It was rare for Song Jin to be in the mood to give them coaching, so Qian Can dragged Qin Le and Jiang Hao onto the game posthaste.

Star Wars was a game from the Shengya Empire. Jiang Hao had never played it before. After logging in, he entered the character creation page. You could customize and sculpt your character’s face, but it was rather time-consuming.

Jiang Hao flipped through the system templates and took an immediate liking to a bald swordsman. From creating the character to naming it, the entire process took less than a minute.

The five of them agreed to meet at the Saen Colosseum. By the time Jiang Hao found his way there, Qian Can and Qin Le had already arrived.

Qian Can laughed loudly at Jiang Hao’s avatar. “I was just telling Lele that you’d definitely pick this look!”

“Your avatars are pretty easy to recognize too.” Jiang Hao looked at the two of them—one was a flamboyantly dressed, fussy old lady type, while the other was a warrior radiating righteous integrity.

Qian Can confidently flipped his character’s hair. “I spent a fortune customizing this aloof male god. I am not a fussy old lady. You really have no eye for style.”

Jiang Hao: “That gesture looks very effeminate. Stop doing it.”

Qian Can: “…”

Jiang Hao looked around, his gaze sweeping past countless bizarre and eccentric avatars. “I wonder what Big Brother and the others look like.”

Qin Le: “Don’t bother looking. You won’t find them.”

Jiang Hao: “Why?”

Qin Le kept it a mystery. “You’ll find out in a minute.”

Before they could spot anyone, they received a party invite first. Qin Le added Jiang Hao along, and the three of them were instantly teleported into a training room.

The room was set up like a standard physical training facility. A variety of equipment lined the perimeter, and a combat ring stood right in the center. At first glance, Jiang Hao didn’t see anyone, but looking closer, he spotted a black and a white ball of tiny fluff stuck together, swaying back and forth.

“…???”

Jiang Hao took a few steps forward and craned his neck to get a proper look.

The black fluffball was sitting on the floor with its chubby legs crossed. The white fluffball stood right behind it, wrapping its arms around the black one’s head. To rest its chin on top of the black fluffball’s head, it even stood on its tip-paws, kneading the black fluffball with its paw pads while swaying joyfully. It looked like it was thoroughly enjoying the petting session.

Jiang Hao called out tentatively, “…Big Brother?”

The black fluffball: “Mm.”

Jiang Hao: “…”

If the black fluffball was Big Brother, then the white fluffball was definitely Brother Song. He always felt like Brother Song had two completely different personalities online and offline…

“Holy cow!” Qian Can leaped into the ring, crouched down in front of Li Xiao, and stared him up and down with wide eyes. Struggling to suppress his laughter, he spluttered, “Boss Li, this—pfft, hahaha—this is truly something I didn’t see coming.”

Even Qin Le couldn’t help but steal a few extra glances. The avatar of the white Persian cat had been customized by His Majesty the King; she had seen it when she was a child. She just hadn’t expected Li Xiao to be a chubby fluffball too. They looked like a matching pair.

After being scrutinized by three pairs of curious eyes for a good while, Li Xiao finally spoke unhurriedly, “Do you still want to train?”

Qian Can and the other two immediately straightened up. “Yes!”

“I’ll assess your current levels first.” Li Xiao patted Song Jin. “You be their opponent.”

Song Jin wrapped his arms around Li Xiao. “What’s in it for me?”

Li Xiao: “What do you want?”

Song Jin: “After we’re done, how about a match with me?”

Li Xiao: “As long as you don’t knead me, you can fight however you want.”

Song Jin: “…”

Song Jin raised a paw, and a virtual screen displaying the control interface popped up beneath his paw pad. He selected the mecha practice mode. “Which model?”

Li Xiao swept a casual glance across the options and picked one. “Just use the most basic M80.”

The M80 didn’t have any overly flashy functions; its parameters were very close to the standard training mechas they usually practiced with.

After making the selection, he looked at Jiang Hao. “You aren’t familiar with the keybindings. You’re allowed to use the full-intelligent key binding completion.”

Jiang Hao: “Alright.”

The scenery in the room shifted instantly into a vast, desolate wilderness. Li Xiao chose the spectator mode, and four M80 mechas quickly appeared before his eyes.

Qian Can’s heart was pounding with nerves. Biting the bullet, he raised his hand to go first. He engaged all four rows of thrusters, intending to launch a massive ultimate move right in Song Jin’s face.

With a flash, he was right in front of him, but Song Jin simply sidestepped on the spot to evade.

As they brushed past each other, Qian Can swiftly drew his blade, swinging it diagonally upward from below. This angle happened to be right in Song Jin’s blind spot. Just as the thought crossed his mind, a loud clang echoed—his swinging blade was blocked by Song Jin’s parrying sword.

