As soon as Xu Zifan regained consciousness, he heard Shao Hua's loud alarm: [Host, activate Natural Defense! Roll to the right behind the stone wall to take cover, then press the surrender button!]
Natural defenses make it inconvenient to use things from within the space. Xu Zifan subconsciously arched his body and crossed his arms, opened his eyes, found the stone wall on his right, and quickly rolled to dodge. He glanced at the surrounding situation and was surprised to see something that looked like a Transformer, and he was in a cockpit.
The Transformer chased after him, and he glanced at the dozens of buttons in front of him, quickly firing a shot to block the attack and dodging around the stone wall. He barely managed to cope with the attack using his rich experience and superb skills from playing the game, taking several light hits but managing to save his vital parts.
The word "admit defeat" does not exist in Xu Zifan's dictionary. He immediately received the memories and learned about the situation in this world.
This is a future world where advanced human technology has unveiled the mysteries of the universe, ushering in the interstellar age. Here, spaceships have replaced airplanes, hovercars have replaced ordinary vehicles, starships have replaced ocean-going warships, the StarNet connects mental energy to achieve holographic connectivity, intelligent robots handle all auxiliary tasks, towering skyscrapers reach into the sky, mechs have become the uniforms of warriors, and there are also magical contract beasts. As long as humans and animals agree, they can form a mental contract to become partners and fight together.
This is a magical era where talent is judged by the level of mental strength and physical constitution. The lowest level, F, and the highest level, A, are considered ordinary people, while the levels above, S and SSS, are considered geniuses and are relatively rare.
The original owner was a genius with both S-rank mental strength and physical constitution, but his mental sea and body were damaged by his father's illegitimate son, causing him to fall to F-rank trash. He was also falsely accused of using banned drugs to increase his rank.
Dropped out of school, his fiancée broke off their engagement, his family abandoned him, and he was ridiculed by the entire nation. The original owner went from being a favored son of heaven to a rat that everyone wanted to beat. Naturally, he was unwilling to give up and tried everything he could to prove his innocence and restore his former glory. Unfortunately, he was always outmaneuvered by that illegitimate son and ultimately suffered a complete defeat.
When the original owner died, he was starving and freezing, collapsing in a dilapidated hut on a garbage planet. Due to the damage to his mental and physical strength, he endured physical pain. His resentment was amplified infinitely, and he wished for a dimensional messenger to come and rewrite his tragic life, avenge him, and reclaim the glory he deserved.
Xu Zifan quickly absorbed these memories. He accurately found the time travel node. It was his first mecha assessment after falling to F-rank. The Transformer opposite him was the illegitimate son. The illegitimate son would destroy his mecha, seriously injure him, and humiliate him in public.
Meanwhile, "evidence" of his use of banned substances had already circulated on the StarNet. After the competition, he would be expelled from school, kicked out of his family, and his fiancée would break off their engagement.
Shao Hua anxiously reminded him, "[Host, your physical condition is extremely poor, and this mecha is already 80% damaged, with its defense constantly decreasing. According to data analysis, you cannot win this battle. Surrendering will maximize the protection of you and this mecha.]"
Xu Zifan looked up at the mecha opposite him, a smile playing on his lips: [It's impossible to admit defeat to a bastard; even a crushing defeat cannot diminish my dignity.]
He had traversed countless worlds, and with the spiritual spring nourishing his soul in the space, his mental power was now extremely strong. After merging with his body, his previous headaches and dizziness completely disappeared. He didn't need to test himself to know that he had definitely surpassed the SSS mental level, making controlling the mecha naturally no longer difficult.
He was also a world-class top-tier gamer. Although real combat and gaming are different, they are both combat operations and have similarities. Combined with the operating experience from the original owner's memories, Xu Zifan quickly mastered the mecha's operating skills.
Few men dislike mecha, and Xu Zifan was no exception. When his mecha collided violently with his opponent, he felt his blood boil. With a feint, he flashed behind his opponent, locked his throat, and unleashed a barrage of blows to his head.
His mech's arms were deformed, but the opponent's mech was riddled with deep craters, so much so that the shape of its head was unrecognizable; it was practically a lump of scrap metal!
The illegitimate child finally broke free from him and, taking advantage of the mecha's intact condition, struck Xu Zifan's mecha in the chest. Xu Zifan reacted quickly and predicted accurately, but unfortunately, his mecha was almost destroyed, slowing his movements by a step. He barely managed to dodge the fatal blow and still suffered a heavy blow, with the damage reaching 90%.
Xu Zifan knew this mech wouldn't last more than a few minutes, and said in a deep voice, "[Shaohua, scan the weakest points of the enemy mech's limbs.]"
[Shaohua: Yes, host.]
A virtual screen appeared to Xu Zifan's right, displaying a structural diagram of the illegitimate son's mecha. Several weakest parts were circled in red, and the lines, from thin to thick, represented defenses from weak to strong.
Xu Zifan dodged the opponent's attack, then charged at his weakest point, using the sharp edge of the metal from the broken metal of his mecha arm to slash across the opponent's right leg. The sharp edge of the broken metal severed the crucial connection of the mecha's right leg like a blade. Xu Zifan then punched down with his mecha arm, deforming his fist, and the mecha leg flew off.
