Mecha Chapter 20: Moonlighting

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

Luo XiaoLou’s heart felt quite conflicted, but as the three of them approached, Ling Xu didn’t even look at him and went straight to the premium elevator. 

Yang Ke, who followed behind him, glanced at Luo XiaoLou with an indifferent and sarcastic look, which made Luo XiaoLou’s heart burst into flames. Most of the Class 1 students looked at their Class 10 counterparts with such a look, especially the poor and uneducated students like him.

The last young man with dark hair and blue eyes was visibly stunned, smiled slightly, and said casually, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

The corner of Luo XiaoLou’s mouth twitched. Motherfucker, who told you to be so rude when I was only trying to be polite? You’ve left me no face.

Luo XiaoLou hatefully pressed the button for the 18th floor, and the elevator quickly went up.

When the elevator doors opened, Luo XiaoLou was shocked.

Luo XiaoLou saw Di Jia behind the elevator, and was surprised to see a group of people standing outside the elevator, led by a few well-dressed middle-aged men. 

No — they weren’t gathered here to expose him for being late. He was just one minute late at the most and it was because he had been waiting for the elevator. There was no need to pursue him in such a big battle. It was exactly eight o’clock.

Just as Luo Xiaolou was about to say hello to the only person be was familiar with, Di Jia, the premium elevator next to him dinged and opened.

Ling Xu walked out with Yang Ke, but the young man with the blue eyes was no longer with them.

The two of them were stunned when they saw Luo XiaoLou. Yang Ke stopped talking, the sarcasm in his eyes intensifying, while Ling Xu frowned.

The middle-aged man at the front was already smiling, and saluted Ling Xu respectfully, “Young Master Ling, I’m the CEO of the Kane Group, Bo An. You personally came here, it really makes us tremble.”

Ling Xu ignored Luo XiaoLou, nodded to Bo An and said, “There’s no need for such fanfare, I’m just sending someone over. You guys go down first, I’ll find you if I need anything. Just ask the head of the Mecha R&D Department to show me around.”

Bo An had wanted to personally bring Ling Xu for an inspection, but when he said no, he didn’t dare to say anything more. He just called Di Jia over, gave him a wink to receive him properly, and went down with the large group of people.

Di Jia took a few steps forward, bowed and asked Ling Xu to follow him, and at the same time looked at Shen Yuan and asked him to take Luo XiaoLou in.

Although Di Jia was a scientific researcher, he was also a Section Chief of the Kane Group, and often received the leaders from above, so he was thoughtful and appropriate, with a good public relations image.

As Ling Xu listened to his introduction and walked inside, he arrived at the Mecha R&D Department and suddenly noticed the shadow of Luo XiaoLou, who was in front of him, going inside.

He asked coldly, “Why is he here?”

Di Jia suddenly changed his expression when he heard Young Master Ling say this. He couldn’t afford to offend this young master. Not only could he not offend him, but even the president just now could not.

Following Ling Xu’s line of sight, Di Jia, however, was stunned and immediately said, “Young Master Ling knows Luo XiaoLou…? He is also a student of your school, and was recruited by me.”

Seeing Ling Xu’s increasingly cold gaze, Di Jia subconsciously added, “Because his family conditions are not good, he came out to work, and I just happened to be attracted to him, so I let him work here part-time. He’s just coming over on weekends.”

Although Luo XiaoLou wasn’t the heir to any maker, there was no denying that young man had a talent for mecha manufacturing, a talent that even Shen Yuan couldn’t match at his age.

There was no talent like this in the Kane Mecha R&D Department, and there was no one who could successfully alter the manufacturing process at that age.

So, if possible, he would like to keep Luo XiaoLou. However, if Ling Xu and Luo XiaoLou really had a problem, he wouldn’t be able to keep Luo XiaoLou even if he regarded him highly. Thinking so, Di Jia looked at Ling Xu’s eyes with an imperceptible tension.

Yang Ke also stared closely into Ling Xu’s eyes, and was relieved to only see disgust.

Ling Xu was silent for a moment, waved his hand and told Di Jia not to pay any attention to Luo XiaoLou. After visiting several important projects in the Mecha R&D Department, he pointed at Yang Ke who was behind him and said lightly, “Yang Ke is a genius mecha maker that our PDG family has chosen to support. He is very talented. However, he’s only a freshman, and it’s not quite right for him to go in with the group there. I want him to intern here first, so you see to it that arrangements are made.”

