Chapter 279 : A Real Man Should Be Piloted by a Mecha

Fortunately, it was completed.

Lin Li let out a long sigh of relief. The system was quite nice to him in judging these tasks, very anthropomorphic.

Perhaps it was a birthday present from the system.

[You have obtained "Half-Price Item Purchase Opportunity" 1]

[Half-Price Item Purchase Opportunity: After use, specify any existing item in the [Mall], and you get a chance to purchase it at 0.5 times the price, with the tens digit rounded up (i.e., an original price of 50 requires 30 System Currency to purchase)]

Looking at the subsequent pop-up message, Lin Li raised an eyebrow.

Then he realized that this would be a super prize worth 500 System Currency.

Speak of the devil, and the married woman arrives.

(Translator's Note: A pun on the idiom "Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives").

Made a killing.

Lin Li originally planned to wait until Wang Yuhui's takeout task was completed during the day, gather a thousand System Currency, and exchange it for the mecha he had been looking forward to for a long time.

But now that he got this item, it meant he only needed to spend five hundred to get it.

His mood instantly improved greatly.

If it weren't for the possibility of someone watching him from the entrance behind him, Lin Li probably wouldn't have been able to resist reaching down and humming a tune.

Now, there was still half of the maximum stay time in the apocalypse, three hours.

Pressing the signal transmitter Shi Dongchen gave him, it didn't take long for him to walk out of the tunnel entrance.

Having looked around for Lin Li, he finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him, and then asked: "Brother Lin, were you looking for me? Is there anything wrong?"

"You don't need to keep the Beautiful Lady's room empty anymore, it's useless now, you can take it back and use it yourselves."

"Didn't you ask me before if I was interested in the weapons and technology of your world? I'm quite free now, you can introduce them to me." Lin Li smiled at him and said.

"No need, leave the room for... Okay, okay! I'll go prepare right away!" Hearing the first half of the sentence, Shi Dongchen, who wanted to try to deepen their relationship and planned to keep the room, nodded excitedly after hearing Lin Li's subsequent request.

After giving a few instructions to the guards at the entrance, Shi Dongchen came to Lin Li's side and started to introduce things to him verbally.

...

On the technology side, Lin Li didn't gain much. There were no scientists among the survivors here, and no one mastered any cutting-edge technology.

As for those basic civilian technologies, either the two worlds had similar ones, or some terms were different. Plus, Lin Li's knowledge reserve in this area was too small, it was a bit like a chicken talking to a duck, unable to explain clearly or understand.

As for weapons, the shelter indeed had many good things that were hard to get, at least for Lin Li living in the East.

After all, in reality, Lin Li had no way and wouldn't try to obtain these illegally.

"Give me some of these weapons and usable ammunition later."

Lin Li played with the firearms in his hand, tried a few shots, and said to Shi Dongchen.

Taking these things back to reality was indeed useless to Lin Li, but in the apocalyptic world, putting them in the "Universe Ring" and taking them out to use at any time was definitely a superior alternative to the weapons on hand.

He could choose not to use them, but he couldn't not have them.

And keeping them at home wasn't risky. The style, color scheme, and details of the guns were different from reality, looking more like toy guns, and wouldn't arouse suspicion. As for ammunition and such, just keep them separate.

"No problem!" Shi Dongchen had no objections.

He wasn't afraid of Lin Li making requests, he was afraid of Lin Li having no requests.

After Lin Li had looked at and selected the weapons, Shi Dongchen took out another box and unlocked it.

There was only one thing in the box, a blood-red, irregularly shaped stone.

"What is this?" Lin Li asked.

"These are two pieces of something collected when we eliminated a mutant over a year ago. I think you might be interested in it too, Little Brother Lin," Shi Dongchen said.

"Mhm?" Lin Li moved the box over to take a look. There were indeed two pieces, one half the size of a fist, and the smaller one completely blocked by it was only the size of a thumb.

Lin Li picked it up and examined it closely. The stone emitted a faint, pulsating red light. It wasn't very hard; a fingernail could scratch a mark on it, and Lin Li felt he could even crush it.

As for supernatural elements, he didn't feel any.

"Is this the core of a mutant... uh, what do you call it?"

"We didn't name it, let's just call it a core."

"What's its use?"

