Section 180: Undercurrents (3)
On the surface, everything seemed normal, as if nothing had happened last night. The only difference was that the people coming and going from the Shang residence appeared somewhat hurried. Considering Robert and his group had just arrived at the Shang family yesterday and must be weary from their journey, the day was deliberately left open for adjustment, with no scheduled activities.
Baili Nan was summoned by Robert early in the morning.
When A-Duan informed Ye Zhong that he was free for the day, Ye Zhong went out alone. His current task was to retrieve his identity card. Although Mu had forged the identity of Wang Xing for him, Ye Zhong didn't actually possess Wang Xing's identity card. Fortunately, this wasn't Ye Zhong's first time handling such a matter, so he was quite familiar with the process. Several groups of people attempted to tail him, but Ye Zhong skillfully shook them all off.
As soon as he obtained the identity card, Ye Zhong returned to the Shang residence. He headed straight to his room upon arrival, leaving those assigned to secretly monitor him—who had lost track of him—staring at each other in frustration.
Deeper Exploration
Once back in his room, Ye Zhong logged into the virtual network. The Shang family's Grey Domain controller, responsible for monitoring Ye Zhong's virtual network activities, was effortlessly deceived by the formidable presence of Mu, completely unaware of the intrusion.
After accessing the virtual network, Ye Zhong went to the Consciousness Training Center. However, the scene before him left him stunned.
The entire consciousness training hall was packed with people, every pillar surrounded by a crowd.
"Mu, do you know what's going on here?" Ye Zhong asked.
"I need twenty seconds!" Mu had been busy with something these past few days, and clearly, his attention hadn't been focused on this.
Ye Zhong looked around curiously at the people nearby. It wasn't hard to see that their actions were highly purposeful, evident from the expressions on their faces. Although Ye Zhong had no idea what their goal was.
Twenty seconds passed in the blink of an eye. Mu's arrival meant he had found the answer: "Leaf, they're waiting for you!"
"Waiting for me?" Ye Zhong was taken aback. He never expected this to have anything to do with him; he didn't recognize any of these people.
"Mm! To be precise, they're waiting for YC!" Mu said.
"YC? But YC is me, isn't it?" Ye Zhong asked, rather puzzled, feeling that Mu's words were hard to comprehend.
"Which is why I said they're looking for you!" Mu explained.
Mu's explanation still left Ye Zhong confused. Left with no choice, Mu spent a long time explaining in detail from the beginning. No matter how he thought about it, Ye Zhong couldn't understand what these people were thinking. In his view, their behavior was utterly incomprehensible. What baffled him even more was that so many people would adopt such an inefficient and low-probability method!
In Ye Zhong's opinion, the most rational choice at the moment was to leave this Consciousness Training Center immediately.
Unexpectedly, Ye Zhong went to several other Consciousness Training Centers, only to find each one just as crowded, making him doubt whether anyone could actually train there.
Luckily, with Mu's help, Ye Zhong went to the training center that Mu said had the fewest people.
The place was indeed sparsely populated; the entire hall was empty. It was the first time Ye Zhong had ever seen such a desolate Consciousness Training Center.
"Huh, Mu, why are there so few people here?" Ye Zhong asked in surprise. He had been to many consciousness training bases, but he had never encountered a training center as empty as this one.
"This place originally belonged to Habeda Star. Due to the gradual deterioration of the environment, Habeda Star underwent a large-scale migration fifteen years ago. This should be an abandoned pulse signal station. The optical brain is still operating on its own, and the consciousness training center here hasn’t been destroyed, though the specific reason is unclear," Mu said. This was the pilot consciousness training center with the fewest people he could find through his search.
"Oh, I see!" Ye Zhong didn’t press further. As for why they migrated or where they went, his curiosity didn’t extend that far.
Ye Zhong walked up to a pillar and gently tapped it with his finger. A semi-transparent holographic screen popped out from the pillar. After browsing for a moment, he confirmed that aside from himself, there was no one else here.
