Mecha are a man's romance.
Just like the caliber and range of artillery, they are truth.
On the field, gigantic Mecha, up to twenty meters tall, stood in the center, wielding great swords, fiercely battling each other.
Blades and swords clashed, splashing blinding sparks, making the surrounding audience boil with excitement, raising their support sticks high, cheering for the strongest Mecha in their hearts.
Only the third arena was filled with various boos.
"Careful, careful! Spectators in the stands, dodge quickly, she can't stop again!"
"Bang!"
Amidst the scattered crowd, the crimson Mecha crashed heavily onto the stands. Debris flew everywhere, and the people around frowned, many pointing and gesturing at the red Mecha.
"It's her again, is this model so bad? Over three hundred meters, and she couldn't brake in time. How did this waste pass the production line?"
"Who knows! But it doesn't matter, today is her last match, only two paths await her, either go to the battlefield and fight the Zerg to the death. Or just be melted down."
"Better to be melted down! Something like this won't be of much use on the battlefield, and it will cost the life of a Pilot."
"Who said she'd be equipped with a Pilot? For trash like this, she can just hug some cluster bombs and die with the Shrew. Training Pilots isn't free."
A red light flashed, and a man was ejected from the Mecha's body.
He stood on the red Mecha, spat a mouthful of saliva at it, turned around, jumped down, and walked towards the outside of the arena. If he, Wang Wei, ever drove a Mecha like this a second time, he would just die!
The crimson Mecha lay alone on the stands, enduring the rolling eyes and curses of the crowd.
She lay there motionless, oblivious to everything around her. She couldn't remember how many times this had happened!
The blue sky was beautiful, the air mixed with the scent of wildflowers. And the number eighty-two lubricant was really delicious.
It's just that she didn't plan to experience any of this anymore.
She had lingered in this world for five years. According to the rules of Mechanical Island, Machine Girls who haven't been contracted within five years either enter the battlefield as self-detonating cannon fodder, or choose to be melted down, completely ending their lives.
There wasn't essentially a difference between the two. At least for her, both meant that she, named Lightning, would be completely extinguished.
She would rather choose the latter, at least she could save Mechanical Island a considerable amount of transport fees.
The match was over, just like her life as a Machine Girl.
The crowd slowly dispersed, their enthusiasm for insulting a piece of waste wasn't as high as imagined.
Staring blankly at the blue sky, for the first time in her life, she felt that the blue sky was truly beautiful.
A sweet scent wafted over, it was the smell of number eighty-two lubricant.
A young man held a test tube in his hand, leaned over her giant face, and brought it to her mouth.
"Want to drink? If you agree to contract with me, I'll give it to you!"
Su Li stared at the Mecha in front of him, raised his hand and wiped away the saliva that was almost drooling out. He carefully read her detailed information.
A-Class Mecha, Lightning.
Speed: 90
Acceleration: 101
Maneuverability: 70
Stability: 60
Defense: 80
Braking: 30
This was the first time Su Li had seen a Mecha with such poor braking performance. A braking value of thirty, in this competition environment, was infinitely close to zero. With this poor maneuverability, she still wanted to brake? This was a behemoth up to twenty meters tall, with a net weight of eighty tons. The huge inertia was enough to shatter the stands built with alloy.
Her acceleration exceeding one hundred was originally her strength, but because of the braking performance of thirty, it became her biggest weakness. In a confined space, her own maneuverability was completely restricted. A slight acceleration would lead to the risk of losing control.
But it didn't matter, others couldn't drive her, but he could!
"My data isn't good, I advise you to choose a different Machine Girl to contract with."
Lightning stared blankly at the sky, letting herself lie sprawled in the ruins of the stands. The club members weren't even willing to go through the motions; not a single person came to retrieve her.
Perhaps being melted down was her destined path.
A red light rose, and the giant Mecha slowly shrank, transforming into a woman standing one meter seventy-eight tall, with long, wine-red hair. A red bodysuit covered her entire body. Her graceful curves became even more eye-catching under the wrapping of the bodysuit.
She wore high heels, and her red tight leather suit was torn in many places, revealing fair flesh that glowed faintly.
