Chapter 2: Man and Machine (1/2)

Chapter 2: Man and Machine

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“Are you sure?” The same voice sounded uncertain.

“Nonsense! Just show yourself and we’ll see!” Ye Chong’s expression betrayed mild impatience, but the intensity of his gaze were a contrast to his apparent emotions. Ye Chong arched his body slightly, like a bow ready to fire, prepared to deliver a fatal blow.

“Then I’m coming out!” The voice maintained its level tone.

Immediately, the room dimmed, and Ye Chong did not manage a reaction before hearing a deafening rumble as a huge wave of trash engulfed him whole.

The trash planet fell silent again.

After a long stillness, in a trash heap near a Pulsed Signal Relay Station, a hand suddenly emerged from the heap, and a filthy man climbed his way out of the trash heap.

*Cough… cough…*

“Bad things come in threes, huh…” Ye Chong cursed as he shook the little rocks and sand grains out of his clothing. Up to this point, Ye Chong could not understand what had happened.

Could it be that, this was the legendary mode of self-destruction?

He looked on at the sorry sight of the area, the entrance to his home no longer there – everywhere was just trash and more trash. Ye Chong shuddered at the aftermath– how long would it take to carve out another entrance?

Ye Chong cursed murderously under his breath, “Once I find you, you little scum, I will make you pay!” The fury in him burned like a lasting wildfire.

As Ye Chong stared at the perpetrator of this whole incident, he found himself speechless.

The route-digging took three whole days, and the thought of the long and arduous process fueled Ye Chong’s anger towards the perpetrator to new unprecedented heights.

But when Ye Chong tried to deal with the perpetrator, the fire would not catch.

Its metallic shell, aesthetic and powerful, the alternating blue-and-white laser coating pristine, the mech’s surface completely spotless despite being amongst filthy and disgusting trash. When Ye Chong found it, it was just quietly standing there, firmly, as though nothing in existence could ever perturb it.

Ye Chong knew at first glance that he had found real treasure!

If the first glance at the mech gave him joy, a second glance made Ye Chong understand profoundly the meaning of pain within joy.

A huge scar extended from its left shoulder to its waist, even exposing part of its engine to the air, and the entire left arm was missing. It was as though a one-of-a-kind exquisite painting of perfection was forcefully ripped in half.

This was a human-shaped mech, with a height of around twelve meters, its body painted with alternating blues and whites, with an elongated overall design, a world’s difference from Winnie’s thickset bulkiness. The mech’s body radiated a faint, mysterious metallic luster, the protective armor panels on the chest were like the abs of well-development muscles, but not cumbersomely so. The icy cold profile had edges that looked as though they cut, and hosted an enigmatic pair of blue bionic eyes that blinked rhythmically, emanating a supernatural charm.

Ye Chong was stunned, as he starred at the dilapidated mech that destroyed his home. For a moment, Ye Chong was thoroughly captivated by this damaged but unique mech, as though the mech had bewitched his entire being with magic.

“*Beep* self-assessment completed, engine functions at 86%, left limb functions at 0%, cabin functions at 97%, other parts are fully functional!”

The gender-neutral voice interrupted Ye Chong out of his fantasies.

Ye Chong blurted, “Waah, this is the real deal, a self-assessing mech!” If one looked closely, one could see Ye Chong’s mouth gaping wide enough to fit an engulfer’s thigh and even drooling.

The damaged mech suddenly spoke, “Hello!”

A mech that greets, Ye Chong thought in a daze, and greeted back instinctively, “Hello!”

The mech continued, “My name is Mu Shang, you can call me Mu!”

Ye Chong was still not out of his reverie, “Oh, I’m Ye Chong, you can call me Ye!”

Abruptly, Ye Chong came back to his senses and flinched as though burned on the ass. He pointed at the damaged mech and stammered, “You – you – you – you can talk?”

The damaged mech that was Mu Shang nodded gracefully, “At a certain level, your observation is accurate!”

Ye Chong repeated in disbelief, “A mech that speaks?”

“Um-hum!”

With the addition of Mu Shang, Ye Chong’s home inevitably grew in space to thrice its original size. From Mu Shang, Ye Chong came to realize that the hanging ornament was Mu Shang’s spatial control, but Mu Shang seemed to prefer being outside than in the alternate dimension. Ye Chong was also grateful for the company – for a sixteen-year-old, loneliness was almost unbearable.

Ye Chong sat down heavily, finally finished with his work, and completely exhausted. Mu Shang imitated Ye Chong’s actions, as it swooshed down to a sitting position beside Ye Chong with a loud thud. Dust erupted into the air, and Ye Chong was caught off guard amidst the chaos as he was sent tumbling to a corner by the strong gust. As he rose, face frozen in anger, what he found was Mu Shang had smashed a large hole in the ground, and the mech was still sitting comfortably in the hole as it looked back with innocent eyes.