Chen Meng's tone was stern, but his eyes held no contempt—only the consideration of a mentor.
"I'll give you one day to think it over. Give me your answer tomorrow morning."
With that, Chen Meng said no more. He patted Lin Ye on the shoulder, turned, and left the training room.
The vast training room was now empty, save for Lin Ye alone.
The Mech Warrior track, huh…
He had considered it before, but it was ultimately a fallback option—a choice of last resort.
**...**
When he arrived home, his mother, Li Wan, was busy in the kitchen. The aroma of food filled the entire house.
"Little Ye is back! Go wash your hands quickly. Dinner will be ready soon."
Li Wan turned around, her face bearing its usual gentle smile.
But Lin Ye keenly noticed that his mother's eyes were slightly red, as if she had just been crying.
He put down his school bag, walked to the kitchen doorway, and asked softly, "Mom, what's wrong? Did you and Dad have a fight?"
"Nothing of the sort," Li Wan hurriedly turned away, wiping the corner of her eye with her sleeve. "I was just cutting onions. They're making my eyes sting."
The excuse was too clumsy. Lin Ye's heart sank, and he pressed further, "Where's Dad? I didn't see him today."
At the mention of her husband, Li Wan's body visibly stiffened. She fell silent for a moment before speaking in as steady a tone as she could manage. "Your father… he's been transferred. He left this afternoon. The transfer order came down urgently."
"Transferred? To where?"
Li Wan took a deep breath, as if mentally preparing herself, before turning around and forcing out a smile.
"To the Seventh War Zone. Don't worry, he's not going to the front lines to kill enemies. He's still doing his old job—repairing mechs."
"Your father… he volunteered for it. The salary there is high, and the subsidies are generous too. You're about to take the exams for a martial university, and the expenses are heavy. The family needs to start saving up for you in advance."
The Seventh War Zone.
These four words struck Lin Ye's heart like heavy lead weights.
Although he was only a senior-year student, he knew exactly what the Seventh War Zone meant.
It was one of the areas along the entire Human Alliance's defensive line where battles against the Tianyuan alien races were most frequent and the fighting most brutal—its casualty rate remained high year after year.
His mother said his father had volunteered. Lin Ye only believed half of it.
He was more convinced that someone above had specifically demanded his father be sent to the front lines, and that his father had ultimately gone half-willingly, half-unwillingly.
What Li Wan didn't say was that in the Seventh War Zone, the death benefits paid out by the Alliance for the fallen were also the highest of all war zones.
In this world, the status of martial artists was exalted, but they too were divided into ranks and classes.
True proud sons of heaven came from affluent families and possessed absolute talent; they walked the path of pure martial arts.
They immersed themselves in martial techniques, tempering their own bodies without needing the aid of external forces—every punch and kick they threw held immense power.
But for more ordinary people like Lin Ye, whose aptitude was mediocre and who barely crossed the threshold of being a martial artist, if they wanted to fight alien races on the battlefield, they needed to rely on external power—exoskeletal mechs.
This school was called the "Mech Warrior style" when spoken of kindly—a combination of technology and martial arts.
When spoken of unkindly, it was the "turtle style."
Relying on the additional driving force and defensive power provided by powered armor, they could barely survive on the cruel battlefield.
Warriors of the pure martial path were, after all, the minority.
Thus, figures like Lin Ye's father, Lin Tao—graduates of Mech Warrior academies who specialized in maintaining and repairing mechs for frontline warriors as rear-echelon personnel—became an indispensable part of the war system.
They were martial artists as well, yet they more often played the roles of engineers and technical specialists.
Just as he was pondering this, the front door was pushed open.
Lin Ye's older sister, Lin Wei, had returned home.
"I'm back!"
"Big Sis."
Lin Ye called out.
"Weiwei's back. Perfect, get ready to eat." Li Wan also poked her head out from the kitchen.
But when Lin Wei took off her coat, revealing the arms beneath her short-sleeved shirt, Li Wan's expression instantly darkened.
On Lin Wei's fair right wrist, a clear, glaring bruise was exceptionally conspicuous.
"Weiwei, your hand!" Li Wan quickly walked over, grabbing her daughter's wrist, her voice filled with suppressed fury. "Did something happen at the shop again? Did a customer get handsy?"
Lin Wei was a student at Dongjiang City's finest liberal arts university. To lighten the family's burden, she had been working part-time at an upscale restaurant near campus.
The customers there were either wealthy or of high status, and among them were no lack of powerful martial artists.
And given Lin Wei's beautiful appearance, this clearly wasn't the first time she had encountered such trouble.
"Mom, no," Lin Wei hurriedly pulled her hand back and hid it behind her, forcing a smile onto her face. "I just wasn't watching the stairs and accidentally fell. It's nothing."
The more she said this, the worse Li Wan and Lin Ye felt in their hearts.
Lin Wei didn't continue on this topic. Instead, she eagerly took a small box from her bag and held it out before Lin Ye.
"Look, I got paid today. I bought you a nutrient serum. Little Ye, I heard the cutoff scores for the entrance exams get more competitive every year. You need to supplement your nutrition more."
It was a Grade C nutrient serum, quite expensive on the market, and greatly helpful for raising blood qi.
Lin Ye looked at the nutrient serum in his sister's hand, then at the wrist she hid behind her back, and at those eyes making such an effort to appear relaxed. An indescribable emotion surged in his chest.
He was indeed a transmigrator.
But he had lived in this world, in this family, for nearly eighteen years.
Eighteen years of day and night together, the care of his parents, the protection of his sister—it had long since made this place his true home.
To provide for him, a future "martial artist," the entire family was going all out.
His father, Lin Tao, a conscientious and experienced senior maintenance technician, had been "voluntarily" transferred to the most dangerous Seventh War Zone for higher pay.
His sister, Lin Wei, a talented student at a medical university who should have been a proud daughter of heaven, instead had to force a smile for crude martial artist customers in a restaurant, and even after being manhandled, could only swallow her grievances in silence.
And what about himself?
His original goal had merely been to get into a decent martial university and find a security guard job after graduation, living a stable life.
Now, thinking about it, how naive and laughable that idea was.
In this world, without strength, there was no stability to speak of.
Even if he wanted to withdraw from the world, this family could not remain untouched.
Since the System had come.
Since he now had the possibility to become stronger.
Then what was the point of muddling through life?
He would fight for it!
Not to cross the river of stars, not to sunder the heavens with a single punch—solely to have an unburdened mind!
Solely so his father could return safely from the war zone, so his mother would no longer have to live in fear, and so his sister could walk down the street without anyone daring to disrespect her!
Lin Ye reached out and took the nutrient serum, gripping it tightly in his palm.
He would become a martial artist.
And one who would ascend to the pinnacle, one that no one could look down upon!
From now on, such grievances would never befall his family again!