"When it appears in front of ordinary zombies, it makes them a bit crazier. Suppose there's a zombie, a person on the left, and a core on the right, they will prioritize pouncing to the right.

"Secondly, I tested it with Hu Fei. Touching the wounds of Awakened ones like them with this thing will cause it to be absorbed into their bodies, and then it will make them feel better.

"As for ordinary people like me, touching a wound has no reaction.

"I don't know anything else, after all, we don't have much energy to spend on this kind of thing.

"I've kept these two pieces for a long time, but they've never been of any use, so I plan to give them to you, Little Brother Lin."

Lin Li chuckled. The word "give" was used cleverly.

But Lin Li wasn't polite either.

"Then I'll accept it, although I don't know if I can take it away."

Involving the supernatural of this world, this thing definitely had research value.

If given to him, he would take it; if not given, he would ask for it.

Seeing Lin Li accept it, Shi Dongchen was even happier than Lin Li. Then he took Lin Li to find the large gold block in the shelter.

Over twenty centimeters long, over ten centimeters high and wide, except for the flat bottom, the other sides were an irregular block of gold, with obvious newly chiseled notches on it.

When picking up this hundred-pound gold block, Lin Li deeply felt the weight of responsibility.

He felt it wouldn't fit under his bed.

"Then I'll take it all?" Lin Li asked.

Since he was already here, taking it in batches would be too troublesome.

"Of course, it's entirely at your disposal."

It wouldn't fit in the ring, so he could only carry it back when he returned.

After chatting about what needed to be said, Lin Li gave the slingshot and catapult he brought as 'gifts' in return, and promised to continue buying supplies to give them when he came back later. Then he said goodbye to Shi Dongchen, refused his request to stay, and left the shelter.

Reason one, Lin Li still didn't want to set the return location inside the shelter.

Reason two, Lin Li was going to test the mecha.

So Lin Li carried the gold and found a tall ruined building over a hundred meters away as cover.

[You have selected "A+ Combat Armor (Lin Li Perfect Mold)" and used the "Half-Price Item Purchase Opportunity". Used successfully.]

[You have purchased "A+ Combat Armor (Lin Li Perfect Mold)".]

Mecha acquired.

This thing wasn't suitable to be tested after returning to reality, because Lin Li wasn't sure how tall this armor was.

The actual ceiling height of his old residential area was estimated to be less than 2.4 meters. Since it was his perfect mold, it was undoubtedly taller than him. If it exceeded this height, it couldn't be materialized at home.

And testing it outside the residential area was too risky. Who knew if someone happened to be admiring the night view in the middle of the night without turning on the lights.

So this world was the most suitable.

When the armor was materialized, Lin Li knew his choice was correct.

Roughly estimated to be about three and a half meters tall.

It was a humanoid mecha like a Gundam, with an overall pitch-black color scheme. The main alloy was covered with honeycomb-like patterns, and a metallic liquid resembling mercury flowed at the exposed joints.

Under the two huge mechanical arms hung two extremely oppressive machine guns, the dark muzzles very intimidating. On the outside of the left leg hung a strangely shaped 'knife', and the mecha was equipped with thrusters on its back, though it was unknown if it could fly.

It was too handsome.

Lin Li reached out to touch it, originally wanting to feel the charm of this technology and metal, but the moment he touched it, the mecha's chest armor cracked open, revealing the internal cockpit. Then Lin Li felt a suction force pulling him towards it.

Lin Li didn't resist, and actively exerted force to cooperate with this pulling force to enter.

The chest armor closed, and his vision went pitch black. A gel-jelly-like substance began to surge from all directions, completely enveloping Lin Li.

An extremely slight tingling sensation came, and Lin Li's vision was no longer pure black.

[Connection Successful]

[Pilot: Lin Li]

[Mecha Synchronization Index: 60 (120%)]

When the mechanical female voice sounded inside the armor, Lin Li's vision recovered.

It was the vision of a mecha over three meters tall, and as long as he focused his gaze, the vision would automatically zoom in on where he wanted to look. A holographic map being drawn on-site floated at the edge of his vision, and automatically locked onto several suspected enemies, beginning analysis.

The sense of technology was maxed out.

Looking down, Lin Li saw his mechanical arms, and the ten fingers moved flexibly without any hindrance following his thoughts.

