Mecha Chapter 56: Control

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo has a crush on Luo ShaoTian (｡・//ε//・｡)

 

On the 17th day, Yuan Xi decided they should move forward, now that they were sure they could protect the mecha makers when the bug beasts came, and find a safe place to rest before nightfall.

That way they could find both their target, the information collector, and rendezvous with the other groups.

Luo XiaoLou was finally able to speak to Tian Li in the last two days, but after a few sentences, Tian Li yelled, “Luo XiaoLou, you’re still alive, right? But with Yuan Xi and Yates there, even if you’re weak you should be fine.”

“…I remember you’re also a mecha maker and not a combatant, right?” Luo XiaoLou returned.

“Hey, don’t say that. Even if we are both mecha makers, I’d still be in better shape than you. When the bug beasts came, I was the only one in my group who was strong and ran as fast as I could.” Tian Li laughed from the other end of the communicator.

“I think you can only reach your potential when you are running for your life.” Luo XiaoLou packed his things and rested against the rock wall, a sarcastic smile on his face. They would soon be out of this damn cave.

“Ahem. If it wasn’t for the genetic rank, I’d be a natural mecha warrior. Aye, this C+ genetic rank. I could’ve been a B- if I’d gone to the Mecha Department. I would’ve even been a great fighter by now.” Tian Li said.

Luo XiaoLou shuddered and cut him off. “Stop it. You said you were fat, and now you’re already panting. Is everything okay over there?”

Tian Li’s voice suddenly became very loud, and after a while, he said, “Nothing. It’s just that we don’t have enough food, but it’s all because of our team leader that we’re surviving. If he falls, we’ll all be dead. Let’s be honest. This training wasn’t for nothing. If I have the chance to do it again, I’ll still work for Team Leader Luo.’

“Luo ShaoTian?” whispered Luo XiaoLou.

“Mhmm. Team Leader Luo may have a temper, but he’s a real man. By the way, you’re both named Luo, why are you so far different?” Tian Li praised Luo XiaoLou for a long time, but he didn’t forget to say a few words about him.

Luo XiaoLou was stunned, then said, “How can I compare with him?”

“Well, your only merit is that you know what you’re doing. That’s enough. I don’t want to talk to you, we have to continue moving again.” Tian Li cursed and, from the sound of his voice, seemed to have started moving.

Luo XiaoLou frowned. The thought of the Luo family made him uncomfortable by instinct. Of course, Luo ShaoTian had the least amount of interaction with him.

Luo XiaoLou rubbed his brow and turned off the communicator. Then he saw Yuan Xi watching him from the cave entrance.

“We’ll be leaving soon.” Yuan Xi said calmly without asking who he was just in contact with.

Luo XiaoLou nodded. He had most of his things with Yuan Xi, and except for a few storage boxes he carried with himself, a short-range particle gun given to him by Yuan Xi was all that was left.

“Remember to activate the energy shield if anything happens. I’ll be with you when the bug beasts aren’t around. No need to worry.” Yuan Xi said again, looking at Luo Xiaolou’s pale face.

Did Yuan Xi think he was afraid? Luo XiaoLou blinked and said, “Of course, don’t worry. I won’t embarass you.”

Yuan Xi stared at him, his face exasperated. Finally, he said fiercely, “You’ve already embarrassed me enough. I’m used to it. I mean, if you’re in danger, you can come to me!”

Luo XiaoLou stared at the blushing Yuan Xi in stunned amazement and nodded honestly, “Who else can I turn to but you?”

Luo XiaoLou’s mouth twitched as he watched the students around him trying to perk up their ears. Hey, can you keep your voice down? People might think you’re raising a child bride!

At that moment, the assistant team leaders, Wang Jing and Wu Yong, came to report that the entire team was ready to go. Yuan Xi didn’t say anything else and took Luo XiaoLou out of the cave. The ground was full of corpses after the bug beasts were destroyed. Everyone swallowed their nausea and stood in formation.

The mecha makers were on the inside, and the mecha warriors on the outside. Only team leader Yuan Xi walked with a mecha maker but no one objected. This just meant that Yuan Xi was extremely confident in his physical abilities.There was no danger of being unable to rely on the mecha; Yuan Xi was fast enough to get into Cloudy Sky’s cockpit the moment a bug beast appeared, or he could even defeat it with his physical abilities.

Yuan Xi found the direction of the information collector they were looking for.

The group set off.

