Mecha Chapter 23: Spare Parts

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

After class the next day, Tian Le and Luo XiaoLou discussed getting some help from some of their classmates. Luo XiaoLou thought about it and turned on his communicator to contact Yates. Yates happened to be free and agreed to come over and help.

“XiaoLou, how come you know people from the Mecha Department?” Tian Le was confused. The relationship between Yuan Xi and Luo XiaoLou was known to almost the whole school. 

After getting to know Luo XiaoLou, Tian Le didn’t think that he was the type of person who was looking for someone to take care of him, even if he had an IOU with the school for fifty thousand federal coins.

As for the reason for hanging out with Yuan Xi, Luo XiaoLou didn’t say and Tian Le didn’t ask. He liked Luo XiaoLou anyway and was willing to make Luo XiaoLou a friend.

“Ahem, I — ran into Yuan Xi, and we got to know one another.” Luo XiaoLou said in embarrassment. He didn’t want to admit that he’d applied for the Mecha Department Exam, that would be too humiliating.

Yates didn’t work today so he came from the physical training room. Beads of sweat dripped down his black curly hair and his blue eyes still carried the enthusiastic excitement from thr training. This caused the only few girls in the Mecha Manufacturing Department to stare at him, blushing and joking as they looked over.

Tian Le felt a bit uncomfortable about this. How could such a small number of beautiful women suddenly appear? So he proposed to set out immediately and walked to the school gates.

Tian Le specially told his family today that he wanted to take his friends out. His father sent a car to pick them up. Luo Xiaolou didn’t feel anything when he saw the car because he was used to Yuan Xi’s luxury. Yates, on the other hand, was excited and praised it for a long time.

At the same time, he lamented, “My family’s only car was taken over by my brother, I’ll definitely buy one for myself in the future!”

Half an hour later, the car pulled up in front of a tall building, and instead of landing in a half-empty car park, it then began to descend rapidly down to the ground.

It was a famous business district, surrounded by tall buildings, and it wasn’t easy to see the sun.

“This is it.” Tian Le ushered the two men out of the car.

The car door faced a gate with the words ‘Heavenly Winter’ written on it. The front door was decorated extremely simply and there was a mecha sign on one side. Luo XiaoLou looked at Tian Le suspiciously, could such a small front door have the most complete range of mecha parts?

Tian Le smiled and squeezed his eyes at Luo XiaoLou, “Go inside and you’ll see.”

Yates only knew that he was here to help, but he didn’t know what exactly he was here for yet. His eyes lit up and he turned to the two, “What? You guys asked me to come over to look at a mecha? Well, even though I don’t have the money to buy it yet, it’s good to pick it first!”

Tian Le rolled his eyes, “It’s XiaoLou who wants to buy parts, you’re just a strong laborer.”

Yates’ pure blue eyes gave Luo XiaoLou a grieving glance, but being able to see a mecha still made him excited to be the first to go inside.

As the three of them entered the door, a tall woman in black overalls walked out. Her temperament and appearance were actually quite good. Tian Le, who was introducing the company to Luo XiaoLou, couldn’t take his eyes off the woman.

Luo XiaoLou sighed, surprised that Yates was indifferent to the beauty and just looked around for mecha. He admired how passionate this guy was about mecha.

After observing the three men, she finally turned her attention to Tian Le, “Young Master Tian, you said you’d come today, and the senior manager asked me to come and pick you up. Distinguished guests, this way please.”

To Luo XiaoLou and Yates’ surprise, the woman led them down the stairs.

Yes, this Heavenly Winter Company was actually underground. When they reached the underground floor, except for Tian Le, they were shocked at once. The hall was so big that they could hardly see the sides!

A high dome with reliefs of starships on top, the huge hall below was divided like a small bazaar, with small shops on either side of the road in all directions. And, despite it being so quiet outside, there were actually quite a few customers inside.

Luo XiaoLou held back his saliva. There were mostly mecha parts and even energy boxes inside, but to let him pick his own?

“XiaoLou, this way.” Tian Le managed to divide some attention between Luo XiaoLou and Yates, ushering them inside the side door with the woman.

Behind the door seemed like another world. It was the same hall but without shops, and was surrounded only by passages leading to other places. In the center stood a large white statue of an angel. Apart from well-trained attendants, there were almost no guests. This place was quiet and laid-back, and the decor was very high class.

“Young Master Tian, it’s rare for you to bring a guest over. Welcome to the Heavenly Winter Auction House.” A man walked over with a big smile.

This person was tall, around thirty years old, with a white shirt, black vest, blue crystal cufflinks, a smile on his face and eyes shining brightly. Standing there, one could not help but think of the words shrewd and capable.