Di Jia immediately responded, “Young Master Ling, don’t worry. I’ll make the arrangements for Young Master Yang.”

Yang Ke smiled and said, “Just call me Yang Ke, I’ll need you to take care of me in the future.” With polite words on his lips, Yang Ke also knew that the Kane Group was just a branch of the PDG family, and they would never embarrass the people that this young master had personally brought with him.

This was just a small step that allowed him to get closer and closer to the one who was above him. Yang Ke turned around and looked at Ling Xu, although it was a million times harder, but with his hard work and talent, he would definitely be able to do it.

“You discuss the internship with them according to your time, I have to leave beforehand.” Ling Xu nodded at Yang Ke and turned to walk out. Passing Di Jia, Ling Xu seemed to want to say something, but finally just gave Di Jia a careless glance and walked out without saying anything.

Di Jia wiped his sweat, respectfully escorted Ling Xu out of the door, and came back to gather the Mecha R&D Department’s staff to introduce Yang Ke to them. After looking at each other, those researchers all smiled and greeted Yang Ke.

“Mr. Yang Ke is studying at an institution like that, there’s really no limit to his future.”

“I heard that Mr. Yang Ke is number one in the department, no wonder Young Master Ling thinks highly of him.”

“……” Yang Ke smiled faintly. He had received too many of such compliments since he was a child, he already knew how to respond.

Di Jia hadn’t arranged for anyone else to take him, just let him choose his own lab and talked to him directly about what materials to use.

That was just as well, Yang Ke didn’t have time to play with these people. That would slow him down. And there was only one person in the Kane Group group that Yang Ke needed to keep an eye out for. Ling Xu had already mentioned to him that there was a well known master mecha maker here, Master Yan.

Although the PDG family had tried to transfer this master to a more advanced research department, the old man was stubborn and wouldn’t move. However, no matter where he was, he served the PDG family, and the PDG family would let him be.

If he could get the advice of this master mecha maker — Yang Ke had determination in his eyes — he had to try. If– if he could, he might be able to achieve his heart’s desire sooner, to build a mecha for Ling Xu; a mecha like no other.

 

A room full of trash.

Luo XiaoLou looked at the revered Master Yan in shock and stammered, “You mean, move it all out? And in only four weekends?”

Master Yan showed a very disgusted look and asked back indifferently, “What, are you planning to bargain with me?” He stared condescendingly at Luo XiaoLou and slowly said, “Here, there has never been a person who has told me that they can’t do it.”

Luo XiaoLou’s forehead was beaded with sweat as he tried to reply, “No, no. I mean, this room is full of pieces of parts, and it’s all Grade 2 parts, and I haven’t learned them yet — Hey, can you at least give me more time for the sake of me saving you?” Finally, Luo XiaoLou couldn’t help but remind the old man that he had done him a big favor the other day.

Master Yan suddenly smiled, amiable, and his words were also very kind, “I think you misunderstood. I didn’t say that you should spend eight whole days to sort it out. What I mean is, you’ll be inside in the morning to sort it out, and you’ll come out in the afternoon to give me a hand, understand? Of course, if you think the time is really generous, I don’t mind before —”

Luo XiaoLou shuddered hard and quickly replied in a trembling voice, “I can do that! I promise I can do it!”

Master Yan looked at Luo XiaoLou with satisfaction and kindly reminded him, “If you need materials for these parts, I suggest you go ahead and help me sort out the data room next door. There should be a blue chip there, and the parts are pretty well described.”

Luo XiaoLou squeezed his fist hard and finally said dryly, “Thank you for the reminder, I’ll be right there.”

After spending two hours sorting through the cluttered data room and finding the blue chip that Master Yan said was in the corner, Luo XiaoLou plunged headlong into the room that was filled with pieces of parts.

Luo XiaoLou took a deep breath, turned to the computer and inserted the chip into it.

Grade 2 Basic Parts (One).

Motherfucker, one! Is there another chip? Luo XiaoLou discovered that the future was never bright, and it all began when he came to the future.

The blue chip had a hundred Grade 2 components, and Luo XiaoLou skipped his lunch hour and spent three hours memorizing them by heart.

The only thing that Luo XiaoLou was happy about was that all that knowledge of the Grade 1 parts had helped him! It was easy to see now what Teacher Song, who had taught him basic mecha knowledge on the virtual web, had meant when he said Grade 2 mecha parts were complex. But Luo XiaoLou felt that almost all Grade 2 parts were variations of those Grade 1 parts.

