Reboot the Galaxy

Bang!

Di Yan turned his head and saw a huge mech lying on its back on the ground next to him.

"Uh, can you stand up straight?" came Ahn Jae-in's slightly embarrassed English voice from the channel.

"Barely manageable." Di Yan tried to move his body, only to find that it was unusually difficult.

The elastic reset system inherently carries resistance, which reduces its force to some extent.

But when he actually tried to move his leg, he found that at a certain moment, the resistance of the elastic recovery system suddenly decreased, and his leg hit the somatosensory layer directly.

This caused the mech to abruptly take a step back, as if someone had grabbed its ankle and pulled it backward.

The mech was falling forward and about to hit the platform when he immediately jumped back to create distance. However, before his left leg could retract, he ended up hopping on one leg, his right leg forcefully jumping backward while his left leg kicked wildly in the air – a truly comical scene.

Di Yan then realized that he needed to keep track of the mecha's current actions at all times, and that he needed to reset the mecha for any actions that had just been performed accidentally.

So he kicked his left leg forward again, and when it made contact with the tactile layer in front of him, his left leg returned to its original position from the state of being suspended in the air after the kick.

"So that's how it is." Di Yan understood a little.

While he was warming up and getting used to the mecha, Ahn Jae-in struggled on the ground for a long time before finally finding a way to stand up.

He stood up awkwardly, as if crawling out of a quagmire, his mecha arms still in the comical position of supporting himself on the ground, but for Ahn Jae-in, the result was already very good.

He was drenched in sweat, and for the past minute he had been struggling with himself, repeatedly muttering in Korean, "Why isn't it working?" "Why isn't it working!"

Di Yan wasn't having an easy time either; he found that operating a mecha was a very tiring job.

Not only must you resist the elasticity of the reset system, but you must also control the force so as not to hit the somatosensory layer too hard, as this layer is very sensitive to force.

The good news is that he can control the mech's fingers freely and flexibly because there is no elastic reset system there, so even the slightest movement of the fingers will be reflected in the mech.

This is also the original intention of mecha design: only by maximizing the flexibility of the fingers can the advantages of humans be fully demonstrated, and the pilot can then pilot the mecha to do more things.

After about ten minutes of adaptation, Di Yan and An Zaiyin had completed the initial adaptation and could clearly understand what the mecha was doing. However, they still needed to think a little about the next move most of the time.

"Shall we come?" Ahn Jae-in asked tentatively, panting.

"Come on." Di Yan lowered his center of gravity and assumed a fighting stance.

The mecha followed suit, bending its legs and bending over, placing its arms in front of its body like a goalkeeper on a football field.

Accompanied by a dull sound mixed with a loud, sharp clanging of steel, Ahn Jae-in drove his mecha over.

Although his running posture was a bit comical, with only his forearms swinging and his upper arms still stiff at his sides, at least An Jae-in succeeded in running in his mecha on his first try, something Di Yan hadn't done yet.

Boom! The mecha shuddered violently, and Di Yan's heart trembled as well.

The two mechs collided and ended up embracing each other.

The mecha tilted to the right, and An Zaiyin used his waist and abdomen to throw Di Yan out.

Di Yan held his breath and focused, pulled back his right leg to support his balance, and then twisted his waist and abdomen to try to straighten the mecha.

However, An Zaiyin was slightly better than Di Yan in terms of controlling the strength of the mecha's waist and abdomen. This was because Di Yan had fallen before and needed to use a lot of strength in his waist and abdomen to get up. An Zaiyin had found some techniques for generating power.

With that, he shouted and forcefully flung Di Yan away.

Di Yan sensed that the mecha was in a state of extreme imbalance, and his gaze was moving towards the ceiling.

Thud! He fell down too.

"Haha, do you want me to help you?" Ahn Jae-in asked breathlessly.

"No need, I can do it myself." You could tell from Di Yan's voice that he was putting in effort.

He found himself in the same situation as Ahn Jae-in, lying on the ground unable to get up.

"Arch your buttocks and lower back back, and press your face forward!" Ahn Jae-in directed over the channel.

Di Yan did as instructed, and the mecha sat up slightly.

"Support yourself with one hand on the ground, twist your waist to the other side, and remember to stay close to the edge!" An Zaiyin taught Di Yan step by step.

The mecha successfully stood up from the ground. With An Zaiyin's command, Di Yan didn't have to do much.

"I don't need you to teach me."

Di Yan grinned, thrusting his left knee forward and kicking his right foot down, while simultaneously swinging his right arm forward and striking backward with his left.

He started running, and his running was much more precise than Ahn Jae-in's.

