Chapter 259

Chapter 259

Having witnessed all this, the other members quickly moved forward while contacting their respective team leaders. "Abigail, are you okay?"

"Soda! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

Soda, who had only been knocked back by the impact, recovered quickly. While observing the situation outside, he responded, "I'm fine."

On Abigail's side, there was no reply for a while. Only after the third inquiry did he lower his head, spit out a mouthful of saliva tinged with blood, and answer, "Still alive."

His entire mech was severely damaged. Apart from the communication device on him, the cockpit had gone dark, making it impossible to observe the outside. Ye Mo's strike had been excessively accurate, destroying his anti-impact device.

Outside, Ye Mo stood still, staring at the parts at his feet for a few seconds, then turned his head to look at the two people from Orolia who were rushing over in a hurry. His clothes were not even slightly disheveled, just like before.

With that too young, handsome face, he faced the two, his hand subconsciously twirling the sword that still gleamed with sharpness, showing his dangerous side.

A lion cub is still a lion, with fangs and claws.

The two from Orolia instinctively stopped.

Arnold, standing with his back to Ye Mo, raised his still-sheathed sword to block Suonan on the other side. "Stop right there."

Both sides wisely halted.

The team members on Suonan's side looked young and somewhat reckless, probably only a few years past their psychic development period. "Sir—"

Arnold made a gesture to cut him off.

Ye Mo stared at them for a few seconds. After confirming that the other side wouldn't make any aggressive moves, he looked back at the parts at his feet, then slowly walked along the broken pieces until he looked up at the fallen mech.

Then he moved. Under everyone's watch, he stepped forward to confirm the position, placed one hand on the mech that was practically enormous compared to him, and reached down with the other, as if trying to push it away.

The three standing nearby also watched his movements. One of the Orolia members couldn't help but mutter, "No way..."

Under their gaze, the mech moved a little.

Theodore began to regret.

"Cyril, I'm fine."

"Mm."

Ye Mo continued.

But soon, a hand reached over his shoulder and appeared beside his face.

It was Arnold.

With Arnold's help, the mech was easily pushed aside, toppling over and leaning against a storefront window.

Beneath it was the remains of the small robot, now in pieces.

Ye Mo picked up the damaged core, held it in his hand, then stood up, looking at the other parts on the ground. He stood there for a good while, then finally crouched down, knelt on one knee, took off his jacket, laid it flat on the ground, and began to pick up the pieces one by one.

Arnold quietly helped him pick them up as well.

He regretted it again. He should never have let them touch Ye Mo's stuff. Ye Mo doesn't have many things, and the only ones he really cared about were just a few.

Lakeley stood on top of Abigail's mech, silently watching everything. He realized that Ye Mo had a very high probability of becoming a star player. With his current strength, combined with sufficient race exposure, this was almost inevitable. And he was still so young; in a few years, once he fully stabilized…

Lakeley could hardly contain his excitement. He was watching a star player being born.

"That's a mech! Is that something a person can push?"

"Some people have tried. It's tough but doable. You can do it in the game with maxed-out Physique. But somehow it feels like we're bullying a kid. Orolia and Suonan are really asking for it."

"Yeah, they never cared about collateral damage from the start. These front-rank countries are way too cocky. This time they've run into someone tough. I've always said talent can come from anywhere. Lots of star players come from nothing."

"Once he becomes a star player, I can already picture what his crazy fans are gonna do when they see this..."

Star players are the most attention-grabbing part of the Resource War. Every bit of info about them, even their every move, gets analyzed like crazy. But for certain reasons, Central Star does not provide replay functions, so commentators have to use outside software to track it manually.

If someone's smart enough to spot a future star player early on, they get a ton of attention. The pro commentator who once found three star players all by himself is still the top dog in the industry.

So a lot of people specifically track and build dossiers on rookies from front-rank countries. Those commentators are called "gold prospectors." But star players from smaller countries usually don't have dedicated files before they get famous, with only traces found in other players' footage.

Lakeley had never gone gold prospecting before.

But now, he decided to ditch the race routes of other countries and focus entirely on Ye Mo. All the footage he recorded in his room would be kept private for now, saved as Ye Mo's exclusive archive. When the time came, he'd drop it all at once.

On the other side.

Ye Mo had wrapped all the pieces in his jacket, hugging them to his chest.

The Central Star staff finally showed up after being alerted. They had no clue what happened while they were on their way.

Seeing the mess, one of them couldn't help but blurt out, "What the hell happened to the King Shark? That was the pride of Mech Street!"

The lead guy looked around, saw the fight was over, and then came over to ask the usual questions.

"Excuse me, what happened here?"

He went for Ye Mo first, since he seemed the most approachable.

