Chapter 8: Is Piloting a Mech Really That Difficult?

"Why are you just staring? Do you look down on a Grade D mecha?" The Commander of the Tenth District Military asked, cracking a joke as he noticed Lian Fei standing motionless.

Lian Fei hurriedly replied that it was nothing of the sort. "It’s just my first time seeing a real mecha, sir. I’m not quite sure how to operate it." She paused, then smiled, "Could you let me familiarize myself with it slowly, Instructor?"

Lian Fei glanced at the Commander from the corner of her eye. Seeing that he was still watching her, she couldn't help but feel a surge of nervous tension.

*Mental connection, mental connection.*

How could she possibly establish a mental connection when she had no spiritual power?

Wait. She had deployed mechas in DOL before. She hadn't paid much attention to it then, simply thinking about it with her consciousness, and the mecha would appear. Could she replicate that feeling now to manifest the mecha in reality?

Lian Fei carefully recalled the sensation of deploying a mecha in DOL.

The Commander, seeing Lian Fei standing still, was not surprised. Civilians from the planet Gausero almost never came into contact with actual mechas in their entire lives. Even though Lian Fei had piloted mechas in DOL, those were only virtual. No matter how realistic the simulation, it wasn't reality. Connecting with a mecha using spiritual power was easy to say but incredibly difficult to grasp. Many people had to spend a long time finding the trick. The slow ones took weeks or months; even the fastest ones took at least a day.

With this in mind, the Commander turned around, intending to find a seat and wait patiently.

However, just as he turned, he heard the sound of a mecha deploying behind him. The Commander spun around in shock. Sure enough, the Grade D mecha was fully deployed.

*So fast?!*

His face was filled with undisguised ecstasy.

*Good, good, good! A genius has emerged in the Tenth District under my command! This is truly wonderful!*

Inside the cockpit, Lian Fei felt the sensations of a real-world mecha. It was the same as in DOL—a bit dizzy at first, but she quickly grew accustomed to it.

"Strange," Lian Fei waved her arm, and the mecha mimicked the movement perfectly. She didn't have spiritual power, so how did she deploy it? Lian Fei was utterly baffled.

The Commander deployed his own mecha and stood before her. "Now, come and attack me."

Lian Fei responded, "Please teach me, Instructor." She took a stance and lunged at the Commander.

Once linked to the mecha, Lian Fei felt as if her body weighed a thousand pounds. Her movements weren't as agile as before, but she adjusted quickly. After trading a few blows with the Commander, she became accustomed to the weight, and her speed began to catch up.

Seeing this, the Commander was even more satisfied. She had adapted so quickly—truly impressive.

"Don't just rely on hand-to-hand combat." The Commander performed a backflip, creating distance. His fingers flew across the controls as he input weapon codes. A second later, ten flying-fish cannons aimed at Lian Fei.

*Whoosh, whoosh—*

The cannons fired in unison. Lian Fei’s pupils constricted, and she dodged with a roll. The shots had been aimed at her feet, and where she had stood moments before, the ground was now blasted into a crater. Lian Fei frowned, scanning the weapon cache for something she could use. *Tsk, they didn't leave me a single ranged weapon.*

Lian Fei chose the laser dual-blades. Gripping the weapons, she charged at the Commander. Having mastered the mecha, her speed and power were now on par with her own physical capabilities.

The Commander continued to unleash cannon fire, but Lian Fei dodged every single shot. With a push from the thrusters on her mecha’s legs, she leaped into the air. A barrage of bullets flew toward her, but she deflected them all with her blades. As the light-blade was about to strike, the Commander rolled away to dodge. Lian Fei reacted instantly, chasing after him with her blades. This left the Commander unable to regain his footing, forced to continuously evade her onslaught.

The situation had turned around. Under Lian Fei’s relentless pressure, the Commander couldn't find a single opportunity to counterattack. *Is this girl really piloting a mecha for the first time?* The thought crossed his mind.

As for Lian Fei, she was having the time of her life. Once she got used to the mecha, she began to incorporate its various equipment to enhance her attacks. For instance, she activated the leg thrusters while kicking to increase the impact force. The only downside was that the mecha's energy reserves were depleting extremely quickly.

The Commander watched Lian Fei with satisfaction, his mind already drifting to how he would celebrate Eden’s victory. The two traded blows, metal clashing and sparks flying. The moment Lian Fei’s mecha energy hit zero, the Commander seized the opportunity, twisted her arms behind her back, and pinned her to the ground with his knee.

"You lost." The Commander released her and retracted his mecha. Lian Fei scratched her head and retracted hers as well.

"Instructor Shen is truly amazing." Lian Fei respectfully handed the mecha necklace back to him.

The Commander chuckled and waved his hand. "It's your first time. Not knowing how to manage energy consumption is perfectly normal."

Lian Fei gave a shy smile.

"You’ve already mastered the controls; I have nothing left to teach you." The Commander opened his optical computer. "I’ll have some books on mechas sent over for you. Read them more."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lian Fei received a message on her own optical computer.

/Xia Lin: You have a package. Should I have it delivered to your dormitory?/
/Lian Fei: Yes, please. Thank you./
/Xia Lin: You're welcome. (*^v^*)/

Lian Fei put away her device and said solemnly to the Commander, "Thank you, Instructor."

