This model team was mainly composed of MG series models, with a scale of 1:100 to actual Gundams, so most of them were around 20 centimeters tall.

Fortunately, these guys weren't relying on flying or levitating for propulsion, but running on their legs; otherwise, their mobility would have been terrifying.

Even so, the Gundams were approaching the two players at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At this moment, Brother Jue and Little Tan were about thirty centimeters off the ground, one running along the cabinet wall, and the other in the process of falling.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue reacted quickly and immediately shouted, "Turn!" After saying that, he used [Moon Step] in mid-air to make a ninety-degree turn, darting to the side while maintaining his altitude.

Although Brother Jue only said one word, Little Tan understood immediately. They had played countless games together since they were kids, so this level of tacit understanding was a given. Little Tan twisted his body and paused, turning a corner on the wall in a seemingly effortless manner, transforming into a state of running sideways.

"Our vanguard is escaping pretty fast..." McCloud (from *Star Fox*) riding in a NES tank, sneered at Mario not far away, a hint of disdain flashing in his emerald eyes.

Mario also saw the two running back from above. He said in a deep voice, "At least this proves that they are indeed not spies sent by Novel." He muttered with some belated realization, "So that's what Optimus Prime meant... if they were spies..." Thinking of this, Mario immediately realized something, and he quickly ordered loudly, "Stop advancing! Quickly cover those two rookies! Turn around, retreat!"

This was clearly a well-trained and battle-hardened team. Although the situation at hand still seemed evenly matched, when Mario's voice sounded, everyone resolutely executed the order to cover and retreat, without anyone questioning the commander's orders, let alone hesitating or being reluctant to fight.

...

At the same time, in the shadows beyond two cargo containers.

Bei Ling stood at the front of a shopping cart, holding a pair of night-vision binoculars, observing the distant battlefield.

"Tch... that plumber uncle is pretty alert..." she said rather unhappily.

"Did we leave any openings?" Si Yu asked casually, sitting not far from her.

"Unlikely, we're still far from the planned encirclement point..." Bei Ling replied.

Let me explain here, the tactic that Bei Ling had arranged was a strategy similar to a "pocket." Actually, it was very simple, just three steps: First, set up an ambush ring with a three-sided encirclement; second, lure the enemy in deep; third, close the door and beat the dog.

But when it came to the actual implementation, the situation became more complicated. To succeed, you had to take into account the psychological factors of the enemy.

In this kind of situation, the usual practice is... to feign an attack with a small force, break off immediately after a brief engagement, and then lure the enemy to pursue.

But Bei Ling knew very well that this kind of tactic, even if it could fool the Classic field commander, would definitely not fool Feng Bujue (Bei Ling and Si Yu still thought that the boys' treatment in Classic was the same as theirs, they never expected that these two would be so miserable). Therefore, she used a bolder tactic—using nearly half of her forces as bait, dividing the remaining troops to the two flanks, leaving only herself and Si Yu, as well as their personal guards (four powerful figurines), in the rear.

In other words, the "pocket" that Bei Ling prepared for the Nintendo strike force had one "living" side, instead of the ambush force remaining still all the time like in a typical ambush, only sending a small and obviously fake feinting team to lure the enemy.

The troops she used as bait were all high-mobility units, namely the air force and the Gundam model group. These troops could withdraw from the battle at any time, making it difficult for the opponent's forces to bite them. As long as they retreated while fighting, there was a very high chance that the opponent would push into the trap.

"Then... did you see them?" Si Yu asked again, more concerned about the player-versus-player showdown than the side quest (their side quest was similar to the one on the other side, only the factions were different).

"Mm, I saw them." Bei Ling replied, "It's a bit of a surprise, they're actually at the forefront as scouts." She paused, saying with some annoyance, "What a pity... if I had known this, I wouldn't have bothered arranging any tactics, I would have just let the troops go up and fight head-on, and I could have just found a place to snipe."

"It is a bit strange..." Si Yu pondered, "Bujue isn't the kind of person who likes to charge into battle, could it be... that he's trying to let Little Tan participate in more battles?"

"That's possible," Bei Ling said. "However, the Team Leader is now a monster-level figure ranked second on the combat power list, it's hard to say just how strong he is. So... no matter what the situation is on their side, we absolutely cannot show any mercy."

"That's for sure," Si Yu replied. "Even without the 'Negative Game Judgment' setting, I would give it my all..."

Sha-sha—chi-chi—

"Officer, the enemy has retreated to their controlled area, request instructions." A somewhat fuzzy voice came from the walkie-talkie next to Bei Ling, accompanied by the sound of gunfire on the battlefield in the background.

"Let's retreat first, the night is still long," Bei Ling said, picking up the walkie-talkie and giving the order.

A few seconds later, she heaved a sigh of relief and suddenly raised her voice, "Everyone, I have a mission for you."

A voice immediately replied from the top of a nearby shelf: "Ah? Can we finally go chop some people?"

...

Under the cover of the Nintendo strike force, Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi naturally retreated unharmed.

Because it was a retreat, not a rout, the Classic toys were still relatively calm and did not suffer too much damage.

