Mecha Chapter 34: Older Brother

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo will be passing away from laughing too hard ( ˶ ❛ ꁞ ❛ ˶ )

 

Yuan Xi stared at Yates furiously and with jealousy, looking him up and down, Damn, how can this kid compare to me? That idiotic smile, that idiot-like expression, that shitty standard — it really makes me angrier and angrier, no, the more I look at him, the more disgusted I am! I don’t know what you see in him! Wait here, I’ll beat him up until he can’t even be recognized by his own mother!

The innocent sunny big boy looked at the fire-breathing Yuan Xi and the white-faced Luo XiaoLou in confusion, and although he didn’t quite understand the situation, he still took a step back knowingly and hesitantly asked, “XiaoLou? Yuan Xi is here to see you, aren’t you going to introduce us?”

Luo XiaoLou realized in desperation that escape was impossible and moved two steps towards Yuan Xi in strong fear. If he dared to follow his heart towards Yates, he bet Yuan Xi would go ballistic on the spot!

Yuan Xi looked darkly at the inconvenient distance between them, kept saying in his mind that he didn’t mind, and then — roughly tugged Luo XiaoLou to his side.

In order to ease the pain, Luo XiaoLou simply clung to Yuan Xi without any pressure from his heart, looking relatively calm on the outside except for the fact that he was still shaking with fear.

Licking his dry lips, Luo XiaoLou said with difficulty, “Yuan Xi, this is… This is Yates from the Mecha Department, we’re… we’re just casual friends really! Yates, this is Yuan Xi, my cohabitant, and my, my brother.” Luo XiaoLou was simply going to cry, can’t say he’s my master. Calling him brother also showed that he was his little brother…

Luo XiaoLou stammered out his sentence, and the two people to his left and right flinched.

Yates powerfully and immediately ignored the furious Yuan Xi, and his charming blue eyes looked at Luo XiaoLou with some hurt. He cried out in discontent, “Hey, I’ve helped you a lot. Okay, you helped me just now, but it’s too much to say that we’re just friends! It’s unkind!”

Luo XiaoLou was already tempted to roll his eyes. Damn it! Does friendship need to be confessed? What’s the matter with you all? You’re all so delicate!

The grip of Yuan Xi’s hands were a lot lighter, and his heart felt a little better, brother… brother is a really good name. 

Thinking about his good little slave rubbing against the bed and leaning in, beautiful, moist eyes looking at him, meekly calling him brother… God. Yuan Xi suddenly felt feverish; not only was his face hot, his heart rhythm also began to become irregular.

“Huh?! So that’s it, no wonder you guys are so close.” Yates was quickly distracted and was surprised at the newfound discovery of the kinship between the two.

Luo XiaoLou took a careful aim at Yuan Xi. He wouldn’t blame him for disrespecting his host and making a mess of the relationship, but the two lived together and he couldn’t think of a better excuse to fool Yates.

Yuan Xi snorted and gave Yates another hard stare, saying matter-of-factly, “Of course we are, otherwise what do you think is the relationship between us?” Forget it, let’s not beat up this idiot today. They’re just friends, and know each other. Besides, I have to take care of Luo XiaoLou’s feelings, so it doesn’t seem right to beat up his friend so soon…

Yates smiled cheerfully, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, “No, I’m just a little surprised. You don’t know me, but I’ve been looking up to you for a long time. In fact, as long as you’re a Mecha Department student, there’s no one who doesn’t know the three of you.”

Yuan Xi looked at Yates and suddenly thought of a question that had made him very uncomfortable since a while back. Turning to look at Luo XiaoLou, he asked irritably and angrily, “What are you two doing here?! Is this how you usually work part-time?!”

Luo XiaoLou almost cried real tears. Sure enough, Yuan Xi still hadn’t forgotten. Such an arrogant and twisted starfish whose exclusive desire is so strong…

Before Luo XiaoLou could think of how to appease him, Yates enthusiastically explained to his best friend’s big brother, “It’s like this, I want to buy mecha, so I asked XiaoLou to take leave to accompany me here. For something so expensive, XiaoLou could at least give me a reference.”

