Genius Mechanic

4. Alarm

The mailbox was filled with smart flyers, all containing information about the sale of the mecha arena. The empty entrance of the base displayed a sign advertising the rental of the building. The KID team's entrance looked desolate and quiet, as if the team had already shut down. If it weren't for the StarNet recruitment notice with the base address attached, Ying Chenlin would have doubted if he had come to the right place.

Someone came to apply, and Ji Qingfeng's first thought was that the money spent on technical advertisements was not in vain.

He composed his expression and opened the door seriously, saying, "This is the KID base. You came to apply, right? Come in."

Ying Chenlin: "..."

The person on the other side was dressed very casually, with a hat covering half of their face, making it difficult to see clearly.

Ji Qingfeng gracefully made way, also pushing the short-statured Lin Yao to the side, and occasionally scrutinizing Ying Chenlin.

Isn't he too young for this? mechanics frequently work both inside and outside mechas, often requiring them to handle heavy repair tools. Generally, they should be in good physical condition.

The person in front of him appeared somewhat slender and weak, perhaps due to the long-sleeved outfit they were wearing, or maybe their fair skin gave off an air of illness. It was hard to believe that such a person was engaged in mechanic work.

"Ying Chenlin?" Ji Qingfeng looked at the resume sent to him and was momentarily stunned. Eighteen years old, B-level physique, A-level mental power, "Junior mechanic?"

Ying Chenlin: "Yes."

The resume didn't include any other information; it only had Ying Chenlin's basic personal details and the qualification certificate for a mechanic attached, without any other experiences. It was a very clean resume.

Ji Qingfeng continued reading and noticed that the qualification certificate was issued just half a month ago.

Very good, just certified and starting on the job. A newcomer among the newcomers.

Throughout the journey in the base, Ying Chenlin didn't encounter anyone else; only scattered intelligent robots roamed around. This place was located on the basement level of the former KID building.

Before coming here, he had briefly learned about the situation at KID and knew that things were not in good shape, but he didn't expect it to be this bad.

A mecha training arena up for sale, a spacious training base being rented out, and everything crammed into this small underground space. Ying Chenlin's gaze fell into the distance, observing what seemed to be a narrow underground passage. However, as he looked further, the corridor inside appeared deep and the stairs descended layer by layer, leading into a surprisingly spacious area.

Basement level two? At the end of the stairs, there seemed to be a faint glow that gradually expanded, becoming more conspicuous.

After Ji Qingfeng finished reviewing the resume, he casually said, "Let's head to the meeting room for a written test."

*Ding* Suddenly, a sharp alarm sound echoed from the end of the stairs.

The piercing sound reverberated through the otherwise silent corridor!

Ji Qingfeng abruptly stopped in his tracks.

Ying Chenlin looked up at the surveillance cameras high on the corridor and the alarm lights on the ceiling. The lights on the corridor didn't flash, so it wasn't an internal malfunction.

"What happened!?" Lin Yao quickly caught up from behind, and both of them focused their attention on the end of the corridor, immediately trying to determine the source of the alarm.

Ji Qingfeng moved swiftly, leaping down the stairs from a higher point and urgently said, "The alarm is coming from below!"

Ying Chenlin halted, watching the two mecha pilots disappear in the blink of an eye. His gaze then slightly shifted upwards.

Next to the dark stairs leading down, there was a virtual screen emitting a faint blue light along with the alarm. He took a few steps closer and saw the words displayed on the virtual screen, revealing the destination at the end of the stairs.

—"Temporary Maintenance Room."

The basement level two of the KID base housed a vast space filled with various mechas.

Ji Qingfeng rushed to the end of the stairs and saw the mechas standing behind transparent glass. One of them had its light source on, and there was a prominent red light flashing in its cockpit.

Upon seeing this, Ji Qingfeng cursed and quickly accessed the permissions for the maintenance room, then hurriedly entered.

As Lin Yao walked while sending communication requests to Shen Xingtang, there was no response from the other side. He stopped abruptly in the maintenance room, asking in a hurry, "What's going on?!"

On the icy-cold console, only a virtual screen was illuminated, displaying a striking error warning on the crystal blue virtual panel.