The same went for moving his legs.

The limbs were as flexible as if they grew on his own body, not clumsy at all.

Taking a deep breath and suppressing the desire to shout, Lin Li began to adapt to and practice with this armor.

...

The plasma light blade slashed across the building, and the wall was cut and broken amidst splashing sparks, falling to the ground with a loud noise.

The sound was loud, but the nearby zombies were already dead.

Inside the mecha, Lin Li's face was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

After spending more than half an hour, he had probably figured out most of the mecha's situation.

Under the two arms of the armor, there was a rifle each, with a total ammunition capacity of four thousand rounds, now leaving 3996.

The long-range attack modules were not just these two. Pulse cannons were folded and hidden in the shoulders. Firing consumed energy, so the ammunition showed infinity, related to the battery level.

The back carried four small reconnaissance drones, not equipped with weapons, but could self-destruct when necessary.

The melee modules included a spear that could be taken out from the palm of the right hand, and the plasma blade he had just seen on the outside of the left leg, which he was currently using.

The defense module was a retractable energy shield attached to the front of the left arm.

In terms of speed, without using the thrusters, the combat armor's movement speed wasn't fast, even a bit clumsy.

Obviously, for traveling, low-altitude or high-altitude flight was more suitable.

High-altitude flight could stabilize at a speed of sixty or seventy kilometers per hour, which was already considered good for a clumsy mecha and comparatively tiny thrusters. The top speed was two hundred kilometers per hour, but after a few minutes, the thrusters would show an overload warning.

The battery level dropped from 100% to the current 98% in half an hour—almost all of it dropped when testing the top speed.

Ignoring the time flow rate, it was actually 6:00 AM now, yet Lin Li didn't feel sleepy at all.

Driving this mecha was too awesome.

A real man should drive a mecha!

This was the best birthday present!

Mount Everest is 8848 meters high, the tallest Gundam in the world. Lin Li's Gundam was 3.6 meters, but it was currently the most technologically advanced Gundam in the world!

The only pity was that the rifle ammunition was limited, and Lin Li currently had no way to replenish it, so he was completely reluctant to use it.

Another 'problem' was that when Lin Li was inside the armor, using the system to materialize things also materialized them inside the armor, and they couldn't directly appear in the mechanical hands.

The cabin door opened, and Lin Li was sent back to the ground by the magnetic cabin door. Lin Li immediately returned the mecha to the [Warehouse].

He was about to be forcibly repatriated to modern times soon. If he went back but the mecha didn't, he would really be furious.

Now his self-preservation means in the apocalyptic world had greatly increased, and he could consider further exploration operations later.

But definitely next time.

It was time to go now.

Returned to the bathroom.

Pressing the backup phone timer, two minutes and fourteen seconds. Having stayed in the apocalypse for nearly six hours, after calculating, the time ratio had indeed dropped again, only 1:160.

Sooner or later, the flow rate of the two worlds would be completely identical, right?

But this wasn't something the current Lin Li needed to consider. Equipping his new title in the main title slot, Lin Li looked at the mirror in the bathroom.

His facial features in the mirror completely disappeared, all turning into skin. He looked like a yellow-skinned bald egg with hair, quite scary.

No matter what expression he made, it was like this. In his vision, at most, when he opened his mouth, his facial contours would change accordingly, but no facial features would appear.

So this debuff of not being able to see faces also applied to himself looking at himself?

Lin Li took out his phone and took a selfie in the mirror. Looking at the photo in the phone with the naked eye, it had the same effect.

Opening the cloud drive to watch a movie, all the real people acting in it, regardless of gender, had invisible facial features, but 3D and 2D animations were completely unaffected.

It only affected real people.

Lin Li unequipped the title.

Then the facial features of real people could be seen.

However, when Lin Li looked at the photo of himself he had just taken in the album, it was still in a faceless state.

Lin Li thought for a while, so... this is how others see him when he wears the title?

So this title doesn't grant a new identity, but directly strips away the original identity?

Lin Li originally thought it would look like another human face completely different from his own, making people unable to recognize him but not feeling strange, like Superman's glasses.

Now it seemed not.

Then its practicality was much weaker.

When really using this title, he must wear a mask on his face, otherwise as long as he was seen, it would cause panic.

