Chapter 257

Chapter 257

The Graths settled into the base in an orderly fashion.

When they arrived at Central Star that day, time was tight, and only the sleeping quarters had been set up temporarily.

Ye Mo’s bedroom was exactly the same as the one in Grath Palace. When he woke up, he thought he was still in the Grath Palace. It wasn’t until he stepped off the bed barefoot that he realized this wasn’t Grath. So he put on his shoes properly and dressed neatly before opening the door.

He looked around the room, then outside, and muttered to himself, "Yesterday, only the rooms were set up. Adelaide is amazing."

In just one day, Adelaide had arranged the living area for the Graths in an orderly manner.

Ye Mo walked down the stairs. The carpet on the floor, the decorations in the hallway, even the staircase was designed like the one in Grath Palace. It was like a miniature version of Grath Palace. Only when he looked out the window did Ye Mo realize he was far away in a foreign land.

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Adelaide turned around with a tray and saw Ye Mo. Behind him was Theodore, also carrying a tray. "Little Prince, follow me. Breakfast is ready."

Theodore moved to Ye Mo’s side. "Cyril’s milk."

Ye Mo gave a little "mm" in response and followed Adelaide into the dining room.

The dining room was large, but with so many Graths present, it felt a bit crowded. All the Graths were there, still noisy as ever. Norton sat at the head of the long table, acting as if he were the only one in the room, habitually ignoring his younger siblings.

The Graths were discussing who should be sent to Gu Chuan’s side. That morning, Secretary-General Lin had brought news that support personnel who fight for another country without changing nationality needed to submit a list in advance.

Adrian recommended Arnold. "Let Arnold go. He’s useless."

Baide said with exaggerated insincerity, "Don’t say that, Adrian. Be nice to your younger brother. He’s fragile."

Jacob was eating on the side. "You guys are so boring."

Arnold had learned not to get tangled up with them. He turned and dragged Deenlie into it. "Let Deenlie go. He eats a lot."

He stretched his arms and continued, "As for me, I still need to take Ye Mo out to have fun. I don’t have time. We agreed on this earlier, didn’t we, Ye Mo?"

Elia shifted her focus. "I want to take Cyril too. Arnold is too cunning."

Jacob put down his teacup. "We can all go with Cyril. It’s not like we have anything else to do."

He and Elia seemed to be in a different world from the others.

On the other side, the argument continued.

Deenlie snorted with an unfriendly look, flexing his wrists, producing a faint cracking sound from his joints.

Arnold, separated from Deenlie by Herli, wasn’t afraid at all. "Sister Herli, look at Deenlie."

Herli immediately rolled up her sleeves.

Baide, ever the instigator, eager to see a fight, said, "Arnold votes for Deenlie. Anyone else?"

Herli immediately stopped rolling up her sleeves, abandoning her standoff with Deenlie, and pointed at Baide. "Of course, whoever volunteers should go."

Norton ignored all the commotion, watching Ye Mo sit down beside him, and pushed the glass of milk over.

Ye Mo obediently reported his schedule to Norton. "Arnold said he would take me out later."

Norton nodded. After all, his spiritual power had always been locked onto Ye Mo. Ye Mo then asked, "Can I bring Theodore with me?"

Norton looked at Ye Mo, uncharacteristically talkative. "Yes, but you have to be responsible for him."

"Just like Arnold is responsible for you."

Ye Mo got serious. He got what Norton meant. Arnold was supposed to look out for him when they went out, but Theodore was his deal. "I will."

Arnold leaned over from arguing to chime in. "Of course I will. We’ll go after breakfast."

Then he turned away. "I’m not going. If I gotta—"

Baide kept going. "Who should go, Herli or Deenlie or something? Deenlie, what do you think?"

Deenlie clicked his tongue, about to say something.

But Herli had already stomped one foot onto the table, locking eyes with Deenlie. "Of course it’s Deenlie. What, you got a problem with that?"

Ye Mo was about to drink his milk, but before he could pick up the glass, the table shook. Milk splashed out, a little landing right on his nose. He blinked after a moment.

The long table went dead silent, only broken by Herli’s triumphant laugh.

Elia poked Herli, whispering, "Big bro."

Herli froze, then sat back down properly, sneaking a glance at Norton.

Norton wiped the milk off Ye Mo’s nose. "Herli goes."

The dining table remained quiet, no one making a sound.

Only Adelaide smoothly set down new food, handed Norton a napkin, and replaced Ye Mo’s milk. "Looks like we still need a more shock-absorbent table."

Norton looked at them. "You guys seem pretty idle."

Jacob, who hadn’t participated, answered cautiously but boldly, "Not really, big brother."

Norton stood up. "Then it’s time to start training."

Jacob couldn't help muttering in the channel, "Training with big brother is gonna kill us."

Norton replied, "No it won’t."

When Norton left,

the group started bickering again. "It's all Herli's fault."

"What? Obviously it's Deenlie's fault."