Yuan Xi immediately got angry again when he heard this. Damn, you took Sunday off to come with him to buy a mecha, but you didn’t even take a day off work to come with me! This Yates deserves a beating after all!

Luo XiaoLou was daringly trying to figure out words to say when his pocket started buzzing and vibrating again, and a small voice whispered in his ear, “Hey, while it’s easier to promote affection with a little flirting drama after being caught in the act, and as your foster family, I should really be supportive, but — Can I see the auction table first? Materials are starting to appear on it.” It was like the voice was talking in his head, and Luo XiaoLou froze before realizing it was from 125 in his pocket.

Caught, caught in the act your sister! This A.I. has a brain problem! That must be it!

Well, but it’s not a bad excuse for a distraction…

Taking a glance at Yuan Xi who was starting to look ugly again for some reason, Luo XiaoLou grabbed him before he could get angry and said, “The auction of materials is starting. Don’t you think we should go take a look? After all, there’s quite a lot of good stuff here.”

With that, Luo XiaoLou tugged on Yuan Xi’s sleeve and tried to pull him along. Of course, Luo XiaoLou mostly had no choice, he was still being held tightly by Yuan Xi.

The furious master stared at his slave who was looking at him pleadingly, with a look of cautiously wanting to invite him over but not daring — Yuan Xi felt half of his anger extinguish instantly. He felt that a good master shouldn’t fail to meet his slave’s small demands. It was, it was the master’s responsibility after all.

After Yuan Xi made up his mind, he stopped paying attention to Yates who was still chattering enthusiastically, put on a show of grace, and walked coldly towards the stage.

Luo XiaoLou quietly relaxed and pulled the stupid A.I. out to let it have a look of the outside, since it seemed to have a way of only making him hear its voice.

At this moment, the auctioneer was excitedly explaining the rare materials, “Want to increase your success rate in transforming mecha, the next material is — it’s Red Grass from the Red Zone! It’s exactly what every mecha maker dreams of for a Grade 4, Red Grass! Whether you’re a mecha maker or a mecha warrior, you shouldn’t miss it!”

Yuan Xi darkened his face, hesitated for a moment, and asked, “That one, do you want it?” Was he being too nice to the slave? If he forgave him so quickly, would this guy be even more unruly? Also, slaves didn’t work without proper discipline, and Luo XiaoLou was becoming increasingly misbehaved…

It can’t be said that he wasn’t being good, either; whenever he looked at Luo XiaoLou, Luo XiaoLou was apprehensive and cautious about obeying him. But when he wasn’t looking, he dared to take the shameless opportunity to go around picking up people on his own…

Luo XiaoLou looked at Yuan Xi with an appalled expression and said, “No, I don’t need it right now. Ah, if you want to modify your mecha —”

Looking at Luo XiaoLou’s troubled eyes, the other half of Yuan Xi’s surging and burning anger was about to be extinguished, and he snorted, mockingly interrupting Luo XiaoLou, “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare count on you.”

Luo XiaoLou swallowed the second half of the sentence. Fine then, you can find someone else.

In the other VIP compartment, Ling Xu indifferently slapped down all the Grade 4 materials and turned to Yang Ke, “Look at the ones you can use and keep them, the ones you won’t use, just give them to Di Jia.”

Yang Ke nodded with excitement and a strange glow filled his eyes. He was almost unable to maintain his usual calm. It couldn’t be blamed on him, as long as one was a mecha maker, who wouldn’t get excited at the sight of so many high-grade materials?

Yang Ke only looked at Ling Xu when he turned to speak to Luo ShaoTian. How lucky he was to be taken seriously by this man.

……

The Grade 3 materials on the auction table were also quickly snatched up, and the next to be carried to the front were two large boxes. In the blue box were Grade 2 material samples, and in the white box were Grade 1 material samples.

And the actual amount of the materials auctioned off was a hundred times more than the number of samples in each of the boxes!

