After Winning The Esports Championship I’m Going To Pilot A Mecha: Chapter 90

90. A fish biting its own hook.

“Are you sure there’s no voice broadcast or something like that here?”

The next day, Ji Mingzhu changed to a different arcade and specifically asked before entering.

“I said there isn’t.”

The girl at the front desk waved impatiently. “We don’t do those fancy things here. No matter how high your rank is, it’s useless. We treat everyone the same, no discounts. Will you open it or not?”

Ji Mingzhu felt reassured. “Then open one.”

…

“Captain!”

An Man, who had been closely monitoring the movements of the “Tian Nan” account, saw the online notification and became alert. “He’s online!”

“Give me the location.”

Yao Mingkai quickly walked over. “I’ll play against him.”

Ji Mingzhu had just logged in, and immediately received a challenge request.

It was from Yao Mingkai’s account.

Is it that easy to lure him?

Ji Mingzhu was a bit surprised. He originally thought he would have to snipe the opponent for two or three days before attracting attention. He even prepared himself for a protracted battle. But on the second day, the other side was already eager to play a match.

After a moment of thought, Ji Mingzhu didn’t accept the request but chose to decline, then sent a message to the opponent.

[Tian Nan: ?] [Dawn Armor: Can we have a match?] [Tian Nan: Who are you?] [Dawn Armor: My friend used my account to play against you yesterday. You crushed him instantly, maybe you don’t remember. Later, I watched the recording of your matches and found you very skilled. I want to play against you.]

Ji Mingzhu was taken aback.

So, the one he played against yesterday wasn’t Yao Mingkai himself?

Although there was a bit of a mix-up, at least it didn’t deviate from the track. Ji Mingzhu pretended not to recognize Yao Mingkai and casually chatted with him for a bit before accepting his challenge.

After being transported to the custom room, Ji Mingzhu saw Yao Mingkai’s mech and couldn’t help but ask: Why is it a B-grade mech?

He remembered that when they played yesterday, the opponent’s account clearly used an A-grade mech. As a fanatic of Warfall and a wealthy second-generation, Yao Mingkai himself had no shortage of money. Not to mention A-grade mechs, he even had plenty of S-grade mechs.

Yao Mingkai replied: The mech parameters are the same, so it’s fair to fight.

Ji Mingzhu chuckled slightly: You still have a chance of winning with a far superior mecha model.

His words were somewhat arrogant, but Yao Mingkai remained unfazed: You won’t know until you try.

Both sides prepared, and the battle began.

Yao Mingkai faced Ji Mingzhu without the slightest carelessness. As soon as the countdown ended, his mech’s cannon barrel gleamed with dazzling light, unleashing full firepower toward Ji Mingzhu’s position, initiating a barrage.

Indeed, there was a significant difference in style compared to yesterday’s battle.

Ji Mingzhu smiled faintly. Under his control, “Breaking Heavy Clouds” suddenly veered to the right, swiftly cutting through the dense barrage, then without any pause, it launched a direct assault toward Yao Mingkai’s position, its power core humming as it veered diagonally to the right, creating an instantaneous spiral rush that widened the distance between them.

This smooth and fluid maneuver caused Yao Mingkai’s brow to furrow. Ji Mingzhu’s attack trajectory was extremely cunning, firmly trapping him in a blind spot, making it difficult for his laser firepower to suppress Ji Mingzhu’s position.

Ji Mingzhu controlled “Breaking Heavy Clouds” to sweep around in a semicircular motion from the side, with a booming trail of flames following behind. Then, suddenly changing direction, taking advantage of the moment when Yao Mingkai’s mech was overloaded with firepower, it pounced straight toward him like a fierce beast!

The alloy blade was unsheathed!

Yao Mingkai’s gaze became completely serious. He was indeed a former top 500 player; the pressure from this attack rhythm was not something an ordinary person could possess.

He remained composed, deactivating the laser cannon and activating his own alloy sword, delivering a beautifully anticipated slash.

