Chapter 69: Type I Tulong

Wang Yu naturally agreed at once.

That night, back at his quarters, he found a black gaming pod resembling a Type Zero sleep pod beside his bed, along with a user manual.

Wang Yu skimmed the manual, then eagerly opened the lid and stepped inside.

As the dark lid closed, total darkness enveloped him, not a speck of light remaining.

The next instant, jelly-like substances shot out from all sides, instantly wrapping his body, while his head and cervical spine tingled, as if something clung tightly against them.

Wang Yu saw a flash of white light, his entire body spun wildly, and when his vision cleared, he stood on a bustling, desert-like wasteland, the ground parched and covered entirely in pale red sand.

Around him stood thousands of people dressed identically in dark green tight-fitting military uniforms, each wearing a fully enclosed silver helmet adorned with a blue planet emblem on the side.

More astonishingly, towering six to seven meters high around the crowd stood rows of black mechs: round heads, bulky square bodies, slender limbs, some carrying golden serrated blades on their backs, others silver rifles—each gun barrel two or three meters long.

“Big Brother Xiong, Big Brother Xiong, you’re here again for new recruit training?”

“This time, I spent a fortune hiring a certified mech technician for a week of external training—I won’t fail this new recruit camp again.”

“The Mechanic Guild’s new recruits are assembling; senior guild members are organizing teams—let’s join up and pass together.”

“Haha, Type I Tulong, here I come! I studied the guide for three days and nights—I’ve predicted every possible scenario; I won’t fail this new recruit camp.”

“Type I Tulong, the dream of every real man—I’d brave fire and water for you, even die ten or twenty times over, just to claim you.”

“Complaint, complaint! The game company is outrageous—making the beginner level so hard, forcing us to endlessly respawn in the new recruit camp! Let’s all complain together! You’ve traumatized our tender minds—compensate us for psychological damages!”

……

A chorus of noise and laughter echoed around him.

Among the crowd, only about one-fifth of the soldiers had the glowing words “Player” clearly displayed above their helmets.

Wow, no wonder this is a high-end gaming pod—the virtual effects are a hundred times better than the original virtual glasses; it’s nearly indistinguishable from reality!

Wang Yu sighed inwardly, then skillfully brushed his hand across the silver helmet—immediately, a soft “zzzt” sounded, and a white mini-screen materialized before his eyes.

He tapped a few commands on the screen, and the previously noisy player voices vanished, replaced by a single elegant female voice echoing in his ears.

“Blue Star Alliance New Recruit Team 146, Mech Pilots, assemble immediately. Departure for Mars Base in ten minutes. Support personnel, complete final mech checks and prepare for departure.”

The soldiers without “Player” on their helmets grouped in threes and fours around the black mechs, expertly running various instruments over them for final inspections.

“Huh? Where’d the bloodshed shielding and pain reduction settings go?”

Wang Yu suddenly murmured in surprise, fumbled further on the white screen, then finally shrugged and swiped his hand to dismiss the display.

He looked down at his gloved hand—on the back of the glove, a black “18” symbol was clearly marked.

“Everything else is the same as during internal testing—could it just be that the new recruit stage difficulty was raised? Why are so many complaining about this one stage? I remember it being easy back then.” Wang Yu muttered, then remembered something and looked up at the sky.

Hundreds of meters above, a massive gray spaceship, three to four hundred meters long, silently lifted into the air.

Wang Yu glanced at the identical blue planet emblem printed beneath the ship and recalled what Chen Boshi had said—his gaze flickered slightly.

He lowered his head, scanned the surrounding mechs, spotted the black mech bearing the same “18” symbol, and strode toward it.

Before the black mech with the golden serrated blade on its back, three men and one woman were rapidly pouring liquid from blue crystal rods into a circular port on the mech’s leg.

Seeing Wang Yu approach, the slender female soldier stepped forward, saluted sharply, and said:

“Ding Yu, provisional mech pilot—mech inspection complete, energy infusion in progress. All pre-departure preparations will be finished in one minute.”

“Thank you. I’ll board now,” Wang Yu said, glancing at her face, entirely obscured by a pale white mask, and returned the salute.

The woman saluted again, then briskly jogged back to her post.

Wang Yu watched her retreating figure, pondered for a moment, then walked up to the black mech and touched its lower leg.

Cold. Smooth. He tapped it with his gloved finger—no sound echoed.

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow, then tapped his helmet once more.

“Shhh.”

From his helmet, countless silver-white threads surged outward, wrapping him instantly into a peculiar, form-fitting suit of armor.

The silver-white armor looked thin and light, yet covered from his back to his soles with hundreds of circular interfaces—utterly futuristic.

“18, open boarding hatch.”

Wang Yu said calmly to the black mech.

The mech’s head slowly lowered, and from its featureless, bald face, a red beam shot out, enveloping Wang Yu.

“Voice pattern confirmed. Biological signature confirmed. Ding Yu, provisional mech pilot—please board.”

A strange electronic voice emanated from the mech’s head.

No sooner had the words finished than the mech emitted a dull “crack,” knelt halfway to the ground, and its abdomen glowed red, slowly splitting open a circular entrance half a person’s height.

Wang Yu stepped confidently onto the mech’s kneeling thigh, leaped twice, and slipped into the circular opening.

“Swoosh. Swoosh.”

The moment he entered the mech’s red-lit abdomen, countless transparent optical threads shot from all directions, instantly piercing every interface on his silver-white armor.

“Clang!” The door snapped shut.

Then, with a “whoosh,” his body rotated and floated freely within the mech’s interior.

Simultaneously, the mech’s internal speakers emitted another strange synthesized voice.

“Artificial gravity tethering activated successfully.”

“Photonic neural interface connected successfully. Human-mech neural synchronization beginning…”