Chapter 117: An Unconventional Mount Design

“Yes!”

“Binding successful. Proceeding to mount setup program. Step one: please select the default driving mode for the aerial combat vehicle. Normal mode or combat mode? Ocean mode, land mode, or flight mode?”

“Normal mode.”

“Player has selected normal mode. Please continue by choosing which state within normal mode: ocean, land, or flight?”

“Land mode.”

“Default mount mode selection complete. Proceeding to step two: appearance customization. The system offers 1,458,785 different appearances. Please choose.”

As the system spoke, Chen Yun felt a sudden headache; his mind was flooded instantly with over a million dazzling vehicle designs, including every model from the Transformers series.

“Maybe I should go with Optimus Prime’s big truck form?” Chen Yun mused, chin in hand. But he quickly dismissed the thought; the image of a massive truck flying through the sky was too surreal—too beautiful to even imagine.

He scrolled through hundreds of vehicles, but found it impossible to choose. With the system’s 360-degree full-view display, every single one was appealing, flawless even. This left Chen Yun thoroughly distressed.

“You’re trying to force me into choice paralysis!” Chen Yun shook his head, then glanced toward the long-neglected Maserati GT off to the side.

“Damn it, if you want me to pick you, I’ll pick you. No hesitation! I’ve decided—sky blue Maserati GT for the appearance!”

“Appearance selection confirmed. Step three: please enter the mount activation password. In the future, entering this password will start the mount.”

“Huh?” Chen Yun was taken aback. Another password? Why so complicated?

“The password is…” Chen Yun thought for a moment. The author works so hard and has such poor sales—I might as well help out.

“The password is: Please, dear readers, bookmark, recommend, and tip!”

“Confirming password: Please, dear readers, bookmark, recommend, and tip. Password setup complete. Proceeding to step four: please name your mount.”

“Name it? How novel. Aerial combat vehicle… From now on, I’ll call you Wukong.” Chen Yun smiled wickedly.

“‘Wukong’ named successfully. Proceeding to last step: please insert power source.”

Chen Yun was stunned again. Power source? What’s that now? So many new terms for a new mount.

“The power source is Tian Crystal Coins. The first activation requires 10 Tian Crystal Coins. Each coin provides one month of power. Skill usage consumes additional power.”

“…”

Chen Yun trembled as he placed 10 Tian Crystal Coins into the vehicle’s power slot. He watched as the coins transformed into a swirl of energy, merging into the mount. Suddenly, everything went black—he fainted!

Just before losing consciousness, only one thought remained in Chen Yun’s mind: System, damn you! Can’t you stand that I have money on me?!

***

The next day, Chen Yun gritted his teeth and climbed into the Maserati GT aerial combat vehicle, preparing to head to the gun store. The previous night, he had been so furious about the mount’s terrifyingly fast money burn that he barely slept and got up early.

“Please enter activation password.”

“Please, dear readers, bookmark, recommend, and tip.”

“Password correct. Mount entering autopilot mode. Please select destination.”

Chen Yun was surprised by this feature.

“Go to the ‘Shoot Far’ gun store.” He scanned the mini-map and picked the furthest location. Since the mount burned money every second, he might as well make full use of it.

“Destination confirmed. Optimal route selected. Mount starting.”

Watching the vehicle drive itself, Chen Yun’s anger cooled slightly. Expensive or not, this car was leagues above others—comfort, utility, nothing compared.

But recalling last night’s calculations, his fury reignited.

“Damn it! From now on, I’ll drive everywhere—even if just one meter. One Tian Crystal Coin lasts a month. One Tian Crystal Coin equals ten trillion copper coins. One copper coin equals one Earth dollar. Calculating 31 days × 24 hours × 3600 seconds = 2,678,400 seconds. Ten trillion divided by 2,678,400… Holy hell! This car burns 370,000 dollars every second, whether I use it or not. Who else is as wasteful as me?”

Arriving at the destination, the gun store was in a remote alley in the outskirts. Without the mini-map’s guidance, Chen Yun would never have found it.

The alley’s road was terrible, full of potholes. Chen Yun stopped the car at the entrance and did not drive further.

He got out and walked about 100 meters to the storefront. Frowning at the store’s name, Chen Yun noticed it was marked faint red by the system, while all other shops were green.

What was going on? In the game, green meant friendly, yellow neutral, faint red mild hostility, and red outright hostility—triggering combat automatically.

Thinking it over, Chen Yun activated his innate skill—Disguise—for safety.

Disguise: Consumes mana to alter gender, height, appearance, and voice. Costs 10–100 mana points depending on the extent of modification. Consumes 1 mana point per minute to maintain. Automatically reverts when mana is depleted or can be manually interrupted.

Right now, Chen Yun’s most powerful combat skill was undoubtedly this one. It could even change gender—defying all logic.

***

“Activating Disguise skill!”

“Please set disguise range freely. You may imitate any character from your mind.”

“Full disguise. Disguise target… Ye Ming!” Chen Yun thought of a name, a nostalgic gleam in his eyes: “Brother, you were censored in the ‘Cheat’ novel. I’ll make your name appear in this world once more.”

“Disguise successful. Consumed 50 mana points. Skill maintenance consumes 1 mana point per minute.”

Inside the gun store, Chen Yun was immediately drawn to the variety of firearms. But the more he looked, the more shocked and speechless he became.

This was an otherworldly gun shop? System, come out, let’s talk. I don’t mind if you plagiarize or pirate, but could you at least put some effort in? Change the names! You just copied them outright!

Look—the Glock 17 9mm pistol, SIG 226, M16 series rifles, GALIL assault rifle, M14 (military semi-auto variant M1A), Austrian AUG. Even his hometown’s 79 sniper rifle was here.

Scrolling further was an eye-opener—classic guns once only seen in games were all here, real and tangible! From small firearms to large ones, rifles to sniper rifles, and shockingly, an M203 grenade launcher!

Today was truly a revelation. Chen Yun eyed a Barrett M82A1, a heavy sniper rifle produced by Barrett Company. It was his favorite heavy sniper rifle in games—he had to get one for his collection!

Checking prices, they ranged from 10 silver coins to 100 gold coins. It seemed that in this world, only gun permits were outrageously expensive; gun prices were still reasonable.

As for ammunition, that was even cheaper—one gold coin could buy several large boxes!

“Boss, I want to buy guns!” After estimating, despite losing 10 Tian Crystal Coins to his mount, Chen Yun had enough purple gold coins left to clear the store.

“Which ones caught your eye? Bring your gun permit and the guns here.” The shop owner said without moving from his chair.

“I want them all. Calculate the total and load everything onto the vehicle for delivery.”

“What?” The shop owner was stunned. “All of them? Buying everything?”

“Yes, all of it.”

The owner widened his eyes, scrutinizing this kid no older than twenty several times before scoffing. “What kind of brat comes here bragging? Do you know how much my guns sell for?”