Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It's 5:30 AM.

Without needing the cyber-brain's reminder, her ingrained biological clock urged Bai Sha awake.

She sprang from the bed, folded the blanket neatly, and walked into the bathroom in her slippers.

The mirror reflected a slender figure—shoulder-length silver-gray hair slightly tousled, her posture as upright as a young sapling.

While brushing her teeth, Bai Sha stretched out a hand to wipe the mist from the bathroom mirror, staring at her pale face, slightly lost in thought.

Unknowingly, five years had passed since she moved into the orphanage.

She was no longer the child who felt powerless in everything she did. In two more years, at fourteen, according to the laws of Blanslo Star, she would be considered an adult.

Bai Sha's face gradually lost its youthful tenderness. Though not yet fully matured, her brow, gaze, and bones radiated a vibrant vitality, as if ready to break through her thin skin; her deep blue pupils shone brilliantly, resembling precious gemstones covered in stardust, glittering in her eye sockets.

Throughout her life, Bai Sha often received similar remarks from those around her: “You have a very expensive-looking face.”

Her appearance was like a rose nurtured in luxury and wealth. People of Blanslo Star, upon seeing her, reacted as if they had come across a rare flower in the wilderness, always expressing amazement from time to time.

Despite looking like a delicate vase, she didn’t possess a fragile demeanor—five years of grueling training were not in vain. Even though Bai Sha was no musclebound figure, a slight exertion revealed a layer of lean muscle on her limbs. Long-term combat training had also honed her will and intuition, making her more decisive and resolute than before.

All these were desirable qualities of a reserve soldier.

Bai Sha still remembered the exhilarating feeling from watching mech videos on the star network years ago. In that moment, her goal leaped from "senior mechanic" to "senior mech pilot."

After sharing her grand vision with Lao Liao, he remained silent for a while, his mechanical eye spinning. Finally, he solemnly told her that the path of a mech pilot was not an easy one. Aside from the high entry barrier, the employment prospects for mech pilots were much narrower than for mechanics. If it were just civilian mechs, it might be manageable, but the production resources for combat mechs were controlled by the federal government, meaning mech pilots could only work for official institutions. Apart from wealthy families, no one could afford a mech pilot, as the experimental materials and mech components needed for their designs could cost hundreds of thousands, even millions of star coins... not to mention the resources required to train a senior mech pilot.

“Though Blanslo Star is backward, it has produced a few talents who were admitted to the top nine military academies. Among them are mech soldiers, commanders, and military mechanics, but never a mech pilot,” Lao Liao said gravely, “Since the history of Blanslo Star, no one has ever been admitted to a mech pilot program.”

Lao Liao knew what Bai Sha was thinking—if she couldn't study on Blanslo Star, she could try for a military academy. He actually supported Bai Sha’s ambition to attend a military academy, rather than wasting her potential on a remote star, but he advised her to apply as a mechanic.

“Mechanic is a safer choice,” Lao Liao, putting down his tools, analyzed the pros and cons with Bai Sha, “Being a mechanic doesn’t require psychic power, but roles like commanders, mech soldiers, and mech pilots all have psychic requirements. If you apply for a mechanic specialty, you might even aim for top academies like the Central Military Academy and Saint Cyril Military Academy. But to apply for a mech pilot, all military academies require at least a C-level psychic power, and to get into Central or Saint Cyril, you'd need at least A-level, even S-level…”

That was the first day Bai Sha heard of “psychic power.” But she somewhat understood Lao Liao’s point—he didn’t recommend her becoming a mech pilot, as it seemed a path with no foreseeable future.

The day she returned to the orphanage, she searched the star network for information on psychic power. In annual military academy admissions, A-level psychic power was already rare, while S-level was even more elusive, almost one in ten million, with only about a hundred each year, distributed across specialties like commanders, mech pilots, and mech soldiers, mostly absorbed by Central and Saint Cyril.

After her research, Bai Sha felt Lao Liao’s statement was exaggerated. Since S-level was so rare, the remaining students at Central and Saint Cyril should be A-level.

