Silicon Invasion

The Bluebird's thin super-plastic armor didn't require armor-piercing rounds at all; a single high-explosive armor-piercing round was enough to end the battle.

Game over!

The moment he exited the battle interface, Luo Rui switched the tracking missiles for ordinary rockets. The 19-tube rocket launcher had decent power and plenty of ammunition, making it the perfect weapon for blocking movement.

The subsequent battles went much smoother after changing the loadout.

Although the suffocating pressure of life and death wasn't there, preventing Luo Rui from actively entering that special state where time seemed to slow down, having experienced that peak level of control had invisibly improved his artillery skills significantly.

He started by using a dense barrage of rockets to block movement, then looked for opportunities to land a one-hit kill. Although he often made mistakes at the beginning, forcing him to close in to finish the battle.

But as the routine became more familiar, fewer and fewer opponents could escape Luo Rui's barrage, and his scoring efficiency increased again.

Luo Rui maintained his winning streak and quickly reached 1800 points.

Stepping out of the game pod, Luo Rui's entire body was soaked in sweat, feeling sticky and uncomfortable.

His mom really had a lapse in attention, forgetting to install air conditioning here. Fortunately, it wasn't a big deal; he could take care of it himself later.

There wasn't a bathroom in the basement, but luckily, he didn't live far away. Luo Rui went back home to take a shower and ordered some takeout.

Whether it was corruption eroding him or the intensity of today's practice making his body feel tired, he simply didn't want to walk.

Takeout was very convenient, but the prices were a bit high. Fortunately, Luo Rui was a new user and received many discount coupons. After spending some time, he ordered from more than a dozen stores, planning to try a little of everything before focusing his spending on places with suitable tastes.

After reading for a while, the doorbell rang. He remotely opened the door. Luo Rui lived on the second floor, and the takeout guy in yellow quickly ran up the stairs.

"Your takeout, enjoy your meal, and remember to give us a five-star rating."

Leaving those words, the guy turned and left, truly a man of the wind.

The first to arrive was a rice bowl topped with chicken and vegetables.

Luo Rui cleaned up the dining table and brought over his tablet. That was the good thing about eating at home; he could watch videos while he ate. The rice bowl tasted decent. Luo Rui had just eaten half when the second takeout arrived, also a rice bowl…

Soon, fried chicken, ramen, rice noodles, spicy hot pot, egg pancakes, chicken pot, barbecue… they all arrived one after another. The table was covered with various takeout containers, and the floor was full of plastic bags and paper boxes.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Luo Rui exclaimed in surprise.

When he opened a video titled "Recent Highlights Compilation," Luo Rui saw a familiar background and familiar people. Someone had actually included his match representing Starry Sky Esports in a compilation?

Am I now a pro good enough to be in highlight reels?

"Cool."

"Who's this? He's got some skills."

"His shooting has some of my flair."

"Stop bragging. To shoot down 10 tracking missiles in less than two seconds, you'd need to be at least a professional player."

"A professional player at an internet cafe tournament says it's impossible."

"This seems to be from a commercial performance match. I've seen the original video."

"No way?"

"I've also seen the original video. It's real."

"Guess some expert went to smurf."

"Definitely. It's happened before."

"Is that allowed?"

"Dude, it's just a performance match. What do you think it is, a formal competition? These matches don't require submitting player forms in advance. Changing players at any time is normal."

The compilation was long, but his segment was short. Luo Rui repeatedly dragged the progress bar, replaying it and savoring each comment.

Hehe, a silly grin gradually appeared on Luo Rui's face. He couldn't handle strangers praising him face-to-face, but seeing it in the comments was just right.

"Where was this performance match? Begging for the original video."

"The original video is called 'Wind City Joyful Plaza Performance Match.' You're welcome."

Oh, there's an original video. There should be more praise there. I have to watch it.

Luo Rui opened the search, entered the title, and found the video.

Wow, over 20,000 views and over 300 comments. Not bad…

Click.

Open.

Good grief, the video is over two hours long. Five matches, even if each match takes five minutes and is edited, it shouldn't be more than half an hour. Why is it so long?

Could it be that he opened the wrong video?

But seeing the beginning, Luo Rui understood why the video was so long. It even recorded the setup process.

"Here for the highlights. Anyone kind enough to give the warp coordinates?"

"Gimme the juicy part."

"Daddies…"

"1:51:25, you're welcome!"

What a nice person. Luo Rui followed the guidance and quickly dragged the progress bar to the specified point. Sure enough, he saw the beginning of his match.

Regarding this, Luo Rui sighed. There were not only many nice people these days, but there were also many skilled people. This match was hidden so deep, yet someone was able to find it.

Awesome!

"His opening is worse than mine."

"That's right. I'm matched with 1600 points, and even I know that decoys aren't deployed like that. What noob operation is this?"

"This expert is fishing. See, a fool was hooked."

"GTFO!"

Luo Rui remembered someone saying: In martial arts, there is no second place, and mediocrity is the original sin. As long as you are strong enough, people will find reasons even for your mistakes.

Looking at the comments, he had some understanding of this statement.

"But these operations are really stiff."

"Yeah, it's so realistic that it doesn't seem fake. The expert really is an expert."

"High energy warning ahead!"

"High energy!"

"Awesome!"

"Every time I see it, it's so pleasing to the eye."

"It's nothing special. Although I can't do it, anyone in the Advanced League can do it, right?"

"Big talk. How many teams are there in the Advanced League? Anyone in it is already a top expert."

"Matched with 2700 points and I can say that long-range players in that bracket basically can't do it."

"To complete this set of operations, you really need talent. This person should be some long-range god."

"That's easy to figure out. There aren't many long-range experts in the high brackets."

Unlike the terrible game experience of close-combat players in the low brackets, the players in the high brackets all operate very nicely. In addition, with targeted configurations, the survival space for long-range mechs is very small, leading to a concentration of close-combat players in the high brackets, making long-range experts uncommon.

"Maybe it's Leiming. His Thor is especially powerful."

"Then I'll say it's Falcon in the Sky."

"Stop guessing, pretending to know a lot. I'm from Wind City. I happened to be there that day. This Moon Owl isn't very old. People from their team said he's still in high school."

"@Mr. Pure Stop bragging. High school student? There's a limit to nonsense."

"@Mr. Pure That's right. If he's a high school student, I'll livestream doing a handstand and washing my hair."

"I'm telling the truth. Believe it or not."