From Meng Hao's video, it could be seen that he was in a vast, boundless desert landscape.
At the edge of the mobile phone's wide-angle lens, a scorching sun cast dazzling rays.
Looking into the distance, there was a silent, endless expanse of sand dunes.
The dry air, baked by the intense sun, created a visibly shimmering distortion.
In this desolate and dangerous desert world, a large, matte-colored mecha, which absorbed rather than reflected the harsh sunlight, sat squatting.
This extremely cool, sci-fi masterpiece of a giant metal artwork instantly widened everyone's eyes.
After all, the Applied Physics Class 4 was known as the "monastery" of the engineering faculty, filled with mostly male students.
In such a department, the only things that could capture their attention more than beautiful girls were mechas, the ultimate expression of male romance, mechanical marvels, and technological art.
As expected, the online classroom was filled with exclamations.
"Meng Hao, where did you download this background wallpaper? It's so incredibly realistic!"
"Link, please! Original image, willing to pay... This vast, desolate desert is so bleak, desolate, and majestic, full of the beauty of death... The mecha's sharp lines are sketched like a sci-fi masterpiece... The two together are grand, magnificent, and awe-inspiring!"
"Damn, where did such an awesome, realistic background that blends futuristic technology with post-apocalyptic wasteland so harmoniously come from? I've been in the art circle for years, how have I never seen such an incredible background painting?"
"Do you think it's possible that this scene is actually Meng Hao's own creation? If so, he's incredibly talented. Judging by the visuals, it even seems to be a dynamic background... the movement of the sand, the mecha's shadow, the outline of the lines, the interplay of light and shadow... Anyone who can create such a masterful piece and render it as a CG background is simply a genius."
"Meng Hao, with such talent, you should go for further studies in Vienna... At the very least, the Central Academy of Fine Arts should treat you like royalty... The last great master with such painting talent who wasn't admitted to an art academy, a certain mustachioed genius, shook the entire world!"
"..."
Undoubtedly, no one believed that Meng Hao was actually in the heart of the Taklamakan Desert.
Let alone that the mecha behind him, with its arms plunged into the sand and in a half-squatting position, was a real object!
After all, it was too unbelievable.
Setting aside the impossibility of any human single-handedly venturing into the 330,000 square kilometer forbidden zone, the sea of death, the Taklamakan Desert!
Even the clearly controllable mecha behind Meng Hao was a piece of machinery that simply couldn't exist in this world.
At present, with humanity's technological level, creating an AI mechanical dog that could walk independently and possess a degree of self-awareness was already a top-tier achievement.
And this achievement had, so far, only been seen in leaked photos and videos from the laboratories of a few top research nations like the United States and Canada.
Amidst the gasps of awe, a discordant voice broke through everyone's doubts.
"What if Meng Hao is actually in the Taklamakan Desert right now?"
"Perhaps, the giant mecha behind him, which appears to be in standby mode, is actually controllable?"
"After all, our dear class advisor's assignment options document did include 'Building a Mecha'!"
The student, whose thought was so outlandish it made one question his sanity, paused briefly before typing a concluding statement in the online classroom chat:
"Perhaps, Meng Hao, like Zhao Chen and Li Xi, didn't take the assignment seriously and went to the Taklamakan Desert to hand-build a mecha?!"
Nonsense!
How could that be possible!!
What kind of interstellar joke is this?!
A student from the bottom-tier undergraduate institution, Shilin University, in a third-tier coastal city of Great Xia, in the Applied Physics department, not taking the assignment seriously and treating a final sci-fi essay topic as actual research work?
And then venturing into the forbidden zone, the heart of the desert sea, the Taklamakan Desert, to mine ore with bare hands, start fires to smelt metal, and hand-build a mecha?
This is utterly!
Even sci-fi web novels wouldn't dare to write something like this!
Even online novels need a basic level of logic and rationality!
If he's really that amazing.
Then stop just standing in front of the camera.
Quickly get into the mecha and show us a thousand-mile desert ride with the mecha!
Facing the students' doubts, denials, refutations, and even angry shouts!
Meng Hao remained remarkably calm, even a little nonchalant.
After all—
The system's mission was to complete the mecha control and perform a set of martial arts moves in front of the online classroom camera, allowing Gao Ping to approve his third-year final assignment, and the system would then consider his initial mission complete.
Well.
This way, his life would be saved.
He wouldn't be erased from existence by the eccentric system!
...
"Alright."
"Since there are no problems."
"Then I'll prepare to pilot the mecha and complete the third-year assignment assigned by Class Advisor Gao Ping."
Meng Hao turned around expressionlessly and walked towards the mecha cockpit, which had been open for a while.
Huh?
What?
Hmm?
Wait!
You call this "no problems"?
Brother, dear brother, there are HUGE problems!
You're suddenly telling us you're standing alone in the heart of the Taklamakan Desert.
And the sunlight, shadows, dunes, and mecha in your video all conform to reality... it's not a background image, nor is it some artificially created CG scene!
And now, you're calmly telling us you're going to pilot the mecha and perform a set of martial arts moves to complete Gao Ping's year-end assignment?!
Big brother!
Brother Hao!!
For heaven's sake, don't rush into the mecha cockpit!!!
Please, take a look at your phone screen, look at the bullet comments we're sending!
Everyone in the online classroom, including Gao Ping, is starting to question their worldview.
They're even starting to doubt the authenticity of every lesson in the nine-year compulsory education system.
How could someone survive in a forbidden zone, a sea of death?
Moreover, how could they mine ore with bare hands, smelt metal, forge alloys, and hand-build a mecha!
When logic and reality clash violently.
The human brain enters a vicious cycle of distinguishing truth from falsehood, eventually crashing.
Humans in this crashed state become dazed and stunned, like those with intellectual disabilities.
With their minds blank, the teachers and students in the online classroom watched as Meng Hao entered the mecha cockpit.
Then, the cockpit door closed.
The matte-colored giant humanoid mecha pulled its arms out of the sand and stood upright on its legs.
Subsequently, the green lights of its standby eyes instantly turned into a dangerous crimson hue.
The next moment.
The six turbine thrusters on the mecha's back and legs simultaneously fired.
Meng Hao's initial Type-I mecha, like a powerfully driven warship, surged across the vast expanse of the desert.
The speed was so great that the mobile phone camera could barely capture it.
BOOM!
The mecha moved from near to far, reached the horizon, and then returned.
When it reappeared fully in the camera's view.
The mecha, like a high-speed rocket, slammed into a sand dune directly in front of the phone's lens.
The sand dune, tens of meters high and weighing over ten thousand tons, instantly disintegrated.
Countless grains of sand scattered everywhere.
With the addition of a mushroom cloud, the impact would have made one suspect that Meng Hao had detonated a tactical nuclear bomb on the desert hills in front of the camera!