Luo XiaoLou would be much less efficient if it weren’t for this reason.

In the end, Luo XiaoLou remembered the information for twenty Grade 2 parts. Without the slightest bit of hands-on time, Luo XiaoLou walked out of the room in a dizzy state.

Luo XiaoLou looked at each part only once, but if he wanted to remember it, he had to concentrate hard. Trying to memorize it after reading it, this intense study was still a little too much for Luo XiaoLou even if his memory got better after being reborn. At this rate, will he really be able to finish it after a month…

Luo XiaoLou walked out from the inside with his head hanging down and saw that quite a few assistants in grey coats were already busy outside.

Before Master Yan arrived, a man in a grey coat with a big mask greeted Luo XiaoLou. When Luo XiaoLou took a closer look, he saw that it was Shen Yuan.

My God, Shen Yuan, the eldest disciple of the researcher, actually beat Master Yan here. Luo XiaoLou suddenly didn’t feel aggrieved. What is he? He’s much better than he is. He’s the little brother here.

Luo XiaoLou took the grey clothes that Shen Yuan handed him and had just put them on, but before he could say anything to Shen Yuan, Master Yan had arrived.

He nodded at everyone and began to give orders for the afternoon’s tasks.

Finally, he glanced at Luo XiaoLou before leading him to a white table with a huge precision high-frequency magnetic oscillation reactor on it, and a metal box under the table.

Master Yan instructed Luo XiaoLou to put on his gloves while taking out a piece of ore from the metal box and said, “This is green tin ore, the most suitable material for making the internal transmission tube of the mecha. But the melting state of this ore is very unstable, so you must operate the reactor according to the notes I wrote, adding blue line liquid every five minutes. Let me know when it’s all melted down.”

Luo XiaoLou nodded. He didn’t really expect Master Yan to not give him time to adjust and give him a not-so-easy task right off the bat.

So how much ore at a time? How much was in Luo XiaoLou’s grasp? Ten kilos? But if he failed…

Luo XiaoLou shook his head and studied the notes for operating the apparatus himself. After making sure he knew the paper by heart, he put the piece of paper away. Then taking a deep breath, Luo XiaoLou placed two pieces of green tin ore, weighing about four kilograms, into the reaction instrument.

Five minutes later, the communicator on Luo XiaoLou’s wrist began to vibrate, and Luo XiaoLou immediately dripped the blue line of liquid he had on hand into the reactor. As sweat began to gather on Luo XiaoLou’s forehead, the green light on the reactor lit up.

He couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. The corners of his mouth curled up, his eyes were filled with joy, and he looked up only to see Master Yan busy.

But the material melted in the instrument would not wait for anyone, and if it was kept over time, it might not be usable.

Shen Yuan happened to be right beside him, and when he saw what was going on, he immediately came over, took out the storage box from under the table, and poured the green tin liquid melted by the reactor into the storage box.

Luo XiaoLou secretly took note of Shen Yuan’s technique of handling the liquid, then thanked him with a smile, “Thank you, Brother Shen.”

Shen Yuan patted him on the back and went back to his own business.

Next, Luo XiaoLou familiarized himself with the melting and extraction procedure of the green tin ore, increasing the material to ten kilograms. Each time it was all melted, it was added into the storage box.

The work was tedious and required great concentration. By the time Luo XiaoLou had melted and boxed up the entire box of green tin ore, he found that there were few people left in the room.

He… He actually was the last to leave again.

After rubbing his back, which was a little stiff, Luo XiaoLou nimbly cleaned up the table, and in front of old man Yan, he helped the others clean up the lab in style.

Finally, Luo XiaoLou dawdled over to Master Yan and begrudgingly asked, “Master Yan, can I bring that blue chip back with me to look at?”

Master Yan was critically looking at those storage boxes Luo XiaoLou had extracted, snorted, and said, “Maybe I should make you write the employee code ten times in silence. Now get out and stop wasting my time asking those damn childish questions all the time!”

Luo XiaoLou walked out in grief, what was he going to do? This old man did not admit that he was the one who saved his life. Maybe, old man Yan really lost his memory. Luo XiaoLou comforted himself in silence.

 

The author has something to say: 

Thank you to all the girls and friends who left comments (I just found out that some of the comments weren’t from girls —).

 

What if Yuan Xi knew that innocent Luo XiaoLou was going behind his back with Ling Xu…