Ye Mo, clutching his jacket, answered real polite and honest, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

Arnold nodded on the side and casually pointed at the two wrecked mechs. "Ask them. They'll pay for it."

Arnold was totally confident, feeling he had no blame at all.

"But wait, they're next. They also wrecked our young prince's prized possession."

Arnold looked at one of them. "You will pay, right?"

He was looking at the Orolia side.

The Orolia newcomers were completely intimidated. Besides, Abigail's condition was still unclear. "If you require it, we will communicate with our superiors. But we'd like to check on Abby first..."

Arnold cut him off impatiently. "I don't care about that."

One of the Orolia crew-cut newcomers said urgently, "Let us check on Abby first. You trying to make enemies out of Orolia?"

His teammate looked torn and whispered, "Don't be like that. Let's talk it out."

But no one paid him any attention.

The Suonan newcomers also spoke up at the right moment. "Suonan's not afraid either."

For the first time ever, these two countries actually ended up on the same side.

Arnold silently grasped his sword hilt and began to draw it out.

The staff member was also tense; regardless of size, this was the scale of an entire nation. "Please calm down, we will do our best to mediate."

As he finished speaking, a hand pressed down on Arnold. "Prince Nolan, there's no need for you to handle this."

It was Ye Zhiyuan.

Only then did the others notice that this street had been surrounded at some point without them noticing.

A team of people, all wearing swords at their waists and a sword-and-flame insignia on their chests, had quietly moved in close. They quickly encircled the area, with some even climbing onto the fallen mechs.

A newcomer from Suonan looked up and saw people standing on the opposite high-rise building. When he noticed someone looking back, the beautiful woman with a high ponytail on the rooftop gave a fierce glare and made a throat-slitting gesture.

Ye Zhiyuan stepped forward, shielding Ye Mo behind him. "Please talk to us about this."

Behind him, Ye He made a 'please' gesture. "You'll understand, won't you?"

The crew-cut newcomer from Orolia gritted his teeth and ground out two words: "Understood."

The more mild-mannered companion chimed in to smooth things over: "We understand, and we'll cooperate, but we want to check on Abby first—he seems injured."

The newcomer from Suonan clicked his tongue and said nothing.

Leaving it to Ye He, Ye Zhiyuan withdrew his gaze, shifted his body, and knelt on one knee. "Apologies for arriving late, Young Highness."

Arnold placed a hand on Ye Mo's shoulder first. Ye Mo hesitated for a moment but ultimately stayed put.

"Time to go back."

Arnold led Ye Mo away.

Lakeley followed Ye Mo, and no one questioned his actions; instead, they discussed animatedly in the channel.

"Why is he so well-behaved now, even saying sorry, when he just wrecked a mech? This is like a cute little bunny with iron teeth! When will Lakeley unlock the chat? If I don't find someone to talk about this, I'll explode!"

"Young Highness? Heir? The first rookie I'm stanning is a prince!"

"It's an imperial system, right? Rare these days, and quite unreasonable. Now I understand where their aggressive style comes from, but it's really unwise; they could have handled it more reasonably."

"Not that rare—Lakeley's home branch is an empire, the Keller Empire. Their leader is the Prime Minister, but the royal family is definitely a big draw. Royal star players are even more sensational."

"Oh no, we were just debating which strong team he'd join in the end. As an heir, would switching nationalities be difficult? If he gets eliminated quickly in a small country with little exposure, he'll be held back!"

"And being so aggressive just now—will they hold a grudge? Although large-scale conflict isn't allowed in the Central Star, if Orolia and Suonan target them, they might not even make it to the second round. It's over, it's over!"

The resource war competition is divided into several rounds, elimination-based, with a long schedule. Many weak countries can't make it through the whole competition, often just completing the most basic first round before going home.

Lakeley didn't say it aloud, but he was also worried. In previous years, there were countries that got targeted—like Kainan. Because they offended a powerful neighbor, they couldn't enter the second round, and now they've given up.

The controversial group of pretty boys and pretty girls was their idea in the first place. Since they could never make it to the second round, they simply gave up and focused on making a profit in the first round.

For weak countries, standing out or moving up in the resource war is really difficult. That's why Orolia's sudden rise drew so much attention back then—though Orolia wasn't originally weak, it was still a model of a latecomer catching up from behind.

As he followed Ye Mo and Arnold, he introduced Grath in more detail. "Grath—its coordinates are on the homepage. According to official data, although it's in a remote location, its land area is not small."

"It's located on the former site of Keller, and we share common ancestors."

After deeper research, Lakeley became more determined to stick with Grath during the resource war. Roughly speaking, we're all family. And of course, bringing the Kaileer Alliance along wouldn't be too much to ask.