The Commander smiled. "In the Eden game, the more proficient you are with a mecha, the higher your chances of survival... I’ll find a way to get a mecha for you."

*Survival?* Lian Fei’s heart skipped a beat. "Does the Eden game always result in death?"

The Commander pondered for a moment. "A large part of the reason Eden was created was to identify talented individuals for special training to fight the Zerg. Another reason was to remind the public, who are well-protected by the Federation, not to forget the threat of the Zerg."

But now, many had turned Eden into a death variety show for entertainment and gambling, or a tool for political maneuvering between certain factions. The Commander sighed inwardly and swallowed those words. Regardless, those who climbed out of Eden had combat capabilities far superior to the rest.

Lian Fei understood: it was essentially a survival-of-the-fittest experiment. It was disguised as a competition, forcing them to fight the Zerg, and those who survived would be trained to fight even stronger Zerg.

"Lian Fei, regardless of whether you win in the end, I hope you survive," the Commander said solemnly. "Although there is a rule in Eden that humans are not allowed to kill humans, there are many who use the Zerg to do their dirty work. You must be careful." He had discovered this talent too late; he hadn't had time to train her before she had to face both the ferocious Zerg and the treacherous people from other planets.

Lian Fei’s mood grew heavy. Not only did she have to deal with the Zerg, but also with people who might stab her in the back?

"Instructor, I will survive," Lian Fei said.

The Commander grinned and patted her shoulder. "I believe you can."

Lian Fei was about to ask more about Eden when voices approached from behind. "Instructor, are we late?"

Lian Fei turned to see Murong and the others hurrying over. They froze upon seeing Lian Fei, and when they recognized the Commander, they stood at attention and saluted in surprise.

"Greetings, Commander," they said in unison.

Lian Fei stared at the Commander in astonishment. *What? He’s a Military Commander?!* She knew the Federation had divided its planets into ten districts for better control, each with a Commander, but she hadn't paid attention to who they were or what they looked like. Thinking about how she had just beaten the Commander of the Tenth District without holding back, Lian Fei felt like curling her toes in embarrassment.

The Commander, amused by the shift in Lian Fei’s expression from shock to awkwardness, waved for the others to stand at ease. "Enough. While you are here, just call me Instructor Shen."

Murong glanced at Lian Fei and asked the Commander cautiously, "Instructor, are we late?"

The Commander chuckled. "No, it is exactly 2:30, our scheduled time." Murong breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, one by one, come forward. Try to connect to the mecha with your spiritual power and deploy it," the Commander said, holding out the necklace.

Lian Fei didn't want to stay with these people, and since she already knew how to pilot a mecha, she asked to leave. The Commander didn't stop her and nodded, allowing her to go.

But as she walked away, Xu Ang sneered, "Pretentious trash."

"What did you say?" Lian Fei stopped and looked at Xu Ang coldly.

Murong scolded, "Xu Ang, be quiet!" He turned to Lian Fei, "He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. I apologize on his behalf."

Lian Fei sneered. "You apologize for him? Does he not have a mouth? Does he need you to speak for him? What are you to him? His mother?"

Xu Ang was incensed. He shouted, "No need to apologize! I’ll say it straight: you’re trash. Once you get to Eden, you’ll just be cannon fodder!"

Silence fell upon the group after his outburst. Xu Ang felt a pang of regret, remembering that the Commander was still there.

Murong sighed and apologized to the Commander with a forced smile, "Sorry, Instructor, Xu Ang doesn't have much of a brain..."

"Cannon fodder?" Lian Fei’s lips curled into a mocking smile. She looked the group up and down and said coldly, "If I recall correctly, you were the one sent to the hospital by this 'cannon fodder,' weren't you? So what does that make you? Worse than useless?"

"You!" Xu Ang was furious and started to move, but remembered the Commander and held back.

"Fine, go to your mecha lesson," Lian Fei waved her hand. "You’re not even worth the dirt under my feet."

"Don't get cocky... oh, of course you have to leave. You’re just a piece of trash with no spiritual power; you can’t even pilot a mecha!" Xu Ang looked at her with disdain.

Lian Fei looked at Xu Ang as if he were an idiot. "Is piloting a mecha supposed to be hard?"

Everyone stared at her in shock. Lian Fei raised an eyebrow, scratched her cheek, and continued, "I’ve already tried it. It’s just like that—boring. So I’m going back now. Bye, everyone."

Xu Ang scoffed, "Keep pretending. You have no spiritual power, what kind of mecha could you possibly pilot?"

"Who told you I don't have spiritual power?" Lian Fei asked, looking at him with confusion.

Everyone froze. *Could it be?* Suddenly, they remembered Lilith saying that Lian Fei’s personal information was likely classified. But they didn't want to believe it. They were all from Gausero; how could they not know the situation? How could someone from Gausero have classified information? If she were that capable, everyone would have known.

Lian Fei observed their expressions and sighed. She turned to the Commander, "Instructor Shen, do you have another mecha?"

The Commander said, "I have a training unit sent to me by the Ninth District Commander. The weapon system is a bit faulty, and I was planning to send it for repairs after this."

Lian Fei nodded. "Please, Instructor, lend me that mecha."

The Commander gladly produced the training unit. Lian Fei then deployed it right in front of everyone.

"Xu Ang, get in your mecha. Let’s have a match." Lian Fei knelt slightly, looking down at the stunned group. "If you’re scared, just apologize to me."