Chapter 1 The Grasp Fails

Such a humanity-grabbing strike missed! The Armored Dragon Fighter merely feinted, extending its head before retracting it immediately. The Lurker on the opposite bank, resembling a rock, was instantly exposed. Its attempted retraction was seized by the Armored Dragon Fighter with lightning speed!

The Armored Dragon Fighter used the force to leap ashore, leaving the audience dumbfounded. This was absolute anticipation.

Boom…

Dark green liquid splattered. The Lurker, deprived of its spikes and camouflage, was extremely vulnerable. It gnashed its teeth in impotent rage, only to be crushed underfoot.

Clearly, this was an extreme test, exploiting psychological vulnerabilities. Having completed all the impossible challenges, at the very moment when victory was within reach, the most vulnerable moment of human nature, a cold-blooded counterattack.

However, the Armored Dragon Fighter noticed.

Either it was an instinctive judgment, or it continuously observed its surroundings during the leap, noticing the potential danger on the opposite bank, demonstrating a considerable understanding of the giant worms.

At the same time, it possessed the precise multi-threaded mental abilities of a top pilot.

The Armored Dragon Fighter on the cliff's edge discarded the spikes in its hand. Its body was covered in worm blood and dust, riddled with wounds. At this moment, the base was right before its eyes, but the Armored Dragon Fighter merely glanced at it in silence, turning back to look at the Kepler Jungle behind it.

The large screen froze.

EMP system-wide announcement: ID Mu Ou successfully completed the "Kepler Retreat Mission," achieving an S-grade rating!

All online EMP players in the four federations, whether in virtual or real mode, received this message, impossible to ignore.

Roar~~~~

Zhuang Zhou completely disregarded everything, including his image, jumping up and pounding his chest. "Mu Ou, God! Truly invincible!"

At this moment, the popularity of Zhuang Zhou's Hot Man livestream had exceeded five million, and with the system announcement, this number was still soaring.

An unbelievable and miraculous first clear.

Mu Ou's fans were completely frenzied. After all, many were from the virtual zone and even less restrained. This was what they wanted. Who said that those from the virtual zone were trash? Mu Ou was their representative, and one was enough!

A transcendent performance, a perfect combination of ability, wisdom, and experience!

The dumbfounded Hot Man knew that the best choice at this moment was to shut up. He needed to find this guy's weaknesses in the replay. If all else failed, he would try a feint to the east and attack from the west, finding flaws in his personality!

Damn it, this guy was too much trouble. This test wasn't a solo test; it was a multi-person test. As long as one person could pass in the end.

What was he doing, leaving no chance for others to survive?

But only in this way could he obtain the incredibly harsh S-grade rating, which meant telling everyone that this was the standard, this was the limit.

Mu Ou's first testing journey concluded perfectly.

Li Hao had already removed the device from his body. He wasn't breathing rapidly, and his complexion had almost returned to normal. There was exhaustion, but not to that extent; it was purely his aversion to giant worms and Kepler.

This was a place where hell and paradise merged. Most people only saw a part of paradise, but Li Hao, under Bleem's care in recent years, had experienced the hellish side deeply. It was as if he was destined to go to that horrible place. Fortunately, he had no money, so he couldn't go even if he wanted to. No one could make him go.

Trash, it made him hungry.

Hungry… late-night snack? Suddenly, Li Hao had an epiphany and quickly dialed the Tianxun. The other side answered almost instantly.

A gentle voice sounded, "Oh my, are you hungry? Do you want a late-night snack?"

"Okay, senior, I'm a little hungry too." A Youyou wasn't sleepy at all, but she felt that girls shouldn't be too proactive.

That was what you called like-mindedness, that was what you called tacit understanding. Since A Youyou appeared, Li Hao's world had also become more colorful. This was probably the fate Teacher Ma often talked about.

Mu Ou had logged off, but the EMP world suddenly became lively. The previously declining online rate soared. Even today, every first clear was popular, because the easy ones had long been repeatedly tormented, and an S-grade first clear was bound to be explosive, especially since it was the currently popular Kepler Escape.

The first reaction upon hearing the news was disbelief, like a fairy tale. Even with the system notification, they couldn't believe it. How could it be possible!

Seeing… a solo clear, they even more suspected that the system notification was wrong.

Musang was training when he received Zhou Naiyi's Tianxun.

"Captain, what's the matter?" Musang wiped away his sweat. Li Hao's performance had given him a lot of motivation. He was such a straightforward boy who could easily focus.

"Musang, Kepler Escape has been cleared with an S-grade rating."

What?

"Maxis or Van Fleet?"

"Mu Ou!"

Musang was dumbfounded, stunned for a long time. He opened the Tianxun's EMP section. It was already a hot topic, attracting not only many military academy students but also more virtual zone players. In the past, the real zone was unreachable for them. In the past, many people had tried to challenge it, but in the end, all the fancy tricks were crushed by the experts. Now, Mu Ou, who came from the virtual zone, not only didn't fall but also set a record. This was a natural sense of affinity, forming a massive group of supporters. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět

In the commercial street outside Tianjing Mech Academy, the nightlife had just begun. At an open-air barbecue restaurant, delicious barbecue was paired with beer, a satisfying life.

