This model team's members were mostly from the MG series, with a scale of 1:100 to the actual Gundams, so most were around 20 centimeters tall.

Fortunately, these guys weren't flying or using levitation for propulsion, but running on their legs; otherwise, their mobility would be 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 above the ground, one running along the cabinet wall, and the other in the process of falling.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue reacted with lightning speed and shouted, "Turn!" With that, he used [Moonwalk] directly in mid-air, making a ninety-degree turn, and while maintaining his height, he darted sideways.

Although Brother Jue only said one word, Little Tan immediately understood. The two had played countless games together since they were kids, and this level of understanding was a matter of course. Little Tan twisted his body and paused, turning a corner on the wall in a seemingly effortless manner, changing to a horizontal running position.

"Our vanguard is running really fast..." McCloud (from *Star Fox*), riding in a NES tank, sneered at Mario not far away, a hint of disdain flashing in his emerald green 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 belatedly murmured, "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 noobs! Turn around, retreat!"

This was clearly a well-trained and battle-hardened team. Although the situation in front of them still seemed evenly matched, when Mario's voice rang out, everyone resolutely executed the orders for cover and retreat. No one questioned the commander's orders, and no one hesitated or lingered.

...

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

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

"Tch... that plumber's pretty alert..." she said with considerable displeasure.

"Did something give us away?" Si Yu asked casually from nearby.

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

Here's a little explanation: the tactic Bei Ling had set up was a "pocket" strategy. Actually, it was quite simple, with only three steps: one, set up a three-sided ambush; two, lure the enemy in deep; three, close the door and beat the dog (trap the enemy).

But when it came to the actual implementation, the situation became more complicated. To succeed, they had to consider the enemy's psychological factors.

Usually, the common practice at this time was... to feign an attack with a small force, and then deliberately lose after a brief exchange, luring the enemy to pursue.

But Bei Ling knew very well that this kind of trick, even if it could fool Classic's on-site commander, would definitely not fool Feng Bujue (Bei Ling and Si Yu still thought that the boys were treated the same as them in Classic; they never expected those two would be so miserable). Therefore, she used a bolder approach – using nearly half of her forces as bait, dividing the remaining troops to the two flanks, leaving only herself and Si Yu in the rear, along with their personal guard (four powerful hand-made figures).

In other words, the "pocket" Bei Ling had prepared for the Nintendo assault team had one "living" side. It wasn't like a typical ambush, where the ambush forces remained stationary and only sent a small, obviously fake feint attack to lure the enemy.

All of the forces she used as bait were highly mobile units, namely the air force and the Gundam model team. These troops could withdraw from the battle at any time, making it difficult for the enemy forces to bite down on them. As long as they retreated while fighting, there was a high probability that the enemy would be pushed into the trap.

"Then... did you see those two?" Si Yu asked again. She was more concerned about the player-versus-player battle than the side quest (their side quest was similar to the opposing side's, but with different factions).

"Mm, I saw them." Bei Ling replied. "It's a bit of a surprise; they're actually at the front as scouts." She paused, and said with some annoyance, "What a pity... if I'd known, I wouldn't have bothered setting up any tactics. I would've just let the troops go up for a direct attack, and found a place to snipe."

"It is a little strange..." Si Yu mused. "Bujue isn't the kind of person who likes to charge into battle. Could it be... that he's trying to get Little Tan involved in more fights?"

"That's possible." Bei Ling said. "However, the team leader is now a monster-level character ranked second on the combat power rankings; it's hard to say just how strong he really is. So... no matter what the situation is on their side, we can't afford to hold back on our side."

"Of course not." Si Yu replied. "Even without the 'negative game penalty' setting, I would go all out..."

Sha-sha – hiss-hiss –

"Sir, the enemy has retreated to their controlled area, requesting instructions." A somewhat garbled voice came from the walkie-talkie beside Bei Ling, accompanied by the sounds of battle in the background.

"Let's withdraw first too; the night is still young." Bei Ling picked up the walkie-talkie and ordered.

A few seconds later, she sighed 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 and chop some people up?"

...

Under the cover of the Nintendo assault team, Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi naturally retreated unscathed.

Because it was a retreat, not a rout, Classic's toys were still relatively composed, and there were no serious damage situations.

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

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

"If even the environment could be destroyed, then the mall's floor tiles, walls, cabinets, and even the merchandise, would probably all be riddled with holes by the next day," Little Tan added. "If that were the case, the toy war 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 reached up and pointed, "A supermarket of this size has no reason not to have surveillance cameras, right?"

Little Tan heard this and looked up again, but as mentioned earlier, because the ceiling was very high, and the regular lighting equipment wasn't turned on, the shrunken players couldn't see the top with the toys' sneaky light sources.

"That's true; the scenario description said it's already the twenty-second century, and the cameras at that time probably have night vision and sound recording functions," Little Tan said.

Feng Bujue added, "Also, although the environment isn't being destroyed, these toys leave so many building blocks, fragments, and whatnot on the ground after the battles... Over time, there's no reason why the cleaners wouldn't notice." He shrugged. "Not to mention, these toys themselves are merchandise, and their own damage or loss will also be exposed sooner or later."

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

With this familiar sound effect, Mario jumped high from the Xiaobawang console, drew a high parabola in the air, and landed 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 forces and replied, "Aren't we going back with the main force?"

"I've communicated with Optimus Prime; he's gone to the headquarters of the First Legion, 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 some emergency repairs?" As he spoke, the moe uncle reached into the pocket of his overalls for a pipe wrench...

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

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

Ten minutes later, the three of them traveled about two hundred meters and arrived in front of the "First Legion's" headquarters.

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

Finally, outside an isolation zone formed by electrical 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 matter-of-factly.

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

"Heh... noob." Another sentry, Cyclonus, sneered. "Of course, the password is as difficult to guess as possible."

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

"Does knowing you mean I can let you pass?" Cyclonus said. "What if you secretly defected to the enemy? Couldn't you just make up a reason and sneak into the command post to cause sabotage?"

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

"Alright, noob, don't disturb them on duty." Mario said, waving for the two players to follow.

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

There were twenty or thirty toys of various sizes gathered there, discussing something. Optimus Prime saw Mario and the others enter and silently gave them a gesture, signaling them to wait on the side for a while.

Feng Bujue was happy to do so; listening to the toys' conversation was undoubtedly a good opportunity to obtain information.

The members of the First Legion were mostly Transformers, both Autobots and Decepticons. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, Brother Jue could accurately call out the name of each one of them... What made him feel somewhat out of place was that Megatron and Galvatron (formerly the heavily injured Megatron, transformed by Unicron, basically a chaotic evil thug) were actually present at the same time. Of course, in some crossover works, the two had also fought together...

"According to the report sent by Mario ten minutes ago, a Lego helicopter has appeared in the opposing team's ranks." Shockwave, the intelligence analyst, was speaking. "Combined with the Lego aircraft carrier incident in the sanitary ware area last time... I believe that 'Lego,' which has always remained neutral, is probably also joining Novel's side."

"Hmph... I've long disliked those little Danish fragments." Grimlock (commander of the Autobot Dinobots, always referring 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 translated as "Star Scream" is also good, but the name Red Spider is also a sign of the times, just like Piccolo and Bikk, whatever sounds good after you get used to it) said, "They 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..."