Perhaps exhausted from the previous night’s mecha training, Chu Li slept very deeply. By the time he woke up, it was already past eight in the morning. He subconsciously walked to the window and looked toward the rooftop.
There was no starship.
Lu Jin had not returned all night.
What exactly happened to the Planet Master?
He couldn’t help but open the Star Net to search again. This time, the media provided a detailed report on the assassination attempt. The Planet Master had been stabbed twice in the abdomen; he was in critical condition due to massive blood loss and was currently undergoing emergency treatment at the Imperial Military Hospital.
The media also posted a photo of the Planet Master lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a ventilator and covered in blood. The top comments were filled with prayers.
【I hope the Planet Master pulls through soon. May all his injuries and illnesses be transferred to those damn rebels.】
【The Planet Master is a good man with heaven’s protection; he will definitely be fine! The more the rebels act like this, the more it proves the Planet Master is doing the right thing!】
【People from the Lower District are stupid and lazy. They don’t work hard themselves and only think about assassinating the leader, thinking they can change their fate that way. I think we should just drive our mechas and kill them all—send them to their next life sooner; that’s a faster way to change their destiny.】
From that comment downward, the content devolved into chaos. Citizens of the Upper and Lower Districts fell into a bitter war of words, making the atmosphere toxic.
As Chu Li was browsing the comments, he received a text from Old Man Zhong.
【Chu Li, are you still coming to work?】
Only then did Chu Li remember he was supposed to work at Old Man Zhong’s place today. Lately, his mind had been so consumed by mechas that he had completely forgotten.
He sent a message to Lu Jin, telling him he was headed to the Lower District to work and would continue learning “Resonance” once Lu Jin returned. However, a long time passed without a reply.
He had no choice but to send another message.
【Admiral, please let me know when you are back.】
This message also vanished like a stone dropped into the ocean.
The maglev rail car only went as far as the boundary between the Upper and Lower Districts. After getting off, Chu Li jogged all the way to Tianming Repair Shop. By the time he arrived, it was already 11:00 AM.
Old Man Zhong was wearing long trousers and a traditional tunic, paired with flip-flops. He was sitting in front of the shop, slurping noodles from a bowl.
Seeing Chu Li appear, Old Man Zhong lifted his eyes from the bowl, glanced at him once, and then immediately looked back down to focus on his noodles.
Chu Li quickly explained, “Sorry, Uncle Zhong. I didn’t mean to be late. I’ll work overtime tonight to make up for it!”
Old Man Zhong counted Chu Li’s attendance for the month on his fingers. As he calculated, he said, “You skipped one day and took leave twice this month. That’s not something overtime can fix. I have to dock your pay—but with the pittance you earn, if I dock it, you’ll end up owing me money.”
“…” Chu Li paused. “Then how about you give me a raise first?”
“Keep dreaming.” Old Man Zhong licked the soup from his lips, set the bowl aside, and barked with a frown, “Get to work! Don’t even think about slacking off!”
“Right, right.” Chu Li put down his backpack, walked to the side, and picked up a mechanical clock brought in by a customer.
He took the clock apart and found that the movement gears were misaligned, causing a lack of power and preventing it from running. He skillfully adjusted the gears, oiled them, and tightened the mainspring. After a quick session with screwdrivers and pliers, he had the clock fixed in just a few minutes.
Seeing this, Old Man Zhong curled his lip and muttered, “With this skill, I suppose I can keep you around for a few more days.” Perhaps feeling that his earlier words were too harsh, Old Man Zhong nudged him aside and told him to go eat lunch first.
Although the shabby workshop wasn’t large, it provided three meals a day.
Chu Li sat nearby with his noodles, watching Old Man Zhong repair a surveillance monitor. Old Man Zhong was highly skilled; many people from the Upper District would specifically come to the Lower District to have him fix things. Now, his repair business had even expanded to include surveillance equipment.
“You’re about to become a mecha soldier. Will you start looking down on this place?” Old Man Zhong suddenly asked.
Chu Li realized why Old Man Zhong had been so irritable earlier. “No, Uncle Zhong. I checked—junior mecha soldiers don’t require full military-style management. We get weekends off. I can come work for you during those two days.”
Old Man Zhong didn’t look at him. “Only two days? That won’t help me much.”