“Greetings, Manager Gao. My father asked me to greet you on his behalf, and I’d like to ask for more help from Manager Gao this time.” Tian Le, who was never a serious person, was quite polite to this Manager Gao.

“For Young Master Tian’s friend, I should naturally do my best.” With a polite mouth, the Head Manager took the three of them into a small living room, where the several of them sat around a sofa with a huge screen right in front of them.

Tian Le pushed Luo XiaoLou next to Manager Gao and said, “This is my friend, let him talk to you about the specific request.”

Head Manager Gao had sized up the two people Tian Le had brought with him when they first met. He had thought it was Yates who had come to buy something, and that it was the sunny tall young man who was a mecha warrior at first glance. It was likely that Tian Le was here to help him pick out a mecha.

Not expecting it to be Luo XiaoLou, the Head Manager turned his head to measure Luo XiaoLou without moving, his mouth already saying, “What does this little brother want, just ask.”

Luo XiaoLou busily said, “I want to buy Grade 1 mecha parts. Originally Grade 1 parts are the most common and there would be no need to bother you, but I want to buy a full set of Grade 1 mecha parts, all six hundred types, which is a bit difficult. It would be very troublesome if I were to pick them out from my own home, and I want to get them as soon as possible, so I don’t know if you have them in stock here.”

Head Manager Gao raised his eyebrows at Luo XiaoLou and instead of answering Luo XiaoLou’s question, he asked in high spirits, “Oh? Little brother is a mecha maker? You must have good craftsmanship, right?”

Luo XiaoLou thought of his achievements and blushed, “My craftsmanship can’t be said to be good enough. I’m still learning this specialty, and only just got into mecha parts so I’m a complete novice.”

The Head Manager smiled faintly, “Mn, quite humble. How much do you want?”

“I want it for regular practice, so I don’t need any more than that. It takes one part of each kind, so six hundred pieces.” Luo XiaoLou hesitated for a moment and then said, while somewhat embarrassed, “It’s just that I’m still a student. I’m not afraid of your jokes and my pocket money isn’t much, so if I can’t buy all of them, I’ll still buy as many as I can.”

Manager Gao laughed this time, “Little brother is really interesting. You were brought here by Young Master Tian, so I won’t hide anything from you. The lowest price I will give you is five hundred federal coins for each kind, but it doesn’t include the engine. I will also give you the lowest price for the first grade engine, one hundred and fifty thousand federal coins. Do the math, how many of them do you want?”

Luo XiaoLou had previously asked around. Brand new Grade 1 mecha parts were mostly sold for eight hundred to one thousand. Manager Gao did give it to him at a much cheaper price. Luo XiaoLou calculated in his heart. If it was five hundred federal coins for one kind, then six hundred kinds would amount to three hundred thousand federal coins. Adding in an engine, it would total up to four hundred and fifty thousand federal coins.

Well, his small vault still supported the ground to live. If these items were bought outside, it would cost him more than nine hundred thousand federal coins, emptying his small vault. But now, not only could he buy all the parts, he could actually have a small surplus, which was great.

Luo XiaoLou gave a narrow smile and couldn’t help but thank him heartily, “This time, I’m so grateful to Head Manager Gao for taking care of me. According to the price you gave me, I’ll take all six hundred kinds.”

Knowing that the sale was done, Luo XiaoLou’s eyes shone with joy as he looked like he was eager to try out the goods and was ready to see them.

The Head Manager sitting across from him couldn’t help but narrow his eyes and speak slowly, “There’s no rush. Seeing as you bought the parts from me, I should also remind you that you’re a mecha maker, you should know that you need tools to process these parts. If you get a full set of processing tools from here, I can still discount it for cheaper, just two hundred thousand federal coins. It will be four hundred thousand less, but we will not lose out.”

“Huh?” Luo XiaoLou looked dumbly at the manager who looked like a nice guy. Was this a successful sales pitch for other products? 

“Why, it doesn’t matter if you don’t want it.” The Head Manager smilingly said.

“…I want it.” Luo XiaoLou replied heartily otherwise, he would have bought so many parts for nothing. It was only because he had forgotten all about the machining tools at that time. In the twinkling of an eye, six hundred fifty thousand federal coins had been spent, leaving nine hundred fifty thousand federal coins in his small vault, and Luo Xiaolou’s heart suddenly ached.

“Come on, take a look at the goods first.” The Head Manager said enthusiastically, picking up the remote control at his side and pressing it. The huge screen in front of them flashed, showing the neatly yarded parts of the warehouse.

“This one, and this one. They are full of Grade 1 parts.” The manager said as Luo XiaoLou brought up the question of which warehouses had the Grade 1 parts.