Qian Can flipped back to retreat and launched into another offensive.

To the side, Jiang Hao and Qin Le watched very intently.

Qian Can’s fighting style was just like his personality: aggressive and impulsive. He strove to defeat the enemy and secure victory in a short amount of time. The longer the battle dragged on, the more flaws he exposed, losing his advantage the more he fought.

Losing patience with Qian Can’t increasingly erratic moves, Song Jin ended the match with a single, instantaneous strike.

“Completely disorganized.”

Qian Can shrank his neck, unable to offer a rebuttal. Halfway through the fight, his mental state had collapsed, and he had been led entirely by the nose by Song Jin’s rhythm.

Switching to spectator mode, Qian Can sat down beside Li Xiao looking thoroughly defeated. “Is there any hope left for me?”

Watching Qin Le and Song Jin’s match, Li Xiao spoke unhurriedly, “Your strategy is generally correct, but your pacing is terrible. It’s mainly a psychological issue. Don’t build up your opponent to be too invincible in your mind.”

Qian Can: “But Boss really is incredibly strong.”

Li Xiao: “You aren’t bad either. Where did your usual confidence go?”

With a miserable face, Qian Can said, “Gone. Not a single drop left.”

Li Xiao: “…”

Qin Le’s mental state was clearly much steadier than Qian Can’s, but her fighting style was a bit too constrained. She couldn’t fully let loose, turning the match into a war of attrition.

Ten minutes later, seeing no change in Qin Le’s strategy, Song Jin brought the match to an end with a rapid offensive.

Qian Can’s eyes shone brightly. “So cool! When will I be able to secure victory with a single move like that?”

Soon, Qin Le appeared on the spectator stands as well, sitting on Li Xiao’s other side. “As expected, it’s really hard to win against Boss.”

Li Xiao: “Against an enemy stronger than yourself, a conservative approach isn’t wrong. However, if you aren’t good at capitalizing on defensive openings and using unexpected attacks to disrupt the opponent’s rhythm, the only one who gets worn out in the end is you. You and Qian Can are two exact extremes; you can learn a lot from each other.”

Qin Le: “…”

Right on the money.

The two brothers-in-misery exchanged a tearful glance and let out a silent sigh in their hearts.

Down in the combat arena, Song Jin had just evaded Jiang Hao’s swinging blade, quickly increasing his leg thrusters to leap into the air, just barely dodging Jiang Hao’s sweeping kick. Jiang Hao quickly rose and flashed behind Song Jin, his longsword slashing toward Song Jin’s neck.

Song Jin spun on the spot, raising his sword to parry.

On the spectator stands, Qian Can cried out in surprise, “Xiao Jiang is so fierce! Even Boss’s state is different from before.”

Unlike them, Jiang Hao’s timing on his offenses and his ability to catch defensive openings were highly precise. He could maintain his own rhythm to output stable pressure, and he handled Song Jin’s rapid offensives with ease.

Song Jin finally found himself slightly entertained. He tried using a couple of high-difficulty combo strings, but to his surprise, Jiang Hao managed to evade those too.

When fifteen minutes were up, Li Xiao signaled them to stop, and they all returned to the spectator stands.

Song Jin walked up the steps and sat down while holding Li Xiao, domineeringly resting a chubby leg across Li Xiao’s lap. “If you can maintain this standard, qualifying shouldn’t be much of an issue.”

Before Qin Le and Qian Can could celebrate, they suddenly remembered that the game featured intelligent command corrections, which wouldn’t be present during the actual tournament. Furthermore, they weren’t familiar with the tournament mechas yet.

Li Xiao held onto Song Jin’s swinging paw and looked at Jiang Hao. “You have a rather fatal flaw.”

Hearing this, Qin Le and Qian Can looked over too, automatically recalling the match just now. Jiang Hao’s performance earlier had been much better than theirs; they really hadn’t seen any issues with it.

Jiang Hao didn’t understand either. “Is it an issue with the keybindings?” His intelligent completion setting was turned up higher than theirs, meaning it was relatively easier to execute a movement.

“Every model of mecha operates slightly differently, so that isn’t the issue.” Li Xiao shook his head. “Your response strategy is correct, but there’s an issue with your moves. Mecha combat is different from human combat. Some movements are easy for a human to perform, but for a mecha, they require overly intricate inputs, making them impractical for actual combat.”

Hearing him put it this way, Jiang Hao and the other two suddenly had an epiphany. Thinking back carefully, it did indeed seem to be the case.

Song Jin broke free from Li Xiao’s hand and rested his paw on his arm. “The root of the issue is that you aren’t familiar with the mechas. Hop on the mechas and practice a few more times to streamline your moves and cut out unnecessary inputs.”

