This time, Qi Ze didn't watch the match in the third floor private room but followed Li Yu to the VIP area on the fourth floor. Pushing open the door of the large private room, the heads of the families collectively turned to look, then immediately stood up to greet Yan Junyu, treating Qi Ze with a few more points of respect. It didn't matter if one's genetic level was low, as long as one was resourceful and skilled, there was still plenty one could achieve in the empire.
Ouyang Ye was still a teenager, inevitably a bit reserved in his actions, but Qi Ze and Yan Junyu were both accustomed to grand scenes, each choosing a sofa by the window to sit and chat. Li Yu poured wine for the two of them, occasionally interjecting a few words, his attitude neither humble nor arrogant, knowing exactly how to handle the situation. Soon, the few of them formed their own small circle, cutting off the prying eyes of others.
"Ouyang Ye told me you were ill, are you feeling better now?" Yan Junyu was still upset about Qi Ze's disappearance. He had questioned Ouyang Ye for nine days, getting different answers each day, one moment feeling that the other party would be fine, the next worrying that he had fallen victim to the Mu family's machinations. In the last few days, he had been so desperate he wanted to barge in and see what was going on. Just as he was about to act, the news that Qi Ze was out of seclusion came in, preventing an embarrassing situation.
Yan Junyu thought to himself: once Qi Ze reported to the Imperial Academy, he was definitely going to apply to share a room with him. He didn't want to experience again the feeling of being unable to find the person and not knowing what was going on. At the same time, he was envious of Qi Ze's proximity to Ouyang Ye, he was always willing to let Ouyang Ye know all his whereabouts. If he had readily accepted Qi Ze's confession back then, the person closest to him would have been himself, not Ouyang Ye?
But the world didn't have that many 'ifs', and Yan Junyu would never have thought that one day he would care so much about someone.
"I'm fine." Cultivators rarely cursed themselves, because they could communicate with heaven and earth, and who knew when a careless one would make a curse come true, so Qi Ze immediately clarified this lie, "I was just studying manufacturing techniques behind closed doors."
Yan Junyu nodded and didn't ask any more questions, smoothly changing the subject, "Have you seen Headmaster Helian's apology letter?"
"I have. By the way, the one who backstabbed me wasn't him, why should he be apologizing to me?" Qi Ze smirked.
Yan Junyu looked ashamed and said helplessly, "Let me tell you the truth, my grandfather," he took a long time to muster the courage to speak, "he's a crude man, not as reasonable as Headmaster Helian. If he made a mistake, at most he would think of a way to compensate you, but he would never apologize. I'm sorry, if you have any grievances, please take them out on me."
"I understand, he's just shameless." Qi Ze succinctly defined Old Master Yan.
Ouyang Ye chuckled twice, while Li Yu was choked by the red wine. After taking on the Mu family, now it was the Yan family's turn. It was impressive of Young Master Qi. Where could an ordinary family raise such a devilish troublemaker?
Yan Junyu was silent for a moment, then actually nodded in agreement, "You're right."
Qi Ze was amused by his serious attitude, one hand shaking the wine glass, the other propping up his forehead, his eyebrows curved, his red lips turned up, his appearance was very charming. Ouyang Ye and Yan Junyu both stared blankly for two seconds, then quickly regained their composure. They unconsciously moved their sofas closer, nearer to the youth, and then like a competition, picked out topics that the youth might be interested in to chat about. If anyone could get a casual glance from the youth, their whole heart would leap with joy.
Li Yu was happy to be free, opening a bottle of top-grade red wine and drinking it slowly. Just at this moment, the door was pushed open, and a disheveled Yan Bo walked in, mumbling, "Junyu, can we talk in private?" He was now at the end of his tether, Old Master Yan had told him to follow the arrangements of his grandson, Mu Ran's research institute was under attack from all sides, unable to take care of itself, Headmaster Helian was angry at his overstepping and was preparing to remove him from all his positions. Now, there was no place for him in the military, the school, or the research institute, he had no idea where to go.
