Unable to sleep, Chu Li pushed his wheelchair outside. Seeing a sliver of orange light in the neighboring house, he realized Uncle Su Nuo wasn’t asleep yet either.
He tapped gently on the window. “Uncle Su Nuo, I passed the test. I’m officially a reserve mecha pilot now.”
He recounted his recent training and the details of the exam to Uncle Su Nuo. Su Nuo was a florist who rarely left the house; even when he did, it was usually to collect silt for his plants. He had almost no social life. Chu Li often sought him out for a chat, not wanting the man to grow lonely.
After he finished speaking, the only response from inside the room was a tired “Mhm” accompanied by a heavy yawn. Chu Li smiled. “Get some sleep, Uncle Su Nuo.”
During his recovery in the Lower District, Ellie came by to deliver medicine and informed him that Lu Jin had returned to the Northern District battlefield.
Chu Li didn’t say much. Once he felt mostly recovered, he returned to work at Old Man Zhong’s repair shop.
He and Old Man Zhong had been living in a state of constant anxiety, fearing that the guards would discover their contact with the purple mecha. Fortunately, no one ever came looking for them; that mysterious person seemed to have wiped away every trace.
Perhaps due to the difficult times, fewer people came in to have their appliances repaired. During quiet moments, Old Man Zhong would wear his glasses and flip through the account books page by page. Even though there were barely any entries, he pored over them as if they contained a mountain of gold.
A commotion broke out at the entrance. Chu Li poked his head out and saw soldiers from the Upper District conducting a search. They were rounding up Omegas, not saying why, only demanding they remove their shirts.
Chu Li pulled his head back in, muttering to himself, “Why are they checking those Omegas’ arms?”
Old Man Zhong looked up from his accounts and adjusted his glasses. The light reflecting off the lenses obscured his pupils.
Having found no clues, the soldiers expanded their search area a few days later. This time, they weren’t just checking Omegas; Alphas and Betas were searched as well.
Chu Li, who was in the middle of repairing a mechanical clock, was roughly hauled up by a soldier. Without a word, the soldier yanked off his jacket and inspected his arms. Disappointed, he shoved Chu Li aside and moved toward Old Man Zhong.
Old Man Zhong quickly unbuttoned his shirt, speaking in a conciliatory tone, “Officers, please don’t push. I’m old and my bones are brittle. I’ll cooperate with whatever you need to check.”
The guard glanced at Old Man Zhong’s dry, wrinkled skin. He turned away in disgust without a thorough look. The group left irritably, widening their search perimeter but finding nothing. They couldn’t help but spit out curses.
“We searched Alphas and Betas and still nothing. Could it be he’s not even from the Lower District?”
“Who knows? Anyway, we just do what the higher-ups tell us.”
Once they were far away, Old Man Zhong buttoned his shirt back up and frowned. “I don’t know what on earth they’re looking for day and night.”
Chu Li shook his head, equally clueless.
At noon, Old Man Zhong cooked noodles as usual. He had somehow acquired some luncheon meat, which he placed entirely in Chu Li’s bowl. When Chu Li tried to refuse, Old Man Zhong insisted.
“Just eat it. With that scrawny frame of yours, won’t you drop dead at the mecha department?”
Chu Li stopped protesting. “I checked,” he mumbled while eating the meat. “Pure physical training at the mecha department doesn’t exceed three hours a day. I won’t drop dead.”
Old Man Zhong gave him a look. “I’m not talking about physical training; I’m talking about fighting. You’re a Beta mixed in with a bunch of Alphas. You think they won’t bully you?”
“…” Chu Li.
“Listen, if you really get bullied and no one stands up for you, come find me. I’ll help you. Just don’t go doing anything foolish.”
“I’m not that fragile.”
Old Man Zhong pulled a cigarette from his pocket and sat on a stool to smoke. Amid the pungent, low-quality smoke, his voice was muffled. “Some youngsters… their hearts are just that fragile.”
After finishing his noodles, Chu Li went back inside for a second bowl. Old Man Zhong snorted with laughter. “Looks skinny, but has a hell of an appetite.”
Chu Li poked his head out from the kitchen. “It’s because your noodles are delicious, Uncle Zhong. That’s why I’m having more.”
“Hmph. My son also says my noodles are the best.” Whenever noodles were mentioned, Old Man Zhong always brought up his son; he clearly cared for him deeply.
