloped their prey within it.
When the prey realized something was wrong and wanted to escape, the nest was already complete, leaving no way out.
And right at the innermost layer of this nest space was hidden the… King, capable of issuing commands to all the worms!
The number of long worms was endless; trying to kill all of them to achieve victory was utterly impossible.
There were only two ways to reach the next planet. The first was to rely on absolute strength, making the King realize that this bone wasn’t easy to chew and order a retreat.
The players could take the opportunity to leave.
The second way was… find the King!
If a player could find the King and kill it, the long worms—having lost their King—would become a headless swarm of flies and could no longer block the players.
In this battle, Fiery and Impetuses’ side couldn’t be counted on, and “Boring’s” own level, equipment, and strength didn’t meet the conditions for the first method of departure.
The only remaining path was to find the King Worm.
Yet even knowing that finding the King Worm was an option, so what?
The King wasn’t so easy to find.
Ordinary long worms only had E-level psychic power, but the King Worm’s psychic power reached the S-rank!
In the past, S-rank was the absolute peak level for physical fitness and psychic power.
It wasn’t until their Admiral was born, whose physical fitness and psychic power far exceeded the upper limit of the S-rank rating, that the interstellar world was shocked!
In the end, the Teaching Academy exceptionally established extra tiers for him: Psychic Power: SSS, Physical Fitness: SSS!
In combat, psychic power could play a supporting role—such as finding weaknesses or concealing oneself—though that could only be achieved when one was far superior to the opponent.
During the battle against the long worms, Lu Xingcheng had also realized that the fastest way to clear the level was to find the King Worm.
Yet under such a massive number of long worms, coupled with the King Worm’s cautious personality, super-strong psychic power, and the constraints of game account character stats,
Even Lu Xingcheng hadn’t been able to pinpoint the King Worm’s location.
In the end, he had to rely on sheer force, slaughtering seven or eight out of ten long worms before the King Worm, unable to withstand the casualties, reluctantly retreated.
Having awareness was one thing, but if the hardware didn’t measure up, there was truly no way around it.
He didn’t believe “Boring” could find the King Worm.
Still, being able to explore twenty-three planets in twenty-something minutes—this was several minutes faster than their own team; this “Boring” indeed had some skill.
Just as Wen Fengyu was thinking absent-mindedly, he noticed Lu Xingcheng suddenly raise his head, his lips pressed into a cold, rigid line.
“Huh? What’s up?”
The man’s pair of honey-gold pupils stared fixedly at the screen. He remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, his voice somewhat hoarse.
“He found it.”
What?! In an instant, Wen Fengyu’s eyes widened.
The white shadow on the screen had actually found a path through the gaps between the bodies of the long worms! When this path reached its end, what appeared before their eyes was shockingly a vast circular palace woven from the bodies of countless long worms!
On the throne in the dead center of the palace coiled a tiny worm.
The worm was completely snow-white, its body surface covered with a layer of scales that reflected a lustrous glow. Its head resembled that of a snake-like creature, and sprouting backward from the crown of its head was a golden keratin structure shaped like a crown.
It seemed to still be sleeping, its eyes closed, letting out faint breaths while its white wings stretched out naturally in the back.
At first glance, it looked like a holy deity.
Seeming to sense something, the white worm suddenly opened its eyes. Its eyes were a beautiful, crystal-clear blue. The pupils rotated within their sockets, and the white worm let out a hissing sound from its mouth, cautiously scouting this space.
Aside from itself, no other living creatures could be seen around.
The caution in the white worm’s eyes seemed to diminish a bit. It blinked, and the next moment, a formidable surge of psychic power suddenly burst forth from its tiny body!
Scanning this space inch by inch.
The white worm’s psychic power gradually approached the mecha piloted by “Boring,” and the white mecha’s concealment time had only ten seconds left!
“He’s about to be discovered.” Outside the screen, Wen Fengyu watched this scene, his fingers clenching unconsciously and his palms breaking out in cold sweat, feeling even more nervous than the person involved on the screen.
Right as the white worm’s psychic power scanned across the mecha’s body, the mecha’s concealment time happened to run out!
