Chapter 41: The Mermaid Meets a Strange Person

Chapter 41 The Mermaid Meets the Eccentric

"Huh?" Wen Yanzhou looked up: "Do I not have to leave?"

Lu Feng thought for a moment, tore the insignia from his shoulder, and handed it to Wen Yanzhou: "My Sacred Sword needs some repairs. Take this to the side hall and look for Mr. Huo, who specializes in repairing mechas. Ask him if he has time soon."

Wen Yanzhou stood there dumbfounded, not expecting that he wouldn't be kicked out after all!

But—had the general's mecha broken down? How come he didn't know? This was an exceptionally serious matter.

Lu Feng's voice came from above again: "Not going yet? So eager to leave the palace?"

"Ah!" Wen Yanzhou snapped back to attention: "I'll go right now!"

Wen Yanzhou quickly set off at a jog to find that "Mr. Huo," but after just a few steps, he backtracked and asked sheepishly: "Um... that... how do I get to the side hall..."

Lu Feng pointed out a palace attendant to guide Wen Yanzhou, finally setting him on the right path, while Lu Feng and the rest of the group continued on to the council hall.

The side hall seemed very far away; Wen Yanzhou walked for a long time without reaching it. Whenever he asked the attendant, the reply was always "almost there, almost there," but they never arrived.

Along the way, Wen Yanzhou finally realized just how maze-like the palace truly was—if he were left here alone, he probably wouldn't find his way out for an entire day.

"Just ahead," the palace attendant finally stopped: "You should be able to see him once you go inside."

The attendant pointed to a door that looked somewhat dilapidated compared to the rest of the palace: "I won't go in. Mr. Huo is eccentric and doesn't like us coming and going. I can only take you this far."

Wen Yanzhou nodded understandingly—masters always had their quirks. He thanked the attendant and stepped through the wooden, very shabby-looking door.

Strangely enough, with today's level of technology, various alloys were commonplace. Doors, walls, and other structures throughout the palace and elsewhere had been completely replaced with alloys. But here at Mr. Huo's place, Wen Yanzhou was seeing a wooden door for the first time.

Pushing the door open, his eyes met a breathtakingly vast expanse of flowers. Wen Yanzhou was instantly stunned—in the main city, he had never seen a single plant, but here... here there were so many flowers?

"Wow! So beautiful!" Wen Yanzhou was momentarily speechless. He moved closer to look but found that all the flowers were completely still—turns out, every one of them was made of metal.

There weren't any real plants here.

Mr. Huo had a wooden door but grew a field of "metal flowers" inside—what an eccentric.

Passing through the flower field, his eyes fell upon a large pile of mechas. Using the word "pile" was no exaggeration—mechas, rare and precious on the battlefield, were scattered here as if they were worthless. Most were disassembled, missing limbs or with gaping holes in their chests, as if their hearts had been ripped out.

An old man was carrying a bucket of water, holding a cloth and wiping the outer shell of a mecha at the very bottom—probably a palace attendant helping Mr. Huo clean the mechas.

Wen Yanzhou walked up: "Hello, sir. Is Mr. Huo here?"

Hearing the voice, the old man turned around warily, the rag held mid-air: "What do you want with him?"

Wen Yanzhou took out Lu Feng's insignia: "It's like this—General Lu asked me to come and ask if Mr. Huo has time. His mecha needs some repairs from Mr. Huo."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man threw the rag on the ground, seemingly muttering something under his breath, then waved his hand: "He's not here. If you have business with him, come another day."

With that, the old man picked up the rag and started wiping again, occasionally kicking or tapping parts of the mecha, ignoring Wen Yanzhou.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Huo wasn't here. Wen Yanzhou nodded toward the old man's back: "Alright, thank you. I'll come another day."

The old man was now in the cockpit of the mecha with the completely "open" chest. He seemed to snort through his nose: "Tell him to come another day, not you."

Too far away and with the old man's voice muffled, Wen Yanzhou couldn't hear him clearly: "What did you say?"

The old man waved his hand: "Nothing, you can go back."

Wen Yanzhou nodded, took two steps back, and noticed the old man holding the control lever in the cockpit while the electronic screen repeatedly displayed: "Error! Please reissue command!" "Error! Please reissue command!"

The old man let out a "Hah!" sound, refusing to believe it. After checking left and right and finding no issues, he slumped back into the cockpit, sweating profusely.

Wen Yanzhou had always been very interested in mechas. The problem the old man was facing seemed unfamiliar, so he stayed to watch the operation.

The old man didn't bother to stop him, resting for a bit before climbing up and down to inspect again.

Suddenly, Wen Yanzhou noticed something: "Sir, this energy starter doesn't seem compatible with this mecha!"

Wen Yanzhou pointed to a spot below the mecha's neck where the color of the outer shell had a slight difference from the rest.

The old man, due to his angle, couldn't see that area at all.

Hearing this, the old man climbed out of the cockpit, half-convinced, half-doubting. Seeing the energy starter, he slapped his forehead: "Hey! Getting old, didn't even notice the color difference. Grabbed the wrong one this morning."

He jumped down from the mecha, ran back to the room, fetched another nearly identical energy starter, replaced it, and the "Error! Please reissue command!" on the screen immediately vanished.

The old man finally smiled, jumped down, and patted Wen Yanzhou's shoulder: "Not bad, young man! Good eyes, and quite familiar with mechas!"

Wen Yanzhou smiled modestly: "Just so-so, can't compare to you."

Wen Yanzhou had already noticed that the old man's familiarity with mechas was extraordinary. Even a mere mecha-cleaning palace attendant at Mr. Huo's place was this skilled—truly the main city palace.

