Chapter 71: Bayonet Charge

"Hao Ge, do you know the Golden ZONE?" Zuo Xiaotang asked curiously. He didn't have dreams as grand as Wuzang's; as long as he could graduate, find a girlfriend, and land a good job, he would be a winner in life.

"I suppose so, though it might be a bit different from others'." Li Hao rubbed his nose.

"Holy crap, awesome! You can even give pointers to Luo Bi. Looks like our dorm is about to take off." Zuo Xiaotang had always felt that Li Hao could be very impressive.

"Take off, my foot. Luo Bi being able to comprehend it is due to his own accumulation; we just happened to be there at the right time. The Arc Shot can serve as a little supplement, but you, on the other hand, need to strengthen your physical fitness more than Wuzang."

"Don't, I really can't stand that. Just let me lie down," Zuo Xiaotang waved his hands hurriedly.

"If you want to play in the S Tournament, your physical fitness won't keep up. Besides, the USE will be selecting top military academy teams for training in the middle of the year to prepare for the S Tournament. Don't you want to go?"

"What would I go for? My life goal of getting into Tianjing Mecha has already been achieved." Zuo Xiaotang shook his head like a rattle. "Finding a stable job in the future and marrying a busty beauty—my life will be worth it..."

Lost in his daydreams, Zuo Xiaotang smiled like a flower.

Li Hao smiled along with him, though there was a trace of worry in his eyes.

Recently, Bleem hadn't come to harass him, but he had started having inexplicable dreams frequently. At first, they were blurry and fragmented, but recently they had started to become a bit clearer. What Li Hao had to pay attention to was that Zuo Xiaotang and the others would appear in these dreams. Were these dreams occurring in a future timeline trying to tell him something, or were they just dreams?

At this moment, Ma Long was with Sheng Man and Sheng Man's best friend, Tan Ziyuan. Ma Long was one-on-two, chatting and laughing with ease.

"Awesome!" Ma Long gripped his fist tightly after receiving a message on his Skycom.

"Why are you so happy all of a sudden?"

"Our second team just defeated the Cougar Team three to two!" Ma Long laughed.

"Cougar Team? Which Cougar?" Tan Ziyuan asked curiously. It was quite difficult for girls who entered the Journalism Department to find someone ugly, and Sheng Man's dorm was a famous beauty dorm with top-tier looks.

"Which one could it be? The first team of the Puma A-Class Military Academy. Their Team Leader, Luo Bi, was taken down by the guys in our dorm. Cool, handsome, arrogant, and invincible!"

"That impressive?" Both Sheng Man and Tan Ziyuan were a bit skeptical. Luo Bi was one of the six best experts Earth had shown at S10, known as the "Six Dragons," a top-tier existence. Of course, some said Luo Bi was the weakest of the Six Dragons, but he was still one of the Six Dragons.

"You two keep this a secret. We have a decisive battle against Gao Yunfeng next Wednesday. It's very likely the losing team will be disbanded, but we are definitely going to win!" Ma Long said full of confidence.

"No way. I heard Zhou Naiyi's ability to lead a team is poor, and they even lost to the Marco Polo second team. How could they possibly beat Gao Yunfeng?" Tan Ziyuan didn't believe it.

"That's where you don't understand. Our dorm has a super god who was once a member of the Solar System Tianqi Youth Class. Even if Luo Bi saw him, he'd have to call him Li Ge. He's definitely a big shot," Ma Long said mysteriously.

"You're exaggerating. You guys... you aren't trying to set me up, are you?" Tan Ziyuan glanced at the couple. No wonder they brought her, the third wheel, along to eat.

"Ziyuan, Ma Long is reliable. He wouldn't brag about something like this. Anyway, since you're both single, how about we have a mixer between our dorm and Ma Long's dorm? Get to know each other and make some friends," Sheng Man said with a smile, pulling her best friend.

"Our dorm is not ordinary: the mysterious Li Ge, a descendant of the Wu Family, an entertainment tycoon, plus me, who's just there to make up the numbers."

Since it had come to this, Tan Ziyuan laughed heartily. "That could actually work. I'd like to see what level this mysterious god is at."

After eating, Sheng Man and Tan Ziyuan left. Ma Long lit a cigarette on the side of the road; he had been the one to initiate this.