“Hisss!” The white worm’s pupils shrank slightly, its pupils slitting into straight lines. It arched its body, its scales bristling as it let out a hoarse roar.
Instantly, the walls composed of long worms in this chamber shook violently.
Yet quickly discovering something, a trace of puzzlement flashed in the white worm’s eyes, as if wondering why such a weak human had appeared here.
The white worm narrowed its eyes, its tail tightening stealthily. With a powerful flap of its wings, it shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, transforming its entire body into a sharp awl and stabbing fiercely toward the cockpit area on the mecha’s chest!
Aiming straight for the mecha’s most fragile spot, determined to pierce right through it.
With a loud clang, Wen Fengyu became so nervous he stood straight up, crying out in bewildered shock: “Why? He clearly had time to dodge just now, why didn’t he dodge?”
When the white worm had already closed in to such a distance, dodging wasn’t an easy feat anymore. And even if the white worm’s physical fitness couldn’t compare to the regular long worms, it was definitely not low; once hit, the mecha would probably be blown to pieces and the pilot killed instantly.
“He’s… baiting it,” the man said in a deep voice, drawing out each word slowly.
Wen Fengyu started, his eyes widening in instant disbelief.
Right as the white worm was about to pierce through the mecha, blue flames suddenly erupted from the back of the mecha, which had been motionless until now. The mecha’s compound eyes rippled with a purple luster as all systems operated to their absolute limit!
A blinding, intense white light burst from the mecha’s chest. When its core energy underwent thousands of compressions, the resulting energy was released all at once in an instant!
Boom, boom, boom—
Relying on this suddenly erupted energy, the white humanoid mecha shifted behind the white worm at hyper-light speed! It raised its photon sword—and thrust it toward the white worm’s eyes!
Long worms had extremely strong defense, but their eye area was their most fragile spot.
However, just as the photon sword was about to pierce the white worm’s eye, it was blocked by an invisible barrier.
Ripples spread across the barrier. After a stalemate for a moment, with a crack sound, a tiny crack actually appeared on the photon sword.
“Hisss!” A human-like sneering expression actually appeared on the white worm’s face. It flapped its wings and launched an attack toward the mecha.
Meanwhile, the mecha seemed to have run out of retaliatory power; after the teleportation, its energy was almost completely depleted.
Under the white worm’s fierce onslaught, it could only barely manage to evade.
Outside the screen, Wen Fengyu’s chest was still heaving violently. He took several deep breaths, yet the shock in his eyes refused to fade.
Hyper-light speed movement.
True to its name, it allowed movement at hyper-light speed. The principle was to run the mecha’s core energy to the extreme and release it instantly, relying on the explosive energy to teleport to a designated location at hyper-light speed.
However, each movement consumed immense amounts of energy, and ordinary mechas could only withstand the shockwave of a single energy release once every three hours.
Therefore, for normal mechas, hyper-light speed movement could only be used once every three hours, and once used, the mecha’s energy would also approach exhaustion.
Thus, in the vast majority of cases, hyper-light speed movement was mostly reserved as a life-saving trick.
Yet often, using hyper-light speed movement unexpectedly could also become the winning stroke.
The trouble was that once used, you were left practically crippled. On a real battlefield without a hundred-percent insurance policy, nobody dared to casually deploy this skill.
Yet “Boring”… his combat style could absolutely be described as ruthless and decisive. The moment he discovered the King Worm, he had already made up his mind, using himself as bait to lure it close.
Then, relying on that sole instance of hyper-light speed movement, he teleported right behind the King Worm and launched a direct attack on its weakness.
Had it not been for the protective shield that suddenly appeared in front of the white worm, “Boring’s” strike would have definitely killed it.
The protective shield that suddenly manifested around the white worm was likely a unique self-preservation method belonging to the King Worm.
No one had known the King Worm possessed such a skill.
What a pity, truly a massive pity.
Feeling a sense of regret in his heart, Wen Fengyu still felt profound admiration for “Boring’s” combat technique.