Jacob looked especially down. "I totally blocked big brother."

Elia gave him a pitying look. "I told you, don't try pulling stunts right under big bro's nose. You've never managed to block him. He just didn't want to deal with you before."

...

Lakeley had been online the entire time, already hit the bases of Suonan and Orolia, even snapped selfies with the star players.

Soon as they arrived, they all hid in their rooms or bathrooms.

Bedrooms were restricted too, but not as off-limits as the leader's private space. Central Star allowed snooping; others could go in, or if the door was open, they could peek inside even if they couldn't enter. Some bored folks even camped outside the star players' doors just to snap pics of their bedrooms, trying to pick out personal stuff from the room's original stuff.

This kind of thing was actually pretty popular on the Star Net.

Lakeley was a bit excited. "We're in luck, the new members from Suonan and Orolia are all hyped up and already settled in. They've also eased up on their escorts. Since yesterday, folks have been heading to the shopping center."

As usual, there is no training for the first few days. In the next few days, core members should start heading to the commerce center one after another. After all, the mechanical street near their nearest commerce center is super famous. I've been focusing on their coordinates.

Resource battles are divided into several types of events, roughly including large-scale command battles, squad battles with a specified number of participants, and individual battles. Due to the existence of command battles, the number of participants is actually quite large, but only the core members get much attention. Unless there is a severe imbalance in skills, core members generally participate in all three or at least the first two.

Lakeley is really diligently staking out the place. Also, that mechanical street is so cool. I want to buy souvenirs, but it's a pity it's only open to participants. Otherwise, I'd buy it all up.

They'll probably head over in the next few days. It's free time now, and not many people have arrived yet. Plus, the signature attraction of the mechanical street, the Tyrant Fish, can be seen from far away. I don't see how anyone could resist.

I sincerely hope they get into a fight. (But isn't that fish called the Shark Eater?)

You're all so mean. Same here. (Tyrant Fish is a nickname.)

Lakeley suddenly stopped. "Wait."

He touched the skin behind his ear and opened an interface.

The interface displayed a map of Central Star. Lakeley zoomed in, keeping Suonan and Orolia on the page. There were clearly several scattered red dots distributed across the camps of Suonan and Orolia.

"Lakeley actually bought the personal coordinate function! And so many of them! So extravagant! Coordinate timers are so expensive; every second is money. I feel for Lakeley."

"He earns a lot as a professional commentator. It's nothing to him."

"The Star Alliance really knows how to make money. They're money-grubbing. Luckily, they give a cut to the players themselves. I can comfort myself by saying it's just a gift to my favorite player."

"Did he buy coordinates for the core members of both sides? If he did, the numbers don't match. The alert just now was probably for someone going to a location Lakeley had preset."

"Both sides have fewer people – something's up."

Lakeley quickly pulled up the commercial street and changed Orolia's coordinates to a different color. The commerce center coordinates weren't as dense as the others; it was very intuitive. There were five coordinate points, grouped in pairs: three yellow representing Orolia, two red from Suonan.

"The two sides are still far apart. Let's go hurry! We can catch it live!"

"I can actually see a live version! Go, Lakeley! I'll throw money at you – go buy a teleport."

"Hurry, hurry! What if they finish fighting?"

"What if they don't even meet up?"

"How could they not? The participants haven't all arrived yet. The mechanical street is completely dead right now, and the staff haven't been assigned yet. There are only robot services. You can see the whole street at a glance. In other rooms, you might run into other viewers, but Lakeley's room only has him alone, more spacious."

Lakeley didn't have time to reply. He quickly bought a teleport and sent himself to the specified coordinates.

In Central Star's holographic mode, anything that goes beyond reality costs money, even if you're alone in your room.

...

In the end, only Arnold managed to get Ye Mo out. Even though they'd have to make up the training later, Arnold was still very happy.

He acted like a parent, following behind Ye Mo just like Norton usually did.

Arnold crossed his arms and said generously, "If there's anything you want, just tell me. I'll buy it for you."

Ye Mo played along: "Thank you, Arnold!"

There were only a few scattered people on the entire street.

As Ye Mo looked at the products displayed on both sides, he thought, Jacob would be interested in this.

Theodore trailed slightly behind Ye Mo, stuttering every now and then. This old model body was already struggling to keep up.

But in Theodore's analysis, Ye Mo was attached to old things, so he had never replaced it.

Theodore gradually fell behind Ye Mo.

Arnold glanced ahead at the three people not far off, then looked back at the two behind. Their strength was decent. On this street, only these were worth noting, but he quickly brushed them off as nothing. Together, they weren't a threat at all.

Arnold ambled along the street, watching Ye Mo and Theodore dart around up front.

Theodore also paused. It wasn't a glitch; it had picked up data in the air.

Ever since arriving here, it had been trying to quietly infiltrate. It was being very careful and so far no one had noticed.

Someone was coming – in the virtual world.