Qi Ze was a strange man, once he was involved, things would always escalate until they were too messy to resolve. And those who offended him would suffer, while he himself would not be affected in the slightest. The other day the Mu family had wanted to accuse him of stealing cultural relics, but they couldn't find any evidence to prove that the ancient dictionary was stolen property, in the end, they were sued for defamation by the Li family's legal team, paying a huge sum of money and losing all face.
The once glorious Mu family, the savior of the empire, had now become synonymous with despicable methods and a narrow-minded mentality, this drastic reversal had stunned a group of people. Yan Bo observed for several days, finally realizing that the Mu family was not an unsinkable battleship but a collapsing building, he had to come to apologize.
But Yan Junyu didn't want to see him, pressing a button on the table, two robot waiters walked in and forcibly escorted the man out.
"Let's watch the match, don't worry about these irrelevant people." Pointing to the arena below, he explained, "You were in seclusion for nine days and missed several matches. Wang Xuan is in first place with a clean sweep, today he will face Zhou Fu of the sixth grade, this is also a strong contender, and he's piloting a T12, the performance is very superior."
At this point, he looked deeply at Qi Ze, "But after watching a few matches, I feel that Wang Xuan's mecha is not simple, whether it's speed, firepower, or defense, it far exceeds the T-series mecha. It's said to be G9, but it seems to be just wearing a G9 shell."
Ouyang Ye chuckled a couple of times, only to be met with a faint glance from Qi Ze and hurriedly shut up.
Qi Ze didn't say a word, only fiddling with his smartbrain, looking very busy. Yan Junyu didn't mind, also opening his smartbrain to browse through the news, then froze. In the tracking program he had written, there was a shopping webpage, the avatar was that long-lost carved stone monument, below which was written a line of wordsâ'Supreme Divine Creation, nothing is unrepairable, nothing is uncreatable, do not disturb if not sincere.'
The website had been set up today, not even specifying the scope of business, just a line of ancient rhyme, and it wasn't using the empire's common script, but square characters that were only spread in high society. Very few people could understand it, so the comments below were mostly negative reviews and abuse, with no business coming in at all.
Yan Junyu pondered for a moment, roughly figuring out the shopkeeper's meaning: 1, the shop is called 'Supreme Divine Creation'; 2, the shop can repair anything; 3, the shop can create anything; 4, people without sincerity should not disturb; 5, people without a certain status and background couldn't even get through the door as they couldn't understand the text.
What was sincerity? Yan Junyu thought of the fifty billion Qi Ze had snatched from his grandfather, he couldn't help laughing softly. The wording and tone of this shopkeeper were almost identical to Qi Ze's, just from the text, one could imagine the person himself standing in front of him, narrating word by word.
Rather than speculating about their relationship, it was better to check the IP address, thinking this, Yan Junyu immediately went into the background to operate. But the shopkeeper was very crafty, using several relay stations in a row, and at the end of the tracking, the signal actually disappeared on a certain primitive planet. How could that be possible?
Yan Junyu immediately realized that there was a more skilled hacker behind the shop, helping them cover up their true identities. Unfortunately, while Neptune was a low-level planet, the black market trade was very developed, attracting the best hackers in the entire Galaxy to set up camp there. If this shop was indeed set up by Qi Ze, then Li Yu could surely find him talent in this area.
Yan Junyu immediately erased his traces to avoid being traced back. After doing all this, he probed, "I found a very interesting online shop, claiming that they can repair anything and create anything. I wonder if they make super mechas."
"What shop?" Qi Ze's demeanor was natural, and Ouyang Ye didn't give anything away.
"Supreme Divine Creation. I think I've seen this stone monument on your personal webpage." Yan Junyu tapped the screen.
"Oh, I just picked it randomly from the image library." Qi Ze leaned over to take a look, joking, "Whether they can or not, you'll know if you place an order."
"Then I'll place an order and try." Yan Junyu placed the order without a second thought, then shook his head regretfully, "Their customer service is not available. If they dare not take on this order, I'm going to give a bad review."