Ji Qingfeng stood in front of the console, with the complex function keys giving him a headache. He cursed again and asked, "Did Shen Xingtang say anything before leaving? Why are there still mechas running here?"

"No communication response. They said they were heading to the contaminated area in the morning, so maybe they can't receive communication." Lin Yao tried several times to contact Shen Xingtang, but there was no reply.

He took a closer look and said, "Ji Qingfeng, the one triggering the alarm seems to be your mecha."

Ji Qingfeng looked stunned and exclaimed, "What?!"

Lin Yao hadn't encountered such a situation before and panicked, "Be careful. I'll go cut off the power."

Ji Qingfeng's face turned pale, and he quickly stopped Lin Yao, "Wait, that's my wife! Can we just cut off the power so easily? What if something's wrong inside?"

Lin Yao halted, "Then what should we do? Should we let your wife keep triggering the alarm?"

Ji Qingfeng: "Will it lead to being scrapped if it keeps alarming?"

Lin Yao looked at the multiple error messages popping up and wasn't entirely sure, "It, it might."

Ji Qingfeng resignedly turned around and looked at the chaotic buttons on the virtual screen of the auxiliary console. Underneath a bunch of error reports, there was a [Pause] option for the program.

This mecha suffered severe damage in the last match of the previous season. Since the team's mechanic had an accident, Shen Xingtang had been overseeing this mecha. It should have been taken care of before Shen Xingtang left, but now it was sounding an alarm.

"We have no choice but to wait for Tang Jie to come back..."

He was about to press the button when a calm male voice suddenly came from behind.

"I advise you not to press it."

Ji Qingfeng and Lin Yao immediately turned back and saw Ying Chenlin standing at the entrance with his luggage.

Noticing their gaze, Ying Chenlin pointed to the door, "The door on the way here was left open, sorry for the intrusion."

Seeing Ying Chenlin, the two of them realized they had forgotten to close the door, and there was still an applicant behind them. Lin Yao remembered that the person in front of him was a mechanic and was about to speak when he heard Ying Chenlin continue:

"This is the mecha's self-diagnostic program, a procedure commonly used by mechanics after repairing a mecha. This particular mecha seems to have a preset timed self-diagnostic program, which is set to activate automatically by default, using the mecha's internal energy source. Cutting off the power won't work."

Ying Chenlin took a few steps closer, but still kept a distance and didn't enter the maintenance room. "Normally, self-diagnostic programs wouldn't have errors. If there are errors and you forcefully pause it without identifying the root cause, it could very likely result in a mecha program coding error."

Ji Qingfeng nervously asked, "What would happen then?"

"You could lose the mecha's internal data," Ying Chenlin said simply, "If your mechanic didn't back up the data or make proper settings, it could be a fatal problem."

Ji Qingfeng gritted his teeth, "That bastard probably didn't save the data."

Previously, the KID team's mecha were managed by the disqualified team doctor, and only recently did Shen Xingtang take over the responsibility.

Ying Chenlin added, "This is something only a mechanic can resolve. It's best to solve it early; otherwise, the continuous running of the self-diagnostic program, even if there's no issue, can lead to problems."

Ji Qingfeng's face turned anxious, "What kind of problems can occur?"

Ying Chenlin replied succinctly, "Data corruption, and in serious cases, complete mecha paralysis."

Ji Qingfeng: "...Is there a difference?"

Damaged if we pause, paralyzed if we don't pause!?

"An error in the self-diagnostic program is a minor issue." Seeing their expressions change, Ying Chenlin hesitated and asked, "Are there any other mechanics in the base?"

There weren't any other mechanics... KID already had a small staff, and during the off-season, some took leaves, and others resigned, and more people left during this period.

Some words are hard to say. Currently, there are no other mechanics in the KID team besides the intelligent repair robots.

Ying Chenlin's gaze scanned the error prompts on the virtual screen. He noticed the expressions of the two men. Besides the mecha with the alarm, there were other mechas in the maintenance room. On the left side near the program console was a disassembled mecha. Ying Chenlin thought about the rumors online, knowing that the KID team's mecha data had been leaked, but the seller had not been identified.

The base was empty, and apart from the robots, there were hardly any living people to be seen.