Li Xiao nodded. “You can do it online too. Turn off the intelligent completion and try executing every movement you want to make once to see if that level of difficulty can be applied in actual combat.”

Jiang Hao agreed, “Alright, I’ll go try it right away.”

Li Xiao looked at Jiang Hao and Qin Le. “The two of you go spar, and pay attention to the points I mentioned earlier.”

Qian Can stood up. “Fighting Lele is way easier.”

Qin Le: “I won’t pull my punches.”

With that, the two buddies walked off with their arms over each other’s shoulders.

Only the two fluffballs were left on the spectator stands.

Li Xiao pinned Song Jin’s chubby paw down, and in the next moment, pressed it against the back of his hand, repeating the action over and over without ever growing tired of it.

“With the two of them sparring, the issue won’t be as massive.” Li Xiao looked at the screen displaying the combat arena. “The pressure you put on them was just too immense.”

Song Jin stroked Li Xiao’s soft, fluffy belly while observing Qin Le and Qian Can’s movements. “I was already holding back a lot. Next time it’s your turn to go, and I’ll sit here giving directions.”

Li Xiao pinned his restless paw down. “Didn’t you say you wanted me to teach you?”

Song Jin tilted his head to look at him. “Then what about your critique of me?”

Catching the cat ears twitching out of the corner of his eye, Li Xiao leaned in and took a gentle bite. “Arrogant, fierce, and altogether too cute. Terrible as a student, but just right as a wife—just a bit small.”

Song Jin pulled his ear free and threw a kitty punch over. “How dare you call me small.”

“…” Li Xiao leaned back to evade. With a flash, a kitty leg kicked over too, and he raised a hand to catch his ankle.

Song Jin used the steps to flip sideways, his other leg sweeping toward Li Xiao to force him back, launching an attack from the tips of his paws. Li Xiao dodged and retreated, evading Song Jin’s fists to flip down from the spectator stands, landing gracefully on the ground. He looked up at Song Jin who was chasing after him. “Fighting me this hard?”

Song Jin: “Since you said I’m fierce, shouldn’t I show a bit of my fierce side?”

Down in the combat arena, Qin Le and Qian Can finished a round and connected to the spectator stands, wanting Li Xiao to give them a critique. On the popped-up screen, the two fluffballs were chasing each other around the empty stands. Not long after, the black fluffball was pinned to the ground by the white fluffball pouncing from behind, and the pair rolled down the slope together.

With a deadpan face, Qian Can said, “…They look like they’re having a lot of fun.”

Qin Le: “…Mm.”

An absolute powerhouse probably doesn’t experience an emotion like anxiety at all, right?

By the time they logged off the game, it was already past 11:00 PM. With morning drills early the next day, Qin Le and Qian Can headed back to their respective dorms.

When Li Xiao returned to his bedroom, Song Jin followed right behind him like a little tail, clinging to him step by step.

Song Jin: “I’m sleeping at your place tonight.”

Li Xiao: “You just hit me earlier.”

“Where does it hurt? Should I rub it for you?” As Song Jin spoke, his hand wrapped around Li Xiao’s waist slithered upward.

Li Xiao pinned it down firmly. “Stop touching blindly.”

Song Jin’s palm pressed against his chest, his voice carrying a hint of a laugh. “I haven’t even done anything yet. Why is your heart beating so fast?”

Li Xiao spouted nonsense with a perfectly serious face: “It was startled by your beating earlier.”

Song Jin took a soft, nipping kiss on the back of Li Xiao’s neck. “Stubborn.”

As the warm breath brushed past the back of his ear, Li Xiao paused slightly, feeling a bit of a headache coming on. The clingy kitten was beginning to explore a new world, and he was the unfortunate map.

In another room, Jiang Hao’s mind was completely filled with the keybindings corresponding to mecha movements, making his head spin. Although he knew he needed to streamline them, he had absolutely no idea where to start.

His terminal vibrated. Jiang Hao checked and saw it was from his older brother, Jiang Chi.

Jiang Chi: [Haohao, I just went to the black market and bought a terminal. It’s not an unregistered one. I’ll use this one to contact you from now on.]

Right after reading the message, a text from an unfamiliar frequency came through. Jiang Hao saved the frequency as his brother’s temporary number and edited a text to send over:

Jiang Hao: [Brother, do you have any more of those all-powerful formulas? I’m participating in the mecha selection tournament, and I need to cram at the last minute.]

Jiang Chi: [Of course I do.]

Very quickly, a long string of numbers was sent over from the other side, interspersed with arrows pointing in various angles. An ordinary person wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of it.

Jiang Hao asked excitedly: [You know how to pilot a mecha?]

