The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 653: Chapter 653: The Gap Between Ideal and Reality

Watching Shen Changqing beside the antique mech, Ji You’s expression was incredibly complex, she opened her mouth, her lips quivered for a while, and after a long pause, it turned into a sentence: ”Xiaoqing... I’m sorry for letting you down.”

Chu Jiaojiao was clearly also thrown into some disarray by Shen Changqing’s move, saying, ”Shen Changqing, if you think you have too many points, give some to me, I don’t mind having more.”

Shen Changqing’s expression was still relatively calm, only his face was a bit red. He lowered his head and said softly, ”I’ve never driven a real antique mech before, I’m just a bit curious.”

Ji You rolled her eyes and said teasingly, ”Unexpectedly, our classmate Shen Changqing is still a curious baby.”

Shen Changqing’s face turned even redder.

Chu Jiaojiao also teased, ”Curious baby, lend your sister 100 points, I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”

Ji You quickly added, ”Curious baby, don’t forget your sister Ji You too, your sister Ji You is still poor, can’t even afford a meal.”

Shen Changqing’s handsome face was now fully flushed from their teasing, like a ripe red peach, he lowered his head and said softly, ”No more chatting, I need to practice.”

Both Ji You and Chu Jiaojiao grinned, chuckling:

Ji You said: ”Curious baby, don’t forget about our points.”

Chu Jiaojiao: ”Lend me the points, I’ll treat you to braised pork ribs rice.”

Shen Changqing didn’t respond and in the blink of an eye, he had entered the antique mech’s cabin.

Ji You looked at Chu Jiaojiao and said, ”No time to hang out with you, I need to practice.”

Chu Jiaojiao smiled at Ji You and said, ”Ji You, I really remember you once said you are my good sister, a lifetime good sister indeed.”

Ji You quickly turned her head and boarded the mech.

...

Once Ji You boarded the real antique mech, she internally cursed: Damn, this energy box is just level 1, lasting maybe at most 10 minutes.

How can this work?

Also, the real antique mech only has 10 control keys, primarily categorized into three types: weapons, power, energy. The simplicity of its functions frustrated Ji You, and even more frustrating was the fact that this mech had no automatic scouting system. This means if the mech driver wants to know the surroundings, like if there are enemies lurking around, any pits? Any obstacles... they must manually observe.

At this —

By the time Ji You had figured it out, she genuinely wanted to cry.

No wonder the assessment system advised to choose wisely, turns out this thing was literally for memorial purposes.

Ji You fiercely grabbed a handful of her hair.

Going bald!

But trapped in this situation, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and familiarize herself with the controls, then immediately connected to the mech’s Spiritual Connector.

In an instant—

Ji You felt her limbs stiffen, her whole body as cumbersome as an ox!

After connecting with the mech spiritually, its body became equivalent to Ji You’s, both limbs and torso extremely stiff because she was not yet fully accustomed to using this frame.

But—

Ji You’s mood darkened even more.

Because the disparity between piloting an antique mech on the Star Network and this was like heaven and earth!

Teacher Mu said real mechs, compared to the edited versions, the difficulty of driving is 5 times higher! But Ji You felt that it was definitely more than 5 times, maybe at least 10?

Once connected with the mech spiritually, a strong force of gravity slammed down on Ji You, making her feel breathless, with a burgeoning headache... How to describe this feeling? It’s like an ant carrying an elephant on its back, both physically and spiritually feeling overwhelmingly burdened.

Exhausting.

Especially exhausting.

Sweat began to form on Ji You’s forehead.

She gritted her teeth, having seen too many students fall in an unsightly manner, unable to get up for a long time, so Ji You cautiously extended a finger.

It was successful.

But just extending a finger drained a significant amount of her spiritual power threshold.

Next.

Ji You continued carefully, bending the finger.

second.

seconds.

seconds.

...

Failure.

Ji You continued.

Failure.

Continue again.

...

After several attempts, she finally succeeded. But there was not a hint of joy on Ji You’s face, instead, her expression was as grim as if someone owed her half a billion: ”Damn it! How am I supposed to pass this?”

Thinking about the huge, huge amount of points needed for the retake, Ji You felt a tingling scalp and couldn’t bear to think about it.

She had no choice but to grit her teeth and continue practicing little by little.

One finger bent.

Two fingers.

Three fingers.

...

Five fingers.

Just like grinding work, she couldn’t be impatient or rash, only step by step, little by little accumulation, finally, Ji You could bend all five fingers and clench them into a fist.

At this moment, her forehead, cheeks, and neck were covered with large beads of sweat...

Ji You raised her hand and fiercely wiped off the sweat, then continued to practice.

After mastering one hand, Ji You tried to control the entire mechanical arm, which was very demanding on spiritual power and physical strength. Just 10 minutes later, Ji You was already gasping for breath.

It’s over!

There were less than 20 minutes left before the time given by Teacher Mu Jianling to get familiar with the mech was up.

Ji You gritted her teeth and continued.

Fortunately, although her method was slow, the effect was good. Gradually, Ji You mastered both arms and one thigh, and was just about to move on to the other thigh when suddenly—

System: ”Time’s up.”

Ji You: ”Damn it!”

In an instant, the entire training room was filled with students screaming just like Ji You: ”Damn! There’s no way to pass! The teacher must be doing this on purpose!”

Absolutely!

Standing at the control console, Mu Jianling, faced with the students’ complaints and resentment, showed no expression and still spoke calmly: ”Time’s up, please all go to the assessment chambers in groups of ten according to your student ID numbers.”

”Those whose names are called, step forward!” Mu Jianling shouted.

Immediately, ten students stepped forward.

Mu Jianling raised his hand and pointed to the assessment chamber, saying, ”Go in. The movements and steps you need to complete, I believe everyone already knows, so I won’t go into too much detail here.”

The assessment standards were very transparent, having been announced before the students entered. The students needed to complete 5 sets of motions: start—jump—pass through obstacles—shoot—withdraw.

These 5 sets of motions had to cover a set distance and be completed within 5 minutes. Over time or not meeting the standards would result in a fail.

The ten students grimaced, stepping in as if going to their doom.

The rest of the students, silent, watched nervously as the first group went for the assessment. As soon as these ten students entered, they logged onto the mech and began preparing—

Whoosh—

The countdown ended.

The ten students took their stance, controlling the mechs to take a step—

Then—

Plop—

All fell at the starting line.

Students: ”...”

Deadly!