Qi Ze curiously asked, "With the empire's productivity, how long would it take to make a super mecha?"
"Master Mu Feixing spent four hundred years building six super mechas, you do the math."
"So long?" Qi Ze leaned back on the sofa, lazily, "Then you'll just have to wait, maybe in fifty or sixty years, you can pick up your goods."
Ouyang Ye couldn't hold back any longer, pounding the table and laughing aloud, thinking justice! He was going to give a bad review! Drag him to death! Li Yu couldn't help but laugh either, shaking his head speechlessly while pouring wine for Young Master Yan.
Yan Junyu was humiliated, but he didn't feel any unhappiness at all in his heart, on the contrary, he liked the vivid look of the youth with his raised eyebrows. He thought about it, couldn't help laughing, raising his wine glass and whispering helplessly, "Have a drink, I'm afraid of your mouth."
As the group was laughing and chatting, the match had already begun downstairs, Wang Xuan's operation was very sharp, no matter how powerful Zhou Fu's T-series mecha was, it was no match for him at all. After a few rounds of grappling, Zhou Fu was clearly defeated, but in the second before he surrendered, he opened the weapon hatch on his chest and fired a shot at Wang Xuan, and Wang Xuan reacted in time, throwing out his trident.
The blinding white light filled the arena, making the host and the audience unable to open their eyes, even the flying cameras were affected, falling to the ground. A few seconds later, the white light dissipated, Zhou Fu's T12 had been cut in half by Wang Xuan's trident, while the G9's surface had only dented, no trace of the expected disintegration, not even a scorch mark could be found.
The host spoke righteously, "Based on my years of commentary experience, I can be sure that contestant Zhou Fu just used a magnetic storm pulse cannon. What is a magnetic storm pulse cannon? It's a device that directly drives elemental particles to rub against each other and explode, the destructive power is very powerful, only used on the front lines, it must not appear in the arena. According to the rules, before the match, all contestants' mechas must be disarmed of such large-scale weapons of mass destruction. I don't know how contestant Zhou Fu managed to escape the inspectors, but I do know that what he did is a violation. If the power of a magnetic storm pulse cannon exceeds a certain limit, it could cause a magnetic storm, by then not only the entire arena would be destroyed, but even Neptune Military Academy would not be safe. We would all become the victims of his reckless actions! I demand that the organizers investigate this matter and give us all an explanation!"
Yan Junyu had already notified the military the moment the white light lit up, asking them to intervene in the investigation. The magnetic storm pulse cannon was an extremely unstable weapon, currently only used on the Zerg battlefield, Zhou Fu's actions had seriously violated imperial law, and if pursued, it would be enough to sentence him to death. And this incident happened when Qi Ze appeared, whether there was someone behind it, whether the target was Wang Xuan or someone else, was unknown.
Zhou Fu was still struggling when he was taken away, "I was framed! That wasn't a magnetic storm pulse cannon, otherwise Wang Xuan would have been blown to pieces!"
Wang Xuan, who jumped out of the cockpit, "..." He was just as confused as well? These days he had been a bit suspicious that he was piloting a fake G9, hit by so many shots, yet the outer shell was completely undamaged; the F-class speed and agility should have shown a much lower performance, yet he was always able to operate at S-class level. No matter how high his mental power was, he didn't have the ability to turn trash into a super T-series mecha, so the problem must have been in the transformation.
When he was hit by the magnetic storm pulse cannon, his head buzzed, and he instantly fell into a brief state of blindness, thinking he was doomed this time, but he only felt his body sway, then saw on the huge display screen that Zhou Fu's T12 had been cut in half by his own trident, while the instrument panel in the lower left corner showed that the mecha's damage rate was less than 5%.
"He might be telling the truth, that shouldn't have been a magnetic storm pulse cannon." Wang Xuan spoke up, upholding a scientific and practical attitude, even though his G9 was unscientific.
"We'll know if we check." Yan Junyu quickly arrived at the arena, detaining the relevant parties, along with the two mechas.
