Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Achoo!"

The moment Bai Luming stepped into the repair shop, dust dislodged from the rolling shutter door made him sneeze.

He rubbed the tip of his nose, dismissing it, and walked over to the corner desk, where he sat down and powered on the old computer.

After a brief mechanical whir, the monitor flickered a few times, finally booting up after a full half-minute.

The first thing Bai Luming did after starting the computer was open the Star Network and type in a few keywords.

Soon, a series of entries related to Zhong Sheng Machinery popped up.

There were many recent updates that day, mostly revolving around Zhong Sheng Machinery's newly launched technological achievements, including announcements about upcoming upgrades to their mech core technology. However, there was no mention of the disappearance of its CEO, He Yilan.

Had no one noticed He Yilan’s disappearance yet, or was someone deliberately suppressing the news?

Bai Luming leaned toward the latter.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. It seemed things weren’t so harmonious within Zhong Sheng Machinery after all.

Where there’s power, there’s bound to be conflict.

Given Zhong Sheng Machinery’s influence, it was practically a small tech empire—full of twists, turns, and power struggles, probably no less intense than those in the cabinet.

Bai Luming wasn’t particularly interested in why He Yilan had ended up on a desolate planet, nor did he feel much sympathy for the man’s predicament. After all, anyone who could claw their way to the top from such a place was unlikely to be a saint—probably a schemer, just like him.

After casually browsing the online content, Bai Luming lost interest and closed the browser.

Since the man was already gone, there was no point dwelling on irrelevant matters. It was better to focus on completing the orders at hand.

Time was tight, and the workload was heavy.

Finishing such a massive task in just one week was no easy feat.

The night before, Bai Luming had already mapped out a general repair plan and drafted the blueprints.

The mech sent by the Pei family was the latest model, and from its internal structure, it even incorporated some cutting-edge military technology not yet released to the market. The damage wasn’t too severe, but for Bai Luming, the real headache wasn’t how to fix it—it was sourcing the necessary parts.

For example, the JI-087 thruster alone cost 10,000 star credits on the market, while the balance in his account—well, it wasn’t even worth checking.

Bai Luming was starting to regret his impulsive act of kindness. His account had barely enough for a week’s worth of meals, and after last night’s trip to the pharmacy, his already strained finances had taken another hit.

Money might not be everything, but without it, you’re nothing.

You can’t make bricks without straw.

Bai Luming decided to tackle the "straw" problem first.

He quickly typed up a list of required parts on the computer and pulled out a contacts book from the corner of the desk.

The book contained the contact details of the repair shop's long-term partners. Bai Luming dialed the numbers one by one.

At first, everyone answered warmly, expressing their condolences over Lu Wuchen’s passing. But whenever Bai Luming mentioned wanting to borrow parts on credit as before, their reactions were all the same.

"Lu Ming, don’t joke around. You just got your repair license—how can you handle this on your own?"

"It’s not that I don’t want to do business with you, but Xiao Ming, if you damage someone’s equipment, the compensation will cost way more than these cheap parts."

"Advancing parts isn’t a problem. With Old Lu, we always worked that way—even if you took them without paying, it wouldn’t be an issue. I’d be happy to help you out. But Xiao Ming… be serious. Running a repair shop isn’t child’s play. Think it over carefully before we talk."

"…"

After yet another call ended, Bai Luming fell into rare contemplation.

He seldom engaged in self-reflection, but this time, he couldn’t help wondering if he had overdone his "freeloader" persona over the past three years.

Was his useless image really that deeply ingrained?

Bai Luming dialed the next number.

This was the eighth supplier he’d contacted. He smoothly explained his request and waited for a response.

Fully prepared to be rejected again, Bai Luming was surprised when the shop owner didn’t outright refuse: "Advancing parts, huh? It’s not impossible… But Lu Ming, are you sure you want to keep running the repair shop?"

Bai Luming: "Yes, absolutely certain."