As soon as darkness fell that evening, Chu Li jokingly told Old Man Zhong to hurry home and stay with his precious son, saying he would watch the shop alone. After another hour, with no customers in sight, he went home as well.
The first thing he did upon returning was cross out the 31st on his calendar. Tomorrow was the 1st—a brand new month, and the opening day of the mecha department.
Time really did fly. A month had passed in the blink of an eye.
During this time, he and Lu Jin had not been in contact. Their chat history still ended with his message about treating Lu Jin to a meal. The only time he heard Lu Jin’s name was on the television, where a clear-voiced Omega anchor reported that Lu Jin had led his army to conquer yet another planet.
To reward Lu Jin’s merit, the Marshal had gifted the planet to him. Lu Jin had named the planet: B1106.
The public had taken to deciphering the meaning of the name B1106. Some said 1106 was the name of the Empire’s latest laser cannon; others claimed it was a memorial to the Lu family Alphas who were wiped out in the Battle of Shangyuan twenty years ago. Still others claimed that 11 and 06 were the birthdays of Lu Jin and his sweetheart, Song Xu, and that the name was a tribute to him.
Opinions varied, and no one could agree.
Standing at the entrance of the mecha department for enrollment, Chu Li looked at the student ID card he had just received—number 1106—and fell into a stunned silence. “…”
Surely, that’s just a coincidence.
He gripped the card and forgot to move until the Alpha in line behind him impatiently nudged him. He moved forward to collect his bedding and equipment packs.
His dormitory was assigned to Room 406 in Building D. Carrying two large bags and his own belongings on his back, he huffed and puffed his way up to the fourth floor. He stood in front of the dorm door, catching his breath.
Suddenly, the door opened from the inside. A tall Alpha wearing a black ribbed tank top walked out. His biceps were beautifully defined, and his waist and abdominal lines were lean yet powerful. He was slightly taller than Chu Li, with strands of hair falling over his forehead and a quiet, steady gaze.
He seemed to have heard the heavy breathing outside and opened the door to investigate.
“Are you my roommate?” Chu Li asked.
“Mhm.” The other man scanned Chu Li’s many bags before stepping aside to let him in. “Mo Yizhou.”
Chu Li walked into the room, and after a moment, he realized that “Mo Yizhou” was the man’s name.
Wait… the name sounded familiar. He remembered that Mo Yizhou was one of the two candidates who had scored a perfect 100 on the mecha test.
He turned to look at Mo Yizhou. The man’s bed was already neatly made; he was currently holding a transparent glass and gulping down water.
“My name is Chu Li.” Chu Li withdrew his gaze, not noticing that as Mo Yizhou turned away, his eyes were full of scrutiny.
A Beta.
A Beta who scored 96.
No—to be precise, a Beta who could have scored a 100.
The two-person dormitory wasn’t large, but it was fully equipped. The hot water and power systems were even better than Chu Li’s home in the Lower District. A small service robot was also provided for them.
After making his bed and organizing his wardrobe, he hung a sachet that emitted a faint, exotic fragrance by his desk. When he had left that morning, he had placed porridge on Uncle Su Nuo’s windowsill as usual. He had found the previous day’s bowl washed clean, with this small black sachet placed inside.
That night, after showering, he pulled his student card from the pocket of his dirty clothes. The string of numbers caught his eye once again.
B1106.
11 was his enrollment rank.
06 was his dormitory number.
The numbers were white, etched into the black metal, with the font itself engraved in the shape of textured purple iris vines. After looking at it for a moment, he tucked the card under his pillow.
No classes were scheduled for the first day of registration. Freshmen usually spent the day wandering the campus, but Chu Li was tired and planned to rest early. Mo Yizhou seemed to have the same idea; he sat on his bed early on, flipping through a book.
Chu Li pulled his bed curtains shut. The unfamiliar environment made it difficult to adjust, and he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
A moment later, across the room, Mo Yizhou stopped flipping pages, closed his book, and turned off the light.
When Chu Li couldn’t sleep, he focused on empathy training, continuously constructing the interior of a mecha in his mind—the cockpit, the display screens, the joysticks, the control panels…
Once the construction was complete, he attempted to pilot the virtual mecha step by step, lifting hands and legs. Lost in this world of imagination, he eventually drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, the dormitory alarm suddenly blared. The sharp, piercing sound was like steel wire scraping against an iron pot, making one’s bones go numb and shiver.
