Genius Mechanic

29. Big Profit

On the sandy ruins, groups of golden Gold Scorpions chased after the flying mechas ahead.

Just as the mechas were about to increase the distance between them and the Gold Scorpions, the Artillery and Vanguard Mechas at the forefront suddenly came to a stop. Huo Yan, positioned at the rear, immediately spoke up upon seeing the Vanguard Mecha slowing down, "What's going on? Running low on energy?"

[The mecha KID-14258 invites you to join the team channel communication.]

Huo Yan quickly agreed and as soon as he entered, he heard a concise request from Chenlin in the communication channel, "Huo Ge, lend a hand."

Lend a hand? In the urgency of the situation, there was no time for lengthy explanations. When Lu Xi joined the channel, she wasn't entirely clear about the situation, but the next moment she witnessed the Vanguard Mecha firing a shot at the Gold Scorpions below. The continuous paralysis effect slowed down the movements of the Gold Scorpions.

Without hesitation, Huo Yan readily agreed, "Sure, what do you need us to do? Both of us have only 40% energy left, and we don't have any backup sources."

Ying Chenlin was about to explain, but was surprised by Huo Yan's response. He changed his wording, "Get some scorpion materials."

Huo Yan immediately halted his mecha and cooperated fully, "How can we help?"

Saying he would help meant he would help. Huo Yan swiftly maneuvered his mecha, positioning himself in front of the Artillery and Vanguard Mechas without any hesitation.

As the mechas slowed down, the Gold Scorpions below clustered even more tightly.

In a situation of energy scarcity, dealing with the Gold Scorpions required focusing the available energy on a precise approach. Ying Chenlin was a solo mecha pilot. Solo mecha pilots needed to be versatile and knowledgeable. In the arena, they had no teammates and had to handle all decisions and solutions on their own.

Unlike specialized team mechas that might sacrifice defense for enhanced attack capabilities, solo mechas were built with evenly distributed basic attributes, lacking exceptional attack power but possessing the ability to sustain prolonged combat.

Transitioning from solo combat to team battles mainly involved a change in mindset—distributing tasks among multiple individuals.

Ying Chenlin calculated the rate of energy consumption, confirming the feasibility of the target approach.

"Artillery, ascend to a higher coordinate point; Tank, provide protection for them," Ying Chenlin scanned the surroundings briefly. "Control mecha, come with me. We need to gather all the Gold Scorpions together."

"No problem." Huo Yan quickly flew to the side of the Artillery mecha and observed the situation below. "But there are too many Gold Scorpions. Do you have enough energy?"

Among the three mechas, the Artillery mecha had the highest attack power. However, it faced a challenge. The attack program of the Artillery mecha gathered energy to a single point for shooting, limiting the range of the Artillery's attack.

He just noticed that the Artillery mecha had only about 50% of its energy remaining.

Dealing with the Gold Scorpions individually would waste too much energy, and they might not even eliminate all the Gold Scorpions before losing most of their energy.

Ying Chenlin said, "Gather them together."

"Gather?" Huo Yan asked.

Following behind Ying Chenlin, Lu Xi saw him swiftly maneuver into the midst of the Gold Scorpions. With a swift motion, he skewered one of the Gold Scorpions with his energy blade. "Set your weapon output to the lowest level and increase the frequency. You catch them."

Catch? Lu Xi hadn't fully understood yet, but the next moment she saw Ying Chenlin lifting a scorpion towards her position. Instinctively, she fired a burst of Water Stream Cannon.

The sticky water flow burst captured the scorpion, and in the next moment, Ying Chenlin picked up another scorpion and brought it to her. The Vanguard Mecha's movements were incredibly fluid, using only the left-hand energy blade to precisely control the orientation of each scorpion.

Lu Xi's eyes widened slightly, and she quickly followed up, "Again!"

The idea of gathering was to use the synergy between mechas to group the slightly dispersed Gold Scorpions into a single position.

While the Vanguard Mecha's pace of picking up the pollutants wasn't particularly fast, Lu Xi noticed that every time he passed her a scorpion, he timed it perfectly with her Water Stream Cannon's charging interval. Not a second was wasted. Moreover, as the number of Gold Scorpions accumulated, she found that with a single shot from her Water Stream Cannon, she could immobilize several at once, as if it had been calculated in advance.