Jiang Chi: [Silly child, of course your brother doesn’t.]

Jiang Hao: [Then where did you memorize this string of numbers from?]

Jiang Chi: [I just made it up on the spot.]

The smile on Jiang Hao’s lips gradually froze. “…”

Jiang Chi: [I heard your expedition ran into danger?]

Jiang Hao: [Mm.]

Jiang Hao chatted with his brother about the things he was allowed to share. Suddenly remembering something, he pulled out the book he had bought at the Shike Old Bookstore from his drawer, snapped photos of the two pages containing the text and the name, and sent them to Jiang Chi.

Jiang Hao: [I found a very interesting book. The original owner of this book also liked blades, shares the same name as you, and even the handwriting looks very similar.]

_

Nanming Seat, N9680.

An even more battered old-model car was parked along a dilapidated street. Jiang Chi sat in the back seat, staking out a location.

His terminal vibrated, and a few messages popped up on the virtual screen. Looking at the line of text with some curiosity, Jiang Chi tapped to open the images.

The page of the book displayed a beautiful curved blade, with a handwritten note beside it:

“Unrivaled beneath the heavens and upon the earth, this is a divine blade…”

In an instant, a sharp pain like a needle prick shot through his temples. Jiang Chi clutched his head and gasped, knitting his brows to look at the second photo. When his eyes fell upon that handwritten character for “Chi,” the stabbing pain grew even more intense. His entire vision distorted and warped, and the world began to spin around him.

Hearing the commotion, the lackey in the driver’s seat turned around to look at the back seat. Seeing Jiang Chi clutching his head against the backrest with a pained expression, he asked nervously, “Boss, what’s wrong?!”

Jiang Chi waved his hand, casually wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead. “Probably caught a chill from the wind. Just a bit of a headache.”

The lackey was still very worried. “You haven’t suffered from headaches in years. Do you want me to go to the pharmacy to get you some medicine?”

Jiang Chi took a few ragged breaths. “Let me catch my breath, I’m fine.”

Suddenly, the lowered voices of a few lackeys drifted through the interceptor.

“We intercepted that they plan to head to the club ahead to conduct the trade. Room 808, the passcode is ‘Bring a glass of plain water’.”

“Boss, the suspected target has appeared! He’s holding a silver medicine box!”

“Follow them!” Jiang Chi said, quickly typing a reply to Jiang Hao. After turning off his terminal, he walked toward the only club on the old street along with his lackeys.

Back in the military academy dorm, Jiang Hao came out after taking a shower and saw his brother’s reply.

Jiang Chi: [This book is cursed. Got a headache just looking at it, can’t read a single bit.]

Jiang Chi: [Your brother is heading to work, talk to you later.]

Jiang Hao: “…”

The next day, after morning drills concluded, everyone was taken to the mecha training base by Instructor Zhao De. Because a large number of first-years were participating in the mecha selection tournament this time, the school administration and the instructor group had discussed and decided to temporarily add some basic mecha courses.

Zhao De demonstrated five basic movements. After everyone passed a small in-class test, they entered free practice time.

After practicing five sets, Jiang Hao suddenly discovered that one of the movements perfectly lined up with the latter half of the formula his brother had given him. Hesitating briefly, he inputted the entire sequence of keybindings.

Nearby, Qian Can was halfway through his practice when he suddenly saw Jiang Hao execute a dash, the long blade in his hand flipping as he executed a reverse sweep.

“Wow! So cool!” Qian Can cried out in surprise, opening the public channel to say to Jiang Hao, “I want to learn this move, teach me quick!”

Li Xiao and Song Jin were also nearby and happened to witness Jiang Hao’s move as well, looking somewhat surprised. Jiang Hao was the latest to be introduced to mechas, but looking at it now, his learning progress was remarkably swift.

Recalling Jiang Hao’s move just now, Song Jin slid his control lever and tried pressing a sequence of keys. The mecha instantly executed the exact same combat movement.

“Not bad. This move requires fewer keybindings and isn’t highly difficult to operate, yet it’s practical.”

Qian Can: “You broke down the movement that quickly?!”

Qin Le: “Xiao Jiang, did you develop this yourself based on the basic movements?”

Jiang Hao was dazed. “No… it’s the all-powerful formula my brother gave me.”

Qin Le: “…”

Qin Le: “Send me a copy.”

Qian Can: “…”

Who was the one who said they would never use it again in this lifetime?

Li Xiao felt somewhat bewildered. Jiang Chi was a star pirate; it was highly unlikely for him to have access to military mechas. Was it merely a coincidence?

Before he could figure it out, another model of mecha suddenly appeared in the monitor feed, flying over from the distance and landing slowly right in front of him.

“Is that Li Xiao? Do you have time to trade a few moves with me?”