Xing Meng's soft cat ears and a single cowlick on her head perked up, and she stood frozen in front of the modification shop for half a minute.
Until a tall figure appeared before her, casting a shadow.
"Yo! Mecha Girl Miss, welcome to our shop, are you looking for modifications?"
The person standing in front of her was none other than the shop owner from earlier.
He had an enthusiastic smile on his face, his eyes looking as if he wanted to devour someone.
Fortunately, his handsome and rugged face alleviated a lot of the tension.
Xing Meng indicated that she could still handle it.
"Ah, yes... yes, meow." Xing Meng took half a step back, fiddling with the corner of her clothes and shrinking her head, pointing at the whiteboard, she asked cautiously: "Can it really be, free modifications...?"
"Of course!" Su Chen's smile became even more genuine.
Come to think of it, this should be the first Mecha Girl to come to his shop alone.
There had been Mecha Girl before, but they were all accompanied by a driver, and of course, they all left shaking their heads because he didn't have a license. This was a rare opportunity, he had to properly trick...
Oh no, he had to properly entertain her.
"It's not a place to talk outside, come on in!"
Su Chen practically dragged the cat-eared Mecha Girl in.
Under the bright lights of the shop, the girl's delicate features became even more radiant, her light blue eyes like two gems, her fair, flawless skin seemed to glow under the illumination, and her silver-white, shoulder-length hair flowed smoothly like water.
He initially thought the cat ears on the girl's head were just elaborate hair accessories.
Until both the cat ears and the tail behind her moved.
A real beast-eared girl!
Who could resist that?
Su Chen gestured for the cat-eared Mecha Girl to sit in front of the cashier, while he turned and rummaged through the refrigerated cabinet for a long time, finally finding a can of nutrient solution, and then inserted a straw before placing it in front of the Mecha Girl—this was the highest treatment he could offer to customers in his shop.
Nutrient solution is a daily energy requirement for Mecha Girl, similar to energy drinks, with various flavors.
Among them, <Ginger>, <Durian>, <Ghost Pepper>, and <Garlic> flavors were sold at a 70% discount all year round, and he didn't know why no one bought them yet they weren't discontinued.
Xing Meng, blushing, said 'thank you'.
Although she felt very embarrassed, her currently drowsy head really needed an energy boost.
She held the nutrient solution and took a small sip, immediately shivering, her features scrunching up.
"Ugh—!"
What kind of flavor was this?!
Looking down at the label, Xing Meng was completely dumbfounded.
<Ginger Flavor>—did anyone really like this perverted taste?
Although it was hard to drink, she didn't want to disappoint the owner's kindness.
In the end, she still used her strong will to swallow the bitter and spicy nutrient solution.
"Before the modification, I need to understand your basic situation." Su Chen took out a form and a pen and waved them at the cat-eared girl.
"Mew." Xing Meng nodded obediently.
It was her first time getting modifications too, so she didn't quite understand the specific process.
"Name and model?"
"Xing Meng, model is NEKO-99."
"And grade?"
"D, D-grade, meow..." Xing Meng glanced at Su Chen guiltily.
D is the lowest among Mecha Girl grades, indicating that the Mecha Girl either has defects or poor performance.
Normally, her driver would never reveal her grade, fearing ridicule.
However, she didn't see any unusual expression on the owner's face, which made her slightly relieved.
"Alright." Su Chen carefully made notes, then looked up, gazing at the girl who was clearly tense and uneasy: "Tell me your needs. Why do you want modifications, and what aspects do you want to improve? This way, I'll have a basic direction for the modifications."
"I, because of my poor performance, my driver couldn't pass the graduation assessment, so I want to get modifications to improve my performance. The main direction for improvement..."
Xing Meng tilted her head, pondering the characteristics of the League Academy's graduation assessment track.
It was a relatively standard track, not too difficult, with few turns and many straights.
As long as the Mecha Girl' speed met the standard and the driver's skills weren't too idiotic, passing the assessment shouldn't be a problem.
"I want to improve my speed."
She finally came to this conclusion.
A very pure thought, Su Chen couldn't help but sigh.
In his previous life, the rookie racers he encountered mostly came to him to speed up their cars.
But this was the first time a 'racing car' had made such a request on its own.
However, one thing puzzled him. The League Academy in this world was like a combination of a university and a driving school, teaching cultural knowledge while focusing on racing cars. Of course, ordinary people couldn't afford to attend the League Academy, given the expense of Mecha Girl.
And Mecha Girl like Xing Meng were beginner Mecha Girl assigned to students in their third year of the academy.
These Mecha Girl had no obvious defects, but their performance couldn't be too high, basically hovering around C-grade or D-grade.
Logically speaking, as long as the driver's skills were fine, wouldn't graduating be simple?
How could it be blamed on the Mecha Girl' performance?
Besides, if the performance wasn't good, why not just modify the Mecha Girl?
But that was between the Mecha Girl and her driver, and he couldn't ask too many questions.
He just wanted to activate his Golden Finger quickly now.
Make a lot of money and reach the pinnacle of life!
Live a life of exhilaration, gripping the steering wheel by day and pigtails by night!
"I understand your needs, follow me." Su Chen got up and led the way.
Xing Meng followed closely behind Su Chen, peeking around, and was surprised to find that this small shop had more to it than met the eye; there was actually quite a long corridor inside.
They arrived at the end of the corridor, where Su Chen took out a key and unlocked the door. In the dim light, the somewhat old door creaked open, and a blackness like thick ink poured out from within, as if hiding some terrifying, man-eating entity.
Xing Meng shivered: "Wh-what is this place, meow...?"
"The modification room, but it's a bit old."
Su Chen's voice was casual, half his face hidden in the darkness, making him appear somewhat eerie.
His hand fumbled along the nearby wall, and from other angles, it looked as if he was pulling out a weapon.
Xing Meng stood still at the door, not daring to move.
She wondered if it was still not too late to run now?
This boss wouldn't do anything strange to her, would he?
Sure enough, free things are the most expensive, meow!
"Please come in, ahem..." Su Chen finally found the switch and waved his hand to fan away the dust.
The dim yellow light flickered, the darkness receded, and the room seemed to be shrouded in twilight, looking not much better than before.
Before it was eerie, now it was lifeless.
Seeing Xing Meng rooted to the spot and eager to activate his Golden Finger, he reached out and pulled the wooden-like girl into the room.
"Why are you standing there, come on in!"
The door slowly closed, and the last sliver of light was absorbed into the darkness.
With a click, the lock engaged.
The signboard hanging by the wall lit up with a red glow.
— 【Instruction Training Room (In Use)】
...
...
Xing Meng
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Current publicly available Mecha Girl intelligence!
【Name: Xing Meng Model: NEKO-99 Starlight: Radiance】
【Speed: 47 Cornering: 54 Stability: 42 Burst: 35 Endurance: 51】
【Rating: D-grade】
【Talents: (1) Not activated (2) Catgirl Specialization (3) Silent Come and Go】
【Evaluation: A very special catgirl specialized Mecha Girl, born on the west bank of the Sea of Star Gods, later recruited by the Bin City Starcrown League Academy and assigned to students as an initial Mecha Girl. As an initial Mecha Girl, her performance is barely adequate, but not outstanding among initial Mecha Girl. She possesses a very rare appearance and hidden talents among Mecha Girl.】
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