Caught off guard, the illegitimate son's mech lost its balance and crashed to the ground. He reacted swiftly, firing a shot at Xu Zifan's mech in front of him. This time, Xu Zifan couldn't dodge and was hit in a vital spot in the chest. At the same time, the mech was destroyed, all power was cut off, and it fell heavily backward to the ground.
The fighting arena was surrounded by tiered stands; because it was the senior students' mecha assessment, the entire school's faculty and students had come to watch. Upon seeing the result, the entire arena fell silent; even the examiner frowned, not announcing the result immediately.
The illegitimate son controlled the mecha to get up. Having never encountered a situation where he had lost a leg before, he tried several times before successfully standing, looking extremely disheveled, perhaps even more so than Xu Zifan.
However, he had stood up after all. The examiner announced, "Xu Zhikai wins this match, add 10 points, total score..." He paused, glanced at the mecha's scrap metal head and empty right leg, and frowned slightly, "80 points."
"Xu Zifan's score is 70 points." After discussing with the judges on both sides, the examiner gave him a good score. Xu Zifan's counterattack in the later stages was too brilliant; even if they were in his place, they probably couldn't have performed as well with the mech damaged by 80%. However, his performance in the early stages was subpar, so he could only get 70 points overall, just slightly better than passing.
Xu Zhikai stared at the opposing mech with a gloomy expression, wishing he could go up and smash it flat, but the match was over and there was nothing he could do.
That damned Xu Zifan! He meticulously planned this fight to make a name for himself, and now Xu Zifan has ruined it all. For someone with both a weak mind and a weak body to still manage this much—destroying him was definitely the right thing to do.
Xu Zhikai felt a little better after realizing that the news on the internet should have spread far enough. He put on a humble expression, stepped out of his mecha, and walked towards Xu Zifan's mecha as if he were worried.
"Teacher, I hope nothing bad has happened to Xu Zifan."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Zifan stepped out of the mecha cockpit. The image of the original owner, drenched in cold sweat and in a miserable state, had completely vanished. He was now refreshed, with a rosy complexion and a composed expression. Compared to Xu Zhikai, he looked more like the victor, relaxed and without a trace of dishevelment.
Xu Zhikai's eyes darkened, but he smiled and said, "Are you alright? I'm sorry, I was worried that your mental strength was too much for you to handle piloting the mecha. I attacked so fiercely because I wanted to end the battle as soon as possible. I didn't mean anything by it."
Xu Zifan nodded indifferently, "This level of difficulty is not hard enough, thank you for your concern."
Xu Zifan walked towards his seat, while Xu Zhikai almost lost his smile. What did he mean by "this level"? Did he look down on his abilities?
However, his score of 80 points after adding 10 points is terrible; his actual score is the same as Xu Zifan's. If Xu Zifan hadn't fought back so fiercely, he could have gotten at least 105 points with those extra 10 points. He deserves to die!
After the two of them sat back down and the next match began, the entire audience finally came back to their senses from the spectacular counterattack. They were amazed that Xu Zifan could still hold on to such a level even though his spirit and physique had dropped to F level. He truly deserved to be the academy's most outstanding student.
It's a pity that an F-class trash like him is destined not to become a Space Marine, and his lifespan and physical strength will be greatly reduced. In the future, he may only be able to do ordinary clerical work.
Everyone's attention was focused on Xu Zifan; no one paid any attention to Xu Zhikai. To them, Xu Zhikai was just one of the masses. If Xu Zifan hadn't fallen in rank, he would have lost long ago, just like the results of Xu Zifan's countless past matches against other players.
Therefore, all that everyone saw was Xu Zifan's desperate counterattack after experiencing the initial stage of not being able to adapt to the new level. He used his superb skills to cripple half of Xu Zhikai's mecha, and although he lost, he was still glorious.
While everyone was praising and regretting, no one noticed Xu Zhikai's remarkable transformation.
Xu Zhikai keenly noticed this. He had put in a lot of effort to face Xu Zifan in this assessment, but his carefully arranged contrast was completely ruined, leaving him in a very bad mood.
Xu Zifan calmly watched the match from his seat. Since accessing the StarNet via AI was prohibited inside the arena, those inside were unaware of the major news circulating online. By the time the assessment was over, the news would likely have spread throughout the entire school, and the school leaders would probably have a talk with him.
Xu Zifan placed his right hand on the armrest, tapping his fingers lightly as he pondered what to do next.
In fact, his mental strength has now surpassed SSS level. If we're talking about mental strength, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he's number one in this world. But he can't explain why his mental strength suddenly increased to SSS level after just dropping to F level, and there's no benefit in staying in this academy.
The students at this academy all aspire to excel in their respective fields, and their study of mecha is almost entirely aimed at entering the military and gradually becoming officers.
However, his situation is special. His family and Xu Zhikai will definitely hold him back. There is no need to get involved with his fiancée and her family, who are kicking him when he's down. Getting entangled in them will only bring him trouble. It would be better to break free from them and have a fresh start.
The match ended with a winner and a loser. The examiner announced the end of the assessment, and everyone got up and left the arena. Many people immediately logged into the StarNet.
Xu Zifan stopped what he was doing, straightened his clothes, and stood up with a faint smile, ready to face the storm to come.