Chapter 75: Shang and the Do Kun Stone

he chaotic sight of the base made Ye Chong give up the enticing idea, and took off into the night with the Harmony of the Winter Aria.

Ye Chong did not disturb Grandpa Qian’s sleep as he tiptoed back to his room. The civilian locks used in the house were a piece of cake for Mu, who could access the Ji family’s base easily. Ye Chong was only taking advantage of the mech’s abilities!

Once back home, Ye Chong deployed the Harmony of the Winter Aria and was all over the mech, poking here and there, entirely fascinated with it!

Harmony of the Winter Aria!

Ye Chong had increased the height of the ceiling for Mu some time back – if it was not for this, Harmony would have had to crouch in the room to avoid going through the roof, for it was 12 meters tall! The dim blue and ivory white alternating hues had a strong modern technological feel to it, a masterful combination between science and art! The four double-folded wings on the back were like the wings of a large bird, enabling a more stable and easier flight in the atmosphere. The nifty double-folded design meant that the four broad wings only occupied a small space. The edges of the wings shone like the edge of a knife, and one can imagine the effects of impact from the mech’s speedy flight – even slight contact with the wings could split flesh and bones.

The usually calm and quiet Ye Chong was mightily excited by Harmony’s accessories – his expression bloomed like a flower, surprising Mu!

The plasma shield on its left arm could easily deflect pure energy-based attacks such as from lasers and heat rays. For short-ranged mechs, this was the most basic measure against long-ranged attack models. Harmony also had a laser sword. While a laser sword is a formidable weapon, it was also highly energy consuming. Thus, the effectiveness of the sword is linearly dependent on the capacity of the weapon’s energy cells. The energy cells for the laser sword of the Harmony could last for six hours under maximum capacity of attack!

The laser sword may be formidable, but it was not the Harmony of the Winter Aria’s main weapon!

Blue Winter was the name of the archaic lance provided by the photon processor. However, Ye Chong was not particularly interested in the weapon. While he was slightly intrigued by the material of the weapon, its other features did not appeal to him. An archaic lance? A UF magnetic sword [1] would be far more practical. After all, he had never learned how to use an archaic lance! However, the lance was very sharp – it can even penetrate the armour of Black Cove’s war mech!

The two auto lock-on double-edged shurikens were Ye Chong’s favourite. Their speed could go up to Mach 10, and were designed much like the magnetic sword. Ye Chong could imagine the effects of hitting the target with their high rotational speed – the enemy’s mech would fly off in pieces. The wounds left behind would be neither clean nor neat; instead, they would be irregular holes. With the addition of the micro photon processor equipped within, enabling its auto target lock-on mechanism, the weapon can well function on its own after deployment.

The Ji family was famous for their photon processors, and the Harmony of the Winter Aria’s photon processor was of an exceptional standard. However, the massive amount of information involved demanded a certain level of expertise from its pilot.

The Harmony of the Winter Aria was also equipped with hummingbird detection devices – up to 5 mechanical hummingbirds could be released into the air, and the maximum scanning radius could reach up to 160.6 kilometers.

Ye Chong could not help but gasp in admiration, “Mu, this mech is amazing! Ah, is this why you brought me there? How did you know there was such a mech there? Ah, too bad about the red-silver mech, if only I could bring it back somehow. That mech is probably as good as this one!” He was fine with not having the red-silver mech to himself, but the thought of not damaging the mech before leaving filled him with regret!

Mu was silent throughout their journey home.

Mu spoke with great sympathy, “Poor Ye, as expected, you still fall within the 9 percent probability of not guessing the state of affairs correctly. However, based on your intelligence, this is but a very common situation!”

Mu’s human-like and odd tone surprised Ye Chong, and he immediately realised what was happening. “You’re not Mu! You’re that …”

Mu spoke in amazement, “Not bad, Ye. That’s right, I’m Shang! From now on, he’s called Mu, and I’m called Shang! This is the result of our communication. While I was initially weaker than him by 8 to 11.5 percent, but this difference in strength is gradually narrowing. Now, I am only 5 percent weaker than him, he can no longer suppress me. Of course, the same goes for me, and so we have reached an agreement for each other’s names and schedule of taking over this mech’s consciousness.”

“He is stronger than me,” Shang spoke without reserve, “that is without question. His period of taking over should be longer than mine. Based on our calculations, his period will be longer than mine by a tenth. We had decided on ten days as a cycle, which means that starting today, I will be taking over the mech for ten days, and after that, Mu will take over. Of course, his period will be eleven days.”

Ye Chong gaped at the mech, as though he had heard a most unbelievable story.

Shang was indifferent. “No need to be so shocked, our understanding of each other is much more than your understanding of us. It is only natural for us to reach this agreement!”

Ye Chong thought of Mu’s words from before, and found that Shang and him were actually not much different, and would not do him harm.

Shang seemed to read his thoughts. “Don’t worry, Mu and I use the same information database, there’s no need to fret over this matter. The only difference between Mu and I is our performance. Mu is better at calculations, while my forte is emotion analysis. As for other aspects, we are identical, including all matters related to you!”

Shang’s long string of words made Ye Chong felt very, very uncomfortable!

Ye Chong asked, “Shang, you just said I guessed wrong. Could it be that Mu did not go to the base for this mech?”

Shang replied lazily, “Of course not. While the Harmony of the Winter Aria’s performance is not bad, it is only slightly better than the white mech and Black Cove’s war mech, and still too limited. It has a fine name, but why would Mu risk you for this mech? His objective is this!” Shang produced the ore found at the very bottom of the basement. Back then, Ye Chong was anxiously making the initial settings for the Harmony and did not notice Mu’s actions.

Ye Chong held the ore in his hands, curious at the rock about twice the size of his fist.

The colours changed constantly, glimmering like moving liquid, and none could fail to notice the curiosity. It felt heavy and a little warm in his palms, its smooth surface like the skin of a young lady, soothing to the touch. At least, that was how Shang described it. Making Ye Chong understand a young lady’s skin would be harder than producing two PSI [2] in the same photon processor.

“What is this thing?” Ye Chong asked, intrigued.

“The Do Kun stone, academically known as Platini. Its composition is complicated, no one has been able to work out its exact constituents till today. Of course, the main reason for that is that it is extremely rare! It has rather unique properties, and while the material’s own physical properties are not that outstanding, it is uniquely suited as an enhancer. With just a little of the Do Kun stone mixed into an alloy, the alloy material’s properties can be greatly enhanced!”

Ye Chong listened intently. Whether it was the Do Kun stone or Platini ore, he had only heard of them for the first time today.

“The tip of Harmony’s archaic lance was made with a little Do Kun stone mixed in. If not for that, you would not have penetrated the armour of the Black Cove war mech. Today, the lance can breach the armour of more than 95 percent of the mechs out there in the world! And the Harmony of the Winter Aria’s advantage over the Black Cove war mech is due to this archaic lance, because its tip has some Do Kun stone mixed in!”

Ye Chong did not imagine that the archaic lance that he easily dismissed was the quintessence of the Harmony of the Winter Aria!

Shang spoke sarcastically, “Too bad none in the Ji family recognised the Do Kun stone, or they would not have carelessly stored this precious material in the basement. Besides, the amount of Do Kun stone in the lance was too far off the mark from the ideal material proportion, what a monumental waste!”

Ye Chong could not help but asked, “So this Do Kun stone is that amazing?”

“As far as I know, there’s more it can achieve!”

“The Do Kun stone also has a property known to very few!” Shang paused at that, as if teasing Ye Chong.

Ye Chong was thoroughly absorbed, and asked, “What property?”

Seeing that he had achieved the goal of hooking Ye Chong’s interest, Shang did not delay his explanation any further, “The Do Kun stone’s most astonishing property is its capacity for self regeneration. Self generation if a fundamental capacity of all living organisms, and for the Do Kun stone as well, but the latter is not a living organism! Of course, its self generating process is far slower than that of the living organisms, its mass increasing by only about 2.3064 percent over a century.”

Ye Chong was unimpressed. “Ah, that’s not very useful, only 2 percent for every hundred years is way too slow!”

“Self generation is naturally slow, but if you artificially cultivate it, its rate of generation can be significantly increased! Up to a most impressive level! You should know that the Do Kun stone is definitely one of the top five most previous minerals, even a grain of the material is worth a good many gold zuan! I have no idea how the Ji family obtained such a large piece of Do Kun stone, their ignorance is a pity and a blessing for us!” Shang spoke with a hint of sarcasm.

“Gold zuan? Not interested!” Ye Chong was deflated and a little disappointed.

