Genius Mechanic

22. Mad Dog

A certain name flashed through his mind just now, but when he tried to recall it carefully, he couldn't remember anymore.

He had seen too many records of mechs in the KID base, some he recognized, some he didn't, and a lot of information was mixed together. He only remembered that particular record because of that incident.

He recalled that there seemed to be something marked with an electronic pen next to the record of the KID Artillery mecha pilot.

What was it? He lowered his head in thought.

The others chased after Shen Xingtang, asking who the new Artillery mecha pilot was. Shen Xingtang simply replied that they would find out tomorrow, adding to the mystery.

"I felt the last Artillery mecha pilot was quite mysterious. Could it be the one Tang jie mentioned?" Ji Qingfeng pulled Jiang Simiao into gossip.

Jiang Simiao forced a smile and said, "It's probably him."

Lin Yao excitedly said, "That guy is amazing! I feel he's more reliable than Xu Yaojun!"

Ji Qingfeng asked, "Has that brother competed in our league before? I saw news about transfers in the last transfer window, and it seems all the mecha pilots transferring to the Dawn Galaxy have been confirmed. Could he be an external reinforcement from another star domain or galaxy?"

Jiang Simiao didn't know how to explain to them and finally said, "The new Artillery mecha pilot is not from another galaxy; he is of Chinese descent. He used to be a mecha pilot in the Dawn Galaxy but retired due to some reasons, so there was no news of him in the transfer window."

"Retired? Tang jie wouldn't find someone older, would she?" Ji Qingfeng said.

"...Are you discriminating against older people?" Jiang Simiao responded.

"Of course not! I didn't even mention Old Huo, who's 28. Men become more attractive as they age," Ji Qingfeng fluently added, "Tang jie is just giving him a chance to get reemployed with us."

"He's only 24," Jiang Simiao felt a headache, "Forget it, you'll find out when he comes tomorrow."

Ying Chenlin sat beside them, listening to their conversation. After a while, his neural implant buzzed; it was time for his medication. He excused himself and returned to his room.

This kind of silent departure had happened many times. In the past few days, Ying Chenlin had either stayed in the maintenance room or his bedroom in the base. Everyone in the base was familiar with each other, but they weren't used to dealing with such a reserved and quiet technician. Ji Qingfeng, in particular, felt a bit uncomfortable, "Is Lin *Di not used to the pace here?"

*di - younger brother

Jiang Simiao couldn't hold back and said, "You're even calling him 'Di'?"

"He's younger than me, and I call Lin Yao 'Baobei.' It's fine," Ji Qingfeng shrugged.

Lin Yao nodded, not feeling anything wrong with the titles. "Is he not in good health? We don't have a doctor here in the base, and I saw him injecting medication last time."

Jiang Simiao remained silent, and he also had some doubts about Ying Chenlin's background, along with Shen Xingtang. However, since he was willing to share such important technical knowledge with them, their sincerity was enough; suspecting others was unkind.

Besides, after spending these days together, Ying Chenlin turned out to be a man of few words. Shen Xingtang also emphasized that he was still a KID, so they should take care of him when possible.

"The medication he's injecting should be a neural regulator. Changing prosthetics isn't as easy as you think. If the fusion isn't high, the pain at the amputation site is persistent," Jiang Simiao advised, "You two strong guys, try not to bump into him, okay?"

Lin Yao: "Sure, no problem!"

Ji Qingfeng: "You can trust us to handle it."

"...," Jiang Simiao still couldn't completely trust them, "Anyway, did today's training plan meet the standard? Hurry up and go, don't waste time here."

After saying this, Jiang Simiao left, leaving Ji Qingfeng and Lin Yao alone.

"I feel like Lin Di knows a lot. The other day, I kept telling Tang jie that sometimes I can't fully utilize the firepower on the right leg of my artillery mecha. She said she fixed that issue, but I tried a few times and still faced the problem," Lin Yao recalled their time in the maintenance room a few days ago, "At that time, Lin Di happened to be nearby, and he said something to Tang jie, and she realized the problem."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, do you remember what happened to the right arm of my mecha last time?" Ji Qingfeng pondered, "Lin Di was also concerned about that."

The communication between artillery mecha pilots and maintenance technicians had barriers; sometimes, the things they described would turn into something else on the mechanic's side. The previous corpt mechanic in the base was also like that. Whenever they mentioned an issue, the technician would get irritated and say, "Amateurs should not guide the professionals," leaving them unsure whether they should speak up or not.

Lin Yao grabbed a snack and nodded while eating, "Ah, right, right."

Ji Qingfeng glanced at him, "Why are you including Di now?"

Lin Yao confidently replied, "I'm 20! I'm two years older than him!"

Ji Qingfeng looked at Lin Yao's small stature and couldn't help but think that this person didn't look like a 20-year-old. However, when he thought of Ying Chenlin's situation, he always felt that Ying Chenlin had some secrets, as if he knew much more than they did.

Unaware of others discussing him, Ying Chenlin returned to his room when it was time for his medication. After injecting the medication, he didn't return to the meeting room.

He went to the medical station and got some extra medication. He wouldn't need to go out for the next two months.

Ying Chenlin briefly packed his belongings before focusing on the S-class dual-attribute energy crystal. Dual-attribute crystals were indeed rare, and in his many years as a maintenance technician, he could count the number of S-class dual-attribute crystals he had encountered on one hand. Each one was worth a fortune and was usually snatched up by well-known mecha bases from other star domains.