"Our boss is not here, and there are currently no mechanics in the base," Ji Qingfeng didn't know where to start and dared not touch the buttons on the program console. "You're a mechanic. Is there any way to solve this situation?"

Ying Chenlin pondered for a moment, then pushed his luggage to the railing near the door. He jumped up, using the railing as a platform, and leaped directly into the maintenance room, filled with scattered parts.

Lin Yao called out, "Hey, wait!"

Ji Qingfeng hadn't had a chance to speak when he heard a voice from below, "Can I borrow a mechanical knife?"

"Why do you need a knife?" Ji Qingfeng was about to step down from the railing. "Hold on, don't mess around!"

"Calm down! He has credentials," Lin Yao held him back and shouted to Ying Chenlin below, "Brother, can you handle it?"

"I can silence the alarm," Ying Chenlin looked up at Ji Qingfeng. "Don't worry; I won't dismantle your wife."

Seeing Ying Chenlin below picking up a tool about half an arm's length, Lin Yao nervously said, "Okay, at least he has credentials." Then, he took a few steps and climbed up to the mecha's knee. After observing for a while, he climbed up the large mechanical arm that hung down from the mecha and reached the cockpit. Ji Qingfeng walked over to the side and opened the cockpit door. Without much hesitation, Ying Chenlin slid into the cockpit with the mechanical knife.

Ji Qingfeng said, "He has a knife now."

Lin Yao started to get anxious, "It should be fine; he at least has credentials."

Ji Qingfeng was even more anxious than Lin Yao. "Can a rookie license be considered valid credentials? If he makes a wrong move, my wife will be left short of a few pounds!"

Lin Yao was about to comfort him when he suddenly remembered Ying Chenlin's mechanical prosthesis, and the comforting words were stuck in his throat. He whispered, "We didn't give him the mecha's access key, so he can't access the core data... It should be fine, right?"

Ji Qingfeng didn't care about those details. He was about to jump down to stop Ying Chenlin, but he caught a glimpse of the program console. The virtual screen that had been displaying error prompts stopped suddenly, and the topmost error prompt flashed once and then disappeared.

The error disappeared...?

Ji Qingfeng immediately looked at Ying Chenlin and saw him coming out of the cockpit, then climbing up to the mecha's right arm.

Lin Yao watched Ying Chenlin and blinked. "He seems to really know how to fix it."

The mecha suffered severe damage in the last season, and the right arm was the most severely affected, with a fracture. After Ying Chenlin went down, they hadn't told him any detailed information about the mecha, nor had they given him any specifics.

The dimly lit room made it impossible to see the mecha's external details clearly, but this person came out of the cockpit and headed straight for the damaged area, showing clear intention.

It seemed that this person really knew how to fix mechas, and he seemed quite skilled at it.

Ying Chenlin sat at the junction between the mecha's right arm and torso, using his feet to stabilize himself without needing any other tools. He moved deftly using his feet... He glanced at his feet briefly but quickly averted his gaze, focusing on the partially repaired right arm of the mecha.

If the mecha's self-check program was set, it would indeed start at a certain time after the repair.

It was clear that the person who set the self-check program was not the same person who repaired the mecha. The right arm was only halfway fixed, and if Shen Xingtang handled the repairs, she wouldn't make such a mistake.

Starting the self-check halfway through a repair, and the mecha not triggering an alarm, that was strange.

Ying Chenlin carefully inspected the connection of the right arm, scanned the tools on the floor, and then jumped down from the mecha.

Ji Qingfeng left Lin Yao waiting by the program console and walked over to Ying Chenlin. He saw him searching through the tools on a nearby workstation.

"Can this be resolved?" Ji Qingfeng asked.

Upon hearing this, Ying Chenlin turned his head, picked up a tool from the workstation, and replied as he walked, "It can be resolved."

Ji Qingfeng wasn't entirely sure, wanting to ask more questions, but Ying Chenlin had already climbed back onto the mecha and returned to the position of the right arm.

After a while, a voice came from above.

Ji Qingfeng looked up, and Ying Chenlin was sitting steadily on the mecha, looking down at him from above.

Ying Chenlin asked, "Is the operator of this mecha left-handed?"

Ji Qingfeng was taken aback. "Yes."

Ying Chenlin's gaze paused at the point where the right arm was severed. "Alright, I got it."