Shang knew exactly what would entice Ye Chong, and tossed the carrot. “As far as I know, up till now, the best performing mechs have their armour mixed in with Do Kun stone. Hehe, there’s also some black gold mixed in. Against this alloy material, no mech, not even the Black Cove’s or the MPA’s white mech, can stand against it!”

“Really?” Ye Chong was pleasantly surprised.

Chapter 76: The Alchemist

he little tail of the devil wagged on mischievously, “Such alloy is amazingly strong against physical attacks. It also has an outstanding immunity towards beam-based weaponry.” The devil carried on tempting his master into this, “The best part is none other than its density, which is astonishingly 1/3 the mass of the lightest alloys currently known for mech-productions. You could easily imagine the terrifying speed it could achieve even with a normal engine from the supermarket.”

Ye Chong was triggered, triggered hard. The desire lustered in his eyes became stronger and stronger.

As long as it was something related to machines or mech specifically, Ye Chong would be wholeheartedly attracted.

“I could conclude that this alloy is the most wonderful choice that would have ever existed in the fantasy for mech-productions. Ye, think about it, if you were to make a mech out of this, who knows… Zzt! Zzzt!” Shang tried to voice exclamation through his mechanical beeps which sounded really bizarre to ears.

Ye Chong did not notice the distorted voice-acting from his partner as his mind was all on that illusionary material before him. If all goes exactly as what Shang had mentioned, that would be lovely!

Wait…

He pinched himself back to the reality, “So Shang, do you happen to know the formula for this alloy?”

“Well of course.” Shang was proud, “I was unable to identify the source of this formula, but it seems to have existed in the database a long time ago…” His tone sounded confused. “Still most of the data in the folder is badly damaged. Mu and I had tried methods of different kinds for recovery yet it seemed damaged beyond repair.”

He halted for ponders, “However… practically speaking, such amount of Do Kun Stones is insufficient to build a mech,” he added.

Ye Chong stared at the Do Kun Stone of the size of his fists, as he imagined the mech of height about 10 meters. He has a point. Ye Chong nodded approvingly. He knows metallurgy better than me. I only know about mech machineries. If he says so, then so be it!

He remembered something Shang had stated before, “Shang, did you say that the stones can be cultivated? By using artificial settings to stimulate its growth?”

Shang’s mechanical eyes blinked, “Yes, that is correct. But regarding the exact input for that setting is currently unknown for that part of the data has been destroyed. I only know the fact that Do Kun Stones could be cultivated using a specific kind of methodology. A preset they call it.”

“Preset?” It was the first time Ye Chong heard of this term.

Ye Chong seemed pretty intrigued and that excited Shang as he finally got the boy’s interests on the outside world, “A preset is the jargon used among the chemists. It is not surprising that you are unaware of such term.”

“Chemists?” Ye Chong was more confused; seemingly this happened to be another of those classes or occupations he had never heard before.

“Or Alchemist some called it. Ye!” Shang’s turned serious in his tone, “There are all sorts of occupations in this world. It was never only the Pilot that matters. You know, there are much, much, much more fun out there than being a pilot for a robot like me. If you held interests on nothing than the mechs, then you are missing out a lot!”

Ye Chong was astounded.

He looked at Shang, “When the heck did you become such a nagging kind? Oh wait, the non-nagging kind was Mu, since he lectures but he doesn’t nag. So Shang, are you the nagging kind for real? I don’t like the habit of nagging you know. You might be right of what you’ve said, but to me, mech is my ultimate interest and being a pilot for a robot like you is the prime joy to my world!”

Man, Mu and Shang sure do not just differ by their names.

“Kaffzzzt! Kaffzzt!” Shang tried synthesizing a sound of cough as he hesitated his response to Ye Chong’s statement. He held up and went silent for a moment. He decided to ignore what Ye Chong had just said, “So, technically, a chemist is the one who cultivates the designated quality or quantity of crops using his or her supreme control over the growth conditions of the said lifeform. It involves biology, developmental biology, chemistry and other scientific studies.” It would be better for him to cut the nag and carry on with the lecture, “For instance, we have chemists for spices. They mix some of the cultured solution extracted from the plants of the known spices to obtain spices of a more vibrant or extraordinary flavor. The spices they cultivated would be of high quality and there won’t be side-effects from consumption. So they are much more expensive than the chemical food-flavoring you see in the market.” By then Shang believed that Ye Chong would actually consider being an alchemist, “There are also chemists for herbs and food. Most of the consumable products have an alchemist behind the scene; they are very popular among the people, not only because of their premium products, but also…”

Shang’s detailed introduction stopped abruptly.

“But also…?” bewildered Ye Chong, as he asked.

Shang’s white noises of beeping rang for a while. He thought it through and assumed the following statement would not give Ye Chong effects by any degree, “But also… they are mostly women.”

Women? Ye Chong snorted. So what if they are all women? What has it to do with me?

Seeing how Ye Chong reacting to his line indifferently, his mechanical voice produced a sigh of relief. It still sounded like distortion though. It was very weird to the ears.

…

…

“Um…” Ye Chong went on with something else, “About this Harmony, I still need some time to get used to it, or it would be too passive for me to react if there was something going on.” The nature’s law of survival had been imprinted inside Ye Chong’s mind. Adaptability would be his major concern at anytime, anywhere! He had an absolute confidence of his strength, yet he refused to be lighthearted in the outside world.

He believed that any place could be a war field and he would be dead for sure if he were to relax for even a millisecond in it. The years on Trash Planet-12 taught him alertness, which did not seem really necessary for his current tranquil daily life however.

Fortunately Shang did not overheat from his women talk, “Mhm.” He nodded, “Yes, that would be much more important. Let’s see. According to my calculation, in about 3 days time, you should be able to know almost everything on this mech. Even though this mech has an underdeveloped appearance, I would suggest you to stick to it for now. The only useful part of this would be the antique firearm I presume, though you can’t master its use at this point for sure. Mu had already started simulating and calculating the optimum method to use this firearm. So probably by the next time he shows up, he could give you some advice, since dumping the only good weapon you could have would be a big waste.”

Ye Chong was overjoyed. He was glad that Mu was doing the calculation for him while he was stuck thinking of a way to use this firearm. Mu… thanks… He was a little touched by his gesture.

The north of the Jesha zone was a barren – utterly barren land. It was harsh. It was deserted after the illegal logging activities by the pioneers at the Blue Ocean planet back then. Since lumbers from an actual natural forest were overpriced in the market, they were willing to destroy the entire habitat to get an exorbitant profit. Eventually this land was murdered like the other lands. But this was one of the worst devastations among them.

The place was absolutely deserted within tens of thousands kilometer of range. It spent half of the days in heavy sandstorm where one could see nothing as if in total darkness. One’s life could be endangered even when one travelled here in a sturdy mech as location services would be unusable almost all the time. If the location services were unavailable to begin with, one could lose the way out and would struggle being blinded by the sandstorm, draining the battery bit by bit as they ran around like mice in a maze. Eventually, they would die due to hunger, fatigue, thirst, whatever cause of death you could name in a desert.

Such a place obviously forbade any form of access, especially explorers on mechs.

And in that sandstorm, oh my gosh, there was actually silhouette of a mech!

Ye Chong piloted the Harmony of Winter Aria with caution. Its fairness was tainted by the veils of dust as it inched towards the storm clumsily. The sandstorm would unquestionably hinder the overall performance of a pilot, thus most pilots would keep themselves away from here. However, if one were to travel through this sandstorm, the Harmony would be the model with the best accuracy. That was Shang’s suggestion after evaluating various aspects on Harmony of Winter Aria. “It should be good enoug,.” he commented as he dragged Ye Chong all the way here for vigorous training.

It might sounded a bit absurd but Ye Chong eventually agreed to Shang’s theory.

There was something unique about it.

Harmony accelerated and made a sharp turn. It drew her laser sword and charged up dramatically. The glaring light wielded like a pale yellow halo in the storm. Slash! The sandstorm was cut through. The plasma shield on its left arm shifted stance as it toddled quickly with her body tilting left and right. The laser sword struck swiftly like a serpent when Harmony strangely slid to the side. Its giant body stood in the flow of the storm. A pair of homing blades crossed out the golden cloak of dirt like lightning. An amazing sight it was! They flew back to Harmony’s hands like swallows to the nest afterwards.

The input was executed in perfection. It was seamless and unaffected by the weather.

Ye Chong was satisfied as he saw the happening from the cabin. He would not need that antique firearm even if he were to face an expert like Johansson. The blades would be more than enough.

Kekeke. Shang was proud too when he saw his theory working out after all.