Then Lin Li tested it again. In the state of not recognizing people, he wouldn't leave fingerprints. Although hair could be pulled out normally, once the title was taken off, these body fragments would immediately disappear out of thin air.

If Lin Li relied on this to embark on a path of crime, even Conan would be dumbfounded.

Long pants, shorts, and underwear all count as pants. Minor damage to the pants doesn't affect this judgment, but once the damage exceeds about 50%, it is no longer recognized as pants.

Here, a three-minute silence for Lin Li's underwear that was sacrificed into pieces for its master's experiment.

As for equipping it in the sub-title slot, when it was 50% effective, the facial features were faintly visible, there were half fingerprints, and a complete hair was left behind.

He didn't know what the result would be if he took this hair for testing.

Lin Li used the refresh chance on the mecha slot.

[You have refreshed "Seven-Colored Treasure Garment": 600 System Currency (Daily purchase limit 1), replace?]

[Seven-Colored Treasure Garment: After refinement, wearing it on the body can greatly offset and neutralize the damage suffered, and provide immunity to low-level spells.]

Refreshed a defensive Magic Treasure.

Felt like it shouldn't be bad, after all, the price was right there.

But there was no urgent need for it temporarily, and even if there was, he couldn't afford it. He would replace it and leave it there for now, and consider it later when he was rich, or when he got a second half-price item.

After finishing these, Lin Li yawned. The excitement of driving the mecha had passed, and fatigue began to surge.

After packing up the protective suit and other things, Lin Li went to sleep.

...

"According to unofficial history, Zhang Liao led eight hundred warriors to defeat Sun Quan's army of one hundred thousand. There is no false exaggeration in this matter, but there is a hidden truth!"

"Continuing from the last time, after Lu Bu was caught by Cao Cao in Hefei, he said 'Bu is willing to surrender', but he wasn't really killed. Instead, he was secretly saved by Zhang Liao. Of course, Zhang Liao wasn't being kind-hearted. Lu Bu was imprisoned by him and became a hot weapon, mating with hundreds of majestic local women every day until they got pregnant."

"After sixteen years, Lu Bu had already fathered thousands of little Lu Bus with thousands of strong local women. Then, through the law of survival of the fittest, Zhang Liao gradually cultivated a super little Lu Bu army stationed in Hefei."

"The boy Sun Quan didn't know about this, and dared to send troops to attack Hefei at this time. So these little Lu Bus followed Zhang Liao and launched a full-scale attack, creating the legendary record of 800 people defeating an army of one hundred thousand!"

"What?!"

"If it was eight hundred little Lu Bus, maybe... it really could be done!"

"No wonder the State of Wei won, eight hundred little Lu Bus is indeed too scary. But why is there no record of this group of little Lu Bus in history later?"

"Sigh," Bai Bufan sighed upon hearing this, "According to unofficial history, this battle completely awakened the bloodline of the eight hundred little Lu Bus. As everyone knows, Lu Bu is a slave of three surnames, so they became the sex of two thousand four hundred families..."

(Translator's Note: "Xing" (surname) and "xing" (sex) are homophones).

"Two thousand four hundred families? They'd be played to death!"

"Yeah, so they were used up in a few years, and there was no more news."

"Fuck!"

A little unofficial history every day keeps the desire to die away.

Lin Li walked into the classroom with a smile, and met the eyes of Chen Yuying, who had been looking at the door as if waiting for someone.

So he first put her breakfast on her desk.

"Lin Li, happy birthday. I didn't bring your present to school, I'll have to give it to you later." Pressing her hands on the breakfast, Chen Yuying looked at Lin Li and spoke with a smile.

"Not bringing it means you didn't write it. Class Rep, I've used this excuse to death before. Call your parents right now and have them bring it over." Lin Li sneered upon hearing this.

"I really prepared it, I just didn't bring it to school." Chen Yuying shook her head, pursed her lips, but there was still a smile in her eyes.

"Heh, don't believe it."

"Don't bully my Yingbao!" Ding Sihan next to her leaned over, pointed at Lin Li's nose, and spat softly.

"Ding Sihan, you didn't bring one either, did you?" Lin Li looked at Ding Sihan upon hearing this.

"Of course I didn't not bring one."

