80: You lack martial ethics

The next day, 7 PM.

Bai Xiaofei completed his cultivation task for the day, rising from the meditation cushion on the balcony and exhaling a long breath of turbid air.

Though still not entirely accustomed to the heavy burden on his shoulders, he was beginning to try and adapt to the identity of a savior.

"It's been a while since I played the game."

"I actually miss them quite a bit."

The 'them' he referred to, of course, were the loyal fans who had silently supported him for the past three years.

Even with limited communication, Bai Xiaofei cherished their companionship in his heart.

He returned to his room, retrieved his virtual helmet, put it on, and lay down on his bed.

"star sea knight: enlightenment, logging in..."

Light and shadow shifted, and when Bai Xiaofei opened his eyes again, he was already in his personal hangar, which felt like a completely real second world.

"Azure Dragon."

He gazed at the Azure Dragon standing in the center of the hangar, his expression calm, his fists tightly clenched.

"Start the live stream."

"Live stream started."

On the Feiyu Platform, Bai Xiaofei's live stream, which had been offline for over a month, suddenly went live.

In just two seconds, hundreds of people poured into the live stream room.

"Brother Fei, you're finally online! I thought someone had gotten to you in real life."

"God Bai, what have you been doing all this time? Attending an offline event shouldn't take this long."

Bai Xiaofei enabled the bullet screen function, feeling a surge of emotion.

He recalled the hellish training he underwent when he first arrived at the Starry Sky Posthouse.

"This period was more like a recuperation," Bai Xiaofei said.

"Recuperation?"

"What kind of decent person recuperates for over a month!"

"Wait, brothers, look at that mech in the hangar! What is that?!"

"Where's God Bai's big night owl?"

"Holy crap, this mech is too imposing! How many points must have been spent on this modification?"

For a moment, the bullet screen scrolled incessantly... Bai Xiaofei stepped onto the lift and sat in the Azure Dragon's cockpit.

He observed the operating mechanism; not much had changed, except for the addition of nearly one-third more keybinds.

"This mech was a reward given to me by the officials for participating in an event."

As soon as he said this, the bullet screen instantly turned sour.

"That's unfair! Not only did he get to recuperate, but he also received a mech of this caliber."

"My Brother Fei is doing well now."

The Feiyu Platform noticed Bai Xiaofei's return and immediately arranged multiple traffic push channels. The number of viewers soared to nearly a million in a short time, and it was still increasing at an astonishing rate.

When new viewers saw the Azure Dragon in the hangar, their reactions were even more excited than the old fans who had just entered, and the bullet screen almost completely drowned out Bai Xiaofei's vision.

Helplessly, he had no choice but to disable the bullet screen function.

He checked the time; there were twenty-six minutes left until the 8 PM "Moon Battlefield" dungeon.

"Let's get familiar with the new mech first."

Bai Xiaofei selected a ranked match, instantly queuing in.

Having not played a ranked match for over a month, his ladder ranking had dropped to beyond ten thousand.

The reason it hadn't dropped too much was that Bai Xiaofei's point ranking was originally in the absolute top spot, dominating the leaderboard.

"Congratulations on successful matchmaking."

"Opponent ID: Old Zhang Next Door."

"Mech Type: Tier 2 Guerilla."

"Battle Map: Asteroid Belt."

"Wish you a pleasant battle."

The two mechs were separated by ten thousand meters, with irregularly drifting asteroids in the center of the battlefield. This was a map extremely advantageous for assault and guerilla-type mechs.

"Wide-area scan function activated."

Bai Xiaofei paused, instinctively looking at the radar scan map in the upper right corner. In the chaotic asteroid belt, a marked red dot was particularly conspicuous; he was hidden behind an asteroid moving erratically towards them.

If this were the night owl, it would have been absolutely impossible to detect.

"So strong."

The Azure Dragon's twin-wing thrusters spread, leaping onto an asteroid, and he took down the heavy particle sniper rifle from its back. Inside the cockpit, the auxiliary aiming device automatically covered Bai Xiaofei's right eye.

Aim, fire.

The small asteroid was shattered.

Second shot, the mech hidden behind the asteroid was headshotted.

"Battle over! Winner: Bai Xiaofei."

Although it was just a regular crushing victory, this battle felt particularly shocking to Bai Xiaofei.

If it had been a little over a month ago, even piloting a high-performance mech like the Azure Dragon, he would have absolutely been unable to complete aiming and shooting at nearly ten thousand meters away in an instant.

"Does a high-performance mech need to be paired with a high-life index pilot to unleash its true combat power?" Bai Xiaofei wondered silently.

Bai Xiaofei recalled the battle with He Ming; back then, he was just like the person on the other side, completely defenseless.

In Bai Xiaofei's live stream, the official commentators, Xiaomi and Ya Ya, had just taken their positions.

They were about to explain the difficulties and optimal tactical strategies of the "Asteroid Belt" map to the audience when... the battle ended just like that?

Xiaomi: "The mech God Bai is piloting should be the Azure Dragon shown in the official data."

Ya Ya: "Yes, this mech is a T0-level in the current version."

Bai Xiaofei started the next ranked match.

Instant queue.

"Congratulations on successful matchmaking."

"Opponent ID: night owl."

"Mech Type: Tier 3 All-Rounder."

"Battle Map: Large Gladiator Arena."

"Wish you a pleasant battle."

Ya Ya: "He actually matched with night owl, who is rank 5 on the ladder. This player's strength is also extremely outstanding, it's just that his in-game online time is a bit short."

Xiaomi: "Yes, if his online time were longer, he would absolutely have a chance to challenge for the top spot."

Large Gladiator Arena.

Opposite the Azure Dragon stood a light mech with a pure black paint job.

Inside the cockpit, Jin Xiaolong's eyes gleamed. He had been playing ranked matches for over a month, just to find Bai Xiaofei and avenge his past defeat.

Losing twice in a row to a mere mortal had almost become a mental demon for him.

Today, the opportunity finally arrived!

The black Tier 3 All-Rounder mech's external communication function activated.

"Kid, today I won't let you lose so quickly."

Bai Xiaofei was stunned; why did this guy sound so resentful?

Who is it?

The Azure Dragon drew the ship-slaying blade from its back, which was as tall as itself. The blade flashed with light, instantly extending dozens of meters.

Swish!

A strong gust of wind blew past, and Jin Xiaolong inwardly cursed that something was wrong, but by the time he wanted to dodge, it was already too late.

He could only instinctively draw his blade to block.

The blade shattered, followed by the entire mech being sliced into two.

"Battle over! Winner: Bai Xiaofei."

Xiaomi's words caught in his throat the moment the battle ended.

He had originally intended to say: night owl has lost to God Bai twice before; this is a battle of revenge, let's see if he can succeed in his revenge?

Killed in an instant again?

If Jin Xiaolong were still present, he would definitely say to Bai Xiaofei: The match hasn't even started yet, aren't you being dishonorable?