Chapter Sixty: Repairing the Mecha

Sun Xuelin pulled Axiu with her as she pushed open the door. Axiu, still shy and endearing, hid behind Sun Xuelin. Sun Xuelin was in a rather unkempt state: her short brown hair was damp with sweat, strands clinging to her forehead, her face flushed from exertion, her delicate nose breathing heavily, the collar button of her uniform undone, and her sleeves rolled up exaggeratedly to reveal two slender, fair arms. Her left hand held Axiu, while her right was grimy.

As soon as she entered, Sun Xuelin shouted, "Grandpa Qian, we want two bowls of beef noodles!" She dragged Axiu over to the hand cleaner, placed their hands under it, and with a soft beep, a warm stream of air rushed past. The dirt on their hands slid down into the automatically opened receptacle below.

Grandpa Qian, seeing them come in, put down his chopsticks and asked, "Xuelin, what happened to you two? Why are you so disheveled?"

Ye Chong was already in the kitchen, preparing the noodles. Sun Xuelin pulled Axiu over and plopped herself down next to Grandpa Qian, grinning broadly. "Ah, today’s just unlucky. I was taking Axiu home, and the mech broke down halfway! Worst of all, I think I messed up the spatial button too! Tried fixing it for ages, but no luck, so we decided to eat first."

Grandpa Qian poured them water and asked, "Is your mech outside?"

Sun Xuelin took a big gulp. "Yeah, who’d have thought something would go wrong so close to home? It’s so frustrating! And my parents aren’t even around!" She exhaled deeply, clearly enjoying herself.

Grandpa Qian chuckled, "You’re just as carefree as your dad. Why aren’t you more like your mom? Slow down, don’t choke. Nobody’s fighting you for the water. Look at Axiu, how quiet she is!"

Axiu, sipping water delicately, blushed at Grandpa Qian’s words and nearly choked. She hurriedly set down her cup, mumbling, "No, actually, Xuelin is really nice too!" Her hands nervously twisted together.

Grandpa Qian laughed, "Such a shy little girl!" Axiu’s face turned even redder. Sun Xuelin laughed, "She’s always been like this since she was little, haha!"

Soon, Ye Chong came out carrying two bowls of noodles, set them before the girls, and without so much as a glance at them, buried himself in his own bowl.

He’d consumed an astonishing amount of energy today, and his stomach was ravenous. Ye Chong devoured his noodles at an incredible speed.

Sun Xuelin and Axiu stared, stunned. Was this person even human? How many bowls had he eaten now? Seventh? Eighth? Could anyone really be this hungry? Not only did Ye Chong eat a lot, he ate quickly—his noodles vanishing as if sucked up by a desert, and in no time, the bowl was empty. The two girls exchanged bewildered looks, utterly dumbfounded.

Grandpa Qian, on the other hand, seemed unfazed, smiling as he watched Ye Chong eat while eating his own noodles. The boy must really be tired today; this was his eleventh bowl, three more than usual. He’d have to remind Ye Chong to rest.

Suddenly, Grandpa Qian remembered Ye Chong had a broken mech and asked, "Yezi, do you know how to repair mechs?" Grandpa Qian was no expert in mechs; he didn’t understand the difference between pilots and mechanics, and was just asking out of curiosity.

Sun Xuelin was taken aback.

Ye Chong didn’t look up, continuing to wolf down his noodles. "A little."

A hint of disdain flickered in Sun Xuelin’s eyes. Was that possible? Even mechanical engineering students wouldn’t claim to know how to repair mechs! Anyone able to repair a mech before twenty-five was a genius, and this glutton hardly looked the part.

Grandpa Qian was delighted. "Then Yezi, why don’t you help them out? I watched Xuelin grow up—if you can, please help her."

Ye Chong still didn’t lift his head, just replied with a quiet "okay," and kept eating.

Finally, he finished—fifteen bowls in total, nearly double his usual seven or eight. He must have been truly exhausted today.

He walked straight out of the shop. Sun Xuelin hurriedly dragged Axiu along, leaving their bowls behind to follow him. Sun Xuelin simply wanted to see this braggart make a fool of himself. Hmph, let's see you eat your words!

Ye Chong circled the Shadow Phoenix-2. He’d seen this model before, though it was at the consciousness training base. If it hadn’t been his first opponent, he might not have remembered. His only advanced technique, chaotic waveform jumping, was learned then, though Mu hadn’t taught him any other so-called advanced techniques yet. Ye Chong’s mind wandered.