From the very beginning, Mu had fallen silent. Ye Zhong knew Mu was no longer here. Whenever Mu logged into the virtual network, he became elusive, and no one knew what he was busy with. Ye Zhong had once asked Shang about this, but even Shang couldn’t provide a clear explanation.
Ye Zhong casually entered a light ball dodging room. He had found the previous training session quite interesting, though he could only last up to five minutes at most.
In the pitch-black room, countless light balls, starting slowly and gradually accelerating, flew toward Ye Zhong like moths to a flame, joyfully swarming him once again.
※※※※
Wei Yuan cursed his mentor countless times in his heart. That damned old man, that lecherous old fool! His eyes, which ought to rot away, lit up like a wolf’s whenever he saw female students. He was truly the disgrace of all teachers, the scum of humanity!
Wei Yuan’s mentor was an eccentric old man, reclusive in nature—at least when it came to male students. When it came to female students, he was so dedicated that all the male students in his class were green with envy, wishing they had been born girls! Although the pilot profession was seeing more and more female students these days, men still held an absolute majority. However, in Wei Yuan’s class, female students made up the vast majority. Old Man Xin’s reputation among female students was so stellar, passed down from one generation of seniors to the next, that almost all female students in the pilot department flocked to his class.
Wei Yuan had always regretted enrolling in this class. His uncle, who was also a teacher at the academy and in the pilot department, had strongly recommended Old Man Xin to his parents, claiming that Xin was one of the top experts in the academy and highly experienced in teaching!
Top expert? Wei Yuan had scoffed at this notion countless times! More like one of the worst! After all this time with Old Man Xin, Wei Yuan had never once seen him demonstrate anything personally. Every lesson was purely theoretical, and whenever it came to practical sessions, he would always bring in some pilot from who-knows-where. The only thing Wei Yuan found somewhat satisfactory was that the pilots Old Man Xin brought in for demonstrations were quite skilled—many of them were experts!
Ah, better not think about him! Thinking about him? That’s just asking for frustration! Wei Yuan immediately pushed Old Man Xin out of his mind.
Soon, he arrived home. His home was quite far from the academy, yet he managed to get back in an incredibly short time, all thanks to his exceptional mecha piloting skills. Although he was a student in the pilot department, the only skill Wei Yuan could boast about was mecha piloting.所谓光甲驾驶 mainly referred to a pilot’s ability to maneuver a mecha in flight, one of the essential qualities for any pilot.
Wei Yuan seemed to have a natural talent for mecha piloting. Whenever his mecha flew at astonishing speeds, watching the scenery on the holographic screen rapidly recede behind him, he often felt an inexplicable excitement—a thrill that resonated deep in his bones! The so-called "fastest" pilots in the academy seemed almost laughable to him.
Unfortunately, his talent was limited to mecha piloting. In all other areas, he had nothing to boast about. What troubled him the most was marksmanship. It seemed as though he was naturally迟钝 in this regard—no matter how hard he tried, he barely managed to scrape by with a passing grade. This was his greatest frustration!
Old Man Xin had never provided him with any meaningful guidance, merely brushing it off with a casual "take your time," which infuriated Wei Yuan so much he almost punched that detestable face of his.
"I’m back!" Wei Yuan called out lazily as he entered the house.
"Oh!" a male voice responded from inside. Wei Yuan lived with his father. His mother had passed away shortly after he was born, and he had relied on his father ever since. Wei Yuan’s father was an engineer and a workaholic. Once he immersed himself in work, he lost all track of time. Wei Yuan often wondered how he had managed to survive as a child without starving to death—it seemed like a miracle!
Returning to his room, Wei Yuan lay down on his soft bed, staring at the ceiling. His weary face bore a maturity that didn’t match his age.
His thoughts drifted.
If only his mother were still alive, how wonderful that would be! He had watched his mother’s holographic image countless times. He had never seen a woman as beautiful as her. On the snow-white ceiling, her image seemed to gradually materialize, but his vision grew increasingly blurry as drowsiness set in.
