69: Are you really giving it to me?

The three people returned to their respective rooms, put on their virtual helmets, and entered the game.

The familiar sense of immersion reappeared. Zhang Zhifei excitedly opened his eyes and found himself already inside his personal hangar.

Standing directly in front of him was a mech he had personally modified, named [Deep Blue].

It was named Deep Blue because of its dark blue paint job.

This mech completely sacrificed defense, appearing somewhat thin, and featured a pair of wings, each holding four funnel units.

Its external equipment was extensive: a medium-to-close-range rapid-fire rifle, a composite ship-slicing sword, two particle beam sabers, and four powerful high-explosive missiles hidden within its magazine.

This was a work whose modification was not yet complete; it was essentially modeled after the seraph, but still lacked too many components.

"Old buddy, I really missed you."

Just as Zhang Zhifei was about to step forward and affectionately stroke his partner, his peripheral vision caught sight of what looked like a brand-new hangar on the other side of the facility.

"What is this?"

Zhang Zhifei jogged over, his eyes lighting up.

Inside this hangar were five mechs, though the dim lighting only allowed him to make out their general silhouettes.

Zhang Zhifei instantly recognized one of the mechs; it was the seraph that He Ming had piloted during their first game login.

"I'd recognize you even if you were burned to ashes!"

Zhang Zhifei wanted to enter the hangar but was stopped by an invisible wall.

[Prompt: To enter Hangar Two, you must complete the Fifth Stage Assessment Mission.]

Zhang Zhifei raised an eyebrow, immediately recalling the Star Sea event in reality!

"Holy crap, Star Sea wasn't just dangling a carrot—they're actually giving these out?"

Upon seeing the actual rewards, the drive deep inside Zhang Zhifei completely ignited. He clenched his fists, looking incredibly motivated.

On the other side.

In Bai Xiaofei's personal hangar, a Hangar Two had also appeared.

Bai Xiaofei stood outside the invisible wall, looking toward Hangar Two, quickly scanning the five silhouettes in the shadows.

He recognized three of them.

The seraph.

He had experienced the oppressive feeling it brought up close during his first game login.

The Azure Dragon.

The first one from the left had rigid lines and distinct edges, with a pair of cicada-wing-thin thrusters on its back, and two dragon heads on its shoulder armor concealing menacing gun barrels.

It carried two ship-slicing swords as tall as its body. Equipped with long, medium, and close-range weapons, it was an all-rounder mech, though its focus leaned toward assault capabilities.

Bai Xiaofei's eyes narrowed; this was the mech he had coveted for a long time.

"Azure Dragon."

"I will get you sooner or later."

Bai Xiaofei shifted his gaze to the right, toward the massive mech that looked somewhat bulky. Next to it, the Azure Dragon looked hardly bigger than an elementary school student.

The Black Tortoise.

This was a strategic mech possessing ultra-high defense and a heavy firepower platform. Its advantages were high defense and fierce firepower; its drawback was slow speed, requiring systematic coordination to unleash its true value.

With only four minutes left until the dungeon opened, the launch bay was already active, allowing early entry into the instance.

Bai Xiaofei activated his streaming function, turned, and jogged to board the night owl. Gripping the control stick, he entered the launch bay. Following a loud, buzzing roar, the electromagnetic catapult launched the mech out of the Moon Base.

Tens of thousands of mechs flew out of the launch bays almost simultaneously, resembling a swarm of bees. This spectacle, no matter how many times it was seen, was enough to make one's blood boil and hair stand on end.

The surrounding space was a deep darkness, with only the distant Blue Star emitting a sapphire blue halo.

"Hmm?"

Bai Xiaofei noticed that the human faction's defensive strength was different from before—the difference was massive!

High up, a third large carrier ship had appeared, suspended in space.

Six more frigates and two more battleships were present!

Bai Xiaofei moved his perspective to look toward the Moon Base.

The dense array of gun barrels, like black nodules, stretched out as far as the eye could see.

In the very center, the main cannon of the main Moon Base, extending nearly a thousand meters, flashed with a chilling, captivating light.

"Has the version been updated?"

It wasn't just Bai Xiaofei; all players noticed the changes to the dungeon!

World Channel.

[Why wasn't the version update announced? Blue Star's faction firepower has been boosted!]

[We've been getting beaten up every day lately, we were starting to wilt. Now we can finally kick the Hai Star's ass!]

[That's more like it. Otherwise, getting smacked around every day is boring.]

[Brothers, it's about to start. Same rules as always: survive the first sweeping attack, then quickly regroup.]

Players spontaneously formed temporary squads, and some good friends who knew each other in real life formed teams of varying sizes, but most looked scattered and disorganized.

In the outermost region.

Thirty-one mechs hovered in an uninhabited area. They were uniform in model and all painted jet black.

The national emblem of the Dragon Kingdom was printed squarely on the chest, and the right shoulder featured a tiger head insignia.

Most notably, the height, spacing, and orientation of these thirty-one mechs were perfectly identical, forming a neat, aesthetically pleasing square formation that subtly exuded a chilling aura of suppression and intense pressure.

The player sitting in the cockpit at the very front of the formation was the commander of this team, Major He Chenguang of the Shadow Tiger Special Forces.

He looked to be about thirty-five or thirty-six, with a resolute face and eyes sharp as knives.

At this moment, he was gazing at the troops he had brought out through the simulated observation window.

"Haocheng, for the first wave of saturation strike, perform evasion according to the predetermined plan."

"You lead Squad One to charge from the left, try your best to draw the enemy's combat attention."

He Chenguang's voice appeared in the squad voice channel.

"Understood, Boss," Liu Haocheng replied with powerful resonance.

10, 9... 1, 0.

Liu Haocheng operated his mech to make a tactical gesture. The nine skirmisher mechs on the far left instantly shifted form, transforming into fighter jet mode almost simultaneously, and rapidly darted to the left.

Inside the cockpits of He Ming, Zhang Zhifei, and Bai Xiaofei.

Amidst the crisscrossing light, a palm-sized virtual projection of the Bai Ze appeared.

"Ultra-high density energy reaction detected."

"Enemy attack pattern: Wide-area scattering positron fission cannon."

"Evacuate immediately according to the predetermined route."

The three displayed their skills, frantically maneuvering along their respective tactical paths.

The very next second after they completed their evasive maneuvers.

Destruction descended.

From the extremely distant deep space, a beam of light over a hundred meters in diameter shot toward the Blue Star faction from the bow of the Hai Star carrier, the monstrously shaped [Judgment].

A low, deep hum was heard, like a judgment from hell.

When that thick beam of light approached the Blue Star faction's airspace, roughly ten thousand meters away, an anomaly suddenly occurred!

The devastating attack seemed to strike an invisible prism, instantly completing its first decomposition. Hundreds of beams of light, like living things, split again, transforming into tens of thousands of lethal arcs, forming a blanket-like net of death that enveloped the scattered wave of mechs.

Fast!

Too fast!

It was so fast that the audience in Bai Xiaofei's stream, who were ready to watch the show, hadn't even reacted before the first wave of attacks from Hai Star was already over.

Tens of thousands of explosions flared up simultaneously. The massive shockwave quickly spread, forming a stellar ring that then swept up a large number of lucky survivors who had managed to evade the initial blast.

Everywhere the eye could see was a silent feast of destruction.

The small fraction of surviving players stood stunned in the starry sky, their hands slowly leaving the control sticks, their minds temporarily shattered, and their gazes vacant.

Out of a hundred thousand participants, seventy percent were wiped out in a single strike.

Even for a world-class boss battle, this damage is completely unreasonable, isn't it?