A-level seemed much more achievable than S-level.

However, psychic power wasn’t something one could train for; 99% of it was innate.

It was like a lottery. You needed good luck to have psychic power; and only the exceptionally fortunate could get A-level or even S-level. But how many on Blanslo Star could draw such an extraordinary hand?

Even if Bai Sha had psychic power, conventional wisdom suggested that a mech pilot’s design level was directly linked to their psychic grade, determining their upper limit.

What if Bai Sha was destined to be only a low-level mech pilot?

Bai Sha checked Blanslo Star's historical military academy admission lists. Each year, only a few students from Blanslo Star were admitted to military academies, mostly to lesser-known ones. Occasionally, a few were accepted into higher-ranked academies, but the highest psychic power level recorded was only B-level.

Bai Sha also found that one B-level military academy graduate didn't join the military but returned to Blanslo Star, welcomed back in triumph, and now serves as a Sheriff in one of the wealthy districts.

The Sheriff, the chief inspector of public safety in each district—aligned with the government, feared and ingratiated by the wealthy, and a high-ranking lackey under the Kangheng Life Science Company.

Kangheng Life Science, thriving on technology and capital monopoly, had Sheriffs under its wing with similar conduct. Corruption, bribery, and nepotism were just starters; they also secretly cultivated gangs, throwing bait and watching the turmoil unfold, using a ‘nurturing parasites’ strategy to gradually weaken native powers on Blanslo Star until Kangheng Life dominated the entire planet.

This Sheriff's example seemed to tell people: What good is B-level psychic power? You might be a pride of Blanslo Star, but in the eyes of the Interstellar Federation, you’re not a true genius. Better to join a big company early and enjoy the privileges of power and status.

Such is the way of the world.

For Bai Sha, choosing the right major at a military academy was critical—it represented her best chance to change her life.

Bai Sha hesitated for a long time, not entirely giving up her dream of becoming a mech pilot, but also heeded Lao Liao’s advice to consider a mechanic as a backup option.

To enter a top military academy as a mechanic, she had to be the best of the best.

Bai Sha, after five years of diligent practice in Holman's combat class and Lao Liao’s repair shop, had gained considerable skill. Lao Liao said he had taught her all he could; the rest was up to her. Holman wanted to teach other skills, but the orphanage's limited resources made it impossible to offer shooting, flight training, or simulated command courses until Bai Sha and the others reached twelve and joined the military preparatory classes at Blanslo Middle School. Though from Holman's tone, it seemed he might be capable of teaching these too—sometimes Bai Sha wondered if he was an underutilized talent, a monk in disguise, given his abilities to be merely a teacher in a small orphanage.

The preparatory class required tuition, as would the military academy in the future. Thankfully, Bai Sha had Lao Liao, who had shared some jobs with her over the years, allowing her to save a significant amount of money.

Additionally, Bai Sha hadn’t completely abandoned mech design.

After changing clothes and locking her door, Bai Sha ran ten laps on the orphanage playground for warm-up before heading to the kitchen to help. On the way, her wrist-mounted cyber-brain flickered twice. Sitting in the kitchen, biting on a sausage, she opened the cyber-brain and several messages popped up.

[Qingying Fuzhou: I looked at the mech design you posted yesterday.]

[Qingying Fuzhou: Regarding the engine’s power structure, the National Knowledge Institute recently published a new experimental paper. I think you could reference it, might even find some areas for improvement.]

[Qingying Fuzhou: Also, about the mechanical heavy cannon transformation. I haven't fully researched your model yet, but it’s interesting.]

Bai Sha squinted her eyes, clearly in a better mood.

[Bai Shao: Don’t you think the design I uploaded yesterday is crazy?]

[Qingying Fuzhou: It’s fine. Equipping a light mech with a mechanical heavy cannon, sacrificing evasion speed for a rock-solid defense structure and maximum firepower output. It just demands a lot from the pilot’s skills, and there are some details that still need refining.]