Huo Yan's gaze followed suit. Within his protection range, the Artillery mecha had finished charging its energy cannon. When the number of Gold Scorpions controlled by Lu Xi had reached a significant amount it precisely locked onto the scorpion pile gathered by the guardian and Control mechas, and with a resounding blast, the Artillery fired, hitting all the Gold Scorpions within its blast radius.

"Interesting, we can play like this!" Huo Yan brightened up.

Pollutants might be attracted to mechas, but they wouldn't necessarily gather entirely within the attack range. The goal of the guardian and Control mechas was to group the Gold Scorpions within the Artillery's firing range, allowing the Artillery to hit the maximum number of Gold Scorpions with a single shot, conserving energy without any waste.

Each shot was utilized to its fullest, with not even a bit of energy wasted.

Such an operation required multifaceted cooperation. Relying solely on an Artillery mecha and a Vanguard Mecha, the control-output loop might easily break, and the Artillery might not be able to accurately target amidst the Gold Scorpions' siege, while the guardian couldn't gather such a large amount of pollutants in one go.

That's why they needed to work together.

However, this challenge was quite daunting. Firstly, the Vanguard Mecha had to gather pollutants to specific coordinates and calculate the Artillery mecha's energy cannon's hit range accurately to ensure all pollutants were within the coordinates. Though it seemed simple, it involved intricate maneuvers.

These two newly arrived mecha pilots at their base were impressive!

Ying Chenlin wasn't able to use his right hand conveniently, and initially, only he and You Su were confident in executing this plan. He wasn't certain if he could maintain his condition until later stages.

However, Huo Yan and Lu Xi were different.

The Tank mecha had a natural ability to protect the backline, clearing threats for the Artillery mecha and providing a stable shooting environment.

On the other hand, the Control mecha was the most comprehensive type in the five major types of mechas in team battles. This type of mecha generally carried two types of control weapons due to its basic characteristics. The attack capability of Control mechas was usually moderate, but their attack frequency was high and energy-consuming. In fast-paced situations, they could achieve seamless control within three seconds.

Lu Xi carried Water Stream Cannons and Thunder Magnetic Cannon.

One was a group deceleration and immobilization ability, while the other had a paralysis effect within an area. This combination perfectly compensated for her control limitations.

"We've been irritated by these Gold Scorpions for a while now. But the two of us, You Su and I, don't have much combat power. Every time we went out to search for mechas, we would get entangled by them. It takes some effort to shake them off," Huo Yan protected You Su while casually swatting away a few Gold Scorpions. "It would be convenient if we could get rid of them. These things always move together."

"The area near the tower is quite strange. The pollutants that were originally lurking there seem to have been triggered by something and have gone berserk. They've been constantly attacking the mecha pilots," You Su's voice was a bit soft, unlike Huo Yan's booming voice. "Their behavior is peculiar, and even some non-collective pollutants are gathering together."

"They are being subjugated by lower-ranked ones," You Su explained at this moment. "There's also a hierarchy among pollutants. Higher-ranked pollutants can interfere with the movements of lower-ranked ones. In areas with a pollution level above 5000, it's common to see higher-ranked pollutants driving lower-ranked ones."

However, it's quite rare for lower-ranked pollutants to suddenly control all the nearby ones. This level of pollutants is likely more than just a 6800 pollution value.

Ying Chenlin suddenly thought of something and asked, "Since you can be near the high tower, why don't you enter and restore the base station program?"

At this point, Huo Yan and Lu Xi  fell silent for a moment before explaining.

"It's not that we don't want to enter, but we simply can't," Huo Yan said. "Have you noticed there are many low-Grade pollutants around here? There are even more on the outskirts of the high tower. As soon as they detect our presence, they immediately chase after us. The high tower is practically surrounded by them."

Huo Yan's vanguard team of mechas had entered Base Station C after restoring two base stations. When they were about to approach the high tower, they were attacked by pollutants. The bizarre environment caused them to lose contact with the outside world. Strong winds and quicksand dispersed multiple mecha pilots.

Moreover, the high tower of the base station was protected by a defense system, surrounded by low-level pollutants. After losing contact with the core output mechas, they attempted to break through the defense of the high tower, only to find that the magnetic field around the base station's high tower was very strange. It even affected the functionality of some mechas.

