Chi Yun Su felt no panic within. Instead, she calmly watched the Inspector, adhering to the principle of “if the enemy doesn’t move, I won’t move either.”
Moreover, the Inspector might not even be an enemy.
The other party had likely noticed something off about her while she was inspecting the machine earlier but chose not to say anything at the time. Now that they were alone, the Inspector had brought it up, which undoubtedly meant the Inspector needed something from her.
Since the other party had a request, Chi Yun Su saw no reason to feel anxious. If anyone should be anxious right now, it was the Inspector.
Sure enough, after a brief silence between the two, the Inspector was the first to speak, outlining the upcoming work arrangements: “The repair work at Collection Centers Seven and Nine was well done. The central area is now facing a similar situation. In addition to the previous tasks of replacing parts and maintaining Cards at the collection centers, we also need to redesign some of the Core Card sets in the central area and adjust the equipment in the core zone according to the new Cards.”
This clearly went beyond the responsibilities of Chi Yun Su’s current role as a repair assistant.
The Inspector had exposed Chi Yun Su precisely to ensure she would give her full effort and not slack off under the guise of being an assistant.
Chi Yun Su raised an eyebrow, sensing the underlying meaning in the Inspector’s work arrangement.
As long as she could assist the Inspector in completing this work, the Inspector would turn a blind eye to Chi Yun Su, the person from Black Port who had slipped in.
This was good news for Chi Yun Su.
But…
If the Inspector hadn’t deliberately made things difficult earlier, Chi Yun Su felt she wouldn’t have been exposed in the first place!
So, in the end, it was still the Inspector’s fault.
Chi Yun Su believed that any benefits the Inspector offered were rightfully hers, and she was now being forced to put in extra effort for it.
Running a quick mental calculation, she realized she was at a significant disadvantage!
Well-versed in the Black Port mindset of unapologetic self-interest, Chi Yun Su pushed her luck further, immediately putting on a pained expression: “I just graduated from Long River Industries not long ago and have never dealt with these things before. I’m afraid I won’t be up to the task.”
What Black Port person? She didn’t know, she didn’t acknowledge it.
The Inspector didn’t pick up on Chi Yun Su’s attempt to bargain or her denial of her identity.
After listening, the Inspector glanced at Chi Yun Su’s still-youthful face, thought for a moment, and nodded: “Indeed. I’ll teach you from now on.”
Chi Yun Su, who was actually quite confident in her abilities, twitched the corner of her mouth.
The repair work at Collection Centers Seven and Nine mentioned by the Inspector had been done by Chi Yun Su herself.
When she first took on the job, Chi Yun Su had indeed struggled a bit. However, as someone who had crossed over from a world dominated by science and technology, working in a world where Cards could be used as a cheat made maintenance tasks feel like playing with hacks.
From confusion to proficiency, it had only taken her a little over an hour back then. Chi Yun Su didn’t think there was anything in the core maintenance work that she couldn’t handle.
But now, her attempt to feign incompetence had been taken at face value by the Inspector?
Chi Yun Su felt annoyed, but then she heard the Inspector speak to her swiftly and sternly: “Change that habit of using psychic energy to inspect machines right away!””Didn’t the teacher who taught you before ever mention it? If the machine is damaged while you’re inspecting it, your psychic energy will also suffer harm. It’s extremely dangerous behavior, strictly prohibited for card makers. Don’t cut corners for convenience!”
Chi Yun Su, who truly had never been taught by any teacher: “…”
However, Chi Yun Su didn’t feel upset about being scolded.
The Inspector’s tone was harsh, but the content of her words genuinely showed concern for Chi Yun Su.
Chi Yun Su suddenly realized that the “teaching” the Inspector mentioned seemed… to actually be teaching.
Real teaching!
Being highly pragmatic, Chi Yun Su immediately brushed aside the rising annoyance in her heart and looked at the Inspector with bright eyes: “Teacher, you know card crafting too?”
Faced with Chi Yun Su’s immediate attempt to claim a connection, the Inspector choked for a moment, then felt speechless at the question that followed the address. She gave Chi Yun Su a look that said, ‘Are you stating the obvious?’