Chu Li mumbled, “The shop only gets customers on weekends anyway.”
“…” Old Man Zhong turned around and gave Chu Li a sharp flick to the forehead. “Stop cursing my business! Next year, I’m going to open a branch!”
“Where at?”
“The Upper District.”
“Cough, cough…” Chu Li suddenly started coughing, which annoyed Old Man Zhong enough to give him another flick.
The Unwelcome Guest
As they spoke, the light in front of them suddenly dimmed. They looked up to see a small mecha appearing. The mecha was painted in a crisscross pattern of blue and black; layered iron plates on the chest protected the ammunition magazine, and two fan-shaped silver blades were mounted on its back. Its legs were long and slender, giving the entire mecha a top-heavy appearance.
Evans hopped down from the blue mecha, hands resting on his leather belt, looking like a petty man who had just come into money. “Chu Li, you’re still sitting here eating noodles at a time like this? Why aren’t you out finding a mecha to practice with?”
Chu Li gave him a sidelong glance, his eyes filled with the kind of disdain one might have for a rat. This look made Evans very uncomfortable.
When Evans had driven this mecha through the Lower District earlier, he had been met with looks of admiration and envy all along the way. This had deeply satisfied his vanity. Yet, Chu Li seemed completely unfazed.
“Chu Li, do you know who gave me this mecha? It was Brigadier General Fu Lin! He told me to train hard and not to embarrass him in the Mecha Department.” Evans patted the mecha beside him. He provocatively grabbed a small stool, sat opposite Chu Li, and patted his shoulder. “Don’t give up yet. If you beg me, maybe I’ll be in a good mood and let you use my mecha for training.”
Chu Li used to think Evans was just someone who liked to take small advantages, but now he realized this person was rotten to the core—rotten beyond saving.
He pushed the hand off his shoulder and brushed away non-existent dust. As Evans’ expression soured, Chu Li said, “Evans, I’m not in the mood for your nonsense. I’ll see you at the Mecha Department.”
Evans wanted to mock him further, but meeting Chu Li’s indifferent gaze, he suddenly felt a bit unsure. He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but he felt that Chu Li had changed significantly over the past year. No matter how many harsh words Evans threw, it felt like punching cotton.
This made him extremely frustrated, so he barked at Old Man Zhong nearby, “You! Adjust the rotation axis for me.”
Old Man Zhong quickly said, “I only repair home appliances. I can’t fix a mecha.”
“If you can’t fix it, I’ll smash your shop sign!” Evans shouted, being completely unreasonable.
Just as Chu Li was about to offer to try, Evans yelled at him too, “You stay away from my mecha! Who knows what kind of malicious intentions you have?”
“…” Chu Li thought to himself: Didn’t you just say if I begged you, you’d let me practice with it?
Evans’ mecha looked imposing on the outside, but the rotation axes of the joints showed obvious signs of old age and wear; it creaked and groaned when it moved.
Old Man Zhong took out a set of tools, disassembled the mecha’s outer shell, and oiled the rotation axis.
Chu Li went inside to get another bowl of noodles and sat on a small stool to watch. Old Man Zhong glanced at the noodles and said with feigned heartbreak, “Not much work done today, but you’ve certainly put away two bowls of food.”
“…” Chu Li muttered vaguely, “That’s because your noodles are too delicious, Uncle Zhong.”
Old Man Zhong pursed his lips. “My son also said my noodles were delicious.”
Standing to the side, Evans felt slighted at being completely ignored by the two of them. His face darkened. “Hurry up. Does even applying oil have to take this long?”
Old Man Zhong replied, “The rotation axis in the right knee has a crack. It needs to be replaced.”
“Then replace it. Give me the best one.”
The repair shop didn’t have a matching rotation axis. Old Man Zhong started up a machine, took out the hardest material he had, and fashioned a replica to install into the mecha’s right knee.
Chu Li looked at the rotation axis and his expression froze for a split second. He and Old Man Zhong shared a subtle, unspoken glance.
Once the repair was finished, Evans entered the cockpit and operated the mecha back and forth to test it. Everything seemed fine. The loud humming drew the attention of everyone nearby. His vanity thoroughly satisfied, he opened the glass canopy and tossed Star Coins out from inside.
Old Man Zhong bent down to pick up the coins, but before he could speak, he was blasted in the face by black smoke from the mecha’s exhaust.
