Your Parts Are Installed Backward

Rewind a little, and as Jie La Er stood in front of that old warehouse, Bai Wei's voice echoed in his mind, "I must say, you really are a cunning rabbit with three burrows, where did this secret base come from?"

Jie La Er didn't know why Bai Wei always seemed to come up with strange, yet surprisingly reasonable and vivid, metaphors.

"This warehouse isn't mine." After inspecting the warehouse, Jie La Er said to Bai Wei, "It belongs to one of my team members."

"That Hermes?"

"No, another one... his name is Eric," Jie La Er said. "He was the best Mechanic in our team."

"Ah, another new character. How many of you died inside back then?"

Jie La Er paused for a moment before answering, "Twenty-six."

After saying that, he ignored Bai Wei and began to carefully inspect the warehouse.

It's only a kilometer or two from Rim Station to here, not a very long distance, but we encountered quite a few checkpoints along the way, though we managed to avoid them all thanks to Bai Wei's keen eyesight. Of course, this was also because Jie La Er's wanted level hadn't reached its highest point yet. If it had been higher, given Jie La Er's current physical condition, even with Bai Wei's warnings, it would have been very difficult for him to evade them.

After inspecting the warehouse, Jie La Er muttered with some doubt, "Strange."

"How?"

"This warehouse seems to be used." Jie La Er stood in front of the door, looking at the lock that wasn't very dusty, his brow furrowed. "This lock is frequently opened."

"Could it be that your Mechanic comrade-in-arms has also returned?" Bai Wei raised his eyebrows again. "He's been waiting for you here, and the first thing you said when you Open the door was, 'Hey brother, you didn't expect that, did you? I'm still alive. Let's do something big!'"

The joke was a little crazy, but Jie La Er took it seriously. He stood there for a moment, thought about it carefully, and then shook his head.

"No, impossible. I have indeed lost a lot of my memories from ten years ago, but I still have memories of him... It is absolutely impossible for him to be alive now."

Well, it seems he didn't die a peaceful death.

Bai Wei asked, "Does he have any relatives?"

"He had a wife," Jie La Er replied in a low voice, "But she has passed away."

Are there any other children? Like little girls?

"No, I don't remember him having a child..." Jie La Er shook his head subconsciously, but quickly realized that Bai Wei's focus was on the "little girl", and then realized something, "Did you see something?"

Bai Wei didn't hide anything about this. "Yes, there are obvious signs of life in the warehouse, and it looks like it belonged to a little girl."

"Traces of life?" Jie La Er was slightly taken aback. "But this is just a warehouse. How could someone live in here?"

"Who knows?" Bai Wei said, "Anyway, it's definitely there."

Upon hearing the news, Jie La Er hesitated for a moment before turning and leaving.

"Hey, aren't you going in?" Bai Wei said. "I see that the metal fittings inside are quite complete."

Jie La Er replied, "I don't know who the child living here is. Whether she is Eric's child or not, my arrival will cause her trouble."

"To be honest, it's true." Jie La Er nodded slowly with his middle finger. "You've thought this through quite thoroughly. You should leave now, and then, after your body reaches its limit and you can't walk anymore, be caught by those guys and executed. Then wait for that New God to devour your Old God, and then kill all the people of Lyra. When this child goes to Hell, you can happily say to her, 'You know, your uncle was very understanding and didn't cause you any trouble back then.'"

Jie La Er's body stiffened.

"Haha, just kidding, don't take it to heart," Bai Wei said casually. "Don't worry, the birth of the New God won't kill everyone, because He also needs believers, so at most He'll kill... maybe a third. Who knows, that girl might be one of the two-thirds who survive?"

Bai Wei wasn't making things up in this regard.

In the original storyline, the disaster caused by the New God when they defeated the weak Lyra did indeed cost the lives of many Lyra People. It's hard to say whether it was a third, but it was definitely an astronomical number.

After hearing what Bai Wei said, Jie La Er could no longer convince himself to leave. He looked down at his body, where flesh and metal were mixed together, and his wounds were infected. He knew he couldn't wait to find another place to stay.

So he silently went back, but instead of breaking down the door, he went to the window, broke the lock on the windowsill, and squeezed through the not-so-wide window.

It was clear that they planned to leave after replacing the parts, ideally without attracting the little girl's attention at all.

Bai Wei scoffed at this self-deceptive tactic, but didn't say much.

The warehouse was not large, and because it only had one small window, it was not very well ventilated. Fluffy dust floated in the air, and the air quality was very poor.

After entering the warehouse, Jie La Er also discovered the traces of "the little girl's life" that Bai Wei had mentioned earlier.

Among those rows of parts was a pieced-together iron bed frame, with clothes scattered on it, mostly little girls' clothes, but there was also a particularly long men's coat, which looked like it had been used as a blanket by the little girl.

The style of the coat looked somewhat familiar to Jie La Er. He walked to the bedside, picked up the coat, and sure enough, he saw the familiar Sleeve badge.

"Eric the Night Star".

Jie La Er immediately fell silent.

"The living conditions here are even worse than where you are," Bai Wei said slowly. "It's hard to imagine what a child growing up in a place like this would be like."

Jie La Er turned his head and saw several photos on the bedside table, which seemed to be Eric's.

He instinctively reached for it, but stopped halfway through.

"What? You also think it's not good for an old man like you to rummage through a young girl's things?"

Jie La Er put the coat back and shook his head. "I just don't want to leave too many traces here. I should finish my business and leave as soon as possible."

After saying that, Jie La Er turned around and walked towards the pile of machinery.

Even so, Bai Wei's words kept echoing in his mind—it's hard to imagine how a child could grow up in such an environment.