On the way back to the base camp, the two players were naturally discussing the battle just now.

"The battle settings in this scenario are quite interesting," Feng Bujue commented. "Those 'ammunition' that are fired, whether they are physical or energy-based, don't cause any damage to the surrounding environment. But the toys can cause damage to each other."

"If even the environment could be destroyed, then the floor tiles, walls, cargo containers, and even the merchandise in this shopping mall would probably be riddled with holes by the next day," Little Tan added. "In that case, the fact that the toys are fighting would soon be exposed."

"Actually, I think... this kind of thing should be exposed in a day," Feng Bujue said. "But judging from the words and actions of these toys, the war has been going on for a long time, which is really strange."

"Ah? Why should it be exposed in a day?" Little Tan asked, puzzled.

Feng Bujue pointed upwards. "This kind of supermarket, there's no reason not to have surveillance cameras, right?"

Hearing this, Little Tan looked up again, but as mentioned earlier, because the ceiling was very high, and the regular lighting equipment was not turned on, the players, after being shrunk down, could not see the situation on the ceiling with the toys' sneaky light sources.

"That's true, the scenario introduction says that this is already the twenty-second century, and the cameras at that time would probably have night vision and sound recording functions," Little Tan said.

Feng Bujue added, "Also, although the environment hasn't been destroyed, these toys leave so many building blocks, fragments, and other things on the ground after fighting... over time, there's no reason why the cleaners wouldn't notice, right?" He shrugged. "Not to mention, these toys themselves are commodities, and their own damage or loss will also be exposed sooner or later."

As they were talking, they suddenly heard... ding~

Along with this familiar sound effect, Mario jumped high from the Little Tyrant console, drew a high parabola in the air, and landed smoothly next to the two players.

"Hey, you two, come with me," Mario said, pointing to the west side of the mall.

Feng Bujue looked back at the tank force and replied, "Aren't we going back with the main force?"

"I've communicated with Optimus Prime, he's gone to the First Corps command post in the audio-visual products area, you're going to see him with me now," Mario said. "By the way, are you two injured? Do you need an emergency repair?" As he spoke, the cute uncle reached out and rummaged through the pipe wrench in his overalls pocket...

Seeing this scene, Little Tan quickly interjected, "No, no, we're fine!"

"Oh... then let's go."

Ten minutes later, the three traveled about two hundred meters and arrived at the "First Corps" command post.

Along the way, Feng Bujue clearly noticed the presence of some hidden sentries. It seemed that the concept of "territory" in this war was fully implemented, and being in the controlled area of one side was equivalent to being under the surveillance of that side.

Finally, outside a cordon made of electric wires, two Transformer sentries stopped them.

"Password," Ironhide said in his meticulous tone.

"Scram," Mario said.

"Please, Optimus Prime is waiting for you," Ironhide replied as if nothing had happened.

"Wait... the password is actually 'scram'?" Little Tan only reacted after five seconds.

"Heh... rookie," Cyclonus, another sentry, sneered. "The password is of course as difficult to guess as possible."

Little Tan asked again, "I said... you guys basically know each other, right? What's the point of the password?"

"Does knowing you mean I can let you through?" Cyclonus said. "What if you secretly defected to the enemy? Wouldn't you be able to make up any reason and sneak into the command post to cause sabotage?"

"Oh... that's true..." Little Tan nodded.

"Alright, rookie, don't bother them on duty," Mario said, waving to signal the two players to follow.

After they entered the audio-visual products area, they climbed onto a wooden platform, bypassed several speakers, and next to a large light bulb, they saw the members of the First Corps.

There were twenty or thirty toys of various sizes gathered there, discussing something. When Optimus Prime saw Mario and the others come in, he silently gestured for them to wait aside for a while.

Feng Bujue was also happy to do so. Listening to the conversation of these toys was undoubtedly a good opportunity to obtain information.

The members of the First Corps were mostly Transformers, both Autobots and Decepticons. It was hard to say whether it was a happy or sad thing, but Brother Jue could accurately name each of them... What made him feel relatively out of place was that Megatron and Galvatron (originally a severely injured Megatron, transformed by Unicron, basically a chaotic evil thug) were actually present at the same time. Of course, in some crossover works, these two had also fought together...

"According to the report sent by Mario ten minutes ago, a Lego helicopter has appeared in the enemy's formation," Shockwave, the intelligence analyst, was speaking. "Combined with the Lego aircraft carrier incident in the bathroom area last time... I believe that 'Lego,' which has always remained neutral in the past, has probably also joined the Novel side."

"Hmph... I've long been displeased with those small Danish fragments," Grimlock, the commander of the Autobot Dinobots, who always referred to himself as "me," said.

"But they are indeed a force to be reckoned with," Starscream (a cheap and cute schemer, I personally think his name could be translated as "Star Scream," but the name Red Spider can also be considered a sign of the times, just like Piccolo and Bick, once you get used to it, anything is fine) said. "It may even change the entire landscape of the war."

"Perhaps..." Jazz continued, "we can go and confirm it again..." He paused. "Go to 'Lego House' and confirm it with them in person..."