“Nice!”

An Man watched as the captain displayed his prowess, unable to contain his excitement as he clenched his fists and cheered.

Yao Mingkai’s response was indeed impressive, but for Ji Mingzhu, it was not difficult to deal with.

As if losing balance, “Breaking Heavy Clouds,” maintaining a diving posture, suddenly dropped its body, avoiding the blade of the alloy sword, while at the same time, its arm supported the ground, spinning around on the ground, kicking fiercely at the lower armor of Yao Mingkai’s mech.

Yao Mingkai’s mech was also an assault type, with not much tonnage. Ji Mingzhu’s action was swift and fierce, extremely rapid and forceful. If this kick landed, Yao Mingkai’s mech would definitely lose balance and fall over instantly.

Just from this move alone, one could see Ji Mingzhu’s skillful maneuvering. This action seemed simple, but if one didn’t have a solid foundation in micro-operation, their mech would lose balance before they could even strike the opponent. However, “Breaking Heavy Clouds” seemed like it would tip over, but in reality, its balance was quite stable.

Yao Mingkai quickly responded, pulling back the control lever abruptly to defend, while his right arm cannon extended, intending to give Ji Mingzhu a solid face blast.

The next moment, the leg that had been side-kicking suddenly retracted, hooking onto Yao Mingkai’s mech. Using this as the axis, amidst the engine’s hum, “Breaking Heavy Clouds” suddenly completed a *Trollis spin, swiftly switching its center of gravity.

*I have no idea what this means or if the transliteration is correct. The OG is 特洛里斯回旋 – Tè luò lǐ sī huí xuán

From the perspective of the spectators, this move looked extremely impressive, but for Yao Mingkai, he only felt that Ji Mingzhu’s mech suddenly blurred, and the next moment it appeared behind him.

With a Torelli’s spin to circle behind, followed by a flashing variable pace, then a Level Seven Army-style horizontal sword strike!

Swish, swish, swish—

Several consecutive strikes were unleashed, each one accurately cutting into the joints of the mech.

Yao Mingkai’s mech immediately erupted in sparking fireworks, its original movements directly distorted. Assault-type mechs relied heavily on maneuverability, and the critical joints being damaged was undoubtedly fatal. Yao Mingkai’s mech lost control directly!

Boom!

The Breaking Heavy Clouds landed gracefully, while Yao Mingkai’s mech staggered behind, resembling a tall building on the verge of collapse, sparks flashing as it fell to the ground.

The outcome was clear!

“F*ck!”

An Man clenched his fist, his expression unwilling, “Can still lose?!”

A teammate beside him looked serious, “Did he just use the Felling Blade Strike technique? It seemed like he connected two Jumping Strikes in between? It was too fast, I couldn’t see clearly…”

Another teammate nodded, “I didn’t see it clearly either… but his operation was very precise. Where did this expert come from ah? He seems even stronger than a professional player.”

Exiting the match room, Ji Mingzhu still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

Real-life mech operation had its own charm, just as games had their unique aspects. At least in Battle Meteor, he didn’t have to worry about the power core replacement issue, or energy consumption, nor did he need to fear the potential danger to the Pilot from combat damage to some special parts. Fighting in the game wasn’t as thrilling as real-life mech battles, but it was more exciting and exhilarating.

At least when operating mechs in real life, Ji Mingzhu wouldn’t use the operation of those multiple Jumping Strikes, although it looked cool, it was easy to cause mech joints to overload, which wasn’t worth the risk. However, in the game, there were fewer concerns, after one battle, the mech would respawn in full health status.

Ji Mingzhu relaxed his wrist: Shall we continue?

Yao Mingkai quickly replied: Let’s go again!

In the second match, Yao Mingkai changed tactics, no longer using an assault mech to fight back, but instead using a heavy armored mech, with stronger defense, heavier tonnage, and more stable balance. In one-on-one combat, it was a formidable opponent for all assault-type mechs.