Eric's... daughter?

Standing before the pile of parts, Jie La Er took several deep breaths to temporarily put those thoughts aside and pull himself together.

"Eric is a Mechanic, and a Mechanic who really loves his job." Jie La Er said slowly as he rummaged through the parts, it was unclear whether he was introducing the machine to Bai Wei or reminding himself not to forget, "This warehouse is his private property that he bought, it's not included in Xiaoxing's records, which is why it wasn't taken back by the higher-ups back then... That guy always likes to come here alone for a day or two after finishing his regular work, to study some gadgets... like this one."

Jie La Er pulled a small mechanical figure from a pile of scrap parts. After winding it up, the figure began to clap its hands, but the clapping was not as loud as the creaking sound of the rusty parts.

"These are all from ten years ago, right?" Bai Wei asked. "Will they really be of any use? Besides, you're not Mechanic, are you? Can you handle your own body?"

"I'm not Mechanic, but I'm not completely ignorant about mechanics either." Jie La Er ripped the broken steel plate from his chest. Because it was connected to flesh, the tearing aggravated the wound, causing him to involuntarily frown, but he managed to suppress a groan. "Every member of Night Star must possess a certain amount of mechanical knowledge. When we set off for the Contaminated Land, we also carry some spare parts, in case the machinery malfunctions and the Mechanic has an accident, and we're helpless..."

With a "bang".

He finally pulled out the steel plate, which was bloody, just like pulling out a tooth.

He let out a heavy sigh, then rummaged through the parts and quickly found a new steel plate that was exactly the same size as the one he had pulled out.

"It's precisely because it's from ten years ago that I'm able to replace it." Jie La Er tapped the steel plate lightly with his finger, making a dull sound. "Ten years ago, equipment wasn't updated as quickly. These were already the most advanced things at the time, just like what I'm wearing. So, all the equipment I'm wearing can be replaced here."

"So you'll switch once you find it?"

"Of course." Jie La Er picked up another part and said without much hesitation, "I watched Eric change it many times back then."

After saying that, he paused, and then hesitated.

"Probably..."

Half an hour later, Jie La Er stared at the two parts in front of him that were almost 70% similar and got stuck.

Bai Wei seemed to have anticipated this, and said slowly, "It seems that just looking won't do any good."

Jie La Er was silent for a moment, but he didn't argue. He just sighed softly, "Well, it is indeed much more difficult than I imagined."

Jie La Er's condition is quite serious.

The problem wasn't that his individual parts were malfunctioning; replacing just one or two parts would suffice. His real issue was that his entire metal body was completely destroyed, requiring a complete replacement – something outside his area of expertise. Furthermore, the New God's insects had devoured the entire body, leaving him with no reference points.

"So what do we do now?" Bai Wei raised his eyebrows and said, "Should we go to the library and buy a textbook to learn and practice first? Do you have any books like 'Three Years of Mechanical Engineering, Five Years of Simulation' here?"

Jie La Er's other brow furrowed deeply. "What are those things you're talking about? I've never heard of them before... Could they be some secret I don't know?"

So joking with this guy is really pointless.

Bai Wei didn't explain the meaning of "meme" to Jie La Er, and he began to think about what to do now.

To be honest, the current situation is neither particularly difficult nor easy. He could use his eye ability to recreate the original structure of those metal bodies in Jie La Er's mind, and then simply piece them together. However, that would further increase the strain on Jie La Er's body, and Bai Wei was counting on Jie La Er to cause trouble for the New God; he didn't want him wasting his time here.

But it seems there's no other way, since Bai Wei himself knows nothing about Lyra's advanced technology.

Just as the two were pondering, the warehouse door lock clicked.

Jie La Er's body froze instantly.

He instinctively wanted to leave, but with half of his body still on the ground, he couldn't escape.

After a series of short footsteps, he met the gaze of the girl with short, brown hair.

And so came silence.

A long silence followed.

Jie La Er, perhaps due to excessive blood loss and confusion, slowly uttered, "Don't be nervous, I was just... passing by."

Then he added another sentence.

"I'm having some health problems, so I came here to borrow... no, to buy some parts, but I mean no harm."

"I know." Ju nodded slowly. "I've seen you before."

"Have you seen me before? Where?"

Ju pointed to the warehouse door. "On the wanted poster outside."

"Alright..." Jie La Er said with a hint of helplessness, "I'll be leaving soon."

"And in the photos," Ju continued.

"What?" Jie La Er didn't hear clearly.

Ju raised her hand and pointed to the bedside. "I've seen you in Dad's photos too."

Jie La Er fell silent. He looked at the girl in front of him and said softly, "So you really are Eric's daughter?"

Tachibana hummed in response, but instead of retreating, she slowly walked up to Jie La Er, staring into Jie La Er dark eyes before softly asking, "So, you're here to kill me too?"

Jie La Er's breath hitched for a moment. "Why do you say that?"

"Because everyone says you killed my dad and caused my mom's death." Ju shrugged, a gesture that didn't seem like that of a ten-year-old girl at all. "So, according to the order, shouldn't it be my turn now?"

Jie La Er fell silent once again.

This silence lasted longer than ever before.

He looked down at Ju, while Ju looked up at him.

After what seemed like an eternity, Jie La Er broke the silence. "I didn't kill your father, and I won't kill you. I'm sorry for bothering you. I'll leave now. You can report my whereabouts to the Skeleton Corps later; that should get you some money."

As he spoke, Jie La Er straightened up, preparing to leave. Then he noticed that Tachibana had lowered her head and was looking at his thighs.

"What's wrong?" Jie La Er asked.

"Your parts..." Orange pointed to his leg, "Are installed backwards."