Chapter 276

Chapter 276

The first round of the Resource War was officially over.

The host’s voice sounded slightly hoarse: “The first round of the Resource War has concluded—Grath has claimed first place!”

Cheers erupted in waves throughout the venue. “Grath! Grath!”

The central display had transformed into a real-time leaderboard. Grath occupied the top spot, unmistakably prominent; Buston followed in second, and the Kaileer Alliance came third.

Kainan ranked mid-tier—its score comprised entirely of assist points.

Notably, many of the advancing nations had never reached the second round before.

Grath had randomly eliminated squads entrenched in the flag-defense zone.

Other squads hadn’t intended to defend flags at all—they held little hope of advancing, so their main forces roamed freely outside the flag-defense zone, aggressively accumulating points in the first round, only to be stunned by the announcement of their advancement.

The central light screen within the venue had shrunk slightly, forming illuminated pathways along the venue’s perimeter and audience stands, leading directly to each nation’s Leader’s Platform.

The atmosphere grew even more electrifying. By tradition, squad members would be transported here directly aboard their mother ships, whose docking area lay just outside the venue.

As soon as contestants disembarked from their mother ships, they could enter the venue via connecting passages and follow designated routes back to their nation’s Leader’s Platform.

“Let us wait here patiently for our contestants to return home!”

Norton tilted his head, visibly impatient.

Secretary-General Lin stepped forward: “Your Majesty, we are ready to welcome Their Highnesses.”

…

Inside the venue.

Deenlie turned his head. “It’s over, Cyril. Let’s go.”

Ye Mo tilted his head back, gazing skyward. Small clusters of mother ships appeared—arriving to retrieve the contestants after the competition.

Then the fleet dispersed, and the hulls of the ships began projecting the emblems of their respective nations, preventing members of different squads from boarding the same vessel and sparking conflict.

A mother ship bearing Grath’s emblem had already arrived.

Ye Mo exhaled deeply.

Zener beside him also let out a long sigh of relief. He immediately downed one of his two remaining nutrient solutions and thrust the other into Ye Mo’s hand, still trembling slightly. “We’re finally heading back, Cyril. That scared me half to death…”

A few seconds later, Zener suddenly realized: “Wait—did we actually advance?!”

Ye Mo turned and smiled at him. “Yes. See you in the next match, Zener.”

Deenlie was already standing at the tower’s edge. “Let’s go.”

Ye Mo murmured softly, “Mm. Goodbye, Zener.”

Zener stood frozen, dazed. “Goodbye.”

But how could they possibly say goodbye—perched so high up?

Then Zener watched, wide-eyed, as Cyril leapt off the towering structure.

Deenlie followed instantly.

Zener: Σ(O囗O@)!

When Ye Mo and Deenlie boarded the mother ship, the others were already aboard.

Baide waved at Ye Mo. “Come here, Cyril—I want to take a look.”

Ye Mo obediently approached and stood before Baide, even turning a full circle at Baide’s request—even though Baide’s mental energy had already enveloped him.

“Baide, we didn’t even need to guard the flag, did we? The match ended so quickly—we didn’t even have to capture it…”

Baide scanned Ye Mo—he looked presentable enough to face Norton. Good thing he’d taken Cyril to the hotel for a night before the flag defense; he was at least somewhat cleaner.

Thinking this, Baide said casually, “That’s because we got lucky. Lucky the match ended so fast—otherwise my neck wouldn’t hold up. An old man like me…”

He dramatically clutched his neck and slumped sideways. “I must truly be ancient.”

Herli clicked her tongue. Adrian snorted. The rest largely ignored Baide’s theatrics.

Only Ye Mo dropped the subject. He moved closer, propped one knee onto the seat beside him, and began kneading his shoulders. “I’ve done this for Mom many times—she says it’s very effective.”

The moment Ye Mo reached out, Baide dutifully turned his back toward him. “I really do feel a bit better. Thanks to our Cyril. Such an obedient child—actually from our own family—I’m genuinely touched.”

Even Deenlie and the others rarely addressed him as “Father” anymore—and even Arnold, who was a bit slow-witted, never did.

Ye Mo flushed at the praise. He lowered his voice and buried his face against Baide’s back. “It’s nothing special. Just call me whenever you need me again.”

Ye Yun and Ye He also obediently massaged Mrs. Ye’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry—I won’t hold back.”

Adrian couldn’t bear it any longer.

“Baide—didn’t you like the hotel bed?”

“It’s fine, I suppose—but not nearly as comfortable as what I’m used to back in Grath.”

…

The mother ship traveled swiftly, and the competition venue was nearby—so within about ten minutes, they arrived.

When the hatch opened, Ye Mo heard sounds from outside—but no one stood there. Only a passage stretched ahead.

“Let’s go.”

Baide ruffled Ye Mo’s hair as he passed, then strode ahead without hesitation. The other Grath members fell in behind him.

Adrian and Deenlie naturally fell back. Deenlie gave Ye Mo a gentle nudge on the back, gesturing him forward—so Ye Mo walked between them.

Individually, it wasn’t obvious—but walking among them, Ye Mo appeared markedly smaller. All the other Grath members were tall, long-limbed, in their prime, at the peak of physical conditioning.

