The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 134: Chapter 134: The Pauper’s Secret Mecha!

After registering, competitors are uniformly assigned to a preparation area, which can accommodate millions of contestants at once. If you don’t feel like competing right now, you don’t have to sit here stupidly; you can freely choose to watch any match or leave the preparation area and log off to rest...

After watching a few matches, Ji You couldn’t hold back any longer. She believed that no amount of thinking could beat actually going into a match for real.

So—

Ji You immediately sprang into action. She began to sift through her surroundings and nearby channels, and after a careful selection process, she finally picked out a person named ’Xianting Huailuo’ as her opponent for her first foray into combat.

The name ’Xianting Huailuo’, with its fresh and tranquil aura, hinted at a peaceful bygone era, clearly belonging to a gentle and cute girl.

When it comes to fighting, it’s always better to pick a girl for they might have an advantage.

Ji You was brimming with confidence as she sent a challenge request to the other party. At the point where she had to wager points, she pondered and filled in 10 points, but later felt a bit uneasy. What if she lost and had to fork over two meals’ worth of braised pork ribs?

So—

Ji You gritted her teeth and changed it to 5 points.

Just as she was about to confirm, Ji You paused, hastily deleted it, and rewrote it as 1 point.

She let out a breath.

That’s better now.

If she lost, it would only be one-fifth of a braised pork ribs meal.

After much clicking and clattering, scaling back, and erasing, the pauper Ji You finally challenged ’Xianting Huailuo’ with renewed confidence.

Suddenly—

System: [Challenge Rejected. Please purchase a mecha before issuing a challenge to the opponent.]

Ji You: ”???”

System: [Redirecting to the mecha store, redirection complete. Please spend points to purchase the selected mecha.]

Ji You: ”???”

Ji You was exasperated, what’s all this about? She had to buy her own mecha? And spend points to buy it? Shouldn’t the system provide mechas for the contestants to use?

System: [Please purchase a mecha as quickly as possible. If not chosen within 10 minutes, it will be considered a waiver of the purchase. Countdown starting now—]

Ji You didn’t know what to say anymore, especially since she just glanced at the mechas in the mecha store and took a sharp breath in—what the... ’Daddy Universe Strongest’ piloting the Heavy Armor Breaking Army actually costs 1000 points.

The Reconnaissance Light Armor Wind Wing is also 800 points.

...

These are all commonly used mecha models by the Alliance Legion, and the prices are not cheap at all.

Not only does buying a mecha cost points, but equipping it with weapons, an energy box, thrusters... all require points as well. What’s more, if the mecha is damaged during battle, the system won’t repair it for free—it will cost extra points.

Besides indicating the price and characteristics, under each mecha, there are friendly notes reminding the suitable piloting crowd, such as under the Breaking Army mecha, where there’s a note: This mecha has many functions and a complex operating system, it’s recommended for those with Spiritual Power B-level, and Physique A or above to pilot.

Ji You glanced at her less than 100 points and her Double E poor physique and spiritual power and felt an inexplicable malice from the system.

This was contempt.

Pure and unadulterated contempt.

This was contempt for those with weak talent, as well as for the impoverished.

The previously spirited Ji You suddenly felt like beating a retreat, but she couldn’t give up just like that, so she stubbornly continued to browse.

Just then, her eyes unintentionally scanned across, and she suddenly caught sight of a mecha’s purchase price displayed as 0 points.

points?

Such a good deal?

Ji You quickly opened and carefully checked it out, finally understanding why this mecha didn’t cost any points—it was an antique mech, also known as the first generation of mechs invented by human civilization, also referred to as the original mech. As the technology for mechanical manufacturing developed, these antique mechs, due to their limited functions, were already phased out in the long river of history. The only reason it still appeared in the mech repository was as a collector’s item.

Ji You’s eyes immediately lit up!

Limited functions?

Weak defense?

Simple weapons?

...

None of these flaws mattered as long as it was free, it was a good mech!

Ji You carefully examined the antique mech’s parameters and found that it had only a thin protective shield that could probably withstand 1-2 particle cannon attacks. The armory had only one barrel, capable of firing 10 particle cannon rounds. Aside from the heat weapons, the cold weapon was a big chopper, with a dark back and a cold, white blade... It looked imposing and domineering, yet somehow silly.

And the energy box? Just a Level 2, with a serious shortage of energy reserves. If the pilot couldn’t end the battle quickly and got sucked into a protracted fight, the outcome for a driver whose energy ran out would only be to wait for death.

...

All in all, there were just too many flaws to count.

But Ji You didn’t care one bit; the mere fact that it didn’t cost points and the very low talent level required for the pilot—mere E-level trash could easily drive it—these two points were enough for Ji You to choose it.

Without further hesitation, Ji You immediately selected the antique mech.

After selecting, a system message immediately popped up.

System: [Mech selected, good luck to you.]

Ji You quickly pulled up the interface and sent a new challenge request to ’Xianting Huailuo.’

And then—

’Xianting Huailuo’ was originally lounging and even nodding off. Suddenly, he received a system notification sound, saw that someone had issued him a challenge, and immediately became spirited. Just as he was about to accept the challenge, he saw the challenge points: 1 point.

Huh?

’Xianting Huailuo’ thought he was seeing things, widened his eyes, and looked several times. Indeed, it was 1 point.

That’s right.

Xianting Huailuo: ”???”

In this day and age, is there still such a pauper?

Or maybe, was he deliberately trolling?

’Xianting Huailuo’ darkened his face, a surge of anger rising: [Trolling? I must teach him that those who troll others eventually get trolled themselves!]

So, ’Xianting Huailuo’, who initially wanted to refuse, accepted the request in a fit of anger.

In the prep area, players just needed to agree to the battle invitation, and they would be immediately transported to an independent arena. After Ji You sent hers out and waited for a while with no acceptance from the other side, she thought she was being looked down upon and was about to cancel the challenge to select another opponent. Suddenly, her vision blurred, and she was teleported into a spacious battlefield.

It was Ji You’s first time sitting in a mech cabin and she found it rather novel. Inside the cabin, there was a big screen and several keys and buttons, which were the control commands. Of course, the mech also had a spiritual connector for linking to the driver’s spiritual power. If the spiritual power was too low, the compatibility with the mech would also be low, making it impossible to pilot the mech at all. This is why spiritual power was so important.

Of course, the antique mech’s requirements were very low. After Ji You connected her spiritual power, aside from a little discomfort, she didn’t feel much of a learning curve.

Once her spiritual power was connected, Ji You felt her field of vision change. She could see higher and farther, and her strength suddenly increased a lot. For a moment, she had the illusion that she could do anything.

And then—

Opponent: ”Antique mech? Are you here to make us laugh?”

Audience: ”Which zoo did this idiot escape from?”