Before Ye Ling had time to savor the taste of victory, before the bubbles of champagne had time to bloom on her lips, a sudden piece of news was like a basin of ice water, pouring over her head.

"Congratulations to Miss Ye Ling for winning the first place in this competition! But..." The host's deliberately mysterious pause successfully made Ye Ling's heart skip a beat.

This is a familiar routine, is there anything else going on?

"Due to the extremely high level of entries this year, the organizing committee has temporarily decided to add a play-off round. Only the contestant who wins the play-off round can receive the final 'Heart of the Galaxy' grand prize!" The host's voice was particularly clear and harsh amid the cheers.

The smile on Ye Ling's face froze, like a sticker being roughly torn off.

Heart of the Galaxy?

That is the legendary treasure that can communicate with the energy of the universe!

Isn't this what she tried her best for?

!

"What? Play-offs? I can't afford it!" Bron couldn't help but swear.

"This is too sudden. It's definitely targeting Ye Ling!" Orianna also stood up for Ye Ling.

Duan Yu held Ye Ling's hand and gave her an encouraging look: "Don't worry"

Ye Ling took a deep breath and tried hard to suppress the panic in her heart.

When the enemy comes, the water will be stopped; when the water comes, the earth will be blocked. She doesn't believe that this playoff can still go smoothly!

The rules of the play-offs were soon announced, and they were shockingly harsh: contestants were required to modify their mechas into a form suitable for deep-sea combat within three hours, and to have multiple functions such as underwater detection, attack, and defense.

"Three hours? How is that possible!" Jinx exclaimed. Although she was profit-driven, she also knew that this was an impossible task.

"This is simply asking too much! Deep-sea combat requires extremely high materials and performance of mechas. Three hours is not enough time to even dismantle it, let alone modify it!" Victor couldn't help but raise an objection. Although he had previously held a negative attitude towards Ye Ling's innovation, he now felt that this additional round was too much.

Ye Ling looked at the rules and felt a black screen in front of her eyes.

Her previous design was entirely for land combat, and now it is changed to deep-sea combat, which is simply a fantasy!

The feeling of despair surged like a tide, almost swallowing her up.

"This... this is too difficult..." Orianna's voice trembled slightly. She knew how much effort Ye Ling had put into this competition.

The discussions around me buzzed like a swarm of annoying flies.

Ye Ling felt like a clown being teased by fate, and all her efforts had become a joke.

"It seems that the Heart of the Galaxy is destined to be out of my reach..." Ye Ling smiled bitterly, with a hint of self-mockery in her tone.

"No, it's not over yet." Duan Yu's voice was low and firm. "I believe you can create a miracle."

Ye Ling raised her head and looked at the determination in Duan Yu's eyes, and a glimmer of hope ignited in her heart.

Suddenly, the lights in the venue dimmed, and a mysterious voice rang out in the air: "The playoffs begin now..."

Ye Ling took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

What Heart of the Galaxy, what additional rounds, the most important thing now is to figure out what this broken rule requires her to do!

She quickly browsed through the rules, and various mecha modification plans flashed through her mind like a marquee.

"Tsk, deep sea combat? Doesn't this force me to turn from a landlubber into a sea king?" Ye Ling raised the corner of her mouth. She had seen many storms and waves, so this little scene was nothing to her!

She began to rapidly analyze the key points of the deep-sea mecha's construction: streamlined shell, high-strength pressure-resistant materials, underwater propulsion system...

A bold modification direction gradually became clear in her mind.

"Wuhu! It's you!" Ye Ling clapped her hands fiercely. She turned to Orianna and shouted, "Orianna, bring me my toolbox. We're about to start 'Haidilao'!"

Orianna was stunned for a moment, then she was infected by Ye Ling's confidence and smiled: "Okay! Watch me!"

However, when Ye Ling proposed his own modification ideas to the organizing committee of the competition, the atmosphere on the scene instantly froze.

Several white-bearded old men, the so-called "traditional mecha experts", jumped out to oppose it directly. Their expressions looked as if Ye Ling was going to demolish their ancestral tomb.

"Nonsense! This is sheer nonsense!" An old expert glared, puffing his beard. "How can you treat mecha modification so lightly? You're totally heretical!"

"That's right! How can a land combat mecha be modified into a naval combat one? It's simply a fantasy!" Another old man echoed, his tone full of disdain.

Ye Ling rolled her eyes when she heard this, wondering if these old stubborn people had eaten explosives.

She argued and tried to explain her design ideas, but the experts didn't listen at all. They were stubborn and insisted on their own opinions, just like the remnants of the feudal era.

"Dear seniors, times have changed! Innovation is king! Sticking to the old ways will only make mecha technology stagnate!" Ye Ling said in a firm tone, trying to convince them.

"Hmph! Innovation? What you're doing is just messing around! It's a blasphemy to mechas!" An old expert roared, spitting on Ye Ling's face.

"Are these old guys out of touch with the times?" Bron muttered in the crowd, unable to help but feel sorry for Ye Lingming.

"Yeah, it's so infuriating! Ye Ling's idea obviously makes sense!" Orianna stomped her feet in anger.

"Don't worry," Duan Yu said lightly, his tone full of trust in Ye Ling.

Ye Ling took a deep breath. She knew that now was not the time to argue. She had to prove herself with her actions.

But at this moment, she felt a huge pressure coming at her, not only from the experts' questioning, but also from society's adherence to traditional concepts.

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