Trees and grasslands appeared on this side of the cliff. The vibrations of the mecha on the ground startled the birds and bugs in the forest. But those that attacked them were all killed by the mecha warriors before they could get close. The bug beasts were dismembered and thrown away, while most of the birds returned. 

For the midday snack, they are the school’s dry food.

At noon, they couldn’t find another cave and had to rest temporarily near a huge rock. The mecha makers stayed on the inside — that way, they could be defended on all three sides.

Just before lunch was served, Mu Chen came over. He examined one of the dead bird’s body and frowned a little. His face was full of confusion.

“What? What’s wrong with it?” Assistant team leader Wang Jing came over and asked. Mu Chen, a Mecha Department student who had always kept a low profile, was now treated differently by the students after he predicted the particle storm. 

“The particle storm coming to this asteroid doesn’t seem to be a coincidence. It seems to be a regular occurrence. This explains why the food Luo XiaoLou was looking for was slightly radioactive. In this case, the bugs and other animals are inevitably affected. But it seems that the birds are fine.” Mu Chen squinted and looked around. Slowly, he said, “That just means… This planet… There may be a safe place on this planet.”

The words had just come out when there was a howl in the distance.

“Shit. Why can’t it wait until we’re done eating?!” Wang Jing cursed. He couldn’t think of anything else, took out his mecha and rushed outside.

In fact, to defend themselves against the bug beasts, they had prepared lunch earlier. But this time, the bug beasts showed up early. The mecha warriors cursed their misfortune while the mecha makers continued to prepare their lunch. At this point, they couldn’t help.

It was their first time camping in the open now and the all three sides had to be defended. No mecha warriors stayed inside to rest. It took a while, but they were finally able to get it under control. 

Some mecha makers now got their first up-close look at the bloody carcasses flying around. It was disgusting and a few started to vomit.

Luo XiaoLou had, however, learned from his last experience and was no longer afraid of the bug beasts. He was more afraid of his own sudden transformation, so he concentrated on skinning the birds and gutting them. He began to roast the meat and put simple salt and pepper over it, and the aroma was overwhelming.

“Hey, I thought of a proverb. There is a beast here.” 125 was happy to report the results of the past few days of study. It had been forced by Luo XiaoLou to learn the meaning and grammar of the word.

Your sister! You’re the beast! Your family was a beast! Luo XiaoLou’s movements with the dagger grew even more fierce as he skinned off the next bird……

Many mecha makers were stunned to see Luo XiaoLou, who had no trouble preparing the food. They were genuinely impressed with the thick nerves of this one — worthy of being our team leader’s chosen one!

The stench of blood and the smell of food mingled outside; it was even more unbearable.

The mecha warriors soon discovered another anomaly in the early attack of the bug beasts. And that was, the whole time, they were attacking a single mecha.

Yes, a dark blue mecha. Even if the dark mecha was on the inside, it was still a target for the bug beasts.

Yuan Xi glanced in that direction. He asked, “Mu Chen?”

It took awhile but he got an answer through the public comm. There was a sharp gasp, “Team leader, it’s me.” Mu Chen’s usual attacks were mediocre so he had a hard time with the group attacks of the bug beasts.

“Team leader, why don’t we send Mu Chen back first?” Wang Jing said anxiously.

Yuan Xi didn’t say anything. 

“No,” Mu Chen quickly replied. “They’re reacting strangely. We can use them. What do you think, team leader? What do you think?”

Yuan Xi smiled… and the mecha warriors shuddered. This was an exceptionally handsome S-Rank team leader. In school, they had only admired him, but now they were in awe and in love with him. They even relied on him after spending time with him, and getting to know him better. 

The last time Yuan Xi smiled… it was before a good kill. At this time, with their new tactics, they rounded up all the bug beasts as quickly as possible.

“Mu Chen. You’re up front. All power to the defense system. Team 1. Team 2. Wait for the bugs to get up there and surround them. Then begin the sweep. Team 3. Meet them outside. Team 4 will protect the camp.” Yuan Xi was ready.

As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Chen was already flying out and then the groups spread out two by two.

It was not exactly a battle. 

It was closer to a massacre.

The beasts scrambled after Mu Chen. They didn’t even look at the mecha behind him and then died faster than usual. The battle was over before lunch, ending sooner than usual.

“Fuck me. These idiots. Hardly any intelligence at all.”