"Alright then," the owner replied. "Send me the list of parts you need, and I’ll check my stock."

"Sure thing." That was exactly what Bai Luming wanted to hear. He immediately sent over the prepared list.

The owner glanced at it: "This much?!"

Bai Luming chuckled: "No choice. Finished products are too expensive, so I have to assemble some things myself. Can you get all these? Please check for me, boss."

"Fine, I’ll take a look." After the owner spoke, the line went quiet for a moment, likely as he checked his inventory.

A short while later, the owner’s voice returned: "Most of it should be fine. I have almost everything here, except for the 54-SE magnetic plate. It’s rarely used, so we don’t usually stock it. It might be hard to get one on short notice."

"No problem," Bai Luming said. "What about the 332-Y? You must have that. It’ll work too."

"The 332-Y magnetic plate is available." The owner grew curious. "But what do you need it for? Besides large-scale jump drives, this kind of plate is only used in thruster production, right? What kind of messy order did you take that requires these?"

From his tone, the owner clearly suspected Bai Luming was being scammed.

Bai Luming reassured him: "Don’t worry, Uncle. I’m not taking shady orders. The plate is for assembling a thruster."

"Oh, for assembling a thruster…" The owner paused, then asked uncertainly, "What did you say you’re assembling?"

"A thruster," Bai Luming replied. "The market price for the JI-087 thruster is too high, so I decided to build a substitute myself."

The owner: "...What model thruster did you say?"

Bai Luming suspected the owner might be hard of hearing: "JI-087."

After he spoke, the line fell into a long silence.

The reaction made Bai Luming suspect the owner thought he’d lost his mind—maybe even reconsidering the parts advance.

After a long pause, the owner finally spoke gravely: "The dead can’t come back to life. We’re all very sorry about Old Lu’s passing, but Xiao Ming… don’t grieve too much. You need to take care of yourself."

Bai Luming didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: "...I really am building a thruster."

The owner sounded like he didn’t want to humor him any further: "If you can actually build a substitute, you wouldn’t need to run that repair shop. Just supply me directly—I’ll buy them at 60% of the JI-087’s market price, as many as you can make."

It was a genuinely generous offer, enough to tempt even Bai Luming for a moment. But then he remembered his "hundredfold" plan and replied after some thought: "I think we can definitely discuss cooperation. But I have repair orders to handle right now. Let’s talk details after I’m done, boss."

The shop owner: "..."

After a brief silence, he asked, "It should still be daytime, right?"

Bai Luming glanced at the time: "Yeah, almost noon. Why?"

"Nothing." The shop owner replied dazedly, "I just feel like I might have gotten out of bed the wrong way today. After I finish inventorying the order and ship it to you, I’ll go back and get some more sleep."

Bai Luming said considerately, "Take care, boss."

The shop owner replied equally thoughtfully: "...Yeah, you too."

*

The parts issue was resolved, and they were quickly delivered to the repair shop by Instant Express.

After checking them, Bai Luming confirmed receipt and headed straight into the workshop at the back of the shop.

The enclosed room was filled with a strong smell of fuel, piercing his nostrils.

With the mecha's armor plating fully opened, the neatly arranged intricate components inside were revealed.

Various nuts and instruments were scattered chaotically across the floor. Bai Luming’s long legs stretched out casually from under the mecha, his thin shirt already soaked with sweat that had unconsciously seeped through, blending his sweat with the surrounding air.

After finishing another part replacement, he casually tossed the wrench aside and ran a hand through his silver-gray hair.

A few drops of sweat slid down with this careless motion.

The light at the top of the repair room flickered twice before suddenly turning on.

Bai Luming only then realized that, without noticing, it had grown dark outside: "Time flies."

Electricity costs in the Lower District were always expensive at night, making it unsuitable for power-intensive work like repairs. Wiping his sweat, Bai Luming decided to call it a day and head home.