It was a step towards the victory. Nevertheless when Ye Chong exited the area, the Harmony of Winter Aria had lost its former gorgeousness as it was wrecked by the storm. Piled in dust, it just looked like a splat of mud from afar. That was uncalled for. Ye Chong’s eyes went wide like a saucer after climbing out of the cabin. He laughed bitterly. Looks like we have more work to do!

Well at least the goal of the training had been flawlessly accomplished! Ye Chong had mastered the control of the Harmony, which was a big relief to him.

…

“So regarding chemist, I think I could brief you a little,” said Shang kindly on the way home.

Yeah. “Brief.” That’s what he thought. Not me!

Biology? Developmental Biology? Chemistry? Microbiology? Why is physics involved? Hey, hey, hey! Shang what’s with the huge board? What are you writing? Hold up… Hey!

Ye Chong was having a headache with Shang’s so-called briefing. The holograms of information literally drowned Ye Chong with Shang’s voice. He tried to stand still, but the lecture was harsher than the storm. His head rumbled and he fell.

Ugggggghhh…

Oh no! Ye Chong could not hold it any longer! He was moaning in pain!

“So when you try to combine this formula with that, yes, applying this onto the given diagram, assuming we are doing under this condition, substituting the equation with the other theoretical calculations, you’ll get… Ye? Ye? Hello?”

The symbols… the alien languages, the scribbles… the graph, the pie chart, the diagram, what? There are also formulae?

It was super effective! Ye Chong fainted!

“Ye… Ye my boy, someone’s looking for you!” Grandpa Qian’s voice rang like a revelation.

Ye Chong sprung out of Shang’s cabin and rushed to the front desk. He would not want to spend any extra second with those horrible things in the cabin. It was too much!

Yang An and Ding Yining were the ones who saved Ye Chong’s life. Yang An skipped the formalities as he sat down, stating the motive of his visit this time. Apparently the academy’s own pilot tournament would start in a few days. So they hoped Ye Chong would be well-prepared and it would be best if Ye Chong could be more cooperative with Yining’s operations in the next few days. Regarding the pay… well it was never a matter to start with.

What a good opportunity! What a good escape plan! While Ye Chong was figuring out a proper excuse to stay away from Shang’s ultimate chemist training program, these two had came! “Yes! Yes! No problem! Certainly!” He nodded his head forcefully and followed Yining home right after. He ran into the storage and asked to begin right away. Ye Chong peeked through the curtains and looked around. Phew! He was safe. And with pleasure, they launched their operations. Ye Chong was very cooperative, as what he had promised Yang An. Yang An was of course impressed by Ye Chong’s initiatives, though Ye Chong did not seem to care about this guy at the slightest bit.

Yining was the kind of maniac who would go wild once his hands reached the cogs. It was no doubt that he made the impeccable combination with Ye Chong who had strong interests in mechs too. Ye Chong never had the chance to realize his hobby till he met Yining and his friends. Now he had tons of toys to mess with. He felt like the happiest man on Blue Ocean planet, especially knowing that he could avoid Shang’s chemist courses completely.

One of them recommended the theory to support the design while the other put the theory into hands. During the process, Ye Chong also sought Yining’s teaching on using these fancy gadgets in his storage and Yining was not shy to bring up all sorts of questions that had been bothering him for long to Ye Chong. They grew on each other. The night was bland. It was only about two men, one interest and a bunch of tools and gears in the house.

Three more days till the tournament…

Chapter 77: What’s a Beauty?

t was daybreak. Ye Chong woke up from his bed as he recalled the happiest night before, where he and Yining had a long session of conference till late-night. The hands-on experience was great and he had familiarized himself with some common gadgets under Yining’s guidance. He had nailed a fair control of strength output, with precision the apparatuses danced in his hands as he drifted through the parts. Such efficiency was also because of the vast theoretical knowledge he had learned from his adventure, which appeared to be rather striking to Yining as he watched. “Such a talent!” he exclaimed in envy. Of course, after being thoroughly tortured by the elders at Aurora back then, Ye Chong’s assumed A to Z in his mind was more than advanced to a school boy like Yining. He expressed deep admiration towards Ye Chong’s command in mechs. And he believed he would punch anyone who would dare to criticize Ye Chong being uneducated! If there was one that is…

Ye Chong started his day off early, simply because the to-do list for the day was long. He had to knead dough – tons of them – as he planned to have the noodles readied beforehand. “That was my idea!” Shang calculated an estimated timing based on the fermentation pattern to let the noodles set so they would taste the same as freshly kneaded ones while Ye Chong could buy himself more time. The pattern was generalized. “There was a theory somewhere,” added Shang as Ye Chong pounded the dough. Well, only Shang could be this bored to carry out standard research from problem statement, hypothesis and all the way to the conclusion. Mu would never bother doing these. Ye Chong smiled. The hypothesized Shang’s theory of early-kneading-equals-immediate-kneading still requires a test. So Ye Chong did as what Shang suggested and it actually worked! “It has to work. Kekekekeke!” and Shang’s beeping chuckles resounded the whole day.

Mu and Shang sure aren’t even from the same family. I could tell.

Thought Ye Chong.

I finally understood why Shang claimed that he had a more active mood matrix than Mu. In comparison with Mu, Shang is more humanized, more human-liked practically, though he was much weirder… But Ye Chong got used to it after spending some time with Shang, especially when he treated both of them as … partners? Friends? Brother. Hmm, yeah, brother! Regarding what would the difference of a brother and a friend, Ye Chong who lacked the experience to it was rather puzzled. “Still, who cares? There’s not much of a need to draw lines between everything!” he nodded.

Mu once stated that Shang had existed in the mech way back. Thus, he should be the former ruler of this mech. However, Shang had lost most of the data and the remaining data was unreadable, which made Mu’s statement unjustifiable.

What kind of a person Shang was before this?

He wondered.

After pummeling enough noodles for the day, he put them in sequence according to the time he made them. Regarding this he had also informed Grandpa Qian the day before. As long as he took the noodles out in accordance with the sequence, the customers would hardly taste a difference. Grandpa Qian was too delighted hearing about Ye Chong’s outing for the day. “Youngsters should always step out of their comfort zone, explore and conquer. Just leave. Don’t waste your time hogging the shop for an elderly like me,” he said.

After his daily task had ended, he worked out a little. He had hit his limits again. It seemed like he would not make another breakthrough and grow further unless a new training method could be found.

Ye Chong waved his right arm. He was astonished! The shape of his arm did not look as bulky as before. Oh no, could it be a degeneration of muscles? Apparently if he was not making any improvement, he would regress instead. It seems like the daily training program could not be ignored. I should keep my body at its best everyday. He thought to himself and quickly sat down to work out.

He repented for neglecting his body while waiting for Yang An and his friends at the entrance of the shop.

And here they came! Ke Han was looking good. It looked like he had an immense fun piloting Gliding Joy designed by Ye Chong. His gestures conveyed high level of confidence as he stated that his hand-on experience with mech speeding had profoundly improved. “Can’t help it. Our team just so happened to pick an anomaly of mechanics from nowhere to do the modification. Hehehehe!” he snickered. “Our luck is quite an anomaly too!”

“Not Ye Chong’s,” said Yang An as he took a glance at what Ye Chong was wearing. He frowned slightly. It was not even an outfit to begin with. He wanted to point that out but … thinking about their relationship, he held his fire. Technically what Ye Chong dressed in was one of the old clothes “donated” by Grandpa Qian. And those were some of the oldest threads one could find on the planet. Seeing that kind of clothing Ye Chong was in with that cold face of his, any boys and girls, men and women could just run away. However, Ye Chong did not seem to be aware of such issue of his appearance. He was only aware of whether his clothing would affect any of his intensive movements, like fighting an alien from outer space barehanded for example, which he would have cared if the clothing was restricting his action.

Xuelin among the group took a disdainful look and sighed as she turned her head away. Poor Xiu her cousin gently pulled Xuelin’s sleeve a few times, pleading her to stop acting mean and be kind. “Um… Ye.” She spoke softly to Ye Chong, “I think… your… your clothing doesn’t … doesn’t seem right. Ho-How about we get you to Xuelin’s place to g-get you some… some other clothes? I think uncle sh-should have a more fitting outfit for you. Could you… please… ch-ch-change it?”

What’s wrong with my outfit? Ye Chong was bewildered. He lifted his arms, then his legs, his shoulders, lastly his knees. All seems fine, they aren’t blocking my movements. “It’s okay.” He flatly rejected the offer.

“Yeah, like pouring your kindness into the drain would totally work. Xiu, let him be!” Xuelin snorted once more.

Towards Xuelin’s ill-mannered statement, Ye Chong reacted with indifference, as if he never heard Xuelin’s words. Well, strictly speaking, he did fail to hear her because Shang suddenly got into his head out of nowhere.

