Chapter 25: Our Era

Whether in the Mars or Earth broadcast rooms, everything was quiet; clearly, they had been stunned by Puppet's fighting style.

The Armor Dragon Fighter looked forward at a forty-five-degree angle, its feet trampling the sparking Sky Wolf fighter; at this moment, Zhuang Zhou and the others all felt a burning heat in their hearts.

This was what they infinitely craved in their hearts: the dominance that Earth, as the origin of humanity, should possess.

Puppet wins!

"Brothers, cheer for the Puppet God! He can realize everything we imagine!" Zhuang Zhou roared with his arms wide open. It was too handsome, too cool, too exhilarating; this was a way of winning he could only feel but never have imagined.

Zhuang Zhou's broadcast room was mostly filled with virtual players, and at this moment, they were completely ignited. The battle felt like it lacked technical depth, but it was just so satisfying—he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"I can assert that the Puppet God is an Earthling. I'll keep the reason to myself for now, as there will be a detailed explanation later. Here, I want to say that although Tuoleisi isn't very famous, his strength is extremely formidable. He is a powerful representative of the new generation in ROM, and he recently had a thirty-five-game winning streak. But he met our Puppet God. Simply put, this level isn't even worth our Puppet God drawing his blade. He finished it empty-handed. Please let me shout—Awesome!"

Zhuang Zhou shouted loudly, releasing his emotions to the fullest. Although it was his first time, he fell in love with this public expression, especially with the countless supporters in the scrolling comments.

If the Zhuang Zhou of the past was merely just living—even getting into the Tianjing Military Academy Journalism Department was just to make his parents happy, feeling that he at least wouldn't be unemployed—at this moment, he felt "life."

Looking at the scrolling comments, which besides shouting for the Puppet God also contained praise for himself, Zhuang Zhou felt he was no longer an indistinguishable passerby, and truly felt the meaning of existence.

Over in South America, Luo Bi showed no sign of frustration from his defeat; a smile played on the corners of his mouth. Second Brother is still Second Brother. He had thought time and mechas would limit his skills, but now it seemed he had worried too much. Second Brother recognized him as soon as he came up; that was just playing around with him. If he had really wanted to fight...

At the mere thought of Second Brother's past, Luo Bi actually shivered.

This Martian kid probably didn't know that Li Hao was their ancestor. The reason for this kind of handling was still because of what happened back then; Martians were two-faced, neutral on one side while launching sneak attacks—that was what he hated most.

Huonan's broadcast room was also in chaos. This loss was inexplicable; clearly, Tuoleisi was too careless. What was all this? And the opponent's luck was too good, it was disgusting. This guy managed to show off again, which was super annoying.

Huonan cursed inwardly, "What the hell is this? The data the assistant gave said this Tuoleisi was fierce, saying this was strong and that was tough—he's just hairless trash, not even as good as that Luo Bi from before. It's a total embarrassment." However, his expression remained steady and calm. As a streamer, he knew very well how to handle such situations. Don't panic!

A broadcast crisis?

It doesn't exist!

The finishing blow replay was shown.

As the Armor Dragon retreated, it kicked out, striking directly at the claw ejected by the Sky Wolf, causing it to bounce back and pierce its own head.

That was unlucky enough.

Huonan cursed "dog shit luck" in his heart. "Player Tuoleisi's luck was too bad. He is still young, and failure will help him improve. But here, I want to say that this person, Puppet, is quite lacking in character. He has prejudice against our ROM Warriors. There were many ways to land the final kill, yet he chose the most insulting stomp. Here, I call for Martian Warriors to come out and defeat him. I, Huonan, will be here forever, and I will fight this person to the end!"

Gifts suddenly skyrocketed in Huonan's broadcast room, and the follower count was climbing. It had to be said that he had hit the nerve of a considerable portion of Martians. Was Tuoleisi important?

Not important, but he was a Martian. Martians were the most face-conscious people in the entire Solar System. Let's put it this way: most Martians believed Mars was the center of the universe.

Huonan's move directly made people ignore everything that came before. What did winning or losing matter? Looking down on Martians?

Could such a person still live in EMP?

On the other side, Puppet had already kicked away his opponent. This was a regular operation, but after Huonan's setup, it became exceptionally glaring in the eyes of the Martians.

Huonan's broadcast room entered a break, and Huonan lit a cigarette, crossing his legs. Just now, the tips from the last five minutes exceeded a week's income, and his popularity had soared to over 2.8 million. This was definitely an unexpected gain; he had to continue targeting him!