Ji Mingzhu thought to himself, quite clever.

Ji Mingzhu was extremely skilled in micro-manipulation of assault-type mechs. In his era, no one dared to use an assault mech to face him, even the first assault player in the European server would feel the same.

Therefore, in his relatively short professional player career, due to his outstanding individual skills, he was often targeted by various teams, including those who used heavy armored mechs to specifically contain him.

While others might find Yao Mingkai’s turtle shell tactics troublesome, for Ji Mingzhu, it was just business as usual.

The second match ended just as quickly. Two minutes and twelve seconds after the start of the match, Yao Mingkai’s heavy armored mech was outmaneuvered by Ji Mingzhu. The high flexibility of Ji Mingzhu’s controlled mech made it impossible for the heavy armored mech to even touch it. Seizing the opportunity, Ji Mingzhu executed a perfect camera angle lock combined with a forward momentum flash slashing technique, piercing the power core with an alloy blade, resulting in a successful mech explosion.

Ji Mingzhu exited the game, and once again a match request popped up in front of him.

Yao Mingkai: Let’s have another round.

Should he or shouldn’t he? Yao Mingkai’s temperament was quite similar to those friends Ji Mingzhu had in the esports circle, dedicated to challenging skilled players, repeatedly defeated yet never giving up, honing his skills through each failure.

Naturally, Ji Mingzhu chose to accompany him.

In the third match, Yao Mingkai changed his strategy again, switching to a firepower-oriented mech, attempting to kite Ji Mingzhu.

This was simply digging his own grave.

If the opponent were a top-tier Titan Pilot like Li Li, Ji Mingzhu might not have been able to catch up, but Yao Mingkai’s skill level was far below Li Li’s. This time, not even two minutes and twelve seconds had passed before Yao Mingkai was successfully closed in by Ji Mingzhu, and the mech exploded after just a few moves.

Ji Mingzhu flexed his wrist and asked: “Still up for more?”

There was no response from the other side for a while.

Ji Mingzhu thought he might have made the opponent go silent by defeating him, wondering if he should go easy to boost Yao Mingkai’s confidence. Then he received a message from Yao Mingkai.

“You’re really strong.”

No kidding.

Ji Mingzhu raised an eyebrow and modestly replied: “It’s okay.”

“Are you a professional player’s smurf?”

“No.”

“Then are you a pilot from the Calamity Control Bureau?”

Ji Mingzhu replied: “Just a gamer enthusiast. Your positional play during our matchups had some issues. When I overclocked and closed in, your laser had already cooled down from overload, but you didn’t choose to block my advance position, instead opting to retreat.”

Yao Mingkai was puzzled, he carefully pondered for a moment, and indeed, it was true.

If he had operated as Ji Mingzhu suggested, maybe he would still have had a chance. However, Ji Mingzhu’s mech exerted such strong suppression and pressure that it made him instinctively want to create distance and retreat, only to push himself into a corner instead.

“When do you usually come online?” Yao Mingkai thought for a moment and couldn’t help but ask.

Ji Mingzhu’s lips curled slightly, replying, “Depends on my mood.”

“Could we play a few more rounds tomorrow?” Yao Mingkai asked. “We have a competition coming up soon, and I’m looking for a suitable sparring partner. Don’t worry, I won’t let you work for nothing. I’ll pay you according to the rates of top professional players.”

Usually, sparring rates are calculated by the hour, but for top-level professional players, it’s calculated by the minute. Just playing for an hour would earn more than the annual expenses of most families.

“You’re quite interesting,” Yao Mingkai commented.

Ji Mingzhu replied, “It’s possible. I happen to have some free time these days.”

Yao Mingkai was delighted. “You agreed? That’s great, thank you. Don’t worry about the price, and if you have any other requests, feel free to mention them.”

Yao Mingkai’s excitement was evident even in his messages. Ji Mingzhu thought to himself: How did this fish end up biting the hook by itself…

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