Sigh! Before falling asleep, a long, deep sigh rose from the depths of his heart, and then he drifted off unconsciously.
By the time Wei Yuan woke up, it was already midnight. He got up and scavenged for some food, glancing at his father’s room—the light was still on. With a piece of vanilla cake in his mouth, he shuffled back to his room in his slippers.
As soon as he returned to his room, Wei Yuan logged into the virtual network.
His destination was an abandoned pilot consciousness training center, which he had stumbled upon by chance. At the time, he found it strange that there wasn’t a single person inside. Later, he tried using the facilities and discovered they were fully functional. From then on, he made it his private training ground, pushing himself through grueling sessions alone every day. Little did others know that his barely passing marks in shooting were the result of such relentless effort!
In the eyes of others, he was nothing more than a lazy slacker. Combined with his extremely low profile at the academy, no one had any idea of his true skill level in mecha piloting. His appearance was equally unremarkable—average height, average face, average build, and certainly nothing resembling a distinctive aura. From any angle, he was utterly unnoticeable. To this day, he had never even received a love letter from a girl.
He pursued his goals silently, within his own world.
And this consciousness training center was precisely his world.
Entering the hall, as usual, there was no one in sight. Ah, my world is forever lonely! He shook his head, laughing at himself for becoming so sentimental. With a wry smile, he collected his thoughts and prepared to begin his daily training.
Suddenly, he remembered the recording of YC he had watched the day before. YC’s stunning performance in the light ball dodging room had left him utterly dumbfounded. He never imagined anyone could be so incredibly powerful!
Fortunately, Wei Yuan knew he had never practiced mecha combat, so he didn’t entertain the idea of trying it himself. As a student in the pilot department, he was well aware of the distinction between the virtual network and reality. While mecha combat was gaining popularity in the virtual network, long-range combat tactics still dominated in the real world. In reality, with only one life to live, no one dared to apply the virtual network’s methods recklessly. After all, one’s life was their own. Moreover, long-range combat had matured over years of development, whereas the practicality of mecha combat remained unproven.
Nevertheless, Wei Yuan wanted to test how long he could last in the light ball dodging room. Of course, his goal wasn’t to block but to dodge.
He had never visited the light ball dodging room before. At the consciousness training center, he mostly used the basic training rooms. His exceptional mecha piloting skills were a direct result of this training. He believed that honing his fundamentals repeatedly would greatly benefit his future.
Since it was his first time using the light ball dodging room, Wei Yuan had no idea where it was. Reluctantly, he returned to the hall and approached a pillar. With a light tap of his finger, a semi-transparent screen popped up. This was the terminal of the consciousness training center, equipped with a self-service system to assist with various issues.
The screen displayed labels for all the training rooms. Huh? Wei Yuan froze in surprise.
Someone? How could there be someone?
Had he misread it? Wei Yuan quickly took a closer look. No mistake! There was indeed someone! And that person was in the very light ball dodging room he intended to visit.
YC?
YC? YC? Why did that name sound so familiar? Wei Yuan felt certain he had heard it before but couldn’t recall where.
Light ball dodging room!
Ah, YC! Wasn’t that the YC?
He finally remembered who YC was!
Hadn’t he just watched YC’s holographic recording last night? He silently cursed his own forgetfulness.
As someone who logged into the virtual network daily, how could he not know about YC? Though not an avid mecha combat enthusiast, he had still watched some of YC’s more famous battles.
This consciousness training center was still connected to the Pilot Association. To use its facilities, one had to register first, so Wei Yuan had little doubt about the authenticity of the YC before him.
What he was more curious about was how YC had found this place. By chance, just like him?
But deep down, Wei Yuan felt a surge of excitement. YC! This was the legendary figure of the virtual network, a true master of mecha combat. While the outside world was abuzz with news of people searching for YC, he had stumbled upon him right here!
Ha, today’s luck is truly remarkable!
Without a second thought, Wei Yuan selected the light ball dodging room and entered.