In the team training hall of the Puma A-Class Military Academy, Luo Bi's teammates were having a heated discussion. Everyone had been training, but they all came out upon hearing that their Team Leader had been defeated. They didn't expect this match to be won so simply. Everyone was satisfied, but it wasn't quite enough; Luo Bi's previous battle was more exhilarating—the Reverse Swallow Return against the Reverse Swallow Return was just too cool.

"Boss, is Tuoleisi that weak?" Luo Bi's teammates were all there. They had been worried that Luo Bi would be in a bad mood after losing, but now Luo Bi seemed very happy.

Luo Bi shook his head. "This Tuoleisi is not weak at all. If he were here with us, as a newcomer, he could probably challenge Ye Tong."

Everyone was stunned and felt it was unlikely. Ye Tong was the key talent being cultivated by the Nangong Family and the Ye Family, slated to be this year's Newcomer King. They just didn't expect her to go to Tianjing Military Academy. Although Tianjing Military Academy was not bad, with her level, she could have gone to the best in USE, or even better, gone to NUP for further studies. Her style was more suited to NUP, and then she could bring back the most advanced combat concepts.

"Really? I feel like this guy was sometimes serious and sometimes very arrogant, but his luck was truly good. The rebounding Titanium Claw actually pierced himself."

"Los, how many EMP matches have you played?"

"Five thousand or so, why?" Los looked confused.

"When have you ever seen such a coincidence?" Luo Bi said, tapping the other's head. "In mecha melee, what is most important?"

"A lot of things: speed, proficiency, mecha phase countering, stamina..."

Luo Bi shook his head. "It's the sense of distance. This is also my biggest takeaway from fighting people from NUP. Light Type mechas have perfected this aspect, causing us to expend a huge amount of stamina in battle while actually failing to exert enough suppression."

Everyone frowned, half-understanding. Distance control was certainly important, but that was caused by many factors like speed and agility, and clearly, that wasn't what Luo Bi was talking about.

What he was talking about was a pure sense of distance, built on the foundation of "seeing through" the opponent. This was the terrifying part about Second Brother.

If Second Brother had been there back then, they might not have dared to make a move at all.

"This kind of distance mastery is actually a necessary training for experts in combat, but when applied to mecha battles, very, very few people can achieve it."

Luo Bi said that distance control was what truly showed a pilot's seasoned experience. It was a sense of distance that required enough experience and talent to form. The prediction of that one step back was completely at the limit of the Sky Wolf's attack, and what he didn't say was that the angle of that kick was the key to the self-piercing.

This showed it wasn't just seeing through, but also being very familiar with the Sky Wolf fighter, understanding the size, strengths, and weaknesses of both mechas, joint torque, and so on. It wasn't an on-the-spot calculation; it was a habitual judgment formed by sufficient proficiency.

He didn't say these things because even he couldn't do it.

"Brothers, stop watching, get to training! S11 will definitely be the era of our USE. It's our era; we can't fall behind!"

After S10 ended, Luo Bi was pessimistic at heart. Not to mention NUP, ROM was full of talent. Earth's average level wasn't bad, but they had fallen behind in top-tier training. They weren't as technically skilled as NUP, not as ruthless as ROM, and even in talent, the Titans were starting to show their edge. Block NUP in S11?

With what? With nothing?

Even if they were to be blocked, it would probably be ROM doing it. The entire USE had produced a few experts, but none were enough to lead everyone. In any case, he, Luo Bi, didn't submit to the others.

But now it was different. Since Second Brother had come out of retirement, how could he lose face? By the way, those few... never mind, no need to remind them; they would see it sooner or later.

Extra training, extra training!

Li Hao rested for a while, preparing to continue fighting, when he suddenly glanced at the account in the top left corner, his eyes suddenly widening...

This...

Why was there 2500 on his EMP account???

Was it hacked?

There was such a good thing? Someone sending money?

Clicking it open, he saw it was from accepting paid challenges, receiving half of the challenge fee. Suddenly, Li Hao felt he had missed out on millions, deeply reflecting on his own arrogance.

Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong...

The sound he had previously disliked and didn't know how to turn off suddenly became pleasant and melodious.

Li Hao filtered the challengers, sorted them by score, and selected the one at the top.

Third Battle: Puppet vs. Dark DJ (ROM)

As soon as the challenge was accepted, the opponent spoke directly in the public channel:

"Puppet, do you dare to fight me in Huoxing Dongxue? If you don't dare, then this match is called off. Be more humble in the future, don't be so self-righteous. The world is big, and you are small!"