Evans gave Chu Li a haughty look and drove the mecha away.
Old Man Zhong spat and wiped the black soot from his face, unable to help himself from asking Chu Li, “That kid is so arrogant, how can you stand it?”
Chu Li replied, “He’s a favorite of Brigadier General Fu; even if I can’t stand it, I have to endure.”
Old Man Zhong clearly didn’t believe him. “Why don’t you ask your man for help?!”
Hearing the words “your man,” Chu Li’s face flushed slightly.
Few people knew he was Lu Jin’s fiancé because only a silhouette of his back had been leaked. Even a little airhead like Ruan Ruan hadn’t recognized him from that photo, but “shrewd” people like Old Man Zhong and Uncle Su Nuo had figured it out instantly.
Old Man Zhong continued, “Your man is an Admiral. Dealing with a small fry like that would only take a single word from him.”
Chu Li said, “That would be letting him off too easily…”
The reason Evans had been able to successfully sell Chu Li from the Lower District to the space pirates back then was that he was an inside agent planted by the pirates. Who knew how many other agents like him were out there, carrying the blood debts of countless Omegas from the Lower District?
A year ago, when the pirate ship was destroyed, the human trafficking scandal caused a sensation. To avoid the heat, the pirate group had gone into hiding for nearly a year. Lu Jin had told him that once they surfaced again, they could be caught red-handed and the entire organization could be uprooted and destroyed.
That was the real reason he was tolerating Evans. He was waiting for Evans and the pirates behind him to reveal themselves.
Thinking of this, he remembered he still hadn’t received a reply from Lu Jin. No matter how busy he was, he should have had time to check his messages.
Seeing Chu Li’s sudden low mood, Old Man Zhong wanted to ask something but decided to keep his mouth shut.
There was no work in the shop in the afternoon. Old Man Zhong sat watching TV while Chu Li drew on paper with a pen. He seemed dissatisfied with his work, as the area around him was littered with discarded drafts.
Old Man Zhong couldn’t help but peek. “In the old days, people ‘built cars behind closed doors.’ You’re ‘building mechas behind closed doors’!”
“…” Chu Li covered the paper so Old Man Zhong couldn’t see. Old Man Zhong huffed and turned back to the TV.
As dusk fell, Old Man Zhong went into the kitchen to reheat some noodles. Once they were hot, he walked out carrying the iron pot, failing to notice the spilled machine oil on the floor from the earlier repair.
He stepped on the oil, his foot slipped, and his body lurched backward. The pot of hot noodles splashed right onto his face, with soup sliding down his chin to his neck and chest.
He lay on the floor groaning, unsure if he was burned or if he had thrown out his back. Chu Li rushed to help him up. Seeing the old man covered in noodles, he couldn’t help but laugh.
Old Man Zhong snapped, “You little brat, no conscience at all!”
Chu Li suppressed his grin and quickly cleared the noodles off him. He helped him take off his tunic and saw that his neck and chest were scalded red. His eyes caught a glimpse of Old Man Zhong’s right arm, where he saw a long, centipede-like scar.
Before he could look closer, Old Man Zhong stood up grumpily and went into the side room to change. “No dinner today. We’re both going hungry.”
Chu Li cleaned up the noodles from the floor and found two sweet potatoes in a corner of the kitchen. He washed them and put them in the furnace to steam.
A while later, Old Man Zhong came out in a fresh tunic, still grumbling.
Chu Li sat on the small stool watching the TV. The screen was broadcasting news about the Planet Master’s treatment. It said his condition had worsened in the afternoon and his life was hanging by a thread; the Empire’s best military doctors had all been dispatched.
Old Man Zhong took a long swig of water from a nearby bottle. “Is your man keeping watch at the hospital right now, then?”
“Probably not,” Chu Li replied. “I caught a glimpse of a message someone sent him last night. It told him to go to the Yuan Palace.”
Old Man Zhong frowned. “The Planet Master is at the Military Hospital, isn’t he? Why would they have him go to the Yuan Palace?”
“I’m not sure,” Chu Li muttered. Detecting the sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes wafting from the kitchen, his stomach gave a loud growl. He couldn’t resist going in to check on them.