Wen Fengyu exhaled a few more breaths, finally calming down. He stretched lazily and sighed, “What a shame. If the equipment were stronger, the attack should have been able to pierce the King Worm’s defense. If this account is leveled up a bit more, once the mecha equipment is upgraded, trying to clear this stage again should be much easier.”
His words clearly implied he didn’t think “Boring” could win against the King Worm.
“Not necessarily.” The man’s cold voice echoed inside the study.
Wen Fengyu’s mouth twitched. He raised his eyes to look at the screen where the mecha was currently fleeing in a disheveled scramble, occasionally firing counterattacks that hit empty air while sounding alarms due to low energy, thinking to himself that there was no way a turnaround was happening here.
He looked doubtfully at Lu Xingcheng, surprised to find that the man had actually straightened his posture, completely shedding the pre-rest vibe from earlier. Not only that, the man’s gaze darkened slightly, and a trace of a smile even pulled at the corners of his lips.
Holy crap? Was his vision failing him? Lu Xingcheng, this cold and boring man, was actually smiling??
Was he hallucinating?
Wen Fengyu looked at the Admiral, then back at the projected screen, and coughed. “Did you take the wrong medicine?”
Lu Xingcheng shot Wen Fengyu an ice-cold look and said indifferently, “Ever since becoming a movie emperor, your observational skills have dropped again.”
Damn it, how had his observational skills dropped!
Unconvinced, Wen Fengyu stared back at the screen, vowing to find proof of Lu Xingcheng’s error.
Not looking closely was one thing; looking closer felt like a series of face-slaps. After careful observation, he suddenly realized that the attacks “Boring” threw out while scurrying around in disarray—which looked like they hit empty air—actually sent ripples spreading the moment they touched the space.
That wasn’t hitting empty air at all; that was clearly striking the absolute weakest point on the King Worm’s intrinsic body shield!
And not only did the King Worm fail to notice this, it kept pressing the pursuit relentlessly.
Just as the final attack tossed out by the mecha struck a certain spot in empty air, the space inside this palace seemed to ring with the sound of shattering glass.
The white worm froze. Realizing what was happening, it turned swiftly, wanting to flee! Yet the roles of prey and hunter had quietly swapped during the repeated evasions. Pushing its remaining energy to the absolute limit, the white mecha triggered hyper-light speed movement yet again!
The white worm’s pupils shrank sharply as a light sword magnified rapidly in its vision. With a squelch, it pierced straight through its pupil!!!
Simultaneously, Wen Fengyu—whose own pupils were violently vibrating—stared in absolute disbelief at this scene.
How was this even possible?? How could an ordinary mecha execute hyper-light speed movement twice within ten minutes? This was something even he—with S-rank physical fitness and A-rank psychic power—could never pull off!!
A flash of inspiration suddenly struck, and Wen Fengyu remembered something. Apart from piloting specialized mechas, the only other way to use hyper-light speed movement multiple times in a short span was to achieve such a masterly grasp over the mecha that it felt like an extension of one’s own arm.
Controlling the mecha’s status and energy with absolute, meticulous precision placed extreme demands on psychic power. Only a handful of individuals with S-rank psychic power could possibly pull it off…!
And once someone miscalculated their grip on energy and mecha tolerance during a second hyper-light speed movement, the mecha would disintegrate into ashes along with its pilot mid-movement, vanishing into the universe.
This combat style was akin to dancing on the edge of a blade; lose focus for even a second, and you would plunge into the abyss of destruction.
Without absolute self-confidence and extraordinary daring, achieving such an operation was utterly impossible.
Who on earth was this “Boring”??
Amidst Wen Fengyu’s extreme shock, he failed to notice that the young Admiral beside the desk had already vanished, leaving behind only a small cat letting out an aggrieved meow.
The lights in the corridor flickered on and off.
Lu Xingcheng walked over to the window. A gentle breeze blew the stray locks of hair across his forehead. Under the moonlight, the man’s flawless face—carved like a deity’s—remained cold, yet an unusual glint flashed within his golden pupils.
What a terribly familiar combat style.
He really is… still alive.
The man took a deep breath and gazed into the distance. Below the window, thousands of households were brightly lit, and high-rise buildings cast brilliant, colorful lights.