Ying Chenlin infused his mental power into the energy crystal. The crystal floated slightly but quickly sank back down.

As expected, an S-class energy crystal could only be assembled as the core material of a competition-grade mecha weapon. It was challenging to control it individually without S-class mental power support.

There were also dozens of S-class mental power users in the First Star Domain mecha Alliance.

Now, thinking back to the time in the Banute Contaminated Zone, where so many mecha pilots gathered, it was probably not just because of the two cohabiting A-class mutated pollutants. The real reason was likely this energy crystal, which had caught the attention of the Banute Contaminated Zone Management Bureau.

Thinking of this, Ying Chenlin decided that after the Contaminated Zone reopened, he would find an opportunity to go back in.

Revealing the S-class energy crystal was not convenient. Before it was dealt with, it might be detected by contamination value fluctuations in the detector. With this in mind, Ying Chenlin put the S-class energy crystal into a password-protected storage device that could block physical detection and attached it to his mecha key.

Looking at the black and red mecha key, his eyes darkened, "It might take a while longer."

The mecha key showed no other response. Without S-class mental power support, it was impossible to activate Yuan' intelligence.

Ying Chenlin put the key aside and took out the materials that he hadn't processed or polished yet. He had processed most of the materials brought out by Banute, and the S-class energy crystal currently had no use, so he could only leave it aside. He planned to find Shen Xingtang tomorrow and give her the list of materials he needed.

Thinking of this, he released a bit of mental power.

His mental power revolved around the materials, swiftly following his commands. Ying Chenlin watched the materials move constantly and glanced at the time indicator on his neural implant.

Time decreased.

Working with many components in the KID base these days, he noticed that processing materials was faster than before. What used to take three minutes for a step now only took two minutes.

However, calling upon his mental power was still stiff, and he couldn't use too much at once. The symptoms of mental power depletion showed no signs of improvement... Ying Chenlin believed that practice makes perfect, but even in his past life, after processing so many components, he never experienced such symptoms. Could it be because he had undergone genetic surgery for the disease in advance?

"I'm giving up, I don't want to think about it anymore."

"It's good that my mental power has improved. At least some things are easier to handle now."

Ying Chenlin didn't dwell on it any further and continued to focus on processing the materials.

Late at night, the black and red key on the bedside table was next to the storage device. At one moment, it emitted a faint light, but quickly disappeared as if nothing had happened.

Suddenly, Ying Chenlin opened his eyes.

He was sweating, and the panic from his disturbing dream still lingered.

There were no windows in the underground base, and the indoor lights adjusted with time.

It had been a long time since he last had nightmares.

Ying Chenlin sat up and thought of getting some water from the water dispenser when he noticed some movement.

At 4 o'clock in the morning, in the corridor, a suitcase was being dragged on the floor.

Jiang Simiao was holding a bunch of bedding, with his glasses askew and his hair disheveled, following two people in front of him tirelessly.

Shen Xingtang was in her pajamas, her hair was also messy.

"So, why did you come over in the middle of the night!?"

"Something delayed me, and I checked out of the hotel room."

"Couldn't you just extend one more night?"

"Lazy."

Shen Xingtang's voice carried a hint of weariness, "Keep your voice down, the walls in this area were temporarily set up, so the soundproofing is not great."

The two of them reached the end of the corridor, and Shen Xingtang used her access to open a room.

You Su's gaze fell on the cramped sleeping quarters, and he paused at the door. Shen Xingtang noticed and said, "Other things haven't been prepared yet. I was planning to wait for you to arrive in the morning and then add whatever you need. Just send me a message if you're missing anything related to the base."

You Su's voice was indifferent, "I won't intentionally bully anyone."

"As if you could." Shen Xingtang directly grabbed the bedding from Jiang Simiao's hands and stuffed it into You Su's arms. "Just go in and rest. I'll explain the base's matters to you tomorrow."

At this moment, a door opening sound came from behind.

Shen Xingtang turned back, and at the half-opened door on the opposite side, a sleepy-looking young man stood, with a few strands of hair sticking up, obviously just waking up.

"Sister Tang." When Ying Chenlin saw Shen Xingtang, he slightly pushed the door.

His gaze swept past Shen Xingtang and Jiang Simiao, finally resting on the other unfamiliar man.

The man was also looking over, casually holding the bedding in his hands, his eyes particularly dark.

Ying Chenlin slightly cleared his mind and looked at him puzzled.

Shen Xingtang introduced, "This is our new artillery mecha pilot in the team, who will be living in the room opposite you from tomorrow. His name is You Su."

"You Su...?" The name from the vague file seemed to become clearer in Ying Chenlin's mind.

Shen Xingtang continued introducing, "This is our newly arrived mechanic in the team, Ying Chenlin."

You Su looked at him, and his gaze swiftly passed over his mechanical arm, "Hello, nice to meet you."

In Ying Chenlin's mind, a brief memory resurfaced.

The old files he had read became clearer. In the gaps between the records of the artillery mecha pilots in the KID archives, someone had used an electronic pen to scribble a line:

——You Su,Trace, mad dog.

Author’s Note:

You Su is a character with a complicated identity, and the details will be revealed later. Two more mecha pilots from KID will make their debut~