"Tch," the old man crossed his arms: "Of course you're far from comparing to me."

"By the way, you were sent by that Lu... General Lu, are you also in his army?"

Wen Yanzhou shook his head in denial: "No, I... I'm not a soldier anymore."

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, the old man grinned from ear to ear: "Ah, that's even better! I think you've got great talent, young man. Interested in learning mecha repair from me... us, Mr. Huo?"

Wen Yanzhou didn't expect the palace attendant to be so enthusiastic, but he still shook his head and refused. He didn't even know how long he'd stay in the main city—coming here to study was probably impossible.

Seeing Wen Yanzhou shake his head, the old man said discontentedly: "Hey, our Mr. Huo is very skilled. Don't think it's just about repairing mechas. Once you learn all this, he can even teach you to build them. Let me tell you, his skill in building mechas is—"

Wen Yanzhou was very tempted, but given his current situation, he didn't have the authority to decide such things? So he could only refuse.

Before he could say anything, the old man seemed to sense Wen Yanzhou's intention to refuse. He pulled a book from a hidden corner blocked by a mecha and thrust it into Wen Yanzhou's hands.

"Never mind whether you come or not, take this book and read it first."

"Common Mecha Problems and Solutions." The book was very new, with only the first page showing signs of being flipped through. Wen Yanzhou opened it and skimmed—the explanations inside were penetrating and thorough. With just a glance, Wen Yanzhou was captivated.

Gritting his teeth, Wen Yanzhou accepted the book. Surely it couldn't hurt to just read it...

He continued flipping through and near the last few pages, a pink insert seemed to be tucked in. Wen Yanzhou frowned and read out: "How to Win Over an Innocent Young Man..."

Wen Yanzhou: ...

"Ah!" The old man instantly realized something and swiftly snatched away the pink thing.

This old man only looked aged—his movements were astonishingly fast. The old man's face seemed to flush slightly as he turned around and cursed: "That damn girl, pulling these tricks again!"

Then he forced an awkward laugh toward Wen Yanzhou, pretending nonchalance: "Take it back and keep reading. If there's anything you don't understand, just come ask me."

Wen Yanzhou closed the book and nodded. He really loved studying mechas—even just reading was good. He turned and retraced his steps through the field of "metal flowers," exiting the wooden door.

On the other side, Lu Feng and the group finally arrived at the council hall and met the palace master, the highest leader of the entire empire, and also Lu Feng's uncle—Emperor Aivell.

Emperor Aivell greeted Lu Feng with a warm expression, even placing his right hand on Lu Feng's shoulder. "Lu Feng, it's good to see you. How’ve you been?"

Lu Feng, however, was not as enthusiastic. He subtly sidestepped, causing Emperor Aivell's hand to drop. "Lately, the monster activity’s gotten worse. In just one month, the city has suffered multiple small-scale attacks…"

"No, no, no," Emperor Aivell said, though he didn’t seem bothered by the evasion. "I wasn’t asking about that. I was asking about you. Lu Feng, how have you been? How’s your health?"

Lu Feng's face was colder than usual. "All good. Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."

Seeing Lu Feng's reluctance, Emperor Aivell didn’t press further. He listened quietly to the reports, occasionally interrupting to ask questions, playing the part of a wise ruler with loyal officials.

"We must quickly determine why the monsters are acting up and whether someone is maliciously guiding them. Otherwise, the consequences could be dire."

Lu Feng laid out the border situation, and a chill fell over everyone in the hall. The circumstances had already grown severe.

Perhaps to lighten the heavy mood, Lu Feng stepped aside to reveal Qu Zhuo. "Your Majesty, this is a newly discovered A-grade Alpha in the army. He’s been performing well. If the capital requires it, he can remain here."

Qu Zhuo had not expected Lu Feng to bring him here with such an intention. Though he wanted to refuse, anyone with common sense would not say "I don’t want to stay in the capital" in front of the Emperor.

The General had not asked for his opinion beforehand, but perhaps it wasn’t necessary. One option was the border, with its exposure to the elements and life-threatening risks; the other was the capital, offering safety, proximity to the Emperor, and opportunities for advancement. Anyone would know which was better.

Fortunately, Emperor Aivell wasn’t really interested and simply waved it off. "Let’s discuss this another day."

The reported situation with the monsters appeared really serious, and even the Emperor’s brow furrowed with concern.

"Have the monsters truly reached such a state?" Emperor Aivell asked solemnly, his eyes fixed on Lu Feng.

Lu Feng nodded.

"Then… can you still hold them back?" Emperor Aivell asked worriedly, though no one knew his concerns ran deeper.

Lu Feng pressed his lips together. "I can temporarily hold the monsters back, but if we don’t uncover the truth soon, I cannot guarantee the consequences."

Emperor Aivell’s expression grew even more serious. He waved his hand, sending everyone out except Lu Feng.

Lu Feng assumed they would discuss confidential matters, but after a moment of hesitation, Emperor Aivell asked softly, "Lu Feng, you’re not getting any younger, are you?"

Lu Feng: ?

Emperor Aivell continued, "Well… everyone’s gotta settle down, you know. Don’t you think it’s time you considered…"

Before Lu Feng could respond, Emperor Aivell went on, "I know you’ve never been interested in this. Whenever we brought it up before, you’d shut down…"

"I know," Lu Feng interrupted.

"Come on, don’t be like this. Getting married would also raise your approval ratings and…" Emperor Aivell expected Lu Feng to firmly refuse as usual and tried to persuade him again.

"I know," Lu Feng interrupted once more. "I’m already planning to get married."