After a while, he snapped back and began examining the mech closely.

Ye Chong was intimately familiar with mech structures—he’d dismantled Winnie countless times. Although Winnie was an old model, their fundamental structures weren’t as different as he’d imagined. As for the Shadow Phoenix-2’s specs, Ye Chong had spent enough time in the Gutisdar district to know them by heart, not to mention the old masters at Aurora who had taught him everything.

Sun Xuelin watched Ye Chong staring dazedly at the mech and couldn’t help but snicker. She detested people who talked big without substance, and seeing him embarrass himself would be a treat.

Axiu looked puzzled at the Yezi Grandpa Qian mentioned. What was he doing just standing there? Could he really not repair it? If so, he shouldn’t have come! Now Xuelin would mock him for sure. Axiu worried about Yezi—she knew that whenever it came to anything related to pilots, Xuelin, usually easygoing, would become obsessively determined.

When Ye Chong deftly opened the engine armor and began inspecting it seriously, Sun Xuelin was already a bit surprised.

Ye Chong checked the engine carefully. In Gutisdar, he’d read many articles noting that while the Shadow Phoenix-2 was fast, its engine protection was notoriously fragile.

So the first thing Ye Chong opened was the engine cover.

Seeing Ye Chong climb onto the Shadow Phoenix-2 without any tools, the two girls were stunned! Sun Xuelin’s mouth hung open, disbelief written in her eyes. Axiu covered her mouth tightly, afraid her gasp might startle Ye Chong and make him fall.

As expected, the problem was in the engine—a tiny piece of debris was lodged in a crucial optical path node, preventing normal operation. Ye Chong cleared it, entered the cockpit, ran a series of tests, and confirmed the mech was fully repaired. Then he jumped out of the cockpit.

The Shadow Phoenix-2 stood ten meters tall, its cockpit at least seven or eight meters above the ground. Seeing Ye Chong leap out without using the lift rope, Axiu couldn’t help but cry out in alarm, covering her mouth in fright; Sun Xuelin was equally stupefied as Ye Chong landed.

Ye Chong landed perfectly, his legs bending to absorb the impact, making him resemble a compressed spring—tense and contained.

He rose, said coolly, "It’s done," and turned back into the shop, not sparing them a glance. He had plenty to do.

Sun Xuelin stood there, stunned, unable to process the shock. Axiu looked at her, surprised, and gently shook her arm. "Xuelin, what’s wrong? Aren’t you going to check if it’s fixed?"

Sun Xuelin came to herself as if waking from a dream, hurried up the lift rope into the cockpit, and activated the onboard computer for a self-check. Half a minute later, she poked her head out, thrilled, "Axiu, it really is fixed! Hurry up, let's go home!"

Axiu hesitated, but climbed up into the mech. As she did, she complained, "Xuelin, we haven’t thanked him yet!"

Sun Xuelin kept her head down, operating the controls. "Hmph, that guy always looks like he’s half dead, as if someone owes him money. I’m not going; if you want to thank him, go by yourself!"

Axiu bit her lip. "That’s not right, though—he did help us. We should… we really should thank him..."

Sun Xuelin dismissed it, "We’ll thank him next time we come to Grandpa Qian’s. Still, I didn’t expect he could really fix the mech!" She stroked her smooth chin, deep in thought.

Axiu sighed, "Looks like that’s all we can do!"

"Alright, we’re heading home…"

"Wait, Xuelin, we forgot to pay for the noodles! What should we do?"

"Haha! It’s fine, Axiu. We’ll bring it next time. Grandpa Qian won’t mind!"

...

Ye Chong returned to his room, summoned Mu, climbed into the cockpit, and put on his combat helmet. "Mu, pull up the footage of that white mech from today. I want to take another look."

"Alright!" Mu replied.

The image of the white mech appeared clearly before Ye Chong. He studied it carefully—analyzing one’s enemy could never hurt, even if he didn’t know why they were enemies.

Mu teased, "Yezi, you really were a disgrace today—what an embarrassment… I… zz… zz..."

Suddenly, Mu’s voice stretched and distorted as if interference struck. The image shook violently; then came a blizzard of electronic static and harsh buzzing. Mu’s voice vanished completely. Ye Chong’s vision went pitch black.

Startled, Ye Chong tore off his combat helmet and called out urgently, "Mu, Mu… what’s going on?... Mu… answer me…"

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