"Wow, not bad." Ahn Jae-in exclaimed, getting into position to prepare for the attack.

boom!

The two mechs collided solidly again, locked in a struggle, neither able to gain the upper hand. They pushed each other away, circled a few steps, and then clashed again to resume their battle.

"Go for it, Di Yan! Go for it!"

Mpuente and his teammates were in high spirits, clenching their fists and whispering encouragement to Di Yan, even though they couldn't tell which mech Di Yan was in.

"Darling, you should have nudged me like they did back then." Tomura Naohiko squeezed Isayama Wasabi's hand.

"Hmph." Wasabi Isayama pouted, still watching the two tall mechs locked in combat.

Tomura Naohiko smiled and said, "I admit, I should be more proactive next time."

"So, I was really bored at the time."

Wasabi Isayama turned to look at her husband with a mournful expression, "Are you even capable of this?"

With a face full of apology, Tomura Naohiko gently rubbed his wife's hand and bowed slightly: "Next time for sure... I'll definitely do it next time."

"Hmph." Wasabi Isayama turned her head back to watch the scene, a sweet smile playing on her lips.

"How boring..." Sprague Wheeler pouted, crossing his arms behind his head. "What's the point of just looking but not being able to turn it on, and making us wait here?"

"At least we can see everyone's movement habits."

Carlson Mephisto smiled slightly. "Look, there's one guy here who's really interesting. His movements are sharp. Even if it's his first time piloting a mech, he's done a great job."

"Yeah... he must be even more powerful when he's not piloting the mech," Toby Drake said in a simple, slightly dull voice.

"I'd love to see it if I had the chance."

Leo Novak looked at Carlson. "By the way, is there any progress on Quilt's matter?"

Carlson shook his head, his face darkening. "No, we've left Earth. We can't see his body, and we don't know what happened."

"Hahaha, look at that guy!" Sprague laughed, pointing to the center of the arena. "That guy's got nothing in his arms. What's he trying to do?"

"It looks like a naked chokehold," Toby said in a muffled voice.

"Naked choke..." Carlson's eyes narrowed slightly.

He did see one of the mechs go around to the back of the other and reach up with both arms, but since the mech didn't have a head, it missed its target.

Besides, mechs don't breathe, so what's the point of a naked chokehold?

Inside the arena, Di Yan cursed himself for being an idiot.

The machine doesn't breathe; he just instinctively went behind the other person and choked them—it's one of his usual tricks.

"I must never do such a foolish thing again," Di Yan warned himself.

Each group of two pilots has about half an hour to fly their mechs, which is neither too long nor too short.

Half an hour is enough for them to get acquainted with the mechs for the first time and adapt to them, until they can move flexibly.

Moreover, for inexperienced drivers, too much energy will be wasted on thinking and useless work within half an hour, and they will be exhausted when the time is up.

Di Yan and An Zaiyin progressed from initial bewilderment at the new experience to wrestling with each other, and then to hand-to-hand combat, gradually mastering the logic of using the mecha through sparring.

By the time their half-hour allotted was about to end, they were able to run around freely and engage in some simple combat.

"An Zaiyin, Di Yan, your time is up. Now go to the platform and tell Xavier to disconnect," Xue Jingyi said in the channel.

Di Yan did as instructed, walked to the edge of the platform, and said into his headset, "Xavier, disconnect."

"Mech connection has been disconnected."

With a few clicks, the elastic reset system around Di Yan's body broke down, and his sensory layer began to loosen.

A hissing sound came from outside, followed by a muffled thud. The breastplate detached from the body, moved forward a short distance, and began to slide downward.

Di Yan stepped out of the cockpit, took a deep breath of the air outside the mecha, and officially ended his first piloting experience.

He was covered in sweat and felt more tired than if he had run 10 kilometers with a weight on him.

Ahn Jae-in was in a similar situation, his hair was wet and stuck to his head, but he had a big smile on his face. He looked at Di Yan, then turned back to examine the mecha from head to toe.

"Let's go." Di Yan smiled at An Zaiyin and walked ahead.

On his way back, he ran into Mpuent, who was grinning with his big white teeth and skipping past him. Mpuent hurriedly greeted him, clearly eager to go up and try it out.

Back in the spectator area, Di Yan felt a chill run down his spine as he realized someone was watching him.

He immediately scanned the crowd warily, then suddenly made eye contact with one person.

It was Carlson Mephistopheles.

The eye contact lasted only a fraction of a second before Di Yan looked away, trying to find He Xu. He discovered that He Xu was also standing on tiptoe, looking at him and waving with a smile.

"How was it? Exciting, right? I wasn't kidding you, was I?" He Xu gently tapped Di Yan's shoulder with the back of his hand.

