The man wore the same silver metal mask as before, his purple eyes captivating from beneath the frame.
He reached out to turn off the television, his eyes narrowing into crescent shapes as he threatened with a half-smile, “Little Master, I helped you turn off that trash TV.”
Chu Li: “Mm…”
“My mecha is having problems again. Little Master, help me repair it.”
“I really don’t know how to repair mechas…”
Before Chu Li could finish his sentence, the man neatly and decisively set down two bags of star coins.
“Little Master, help me out.” The man’s voice carried a hint of a laugh as he added, “Don’t worry, this won’t be traced back to you.”
Chu Li’s gaze swept over the money bags; they were bulging.
After a moment of hesitation, he picked up a nearby magnifying loupe and said reservedly, “I have to determine if I’m capable of repairing it first.”
“Fair enough.”
The man grasped the purple necklace at his chest, and a cool purple mecha instantly manifested out of thin air. The chassis showed obvious damage; the right forearm was nearly severed, held on only by a few black wires. The energy ring at the chest seemed to be malfunctioning, emitting a constant, strange buzzing sound.
Chu Li glanced at the arm; replacing broken connection lines with copper wire and welding the iron plating in a vacuum environment with a cold welder wasn’t difficult. The hard part was the energy ring.
The energy ring was encased in a layer of transparent crystal, with purple electricity faintly flickering across its surface. Sparks sizzled from a gap on one side; the ring itself was likely compromised, causing a continuous leak of energy.
Chu Li touched the material of the energy ring and shook his head. “Our little shop doesn’t have this kind of material.”
“Can we swap it for a different material?” the man asked.
Chu Li didn’t dare make promises. “I can swap it, but I don’t understand the operating principles of the energy circuit. I’m afraid removing the ring might damage the circuit, and a new material might not even be able to store the energy.”
“Just treat a dead horse like a living one. Even if you break it, I won’t blame you, Little Master.”
Chu Li looked up at the man, wanting to ask something, but thinking that the less he knew, the safer he’d be, he bit his tongue.
“Alright.”
He found some copper wire and replaced all the broken lines in the mecha’s arm, reconnecting them. Then, using a vacuum pump to create the necessary environment, he used the cold welder to reattach the arm.
The man stood aside watching him work. Suddenly, he asked from behind, “Little Master, are you a mecha soldier?”
Chu Li froze. Following the man’s gaze, he saw a cloth bag sitting nearby. It was a bag issued by the military academy with a mecha pattern printed on it. It was comfortable for daily use, so he had used it to carry his things.
He hadn’t expected this person to recognize its origin.
Before Chu Li could reply, the other man spoke again: “You wouldn’t happen to be that Beta recruited by the Mecha Department this year, would you?”
“…Mm.” Chu Li replied.
The man chuckled. “Then Little Master really does have some skills.”
Chu Li stopped paying attention to him and focused on the task at hand.
The man seemed a bit tired. After watching for a while, he sat down in a chair to rest. One hand dangled toward the floor while his long right leg was curled up. His silhouette was slender and lithe, and the wind gently tugged at the corner of his white clothes. A faint scent of blood floated in the air.
Chu Li paused his movements, glanced at him, and then looked back. He opened the transparent crystal and used small tweezers to touch the energy circuit; instantly, the tweezers turned into a puff of charred smoke and vanished.
He couldn’t help but let out a breath. Poy’s energy circuit could be touched directly, but this one couldn’t. Fortunately, he hadn’t been careless.
He found some heat-resistant tools and slowly disassembled the energy ring. Suddenly, the stored energy became visible to the naked eye, turning into sizzling purple currents that slowly rotated and dissipated along the circuit.
Chu Li spent a long time digging through the trash heap in the backyard until he found two pieces of alloy plastic. These had once been used to store large-scale electrical power; he didn’t know if they would work for mecha energy.
Regardless, he was treating a dead horse like a living one; if he failed, the other man wouldn’t blame him.
By the time Chu Li finished, the sky had already darkened. He had thought it would rain, but after a gloomy day, not a drop had fallen.
Chu Li approached the man and gently shook him awake. Getting closer, he realized fresh blood was trickling down the man’s clothes. “You’re injured!”
The man opened his eyes, seemingly not hearing Chu Li’s words as he looked at his mecha. “Is it fixed?”
“Yes… but the wound on your body…”
“It’s already been bandaged.” The man was brief. His face was pale, likely from blood loss. He stood up, but his vision suddenly went black, and he tumbled into Chu Li’s arms.
Chu Li quickly steadied him. “Do you want to rest for a bit?”
The soft voice entered his ears. The man caught the scent on Chu Li—a light, pleasant soap scent. His nose couldn’t help but brush against the back of Chu Li’s neck.
Chu Li’s face instantly darkened. He released the man and said sternly, “Test the mecha to see if it runs.”
Realizing his behavior had been inappropriate, the man stood straight, a slight smile curling his lips. “Alright.”
He boarded the mecha and turned on the display panel. It showed 30% energy remaining in the ring. After an automatic system check, no problems were found.
“No issues. Thank you, Little Master.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the purple mecha vanished into the distance like a bolt of lightning.
Once he was gone, Chu Li pulled out the star coins and counted them. Just like last time, there were four hundred; he and Old Man Zhong would split them two hundred each.
After leaving the repair shop, he didn’t go home but went straight to the military academy.
Arriving at the school gate, he saw a row of guards on lookout. Two giant red inflatable bunny dolls stood in the darkness, one ear drooping and the other standing tall, swaying in the wind. Inside the campus, the greenery had been trimmed into shapes of rabbits and carrots, and the holographic screen savers had all turned into little bunnies.
Chu Li was confused until he heard the Alphas talking in the dormitory.