With some of their mecha pilots scattered and Tanks and Control mechas comprising the majority, their current formation lacked a strong core output position. They couldn't forcefully break through. While dealing with these pollutants wasn't difficult, their large numbers and collective actions posed a challenge. Before finding a suitable solution, acting recklessly would only deplete their mech's energy and make their actions even more difficult.

That's why they came out to search for other disconnected mecha pilots and to attempt to find the missing rescue teams.

"Base Station C's high tower is the core pollution facility of Tianyu Star Domain. Several secondary defense zones have been established around it, from closest to farthest. In the end, we could only rest in the defense zone nearest to the base station," Huo Yan continued, "But recently, we received information that some mecha pilots might be in another secondary defense zone, which is why Lu Xi  and I came out to look for them."

Compared to Huo Yan, Lu Xi 's voice was a bit softer. "We just discovered that the quicksand seems to have disappeared. The situation is slightly better than before, which might make finding people a bit smoother."

Finding people isn't that simple... even if there's no quicksand, there are still occasional strong winds.

While many mecha pilots had entered, right now, Ying Chenlin had only encountered Zhao Lejie and Huo Yan among them. The truly powerful ones were the Gale and YDS mecha pilots, but they hadn't encountered anyone yet. It's evident that the environment in the Contaminated Zone had scattered many mechas. It was likely that personnel were spread throughout the endless desert around the high tower of the base station, not to mention the presence of the lurking S-class Centennial Orchid and another unknown pollutant...

"It seems like they treat this area as a hunting ground," Ying Chenlin said.

The pollutants dispersed the incoming mecha pilots and devoured them one by one.

"Pretty much," Huo Yan concurred. "But this situation is really difficult to deal with, and our energy is running low."

Energy? Something suddenly flashed in Ying Chenlin's mind, and his gaze shifted to the internal data of the Contaminated Zone.

The group skillfully dealt with the remaining scorpions, becoming more proficient with each round of cooperation.

"These things are useless to us," Theo complained. "My metallic nerves don't need this enhancement."

Aiming through the scope, You Su locked onto the coordinates and fired a shot. "Is that so? Not interested in precision?"

Theo believed that there was no need to enhance the mech's resistance to toxins. Instead of increasing the load on his metallic nerves, he preferred using the enhancement to improve functionality. "But if it enhances precision, it's not bad."

"But do we have enough energy?" Theo reminded, "You Su, if you use up all your energy on these shots, you'll be left with only 30%."

You Su responded, "If it's not enough, we still have you."

"But I can't activate... Wait a minute!" Theo exclaimed, shocked. "You want to drain my hard-earned energy to power this A-class mech?"

At this moment, Huo Yan's voice came through the communication channel, "Artillery, do you have enough energy?"

You Su glanced at the virtual dashboard. With precise control, he wouldn't need as much energy. He was about to reply when he suddenly heard a crackling sound in the communication channel, followed by an intermittently familiar voice.

Ji Qingfeng's voice fluctuated between loud and soft, "You... Chenlin!... Can you hear me!?"

"This voice?" Huo Yan recognized it. "Da Feng!"

As the distance closed, Ji Qingfeng's voice became clear and audible, "Damn, isn't this Old Huo's voice! We're on our way over."

Huo Yan enthusiastically replied, "Sure, where are you?"

Suddenly, Lu Xi  said, "Look at 9 o'clock direction."

Ying Chenlin lifted a scorpion and followed Lu Xi 's indicated direction, faintly spotting the figures of several mechas.

But besides the mechas, there was a vast, dark mass behind them, as if something was surging.

Ji Qingfeng's voice became distinct, "Thank goodness, please save us."

Three mechas were flying ahead, followed by an endless swarm of scorpions, their numbers stretching into the distance.

The actions of the few individuals who were dealing with the scorpions stopped for a moment when they saw the vast swarm behind Ji Qingfeng and his team.

Lu Xi  said, "There are so many."

Huo Yan looked up and observed, "Indeed."

Ying Chenlin seemed to ponder for a moment, "It looks like there's even more material now."

You Su looked at the situation unfolding before him. The situation was developing in a direction that interested him, "It's getting interesting."