Hearing Lin Li say this, Ding Sihan smiled and reached into her drawer.

Lin Li reached out his hand with pleasant surprise and unexpectedness.

Ding Sihan took out a comb.

A comb? It's fine, a comb is acceptable, he happened to need one too.

But Ding Sihan used it to tidy her bangs and said to Lin Li: "Of course I didn't not bring one, because I didn't prepare one at all."

"..."

The outstretched hand grabbed the air and instantly refined it. Lin Li smiled: "Ah Ding, do you know, I didn't have a standard for choosing a mate before, but since I met you, I do."

"Is it because I'm too excellent, having seen the moon, you look down on fireflies? I can understand." Ding Sihan continued to hum and comb her hair while saying.

"Because I absolutely cannot have someone like you." Lin Li's voice came through his teeth.

"Tch."

Having played with Lin Li for a long time, this kind of attack could no longer make Ding Sihan angry.

"Still have to rely on the Class Rep, then I'll wait." Smiling and shaking his head, Lin Li left this sentence for Chen Yuying and walked towards the back row.

For Lin Li, who originally wouldn't celebrate his birthday grandly, presents really weren't that important.

"What?! It's Lin Li, the first person in Senior One Class 4 who can openly go to an internet cafe!" When Lin Li walked towards the back row, Zhou Baowei said in shock.

"What?! It's Lin Li, the first person in Senior One Class 4 who can use his own identity information to trade stocks!" Wang Ze, who was listening to unofficial history behind him, followed closely.

"What?! It's Lin Li, the first person in Senior One Class 4 who got scammed in a naked chat at an internet cafe, failed in stock trading, became penniless, embarked on a path of crime, and then has the chance to be sentenced to actual death with immediate execution!" Bai Bufan's eyes also widened.

Lin Li: "..."

Your mom.

Worthy of being Bai Bufan, even attacking me can be adapted to local conditions.

But in this class right now, the only one who could be sentenced to death was indeed himself. Bai Bufan wasn't wrong.

"Today's breakfast, I've already paid for it!" But Lin Li, being the bigger person, handed them the breakfast and said heroically.

However, the ungrateful crowd didn't show any gratitude.

"You collected the money yesterday, right? If you don't pay, who will!" Bai Bufan sneered and questioned.

"You guys insisted on transferring it yourselves." Lin Li looked somewhat innocent.

"You didn't say you were treating yesterday either?"

"Then it wasn't my birthday yesterday either."

"..."

"Then I won't transfer the breakfast money tonight."

"No." Lin Li shook his head.

"Why?"

"It's not my birthday tomorrow, how can you not give me tomorrow's breakfast money."

Bai Bufan, Zhou Baowei, Wang Ze: "..."

Your mom.

Laughed out of anger, what kind of three-dimensional defense is this.

Feels like Lin Li is the kind of person who would hesitate even if Honor of Kings gave away five gold coins.

After distributing the breakfast, he returned to his seat.

"Lin Li, are the medical examination results out yet? I'm dying of curiosity." While wolfing down his breakfast, Bai Bufan asked.

Hearing this, Lin Li smiled and looked at Bai Bufan: "It won't be because of curiosity."

"What do you mean it won't be because of curi—eh?"

Bai Bufan was stunned for a moment, then covered his mouth and started coughing.

So the reason I'm going to die isn't because of curiosity?

"Oh my, just scaring you," Lin Li looked at Bai Bufan like this, laughed loudly, patted his shoulder, and then said seriously:

"Bufan, eat whatever you want to eat recently. If you don't want to go to class, you don't have to. Do what you want to do, don't restrain yourself anymore. Don't worry, I've calculated it, the money in your card is enough for you to live the rest of your life carefree."

Bai Bufan: "..."

"But I only have seven hundred yuan in my card." Bai Bufan licked his lips and said seriously.

"Mhm, I know~ It's enough!" Lin Li nodded, his smile bright and sunny.

People will laugh when they are extremely speechless.

So Bai Bufan smiled first, then reached out his hand and counted on his fingers.

Then he suddenly stood up, grabbed Lin Li's collar, shook him, and roared:

"What do you mean seven hundred yuan is enough! Then how fucking short is this carefree life of mine going to be!"

(End of Chapter)