socalfunplaces Chapter 13 Let's Talk
Chapter 13 Let's Talk
In case she lost parts along the way or didn't make it to Red Spider, over the next two Star Days, Vector went through all the basic repair tutorials he could find in the terminal.
She's not very good at it, but she can fix things up to the point where she doesn't fall apart on the spot.
After the 200,000 yuan arrived in her account, the first thing she spent was a bunch of second-hand parts, patch panels, and temporary wires that were not exactly the same model but were still reasonably priced.
She went to the Celestial Master and asked for the self-repair kit. While the tutorial projector was on, she gritted her teeth and disassembled her own shoulder armor.
Several of the screw threads were badly worn, and she couldn't turn them even after trying for a long time with a wrench. She struggled for ages, almost twisting her entire arm into a pretzel, and finally managed to pry them open with brute force.
The solder joints were even worse. As soon as the temporary wire was connected, a series of error messages popped up inside the forearm, making her immediately close her eyes. It turned out that the error was an internal display, and closing her eyes was useless.
The vector control was frozen in place, and it took several tutorials to finally suppress the series of alarms one by one.
It took her a lot of effort to put her forearm back in place. When she stood up and tried to take a few steps, her right leg still felt light and shaky, but at least it didn't feel like she was about to fall off at any moment.
She had just breathed a sigh of relief when she looked up and found that Zhen Tianzun had been leaning against the doorway, staring at her for a long time.
"What kind of expression is that?" Vector asked irritably.
Zhen Tianzun glanced at the parts and tools she hadn't put away yet, his tone flat and irritating.
"Watching you fight with yourself."
The vector was choked as if it had swallowed maltose, so it could only lower its head and continue adjusting the few pieces of outer armor that it had barely managed to put back in place.
In short, she doesn't look so much like a piece of junk that has come to life.
On the third day of the Star Festival, she set off for Qingqiu City.
After the train started moving, she repeatedly checked the machine's status, the address, the time, and the significantly reduced balance in her terminal.
The more money I see, the less I have.
This amount would at most make Red Spider glance at her. Even if he were to take her on, he would probably only do some minor repairs to ensure she didn't fall apart on the spot and slow down her rate of decay.
Yin Xiang leaned back in his seat, his fingers slowly clasped together, his knuckles pressing together little by little.
If she really wants to survive, she'll have to come up with other bargaining chips sooner or later.
What was her most valuable possession? She thought for a moment.
That's why she's still alive.
A flawed embryo, a complete spark, alive.
But you can't just lay these words out in front of Red Spider. That would be like offering yourself up for dissection.
But she could let him see something was wrong.
Just a little bit.
It was enough to arouse his suspicion, and enough to make him reluctant to kick her out immediately.
-
Qingqiu City was colder than she had imagined. All the metal surfaces were excessively clean, and even the air was filled with a precise, chilling atmosphere.
The middleman waited for her outside the station for only a few minutes to confirm her identity before leading her deeper into the outskirts of Qingqiu City. He barely spoke to her along the way, only casually tossing out a sentence when they were almost there.
"My job is just to get you inside. Whether you live or die after that is not my responsibility."
Without replying, Yin Xiang looked up at the metal door in front of him, where the seams were almost invisible.
She stood there for two seconds, raised her hand and pressed the recognition area, and then the door slid open silently.
It's quieter inside than outside.
Without further hesitation, she stepped inside.
Behind the door was a long metal corridor, its white light cold and devoid of warmth. Enclosed observation windows lined both sides, through which robotic arms occasionally glided by, their movements so quiet they were almost inaudible.
She walked as quietly as possible, after all, the makeshift wires, patches, and old solder marks on her body looked ridiculously conspicuous in this place.
The middleman took her to a place that looked like a registration desk, said "I've brought the person here," and then turned and left.
The receptionist glanced at the appointment record displayed on the terminal, confirmed her identity, and then asked for her budget proof.
Seeing that she wasn't penniless, the other person took a data tablet and led her to stand next to an instrument that looked like a scanning and identification device.
As soon as she stood still, the scanning frame on the side lit up.
A cold white light swept from the top of her head to the bottom, pausing for a noticeably longer time at her chest and legs.
Immediately afterwards, a series of numbers and damage markers popped up on the adjacent terminal.
The technician who was in charge of receiving her glanced at her, and her eyebrows twitched slightly.
"You're quite lucky to have walked in by yourself in your condition."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a voice of moderate volume came from the side.
"Having good luck doesn't mean it's worth fixing."
His speech was unhurried and deliberate, yet exuded a distant and aloof air. Both the receptionist and the technician visibly fell silent for a moment. The latter subconsciously straightened the data panel in his hand before turning around, his tone much more formal than before.
"You've arrived."
The vector head looked up following the sound.
At the other end of the corridor, a slender silhouette emerged from the cold white light. The figure moved with unhurried steps, the lines of its shoulders, back, and wings as sharp as a half-opened knife.
Compared to the oppressive feeling she experienced when facing Zhen Tianzun, it was more like a rather discerning and precise aura.
As he approached, he glanced at the scan data that had been deployed in mid-air.
The light mirror paused on those lines of damage data for two seconds before giving her a very indifferent glance.
That glance was brief, but the vector clearly realized that the temporary wires, patches, and old solder marks on its body were probably no different from "a piece of junk that could barely stand" in the other party's eyes.
"What's the budget?" he asked.
"170,000 shaleks," Vector replied crisply. "That's the budget I can come up with right now."
Red Spider didn't comment on the number, his gaze returning to the projection.
"How much repairs do you want?"
"Survive first." The vector didn't mince words. "Don't let me fall apart anytime soon."
The optical mirrors briefly lifted off the data, then quickly fell back down.
"By standard," he said flatly, "more than half of your machine has already passed the reversible repair line."
As he spoke, he casually brought up the highlighted marks on his chest, right leg, and left forearm.
"You've come here to ask if a bunch of parts that are about to be scrapped can still be used?"
The technician next to me was completely silent.
The vector finger tightened slightly, but he didn't refute it. He composed himself and said calmly, "We'll fight for as long as we can."
Red Spider seemed to scoff softly, and continued swiping his finger downwards.
The next second, his movements suddenly paused.
The projection of the structure in the chest area was magnified, and several internal curves did not match the outer damage marks. Some kind of reconstruction that should not have existed had grown in the place that was already broken.
He looked at it for two seconds, then scanned that part of the data again.
"Who filled in this part for you?" he finally asked.
The core of the vector suddenly tightened.
She paused for half a second before saying, "It wasn't someone who fixed it."
This time, Starscream finally looked up at her.
"How did that come about?"
The vector paused for two seconds, making his tone sound even more normal: "It grew on its own after the first spark was activated."
The air fell silent for a moment.
This time, Red Spider truly looked up at her, his gaze fixed on her without wavering.
He spoke slowly: "Prepare a private room, let's talk."