Chu Li pulled back his bed curtains to see Mo Yizhou already finished getting ready. He was wearing the white military uniform and rolling up his sleeves. Chu Li quickly picked up his pace, rushed into the washroom for a quick wash, and tidied himself up. Finding that Mo Yizhou hadn’t left yet, the two walked toward the training field together.
Mecha pilots were required to run ten laps around the field every morning at six o’clock. Although no coach was there to supervise, their student IDs contained electronic recording chips that strictly tracked their training data.
Aside from Chu Li, all the recruits for both mecha engineers and pilots were Alphas. Each was strong and robust; running ten laps was no problem for them. But Chu Li was thin and weak-looking—and a Beta at that. When he appeared on the field, he drew many curious glances from the Alphas.
A few loose-lipped Alphas made bets on how many laps Chu Li could handle as they ran.
“I say that Beta lasts six laps at most.”
“Six? Four, and that’s being generous!”
Hearing their conversation as he passed, Chu Li couldn’t resist flipping them a middle finger. The Alphas’ faces instantly darkened. Just as they clenched their fists to find trouble, they saw him raise another middle finger, crossing them together to form a “ten.”
“…” The Alphas.
Chu Li’s running speed was fast and his rhythm was steady, completely defying the Alphas’ expectations. Many Alphas had to rest after three or four laps, but Chu Li finished the full ten in one go.
The Alphas who had mocked him earlier had been lapped several times by him.
Just when they thought Chu Li was going to leave the field, he continued for five extra laps. Under his simple white sportswear, every vein and muscle seemed to pulse with inexhaustible strength. As he passed those men again, he calmly held up five fingers, signaling a “five.”
“…” The breathless Alphas.
Mo Yizhou was also running extra laps, his speed similar to Chu Li’s. The two finished almost at the same time and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.
“Your physical condition is quite good,” Mo Yizhou complimented.
His explosive physical power was at least above that of an A-grade Alpha.
“I’ve worked in the mines in the Lower District,” Chu Li replied. “Does that count as regular exercise?”
“…” Mo Yizhou.
After breakfast came the actual physical skills training session. Morning runs were child’s play compared to this.
The instructor for the first physical training class was the Alpha known as the “Devil Coach,” Zhou Yueming. He wasn’t just in charge of their physical training; he was also their class instructor.
The forty Alpha freshmen were gathered on the grass, forming a circle around a round mud pit. The pit was over ten meters in diameter, filled with murky mud water of unknown depth.
Standing directly opposite Chu Li was the smug Evans. Evans narrowed his eyes, curling one side of his mouth into a sneer, and raised his arm in a provocative gesture. Chu Li looked away, ignoring him.
After finishing his self-introduction, Zhou Yueming scanned the crowd. “Do you know what the format for today’s physical training is?”
“No, sir!”
“It’s better that you don’t. Since today is the first class, the main goal is for you to ‘bond.’ Therefore, we are using an open-challenge format for physical training. You may freely choose one opponent for a wrestling match until all forty of you have taken turns. The winner gets one point; the loser gets zero.”
“Wait, if we can freely choose opponents.” Evans interjected, his gaze shifting past Zhou Yueming to land on Chu Li. “Does that mean one person can be chosen multiple times?”
“Correct.”
“In that case, everyone could just pick the Beta as their opponent. It’s an easy way to get that point.” Evans pointed at Chu Li across from him, a malicious grin spreading across his face.
So what if Chu Li was lucky enough to get into the mecha department? He could easily play Chu Li to death here.
Instantly, everyone’s eyes turned toward Chu Li—the lone Beta standing in a line of Alphas.
The Beta was wearing the white military uniform, which seemed slightly too large. As the wind blew, the fabric clung to his body, revealing a slender skeletal frame. His features were delicate and handsome, and his skin was pale; he looked as if he would break under the slightest pressure.
Evans’ idea was despicable and vicious, but it was also a sound strategy.
After all, except for Chu Li, everyone present was an elite Alpha selected from various regions. No one knew anyone else’s true strength; challenging an Alpha was far riskier than challenging a Beta.
What determined their future wasn’t just getting into the military academy, but their performance during the training period. After three months, the top ten mecha pilots would have priority in choosing mechas and receiving promotions. Thus, every seemingly small training session was incredibly important, it could decide their entire future.
The Alpha ranked first, Dong Yi, pointed at Chu Li. “Coach, since those are the rules, we should be allowed to use them. I challenge him!”
Some Alphas hesitated, but others were already eager to move.
“Coach, I want to challenge him too!”
“I’ll challenge him as well then!”