Inside the cockpit, Theo guarded his energy bar nervously and said to You Su, "You Su, you can't drain my energy!"

Two groups of scorpions were about to face a new encounter, with three more mechas added to the mix.

Zhao Lejie thought he was about to be rescued, but when he arrived, he saw a large swarm of scorpions ahead and immediately stopped his mech. "Crap, we're getting attacked from both sides! Did you guys also stir up a scorpion nest!?"

"A scorpion nest?" Ying Chenlin was puzzled.

Lin Yao honestly explained, "We accidentally stumbled upon one while collecting materials with Da Feng, and then they chased us and attacked."

Zhao Lejie was exasperated, feeling like he was having his life shortened just to be saved by these "kids." After being blown apart by the strong winds, they had crawled out of the sand and finally escaped danger. However, when the other two from KID saw A-class materials by the roadside, they insisted on collecting them. With one strike, they ended up disturbing a nest of scorpions.

Not only had they been running non-stop, but now they encountered another swarm of scorpions. Their luck seemed to be at its absolute worst.

"Why are you standing still?" Ji Qingfeng's heart was pounding. "Why aren't you running?"

Huo Yan then flicked away a scorpion and replied, "We're not running. Our new buddy here wants to collect some scorpion materials."

The two groups of scorpions were converging, and Huo Yan deployed his protective shield to guard everyone. While You Su and Lu Xi's control chains continued their operations, they had to maneuver around the scorpion attacks.

"There are a bit too many people here, and we only have one Artillery mech," Ying Chenlin reevaluated the situation. "Zhao Lejie, come help."

Ji Qingfeng was both apprehensive and excited. "Are we really playing something this thrilling?"

Zhao Lejie was bewildered. "What? Seriously? You guys want to deal with all these scorpions!?"

Before he could finish speaking, an energy cannon from above crossed over Zhao Lejie and blasted into the sand, killing a large portion of the scorpions.

Only then did Zhao Lejie realize that the sand around him had accumulated the corpses of numerous scorpions. It was as if an intense battle had erupted here earlier.

While scorpions weren't difficult to deal with, their numbers were considerable. Expending energy to fight them wasn't necessary.

Zhao Lejie dutifully ran to the bottom to activate protective shields for others. "Are you all crazy? There are so many scorpions. Wasting energy on them is unnecessary. Besides, there's an S-class pollutant watching us here. If we run out of energy, we'll be sitting ducks. We might not make it to the rescue."

Lu Xi weakly expressed her agreement. "I also think so."

Zhao Lejie found a lifeline. "See, even the younger sister here agrees."

Luxi added, "But can we continue for a bit more with our energy?"

Zhao Lejie: "?"

If it were the initial batch of scorpions, they would have been easily dealt with. However, the swarm brought by Ji Qingfeng and the others was noticeably larger than before. The combined numbers of the two groups of scorpions posed a greater challenge for precise control of output and energy cannon coordinates. Using the previous approach to deal with the scorpions wasn't a problem, but accounting for energy consumption became the major issue.

Huo Yan pondered for a moment and said, "If we clear out these scorpions, our energy might drop to below 20%."

Zhao Lejie struggled against the scorpions, his humble energy bar supporting the overburdened protective shield. He managed to squeeze out a sentence, "We can't contact the outside world, and there's no rescue team bringing us new backup energy or mechas. I have a spare energy canister, but once these energy reserves are exhausted, we'll truly be stranded and waiting to die here."

Ji Qingfeng chimed in, "If you had a spare energy canister, why didn't you use it earlier?"

"Who knew the protective shield would crack while it was being loaded?" Zhao Lejie explained. "Besides, spare energy is our last supply. We can't waste even a single unit."

"We have spare mechas," Lin Yao spoke up at this moment. "Tang Jie told us to bring your mechas along."

"Oh right, I still have Old Huo's and Xi Mei's competition-level mechas here," Ji Qingfeng added.

Huo Yan and Luxi had brought their competition-level mechas along.

Zhao Lejie didn't quite understand KID's way of thinking. "So, after we run out of energy, you want them to drag us along with their mechas? It's not safe to change mechas and transfer energy in the wilderness!"