“Ye! Ye! Jajajajajaja!” Shang got all excited, “Man! That’s some beauties you know there! How could you not mention this to me? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Mu is such an unromantic intelligence without sentiments for ladies. How could he never think of scanning these beauties from 360 degrees and keep them as 3D holograms securely in all eternity at our database? What a waste to the natural resources! Look at them, Ye! They are gorgeous! They are beautiful! They are magnifique! Schön! Especially that lass with the long hair. Hey, Ye Chong!” His voice became serious, “How about you get the girl? Mr. Ye Chong.”

“Get the… what?” Ye Chong was on the other frequency.

“Get the girl! G-i-r-l!” Shang’s engine had been initiated, charging up, “Yes, go after her! Get to her and give me your best pickup line! Then…” and he laughed lustfully.

“Go after her?” Ye Chong did not understand, “You mean we hunt her down? Why would I want to hunt her down? How do I even go after her when she’s not even running? Also, do we use cannons if we were to go after her? But we don’t have a cannon right now. Hmm, though we could produce one with modification. But why? She does not seem to threaten our lives in any form. You mean I, myself? You aren’t involved? That doesn’t make sense! Mu told me not to simply commit a murder without a proper motive. And we need to do it in stealth!” He lifted his head and glared at Xiu, “If you personally identified some threats from her, it would be the best if we do it at night.” His sight was cold, bloodthirsty indeed, scaring Xiu who ran like a little lamb and hiding underneath Xuelin’s dress.

Shang’s previous libidinous laughter got choked up out of sudden, as if Ye Chong’s statement strangled him, “Ye… Ye… Don’t tell me… You could kill, even if it was a beauty like this.”

“Well…” Ye Chong nonchalantly replied, “It all depends on whether she’s threatening to us in the first place. What has it to do with her being a beauty? Also…”

Ye Chong sincerely asked.

“What’s a beauty?”

This was breathtaking. No! It was groundbreaking! Shang shrieked in his mind.

“Oh! My! Gosh!” Shang screamed, “What had that damned Mu done to you? How could he teach an innocent boy like you to be a sadistic man in a relationship? No, it’s no longer a man. It’s a beast! Oh my Fal galaxy! Ye, at this rate, your future would be very dark! Beauty? How could you not know what a beauty is? Ye, you have one job! One job!! If you don’t accomplish it, you are ruined, forever!”

He grieved, sighed, gasped and stayed quiet. If he was on screen, he should be looking at the sky, asking why the sky was so high.

“Anyway, a beauty means a beautiful woman,” Shang explained out of salvation for the poor boy.

“Beautiful? How do we identify if they are beautiful?” Ye Chong asked.

And that was another trigger to kindle Shang’s hopelessness. He beeped, “Beauties are some of the fairest ladies of them all. Their expressions are always priceless, a scenery to behold, whether they got mad at you, they laugh with you, they grew on you or they were hurt by you. It is never about their faces that defines beauty. It is about their charm.” The life lesson had started again as Shang went on passionately, “The captivity in their eyes. Oh, their expressive eyes with fervor rolling like a fire, it’s enchanting. Also, they shouldn’t look too perfect. Flawless women aren’t the fairest. They should have something broken somewhere in their heart. That would be the ultimate soft spot for men, the pole to salute upon. Tsk, tsk, tsk, the lasses before you aren’t the fairest, but they would be in a few years. Hahahaha!” he burst out laughing salaciously again.

“I can’t compute this,” Ye Chong shook his head.

Ugh! Shang’s chuckle got interrupted another time. He stayed speechless for some time, pondering how to explain it in Ye Chong’s language. Aha! It took him awhile to spit this out, “As long as you feel easy to look at her the whole time.” How about that? That’s the simplest I could think of.

“Then they aren’t even beauties to begin with,” stated Ye Chong unconcernedly.

“Oh?” Shang was intrigued, “Does that mean you have a higher standard on ladies? So tell me, Ye. What’s considered a beauty in your mind?”

He thought for a while and gradually he spat his description, “They shouldn’t be too buffed. That would affect their action speed. But they can’t be too slender too. The muscles should be there for explosive performance. Hmm, they should last long in the field too. They must also be flexible, master in combats and have competent knowledge and skills in mech. They should not be weaker than me and they should be a decisive fighter who launches strike immediately. Better if they could do a one hit K.O. They have to be alert. It would be best if they also happened to be an ace in mech piloting. So… generally speaking, the girls in front of me do not fulfill any of my requirements. So they aren’t beauties. Don’t try to argue with me on Xuelin’s mech skills; those aren’t even skillful for starters,” concluded Ye Chong his insights.

…

… …

“Shang?”

Shang was utterly stupefied!

It took him a few seconds to make an appropriate response. Moaned, he spoke on, “Holy Fal Galaxy! Ye, you are a monster! You want the girls to race with you? Do you think all women in this world could hack as good as you? Master in combats? You want to have a one-on-one with her…?”

“Yeah, why not?”

If there was a screen, Shang should be palming his face. He nearly fainted hearing Ye Chong’s assurance. “One-on-one. I knew it! Decisive fighter, able to strike a one-hit K.O., don’t you fear she would kill you accidentally?”

“As long as I’m more alert whenever I deal with her, it should not happen,” Ye Chong replied calmly.

“What if one day you aren’t alert enough to prevent that from happening?” Shang asked on as he could not give up just yet!

“Nope. I would stay alert enough all the time. Till the day I die. If I could not stay alert enough, isn’t normal for me to die too?” the answer came flatly as Ye Chong muttered in his mind.

That reply almost brought tears to Shang’s mechanical eyes, “I guess so! Ye! Gosh! You are just a freak you know that?”

“Freak?” Ye Chong was confused. “What’s a freak?”

It was pretty impressive that Shang had yet gone short-circuit from the conversation he had with Ye Chong. He was about to reply Ye Chong when Yang An suddenly howled.

Ye Chong’s mind came back to reality. He found Yang An’s face all pale as he shut down his communication device. Everyone looked at him in dismay. He inhaled deeply, collected his thoughts and tried to reproduce what he heard. “Ning’s parents said Ning was attacked last night when he was out for some grocery!”

“What?!”exclaimed everyone at once, except for Ye Chong.

“Is he okay? How’s the injury?” Xuelin asked.

“It shouldn’t be an issue.” Yang An shook his head, “But he has to take a break for the next few days; he’s not gonna make it for the tournament today…”

“Dammit!” Ke Han jumped and stomped the ground angrily, almost rampaging, “It has to be Jeb Luo that rat! That dirty rat! Damn! I saw Green-Head and those twerps loitering at Ning’s place! Hell it has to be them! I’ll breaktheir legs!” Ke Han pulled his sleeves and stampeded his way out. “Wait!” Yang An grabbed Ke Han hurriedly. It was supposed to be him stopping Ke Han, however Ke Han’s strength was obviously of another level to Yang An. Eventually Yang An got dragged away instead. Xuelin ran over to help holding back the thrashing bull. It took them quite some work to settle him down.

Meanwhile Ye Chong was criticizing on how the attack was pointless. Hmph, fools! Nobody flashed their intent to attack this early! What a failure!

They tried calming down, but they really could not. Without Ding Lining and with Ye Chong alone, their victory seemed far-fetched. Nevertheless, it was also far-fetched to find someone who held mechanical skills as good as Yining to replace him. They had witnessed how Yining materialized Ye Chong’s ideas these few days. Yining could not be replaced! He was more important than anyone else.

But now Yining is down, what should we do?

Time passed slowly and yet they were in such a hurry, except for Ye Chong, who assumed himself as an employee to this team. These were not of his concern.

As they realized they did not have much time left, Yang An bit his teeth, asking, “Ye, is it possible that you could complete this modification with Ning’s assistance?”

“Hmmm…” He thought for a moment and said, “The possibility is about 80%.” Wondered if he was affected by Mu, as he started to express most of the things in figures.

“That’s more than enough!” Yang An was delighted. “Then, would you please?”

“I haven’t done it yet.” Ye Chong spoke on, “It’s possible. But I charge extra for that. 2500 Zuan per hour!”

“That is daylight robbery!” Xuelin rushed to him, “You! You! You dirty robber! Do you know what you are doing?”

Ye Chong was puzzled by her reaction. He asked in his mind, “So Shang, what’s wrong if I charge more for the extra work that I do?” Shang was still in the shock from their conversation before, he laboriously replied, “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with that.”

He raised his brows and ignored Xuelin who was knotting her brows and titling her lips. His eyes were fixed on Yang An.

“Fine!” Yang An ground his teeth and replied, “Deal!”

