So far, Emily Harris had done everything perfectly; with his experience and perspective, he actually had nothing to add.

“This young lady is really quite skilled.”

Just five seconds after the three finished gearing up, the preparation time ended, the base’s defensive force field vanished, and “whoosh~ whoosh~” a gust of wind carrying dark red sand and dust swept toward them, instantly reducing visibility to almost nothing.

“Damn, the sand is full of iron particles—our built-in electromagnetic scanners are completely useless, we’re basically blind now.” The chubby David Carter exclaimed.

Brian Bolton wasn’t surprised; the Crimson Plain was notorious for being a terrifying place where you could only rely on optical vision—otherwise, the difficulty wouldn’t be rated as elite upper tier.

Emily Harris began to command: “Alright, David Carter, raise your shield and move forward. Brian Bolton, stay behind me, deploy the rock sonar, and constantly listen for any abnormal sounds coming from the ground.”

“Understood!”

“Bang~ bang~ bang”—with heavy footsteps, the Earth Guardian, standing 8 meters tall and weighing nearly 20 tons, took the lead. Emily Harris walked in the middle, while the 6-meter-tall, medium-built Azure Swordsman Mark I brought up the rear.

As the three walked through the sandstorm, they had no idea that at the very start of the battle, their raid mission had already become one of the official focus points of “Hero.”

“Team leader, that Demon-Slaying Swordsman is online again.” In the main control hall of “Hero,” a bespectacled young man turned to a middle-aged man.

“Oh? What mech is he piloting?” The middle-aged man walked over with interest. His name was William Thompson, the fourth son of the core generation of the Thompson family. Not only did he work for “Hero,” but he was also a major.

In his eyes, Brian Bolton was a rare, battle-hardened player—what was even rarer was that he was only 15, with unlimited potential for growth. His background wasn’t bad either, so he had already marked him as a key target for observation.

The only thing that puzzled him was the previous 49 defeats: “This kid is from the Bolton family, which is at least a prominent clan with some foundation. Maybe he was just practicing before?”

With so little information, that was all he could surmise.

“Azure Swordsman Mark I. His teammate is... it’s actually the little princess of the Harris family. Tsk, and they’ve been matched to elite upper-tier difficulty—this is going to be interesting.” The young man’s eyes sparkled behind his glasses.

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and said, “I have a feeling we’re in for a great show. Put this battle on the ‘Mecha God’ live channel, and remember to keep it anonymous.”

“Understood.”

The “Mecha God” live channel was also the official “Hero” live channel, with a real-time online audience consistently exceeding 230 million. Whenever the officials identified an outstanding “Hero” player, they would broadcast that player’s battles.

Before obtaining the player’s consent, the stream was anonymous, and players would receive a certain amount of money. The more viewers watched the live battle, the higher the payout. If ten thousand people watched the whole thing, the player would earn about 5,000 yuan.

Currently, at least 700,000 people on Earth made a living from “Mecha God” live streaming income, and these 700,000 could be directly converted into excellent mecha warriors in critical moments.

Brian Bolton had originally planned to rely on streaming income to save up for a mecha. When the anonymous stream started, he simultaneously received an official notification from “Hero.” After thinking it over, he clicked the notification and chose to make his ID public, but kept his real name hidden.

There’s no future in anonymity, since viewers can’t remember you and you can only make a quick buck. Only by revealing your ID can you build connections and ensure a steady income.

Hiding his real name was to prevent harassment in real life.

“Team leader, he’s made his ID public.” The “Hero” officials received the news immediately.

“Excellent. In that case, link his previous battle video as well, and make the ID public there too.”

“Understood.”

While all this was happening behind the scenes, Brian Bolton and his two teammates had already walked more than 30 kilometers across the Crimson Plain, and the terrain ahead began to change, revealing a field of weathered stone pillars.

These rocks were extremely rich in iron, each one highly weathered and riddled with small holes. When the wind blew through the stone forest, it produced a “woo-woo-woo” wailing sound, like crying, that sent chills down your spine.

Because of this, the place was also called the Land of Wailing.

“Be careful, the terrain here is complex—spider mechs are very likely to be lying in ambush.” Emily Harris reminded them softly.

The chubby David Carter raised his shield even higher, the massive Earth Guardian crouching as if he were a thief. Olivia Harris gripped her arc gun tightly, nerves stretched taut.

Only Brian Bolton made no move at all. As before, he walked at the back of the team with the rock sonar, and even his only weapon, the high-energy ion sword, remained stowed on his mech’s back, untouched.

He walked along as if he were taking a stroll in his own backyard.

At this point, there were already a dozen or so people watching on the “Mecha God” stream. The early part of the broadcast was a bit dull, so these viewers went to check out Brian Bolton’s previous forest raid battle. After seeing those two maneuvers, they were stunned and immediately came back to keep watching the Crimson Plain battle, afraid to miss any exciting moments.

Now, seeing Brian Bolton still strolling in a dangerous area, it was only natural that some viewers started to have doubts.