The big screen was showing a mech competition. Li Hao was currently drinking beer and eating popcorn with A Youyou.

Looking at A Youyou's cute appearance, Li Hao couldn't help but feel good. "A Youyou, you wouldn't be drinking beer for the first time, would you?"

A Youyou playfully wrinkled her little nose. "This is so hard to drink."

"That's because you're not drinking it right. Like me, take a big gulp. You want that refreshing feeling!" Li Hao drank half a glass in one gulp.

A Youyou tried it, and indeed, the taste wasn't so bad. A surge of energy rushed up, along with a kind of inexplicable爽快感(shuangkuai gan - refreshing feeling).

"Here, have one of these." Li Hao naturally reached out to A Youyou, but in his heart, he was panicking.

A Youyou hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth… the taste really seemed different.

The mech battle compilation on the big screen suddenly switched, and the people who were drinking and chatting immediately protested. "Boss, what's going on? Switch it back."

"It was just getting to the climax, it was only halfway through, why did it disappear?"

Since it was near Tianjing Mech Academy, almost all the restaurants and bars with big screens were showing mech battles.

At this time, the big screen switched to the latest livestream, the first clear analysis video of Kepler Escape. It was a bit late because both the official and various folk experts needed to prepare.

Instantly, everyone became interested. This was playing the official EMP analysis. At the same time, Zhuang Zhou and Hot Man's livestream hadn't stopped, and the popularity had reached seven million five hundred thousand.

A Youyou was also very interested. "Wow, this is amazing!"

Li Hao smiled slightly. "You know about this mission?"

"Hmph, senior, I can detect a hint of mockery in your tone." A Youyou blinked, a little unconvinced.

"How could I? I'm praising you for knowing so much about cross-disciplinary knowledge." Li Hao wasn't a fool and quickly waved his hand, denying it to the death.

"Then senior has praised me. I really want to go to Kepler and have a look, so I specially learned about it."

"There's nothing good about Kepler. Don't go if you can avoid it. Safety first." Li Hao said after taking a drink.

This wasn't just a first clear, it was an S-grade first clear.

The first step was that almost everyone would try to escape, but Mu Ou chose to solve the twelve Razor Beetles first.

"This involves some professional knowledge. After death, the Giant Worms' bodies produce a silicaceous hardening reaction, which is very hard, and the Razor Beetles' claws become extremely sharp. Mu Ou fully utilized this point." Zhuang Zhou said. They were using the official analysis video, and Little Zhuang, although a newbie, was very fortunate to become an officially signed streamer.

When the Flying Swallow appeared on the screen, the entire restaurant cheered. Infected by the atmosphere, A Youyou also jumped up.

This move was just too handsome and cool.

Of course, to complete the Kepler Escape, such flashy operations were generally avoided by most experts. It was too exhausting, but that's what he did. Musang and Zhou Naiyi were watching in the VIP livestream room. Both of them wondered how he would continue after such an operation.

After solving the Razor Beetles, he quickly advanced. The second wave was facing the encirclement of the Lurkers and Flame Bomb Beetles. The reverse retreat in this wave was okay, but it didn't solve the problem. In the end, he still fell into a fatal encirclement.

Then, the crucial part came. The analysis video very considerately provided super slow-motion details.

When the move was exhausted, and the mech couldn't make any more changes in direction, how to deal with the attack of the Bomb Beetles?

Everyone widened their eyes. This was a dead end.

However, the Razor Hook Claw didn't explode when it touched the Bomb Beetle. A bug???

Not only did it not explode, it was thrown away. Why?

The slow motion showed that the Hook Claw didn't directly collide with the Bomb Beetle, but caught it, using the Hook Claw as a flat slide, equal to making a spin and throwing the Bomb Beetle away again.

At this time, the camera zoomed in again, highlighting the hand movements.

The Armored Dragon Fighter actually used finger movements to make the Hook Claw rotate internally in his palm. Only in this way could he prevent the Bomb Beetle from feeling any impact.

Everyone was stunned, because in the first slow motion, they only saw the arm swinging, completely unaware of the rotation of the Hook Claw in his hand.

Holy crap, my old treasure, this operation!

Everyone who saw this scene was stunned. This detail…

"Those who professionally study Kepler should know that the explosion of the Bomb Beetles mainly relies on contact and impact. They are very sensitive to non-silicon-based materials, exploding upon contact, but silicon-based materials require a certain amount of impact. Mu Ou obviously understands this deeply, using the Hook Claw as a bridge to avoid the fatal kill. Besides 'awesome,' I don't know how else to describe it. Hot Man, what do you think?" Zhuang Zhou asked. Since it was an interaction, then let there be some interaction.

Hot Man's expression still didn't change much. Heh heh, let you see what professionalism is. He said calmly, "It's alright. It seems he was prepared."