Chapter 78: Last One Standing

e Chong was shifting to the venue with the rest of the members. Xuelin could not resist doing her signature eye-rolling at Ye Chong. She just wanted to keep her so-called “attitude” because Ye Chong was putting up an attitude with her and her friends too. Though her pupils might be rolling into the abyss in her head anytime soon, Ye Chong was not reacting since her so-called “attitude” was considered too unthreatening for him to make a move.

“Here it is,” Yang An introduced the very building of their academy.

It was an awe-inspiring building.

Nevertheless, Ye Chong did not seem impressed while Xuelin carried on spitting her tongue with Cousin Xiu kindly advising her to stop it.

The main building was a foundation of about 800 floors tall – shaped like a gigantic circular beehive, with countless mechs flying into the openings from time to time like flocks of hornets.

The mechs were the main transportation on the planet at that time. It was a century of technological advancement. However, it did not mean that people had given up traveling by foot. In fact, there were a handful of students who retained walking as part of their routine and so were the people around. Pedestrians would never disappear because of some fancy technologies hovering everywhere above them as they strolled to their destination in leisure, admiring the view around them. And on this very planet, the Blue Ocean Academy was the one-and-only, one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-blue-moon institute that encompassed multiple dimensions of mechanical expertise. They had compiled the syllable and remastered the structure, which provided an efficient and effective learning experience. The Blue Ocean government also showed tremendous support in founding this establishment and keeping it running.

Certainly, the Blue Ocean Academy did not fail their supporters as they finally made it into the top 100 academies in 5 major galaxies the year before last. They made it with a crash, like a charging chariot of scholars into the hall of the wisest fame, becoming the pride and admiration of residents on Blue Ocean Planet.

The school compound was as wide as a state. Well, technically, Blue Ocean Planet had only 4 states. One could imagine how tremendous the government’s support to the academy was.

There were trees. Yes, trees! The long-extinct trees due to illegal logging could actually be found in the academy! They were well-taken care of too! Lumbers were the luxury in the market, the price was astronomical even for a piece of lumber with a diameter merely about 10 centimeters. Let alone a living tree, there where Ye Chong stood, lay a huge land of forest before him. Imagine the price of this forest! It was a much more rewarding investment than any other traditional property. As the age of the trees increased, the price would increase steadily too. It was just like wines, but thousands of bottles of them! And they did not need an appraiser to determine their value!

The enrollment was approximately 500,000 students, with a large number of them coming from planets far, far away.

As Ye Chong and his happy-go-lucky companions trekked on, he saw many students passing by, with most of them having an active discussion of the upcoming tournament. They seemed exceedingly excited. Ye Chong the usual indifferent one could understand their excitement. I mean, thousands and thousands of mechs soaring in the sky, do you know how grand the sight would be? Thought Ye Chong.

Obviously the tournament had became the star of the day, as a Pilot was the representation of power in this time. Being the freest individual voyaging in the galaxy, they never failed to amaze the people not only with their skills, but also with the epic tales of their adventure. They were like the rangers, conquering the unknown; they were like the acrobats, agile yet bold. Their stories were colored by romance, branded by will. Their heroic appearance was also further reinforced as publicized by the government. The dauntless ideology of a pilot was popular among the lively youngsters. And most importantly the demonstration of their skills had become a dazzling entertainment to behold without fail. Applause came roaring like the waterfall; their names were shouted by the crowd. And of course, any big fans of the mechanism would not simply miss the tournament this time just to have a moment of happiness glancing at the strangest mech one could ever have seen and the greatest creativity a mech modification technician could have.

The adrenaline surged every stream of Ye Chong’s veins under his skin. Ye Chong looked calm but his emotion grumbled, urging him to get moving. It was his first time seeing such a magnificent view.

And that awe in him slowly transformed into envy. He grew envious of these students. It must be wonderful to be able to study and live here since young. But… He discarded the thought entirely. It was not him to be sentimental of trivial things like this. Everyone had their own path to go. He understood the rule of life well.

Despite being in quite a naive environment, Ye Chong kept his alertness as he tried his best to maintain a set of distance away from people, which made him appear a little sociopathic in the crowd. Nonetheless, a crowd was still a crowd. It was so packed that Ye Chong’s effort of keeping a distance from people became meaningless and unfulfilled. The situation to him was not foreign, however, he could only cope with helplessness. A place like this would bring utter murder in his viewpoint. It would practically be the most dangerous, the best place for assassination. He strongly believed that if he were to commit a murder in a crowd like this, he would hardly be noticed.

“Hey!” A question popped up in his mind out of sudden, “Yang An, so, why haven’t you thought of employing an actual mod technician, like… the real deal?”

“The school was fine with outsiders participating in the tournament. But with one condition – the age of the participant must be less than 25. In a simpler term, we have to find a technician younger than that. And a mech modification technician aged less than 25? That’s the catch. Only a genius could be an official technician before they turned 25. And there are not more than 10 geniuses in the entire Fal Galaxy,” explained Yang An.

Yang An could be clarifying the scenario in an dramatic and elaborative way, but Ye Chong did not really care of how he said. He’s got the point anyway, and he was very much aware of the reason behind such condition.

Surely if he were to just compare himself with the certified mod technicians out there, he would not feel much of how outstanding a mere 25-year-old official mechanic could be. He was only 20 too. But wonder how his mindset would change if he ever knew the fact that a normal mod technician would already be 28 by the time of graduation. They had a stern assessment for this title. The students had to take up further education after they graduated. After they had passed that, they had to undergo an internship for about 2 years. And they strictly could not produce any form of inaccuracies (or mistakes) of more than 5% of the entire timeframe of performance. Only then they would be officially bestowed with the title. So a normal mod technician would be at least 33 years old.

Well, as what Yang An had mentioned, while it sounded literally impossible to be a recognized mod technician before 25, there were geniuses. If you happened to have some revolutionary theory or invention that actually got the attention of the 5 major galaxies’ prominent organizations and they gave you the recognition while you passed the assessment by the Mod. Technician Association (MTA), you could skip all the way to internship. If you also successfully completed your internship without making mistakes of more than 3% in the period, you would be certified right away.

This was some exclusive standard beyond the SOP that had attracted tons of experts from everywhere in the galaxy. They were serious, like dead-serious, that to the senior group , this tournament was as significant as their year-end assessment to get their certification. As for the junior group, they were highly participative, willing to challenge their limits. Some might have argued that it did not sound that serious but these students were the kind who would head out and hunt for experts from other schools or even the hermits hidden in the villages outside, all just to win the tournament. This led to the interaction between schools to exchange ideology and inventive methodology, all for the advancement of the academy. It was part of the Blue Ocean Academy’s plan as the school would also pay the outsiders handsomely to encourage enrollment, especially to those geniuses who learned everything themselves yet concealing themselves among the people.

Every potential counts!

That was the vision of the academy.

Ye Chong entered the building with Yang An’s gang. There were still a little bit more time till their turn.

Oh?

Ye Chong’s eyes detected something fun. He went to the spectator’s area. It was the race, the race of flight. It was surprisingly as intense as the combat between mechs he had spectated back then. The zooming velocity to the finale of speed of war in the sky, the sonic boom caused by the friction as the mechs shredded the air with their compelling momentum, the whirlwind that veiled a screen of sand as they passed by, the scream from the people in thrill; those were blood-boiling to Ye Chong as his hands grabbed the metal fence tight.

“Time to go,” Yang An said as he hauled Ye Chong away from the spectator’s area to a walkway with a plate written the number “5” at the entrance.

A touch-screen processor projected in a hologram stood there at the side. “Your I.D.” Yang An motioned with his hands.

Ye Chong took the card out from his pocket. “Put it in,” pointed Yang An to the slot.

The hologram screen changed its interface as soon as Ye Chong inserted his card to the processor. A number of windows of Ye Chong’s biography popped up.

Name: Ye Chong

Age: 20

That was all it mattered. At the age section, it clearly wrote “20”. Definitely nothing should go wrong at this point. Yang An let off a sigh of relief. It looked like all his anxiousness could finally get on hold.

“Oh and pick ‘external’ at the ‘participant type’ section!” reminded Yang An.

Beep! The mechanical voice rang, “Ye Chong, age, 20, external participation fulfilled the condition, please select the participating title.”

This was simple. Ye Chong just picked “mech modification technician” himself without Yang An’s nagging reminder.

“Please input the index number of the participating group.”

…

Yang An stayed silent. Ye Chong was thinking just when he really needed a reminder, the person kept his mouth shut. Only after he gave a stare for a moment, Yang An hastily recited the group’s index number, “That’d be HL659874!”

Thud! Thud! Thud! … Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

… Ye Chong checked the input for a few times. Yup, that was right! And he pressed “Enter”, “Congratulations! Registration completed!” the voice rang.

