The setting sun streamed into the hut through the tattered window paper, casting slender shadows across the mottled cracks on the wall. The light flickered gently in the breeze, seeming to bring a touch of life to the desolate space. Yet, the silence within the hut faithfully portrayed the hardships of life.
Xiang Fan pushed open the door, his steps slow, and placed the notebook he'd taken notes from the day's mecha class on the table. He looked up at his father's bedroom. The door was closed, and the room was so quiet that only the wind whistled through the broken window and the creaking of the eaves in the wind could be heard.
His father was away, having gone to the hunting grounds outside town. Whenever this happened, the house was always deserted, with only the empty room to keep Xiang Fan company.
"I hope everything goes well this time..." Xiang Fan muttered to himself, a hint of worry in his eyes. He pulled a thin blanket from the back of a chair and draped it over himself to ward off the evening chill. He quickly walked into his little room and lit the dim spirit stone lamp.
The light illuminated the messy scene inside the hut: worn parts, scattered papers, and in the corner, an old virtual connection device secured with wires and bolts. This was one of Xiang Fan's most precious items, the result of countless nights of painstaking assembly and modification.
Xiang Fan had cobbled together this virtual connection device from discarded parts and low-quality spiritual ore. He'd salvaged the spiritual energy transport module from a discarded, primary mecha, and the core connector components from a pile of electronic junk. The entire device was covered in scratches, its seams even haphazardly bound with wire, and several sections of the outer casing were exposed due to mismatched parts.
Despite its crude appearance, the device is surprisingly stable.
"Today I must try to optimize the spiritual energy transmission..." Xiang Fan sat down on the chair, carefully adjusting the energy input controller on the device with both hands, muttering to himself, "If the spiritual energy transmission efficiency of the engine module can be improved to the estimated value, the speed can be increased by at least 3%."
His movements were meticulous, adjusting each knob to the precise position. Once the adjustments were complete, he donned the helmet-mounted spirit world connector and activated the virtual device. The indicator light on the screen flickered briefly, then lit up, and a line of text slowly appeared:
"Please enter your username."
Xiang Fan skillfully entered a simple string of numbers on the console: 0000.
"Confirm input - 'Zero Point', entering the virtual spiritual battlefield." The mechanical prompt sounded clearly.
When the words "Zero Point" came into view on the screen, Xiang Fan couldn't help but let out a helpless smile. He had no idea how much of a stir this randomly generated codename had recently caused in the Spirit Realm battlefield. He only knew that his virtual connection was a temporary privilege gained by cracking system protections. The account's identity information was blank, and its functions were extremely limited. He had never had the opportunity, nor the ability, to change this codename.
"I don't even have a formal account... Fortunately, I can still get in." He sighed softly and shook his head in self-mockery.
The loading interface of the Spirit Realm battlefield slowly unfolded, and the familiar light and shadow structure gradually emerged on the screen - the endless battlefield of the virtual space, the mecha competition stage spread across the galaxy, and various operating interfaces shining with spiritual light.
Xiang Fan's fingers trembled slightly, not from nervousness, but from the excitement he felt every time he entered this world. He harbored no sense of accomplishment at "Zero Point," nor any ambition to achieve fame in the Spirit Realm. To him, this was simply a stage for experimentation, a place to test his mecha control and optimization skills.
The light from the screen illuminated his face, his eyes filled with concentration and anticipation. Meanwhile, the wind outside rustled the window paper, creating a soft rustle that seemed to add a touch of vitality to the small room.
Xiang Fan knew that in reality, he was just an ordinary, insignificant person, living in poverty and unable to even own a real mecha. But in the virtual spiritual battlefield, he could pilot a mecha, unleash his talents, and compete with those truly powerful beings.
At that moment, he donned his helmet and immersed himself in the boundless virtual world. He was completely unaware that this ordinary, ordinary person had become the focus of countless people's discussion and speculation. For Xiang Fan, the significance of the Spirit Realm battlefield had never been to attract attention, but to allow him to reach his dream of mecha.
Loading complete, zero point, ready for takeoff.
As soon as Xiang Fan entered the virtual spiritual realm, he was suddenly overwhelmed by information prompts. A series of message windows popped up on the screen, almost covering the entire interface.
"Ling Ruoxi has sent you a challenge. Do you want to accept?"
"System message: You have 99+ unread messages."
"Player 'Sky Sword Armor' requests to communicate with you, please check."
"What a mess..." Xiang Fan's scalp tingled, his brow furrowed as he stared at the notifications on the screen one after another. He couldn't help but mutter, "How could so many people be posting messages in a place like the virtual battlefield?"
He casually clicked on a few unread messages, and what caught his eye were various challenge declarations, battle invitations, and even some inexplicable private messages - such as "Master Zero, please guide me", "Please teach me some tips on mecha flow optimization", and "Do you dare to have a real-life PK?"
Xiang Fan rubbed his temples, feeling a wave of weakness. He lowered his voice, a hint of fatigue in his tone: "These people are bored, right?"
He quickly found the "one-click delete" option on the screen and clicked it without hesitation.
"Message cleared successfully!" A cold system notification sounded, and the information on the screen was instantly cleared. The entire interface returned to a tidy state, as if the previous chaos had never existed.
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