Chapter 14 (1/2)
”How did you found out I'm at State University?” Xu Le asked with his head lowered. Not realizing the heavy mood of his companion, Li Wei smiled and said, ”Currently a lot of people already know that you entered the repair shop. I thought that even though no trouble will result for this I should still let you know since it was something you put so much effort into making.”
No trouble? Really? Xu Le thought to himself. However, he couldn't find an answer. A certain amount of standardized military craftsmans.h.i.+p was used to build the electric rod. If the Police Department did an in depth investigation on it, would it lead to himself followed by Uncle Feng uncovering his ident.i.ty as a deserter?
He was supposed to feel angry at Li Wei for losing the electric rod as this was something he repeatedly reminded him previously. However, when he looked at that satisfied yet exhausted face of Li Wei, his heart softened and did not say anything. He heard that during the past month, Li Wei and the gang of orphans have been fighting over territories. They were probably exhausted from it.
There should be a lot of leaked military weapons at the black market. The electric rod being hidden under the crystal screen was quite an ingenious design; however it should not attract too much attention. Xu Le comforted himself and patted Li Wei's shoulder while saying seriously, ”Just pretend you have never seen that thing before. However…I still have the same advice for you. Do not just think of fighting all the time. You still need to find a proper job in the future.”
”What proper jobs can the current Eastwood offer? Did you not hear what the students argued on today's street demonstration? The unemployment rate is already at thirty percent, and this is even after excluding the resettled elders from the bankrupted Crystal Mines Alliance.” Li Wei rubbed the broken curls of his blonde hair and said stubbornly, ”I want to be a successful person, not someone who lived his whole life relying on the government welfare.”
”Demonstration?” Xu Le was shocked. There had always been very few people who were interested in politics in the Eastwood Grand District. The previous Bell Tower Street incident could already be considered a very huge event. How come there were still students that did not study properly and joined these demonstrations instead.
”A lot of people already went there to watch the event. I heard that it was organized by the Veteran's a.s.sociation.” Li Wei carried the heavy load of books from Xu Le's hand and walked in direction of the streets while explaining, ”Seems like there was a problem with the election at the Capital Star System. The opposition thought it was an unjust election and organized a large scale demonstration across the whole Federation.”
”Oh.” Xu Le was currently deeply worried, hence he answered blandly.
Xu Le, Li Wei and the bunch of orphans did not know anything about politics at all. They had always kept a respectful distance from it, not wanting nor interested to get involved. Although injustice did exist in the society of the Federation, such as the upper cla.s.s led by the Seven Imminent Families always having everything better than the ordinary citizen, those shady oppression that were always concealed beneath the radiant wrappings of law and justice…however what relation did all these had to them? They were someone who already originally spent their whole life growing up in injustice and were already used to all this, hence it was hard for them to be hot blooded about it.
Returning to the repair shop at the fourth street of Xiang-Lan Boulevard, Xu Le reluctantly told boss Feng Yu the news regarding the electric rod getting intercepted by the police. Unexpectedly, uncle Feng Yu was not worried in the slightest, as if his ident.i.ty as an army deserter would definitely not be exposed.
In reality, this was really what happened. In subsequent days of more than ten, apart from the large scale demonstrations incident, there were no other shocking or new incidents happening in Eastwood Grand District. Gang fight involving militarized weapons was merely a small incident that could happen anytime and anywhere. Hence no important characters had the time to set their sights on this small repair shop.
However, Xu Le was still cautious as he kept feeling anxious, feeling that the electric rod that had fallen into the hands of the police would bring some kind of trouble to him, yet unable to know whether this would be a huge or small trouble. Hence, he started to increase his practice on that set of movements, frequently going back to the mines to accompany those wild cats and continuously performing the stiff dance.
One day, Feng Yu sarcastically said while looking at the sweaty Xu Le, ”I thought you had always said that an individual's strength is useless in face of those metallic machines?”
Xu Le with his eyes shut was feeling the shuddering in every strand of his muscles, feeling the trend of the shuddering that were getting more distinct, attempting to seek out the actual purpose of these shuddering, clenched his teeth and answered with trembling voice, ”Even now I have not changed my mind. However, if the police department really comes to catch us, with you being too poor to deploy a mech for me…naturally even if you have I would also not know how to use it. Apart from making myself stronger, what other methods do I have?”