Chapter 106: Gathering at Stone Terrace Town

Self-Media Platform, DRZ02825 Live Stream Room.

Current status of the live stream: offline—commonly referred to as a black screen.

Channels 1 and 2 were flooded with hundreds of barrage messages per second, scrolling wildly.

“Newbie scum, get lost and do your meteor and dust missions!”

“Go away, too crowded here!”

“Can’t see the chat clearly, new drivers get out of Channel 1!”

“Damn it, new viewers, ask your questions in Channel 2. Don’t disturb our Channel 1 chat.”

...

“What the hell is going on in this live room?”

The Zongheng Fenghua Sightseeing Group all entered the stream room, only to find no way to chat in the interface. They resorted to chatting in their group chat instead.

“No idea. The barrage is going crazy—hundreds of messages per second. Even streamers with tens of millions of followers don’t have such active barrages, and it’s still a black screen!”

“The quality of these messages seems low. It’s all ‘get lost’ and ‘scum’... can’t stand it.”

“There are so many gifts. The stream room was only established a few hours ago, and the top 500 fans already have over 50 fan points, sending out over 50 credit points in gifts.”

Yue Lingqing said, “Let’s log off and rest for now. We’ll check back once the stream starts. Those with enough scroll tickets should gather in the designated towns. Try not to stay in towns without experts; otherwise, the penalty for failing the monster siege will be severe.”

With 500 members in Zongheng Fenghua, some heeded Yue Lingqing’s call and logged off to rest. After two minutes of silence, the rest burst back into heated discussion.

Huang Yunshuo was awakened by a knock.

Knock, knock, knock!

“Da Huang! Da Huang!”

A sweet, youthful female voice called, causing Huang Yunshuo’s legs to go weak before he even got up.

“Damn, it’s the voice of Tail.”

After a moment of confusion, Huang Yunshuo suddenly realized and bitterly smiled, patting his head. He put on his clothes and shoes, then staggered out of his room, only to see Tail in front of him.

The physical carrier for Tail, made by Li Nan and two others, was a chair floating half a meter in the air, equipped with a toolbox, remote control buttons, an energy slot, and other functions. Because of its many functional attachments, the chair appeared large, though the soft, comfortable seat cushion took up little space in the center.

At this time, the physical carrier wasn’t fully completed, so the seat was empty. Only an antenna and two mechanical arms atop the chair spun and waved excitedly, reflecting Tail’s current mood.

“Good early morning, Tail.”

Huang Yunshuo grasped the floating chair, reaching out to feel around. “Where’s the head? Where’s the head?”

“The antenna!” Tail said bashfully.

Huang Yunshuo tapped the antenna twice, and the floating chair suddenly stirred uneasily. Tail’s antenna flicked wildly as it escaped Huang Yunshuo’s grasp and dashed away.

“Da Huang, I’m just here to wake you up! Sister Xue asked you to come to the viewing platform!”

After washing up a bit in the water room to clear his mind, Huang Yunshuo checked the time: about 3:40 a.m. Though he’d only slept two hours, he felt surprisingly refreshed.

At the viewing platform, Li Nan and the other two, busy working on Tail’s physical carrier, still had various material powders and dust on them, holding helmets ready to log in at any moment.

“Is everything fully upgraded now?” Huang Yunshuo asked, intrigued.

“Yes, it’s good for four hours offline without any problem. Both brain fatigue and mental exhaustion are greatly reduced, and the sense of immersion has improved a lot. I just tried it—it feels awesome!” Chen Juanfeng said excitedly, waving his arms, scattering powders and dust everywhere.

“Sit still!” Song Na grabbed a pillow and smacked Chen Juanfeng on the head, instantly silencing him.

“Do you have enough time-space scrolls? Want to come over to find me?” Huang Yunshuo asked. He wanted them to come to him because he still had the expert Chen Lu Qing Shuang and some acquaintances here; they were also somewhat well-known in Shitai Town, so it was better to stay.

“My scrolls are enough. I’ll come find you soon,” Ye Piaoxue said.

“Hahaha, Piaoxue must be nervous...” Chu Jun chuckled. Seeing Ye Piaoxue’s displeased expression, he quickly cleared his throat. “Thanks to you, I earned quite a few points for free. I’m joining Shitai Town later!”

“If I go, I won’t have enough points to redeem the Double-Headed Dog’s Kiss,” Zhao Shengsheng grumbled. She didn’t want to stay in their town; the thought of a monster siege gave her goosebumps. With so many level 10 monsters, could ordinary players even get a head for the kill?

However, the Double-Headed Dog’s Kiss, which greatly boosts attack, was still the most important thing for everyone, and she didn’t have enough points to cover both.

“The three of us have been busy making the physical carrier and haven’t even done today’s time-space voyage,” Li Nan, Jin Xiong, and Chen Juanfeng said, a bit frustrated.

“No worries. Come to Shitai Town first. I’ll take you on three runs later,” Huang Yunshuo said.

“What about me?” Zhao Shengsheng asked, frustrated.

Since entering the game, Zhao Shengsheng had terrible luck. Everything was going wrong—six dungeons cleared, six losses in a row!

She had just scraped together 5,000 points, redeemed the Double-Headed Dog’s Kiss, but didn’t have enough points left to exchange for scrolls to find Brother Huang.

“Come along; I’ll carry you!” Huang Yunshuo said. “I’ll lend you my 9–13 sword. It doesn’t add much attack, but it doesn’t reduce your health either.”

Zhao Shengsheng, an assassin by profession, beamed with joy. “You said that! Honestly, I’m really weak with -120 health. After the deduction, I only have 20 health points left. It’s heartbreaking.”

“You’re not trying to trick me with that iron sword, are you? You actually have enough points,” Huang Yunshuo asked cautiously, seeing her delighted expression.

“Really not enough! I lost six times in a row!” Zhao Shengsheng yelled in frustration. Nearby, Chu Jun secretly smiled, proud of his hidden achievements. He wasn’t about to tell Zhao Shengsheng that he had five wins and one loss and a surplus of points he didn’t even know what to do with.

“Data stream repair for Kadan Type-1 Lightweight Recon Mech. Location: Engine, Power Cabin. Repair targets: Engine 25%, Power Cabin 25%. Total time required: 24 hours. Cost: 28 million credit points.”

Though Tail’s voice was pleasant, everyone’s expressions darkened further.

“So frustrating! Back then, a brand-new Kadan Type-1 mech only cost 40 million credit points. Now just repairing it costs 28 million. It’s maddening,” Song Na snapped.

“Repairing is always more troublesome than building. It’s okay,” Huang Yunshuo shook his head, though his heart twitched repeatedly.

Fortunately, the 28 million credit points weren’t wasted.

The engine and power cabin were the mech’s core components—the engine provided propulsion, and the power cabin supplied energy. These two were the most crucial parts of the mech, overshadowing everything else: thrusters, evasive systems, weapon systems, armor systems—all paled in comparison.

Moreover, repairing the initial 25% was the hardest part. Once this was done, the remaining 75% of repairs would cost roughly the same overall.

“Whatever the case, we’re not short on money now. No matter what, we have to make sure the mech can operate.”