“Ha ha. On the other hand… Mu Chen… What do you think those things see in you, anyway? You don’t want to snatch it back as a side squeeze, do you?”

While the crowd laughed, Mu Chen walked over to Yuan Xi and the assistant team leaders.

Wang Jing reluctantly moved to the side. Mu Chen actually had the cheek to come here under the pretext of discussing things! 

But My Chen had no choice. This Class 10 student (Luo XiaoLou) is a really good cook when compared to the other students who barely know how to cook… it’s a big difference.

Yuan Xi looked coldly at the group of people who coveted his food. Then he turned to Mu Chen, and asked, “Do you have your own food? Do you have any clues of your own for the reason behind their focused attack on you?”

Mu Chen’s bangs fell over his eyes. This made his features a little unclear, and one could only see that his face was pale. His lips are usually pursed and most of the time, his face was expressionless.

“It’s just a guess. The first one is that there’s something about me that attracts these bugs. I’ve checked back and it’s not possible because this has never been the case before. The second one is that… I thought back to what I said before, that there must be a safe place on this asteroid. And then the bugs came out and came after me. It’s a rather… bizarre theory. That the bugs understood what I said. And they want to kill me because of that.”

Mu Chen said quietly, and the crowd of scroungers around him were creeped out.

Wang Jing laughed twice. He asked, “That’s impossible, isn’t it? I don’t think there’s a more brainless species than them. Or else they wouldn’t have let us kill them all so easily.”

But Yuan Xi didn’t say anything. He just looked thoughtfully into the distance.

Mu Chen quietly added another sentence, “There is one last possibility. There is another species can understand us. However, they don’t want us to discover the secrets of this planet, so they are controlling the beasts to kill us.”

This time, even Wu Yong began to tremble and he moved a couple of steps closer to Wang Jing. Mu Chen was not too strong. How could such a not-so-powerful guy, who looks like a white boy, draw such a horrible inference?

Yuan Xi nodded his head. Finally, he said, “That last one makes sense. Until we leave the asteroid, you’ll stay on the inside and go out only when you are needed.”

Mu Chen nodded. 

Luo XiaoLou handed him a large piece of roast meat. He thanked Luo XiaoLou calmly, turned and left.

Meanwhile, Yates and his female mecha maker stayed behind to wait for the roasted meat. Wang Jing and Wu Yong became uncomfortable as everyone asked Luo XiaoLou for a chunk to take with them, before scrambling away.

Yuan Xi stared at the bird being roasted on the fire. His face was dark. Only when he saw Luo XiaoLou take a plate full of golden roast meat, torn into small pieces, and place it in front of him, did he ease up a bit. 

“You want to taste it first?” Luo XiaoLou asked smilingly.

Yuan Xi looked over his shoulder. He looked at Luo XiaoLou, who was coaxing him, and took the roast meat held by the little slave and tasted it. He tasted it slowly and methodically.

“How is it? I’m a good cook. Not particularly good, of course. But I’ll try to improve. If you want, I can keep cooking for you, too. Until you find someone new. Ahem… So… If I make any mistakes in the future… You’ll forgive me, won’t you?” Luo XiaoLou said in a gentle whisper that was seducing. 

Yuan Xi was right. It was premeditated.

When Luo XiaoLou realized that only a few of the students were good cooks, it occurred to him that he should use the resources available to him to cozy up to Yuan Xi, or else his identity would be compromised. He didn’t even have anyone to help him.

Alone with no one to help him… and with a fate of an exotic beast bloodline. He’d be hunted by all the humans and then sent to a lab where they would cut off a piece of him every day. It would be a tragedy!

Yuan Xi nearly choked on his roast! Why was he confessing at dinner? He said he’s always be there for him. He said he would even study hard to make delicious food for him… 

Oh my God. If mother said something like that… I’m sure my father would be mad with joy. I never said I didn’t want him either. So he really likes me but is always afraid of being abandoned?

Yuan Xi stared at Luo XiaoLou with a flushed face. He didn’t think it was appropriate to say anything. Finally, he said fiercely, “No matter how stupid you are, I have no intention of abandoning you. You’ll always be by my side… Even if you don’t act like this with me.”

Luo XiaoLou could barely hold the roast in his hand… He was… Pissed? 

Who’s the one who gets upset when he sees food being eaten! Who’s the one holding a plate of roast bird with a look that begs for reassurance and obedience! Who the hell was spoiling it!!!

The two people’s brains aren’t really on the same level at all, right?