At first glance, there seemed to be no difference between the two, but upon closer inspection, Brian Bolton's combat video stood out from the rest, like a classic, endlessly intriguing.

Emily Harris watched intently for nearly ten minutes, then suddenly sighed, "The wolf demon pilot is a true combat expert—he's really strong!"

Buddy exclaimed in shock, "Combat? What combat? Are you talking about the mecha fighting tournament?"

In the eyes of ordinary people, so-called mecha combat is just the mecha fighting tournament. Every player who can achieve results in the tournament is a legendary figure of unparalleled strength.

Emily Harris glanced at him indifferently. "Combat means combat."

Buddy immediately felt a sense of being looked down upon, shrank his head, and dared not speak. He felt that this pretty female classmate in front of him seemed to live in another world.

Brian Bolton tried to smooth things over, "Alright, alright, no matter how strong he is, it has nothing to do with us. Let's go, our appointment time is almost here, let's get ready and warm up."

Operating a mecha is very physically demanding. Many complex maneuvers require considerable explosive power, so warming up is necessary. Upon hearing this, the two of them headed to the warm-up area nearby.

While warming up, Buddy kept glancing sideways, clearly distracted. Following his gaze, Brian Bolton saw a round, perky butt, then a pair of long legs—a truly beautiful sight.

"Emily Harris really has a great figure, worthy of being the mecha goddess." Brian Bolton smiled slightly, withdrew his gaze, and focused on his own warm-up.

His warm-up routine was also a set of calisthenics released by the military, called "Five Animal Frolics." This set of exercises originally came from the ancient physician Hua Tuo. In modern times, the military used big data and intelligent technology to collect training effect data and made precise improvements, resulting in excellent effectiveness.

Tiger pounce, bear hug, crane leg—Brian Bolton quickly became immersed in it. When his body began to sweat slightly, a voice suddenly came from beside him: "Have you been practicing Five Animal Frolics for a long time?"

He turned his head and saw Emily Harris. She was looking at Brian Bolton seriously, her jet-black eyes appearing even more pure and cold.

"Oh, a few years, I guess. Why?" Brian Bolton smoothly finished his pose.

"You're very good at it. Very few people can achieve both the form and spirit as you do." Emily Harris praised him. Even when complimenting, her expression remained calm.

Thanks to the military's persistent promotion, many people practiced Five Animal Frolics, but very few truly grasped its essence and persevered.

"Thank you for the compliment." Brian Bolton squinted and smiled.

"Hurry up, our appointment time is here, let's go." Buddy's urging voice suddenly came.

The three of them had almost finished warming up, so they entered their respective mecha virtual pods and joined the squad channel.

As soon as they entered "Hero," Emily Harris's attitude immediately became very serious: "My rank is Elite Upper Tier. With the three of us queuing together, we should get an Elite Lower Tier raid mission. When the time comes, listen to my commands. I'll do my best to help you complete the Elite Raid mission."

"Got it. Even though Brian Bolton and I are... Wait, what the—Brian Bolton, when did you become Ordinary Upper Tier? Damn, you just won one match and even got MVP! Tell me, did you hire a booster?" Buddy suddenly shouted in surprise.

Emily Harris also paid attention. There was no helping it—Brian Bolton's record was just too strange: 49 losses and 1 win. He was Ordinary Lower Tier before, but with one win, he jumped to Ordinary Upper Tier. There was only one explanation: his performance in that last match was exceptionally outstanding.

But mecha operation is extremely complex, and improvement relies entirely on long-term hard practice. For such a record to appear, it's almost certainly because someone hired a booster.

Emily Harris's tone turned cold: "Brian Bolton, doing this is meaningless!"

Brian Bolton gave a wry smile. There was no way to explain something like being reborn—the more you tried, the more suspicious it looked. The only solution was to stick to a reason that no one could verify, since no one could ever find out. With that in mind, he said, "I didn't hire a booster, I just had a sudden epiphany. Anyway, I won't drag you down in the next match."

"An epiphany, sure, who'd believe that." Buddy snorted, but didn't press further. There were ads for boosters everywhere on the street—thirty bucks a game. He'd hired one himself before; it was no big deal.

Emily Harris thought about it. It was his choice, and his own money. It wasn't her business, and she couldn't be bothered to meddle, so she said nothing more.

"Alright, whatever the case, let's just do our best in the next match!"

About two minutes later, the system prompt sounded: "Please get ready, the game is about to begin!"

Ten seconds later, the game entered the scenario guide bar, and the scenario close-up for the raid mission appeared. This time, the scenario was a giant red-eyed black spider, with a background of a vast red-soil plain. On the plain, you could see lightning, tornadoes, and swarms of spider mechas.

The whole scene gave off a feeling of desolation, poison, barrenness, and chaos, making people feel inexplicably depressed at first glance.

When Emily Harris saw the background, she immediately frowned: "Crap, we actually got matched to the Elite Upper Tier Crimson Plains. This is going to be tough."

Buddy immediately wilted. "No way, are they messing with us? I'm just Ordinary Lower Tier—am I going to get insta-killed?"