“About how much space do six hundred pieces take up?” Luo XiaoLou looked at one warehouse and suddenly realized that maybe there was more that he hadn’t thought of.

“Six hundred pieces will almost take up three warehouses. Don’t worry, we’ll deliver it for you, but we want you to be there when we drop off the goods later.” The Head Manager who had successfully made the business said thoughtfully on the side.

“Okay, okay.” Luo XiaoLou was helpless, but three warehouses just didn’t seem like it would fit in his apartment.

Yates excitedly leaned in and whispered into Luo XiaoLou’s ear, “I just asked Lily if I come to buy mecha, and she said she can get a 25% discount for me!”

Luo XiaoLou took a look at Yates and secretly thought to himself: actually even knowing her name, people are too good at business; picking up handsome guys and at the same time not forgetting to promote their own products.

Afterwards, Luo XiaoLou and the others went to the warehouse with Manager Gao. Luo XiaoLou looked at the brand new parts, which he had observed countless times on the virtual network, and was so excited that he paid the full amount right away.

Manager Gao instructed the workers to start packing, and then the beautiful girl, Lily, led them back to the warehouse.

This side was the warehouse area, where busy porters and robots could be seen at any time.

As they were walking, they suddenly heard the loud sound of metal crashing. Luo XiaoLou frowned and looked towards the room that made the sound. It was filled with various parts and pieces, just like the room Old Man Yan had asked him to tidy up.

Luo XiaoLou’s face went white as he thought of this. If the old man had more rooms like this, it would be worse than death…

Lily laughed beside him, “That’s where we store our trash and discarded parts. We haven’t been able to take them to the recycling depot for a few days, so we have more.”

“The recycling depot? Does that mean you don’t want all this?” Luo XiaoLou had a change of heart and stopped, refusing to go further. Since Master Yan could allow him to integrate the pieces into parts, what about these?

Head Manager Gao immediately saw what Luo XiaoLou meant and smiled slightly, “We will clean it once a month. If you want it, ten thousand federal coins for the entire room and it’ll be all yours to handle.”

Tian Le and Yates looked at Luo XiaoLou and Head Manager Gao with their mouths wide open. What do they need all this garbage for? Even if ten thousand federal coins wasn’t much, it was still a lot for someone like Luo XiaoLou who couldn’t even come up with fifty thousand federal coins for the tuition. Was he crazy?

Under the suspicious eyes of the two, Luo XiaoLou stopped. He looked at the fragments of mecha parts that filled the room, suddenly turned to the Head Manager and said, “Okay, then I’ll pay you for five months first. I can’t get more than that now, we’ll talk about it after five months.”

Yates yanked Luo XiaoLou hard to one side, touched his forehead and muttered, “No fever, what are you spending money on this junk for?”

Luo XiaoLou’s eyes curled, “That’s not necessarily true, there are treasures in the trash.”

He calculated that he had already used seven hundred thousand federal coins by coming over today. There were still two hundred and fifty thousand federal coins left, fifty thousand of which he would definitely have to put aside to pay tuition for the next school year. The other two hundred thousand would be saved in case there was an emergency, and it would also provide some relief.

As for the living expenses, he had used his own money before, but now he would use Yuan Xi’s first since most of the family’s money was spent on Yuan Xi anyway.

With that, Tian Le arrived at his house with three delivery trucks, and Luo XiaoLou talked to him halfway to let him put most of the parts in his lab first.

Tian Le readily agreed, and Luo XiaoLou brought two hundred parts to his home. After he finished working with them, he would come back to Tian Le’s house to exchange them for new ones.

As for the garbage, Tian Le also agreed to put it at his place for the time being at Luo XiaoLou’s request.

And so, by the time Luo XiaoLou, with the help of Tian Le, Yates and the delivery workers, delivered the large box containing two hundred Grade 1 parts to his own home, it was already dark.

“Let’s go, let’s go, your boy’s buying dinner,” Tian Le yelled, barreling Luo XiaoLou out of the apartment.

With Yuan Xi out of the picture, Luo XiaoLou was now perfectly capable of making his own decisions. Finding a restaurant nearby and having Tian Let treat the two to dinner, the three of them ordered a few bottles of wine as well.

Luo XiaoLou had always been a bad drinker.

When Luo XiaoLou was drunk, he just smiled stupidly, or he passed out unconscious.

When he opened the door to enter his apartment, Luo XiaoLou, who was so drunk, covered his eyes with his hands. The light was switched on, and there was someone in the apartment? It’s Friday. Did Yuan Xi come home early?

“Hey —” a familiar voice sounded from over the couch, as if calling him over. 

 

A wobbly Luo XiaoLou took a few steps only to trip over his own boxes containing mecha parts. Before losing consciousness, he heard a familiar roar.