Before they came to handle the emergency situation, they were equipped with basic supplies. Although they still had an energy canister, no one anticipated the situation would escalate to this level. Even external support had been cut off, which was an extremely rare occurrence.

They initially thought there would be at most one S-class pollutant here, so most of their energy was focused on dealing with Bai Suilan. Little did they know that after Bai Suilan, there would be an even greater threat of pollution lurking behind. With insufficient energy, Huo Yan and Luxi from KID had spent more time here, and their energy was undoubtedly running critically low.

Besides their basic supplies, they had almost lost all later energy support. Considering the unknown variables, wasting energy and time on these pollutants was unnecessary.

At this moment, You Su fired an energy cannon, sweeping towards the unceasingly active Vanguard mecha below. He didn't mind much about this. Even if he had only 5% energy left, he could continue staying in this polluted area. However, how did someone else feel about it?

Unknowingly, everyone turned their gaze toward Ying Chenlin, who had been silent in contemplation.

Lin Yao: "Chenlin, what do you think?"

With smooth movements, Ying Chenlin deflected scorpions using the Vanguard mech. Suddenly, he asked, "How far is the nearest secondary defense area from here?"

Huo Yan: "Here? Not far, it's right next to the tower, about 3 kilometers away."

"3 kilometers?" Ying Chenlin glanced at the instrument panel, "That should be enough energy."

As he mentioned having enough energy, there was a brief pause on the communication channel.

Given another chance, Zhao Lejie would rather be buried in the sand, waiting for the Gale Base team to discover him.

"How are you planning to use it?" You Su openly shared the energy on the shared channel, "There's no chance to switch mechas here, and even if we do, fully charged Tank and Control mechas can only provide us with a short period of security."

Ying Chenlin explained, "Tianyu Star is a competition-level Contaminated Zone. Normally, there are no supply points here. However, as a core facility, the secondary defense area of the base station is also its reserve point, storing a significant amount of energy."

"These energy reserves cannot be directly supplied to mechas during normal times. But in reality, the energy source of the base station and the energy source of mechas come from the same type of energy mineral. mechas of A-class and above can use various energy sources."

Others: "???"

Zhao Lejie was taken aback by this revelation. He knew that the base station and the defense area indeed stored energy reserves. "If we could fill the mech's energy like this, then sure, we could manage. But extracting energy from the base station's defense area requires specialized equipment and technical personnel..."

The catch was that they didn't have technical personnel. While the Management Bureau could remotely control supply to them before, it was now disconnected. Remote control was as severed as support, making it impossible to create temporary supply points.

Ying Chenlin continued, "I have the necessary tools. If I find the energy storage point, I can operate it."

Zhao Lejie: "!"

Others: "!!!"

Zhao Lejie was astonished, "You can do all that!?"

Where did KID find this genius??

Suddenly, You Su remembered when he had pulled the child out, Ying Chenlin had a mechanic's toolkit with him. Energy resources... Maintenance techs dealt with mechas day in and day out; handling energy was fundamental.

Lin Yao inquired, "Can we steal enough energy from that secondary defense area?"

Ji Qingfeng chimed in, "Of course, it's more than enough for us to recharge ten times."

"Don’t call it stealing ," Zhao Lejie shamelessly mused, "We're here on behalf of the Management Bureau to complete a mission, so this is called requisitioning."

After the discussion, everyone looked at the nearby scorpions that were watching them closely, and their lingering concerns vanished.

Lin Yao flexed his fists, eager, "Dafeng, I'll take care of the ones on the left."

Ji Qingfeng noted, "The wind is too strong; those crystals are about to fly away."

Huo Yan chuckled, "There's more energy at the secondary defense area. We can't finish them off here, so let's move there and deal with another wave."

Ying Chenlin looked at the strong wind around them, then turned his gaze to Zhao Lejie, who was the most idle among them.

With no role to play in protecting the Artillery mecha (since Huo Yan's Tank was sufficient for that task), Zhao Lejie was only left with picking off stragglers. He suddenly noticed that a Vanguard mecha amidst the scorpion pile seemed to be continuously glancing in his direction. Puzzled, he asked, "Vanguard buddy, what's up?"

"Do you want to find something to do?" Ying Chenlin inquired.

Given that Zhao Lejie was going to sneak energy with KID's group shortly, he hesitated, "What do you need me to do?"