They arrived first.

Before they’d even fully exited the passage, people on-site spotted them.

“Grath! Grath!”

The crowd surged around them, cheers deafening.

Ye Mo instinctively became restrained, staying close behind Baide.

Deenlie and the others closed in slightly, trying to shield Ye Mo in the middle.

Besides the noise, there were many obvious cameras. The Graths had sharper five senses than ordinary people and disliked such places.

Baide, however, was quite at ease. He spread his arms, waving to the audience and greeting the cheers, "Louder!"

The audience played along, "Grath! Grath!"

The venue was filled with cameras. They walked along the edge, leading to the Grath Leader’s platform. One side of the path was packed with spectators, the other an open area—but whether by design, the path was narrowed excessively, perhaps by design.

Ye Mo even felt that arms from the audience could sometimes reach them.

This was an open event, and at the same time, a staggering number of viewers logged into the virtual world.

Except for the restricted athlete-only paths, they could freely roam anywhere else. The professional commentators like Lakeley had it even better, he had a private room all to himself.

Ye Mo walked along the edge, suddenly pausing to look in one direction, but quickly resumed walking.

Baide keenly noticed this odd behavior. He kept walking while turning his head, "Feeling uncomfortable, Cyril?"

"A bit of an odd feeling."

Baide lowered his hand that had been engaging with the audience and glanced in that direction—it was Theodore, who had been sneakily following Ye Mo for quite some time.

Theodore had enough restraint to automatically avoid when it involved Ye Mo's privacy, so no one had raised any objections. Most importantly, Norton had come to trust Theodore at some point and allowed him to stay by Ye Mo at all times.

But when Theodore didn’t use his psychic powers, he was no more than a stream of data. Ye Mo had never detected him before.

"Is our Cyril finally going to grow up?"

Adrian chimed in from the side, "Don’t be so disgusting."

"You really hurt my heart, Adrian. Your father would be sad."

Adrian made a gagging gesture.

Although the audience in the virtual world couldn’t step onto the path, the path wasn’t wide, so their conversation was heard clearly by the audience in the holographic world.

Most viewers were watching from the main perspective, having seen Baide’s whole performance and having some idea of the Graths.

"Grow up? What’s that supposed to mean? And why is Baide still like this? It’s fine for Cyril since he’s obviously a little sprout, but Adrian is so grown up, almost the same age as Baide—at least give your teammate some dignity."

"Adrian didn’t flare up? I thought with his temper, he’d start a fight right away. Being so casually referred to as someone’s father—I’d be angry too."

Herli turned to Arnold, "Arnold, remember to tell Mom when you get home."

Arnold hesitated, "Baide will just say I only know how to tattle to Mom. I’ll tell Big Brother instead."

"You all break your father’s heart too. Cyril, don’t learn from them."

Deenlie and Herli both clicked their tongues in unison.

Elia placed her hand on Herli’s shoulder, changing the subject, "Alright, alright, Sister Herli. We’re almost there. Big Brother is waiting for us."

"? Deenlie and Herli aren’t angry either? And who’s Big Brother? Arnold also said Big Brother. Cyril is so easygoing, stuck in the middle of them."

"Elia calls Herli ‘sister’—they have such a good relationship. Elia is really gentle, but Baide is too much. He even made Herli do work for free before. I’ve watched the video of that beautiful lady getting angry eight times."

"Gentle? You haven’t seen Elia kick off a mech’s head, have you…"

Elia patted Deenlie’s shoulder and then soothed, "After all, Baide is our father. There’s no helping it."

The virtual world went silent for a moment, then buzzed with excitement.

"Wait, father? Our father?"

"I suddenly feel like I can’t read anymore. Baide is Deenlie’s and Elia’s father?"

"No, based on Baide’s earlier remarks, I’d bet Adrian is one too, and probably Arnold. Herli and Cyril aren’t clear yet, but it seems very likely."

"Wow, he really is the father. No wonder Adrian didn’t lose his temper. If my dad said he was my dad in front of me, what’s there to be mad about?"

"That probability is insane. How can one family have so many strong players? And he looks so young but already has kids that old. Damn, that’s intense."

"No wonder they’re all named Grath—I thought it was the same surname as the nation, but it turns out to be one family."

They discussed fervently.

But Baide had already turned serious. They had arrived at the Leader’s platform.

Norton stood up, and Secretary-General Lin and others stepped forward to receive the Graths’ ceremonial swords.

Norton then reached out a hand to Ye Mo.

Unlike other countries, where the leader might offer words of encouragement to the team and then greet the supporting audience, the Graths exchanged barely any words. They quickly left the platform.

Ye Mo leaned against Norton, who immediately used his psychic power to check Ye Mo’s body and then provided psychic comfort.

Ye Mo gradually relaxed. He then said honestly, with a hint of disappointment, "Father, I didn’t perform well."

Even without me, the outcome of this match wouldn’t have changed. As soon as he spoke, he regretted it—he had just been too relaxed. Saying this to his father felt kind of like whining.

But Norton responded quickly, "Very good."

Seeming to find that overly brief, he looked down at Ye Mo. "You completed the task your captain gave you very well."

"I can’t see how I was poor."