[The engine is a problem,] Bai Sha replied. [I've redesigned the transformation of the mechanical heavy cannon, but its firing rate is still too low compared to light cannons. Therefore, the mech's exterior material must be sturdy enough to withstand enemy fire.]

[Qingying Fuzhou: Do you need any rare materials? I can send them to you.]

Bai Sha: "..."

Years ago, she roamed around mech enthusiast forums on the star network, gathering materials, and somehow joined an anonymous group of mech designers. They occasionally shared their mech designs for feedback, and Bai Sha gradually got to know a few members. “Qingying Fuzhou” was one she got along with best.

Her impression of “Qingying Fuzhou” was of someone aloof, wealthy, and highly skilled. Initially, he was somewhat dismissive, exuding an air of superiority, but Bai Sha found many answers in their conversations. Over the years, his attitude became more amiable. However, “Qingying Fuzhou” seemed to have a misconception about her, always thinking she was from a wealthy family. He would often say, “Test this data once you build your mech.” As everyone knows, mech tuning is crucial, but Bai Sha lacked the funds—she couldn’t bring her designs to life, let alone test them! All she could do was continually optimize, simulate, and test the data with software!

This kind netizen often offered to send Bai Sha materials and components, and she had to work hard to politely decline his offers. In reality, she could easily deceive him and then sell the materials—he didn’t seem to care about these 'trivial' things, more concerned about offering her a small favor. Bai Sha knew these materials could sell for hundreds of thousands of star coins, enough for her to save for ten years of working, but she always refused firmly.

[Bai Shao: It's no use sending them to me; I can't afford to build the rest of the structure.]

[Qingying Fuzhou: That excuse again. You lack money and still tinker with mechs?]

Bai Sha felt a pang in her heart.

Yeah! She's just a poor enthusiast of mechs! Got a problem with that? It doesn't matter even if you do!

Bai Sha set aside her cyber-brain and began pushing the meal cart into the orphanage's main hall. Ya Ning and Jing Yi were already waiting there. Ya Ning, yawning with his somewhat frizzy red hair, came over to help Bai Sha set the plates. Jing Yi, the earliest riser in their trio, appeared calm and gentle like a flower by the water, but her cold, frowning face could be quite intimidating. She watched over Ya Ning to ensure he didn't sneak any food while pretending to work.

"Hurry up, we still need to go for the preparatory class entrance exam," Jing Yi said.

Indeed, the trio, now twelve years old, were set to take this year's entrance exam for the military academy's preparatory class.

The entrance exam for the preparatory class was a piece of cake for them, comprising basic subjects like literature, mathematics, and history, along with the most crucial physical fitness test, which accounted for half of the total score.

Bai Sha's cyber-brain flickered again.

[Qingying Fuzhou: Why have you stopped responding?]

Bai Sha hastily replied: [Preparing for the military academy's preparatory class exam today, don't have much time.]

The other side was silent for a long time before sending several messages in quick succession.

[Qingying Fuzhou: You haven’t joined the military academy yet?]

[Qingying Fuzhou: No wonder, I couldn’t figure out who you are. The Bai family's new generation doesn’t have many male heirs, but I haven’t heard of any Bai family member with a talent for mech design. So, you haven’t enrolled yet?]

Bai Sha sent back a question mark, confused by his ramblings, but she noticed a clear misunderstanding on his part.

[Bai Shao: Who told you I’m male? I chose 'gender unspecified' in my profile.]

[Qingying Fuzhou: …]

Bai Sha paused for a few seconds, then realized: Could her nickname have caused the misunderstanding?

She had only chosen her nickname in haste during registration, leaving out three dots unintentionally!

In the capital of an influential family's grand estate.

A distinguished black-haired young man frowned, staring intently at his cyber-brain, lost in thought.

The bright interface of the optical brain flickered—

Your friend [Bai Shao] has updated their ID, new ID name is [Zhang Fa Cai].

[Zhang Fa Cai: Alright, hope there's no more misunderstanding.]

The black-haired boy: "..."