Sheng Man had mentioned inadvertently that there was no such person as A Youyou among the exchange students. This girl was problematic, but she had indeed come from the NUP side. Every year there were such well-connected people; perhaps her grades at NUP were too poor, so she ran over here to find a loophole and get a gilded resume to go back and use. Usually, they couldn't stay for long, and the fact that this girl almost never appeared at school verified this.

The point was, she wouldn't stay at Tianjing Mecha for too long.

Hao Ge was mostly very steady in most things, but emotionally he was just an elementary schooler. One look at that fully invested appearance and he knew it was going to end badly. Rather than waiting until things got out of hand, it was better to pull back from the brink. And the best way was for a more outstanding girl to appear. Honestly, when he had his first love, he fell in and didn't recover for several years.

After finishing his late-night snack, Li Hao wanted to drag Zuo Xiaotang to do extra training, but the little fatty refused to budge. There was a fan club event later, and he was a true fan. As a loyal, hardcore squad leader, he absolutely had to fight on the front lines; even if the sky fell, it would have to wait.

Li Hao arrived at the EMP Hall. Although it was already past eleven, the EMP Building was still brightly lit, and there were quite a few people. In fact, there were many in the waiting area accompanying their boyfriends. Li Hao hadn't felt much when he saw this before, as he was used to being alone, but suddenly he felt a bit envious. If A Youyou were here, it would certainly be a very happy thing.

He shook his head to shake off A Youyou's shadow and seized the time to fight a few rounds. He would be busy with the team tournament later. Actually, he wasn't worried; Wuzang, Ye Tong, and Zhou Naiyi all had very high ceilings. As for Zuo Xiaotang... this little fatty was probably the most talented among them, but he was too lazy and had no ambition. He had to think of a way for that.

"Student Li Hao, this is your V111. Good luck." The girl in charge smiled and even gave a thumbs-up, leaving Li Hao only able to nod blankly, completely bewildered.

"Senior, who is he?" another girl asked.

"Li Hao, from Class 16 of our grade. He's also the new team leader of our Tianjing Mecha second team. Next Wednesday is the campus tournament, the first team and second team will have a decisive battle. It's said that whoever wins can represent Tianjing in the competition."

"That's not very likely, right? A team formed on the fly, fighting the first team?"

"The second team has Wuzang and Ye Tong, two Supernovas. They might be able to put up a fight."

"Li Hao seems... I haven't heard much about him. Is he very strong?"

"I don't know about that, but among the freshmen in the Mecha Department, he has the highest number of EMP usages. Last year I could see him almost every day. He won't be bad."

"Tsk tsk, Senior, that doesn't sound right. You wouldn't have developed feelings and taken a liking to him, would you?"

The two girls teased each other, but unfortunately, the person in question had no impression of them.

Li Hao entered the training pod, opened the EMP system, and entered the ranking queue.

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

Puppet is online!

"Holy crap!"

"He's here, he's here!"

"Yeah! I knew my intuition wouldn't be wrong! He's here!"

"My dear, you are so beautiful." On a snow-white large bed, with rose petals scattered around, just as the two beautiful bodies were about to have something happen, that special ding-dong sound was exceptionally clear. The boy froze, stopped with a serious face, fell into incomparable inner struggle, and half a second later, silently got out of bed, quickly put on his clothes and shoes, and ran toward the door as if he were about to be caught in the act of adultery.

"Where are you going?" The girl wrapped herself in the sheets, her fair skin half-hidden, radiating youth and beauty. The blush on her pretty face had not yet faded, and she still carried a trace of surprise and bewilderment, exceptionally alluring.

"EMP Building... to watch the God save the Earth!"

Puppet didn't have a notification sound, but Zhuang Zhou did. Zhuang Zhou wouldn't send a notification when he started his own broadcast; it only sent one when Puppet appeared.

Huonan couldn't help but laugh. Damn it, after watching a bunch of noobs pecking at each other all night, he finally popped up. He had thought this kid wouldn't dare to show his face after taking his money.