Song Xu’s zodiac sign was the Rabbit.
He was back.
He would be taking over the military academy tomorrow, which was why there were welcoming bunnies everywhere.
The Ceremony
The military command oversees the Hunter Corps, the Mecha Department, the Logistics Department, and the Military Academy. Among them, the Mecha Department and the Academy are managed by the Song family.
Admiral Song Lian had long since retreated to the second line due to health issues, with the work being handled by Song Qisheng. Now that Admiral Song Lian’s son, Song Xu, had returned, affairs would be handed over to him.
“Major General Song Xu has been gone for six years. Now that he’s suddenly back, every unmarried Alpha in the Empire is restless, wanting to propose to the Song family.”
“The Major General probably looks down on them. He grew up with Admiral Lu Jin; his standards couldn’t possibly be met by an ordinary Alpha.”
“I heard that this time, Major General Song was assassinated by rebels on his way back. It was Admiral Lu Jin who saved him…”
At the corner of the stairs, Chu Li stood still, listening to the Alphas gossip until a tall figure approached from behind, and a familiar voice sounded in his ear.
“Chu Li?”
Chu Li snapped out of it and turned to see Mo Yizhou. A smile immediately formed on his face. “Ah, Classmate Mo, you’ve arrived at school too.”
“Mm.” Mo Yizhou’s gaze swept over the Alphas ahead. He said calmly, “Let’s go upstairs.”
After dropping his things in the dorm, Chu Li went to the track to run laps. The residual heat of the summer night was stifling; he was drenched in sweat by the time he finished. In the distance between the track and the dorm, people were talking about Song Xu everywhere.
He heard people saying the rebels had targeted Song Xu. Since they failed to destroy his spacecraft last time, they would likely continue the assassination attempts. Consequently, the academy was on high alert, increasing patrol frequency and guarding all major entrances with heavy troops.
He took a shower and checked his communicator. A notification had been sent to the Mecha Department freshman group.
Tomorrow morning’s classes are canceled. All Mecha Department students are to be at the playground at 8:00 sharp for Song Xu’s inauguration ceremony.
This was the largest officer inauguration in the military in the past three years. It was quite solemn, with many high-ranking officials attending, so students were required to be dressed neatly and well-groomed.
Chu Li skimmed the notification, copy-pasted a [Received] in the group, turned off the device, and sat on his bed to focus on his book.
After reading the message, Mo Yizhou instinctively looked up at him. He hadn’t expected Chu Li to be so calm, sitting there with a book open. The yellow cover was turned up, and the bold black title was exceptionally prominent—How to Pilot a Mecha While Ill.
“…” Mo Yizhou.
Was this really the book he should be reading right now?
The Playground
At Nebula, Assistant Tu Feng reported the next day’s schedule to Lu Jin. When Lu Jin heard he had to attend Song Xu’s ceremony, he thought of it as a boring formality and wanted to cancel it to avoid wasting time.
Tu Feng asked tentatively, “This time, Major General Song’s ceremony is being held at the Military Academy’s Mecha Department.”
Lu Jin lifted his gaze from the documents, his eyes freezing for a second. “Mm.”
“Then… are you going?” Tu Feng asked softly, as if not quite understanding the meaning behind that “mm.”
Lu Jin gave him a cold, sidelong glance. Tu Feng immediately nodded in understanding and checked the box on the schedule.
At 8:00, on the playground.
Chu Li and Mo Yizhou were in the second row of mecha soldiers. The first row consisted of the five people recommended by Major General Fu Lin, though there were only four now. Evans had been injured, and the instructor felt his bruised and swollen face was unsuitable for the ceremony, so he was left to recover in the dorm.
On the high platform, the host and guests arrived one after another, but Song Xu had not yet appeared. The Alphas below couldn’t help but whisper.
“Have you ever seen Major General Song?”
“Never in person, but the higher the differentiation level, the more superior the appearance…”
“I have a relative who saw him before he differentiated. I heard his looks were already stun—”
The Alpha’s words were interrupted by a wave of gasps.
Chu Li followed the crowd’s gaze to the right side of the platform. A row of upright guards in white uniforms marched forward. Behind them appeared a tall, commanding figure—Lu Jin.
The moment Lu Jin appeared, the crowd below boiled over.
“Wow, Admiral Lu actually came! He didn’t even attend Yuan Ming’s ceremony!” Yuan Ming was the son of the Star Lord.
“What’s the relationship between Admiral Lu and Major General Song? Of course he had to come…” the Alpha said teasingly, and everyone wore a knowing smile.
“Major General Song is out!”
Behind Lu Jin, an Omega slowly appeared. He wore a white military uniform and cap, his posture noble but not arrogant, free-spirited but not reckless. Although he was an Omega, he seemed only a few centimeters shorter than the 190cm Lu Jin. His skin was fair and glowing, his lips a beautiful ruby red, and his blue eyes sparkled like jewels, making his face radiant and dazzling.
The Alphas looked at Song Xu as if they were seeing the Omega of their dreams. Gasps sounded one after another; some Alphas were so nervous their faces flushed and their hearts skipped beats.
“He’s truly too beautiful…”
“As expected of a 3S-level appearance.”
As the praise continued, Mo Yizhou couldn’t help but glance at Chu Li beside him.
Chu Li was looking straight ahead, his calm expression devoid of any extra emotion.
Mo Yizhou said, “Not all Alphas like his type.”
Song Xu was like the wind dazzling and eye-catching like an elf. Chu Li was like water, quiet and charming like the sea. Each had their own unique charm.
Chu Li seemed not to understand why he suddenly said that, giving Mo Yizhou a slightly odd look.
Mo Yizhou coughed and looked straight ahead.