For Yun Xingze, this match against Su Zinan was a battle with no retreat, he could only win, not lose.
Therefore, before the match began, Yun Xingze remained in a state of intense preparation, constantly creating models of various modification plans on his light computer.
In contrast, Su Zinan was quite relaxed. He even sent someone to observe Yun Xingze’s condition. Upon learning that Yun Xingze was frantically modifying his mecha, Su Zinan sneered, “His family isn’t even giving him money anymore. What kind of tricks can he possibly pull off?”
At the same time, Su Zinan believed that Kalibo’s score last year hadn’t been as high as his own, and there were suspicions that Kalibo had gone easy during their match. Therefore, Yun Xingze’s victory over Kalibo, an A+ ranked opponent, was nothing more than luck. Moreover, Yun Xingze was still in his fever period—utterly weak and vulnerable.
Su Zinan had already envisioned humiliating Yun Xingze even worse than he had Lu Ranxu.
Yun Xingze, meanwhile, was busy with modifications and the changes he was making were extremely risky. At least, based on the data he had found, no one had ever attempted something like this before.
His focus was on the mechanical beast.
Yun Xingze found some spare parts in Luo Wenchuan’s private warehouse. After scanning the images, he sent them to Luo Wenchuan and asked, “Boss, can I take these Comet Mecha parts?”
Luo Wenchuan seemed busy and took a while to reply: “Everything in the warehouse is yours. No need to ask next time.”
The two sentences were concise and generous, making Yun Xingze’s lips curl into a smile. Once again, he was moved by Luo Wenchuan’s magnanimity. Meeting a boss like this must be every worker’s dream, right?
A while later, Luo Wenchuan sent another message: “Why do you need Comet Mecha parts?”
Yun Xingze explained his modification plan. It must have taken Luo Wenchuan some time to fully grasp the text, as he seemed stunned by Yun Xingze’s boldness.
“This is very risky,” Luo Wenchuan replied.
Yun Xingze thought Luo Wenchuan didn’t support his decision, but the next second, another message arrived: “Only you can pull it off.”
Yun Xingze laughed and replied, “Boss Luo has great taste.”
Luo Wenchuan probably didn’t expect such a response, as it took him a long time to reply with a simple “Mn.”
While Yun Xingze worked on the modifications in the workshop, Lu Ranxu was also nearby repairing his mecha. Many of his mecha’s parts had been damaged by Su Zinan, and the repairs would cost a fortune.
Since Yun Xingze was busy preparing for the match, Lu Ranxu had found someone else to help with the repairs.
But Lu Ranxu’s attention was entirely fixed on Yun Xingze’s mecha.
Ever since learning that Yun Xingze had been matched against Su Zinan in the fifth round, Lu Ranxu had been so excited he could barely sleep. He told Yun Xingze, “The heavens have eyes! Xingze, you have to end Su Zinan’s winning streak and wipe that smug look off his face!”
Yun Xingze, while installing weapons onto the mechanical cat, absentmindedly hummed in agreement.
Watching Yun Xingze modify the ugly cat, Lu Ranxu asked curiously, “Why are you equipping the cat with these?”
The person helping Lu Ranxu with his repairs also chimed in, “Hey, you really shouldn’t modify a mechanical beast like this. The mental energy you allocate to it is limited; it won’t be able to handle these high-difficulty weapons.”
This person was from the mecha maintenance program and knew a thing or two about modifications. In his opinion, Yun Xingze was just wasting materials.
Although Lu Ranxu didn’t understand either, he said to the person, “Just focus on your own modifications. Do you really think Xingze needs your guidance?”
The person curled their lips and rolled their eyes.
However, Lu Ranxu’s next words stunned him on the spot, nearly causing the repair tools in his hand to drop: “He’s the mecha engineer hired by Luo Wenchuan.”
“Luo… Luo Wenchuan?!”
Luo Wenchuan actually hired an Omega as a mecha engineer? Just how capable must he be?!
The students from the maintenance department looked at Yun Xingze with expressions shifting from disdain to shock and then to admiration. But Yun Xingze paid no attention. After finishing the modifications, he clapped his hands and said, “I got inspiration from Kalibo. I modified it based on his data.”