Chi Yun Su chuckled awkwardly: “It’s just that all the engineers I’ve met before were completely clueless about card crafting.”
Back when Chi Yun Su did subcontracting work for those two engineers, on one hand, she wanted to understand the Cleaning Company, and on the other, she hoped to get close to the company’s engineers to learn something beyond “Card Making Fundamentals.”
But after getting somewhat familiar with them, Chi Yun Su discovered that even the highest-skilled technicians at the F171 Port Cleaning Company knew nothing about card crafting.
Compared to engineers, the position of Inspector didn’t sound particularly technical, so Chi Yun Su had assumed the Inspector was just more knowledgeable and hadn’t considered that she might be a card maker.
The Inspector didn’t care about Chi Yun Su’s thoughts; she could already sense Chi Yun Su’s willingness to cooperate.
Though she didn’t know why, it didn’t matter to the Inspector. She directly led the now-compliant Chi Yun Su to the core area of this Cleaning Company.
Unlike the previous Transfer Room, the core area was enormous. It wasn’t just a few maintenance technicians; dozens of people in engineer uniforms were busy working with maintenance staff here.
Chi Yun Su looked up at the colossal structure over ten meters tall before her, felt a shudder, and her expression instantly turned grave.
“It’s going to explode,” Chi Yun Su stated as a fact to the Inspector.
The Inspector showed no surprise at Chi Yun Su’s words but stated another fact: “That’s why I need you to help me repair it.”
If there were any other choice, would she have allowed someone of unknown origin to participate in repairing such critical equipment?
When the Inspector came to inspect earlier, she had already detected the abnormal energy fluctuations emanating from the core machine. However, reporting it and waiting for reinforcements would take time.
And they were out of time.
Chi Yun Su understood the implication in the Inspector’s words, and her face grew even more troubled: “If this thing explodes, over half of F171 Port will be reduced to ashes. It should be shut down immediately, right now!”
The Inspector’s voice remained unwavering despite Chi Yun Su’s words, and she continued leading Chi Yun Su swiftly toward the core: “Do you know how much garbage is transported to F171 Port every day? On average, ten aircraft arrive here daily. What the Black Port residents take away is just a drop in the bucket; we can’t even be bothered to manage it.””How many harmful substances are in this dumped garbage? This thing can’t be shut down for maintenance. According to calculations, the pollution caused by the garbage will spread into the Black Port in just two days.”
“This is a disaster no less severe than an explosion.”
“We can’t stop it until the last possible moment.” The Inspector’s tone remained impatient, clearly feeling that explaining this now was a waste of time.
Chi Yun Su, having received the explanation, didn’t fully accept the Inspector’s plan: “Then the airships delivering the garbage should be redirected to other waste processing ports.”
The Inspector, of course, knew this logic. She rolled her eyes dramatically. “You’ll understand once you start working—how utterly shitty bureaucratic procedures can be!”
Chi Yun Su, who had actually worked in a research institute in her previous life: “…”
That was truly irrefutable.
The Inspector didn’t waste any more time bickering with Chi Yun Su. Having already reached the card slot of the A-section component, she opened the Card protective cover.
The A-section was the most severely damaged part of the entire core machine.
After opening the protective cover, a blue Card was revealed inside.
Chi Yun Su’s eyes narrowed.
She could currently craft Blue Cards, but her success rate was only fifty-fifty. Moreover, the Circuit on this Card had turned a deep black.
This was a sign that it was on the verge of complete failure, leaving little room for trial and error.
Originally, the maintenance of this area was the responsibility of one of the engineers who had been dismissed. However, since Chi Yun Su had taken over most of his work, he hadn’t been to F171 Port for a long time.
Of course, there was no point dwelling on that now.
The Inspector immediately shifted into work mode and said to Chi Yun Su, “Listen carefully and remember. The starting point of the first Circuit on this Card is here. Extend your psychic energy with a force of 4 points, turn left after 32 nodes… This Circuit controls the link instrument behind you to your left. Its function is…”
Chi Yun Su also knew the situation was urgent and focused intently on the Inspector’s words, occasionally asking questions about parts she didn’t understand.
