“Indeed, no matter what world it is, pork knuckle rice is the salvation for salarymen like me…”
Su Chen emerged from the restaurant, still savoring the taste, feeling his previously tired body instantly energized.
Time to go to work.
There are many new racetracks being built outside the Third Ring Road. Operating robots to move bricks on a construction site guarantees at least 1000 Trans-yuan a day. However, this job isn't for everyone; it requires some computer knowledge and driving skills.
Originally, he couldn't do it either, until he drove a robot around the site and even did a flip.
The boss was immediately astonished, even thinking he could participate in racing competitions…
As for why Su Chen could drive—he was, after all, a top Modifier.
Although his skills weren't comparable to a true top racer, understanding a racing car's problems required driving as an essential skill. Only by truly understanding a racing car could one modify it well; otherwise, everything would be theoretical.
Su Chen called the construction site boss. Three months later, the boss was still very enthusiastic upon hearing he was coming.
After confirming the construction site's location, he directly boarded the sky-rail.
However, he didn't notice a Mecha Girl with cat ears, pulling out her last two silver coins, also boarded the sky-rail, separated from him by only one carriage.
After getting off the sky-rail, Su Chen's first order of business was to buy a drink from a nearby supermarket.
It wasn't time to start work yet, so there was no need to rush.
Since he couldn't bring water while operating the robot, he needed to hydrate sufficiently before starting work.
And while he was carefully choosing a drink and struggling with decision paralysis, he also didn't notice a stray hair slowly floating past the glass window behind the shelf.
When Su Chen arrived at the boss's office with his drink to report, just as he was about to knock, he heard the boss's helpless voice from inside.
“Sorry, but we don't hire Mecha Girl workers here.”
Another voice immediately followed, soft and a little familiar, laced with pleading and flattery: “But, but didn't your recruitment notice say as long as one is an adult, there are no other restrictions?
I'm very strong, meow, I have great strength, I can move more than robots. If it's really not possible, you can give me half the salary…”
“Sigh, it's not like that.” The boss sighed, “Little girl, we have explicit regulations against using Mecha Girl as laborers. If we get caught, my livelihood will be ruined, so it's not that I don't want to give you a job, but I can't.”
“Why? I, I just want a job, meow…”
The voice instantly dropped.
Su Chen finally realized why this voice was familiar; wasn't it Xing Meng's voice?
That soft ‘meow’ verbal tic was practically her ID card.
However, why would Xing Meng come to a construction site for work?
Where was her pilot?
Su Chen knocked on the door, pretending not to know as he pushed open the half-ajar door.
The bald, fat boss's face suddenly changed when he saw Su Chen enter, and he quickly waved his hand, saying, “Su Chen, look, I haven't hired a Mecha Girl as an employee. I refused her. Don't go reporting me to the Mecha Maintenance Association!”
“Boss, do you think I'm that kind of person?”
Su Chen walked to Xing Meng's side with a smile. The girl subconsciously looked up, her previously tear-streaked face instantly changing expression, like a cat seeing a rainbow, her ears and tail involuntarily perking up.
“Boss?!” she exclaimed softly, her eyelashes fluttering, her small mind clearly still processing why the Modifier shop owner was here.
“You two know each other?” The bald boss's gaze moved back and forth between Su Chen and Xing Meng, then he suddenly gave Su Chen a knowing smile: “Not bad, kid, is this a surprise for your uncle? Three months ago, your uncle said you had the makings of a Mecha Girl pilot, and now you've actually got a Mecha Girl? Ha, young people are full of tricks, even sending a Mecha Girl to scare your uncle…”
The boss shook his head, giving Su Chen a look that said, ‘you still need practice, kid’: “But unfortunately, the test failed. The reason your uncle is in this position today is because of caution. I absolutely won't take advantage of small gains I shouldn't, and I absolutely won't make mistakes I shouldn't!”
“Uh… you misunderstood, I'm not…”
Before she finished speaking, Su Chen had already glared at Xing Meng out of the corner of his eye.
Xing Meng was so startled by that look that she jumped back half a step, her cat ears drooping and her head shrinking back, her words swallowed.