“Kalibo?” Lu Ranxu asked in surprise. “Where did you get his data from?”
Yun Xingze smiled mysteriously and pointed to his eyes.
Lu Ranxu: “You figured it out just by looking? Is that reliable? Whatever, I’ll go watch your performance live.”
Every decision Yun Xingze made always left Lu Ranxu feeling astonished, yet somehow logical.
A student from the maintenance department chimed in, “Isn’t Kalibo a Comet Mecha Warrior? How can you apply his data to a Twin Star Mecha?”
“Regardless of the type of mecha, at its core, it’s all about amplifying human mental strength, physical power, and reflexes through the mecha before engaging in combat,” Yun Xingze said, gazing at the modified mecha with a rationality and wisdom that belied his age.
The maintenance students fell into a daze after hearing this, as if they had grasped some profound truth.
Currently, both Yun Xingze and Su Zinan had four consecutive wins, with nearly identical performance scores. As top-tier Omegas, their upcoming match had sparked heated discussions on the forums.
Some even started a betting pool using forum currency. Since it didn’t involve real money, it was purely for entertainment.
Support for Su Zinan overwhelmingly dominated the discussions.
“How dare Yun Xingze compare himself to Su Zinan? He’s just a rich kid, while Su Zinan is a top-tier Omega who rose from humble beginnings way better than that spoiled brat.”
“The forum deleted so many posts about Yun Xingze yesterday. Probably bribed the moderators.”
“Seriously? Isn’t an anonymous forum supposed to be for free speech? Is he scared his dirty laundry will get aired?”
“With that kind of character, how does he even deserve to stand against Su Zinan? Yun Xingze’s reputation is terrible across most school forums, except for the mecha forum that keeps hyping him up.”
“He’s just a B-rank. No matter how much they hype him, he’s still a B-rank. Remember how badly Lu Ranxu got beaten by Su Zinan last time?”
“I heard Yun Xingze and Lu Ranxu are friends. Is this some kind of revenge plot?”
“Give me a break. Su Zinan is the pride of us Omegas. What does Yun Xingze amount to? Backdoor deals, a broken engagement, failing grades there’s no way someone like him could win.”
“Su Zinan is beautiful inside and out. Yun Xingze just can’t stand seeing him close to Chi Yu, that’s all. Pathetic.”
The school had several forums, and most of these posts came from the gossip forum, where regular users held a particularly negative view of Yun Xingze.
Of course, this was largely due to Su Zinan constantly posting “dirt” about Yun Xingze using alternate accounts.
The forum was anonymous, so no one knew these posts were all from the same person.
Su Zinan’s method of smearing Yun Xingze was quite clever.
He never directly attacked Yun Xingze. Instead, he would drop vague, leading questions like, “Didn’t a first-year Omega at our school get dumped by their fiancé?” or “I heard an Omega who failed their fitness test still got into the mecha department could that be true?” or even, “People say Yun Xingze is as good as Su Zinan, what do you all think?”
Posts like these, sometimes even pretending to defend Yun Xingze, only fueled more ridicule.
In every thread, he never appeared to be the one spreading rumors, yet he skillfully steered the direction of public opinion, using people’s imaginations to twist Yun Xingze’s image into something universally despised.
Though no one dared to confront Yun Xingze in real life, the anonymity of the forum gave them the perfect outlet for their hostility. The number of people bashing him grew, and Su Zinan’s supporters multiplied.
When Lu Ranxu saw the betting pool, he was furious. He told Yun Xingze about it, saying, “I bet all my forum coins on you! Your odds are as high as 4.5 now, how can these idiots all be betting on Su Zinan? I can’t even.”
Yun Xingze didn’t comment, but it only strengthened his resolve to win the match.
Soon enough, the fifth round of matches arrived.
By this stage, many competitors were exhausted, and only those aiming for the school team persisted.
Yun Xingze, however, wasn’t fixated on making the team. Most of the time, he simply enjoyed piloting his mecha and analyzing his opponents’ data.
Aside from his match against Su Zinan, he didn’t care much about winning or losing.
That morning, Luo Wenchuan finally returned to school.
Before stepping off the aircraft, he changed out of his royal insignia-embroidered clothes and into his school uniform, slinging his backpack over one shoulder as he headed straight for the competition venue.