He lifted the pot lid, and a cloud of damp steam rushed out, momentarily obscuring his vision. Squinting, he poked a sweet potato with a chopstick; it was soft all the way through—ready to eat.
“Chu Li, watch the shop for me. I have something to take care of, so I’m heading out.”
“Wait—” Chu Li stepped out of the kitchen, but before he could say another word, Old Man Zhong was gone. The lean old man moved with surprising speed, his thin silhouette vanishing around the dark street corner in the blink of an eye.
Chu Li shook his head. “Fine, I guess I’ll eat both sweet potatoes myself.”
The potatoes were piping hot. He blew on them while peeling, testing the temperature with his fingertips until they were cool enough to handle. The soft, sweet flesh melted in his mouth, and a small smile crept onto his face.
Sometimes happiness was so simple: just one person devouring two big roasted sweet potatoes. It certainly beat being like Evans—obsessed with climbing the social ladder to the point of insanity.
“Is anyone here?”
A strange voice suddenly drifted in from the doorway.
Chu Li looked up from his meal and saw a man wearing a silver metal mask entering, bringing the cold night wind with him. The man wore a simple yet elegant white uniform with rhombic patterns embroidered on the cuffs. His black military boots were polished to a mirror shine. He was tall and slender, and since he carried no scent, his gender was impossible to discern.
However, looking at his clean, smooth neck, he was clearly a high-born noble from the Upper District.
Chu Li asked tentatively, “Who are you looking for?”
The man looked at the sweet potato in Chu Li’s hand, the corners of his lips curling beneath the mask. “I’d like to trouble the little master to help me repair a mecha.”
“…” Chu Li stared.
What is going on today? Why is everyone coming here to fix mechas?
Chu Li declined politely. “I’m sorry, but this is an appliance repair shop. We don’t know how to fix mechas.”
“If the little master repairs appliances often, you should understand that some principles are universal,” the man said, setting down a pouch of Star Coins. Judging by the sound, it was a substantial amount.
Chu Li glanced at the bulging bag. He turned his head away, letting logic triumph over greed. But just as he was about to refuse again, the man set down a second bulging pouch.
Together, these two bags probably held several hundred Star Coins! That was equivalent to a whole year’s salary for him.
He pursed his lips and said steadily, “Where is your mecha?”
The man pointed at the floor. Chu Li walked outside, but the ground was empty.
Just as he thought the man was playing a prank on him, the man tugged at a purple necklace hanging from his chest. In the next instant, a purple-and-gold mecha materialized on the empty ground.
This was Space Folding Technology.
Chu Li had only read about this in books; seeing it in reality for the first time made his heart race with excitement. He turned his gaze to the machine.
It was a humanoid light mecha with fluid lines and a smooth finish. Painted entirely in purple and gold, it exuded an air of luxury and prestige. Compared to Evans’ mecha from earlier, the difference was like night and day.
As an outsider to high-end tech, Chu Li couldn’t see any obvious damage. “What’s wrong with it?”
The man said slowly, “An internal issue.” Since it was a small-scale mecha, it fitted almost like a second skin during combat, meaning the compatibility between the machine and the body had to be perfect.
Chu Li walked around the mecha. “Be more specific.”
“It pinches the crotch,” the man said.
“…” Chu Li went silent.
His gaze subconsciously drifted toward the man’s groin. Realizing what he was doing, he quickly looked away, his face flushing slightly.
The man’s lips curved under the mask. He pressed a button, and the left waist section of the mecha slowly slid open, revealing the dense, complex interior.
“Take a look, little master. See how you can improve it.”
Chu Li leaned halfway into the machine. He didn’t understand the mechanics of mecha operations, but he could still tell quality when he saw it; this mecha’s grade was likely on par with Poy. The internal cockpit was also modeled after the human form, but the position between the legs was too high, which caused… the pinching.
Chu Li felt the material of the model. He identified it as Black Iron from the Tianshu Star. Black Iron was incredibly strong; the machines in this dilapidated shop couldn’t possibly cut through it. Furthermore, the mecha’s sensors were practically embedded into the cockpit, so the cockpit itself couldn’t be disassembled.
Chu Li asked, “Wasn’t the cockpit model made according to your body type?”
“Yes,” the man replied. “The cockpit was modeled after a friend’s physique. His legs are a few centimeters longer than mine.”