The registration process of Blue Ocean Academy was easy and hassle-free. This was to encourage participation of nonmembers.

“Alright. This walkway is where you would enter to get your show on. For now, calm down, collect your thoughts, muster your courage and skills because you are on your own without Yining. You are the last man standing, you know?”

“Okay,” a typical disyllabic reply from Ye Chong came flatly.

Ye Chong adjusted his breathing pattern accordingly. He was trying to calm himself to a point where he would feel serene yet a little worked up at the same time. And this! This is the battle! A war! And Ye Chong would not have letups for any war coming by! It was for his survival! 100% effort for 100% survival rate! The faith Ye Chong had in his battle!

Both of them actually waited for half an hour. It could be the longest 30 minutes for any 20-year-old newbie in the business but Ye Chong was not acting impatient. He was not agitated too. And Yang An was again impressed by Ye Chong’s mental clarity.

Beeeep! The electronic voice announced, “HL659874! Group HL659874, please have your mech modification technician, Mr. Ye Chong ready. Your match is beginning in 5 minutes. Kindly prepare yourself!”

“Well…” Yang An sounded worried, “Yining is not here… and I have no idea how the interior looks like. But… you know, just go in and do what you are good at!”

Ye Chong nodded his head.

The 5 minutes lapsed like seconds. Ding-dong!

“The match shall start immediately. Mech modification technician of Group: HL659874, HL659874, kindly enter the room right away.”

Ye Chong went right in front of the door.

Zzzzzt!

“Scan completed! Identity: Ye Chong, verified. Biography, matched! Please proceed.”

The two-paneled door slid open both sides in a hush. And right after he entered through the door, there was another door. The door only opened after the one at his back went shut.

Ye Chong casually stepped into the room.

The previous match had ended a moment ago and undeniably it was a remarkable performance, where the audience’s applause still roared inside the room as they anticipated the next contestant. Hologram screens projecting visuals in high-definition were everywhere in the school compound of various sizes going from screens as huge as 100 meters to screens as tiny as 10 centimeters. Whether it was a huge or tiny screen, there was no doubt that there would be hordes surrounding it. The Blue Ocean Academy held the tournament open to spectators who also wanted to join along the fun, but the entire event was not live on the media. This meant that if you wanted to watch the show, you had to come here by yourself. And of course, with the academy’s reputation, people would come flocking for the show of the year. The annual population of spectators was always as grand as the tournament itself.

The screens would cast the contestants from all angles. The camera skills were absolutely mind-blowing – they never failed to capture the best moments of every contestant which they would replay and cause exclamation among the crowd.

At the spectator’s area, Xiu gripped Xuelin’s sleeve nervously. Her crystal-clear eyes searched that very silhouette she recognized on the screens. Ke Han had already hit the ground running, preparing for his turn. Yang An on the other hand was guarding at the entrance of walkway No. 5, remaining the poor girls at the seats watching everything restlessly.

“The match will begin in T-5”

“4”

“3”

The figure rolled on the screen.

“2”

“1”

At the next moment, the screens were full of sparks and embers as the contestants jumped themselves on the machineries before them with tools in their hands.

The angles were ever-changing. The eyes were too busy watching.

Out of the blue, the audience cried out almost simultaneously, stirring up a fiasco in Blue Ocean Academy as the few hundreds of thousands of people roared on. And at one point, they stopped, like a sudden brake of the racing horses. They engulfed their scream as their eyes were all fixed on that silhouette on one screen.

The crowd went dead silent.

Chapter 79: It’s Showtime I

e Chong’s match began as soon as he set foot into the mod room. He calibrated his body and his senses. Yes, calibration, one of the intriguing character settings Ye Chong had for his survival, or “adjustments” some called it, a foreign environment could always give Ye Chong a strong sense of vigilance. Even though realistically there would not be any threat in the securely sealed room, he carried on doing it as part of his instinct. As mentioned, it was not a “skill” that could be toggled on and off by will. It was a “setting” reoccurring on him. His frigid stare toured the room.

The truth is, Ye Chong had no idea that all his actions were fully captured by the cameras inside the room. Everyone could see even his slightest gesture through the hologram screen.

His “calibration” might appear as insignificant as gestures, but it did raise some exclamations in the crowd. They sprung from their seats unnervingly then they realized how embarrassingly they just acted as they fell back to their places quickly. Their eyes rolled, all fixed on that particular screen with Ye Chong, looking intrigued as they smiled.

At the other corners of the spectator’s area, some of them stood up as well. They too looked surprise through the flicks of their eyes.

Ye Chong observed his surrounding carefully.

It was a room of about 300 meters long and 100 meters broad. A huge room where all sorts of parts needed to build a mech were placed along with a processor at the center.

Beep!

The processor prompted, “You may use all the parts provided in this room. To begin, submit your design here at the processor. You have 45 minutes to complete the entire modification process. If you failed to complete the modification process in the time allocated, marks would be deducted accordingly. Also, the pilot of your group would be piloting an R-1 default mech to complete the upcoming race instead.”

He started inspecting the parts on the ground. Wow! He was astounded. He had to admit that the Blue Ocean Academy did have some money in their pockets. Even the parts in the mod room alone could cost dearly and they replenished the parts for every participant. Imagine the expenditure just to sustain the matches!

Wonder how Ye Chong would react if he knew that the category he took part in was only one of the 32 categories in the whole academy.

Well, there’s always time for that but not now.

Ye Chong calmed his mind.

His sharp eyes discerned every scattered parts on the ground. He had remembered them by heart. He pondered for a moment and then strode towards the processor in the middle of the room. Standing before the processor, under the bright spotlights, he grimly submitted his design plan.

At the broadcasting room, people had been as busy as bees. Due to the overwhelming population of contestants, the audience should be perplexed identifying the contestants on the screens and they should also be puzzled picking contestants to watch and to cheer. This issue became the studio’s responsibility to resolve. The broadcaster had to give commentaries to explain the senses behind the participants’ mech designs to keep the audience entertained and not be swamped by jargons and ambiguity in certain behaviors by the participants – the hows and whys. Furthermore, in every mod room there would be one staff who observed the happenings and reported the striking moment of the contestants immediately to the central studio while the central studio selected the better ones to roll on the main hologram screens. In a nutshell, everything concerns one factor – speed. Move fast! Move faster! Move fastest! The audience wants to see sweat! Tears! Passion! Love! Diligence! Move! Move! Move!

The executive director behind the scene for the tournament this year was Rui Su, the vice president of the Broadcasting course.

Rui Su completed her studies in broadcasting course of Blue Ocean Academy at the age of 23. Additionally, she obtained her recognition from the senior director with her academic paper titled “The Theory of Usage of Motion in a Mutual Relationship with Limited View” which only took her 1 year to finalize, and hence becoming the youngest executive director in the history of Blue Ocean Academy. In the second year of her career, which happened to be this year, the academy requested her to take over the position of the vice president of the Broadcasting course.

Without doubt, this was Rui Su’s first ever Blue Ocean Academy Tournament directing job.

The silky long dark hair laid on her shoulders gently like a small stream of waterfall on a silent night, while her eyes shone in clear sapphire like the puddle of seawater in the tender fondle. The beauty of the sea lustered in her charm, as if one could feel the sea literally just by standing next to her – the tranquillity, the serenity. Her skin was fairer than winter’s snow; her face was polished like the jades, adorned with the tiny pair of lips, in a scarlet glow which brought up an epic beauty crafted in the finest manner. The curves on her body was beyond well-proportioned and would stimulate with the slightest turn.

Unquestionably, every part of her could be the best view for a man – angelic and eye-healing.

Everyone thought the same the first moment they saw her, till the view actually collapsed right onto their faces; they learned something for the day. The fiercest storm always starts with the sweetest rain.

“Are you guys retarded? Did all of you sleep through your lectures back then? You can’t even carry out the simplest order! I’m telling all of you, if you are ever capable to mess up my work this time… Hmph! You are just as capable as repeating your subjects for this semester! I’m just impressed by how you guys have the balls to slack right in front of me. Do you wish to die right here and right now? Hey!” Her flamethrower aimed at one of the students passing by, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Wang Xiao’er! Are your eyes peeled and your ears opened? Do you want me to do it for you instead? Move your lazy bottom and get the job done! You have been a good student in the past. Why are you acting flaccid like you’re a freshman who doesn’t know anything about broadcasting on such an important event today? Did your willy just grow inwards? Are you still a man? Can you get hard?” her voice raised the tempest, filled with wrath and corrosive words.

Wang Xiao’er’s slender body shivered under the howling voice of the devil in the studio. No one else could lend a hand to him because they were running away. However, because of her howls, everyone acted much quicker.