Ying Chenlin made a sound of understanding, seemingly waiting for this question, "Help pick up materials, I guess."

Zhao Lejie could only join them, "What kind of materials do we need to deal with? It might be better to just pick up everything."

"Are you daft?" Ji Qingfeng commented, "With so many scorpions, do you think the storage space in our mechas is enough?"

Zhao Lejie: "?"

It seemed that was true.

After a while, voices of disdain echoed around.

"Come on, Old Zhao, why are you still scavenging?"

"For the shell of the scorpion, pick the hardest one to peel. I heard that's valuable."

"Crystal stones, don't just pick the mutated ones."

Ying Chenlin gently reminded, "Don't forget the venom sac of the pincers."

"I got it," Zhao Lejie mechanically operated. Was it him who had gone mad, or was it KID and this bunch of penny-pinchers?

---

As the sandstorm raged on, Qi Sicheng led the mecha team to the specific coordinates of the pollutant Centennial Orchid. What they saw were the corpses of the pollutants, most of them withered.

"The special crystals are missing," YDS's Hu Luobu said, looking at the traces partially covered by the sandstorm. "It seems Deputy Captain Zhao has already dealt with the Centennial Orchid and left this place."

"There are other mechas with him."

Qi Sicheng surveyed the surroundings and vaguely saw the marks left by Artillery mechas.

"Captain Qi, we've searched nearby and didn't find the deputy captain!"

The quicksand had disappeared, the Centennial Orchid was dead, and the deteriorated environment of the pollutant area hadn't improved.

"Let's go!" Qi Sicheng didn't hesitate, flying onward from the Centennial Orchid's coordinates towards Base Station C's tower.

Not long after, a new report came over the communication channel.

A mecha pilot reported, "Captain Qi, something's not right. We've found a large number of dead pollutants!"

Amidst the strong wind, the sand was filled with the corpses of pollutants. Each of them had an unclear cause of death, with half of their bodies buried in the sand, indicating they had been dead for quite some time.

Qi Sicheng flew over as well, his brows furrowed. "These are B-Grade pollutant scorpions. How can there be so many?"

"Captain Qi, there are more ahead!"

"There's also some over here!"

"Captain Qi, there's more here too!"

"So many dead, everywhere, this doesn't seem like a human-made situation."

Hu Luobu from YDS's team had a change in expression upon hearing this. "Could this be the work of that mysterious pollutant in the Contaminated Zone? I've heard our captain mention that advanced pollutants hunt for food... With this kind of combat power, it seems extremely dangerous."

"It looks like we need to make more preparations from now on. Until we can confirm the support from the Management Bureau, our margin for trial and error is limited. We can't be too reckless."

Qi Sicheng felt a sense of unease. "If that's the case, we need to find a way to contact the Management Bureau no matter what."

The situation is still within controllable limits for now, but it might not be the case later on.

Seeing the corpses of scorpion pollutants strewn everywhere, like locusts passing through, leaving nothing behind. Even the crystals connected to their cores had been dug out completely.

Observing this, Hu Luobu analyzed, "These S-level creatures really know their stuff, huh? They've stripped the valuable parts off the scorpions."

Qi Sicheng turned over one of the scorpion corpses with his weapon, feeling somewhat puzzled. He spoke in a deep voice, "The venom sacs of the scorpions are also missing."

"Captain Qi, there are also heaps of dead pollutants over there."

Hearing this, Qi Sicheng and Hu Luobu quickly walked over and saw a small mound of scorpion corpses.

The pile of corpses had accumulated, and some had been blown away by the wind, making the scene particularly chaotic.

Hu Luobu was secretly shocked. Could that high-level pollutant be so ferocious?

And what's with this morbid sense of humor???

This situation put all the surrounding mecha pilots on edge. The pollution situation on the Tianyu Star was ten times worse than what the mission stated. The planned scenario and reality were far apart, and their energy resources were becoming a problem at this rate.

A mecha pilot approached with concern, "Captain Qi, we've detected traces of mecha energy around us... Could the deputy captain have encountered some mishap?"

TN:

At this point, Old Zhuo might choose to have remained buried in the sand than having his life expectancy slowly shaved off by these adrenaline junkies