Chu Li didn’t ask further. The man was masked to hide his identity and had chosen a Lower District appliance shop over an official Upper District repair center. This suggested the mecha’s origin was questionable, or the man was involved in something sensitive.
As Chu Li felt around the cockpit, he found an emergency escape button near the waist. When pressed, the inner shell of the cockpit would protrude by a few centimeters. He suddenly had an idea of how to fix it. The cockpit was relatively spacious, leaving enough room for modifications. Even if he couldn’t cut the iron, he could fill the space.
He brought over Old Man Zhong’s “heirloom” tool chest, which was packed with a vast array of repair tools.
He skillfully found what he needed, secured the button, and then essentially flipped the cockpit’s interior design in his mind. He calculated the distances from the head to the waist and from the waist to the legs, then estimated the man’s bodily proportions.
The man watched Chu Li work the entire time. Seemingly surprised by such an unconventional modification, he let out a soft chuckle. “The little master has quite the skill.”
Chu Li didn’t notice the compliment, completely focused on the task. He found some soft Cesium metal to use as filler and rebuilt an internal shell model in reverse.
An hour later, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Give it a try.”
“Alright.”
The man entered the cockpit and connected his senses. The compatibility was perfect. He stretched his limbs, and the mecha’s limbs moved in perfect synchronization swift, natural, and highly sensitive.
The man chuckled softly. “The Lower District truly is a place of ‘Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons.'” To think a small apprentice in a repair shop knew this much. He opened the glass canopy and thanked him again. “Thank you, little master.”
Chu Li looked up at the man. From this close, he noticed the man’s pupils were purple, and the corners of his eyes tilted upward, holding a gentle, night-like quality.
“You’re welcome.”
The man drove the mecha, and his silhouette vanished into the night in an instant.
Returning inside, Chu Li opened the pouches and counted the coins. There were exactly four hundred Star Coins. He immediately sent a message to tell Old Man Zhong about the night’s events.
Old Man Zhong was busy with something and didn’t check the message.
“Why isn’t he replying?” Chu Li grumbled. He locked the shop door and hurried back home under the moonlight.
The heavy night was like a pool of spilled ink, sticking together the people, ruins, and trash of the Lower District. The night here was filled with bloody violence and strange cries—shrill sounds that could have come from dying beasts or desperate humans. It was terrifying, but sadly, no one cared.
When Chu Li arrived home, he saw that the porridge on the neighboring windowsill was half-eaten. He knocked on the window. “Uncle Su Nuo, I have to leave early again tomorrow. What do you want to eat?”
There was no sound from the room.
Just as Chu Li turned away in disappointment, a raspy voice came through the sliver of the unclosed window.
“Plain porridge.”
“Okay.” The corners of Chu Li’s mouth turned up. After Uncle Su Nuo found out he was Lu Jin’s fiancé, he had demanded Chu Li break off the relationship. When Chu Li refused, Uncle Su Nuo stopped speaking to him.
He knew Su Nuo didn’t trust Upper District Alphas; he feared Chu Li would end up like him—scarred and broken, returning to the Lower District to wait for death. But the situation between him and Lu Jin wasn’t something that could be explained in a few words. They were already tied together and couldn’t be easily separated.
That night, shortly after Chu Li fell asleep, an explosion rang out, followed by the screams of people nearby.
He went outside and saw everyone climbing onto their roofs to look. He climbed up as well, his gaze sweeping over the ruins toward the towering city wall.
“I didn’t think the rebels would actually come to reclaim the heads.”
“Tsk, how could they possibly beat the guards?”
Chu Li stared into the distance, his face flickering in the light of the explosions.
The two sides had been fighting for a long time in a stalemate. The rebels had limited manpower, while the guards were constantly calling in reinforcements. Over time, the rebels would surely lose.
Right then, a bolt of purple light slashed down from mid-air, instantly severing the ropes. The sun-dried heads fell one after another.
A purple-and-gold mecha swept in like a gale, snatching the heads before vanishing into the night with lightning speed.
The rebels and guards, caught in the heat of battle, turned around only to see the heads swept away by a purple-and-gold wind.
“…”
Though it had only been for a fleeting moment, Chu Li could clearly see the silhouette of the mecha. It was the exact same one he had modified just two hours ago.
“…” Chu Li was speechless.