Luo XiaoLou angrily muttered, Motherfucker, this is too big a deal, is this even a wholesale deal? What about the people like him who only had a few thousand federal coins left…

The auctioneer smiled and said, “Although this is a large quantity of materials, the price is not high, and if you buy both materials, there is a small portion of materials to give away.”

Luo XiaoLou sighed, he actually wanted to buy some first grade materials, but that quantity…

“Luo XiaoLou, buy the Grade 2 materials! Quick, don’t let anyone take it!” The anxious voice of 125 suddenly sounded in his ear.

Luo XiaoLou blinked. Yes, he was about to use it now to buy Grade 2 materials, but…

“Don’t hesitate, there’s something good in that box!” 125 was even more anxious.

Luo XiaoLou peered over to the Grade 2 materials. There was nothing more than a few black rocks, a small pile of blueline grass, and a few Grade 1 ores. Everything in it was very common, except for the rocks whose names were unknown.

“Hey —” While 125 was anxiously crying out, the Grade 2 materials had already been quoted.

Luo XiaoLou hesitated, 125 still had some vision in this kind of thing, then should he ask Yuan Xi to borrow money first? Right after the event that he just cheated on Yuan Xi?

Luo XiaoLou turned his head and noticed that Yuan Xi’s hand had just pressed the button, and he dumbly asked, “Did you just buy that?”

Yuan Xi glanced at him and said impatiently, “If you want it, you can just say so. Isn’t it right for me to raise you? I told you long ago that I’m a generous — brother, haven’t I been the breadwinner all these days?” It was obviously a mocking tone, but how could it be that there was a sense of smugness and pride in it?

Hey hey, what’s there to be proud of? If you can, don’t live in my apartment and don’t ask me to clean up for you! More to the point, even that bastard Yates is looking over here in a weird way!

Luo XiaoLou said, after an awkward moment, “Thanks.”

Yuan Xi was silent for a few seconds, then leaned close to Luo XiaoLou under Yates’s increasingly furtive gaze, and also awkwardly said, “This afternoon, I’m going to the mecha club to train.”

God, it was as if Luo XiaoLou was looking at a fierce cat rubbing up against him, proudly circling around and acting like he was giving him face by allowing him to smooth out his fur…

Forcing back a smile, Luo XiaoLou whispered, “That’s perfect, can you bring me along?”

Yuan Xi nodded in satisfaction, “Since you’re begging me, let’s go together.”

“Yuan Xi, can I, can I come along?” Behind the two of them came Yates’s excited and ill-informed voice.

The Grade 2 materials just now were bought by Yuan Xi after he quoted the price twice. These kinds of ordinary materials could be bought everywhere, in the first place, and the price was too high and not cost-effective.

As the three of them headed out, 125 couldn’t help but exclaim, “As expected, the head of the household is Yuan Xi, I should have seen it coming. I really suggest you get in good with him, but if you can’t, you can — wait, what was that again — you can sell yourself! It’s the most irresistible method for a man, and hey, why are you squeezing me hard?!”

At the club, Yates had never been to such a high-class place before, and he was so excited that his face turned red. 

Yuan Xi asked the receptionist to prepare a practice mecha for Yates.

Luo XiaoLou was once again honored to be in the second seat of Yuan Xi’s white mecha, and instead of explaining it to Luo XiaoLou, Yuan Xi sparred at Yates’s request.

Yates challenged him dozens of times to a battle that usually ended in two minutes. Yuan Xi was not averse to having someone to practice with, as he was able to perform difficult moves with ease, and with a level of skill that was completely different from what Luo XiaoLou had seen in school.

Yates’s mecha was the most common, but Luo XiaoLou could see that Yuan Xi didn’t use most of the white mecha’s functions, blocking all of Yates’s attacks with just a quick movement instead. Luo XiaoLou sighed in his heart, worthy of being a SSS pervert. Yates, an excellent A-Rank mecha fighter was completely inadequate.

After Yates was KO’d again, the ordinary mecha finally stopped and Yates looked at the white mecha. The Mecha Department had just informed him that the mecha needed repair, and the energy box was below 10%.

Yates wiped off his sweat, opened the cockpit and jumped out of it.

