/
Advertisement
Qiao Zhiya browsed through the registration page and hesitated for a while. After thinking for a while, he honestly filled in the registration information, then clicked submit.
The system reacted very quickly. Immediately after submission, it showed that he had been successfully registered, and sent him his number. He read the competition details and number that is bound to his ID.
In less than a minute, he became the 500,123,456th player in the 1106th Starnet Mecha Manufacturing Contest.
He silently counted the digits of his number, and found that the popularity of this competition far exceeded his imagination. The entire Federation has billions of people, and there are more than 500 million people participating in this competition. Not only was registration still open, each participant could only register one per ID, and they couldn’t participate in two competitions in a row.
So far, he could only make primary parts. Will he lose in the first round?
And in the final, the contestant must assemble a complete mecha with all the parts they made in the previous rounds. That is to say, if they want to win the competition, they must have made all the parts with the final design in mind. More strictly speaking, they have to be able to completely design and manufacture a mecha before the competition, otherwise they will not make it to the finals.
But mecha assembly and design… that’s a fourth-year course in the academy.
Qiao Zhiya began to worry again. ‘The bearded old man – no, he’s Master Shang now – was confident in letting me participate in this competition. If I don’t live up his expectation and failed in the first round, then—’
His communication device rang suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted. His ears turned upright in shock, and then he glanced at the time. Seeing that it was exactly 10 o’clock, he immediately jumped up for joy, hurriedly received the call request, and happily looked up at Chu Rong’s holographic figure projected in midair. “Chu Rong!”
Chu Rong, who was sitting in his ship’s office, saw him like this. His expression immediately relaxed as he asked, “How was the first day of class?”
Qiao Zhiya leaned forward a little bit, happiness and longing were all written on his face. He hurriedly chattered about his day, focusing on the fact that Master Shang was actually the bearded teacher.
“Sure enough it’s him,” Chu Rong flexed his fingers, itchy to rub Qiao Zhiya’s bouncy blond hair. When he realized he couldn’t actually pat him, he became irritated, but he didn’t let it show in his face. Then, he said slowly, “Master Shang is very happy. Well, you can rest assured to use your ability in front of him, even if he finds out something, he won’t say anything. It’s late, you should go to bed.”
Advertisement
The joy and anticipation on Qiao Zhiya’s face disappeared, and his ears slowly drooped down. With an expression full of reluctance, he whispered, “Let’s talk for a moment more. Ten minutes, just ten minutes more, okay? Then, I’ll sleep. Now I don’t have to go to class at night, you can find me earlier, I’ll always be here.”
His feelings were sincere and undisguised, and the reluctance in his heart was fully revealed. Seeing him like this, Chu Rong’s heart softened a long time ago. His emotions made him want to agree, but reason told him no.
Qiao Zhiya only stayed up late on the weekend, and got up early this morning to go to class. Now is the time to take a good rest, even if it is ten minutes, he doesn’t want to delay it.
“Tomorrow,” Chu Rong answered, his Adam’s apple moved, and his tone was almost coaxing, “Tomorrow I will come to you earlier, today you go to bed on time. If you can’t sleep, touch the simulator, you need to rest.”
“But…” Qiao Zhiya was still reluctant. He whispered in a trembling voice, “But I miss you very much…”
Chu Rong’s heartstrings were tugged harshly. He turned over his head and pressed his forehead, letting out a sigh. Then, he looked at Qiao Zhiya again and said, “I’m going to rest too. I have to get up early tomorrow, as Xiangnan and I have to arrange some things. I will be very busy.”
Qiao Zhiya looked at the movement of his forehead and guessed that he must’ve had a lot of work to do when he first boarded the ship.
He felt sorry, as Chu Rong must have been very tired. So he obediently lifted his quilt and laid down, replying in a sensible tone, “Then I will rest, and you go to bed early, good night.”
Advertisement
Qiao Zhiya’s cute appearance made Chu Rong subconsciously reach out, wanting to pat his head. But halfway through, he reacted in time and paused midair. He then turned off the communication.
The White-Haired Monster’s holographic figure disappeared. Qiao Zhiya lowered his gaze, slid down and buried his head into the quilt. After a while, he got up again and turned off the light. Once it was dark, he really touched his spiritual power simulator earring, trying to find a trace of Chu Rong from it.