Ever since the Ghost Martial Sect young master Sa Wutian was defeated, Mars had been completely stirred up, especially that Arc Flash Strike roundhouse kick. It had full lethality and even more insulting power, directly poking the Martian artery. Martians didn't like overnight grudges; if they could do it fast, they wouldn't wait.

At the same time, what could be easier to become famous overnight than defeating Puppet? One by one, those who were crazy to become famous were desperately looking for opportunities to take down Puppet. At this time, whoever could stand out would be able to become famous overnight and get ahead. And on Mars, for a Warrior, it could change their destiny.

Zhuang Zhou and Huonan looked at each other. They had been about to fall asleep, but suddenly entered a combat state. "He's here!"

Huonan saw that stubborn, unyielding spirit in little Zhuang's eyes, along with a weird thing called "hope." This was a weird thing that only existed in those who hadn't been beaten down by society. For some reason, Huonan really wanted to snuff out this little flame.

"Puppet's matches are a bit few; he's not professional enough. The training intensity of our Martian Warriors is far higher than this," Huonan laughed.

"Matches aren't about quantity, they're about quality. Puppet God also had high-frequency training when he was in the Xuni Qu before," Zhuang Zhou said, and Huonan immediately let out a snort of laughter. "That's called training in the Xuni Qu?"

Instantly, the players in the Xuni Qu were dissatisfied. What did that mean? Looking down on whom!

However, Huonan didn't care about this noise at all. "Puppet has been around for a while, and everyone is very interested in him. Judging from his current combat style, this person should be very good at close combat, and his strength is very high. The Golden Gene's manifestation in strength is very distinct. Estimated height is over two meters, weight over two hundred pounds..."

Zhuang Zhou shook his head. "I don't think so. I've been following Puppet God for a long time. I saw him when he was still in the Xuni Qu, and I think some of the old viewers watching the live stream have seen him too. In the Xuni Qu, Puppet God used all kinds of Mecha, and his combat techniques were also very rich."

"Little Zhuang, look, the logic in your statement is flawed; the state of the Xuni Qu cannot be used as a basis. Puppet uses the Armor Dragon quite well. Actually, he is very shrewd and is very good at choosing based on his opponent. Although the Armor Dragon is not advanced enough, it is very balanced and can fully bring out the abilities of a power-type competitor."

"Old Nan, what about the Armor Tiger?"

"Didn't I say it already? It happens occasionally; that doesn't count for anything."

"Oh, is that so? How many Spaceships have you prepared for today?"

Huonan's mouth twitched slightly. Damn it, even if it was for the sake of the show, ten was a bit exaggerated. A single Spaceship had better cost-effectiveness. Damn it, a man as calculating as him was actually taking this loss, but a Martian man would never bow his head.

A look of pride, typical of a Martian, appeared on his face as he pursed his lips, "As long as I can offer everyone an exciting battle, a mere Spaceship is nothing. If he can defeat an S-rank competitor, even a Space Fortress is fine."

A Space Fortress, 880,000 Federal Currency, an absolute big-shot level air-dropped donation.

"Fine, no problem, let's bet on the S-rank competitor and add a Space Fortress to the stakes." Zhuang Zhou was also going all out; he couldn't talk like Huonan, but he could be ruthless. Anyway, those with nothing to lose have nothing to fear.

Huonan looked at him with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot. Did he have any professional ethics? They were just talking, why did he have to go all-in at every turn? It was a show, just a job, everyone was just trying to make some money. These young people have no sense of martial virtue!

"Little Zhuang, young people should be steady. But since you've said so, let's set a scope so you can't say I'm bullying you. We'll use the S10 certification as the standard; amateur ratings don't count."

In fact, "S-rank competitor" is a general term for everyone. If you lower the requirements, the main players who can participate in the S Tournament can all be called S-rank. However, the official, strictest certification is different; it is based on the previous S Tournament and a comprehensive assessment of the record over the past two years. Of course, it is determined by each theater of operations itself.

For example, in the USE now, the titles for top-tier competitors are "Six Dragons," "Fifteen Generals," and "Supernova." But if you go by the strict official S-rank, then even the Supernovas cannot be considered S-rank. Supernovas are potential stocks; perhaps super geniuses emerge every year, but they still need their records to verify it. Only the Six Dragons and the Fifteen Generals are worthy of being true S-rank.