Reason told him that even if that person was still alive, he shouldn’t go looking for him anymore. But…
Lu Xingcheng slowly closed his eyes as scenes from the past surfaced before him.
Opening his eyes once more, his gaze was resolute. After a long silence, he picked up his terminal.
His voice dissolved into the night.
“I need you to check the information on an account.”
“Mhm, it’s a Virtual Life game account.
…The ID is ‘Boring’!”
“Hoo—” The young man let out a long breath, his eyes glowing. He could feel his heart beating violently and the frantic roaring of the violent factors inside his body.
Due to his overwhelming excitement, his fingers gripping the mecha pilot controls were trembling.
It had been a very long time since he last experienced such a hearty, unhindered battle.
It was just a pity that his account’s equipment truly wasn’t cutting it; after finishing this fight, the mecha was completely drained of energy and couldn’t support him in exploring the next planet.
The King Worm was dead, and the palace constructed from the bodies of other long worms began to collapse. The team channel’s signal also gradually recovered. Before long, Fiery and Impetuses’ voice came through the channel: Holy crap, what just happened? Why did these bugs start attacking each other?
“Thank goodness, any later and the two of us would’ve been toast!”
Lin Qiansheng smiled, just about to type and tell Fiery and Impetuous to proceed with the settlement, when a blinding golden light suddenly erupted before his eyes.
Before he could even make out what it was, the game announcement resounded across the entire server: Congratulations to the player with the ID “Boring” for obtaining a Gold-quality Source Stone!!!
You had to know that Source Stones served as the core energy for mechas, making them of paramount importance. The gap between each grade could be described as worlds apart, and Gold-quality—the highest grade of Source Stone—had only been owned by three people since the game launched!
The game players were still reeling in shock over the fact that the Empire’s Admiral had actually teamed up with Big White Goose to run the Mysterious Galaxy dungeon, when the next sudden, server-wide broadcast plunged the game’s public chat—where messages never stopped and scrolled by at lightning speed—into an eerie silence for a moment.
What had they just heard?
The three people inside the dungeon knew nothing of this, but the existence of the Gold-quality Source Stone effectively resolved Lin Qiansheng’s current energy shortage problem.
After equipping the Source Stone onto the mecha, Lin Qiansheng called upon Fiery and Impetuous and Little Wooden Boat in the team channel. A few minutes later, the three of them arrived at the twenty-fourth planet.
Not long after, Lin Qiansheng found the key clue for this planet.
The moment the planet displayed exploration complete, a sharp pain struck at his heart.
Lin Qiansheng knew this was because he had played games for too long, and his real-world body was starting to act up.
Boring: Let’s stop here. With our strength, we can’t get past the rest ahead. We can settle now.
Actually, Fiery and Impetuous and Little Wooden Boat still had many questions—for instance, why the long worms attacking them had suddenly started killing each other—but after thinking it over, Fiery and Impetuous decided it was better to check the combat replay after getting out.
When the system prompted: Proceed with settlement? He decisively selected Yes.
The moment he clicked yes, on the Mysterious Galaxy leaderboard, a squad’s ranking surged upward rapidly, finally stopping firmly at second place!
Mysterious Galaxy Leaderboard.
Second Place.
Number of planets explored: Twenty-four. Squad members: Boring, Fiery and Impetuous, Little Wooden Boat.
Some players who had been staring at the rankings all along remained silent for a long time after seeing the change, and then someone forwarded this news to the world channel, which had likewise plunged into silence and not yet recovered.
Was this “Boring” the same “Boring” who had just acquired the Gold-quality Source Stone?
Half an hour later, the Virtual Life game forums were flooded entirely with “Boring.” For five years, the forum had only exploded once back when the Admiral hit the top of the leaderboard to an unshakeable first place, and had never encountered issues since. Now, due to the sheer volume of users posting and replying, it couldn’t take the load and crashed for the second time!
At the same time, on the interstellar search trends, a keyword entry reading ＃Who is “Boring”＃ trampled over a crowd of entertainment celebrities and rocketed straight to the number one trending spot…!!