A familiar force immediately seeped through, so he finally closed his eyes and drifted off to dreamland.
Meanwhile, on the Chu army’s ship, Chu Rong stared at the empty air, when just a minute ago held a holographic image of a blond youth. He then got up, and got out of his office, only to find Fan Xiangnan who was waiting by the door. “Let’s go, we have a meeting to attend.”
As a reply, Fan Xiangnan only politely nodded his head. He let the Marshal walk out first, and he trailed him with the knowledge that Chu Rong must’ve been in an irascible mood. He inwardly sighed.
‘He must’ve been too busy to properly chat with Qiao. This parting is definitely very difficult for him. After all, they just established their romantic relationship, but the current situation… Sigh…’
Qiao Zhiya didn’t realize until the next day when class was about to start that he forgot to tell Chu Rong that he was going to participate in the Starnet Mecha competition. He hurriedly sent a message, and then waited for a long time holding the communicator with anticipation in his eyes. But, he didn’t get a reply, so the anticipation in his eyes disappeared, and he laid down on the table like a wilted spinach.
Sang Bu, who was sitting next to him, stretched out his hand and pulled his ear.
Qiao Zhiya jolted and sat up straight. He looked over with wide eyes, disbelieving that the person who “bullied” his ears just now was Sang Bu, who has always been cold and logical.
“Be more energetic, class is about to begin,” Sang Bu withdrew his hand with a flat face, pushed a box of snacks in front of him, and said, “Didn’t you say you want to participate in that competition? The first round will be in a month, so you should prepare well from now on.”
Advertisement
Xiang Kun, who was passing by, stopped in place once he overheard. He leaned over on his own initiative. He spoke to Qiao Zhiya in a mild manner, and asked, “Participate in ‘that competition’? What competition did you sign up for?”
Qiao Zhiya turned to look at Xiang Kun. He felt that this young man had become a little strange lately.
Like Chu Yan, Xiang Kun grew a lot taller this year. After losing a bunch of baby fat, his delicate facial features shined through. He definitely had this gentle and demure physical quality typical of the Xiang family.
He’s almost like a different person, like a flower that suddenly bloomed in the blink of an eye.
A subtle feeling of “I watched this child grow up” suddenly appeared in his heart. Subconsciously, Qiao Zhiya’s lips curled up in a smile, and he replied gently, “It’s the Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition, are you participating too?”
Qiao Zhiya’s tone was definitely gentle, but unexpectedly Xiang Kun frowned and thought about it for a while. “I will sign up, thank you for reminding me.”
After speaking, he walked away.
‘But the deadline for registration is over…’ His explanation was halted by Xiang Kun’s quick retreat, and he didn’t have time to say it.
Sang Bu looked at Xiang Kun’s back and frowned slightly, “What’s wrong with him? The change is too great.”
In the past, Xiang Kun liked to take his “followers” along wherever he went in the intermediate academy. If not for his excellent grades, he definitely looked like a slacker-slash-bully. So why did he suddenly become like this now?
Qiao Zhiya could feel that the aura on Xiang Kun’s body had really become warmer, so this change wasn’t because of him pretending. It’s all genuine – he seemed to  be suppressed by something heavy. His aura became very cold yet thin, not as cheerful and happy as before.
“He grew up,” He replied, a little relieved that Xiang Kun changed for the better, but also worried about the other party’s dullness. He thought for a while and muttered, “Maybe he needs a fight to relieve his pent-up emotions.”
Sang Bu looked puzzled by his muttering.
He remembered Chu Yan’s special “encouragement” method. With fluttering ears, he smiled at Sang Bu.
After class at noon, Qiao Zhiya bid farewell to Sang Bu and went to No.1 practice building. On the way, he sent a message to Chu Yan about Xiang Kun. Chu Yan was very active after hearing this, and hurriedly said that he would go to Xiang Kun to “cheer him up”.
Advertisement
The No. 01 practice building of the Mecha Manufacturing Department is very large, and it is the most important and most admired by the students. It’s because this building is full of laboratories for all the master-level teachers. So, only related personnel can even enter. This also made the road to No. 01 practice building very deserted, and few hover cars drove over.
