Jiang Ye changed his clothes and went out. Isabella was standing by the window, arms crossed.
The floor-to-ceiling window spanned the entire corridor, offering a direct view of the outside. A massive space city, countless windows ablaze with light, and thousands of small spacecraft taking off and landing like migrating flocks of birds. Below was the planet Birong, shrouded in mist, with land and oceans intertwined. The entire planet appeared impossibly vast. Only those who had been to space and looked down upon a planet could truly grasp this immense impact.
"Let's descend directly," Isabella asked. "The landing pod is over there."
Jiang Ye followed her. After more than a hundred meters, they turned right, revealing a whole row of spherical metal spacecraft.
The two squeezed into the same spacecraft. Isabella pointed to the screen on the wall, "Pick out some equipment and buy mine too."
Jiang Ye began selecting items on the screen.
Currently, his account was Level 1, and he could only purchase three sets of equipment:
[Initial Gunner Mech: Equipped with a rapid-fire charged machine gun on the right arm, carrying a 3000-round ammunition box, and food and water containers.]
[Initial Charger Mech: Equipped with an electric shock gun on the right arm, carrying three wireless charging stations that can be installed on the ground to absorb electrical energy and power military equipment. Equipped with two food and water containers.]
[Initial Swordsman Mech: Equipped with a cutting sword on the right arm, carrying an energy box and a food and water container.]
Each set of equipment cost 1 million yuan.
Jiang Ye was stunned. "Why is this equipment like something from a game? The Gunner is for heavy firepower output, the Swordsman is for melee combat, and the Charger is a modified Priest, responsible for supplying energy to teammates."
Isabella shrugged. "Games are also based on reality. This is the most basic single-soldier equipment, cheap and effective. The Army developed it two hundred years ago and has iterated and upgraded it more than ten times. I can handle any profession, so pick the one you want to play."
Jiang Ye bought the Gunner for himself and the Charger for Isabella.
"Then what?" Jiang Ye asked. "Start the spacecraft? Where do we land?"
"Wait," Isabella said.
Five minutes later, the spacecraft's hatch opened.
Two sets of metal mechs automatically slid in and stood upright. Their appearance truly startled Jiang Ye. The first thought that popped into his mind was Iron Man, because they were both humanoid mechs. However, upon closer inspection, there were significant differences. Both mechs were two meters tall, with thick outer shells, entirely deep blue, with only the faceplates being transparent. Large iron boxes were strapped to their backs.
Isabella stood up and climbed into the Charger mech. The mech automatically closed around her, encasing her entire body except for the opened faceplate.
Jiang Ye followed suit, climbing into the Gunner mech.
Various data and subtitles were immediately projected onto his retina:
[Physical condition excellent]
[Consciousness connection successful, mech can be freely controlled]
[Account "Jiang Ye", Level 1]
The faceplate opened. Jiang Ye tried turning his head, rotating his arms and legs. The entire mech felt like an extension of his body, with all movements fluid and light, completely devoid of the heaviness of metal. Jiang Ye couldn't do a backflip, but if he could, he would try it; this mech's flexibility should be capable of it.
"Shall we go?" Isabella asked.
Jiang Ye nodded. Isabella yanked down a control lever on the spacecraft's wall, and the entire spacecraft instantly detached from the orbital station, plummeting towards the vast planet like a pea shot from a pea shooter.
"Sit tight and fasten your seatbelts," Isabella said, sitting down. "From now on, do whatever I do, or you might kick the bucket at any moment."
Jiang Ye sat by the window and fastened both his waist and leg seatbelts. The spacecraft had already entered the atmosphere, emitting a faint whistling sound. The control screen displayed the altitude: 35,800k.
Jiang Ye couldn't help but exclaim internally, it really is a game!
Has technology, when developed to its extreme, become synonymous with gamification of warfare?
The spacecraft's descent speed was already like a meteor, the rumbling sound continuously vibrating. Jiang Ye looked out the window and could already see the white cloud layers below, shimmering with golden light under the illumination of the star.
"We're landing on the day side, very lucky," Isabella smiled. "Judging by the light, it's probably around eleven or twelve noon. This planet's day is 48 hours long, but according to Army combat rules, upon arrival at any planet, the 24-hour cycle is redefined based on the planet's rotation period. An hour on this planet is equivalent to two of our normal hours, but the basic unit of seconds remains unchanged. A minute here has 120 seconds, just remember that."
When the spacecraft was still five kilometers from the ground, the retro-thrusters activated with considerable force. Jiang Ye felt as if his seatbelt was about to snap. In the last five hundred meters, the parachute was deployed, causing a violent jolt. Isabella's leg seatbelt actually snapped with a "bang." It seemed the spacecraft's quality wasn't great, considering it was a one-time landing craft; quality was secondary, cost-saving was paramount.
"Boom!" With a loud crash, the spacecraft hit the ground.
The two unbuckled their seatbelts and lifted the hatch to exit. Outside was a green world.
A tropical rainforest!
Countless giant trees, their verdant canopies connected, almost completely obscuring the sky. The shape of the trees was similar to the rainforest photos Jiang Ye had seen. The only difference was that the tree trunks were not black, brown, or white, but a fleshy red, with artery-like "vessels" visible winding around them, which was somewhat eerie.
Abundant moisture swirled between the trees, and the ground was covered in thick green moss, with occasional protruding stones.
The transparent faceplates of the mechs suddenly closed, covering their faces.
On Jiang Ye's retina, many small characters appeared:
[Strong toxic gas detected, automatically filtered for you. Do not open faceplate unless necessary.]
[Oxygen level too high, automatically reduced for you to prevent oxygen intoxication or poisoning.]