The spectators in the VIP area either left with excuses or ran down to inquire about the situation, only Qi Ze and the three of them sat calmly.
"That was really a magnetic storm pulse cannon, right? Why is Wang Xuan completely fine?" Ouyang Ye was full of confusion.
"Ordinary artillery can't penetrate the defensive layer of the G9, but if it's elemental power," Qi Ze paused before continuing, "it's even less penetrable." He had attached many spiritual words and defensive formations to the outer armor of the G9, considering that the spirit energy in this world was abundant, while the energy stones were of inferior quality, he had embedded a spirit gathering formation in the defense formation to provide additional power for the G9. So when the magnetic storm pulse cannon struck the G9 with a large mass of spirit energy, the spirit gathering formation activated and absorbed most of the energy, then input it into the mecha's power system.
The whole thing was actually very simple, but Qi Ze had no intention of explaining it clearly.
Ouyang Ye was curious to the point of scratching his heart out, but he didn't dare to ask, jumping up and saying, "I'm going down to see the situation."
"Would Young Master Qi like to stay and drink with me if you don't want to join the fray?" Li Yu smiled and invited.
Qi Ze, of course, didn't want to go, on one hand, toasting Li Yu with a wine glass, on the other hand, opening the online shop to accept Yan Junyu's order, "The deposit is one hundred million, the final payment is ninety-nine billion, pay the final payment when the goods are delivered. The delivery date is indefinite, if the order cannot be completed, the deposit will not be refunded. Please give a good review, oh!" After typing the last sentence, he laughed heartily.
In the meeting room, Xu Qi, who was about to leave Neptune, rushed over hastily, sighing, "Neptune has been very turbulent recently, major events have been happening one after another. In the past, I only came here once every few decades, but this time I've come twice in half a year. Where are the weapons experts? Any results yet?"
Yan Junyu sent him an appraisal report, "We have results, it was indeed a magnetic storm pulse cannon, and the kinetic energy reached 1.79E47 joules, the destructive power is very great, once it triggers a magnetic storm, the entire campus will be in trouble."
"Good grief, more brutal than terrorists! Take the person in for interrogation, don't hold back on the methods!" Xu Qi gritted his teeth in anger. Fortunately, the worst outcome hadn't occurred, otherwise, everyone present would have had to die with it. It didn't matter if he died, would the old man not cry to death if Junyu died? Although he complained verbally, he liked this grandson in his heart more than anyone knew.
"Wait, since it was a magnetic storm pulse cannon, why was Wang Xuan unharmed?" He suddenly realized something was wrong.
Yan Junyu spread his hands, "Don't ask me about that, ask the weapons expert."
"Aren't you the weapons expert?"
"I couldn't find the reason, so I'm having you ask others." Hearing the notification sound from the smartbrain, Yan Junyu opened the website and found that the mysterious shopkeeper had actually taken the order, setting a series of tyrannical terms. The tone and attitude were almost like another Qi Ze sitting behind and replying. He couldn't resist, laughing softly.
"Can you still laugh at a time like this?" Xu Qi glared angrily, slamming the table, "Come, let's go take a look at that devilish G9."
The two arrived at the lab and found that the G9 had already been disassembled into a pile of parts, Wang Xuan crouched on the ground, like a bereaved father, Ouyang Ye patted his shoulder with one hand, holding a screw with the other, seemingly consoling him.
"Have you found anything out?" Xu Qi asked immediately, his attitude urgent. He had lived half his life, and had never seen a G-series mecha that could withstand a magnetic storm pulse cannon, that thing, to put it nicely, was a first-generation mecha, but in reality, it was just a brittle shell, one shot and it would crumble.
"There are no obvious problems on the surface." A staff member pointed at a pulsar in the safety room and said, "But there are huge problems inside. We took off a piece of outer armor and did a hitting experiment, ordinary thermal weapons could damage this G9, but the much more powerful magnetic storm pulse had no effect at all. Not only that, look, after each magnetic storm pulse strike, the energy contained in this piece of outer armor would increase, making the defense even stronger. We just looked at the black box of this mecha, before Zhou Fu launched the death attack, the energy of the G9 had already been consumed by 46%, but after the attack, the energy reserve rose to 90%, what principle is behind this, we currently don't understand, we have to continue investigating more deeply. If we find out the results, a new type of mecha may be born."