Lightning turned her head, looking down at Su Li beside her. His eyes were filled with eagerness and longing.
She was slightly stunned. Such a gaze had once existed in her own eyes. When she first left Mechanical Island, she was filled with passion seeing everything outside. Until she stepped into the arena and crashed into the stands with her Pilot again and again.
"I don't care! I know your braking is poor, but that's not a problem, what you lack is just a qualified Pilot."
Su Li looked at her exquisite figure, feeling his legs were full of brains.
He was already twenty years old, having transmigrated to this world for exactly twenty years, and had just obtained his Pilot license.
As a former ace Pilot, having the skills but no Machine Girl was too unbearable for him!
Looking at Lightning in front of him, his heart was filled with excitement. Su Li knew that if he missed Lightning, who knows when the next opportunity would come.
Machine Girls are very expensive! So expensive that a student from a Mecha academy like him could not afford one. And Lightning, due to her difficult attributes, was repeatedly discounted by her club, attempting to sell her at a reduced price. But her inherent flaw was fatal; no one was willing to spend money on a Machine Girl of little use.
At least in the arena, she would only lose control again and again. Her best performance was only lasting three minutes in the ring! Two and a half minutes of that was just warming up and waiting to start.
So her value plummeted all the way, from the initial thirty million to two hundred thousand. It was practically a bone-breaking price!
This price was a blatant insult to the Machine Girl herself. Moreover, Lightning was an A-Class Machine Girl. It was known that the market price for an A-Class Machine Girl was at least twenty-five million.
But even at two hundred thousand, he, Su Li, still couldn't afford her.
Until today!
A Machine Girl destined to be scrapped and melted down would have one chance to set her own price after her farewell match. As long as he could move the Machine Girl in front of him, he could buy her with the savings he had accumulated for ten years.
His savings weren't much, only one hundred sixty thousand. This was what he had painstakingly saved over the years by living frugally, repairing Mecha for others, and doing odd jobs. It was his entire fortune.
These years at the academy, he lived on coarse food and wild vegetables, prioritizing "living by freeloading, spending money is his greatest pain." All for the sake of finding a bargain and getting a Mecha with a better cost-performance ratio.
He also knew that with one hundred sixty thousand, the possibility was slim. But faced with an opportunity, he had to try.
He looked eagerly at Lightning in front of him. Her height was already similar to his, and she wore high heels, so he could only look up at her smooth, fair chin.
"I've encountered many Pilots. They were all very confident at first. But after driving me once, they never did a second time."
Lightning gave a self-deprecating smile, and raised her hand to tuck a strand of red hair behind her ear. She looked at Su Li in front of her and found that the eagerness in his eyes hadn't been extinguished by her words.
"Let's try! No matter what, trying won't hurt."
Su Li's eagerness, and his words, made Lightning's heart stir.
Try?
She looked at the young man in front of her, the corners of her mouth curving slightly. She had never expected that today, when everyone else had abandoned her, there would still be someone looking at her with such an eager gaze.
Although she wasn't a qualified Mecha, just a defective product.
Su Li's eyes were filled with the desire to become a Pilot.
Lightning lowered her head, looking into the eyes of the man in front of her. That fervor made her heart tremble slightly.
"Then, let's try! If it's just a test drive, you don't need to contract."
Everyone's dream should be respected. Even if she was about to be melted down, perhaps fulfilling someone's dream before being melted down was also a good ending.
She leaped down from the stands, and while still in mid-air, shouted loudly: "lightning r5, deploy!"
A red Mecha with a strong sense of science fiction suddenly appeared at the edge of the arena. Its immense weight made the entire arena vibrate.
She knelt on one knee, and the armor on her chest slowly opened, revealing a cockpit.
She extended her hands and placed them in front of Su Li.
Su Li excitedly rubbed his hands on his clothes and jumped directly onto Lightning's hands.
The cockpit slowly closed. In the sealed space, a sudden burst of light flashed.
The dense armor in front seemed to suddenly become transparent, reflecting everything outside into Su Li's eyes.
Lightning's full, shapely body was half-lying in front, and on her slender waist, a full-coverage helmet filled with a sense of technology was placed. Su Li slowly picked up the helmet and put it on his head.