Yuan Xi didn’t come out of the mecha, he just looked at Luo XiaoLou proudly and took Luo XiaoLou to the training area.

Luo XiaoLou’s mouth twitched, What is he looking at me for? It’s not like he won it for me.

…

While Yuan Xi was training, Luo XiaoLou carefully watched how Yuan Xi drove the mecha, trying to picture how he would react and judge. He didn’t know if it was because of the Source of Consciousness that 125 said he had, but he could slightly see the speedy movements of Yuan Xi’s hands, which were almost a blur.

And these days, after often being taken to virtual training by Yuan Xi, he’d become quite familiar with mecha driving techniques. Now when he looked at the instructions given by Yuan Xi, almost none of them were redundant, which meant that every move Yuan Xi made was the best shortcut!

Finally Yuan Xi had his fun and drove the mecha slowly towards the door.

Luo XiaoLou looked at a bright-eyed and sweaty Yuan Xi, and could tell that his anger from the morning was gone. Well, is it so important to spend an afternoon with him? His character is not too capricious and awkward. Ah, is this the desire for exclusivity or food protection? Cats have this kind of habit as well…

As they left, the receptionist seemed to have something to ask of Yuan Xi, so Luo XiaoLou and Yates waited for him in the training room. Yates had already gotten his hands on the video of his fight with Yuan Xi, and he looked as if he was satisfied with everything. He was still so excited about fighting the best of the best since he admired Yuan Xi to the core.

Luo XiaoLou looked at him and couldn’t help but smile, “You came out to buy mecha with me, but you didn’t get any and instead got three discarded mecha.”

But Yates didn’t look remorseful at all, and he said, “I would do anything for ‘Waiting’, you don’t know what it means to me. Well, when you become a famous mecha maker someday, you must help me fix it.”

Luo XiaoLou laughed, “I’m flattered that you think highly of me. For a mecha like ‘Waiting’, it has an irreparable wound that even a master can’t repair, and if that day ever comes, it can only mean that I’ve become a genius among geniuses. But even if I fix it, will you be able to drive ‘Waiting’? You know, someone who can pilot ‘Waiting’ must be a top-tier mecha warrior.”

“I truly think that my chances of becoming a top-tier mecha warrior are much higher than your chances of becoming a genius mecha maker.”

It was only a momentary joke between the two then, and they never expected it to all come true some years later. When hero Yates made his triumphant return in his ‘Waiting’, he told those who came to interview him that the luckiest thing that ever happened to him was that at Saint Miro Academy, he had met a dear friend and, without him, he wouldn’t be where he was.

And that’s when Yates recovered from his elation and asked, “Ah, by the way, why did you lie to Yuan Xi to come along with me? Is it necessary? I saw he got angry…”

At the mention of this, Luo XiaoLou immediately wilted. According to Yuan Xi’s awkward personality, this probably wasn’t over yet. He sighed and said, “Here’s the thing, Yuan Xi’s birthday is coming up. I’m going to prepare a birthday gift for him, but it can’t be prepared in front of him, so I was going to give him a surprise.”

Yates laughed and patted Luo XiaoLou hard on the shoulder, “I didn’t think you were so good to your brother.”

Yeah, he asked for it though…

Standing outside the door, Yuan Xi stood stunned for a while before his ears turned red. Then, he walked through the door.

Once inside, Yuan Xi dragged Luo XiaoLou up and quickly said, “Let’s go.”

At dinner time, Luo XiaoLou stir-fried two vegetarian dishes, fried up a dish of fish especially for Yuan Xi, and cooked Yuan Xi’s favorite fish fillet porridge. He thought Yuan Xi would continue to question him, but in the end, Yuan Xi just enjoyed the plate of fish in slow motion and kept the corners of his mouth curled upwards, though it wasn’t obvious.

Luo XiaoLou was finally relieved, and after dinner, he began to study the materials that had been sent home from the auction. 

 

Besides the ones he had bought to make the energy box, there was the large batch of Grade 2 materials that 125 had bought. What exactly was it that could make 125 say it was good?