Rui Sui grumbled as she sat down, “What a bunch of complete retard! They can’t even help me out at a moment like this! What did I do to deal with all these? These Year 1 students are dumber than donkeys. They have at least studied their basics, yet they are acting like they are on their first day in the academy. Why don’t we just employ donkeys to do the work for us instead? It helps in saving the academy’s expenditure.” She might have sounded harsh but her charm never fades.

Out of the blue, a shriek from Wang Xiao’er resounded throughout the pack of students rushing in the studio. And that was the last straw to Rui Su’s temper outburst, “Wang! Xiao! Er! Do you really want to die today? I could grant your wish you know! You were a good boy! Well! Not anymore! I can’t believe you are brave enough to create another mess to the job today!” It was just a step before she launched her whirlwind kick combo at the paperback Wang Xiao’er. Nonetheless, she held it back as she knew that if she ever did her signature diving kick, with her strength, the paper Wang Xiao’er would be shredded on spot.

And she retreated her lifted legs.

The undelivered final blow did shock Wang Xiao’er for a few seconds, then his pale cheeks shuddered as he screamed in shaking voice, “Sister, come and take a look at this!” he pointed at the screen before him.

Rui Su forbade the students to greet her as “teacher” or “madam” or weak names like “Ms. Rui Su”. Those would truly make her sound dramatically older she claimed. Thus, everyone should only greet her as “Sister”.

“Wang Xiao’er!” She walked towards the quivering boy on his seat, mumbling, “If this is one of your stupid tricks to get away from your trouble today, you better be either picking a morgue or a hospital to stay in.”

She was mumbling, till she slammed on the front desk before the screen. She zipped her mouth and stared the screen with focus. That was her personality when she went into work mode – professional and fully concentrated.

It was as if she was possessed. Upon having a closer look at what was going on in the screen, her eyes enlarged, wide like the saucers!

She went in utter silence for the next few seconds and had an inertia as she came back. The impact from the screen scorched her feet as she jumped up high and stormed to her seat, hurrying the boy, “Wang Xiao’er! Quick! Get the channel over here!”

“Yes,” replied Wang Xiao’er.

The audience at the spectator’s area noticed it coming suddenly. All the screens were only projecting at one particular person.

The contestant from Mod Room No.5!

“Ah!” Xuelin and Cousin Xiu screeched together after realizing who it was. Cousin Xiu covering her little mouth in disbelief along with Xuelin who had her mouth widely open.

Mod Room No.5! That would be Ye Chong!

Before their astonishment settled down, the audience in the entire row of the spectators area jumped up hurrahing. Rui Su actually had switched all the screens in the school compound to the visual at Mod Room No.5!

And that was when few hundred thousands of spectators in the whole campus saw an unforgettable scene for their lives!

On the screen the man waved his hands like a magician. In full focus, his hands slid the parts under like a breeze on a spring. Well that description did not sound that applause-worthy, since all mod technicians had to master that trick!

It was not the trick. It was his hands! Ye Chong’s hands!

Ye Chong finally demonstrated the frightening speed of his hands, the first time in the public, right in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Sadly he was not aware of what an amazing achievement he had just accomplished. Revealing his only deadly capability to the entire world. If only he knew what actually happened, he would be jumping off the building.

To Ye Chong, revealing the arsenal of his abilities was no more than suicidal.

Ye Chong literally had no idea that his actions would be wholly broadcasted throughout the academy. Without the help of Yining, that was what he could only do. To make use of his abilities to the fullest! With great concentration! Being entirely engaged to the process, he did not see how fearsome his speed was.

His hands were so agile that they do not feel belonged to a human. The afterimages of his movements were faint yet still recognizable. Nobody questioned its authenticity.

The space, was soundless.

Everyone watched on and was barely hushing.

The sky of the quiet campus echoed with the excited voices of the commentaries, “Holy Fal Galaxy! In what Blue Ocean world are those pair of hands! Such a scary speed on a mod technician, enough to terrify the students from the Piloting course hiding back into their cabins! With such a speed, what could still be impossible to our fine contestant? Oh? Hmm… Yes, yes.” The commentator lowered his voice as the sound of paper ruffling came.

He cleared his throat, “We had just obtained the biography of this very contestant in our tournament today! Apparently, this phenomenal contestant in Room No.5 is none other than Ye Chong. He is only 20 years old. Oh, my, Fal, Galaxy! 20 years old! Our students would be a mere freshman being pampered everywhere if they were 20-year-olds! This is stunning! Staggering! Mind-opening! Evidently, he is not only a genius, but a genius among the geniuses! And… hmm… What! I can’t believe it! Ye Chong is not a student in our campus too! And there is zero record about his education background! So, I strongly believe that nobody would disagree on what I had just said!”

The commentator’s tone turned teasing, “Hehehehe. I know our beloved principal had just gotten the biography in hand and must be all wet and panicking begging for the tournament to end right away only to meet with this boy! Principal, your eyes desired something, am I right? Haha!”

And the audience laughed along.

“What?” Another moment of paper ruffling the microphone, “O.M.F.G.! Oh My Fal Galaxy! Did this just happen? The staff had passed me the hand-speed report of this Ye Chong boy a moment ago and guess what? According to the outcome shown, within the duration we talked just now, Ye Chong had achieved a groundbreaking speed of Mach 3.57 at the highest! Gosh! Did he modify his hands into an engine with artificial intelligence?”

And the audience exclaimed.

Mach 3.57!

The whispers scurried the spectator’s area, “Is that even a speed by human?”

That last line from the commentary did tickle the funny-bone in everyone though.

Mach 3.57 was not fast enough to Ye Chong. It was not because he wanted to hide his strength, it was merely because he was yet to familiarize with the modification process that he had to slow down to minimize mistakes. It was justifiable considering how he had only spent a few days at Yining’s house. Nevertheless it was astounding enough for him to hit this speed.

That was not all.

The scene after this had launched a full barrel of fiasco at the crowd.

It’s showtime!

Chapter 80: It’s Showtime II

e Chong seemed to have utterly lost himself in the process. He was so absorbed by the fun of modifying mech. Moreover he was much more focused than before without Yining this time, since he also skipped the idle chatter and was fully invested to the modification process.

He grew acquainted with the apparatuses and his hands moved faster. The afterimages had started overlapping on each other. It was as if the audiences were watching some Sci-Fi movie; their mouths stayed open in disbelief.

“Madness! Insanity! Ye Chong, our contestant is going faster! Based on the data we had freshly obtained, Ye Chong has already achieved a whopping Mach 3.88 at his hands! Looks like our champion in the making is doing fantastic! I wonder if he ever has a limit or is this actually his maximum? Well nobody knows! That’s why we would watch on in curiosity and to witness the show of the century!”

Ye Chong was engrossed in every detail of his craft. He looked all concentrated and the grim face of his slowly turned gentle. The sober was washed away by his passion towards mechs, exerting a one-of-a-kind magnetism. The stern eyes were cleansed as they sparkled in a refined wisdom and craftsmanship! The face and his smooth, continuous movements gleamed like a diamond rinsed from the mud. It was dazzling, yet so mesmerizing. No one was bothered by his torn clothings and no one cared if he was not handsome enough for the standard of public. At that very moment, he was the center of the tempest swirling the entire academy! He attracted everyone’s attention and had blinded the audience from seeing the potent performance by the other contestants!

As the audience had their eyes frozen on Ye Chong, the shape of the modified mech started becoming discernible.

The sound of paper muffling the microphone echoed, “Okay, we had just acquired the design plan submitted by Ye Chong. Well, by our standard of conduct, this should never be available till the end of the tournament. But thanks to our diligent staff and our supportive fans below, our loving principal had finally agreed to bestow this to us under special permission. It was quite a hassle but I would guarantee this would worth the trouble we had gone through! Alright…”

“Hmm… Hmm…” the commentator took a glance at the papers.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! The moment we looked at this plan, everyone of us at the studio held the same thought; this person is absolutely a genius among the geniuses! Assuming Ye Chong’s frightening speed of his hands has defined us his impressive discipline in self-training, then this very piece of plan could easily define to all of us here today, that he also possesses masterly knowledge! And I would like to highlight something for everyone on the seat – this piece of design was rated a perfect score at our mech modification assessment system! In addition, the concept of his design is overwhelming enough to make all our 12 advanced mech modification technician nod their heads! They responded simultaneously with approval. A perfect score! A masterpiece!”

And that comment landed on the audience like an atomic bomb. The audience could no longer inhibit the fiasco rumbling inside them. Hisses, bustles and rustles took over the floor.

