Section 129: Gains and Losses

Ye Chong looked at the Fish, which had been reduced to a heap of scrap metal, and felt like crying. It had been so difficult to obtain a mech that was both presentable and perfectly suited to his needs, and now it was completely totaled! The Fish possessed excellent performance in every aspect, but its most crucial feature was the four-armed mechanical design, which allowed him to maximize his high-speed manual operations. Of all the mechs Ye Chong had ever piloted, the Fish was undoubtedly the most compatible.

The Fish before him bore no resemblance to the formidable machine it once was. Its chassis was covered in charred scars and cracks caused by energy impacts. Of its four mechanical arms, only the one holding the ejection pod remained intact; the other three were either completely missing or reduced to stumps, with exposed circuitry occasionally sparking and crackling in the air. The auxiliary projectiles within the ejection pod had long since been exhausted, and there was nowhere to replenish these specialized munitions. God only knew when he would encounter Master Fred again. Aside from its engine, the Fish was now essentially worthless.

Hei Zi touched the cracks and jagged wounds on the Fish, clicking his tongue in dismay. "Man, it got shredded! Still, it’s a stroke of luck that you’re unharmed!" Even though he had abandoned Ye Chong for Nan Nan's sake, a part of him still felt uneasy.

Nan Nan sat on Ye Chong’s shoulder, her small hands clutching his collar tightly for fear of falling. She voiced her opinion in a milky, childish tone: "Poor Big Guy Mech!" The Fish stood twenty meters tall—twice the size of a standard mech—so Nan Nan had always thought of it as the "Big Guy."

Hei Zi inspected the wreckage from all sides, shaking his head with a look of regret. "What a shame. Such a good machine, but it’s beyond repair."

Ye Chong stood before the Fish, his heart aching. Mu provided a cold, authoritative verdict: "According to the data, the probability of successful repair is less than five percent."

Though Ye Chong appeared calm on the surface, he was howling in agony inside. While he still possessed the Guardian, and in some respects, it was even more advanced than the Fish, the Guardian’s operational range was significantly more limited. It was a classic atmospheric mech; whether it could even function in space was questionable. As for space combat, that was a joke. He suspected that when Gu Shaoze designed it, he had never even considered space warfare. The Guardian’s power source relied fundamentally on the explosive force of Ye Chong’s own muscles, amplified by numerous micro-engines. In the vacuum of space, there was nothing to push against; it would be difficult for the Guardian to even shift its position. Without its signature short-range, high-speed dash capability, the Guardian would be nothing more than a target for others.

To be honest, the Fish was better balanced in every regard. Although it was a close-combat model, its ejection pod configuration gave it decent long-range capabilities. Furthermore, even in space combat, the Fish was an elite among close-combat mechs.

The primary theater of battle nowadays was space, and the fact that the Guardian was useless in that environment left Ye Chong deeply frustrated. Moreover, the commotion caused by the Guardian this time would almost certainly make it the primary target for those in the Orbital Ring. The moment it surfaced, he would likely be unable to escape.

There was nothing more agonizing than finally obtaining an exquisite, world-class sword, only to be forced to keep it hidden and never reveal it to others—and to have destroyed his own kitchen knife in the process of acquiring it.

Seeing Ye Chong’s expression, Hei Zi couldn't help but grin, his snow-white teeth appearing even more dazzling against his dark skin. "Don't be too sad. Out with the old, in with the new!" He spoke with a mysterious air, though given his naturally honest demeanor, the expression looked incredibly strange.

Ye Chong looked at Hei Zi with suspicion. Hei Zi quickly lowered his head, but Ye Chong’s sharp eyes caught the suppressed excitement on his face.

After finishing dinner with Nan Nan and Hei Zi—Nan Nan’s grandfather rarely ate with them, and Ye Chong had barely seen the elderly but spirited man—Hei Zi seemed to be in the best mood. In the past, coaxing Nan Nan to eat had always left the honest Hei Zi exasperated, but Ye Chong’s arrival had changed everything. Nan Nan had become exceptionally well-behaved, eating obediently every time. It made Hei Zi start to feel that life was, after all, quite wonderful.

After dinner, Ye Chong lay on his bed. Not far away was Nan Nan’s bed; the little girl was sound asleep, exhausted from her day of play. Ever since Ye Chong moved in, Nan Nan had insisted on staying in this room, leaving the worn-down Hei Zi with no choice but to move her bed over.

Ye Chong practiced his Art-Inheritor lessons, though the results were minimal. He figured his talent in this area was shockingly poor. Still, he did not lose heart. Even if his talent was lacking, he knew his strength was still improving, even if the increments were too small to perceive. For him, every bit of progress was precious.

After finishing his practice, Ye Chong began to converse with Mu.

"Mu, what do you think it would be like if we were still back home?" Ye Chong asked, feeling a touch of nostalgia for the trash planet. The outside world was indeed spectacular, but it brought Ye Chong more confusion than anything else. From the beginning, he felt like a headless fly, not knowing what to do next. He had no goals, merely drifting and changing passively with the circumstances of his life.

What was he going to do tomorrow? That concept seemed entirely absent from Ye Chong’s mind. On the trash planet, he only had to face the most basic issue of survival. In the outside world, although he remained cautious, he found that the life-or-death threats he had to watch out for constantly on the trash planet were apparently things he didn't need to worry about here. Most of the time, one was safe.

Suddenly stripped of his long-held survival goal, Ye Chong found himself unable to adapt. As he began to touch upon the lives of ordinary people, he discovered that the laws of nature he had always believed in were draped here in beautiful cloaks, becoming entirely unrecognizable to him. Without the pressure of survival, replaced by strange rules, life suddenly felt relaxed yet profoundly unreal.

Sensing the shift in Ye Chong’s mood, Mu, who was not like Sha and could not comprehend such complex emotions, replied, "According to the data, you would still be fighting mutated creatures, and your training progress would be approximately forty percent behind where it is now."

"Heh, that life would be boring too. But, Mu, do you have any ideals?" Ye Chong asked.

"Ideals?" Apparently, this word was still a bit difficult for Mu. If it had been Sha, he would definitely be boasting to the high heavens by now, Ye Chong thought.

"An ideal is the thing you most want to do in the future," Ye Chong explained, though he barely understood it himself.

"Oh, then my ideal is to be able to stay by Ye's side forever," Mu said nonchalantly.

Ye Chong was genuinely touched.

Suddenly, lost in thought, Ye Chong sat up on his bed in alert, having heard someone approaching.

The door was pushed open. It was Hei Zi. Ye Chong let out a sigh of relief. Seeing that Nan Nan was asleep, Hei Zi immediately clamped his mouth shut, only gesturing excitedly for Ye Chong to follow him out.

Ye Chong stepped out of the room quietly. Hei Zi leaned in close, excited but keeping his voice low: "Follow me, Master wants to see you."