In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

Don't let it turn into a scene where someone pretends to humiliate you, that would be terrible... Xu Shi's concerns are not unfounded. Many psychological problems are formed gradually and imperceptibly, and patients themselves may not even be aware of the existence of this insidious problem.

So I'll have to take matters into my own hands and help as much as I can.

It's good for everyone to be happy, and he doesn't want to see Pan Feng really fall into some kind of vicious cycle.

"Cough cough!"

As he was thinking, a cough interrupted his train of thought.

Looking up, I saw Pan Feng carrying one in each arm, leading Miss Black Rabbit and Little Cat Xia out.

Both of them looked a bit disheveled—Gu Yi was covered in dust and looked like she was about to die from exhaustion.

Xia Wuyou wasn't in much better shape either. Most surprisingly, her "Suwei" outfit had several tears.

As the smoke and dust in the arena gradually dissipated, one could see craters of varying sizes and depths, as well as a mess of wreckage, clearly the result of the battle just now.

Gu Yi's little mecha "Ming Shi" remained seated, lying quietly in the center of the training field.

Although there were no visible signs of damage, unhealthy white smoke was emanating from several important joints of the mecha.

This is a manifestation of overload and overcapacity, which shows just how intense the fight was.

"A tie?"

Mr. Xu's eye twitched, and he asked, half questioning and half stating.

"Was it me who made her feel better?"

Xia Wuyou said angrily.

Gu Yi did not deny this statement. The other party had said from the beginning that he would try his best not to use his abilities. Otherwise, if Xia Xiaomao really went all out and performed a collapse operation on the mecha itself, it would be no problem to crush her into a ball.

During the recent exchange, the little black rabbit also experienced the terror of the gravity field up close several times.

However, under these circumstances, the two players remained at a similar level, and it wouldn't be accurate to call it a draw.

"I take back what I said earlier; mechs do indeed have their unique features."

Xia Wuyou, never one to mince words, gave the new mecha high praise, saying, "As expected of Sister Jiang's work."

"Of course, I paid for it!"

Gu Yi put her hands on her hips triumphantly, "Little Pink is the best!"

...Is the pink one alright? Are you being a little perfunctory, little puppy?

"How about we just go with a normal name?"

Taking advantage of the situation, Mr. Xu told her about the naming of the mecha on site earlier.

"What's wrong? Why isn't Little Pink a good name?"

Gu Yi was furious. "Xiao Fen is such a cute name! How could you change it so easily?"

But since it sounds alright... let's just call it that.

Humph.

Gaining Xia Wuyou's approval of the mecha undoubtedly put her in a great mood.

Xia Xiaomao's praise was not perfunctory; this may be the first time she has praised a heavy mecha.

This may be because previous heavy mechs did not have the same strength as "Vision," but in any case, there are very few weapons that can fight her to a draw in a head-on confrontation.

Even though she wasn't using her full strength—you have to understand that her combat power is basically in the top 5% of the world level, yes, world level. Even though more and more regions are being discovered and joined or incorporated into the alliance, her combat power is still far ahead.

Only some newly emerging SS can overpower her; she can even be evenly matched with some weaker SS.

Therefore, being able to achieve this level is truly remarkable... Even if you say there is only one "Ming Shi", we can see from this that the mass-produced "Xuan Yuan" or other types of mechs will not be much weaker.

Hearing her say that, not only was Gu Yi happy, but Jiang Chengcheng was also very pleased.

Whether it's "Ming Shi" or "Su Wei," they are ultimately her creations. To put it bluntly, their clash is like the sharpest spear against the strongest shield, and she'll be happy no matter who wins.

"However, it seems that it still needs to be strengthened further."

She carefully saved the data from "Ming Shi," then looked at Xia Wuyou, "And Wuyou, your 'Su Wei' can also be upgraded using this opportunity."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Chengcheng."

Xia Wuyou nodded and casually took the coat Pan Feng handed her and put it on—this battle-damaged outfit was a bit indecent, it was revealing too much…

Fortunately, there was only one man here, and his attention didn't seem to be on her.

He merely glanced at Pan Feng and gave her a look.

I told you, your master is young and not some old fogey. For him, formalities are never something to worry about.

Pan Feng also gained a deeper understanding of what he said and nodded in agreement.

"However, that's just the way it is. Having a strong heart alone isn't enough."

Xu Shi reminded him at the right moment, "This isn't some kind of shonen manga... Besides, your master just doesn't like piloting mechs, it doesn't mean she can't."

"Hey?"

Pan Feng was taken aback, clearly unaware that Xia Wuyou had this up her sleeve.

Xia Xiaomao hadn't told her either, because it all happened a long time ago—back when she joined "Snake Ring," mecha piloting was a required course.

Gu Yi is the top student in this year's class, while Xia Wuyou was the top student many years ago.

"Do you still want to study how to pilot a mecha?"

Xia Wuyou noticed it too and casually asked Pan Feng a question.

"Hmm... but I can't learn it well, Master, please don't think I'm stupid."

"How could that be? What master would dislike their apprentice for being stupid?"

Xia Wuyou chuckled, "It's just that everyone has their own area of ​​expertise... If you want to learn, go back to school and your teacher will give you extra tutoring."