Di Yan covered his mouth and nodded. He didn't dare to look at Carlson again, pretending nothing had happened, but he could feel the other's gaze occasionally falling on him.

"You're really amazing!"

After a sparring session, An Zaiyin became much more familiar with Di Yan. "You adapted so quickly, and your attacks are incredibly sharp. I admire you!"

Di Yan responded with a smile: "Actually, it's alright..."

Ahn Jae-in went a step further: "I really would like to ask you more questions sometime. Martial arts in the Chinese-speaking world are very interesting."

Di Yan nodded. He didn't feel any gazes on him now, so he cautiously glanced over there. Carlson and Leo were whispering to each other.

……

That evening, the "Yellow Race Alliance" gathered at the bar to drink and laugh.

Lieutenant Li Guangyu didn't interfere much in the lives of these people; in fact, he was extremely lenient with them.

According to her, these people are used to being lazy, and it would be harder than climbing to heaven to make them obey orders and follow commands like a regular army.

These people don't value their career advancement opportunities as much as people in the military do.

If anything goes wrong, they would rather be discharged from the military, as doing so would be tantamount to giving them back their freedom.

Therefore, Lieutenant Li Guangyu chose a special "semi-free-range" management method, which does not restrict their lives, but the bottom line is that they must participate in training on time and in the required amount, and must not have any serious illegal or disciplinary violations.

So these former mercenaries would sneak into M-28's red-light district almost every few days, their sense of smell for these places comparable to that of hyenas.

Tonight is a time of celebration for everyone, because everyone got to touch the mechs and experience something new today.

Mpuente and his teammates joined in, making a total of twelve people who filled a corner of the bar.

Loud music pounded in our ears as scantily clad men and women reveled in the dazzling lights of the dance floor.

Such venues have a history of over a thousand years and have been passed down to this day due to their unique social attributes and stress-relieving effects.

There is also something called a "virtual bar," which exists not only on Earth but also on this M-28.

There, people gather in a large hall, lie on comfortable, soft recliners, wear neuro-sympathetic devices, and their whole being floats into a virtual world, enjoying virtual intoxication and joy.

But now those places are doing terribly, there are hardly any people there.

Because they are all fake, and people nowadays hate fake things the most.

They acknowledge that these virtual concepts were once very popular, and there are even historical records of a time when humans were extremely addicted to the virtual world, something that modern people cannot tolerate or accept.

In the eyes of modern people, enjoying the virtual world is nothing short of a regressive escapist behavior.

This "virtualism wave" has long since receded, and now only a few places are struggling to survive, existing with the aim of enriching people's lives.

What is real is best.

Ideally, it should be the kind that leaves a mark on the body.

"Hahaha..." He Xu laughed as he pulled a woman into his arms, holding a wine glass in one hand and a cigarette between his fingers.

He hadn't indulged himself like this in a long time.

"Come on! Di Yan, Zai Yin, let's celebrate that we both got to touch the mecha today! Cheers!" He Xu raised his glass, and Di Yan and An Zai Yin also downed their drinks together.

Wearing shiny sunglasses and grinning with white teeth, Mpuente quickly clinked his empty glass with Di Yan's, took a big gulp of strong liquor, and then disappeared back onto the dance floor to dance with the women.

Even when these Africans are dancing in the dance floor, they naturally bring the characteristics of their homeland's dances, with their feet constantly taking small, quick steps and their shoulders moving back and forth like seesaws.

Do you like it or not?

Wasabi Isayama stared at Naohiko Tomura, the light making her face appear exceptionally cold and beautiful.

Tomura Naohiko withdrew his gaze from the woman in the distance, smiled, took a sip of his drink, and kissed his eager wife without saying a word.

The three Southeast Asians knew each other and were having a lively conversation, having already formed a small circle.

"Hey! Yuancun, come over and have a drink!" He Xu enthusiastically made the arrangements and went to call the three Southeast Asians.

Instead of rushing forward, Naohiko Tomura first looked at Wasabi Isayama.

"Let's go together." Wasabi Isayama smiled, picked up her wine glass from the table, and toasted with her husband.

After a round of drinks, He Xu was clearly even happier: "It's rare for everyone to get together like this, so we should get to know each other better."

"What does Brother He Xu want to know?" Ahn Jae-in asked with a smile.

Amidst the chaotic lights, He Xu composed himself: "How about this, we each say a wish, but it can't be a lie."

His gaze was solemn as he scanned the crowd before finally settling on Di Yan's face: "I won't force it to be a secret, but it must be a genuine wish that you sincerely hope to fulfill."