Chapter Forty-Six: The Five-on-Five Battle

Even when Liu Meng went to get her injection, she didn’t notice anything different, which only made Li Daoran feel he was wasting his time. Afterwards, he completed his physical training for the day: one hour in the double-gravity chamber, managing 1,500 pull-ups. Once finished, he acted as if nothing had happened, heading straight to the basement, sliding into the login pod. A message arrived from an ID named “Suit Yourself,” along with ten points of merit.

“I’ve already made the changes. I keep my word.”

Li Daoran smiled, finding this Cold Wind rather intriguing.

There was another friend request, from an ID called “Muscleman.”

“Master, take me with you! I’m the cutest Cat Cat.”

Li Daoran recalled the 5v5 battle rules—only two could team up for 5v5 matches, and the points accumulated far faster than in 1v1s. He clicked agree; after all, having a familiar face by his side was better than solo queuing in 5v5.

Muscleman, 1,253 points, invites you to queue up for 5v5. Li Daoran had just accepted.

“Master, you’re here! Yesterday’s match between you and Cold Wind was incredible—the final strike was so unexpected, almost supernatural. Master, you truly are worthy of the title!”

“Ah, just lucky,” Li Daoran murmured, not realizing the conversation was voice-based.

“Master, don’t be modest. Cold Wind is actually a top-100 player’s alternate account,” Muscleman quickly revealed the juicy information he had.

Li Daoran was startled. He knew Cold Wind was strong, but hadn’t imagined he was a top-100 player. So the top-100 aren’t so unbeatable after all.

“Maybe he wasn’t taking it seriously. If we fought again, I’d surely lose. I’m hardly a master,” Li Daoran still felt his win yesterday was pure luck.

But Muscleman’s tone turned wistful.

“If you want to earn a bit of fame on the intranet, you need to understand all the major factions. Those ranked after a million are scattered and unorganized, but their sheer numbers are astonishing. Every so often, a genius emerges from among them. Like you, Master—you’re the rising star. One day, you’ll stir up storms and bloodshed in the intranet.”

Page (1/3)

“Ah, that’s enough. Tone it down,” Li Daoran choked, surprised at Muscleman’s prowess for flattery.

“Seriously, Master, I mean it. Aren’t you curious about the major factions on the intranet? I spent the whole night yesterday crafting my opening speech, Master,” Muscleman sounded a bit resentful, as if his efforts were wasted.

“How do you know I’m not using a smurf account?” Li Daoran was curious how Muscleman was so certain he was a newcomer.

“Your style. This is the intranet of the White Deer Republic. Someone like you, a mechanical warrior with crazy moves but no distinctive style, must be new. I’m a mecha enthusiast—maybe not an expert on all the top players, but I know most. It was obvious you’re new. My hand speed and skills aren’t up to par, but when it comes to understanding mecha warriors, I refuse to lose,” Muscleman said proudly.

“So you’re a mouth-only king,” Li Daoran replied.

“Master, don’t hit below the belt. Give me some face,” Muscleman said awkwardly.

“My bad, my bad. Alright, you go on,” Li Daoran accidentally blurted out his thoughts, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“The top million are those ranked after a million. They spend countless hours and energy climbing the ranks, and their depth of skill is beyond words. Any one of them is like an elder among the million-plus. The top hundred thousand—just hearing the number shows how prestigious it is, a realm ordinary people can only dream of.”

“Past one hundred thousand, aside from small groups, there are a hundred battle alliances, seven of which are most famous—the Three Sovereigns and Four Emperors.”

“Wait, that sounds oddly familiar. Three Sovereigns and Four Emperors?” Li Daoran felt something strange had crept into the introduction.

“Exactly, Three Sovereigns and Four Emperors. The top seven alliances of our White Deer Republic. Of course you’d recognize them,” Muscleman said confidently, missing the subtext.

“Alright, that’s too far off. Let’s start queuing. Anything I should know about 5v5? First time, no experience,” Li Daoran decided to ignore the details and focus on climbing ranks.

“Master, with your skills, just carry me. In this tier, there’s nothing to watch out for. You’re free to dominate—I’ll just wait for the easy win,” Muscleman said nonchalantly.

Li Daoran was nearly exasperated.

“Alright, let’s get started,” he said helplessly.

“Got it, Master. In 5v5, normally you’d need teamwork, but with your level, in this tier, 1v5 is no problem. We can’t practice team play here—we’d only hold you back, so don’t mind us, just charge in. When you reach your true tier, you’ll find teammates who can keep up and cooperate. For now, this tier is all about bad players with loud mouths—just ignore them,” Muscleman explained, sensing Li Daoran’s irritation.

Page (2/3)

“Thanks, so that’s how it is. Let’s get started,” Li Daoran said.

He entered the queue, and they were matched quickly.

Li Daoran locked in the Jumper.

Immediately, a teammate piped up, “Where’d this scrub come from, picking Jumper? Bet he’ll just feed. Another loss, what rotten luck…”

“Exactly, always these trash players picking the cool-looking ones. As long as they have fun, they don’t care. Guess we’ll have to accept the loss,” another chimed in.

Li Daoran stayed silent, but Muscleman wouldn’t let his carry partner be insulted and fired back.

“You clowns, stop whining! My teammate’s a master, an elite, a top-100 smurf. You should be kneeling in worship. Just lie down and enjoy the win,” Muscleman locked in the Titan, chattering nonstop.

“Yeah right, fooling ghosts. I’m ranked number one myself. What a load of bull. Let’s see how you feed,” the teammate scoffed, locking in the sixth-generation Mech Falcon.

With that, the noisy group launched into the match.

This was a showdown among 1,100-point players, on the jungle map.

Five mechs appeared in the jungle. Titan rushed ahead, saying, “Master, I’ll scout for you. See where they are.”

The other teammates were annoyed. Titan was already a big target, and his running was thunderous—almost as if he wanted the enemy to know exactly where he was. Jungle combat was all about concealment; whoever spotted the enemy first gained a huge advantage.

“Let this fool draw their fire. We’ll find a place to hide. Titan can’t hide anyway, he’ll be discovered soon enough. Let him be bait,” the mouthiest teammate said, and the other two followed him, slipping into the jungle and disappearing from sight.

Li Daoran watched as Titan pounded ahead, making no attempt at stealth, even deliberately crashing into trees to make loud noises. He scratched his head, then took out the sniper rifle.

Page (3/3)