Su Chen understood the boss quite well, knowing that the boss was about to start bragging about his glorious rise from a small worker to a foreman, which would inevitably be a half-hour long battle. The key was that he had already heard it once and found it hard to patiently listen a second time.
He directly took Xing Meng's hand, interrupting the boss's pre-casting chant: “Boss, it's almost time to start work. I'll take my Mecha Girl to prepare first. I brought her today mainly because I was afraid she'd be bored at home.”
“So that's it!” The bald boss gave Su Chen a thumbs-up, then said to Xing Meng: “You have a good pilot! Not only is he willing to work hard and earn money, but he also considers how you feel being alone at home. If you meet a pilot like this, just marry him, hahahaha!”
Xing Meng's face turned red to her ears upon hearing this.
Just as she was about to explain, Su Chen had already pulled her out.
…
Behind the construction site warehouse was a patch of woods, and within the woods was a clearing rarely visited by people.
Su Chen left Xing Meng in the clearing, while he found a tree stump to sit on, his scrutinizing gaze sweeping her up and down as he uttered three words: “Speak up.”
Xing Meng pursed her lips, staring at her toes, tiny beads of sweat on her nose glistening with a hazy shimmer in the sunlight.
“Speak, speak about what…”
“Tell me why you're here, and where your pilot went? Didn't you pass the graduation assessment?”
“We did pass the assessment…” Xing Meng's voice held a trace of bitterness, the gloom beneath her eyelashes spreading like dark clouds. Unformed tears were like butterflies trapped in a glass dome, struggling but unable to escape.
She took a soft breath, trying to quietly swallow those emotions, a forced, carefree arc on her lips: “I, I just wasn't quite compatible with my previous pilot, so after the competition, we talked it over seriously and just went our separate ways, meow~”
“Is that so?” Su Chen sighed, “Are you sure she didn't leave you actively?”
“Sure…” The girl's voice lacked any conviction.
A silence, like an invisible wall, stood between them.
Su Chen directly shattered the wall with a punch: “Then what's the point of you earning money? You don't have a pilot anymore.”
“I want to… become stronger.”
A gentle breeze passed through the woods, blowing Xing Meng's snow-white hair into a fluffy cloud, like a crumpled cloud slowly drifting beside her pale cheeks.
Within that broken cloud, a pair of eyes reflecting withered leaves flickered, a fragmented light shimmering in their depths, like a shattered starry sky.
She murmured softly, “I don't want to be abandoned again…”
“As long as I'm strong enough, as long as my performance is good enough, I should be able to find a pilot who will never leave me, right?”
Xing Meng herself wasn't sure.
So the fragmented light in her eyes gradually blurred.
Su Chen silently watched the girl for a while, then suddenly said, “Do you still remember what you told me?”
Without waiting for the girl to answer, he mimicked Xing Meng's tone and voice, saying, “Oh~ Boss~ If one day my pilot abandons me, and if the boss still thinks I'm good then, I really hope to become your Mecha Girl.”
Xing Meng froze, two flames leaping in her bright, big eyes, as if someone had thrown a torch into the darkness. But the flames flickered uncertainly, seeming as if a gentle pinch would extinguish them.
“But I'm just a D-class, no… D-minus class. A Mecha Girl like me…”
Su Chen stood up and walked in front of Xing Meng—perhaps he had better choices, but as a Modifier, too many scrapped cars had been reborn in his hands.
When everyone else was choosing Mecha Girl based on performance, he went against the current. He knew he never needed to choose, because his strength… came from himself!
Xing Meng felt a palm press on her head, the touch so gentle it seemed to melt everything. She instinctively narrowed her eyes, resisting the urge to nuzzle, but her tail swayed involuntarily.
“I think you're very good.”
The person said, “Be my Mecha Girl!”
…
Xing Meng would always remember this day.
The wind in the woods was soft as cotton, and the sunlight wasn't so harsh.
Sunlight filtering through the branches outlined Su Chen's silhouette with a soft golden edge.
His smile, seen against the light, wasn't clear, but his voice was clear and strong.
—At this moment, it seemed to have been imbued with the warmth of the sun.
…
…
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