"real?!"

Pan Feng was overjoyed, "Thank you, Master!"

The two became a loving teacher and a filial student.

Gu Yi, standing to the side, scoffed, "Why isn't there a master who dislikes their disciple for being stupid..."

Isn't that bastard man in front of you one of them?

As they were talking, a beautiful figure rushed over.

Here comes my silly apprentice.

Damn it, how did I fall asleep while writing the last thousand words...?

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 334 It's never a loss if your child looks like you.

2023-12-10

Upon seeing Pan Ling rushing over, everyone spontaneously revealed amused smiles.

There was no way around it; she came right after we started talking about the "silly apprentice." Who else would we laugh at but you?

The foolish apprentice himself had no idea what was going on, but seeing the situation, he sensed something was wrong and subconsciously looked down at himself. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing."

Xu Shi suppressed his smile and asked as calmly as possible, "Is the meeting over? What was the result?"

"all the best."

When her master asked about serious matters, even though she had a lot of questions, Pan Ling could only put them aside and answer seriously.

"These two B-level city-states are nothing special, so I simply incorporated them into the alliance according to the previously established standards."

"Specifically, 'Mirror Lake County' possesses high-concentration liquid 'rust mist' veins similar to those in the Hualan Empire, and I've secured priority mining rights for a portion of it. The other, 'Flowing Cloud Kingdom,' is home to unique flora and fauna, and the locals' special abilities tend to be naturalistic… I've already spoken with Mr. Ning Wei and Qin Yiyan; they will be responsible for handling these aspects."

"As for the question of the 'protagonist,' according to the people who came to negotiate, no such existence has been found so far. However, they will keep a close eye on it and will report to us as soon as they find any signs."

She continued, "As for the people of 'Heavenly Principle'... we've always handled that ourselves; they don't need to worry about it too much."

Xu Shi nodded slightly.

A three-hour meeting, summarized in three sentences—truly, the essence is in the condensed form.

However, the foolish apprentice's report was spot on—they already had their own set of standards for recruiting new members into the alliance.

They value nothing more than these points: overall strength, resources, and the "protagonist".

Overall strength is naturally the most important criterion for evaluation. Whether it is the overall strength of the "Ascendants" or the individual SS "Ascendants", this part can always well reflect the value of a region.

It's no exaggeration to say that once an SS exists in a region, it will basically be ranked among the top A-level city-states. Even if these people have eccentric personalities or are unwilling to get involved in alliances or diplomacy, they will generally not stand idly by if any major situation arises.

After all, according to their description, once "Heavenly Principles" does something, they cannot remain unscathed—this may not be credible to those who have not been exposed to these things, but the current "Star River" Federation is already quite large. One person may not represent anything, but what about ten people, or a hundred people?

If the situation wasn't really that dire, or if there wasn't such a potential crisis, why would those SS-rank or highly skilled individuals have agreed to band together, right?

Xu Shi still remembers three years ago when he was just preparing to develop the alliance. It was indeed much more difficult back then than it is now. It is true that Yu Xingchuan led the team to be responsible for overseas diplomacy, but eight out of ten times he had to personally go out and present the facts and reason with them using the evidence he had collected.

Even so, many people remained suspicious, believing it to be a despicable tactic by outsiders... It wasn't until those "observers" of "heavenly justice" were exposed that these people realized they weren't just exaggerating.

But as the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. If the foundation is solid, then breaking through barriers and presenting the complete world to everyone will become simpler and easier for people to accept.

Now everything is done by following procedures, and Xu Shi doesn't have to do everything personally anymore. For unimportant city-states, Assistant Pan can handle it. This can also be considered a kind of training for her.

Besides, it's not only SS-rank individuals who are highly regarded by them—a year ago, they encountered a peculiar city-state, a self-contained world of high martial arts where everyone had the skills to cultivate and strong individuals were everywhere. Although there were no SS-rank individuals, there were many A-rank and A+-rank "ascended individuals," and even quite a few S-rank individuals.

Finally, everyone gave the same rating for the area: A. This can't be described as an abundance of ants killing an elephant; rather, it's more like a pack of wolves that even lions and tigers have to be wary of.

Furthermore, there is the issue of resources. Joining the alliance means opening up the foreign trade system, which requires mutual exchange of resources. Otherwise, why would someone who is not related to you help you? It's not like you're a relief center... This is probably a more detailed evaluation under the rough division of ABC, and there are differences between regions with the same rating.

To give a simple example, the mineral resources of Nightsin City itself are not very abundant. Even after obtaining the high-concentration "Rust Mist" ore from the "Forsaken", the resource level still remains in the medium or even lower-middle range.

If it weren't for Boss Xu's pioneering spirit and the overall strength of Night Sin City, under a fair and just rating system, Night Sin City's overall level would probably rank lower among A-level city-states.

It can only be said that some people are born to be rich. There are quite a few A-level city-states with abundant resources in recent years... Night Sin City now prefers to take the path of exchanging technology for resources, and then using resources to develop technology in a virtuous cycle. It's about playing to your strengths and avoiding your weaknesses, and there's nothing shameful about it.

Are there any regions that are not very strong but have abundant resources?

Of course, there are some.