So far, the repair progress had been smooth. No rush, no rush.

Bai Luming made his way back to his residence.

Opening the door and stepping inside, he changed into slippers by the starlight from outside and casually began removing his shirt as he walked toward the bathroom.

As he passed by, he reached for the switch. When the light came on, the corner of his eye caught the figure of a man. His motion of halfway removing his shirt abruptly paused.

Their eyes met, and for a moment, neither spoke.

After a long silence, Bai Luming finally voiced the question on his mind: "Why haven’t you left yet?"

Bai Luming’s shirt was only halfway off. He Yilan’s gaze swept over the exposed abs on his waist, then calmly traveled upward before finally settling on his face: "Nowhere to go."

Four very calm words.

A statement, delivered with a bizarrely unapologetic sense.

"..."

Bai Luming then asked the second question on his mind: "Since you were home, why didn’t you turn on the light earlier?"

His train of thought might have been a bit scattered, but he was genuinely curious.

After all, He Yilan didn’t seem like the type of petty person who would hide in the dark just to scare him.

He Yilan answered truthfully as always: "Turning on the light would incur electricity fees from you."

Bai Luming: "Ahem."

That was true, but even so, it was just a small amount of electricity...

As if reading Bai Luming’s mind, He Yilan continued: "I have no money now."

Even more unapologetic than before.

It was the first time Bai Luming had seen someone who could be as openly poor as he was.

Undoubtedly, the word "now" was used very precisely.

First, "nowhere to go," then "no money now," combined with the fact that this person had been chased down just the night before—the script was all too familiar.

As someone who had been through similar circumstances, if Bai Luming didn’t grasp He Yilan’s current situation, even he would feel it was unjustifiable.

But He Yilan’s attitude genuinely made Bai Luming laugh: "You? No money?"

These two words, applied to the head of Zhong Sheng Machinery, were utterly incongruous.

"Yeah, no money. I hope you can take me in." He Yilan was more compliant than expected. Under Bai Luming’s gaze, he stated, "I remember you said you would take responsibility for me."

Bai Luming called him out directly: "So you’re trying to mooch off me now."

"Can’t say that." He Yilan replied, "Yesterday, in public, you pinned me against the wall, manhandled me, and had a rough encounter. Then you brought me back and stripped off all my clothes. You touched all the places you should have, and, unsurprisingly, all the places you shouldn’t have too. Not to mention you’ve probably seen every inch of me."

He stood up and slowly walked over to Bai Luming. In the faint scent of sweat mixed with machine oil on the other man, he lowered his gaze: "From childhood till now, you’re the first person who’s done this to me. Now that I’m stranded here, alone and helpless. Believing in your promise to take responsibility for me is pretty normal, right?"

With a few carefully chosen words, he glossed over the key points and reframed the events of the past two days into an entirely different story.

With this kind of narrative and tone, the image of a heartless cad who had loved and left was vividly conjured.

Bai Luming rarely encountered someone who could lie with such mastery, and he was astounded by the level of shamelessness: "You do sound pitiful."

He pressed a hand against He Yilan’s chest, pushing him back slightly, not letting himself be swayed: "But unfortunately, as you can see, I live in this warehouse. I’m struggling to get by. To be honest, the money in my account can barely cover me alone, let alone both of us..."

"I’m low-maintenance—"

The sudden statement cut off Bai Luming’s following words.

Injured and running a low fever, He Yilan’s voice carried a tired hoarseness, which also made the words sound almost seductive as they fell on the ear.

It was like a homeless cat had come to your feet, gently brushing against you with its soft fur coat.

The impact of this statement was undoubtedly immense.

Bai Luming, who was usually unflappable, was so shocked that his eyes widened.

He had long known that the person before him had no shame, just like himself, but he hadn’t expected it to go this far.

All the previous nonsense was one thing, but now—did he even hear what he was saying?

Say that again—who’s low-maintenance?

You?!