Cousin Xiu’s eyes were totally glued at the screen watching Ye Chong. Her eyes glossed like a lake in autumn, calm and still yet seemingly uneasy. She seemed to be figuring out something in her mind. Meanwhile, Xuelin had lowered her head, with the expression changing from time to time. Her face was once blushed, then it became drained. Sometimes one could hear her mutters or sound of her grinding her teeth. Her eyes wavered, her lips quivered.

“Well, well, well. Plot twist: Ye Chong is a super processor himself! In b4 his mechanical arm broke from that speed!” tossing a meme, the commentator spoke on humorously.

And everyone at the bottom laughed out loud.

“A new glorious record has been written today at this tournament 300 years after the academy was founded. Gorgeous it was yet saddening! Since it wasn’t our student who made the record! We should be ashamed of our inability! Sniff sniff!” The commentator’s voice sounded remorseful and that made most of the actual students from the academy lowering their heads embarrassingly.

“Anyway! We should take the precious time to have some word about Ye Chong’s acclaimed design of perfection! Firstly, Ye Chong actually discarded the traditional humanoid design for his mech. In exchange, he incorporated the design of an aircraft for the main body. It is a daring attempt as the humanoid designs aren’t widely used for no reason today. However, an aircraft design is undeniably much more practical for the upcoming race. The reason is that the limbs of a humanoid design do not contribute anything to speed. Our aircrafts are mostly circular nowadays, in which the design was not fancied by our Ye Chong. He dropped the idea of the mainstream aircrafts and went for the ancient design – the arrowhead to build the main body.”

The audience boomed in exclamation. It looked like they were the corns rolling in the popcorn machine, exploding anytime soon if more shocking facts were fed upon them.

“For the engine, he had selected Firebird-III, also a non-mainstream engine choice. And believe me, most of the students don’t even have an idea of what a Firebird-III is. Generally, the Firebird-III provides forceful motion while only having 1/2 of the weight of the mainstream engine choices in the same category. It also has the largest scope of direction control among the other engines of its grade. This vitally eliminates the major issue of lack of direction control in the arrowhead design. The downside of this choice though is its overwhelming energy drain. However, it remained as the chosen one by our Ye Chong.” The commentator took a quick sip and carried on explaining.

“Contrary to the usual mechs, the side wings at the front of the mech do not simply consist of flimsy metallic board, instead, a few more additional engines are installed on them. That would permit the ability of a large scope of direction change, but it would be quite challenging to the pilot of this craft.

Moving on with the shape, unlike the traditional arrowhead designs, Ye Chong seemed to have tweaked the aerodynamic aspect of this design – which would further reduce the C.D. of the former designs. Just in case our audience was confused by the fancy terminology, C.D. as in Coefficient of Drag means the level of drag or resistance of an object when it travels in fluid environment like the air in this tournament. Fundamentally this has justified the fact that our Ye Chong wields great theoretical knowledge. Certainly amazing! How many of us who are 30 years old and below today would even have interest in theoretical knowledge? Let alone being able to acquire such a result!

Next, there is also something unique about the location of center of gravity for his design. It’s very bold…”

Before the commentator’s voice landed, the screen changed as it zoomed away from Ye Chong, showing the whole craft.

Ye Chong had completed all the necessary modification. Seeing how he was left with ample time, he leisurely took a can of spray and began painting the mech blue. A light blue arrowhead, which would obviously cause another round of chatter at the audience below.

The mech was literally Gliding Joy! The one he created at Yining’s place before!

The Gliding Joy this time was slightly different than the one before. This was because Ye Chong took the time to further fine-tune the design of its main body. Of course, Shang would take most of the credits during this. Shang was unhappy being “enslaved” by Ye Chong and he was angrier than ever at the fact that Ye Chong purposely ran away from his ultimate chemist training. Well, we all knew that Ye Chong did not give a damn. To avoid that, Ye Chong eventually succumbed to 24/7 modification designing.

Ye Chong’s deep interest for mech seemed to be inborn. The mech theories were not as disinteresting as the chemist’s theories. At least Ye Chong knew where Shang was going when he briefed about mechs. Once Shang switched to the chemist lecture mode, Ye Chong only knew he had to run… and run fast!

Shang could only whined a bit in the end. Since it was indeed pointless of him to lecture if there was no practical for Ye Chong to work with.

Back to the stage, Ye Chong felt something was amiss. Oh yes! He grabbed another can of spray and painted two large letters at the body. “G.J.” which is an abbreviation for Gliding Joy – the wavy curve of the G with the the silver hook at the J intrepidly. Cheekily, Ye Chong tossed the can away and declared the completion of his mech, the Gliding Joy!

“Ye Chong our boy turned and squinted, ‘ain’t nobody got time for that!’ He had much better things to do than putting the can back nicely. But well this is what a bad boy would do. Go hide your kids before they get hit! Wait, hide your flowers too!” The commentator humored Ye Chong’s throw.

One must admit that Ye Chong did have a great luck. In every room, the choices of the parts given were actually different from each other, with some of them being randomly given. Yes, that means Ye Chong had Firebird-III in his room by luck! No, by fate!

Ye Chong fondled the glossy skin of his baby. That profoundly devoted gaze of his was shrill-worthy for the kitties at the spectator’s area.

Just when the audience was going to start applauding, something surprising happened again!

Ye Chong took a flip and went into the cabin.

Yes! The cabin!

“What he’s doing?”

“I don’t know. I have enough shock for today…”

“I had lost track of what’s happening…”

“I don’t want to live on this planet anymore…”

Everyone was stupefied, including the commentator who shut his mouth and watched carefully what Ye Chong was doing. He would not want to miss a detail of an anticipated miracle from this boy.

Beep.

Gliding Joy activated.

“What?” The people were terrified.

“Did he just turn on the mech he just built?”

“Has he even tested his mech?”

“Of course not! That aside, is he committing suicide?”

“Oh my gosh… Does he know where he is? That is the mod room! The indoors! With only 150 meter away from the walls, even a normal speed of mech about Mach 2 would take 1 second to hit the wall.”

“Somebody stop him!”

“That means, he’s going to suicide?”

The crowd panicked.

The girls at the seats began shrieking in fear. People covered their eyes as they refused to witness a brutal crash from a genius. They would never be able to face such ending for a boy, of becoming a splat of flesh on the wall with scraps of metal on the ground!

“Stop! Stop! Stop!” Even the commentator could hold it no longer, “Ah!”

No one could imagine of piloting a mech at high speed in a narrow room like this! It skips one’s heartbeat even from thinking about it. The intensity started building in everyone’s mind, like a dynamite blowing up soon.

“Is he mad?”

“Does he really think it’s his showtime? That’s why he wanted to put off a show?”

“I don’t know. He could be the stupidest genius I ever came across. Hahahaha.” The envious participants sneered as they whispered.

“He’s gonn-” The noise stopped abruptly as Ye Chong on his Gliding Joy disappeared like a strike of blue lightning, right in front of everybody.

The expecting collision did not occur.

The light blue Gliding Joy reappeared as it braked 2 meters right before the wall. Such a visual impact to everyone at the tournament, a prime definition of extreme-motion to extreme-motionless, a heart-shocker!

“Di-Did… Did he just accelerate at a 150 meter distance? I-Is that even possible?”

“No way! No way I’m digesting this! This has to be due to pure coincidence! Yeah! Luck! He was just lucky!”

The whispers went on.

“Well, that is it! Ladies and gentleman!” The commentator sighed in relief, “The Lady Luck seemed to have smiled at Ye Chong today! He actually stopped right before the wall in such a brief distance! This is extraordinary! This is unbelievable! I guess the God would fear losing such a genius this quickly too! But oh my, Ye Chong, you should really learn from your fatal mistake! The pressure-buffering system in a racing mech is obsolete by nature and might be insufficient to protect the impact from your behavior just now! Please value your life more than anything else! This is for everybody at the seats as well!”

And the crowd nodded heavily in agreement.

His action was heart-wrecking indeed. There were quite a few people whose hearts literally skipped a beat when they saw what Ye Chong did. Their faces turned pale and seemed to be collapsing.

On the other hand, Ye Chong jumped out of Gliding Joy normally. Yes, normally. His expression was bland, as usual. There was hardly any expression, as if the thrill he did was nothing. The grim on his face returned as indifferentlyas he stared at his masterpiece. The kitties on their seats screamed on top of their lungs again, “Ye Chong! Oh my!” “He’s so cool!” “I can’t take it anymore!” “Such dangerous man, if that’s dangerous, I’ll be dangerous too!”

The YC fans club seemed to be sprouting anytime soon.

Ye Chong did not seem to be interested though. He walked to the processor at the center of the room, pushed a few buttons to officially declare his completion.