Qiao Zhiya followed the navigation and turned into the obviously narrower road leading to No. 01 practice building at the fork in the road, which attracted the passing students to stop and look at him with a little envy in their eyes.
Those who can go here are basically the cream of the crop.
Qiao Zhiya was stopped by the gate guard, got out of the car and dialed a communication to Master Shang. Master Shang answered it quickly, asked him to wait, and then hung up.
In less than five minutes, Luo Li, who looked more “professional” than yesterday, came out with a yawn. He opened the door for him with his pass, and said while leading him in, “I’ll take you to register for your pass later. You can come here to use the laboratory here, it’s way quieter and safer. By the way, junior brother, I heard that you have signed up for the Starnet Mecha Manufacturing Competition? Then your current learning progress is not good, so you have to hurry up.”
Qiao Zhiya was stunned by Luo Li’s natural way of calling him. He didn’t know how to answer.
Luo Li is his homeroom teacher. Logically speaking, he should call the other party “Laoshi”. But because of their relationship with Master Shang, it somehow feels… inappropriate. But if he calls him “senior brother”…
–it felt like it’s equally as inappropriate. He’s not qualified to call his homeroom teacher with that. In short, he’s very tangled with the current predicament.
“Junior brother?”
Luo Li waved his hand in front of his eyes, brought him back to his senses, and led him into the downward elevator. Then he raised his arm and stroked the stubble on his chin. “Junior brother, do you think it’s not good to lie to Master?”
Qiao Zhiya’s ears very obviously shook. The guilt and self-blame on his face could not be suppressed, and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay,” Luo Li answered shamelessly, and continued, “Actually, I lied to Master like this back then. You see, that old man didn’t beat me to death, so I think he should have forgiven you now. Take it easy, you can very easily coax him. If you don’t believe me, try calling him Master later.”
‘Huh?’ Qiao Zhiya glanced at him with the corner of his eyes, curiosity reflected in his emerald-like eyes.
“Oh, it’s just a little mistake I made when I was young,” Luo Li then gazed upward, recalling his past. He retracted his arm and stroked his hair, and said, “Well, back then… I pretended to be a pitiful girl and approached Master. In total, I played this persona for two years. I even lied to him that I’m a lonely orphan, and things like that. Hey, Master didn’t beat me despite all of that. He’s very soft-hearted, yeah?”
“…”
“So it’s okay,” Luo Li patted him on the shoulder. Once he saw the elevator open, he stretched out his hand to push him forward. “Go, call him Master.”
Outside the elevator was a large laboratory room. Inside, there’s a lot of high-end instruments arranged neatly. Several experimenters in dark overalls were shuttling inside. Hearing the movement of the elevator, all of them – still holding their e-notebook – turned over to see. Next to them was Master Shang, who was talking with these people. He looked over as well, then stopped his current work and walked over to Qiao Zhiya.
Qiao Zhiya stopped walking forward and looked at the “bearded” teacher. He’s a bit taller than his avatar. Suddenly, a little courage rose in his heart. When the other party approached, he took the initiative to call out: “Laoshi, good afternoon.”
–The title “Master” felt too intimate to him. He still didn’t dare to use it.
“En,” Master Shang’s reaction was very normal, as if he had never experienced deception or concealment, as if they had always been ordinary teachers and students. “Have you eaten yet?”
‘How could he answer like that? Really not blaming me?’
Qiao Zhiya was stunned for a moment and didn’t follow, then was patted lightly by Luo Li. He quickly walked a few steps to catch up with Master Shang, nodded, and replied, “No, I haven’t eaten yet.”
“Then eat here,” Master Shang slowed down to match his pace, and glanced at Luo Li, who raised his eyebrows at him.
Qiao Zhiya didn’t notice that their eyes were looking at each other, so he became happy belatedly. He smiled and vigorously nodded. “Okay! Let’s eat together.”
‘Ah, the bearded teacher is still as good-tempered as ever!’
Master Shang withdrew his gaze and looked at him, remembering the news he got from Chu Rong in the morning, he was more satisfied with this little apprentice. On the other hand, he became more and more displeased with the unreliable big apprentice, wishing to personally press him to shave off his beard, change his clothes, and pack him to a blind date!