The orthodox methods of Card design and crafting, explained by the Inspector, intertwined in Chi Yun Su’s mind with the self-taught, unconventional techniques she had developed on her own.
An hour later, Chi Yun Su had fully digested the details of this Blue Card.
Hmm, it doesn’t seem too difficult.
It can be repaired.
Chi Yun Su made her judgment.
Having someone teach you was truly different from figuring things out on your own.
The Inspector didn’t know Chi Yun Su’s level of card crafting, but she could gauge Chi Yun Su’s understanding from the questions she asked back.
Communicating with another card maker was genuinely refreshing.
During this period, having to constantly pressure the engineers and technicians from the Cleaning Company here to work had greatly increased the Inspector’s frustration. For some reason, she felt a touch of emotion.
After this brief moment of emotion, the Inspector took out a tube of golden liquid from her waist pouch and handed it to Chi Yun Su. “This is the Ink needed for this Card. Ask me for more when you run out.”
Taking the Ink, Chi Yun Su was momentarily confused. Wasn’t she supposed to be assisting the Inspector? Was she being asked to do the repair now?
Was this a test of her skills?
Though puzzled internally, Chi Yun Su didn’t waste time with unnecessary questions during this critical moment.A hand opened the cap of this ink tube. Chi Yun Su decisively pulled out a pen—somehow hidden at her waist—dipped it in the ink, focused her mind, and guided the pen tip with psychic energy, leaving a pleasing golden line on the originally blackened card.
Of course, this “pleasing” was only for others.
The Inspector who witnessed this firsthand felt her pupils tremble.
She had given Chi Yun Su the ink so she could go to the card crafting room to draw a new card as a replacement.
And it wasn’t as simple as making a card and swapping it directly.
She still needed to check whether Chi Yun Su’s new card was up to standard and usable, right? How could she let someone of unknown background handle it directly?
Wait, that wasn’t even the main issue!
What card maker draws a card like this!
Don’t card makers need a quiet, undisturbed environment to focus on channeling psychic energy to the pen tip and draw steadily?
And no card maker draws directly on a nearly broken card.
The residual psychic energy left behind by the original card maker during the circuit drawing process would inevitably clash with the new card maker’s psychic energy. Theoretically, such a redraw had no chance of success.
Well, that was the theory.
The Inspector snapped out of her shock at Chi Yun Su’s card-making behavior, which completely overturned her understanding of card makers, and stared intently at the two circuits under Chi Yun Su’s pen that had already been perfectly aligned and repaired without any signs of conflict.
Inspector: “?”
Inspector: “???”
What the hell is this?
The common sense of card making teetered in the Inspector’s mind. Theoretically, she should stop Chi Yun Su’s utterly absurd behavior right now, but the information her eyes conveyed told her… this might actually work.
So… what the hell is all this???
To avoid a mental breakdown and knowing she couldn’t disturb Chi Yun Su at this moment, the Inspector took a deep breath, turned away from the area that might affect Chi Yun Su, and shouted at the engineers and maintenance workers who were closely watching them, “What are you staring at? Hurry up and replace the faulty parts in Area A as synchronized! Do you all want to watch an explosion turn into fireworks?”
The shouted-at group quickly followed the Inspector’s earlier instructions and began replacing the faulty parts in Area A.
The Inspector didn’t join them, but she wasn’t idle either.
She went to the central control console at the core, keeping a close watch on Chi Yun Su’s movements. If anything went wrong, she would immediately shut down the entire core.
However, doing so meant that once the core—already running with many bugs—stopped, whether it could operate normally again without being fully repaired was unknown.
In the Inspector’s earlier assessment, it was absolutely impossible to fix everything within two days.
So what the Inspector had in mind was for Chi Yun Su to craft a qualified control card, briefly stop the equipment in Area A, and complete the card replacement within a minute to avoid affecting the overall operation.
But…
The Inspector stared at the beautiful golden lines that had already covered half of the original card.
What the hell is this!!