"Who made this mecha?" Xu Qi asked.
"I don't know. Wang Xuan said it was introduced by Ouyang Ye, Ouyang Ye said he found a repairer online to fix it. We've already checked his smartbrain, we did find a call record between the two, but tracing the IP, we couldn't find any information about this repairman."
"If you can't find it, continue looking, I don't believe that with the military's network experts, you can't find any clues." Xu Qi was very confident, while Yan Junyu rubbed his nose, embarrassed for him.
Ouyang Ye listened to a few words, laughing inwardly. When he spread network knowledge to Qi Ze, Qi Ze realized that there was actually something called a hacker in the world, so he immediately turned all the IP information into a strange rune and entered it into the star network. No one knew how he did it, but after that, everything he didn't want to expose disappeared.
Go ahead and search, anyway, you would never find it in your lifetime. He weighed the screw in his hand, gloating inwardly.
Wang Xuan was terrified, once Xu Qi finished asking his questions, he immediately walked over, "General, when can I get my G9 back?"
"It depends. If you can provide more information and help us find that master, this G9 will immediately be returned to you. If you can't find that master, we'll have to continue to study the mecha, this time is uncertain, it might be a few months, or it might be a few years." Xu Qi thought for a moment, and added, "To compensate for your losses, we'll provide you with a T-series mecha free of charge, you can choose from number 15 to number 5."
Wang Xuan didn't feel he was getting a bargain at all, firstly, he had a deep love for the G9; secondly, other T-series mechas might not even be as good as the G9. At first, he only thought that the performance of the G9 had been greatly improved, it was only after he heard the results of the experiment that he realized how strong the defense of the G9 was. Turning magnetic storms into power, this technology might not even be possessed by a super mecha.
The staff members still hadn't gotten over their disbelieving expressions!
"I don't know that master, Ouyang Ye sent the mecha to him, he fixed it and sent it back, that's it. I just want my G9 back, I don't want a T-series mecha." Wang Xuan wouldn't betray a friend for profit, even if he didn't know anything, he wouldn't disclose it if he did.
"If we can't get to the truth within three months, we'll return the G9 to you." Yan Junyu made the decision, "You can borrow our mecha for the matches in the meantime, if you need a contract, we can sign it right away."
"That's fine then." Wang Xuan reluctantly agreed.
After the two left, Xu Qi questioned, "How can you agree to return the mecha within three months? Do you know how important this technology is to us? Is a super mecha powerful or not? But no matter how powerful it is, it doesn't have this function. An ordinary mecha with a defensive power that exceeds 3S, what a stunning achievement is that? That master we must find, his ability is probably even greater than Mu Ran's, and there's even a possibility that he can surpass Mu Feixing."
"Aren't you going to keep it for yourself if you don't give it back? The empire has the strictest protection of private property, if he sues at the Supreme Court, you won't have a chance of winning, and you'll leak this major discovery. How many times has he fought with that mecha? How many videos are there? They are all ironclad evidence. Uncle Xu, I know you take the technology of mecha manufacturing very seriously, and I know you've always wanted to free the Yan Family from the control of the Mu Family. But we don't want to be too hasty. The empire is in chaos lately, if we are also in chaos, we can't rule out that others might take advantage. That master we'll find quietly, best not to alarm others. I'll have Wang Xuan and Ouyang Ye sign a confidentiality agreement, you keep a low profile on your side."
Xu Qi thought about it and nodded, "I was too hasty. I'll announce to the world that Zhou Fu didn't use a magnetic storm pulse cannon, but a laser cannon. I'll quietly settle this matter, it's also our Yan Family's luck, it just so happens that Neptune is our turf, outsiders can't interfere, otherwise, the news would really be hard to contain."