With a week left before school started, Zhou Yi reluctantly gave up this natural high-energy chamber and chose instead to spend every day leaving early and returning late, holed up in the library.
She read during the day, then returned to her dorm at night and repeatedly reviewed everything she had learned in her mind.
Though she had yet to see a real mech, she had already studied countless pictures. She had even found several videos on the Star Brain, recorded and uploaded by bystanders, of mechs battling.
Unlike the pictures in books, the mechs in the videos seemed even harder and more solid. Every movement brimmed with vitality, and merely watching them made Zhou Yi's blood surge.
She could not wait to lay her hands on a real mech.
As the day school officially began drew closer, more and more people arrived on campus.
After all, there were students from all three grades, and the number was far from small. It included nearly all the school-age children from the nearby D-Class Star Blocks.
The school gradually became livelier. Naturally, the students who had arrived early did not go to libraries like Zhou Yi. Instead, they gathered around campus in groups of three or five, playing cards, gaming, and socializing.
The dorm rooms beside Zhou Yi's gradually became occupied as well. The former silence faded, replaced by growing noise.
Several lively and outgoing students even came knocking to introduce themselves. But Zhou Yi was only around at night, and her mind was still busy digesting knowledge. She had neither the energy nor the mood to make friends. She merely nodded stiffly in response. Once the door closed, she could not even remember their names or faces.
They were all sixteen, seventeen, eighteen-year-old kids, and the entire campus was saturated with the scent of hormones.
Watching the young men and women pairing off around her, Zhou Yi truly could not understand it.
They had all come from D-Class Star Blocks. Many of those blocks now faced dissolution and reorganization, while others were under attack from star beasts and were even on the verge of being occupied.
With troubles at home and threats from outside, with everyone about to lose their homes and become displaced, how could they all look so carefree?
Zhou Yi scratched at the short hair by her ears. To her, these questions were far harder than mech knowledge.
Tomorrow was the official day for registration. Yesterday, Zhou Yi had already gone through all the Mech Master material on those shelves. The only thing left was to touch the real thing.
She had come to the library today to review and reinforce the more advanced knowledge.
Since she had never actually dismantled a mech, she still found the more advanced Mech Master knowledge somewhat difficult to understand. There were pitifully few videos and written materials online on the subject, so she could only reread the limited books she had.
Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning would reveal itself. Old sayings were worth believing sometimes.
As usual, it was already dark when Zhou Yi left.
"Aunt Lan, you still haven't left?"
Qi Lan was still slumped in her chair by the entrance, resting as usual.
After seeing each other day and night for a week, Zhou Yi and Qi Lan had become much more familiar.
Zhou Yi had long noticed that no matter how early she arrived or how late she left, Qi Lan was always there. Her working hours were a little too long.
"I'd only be idle otherwise. Sitting here isn't tiring. But what about you? Don't you get tired from reading for so long every day?"
Qi Lan had grown increasingly fond of this little girl who reported to the library every day.
"You're far too thin. Don't wear yourself out and ruin your health."
"It's fine. I'm okay."
Zhou Yi thanked her politely and prepared to leave.
"Oh, right. School starts tomorrow. Would you like to work part-time at the library after the semester begins?"
Qi Lan called out to Zhou Yi.
"Work part-time?"
"That's right. I'm getting old, and I can't keep such a big library clean by myself. You seem to love coming here, and you keep the shelves very organized. Would you like to help out?"
"I..."
She had already finished every book on Mech Masters. As for the books on Mech Infantry, they were not all that important to a Mech Infantry student's studies, so Zhou Yi was not in a hurry to read them.
She had also neglected her cultivation lately. Her star pattern had not changed and still had only three star points, while her star power had barely grown.
A part-time job at the library would not benefit her much. It would waste too much time, and she instinctively wanted to refuse.
"Don't be so quick to say no. Let me ask you, are you choosing Mech Infantry or Mech Master when school starts?"
As if she had seen Zhou Yi's intention to refuse, Qi Lan spoke before she could.
"Mech Infantry."
Zhou Yi answered honestly. There was nothing to hide about that.
"Huadun has always had a rule: first-year Mech Infantry students can only use mechs during class. They won't receive a mech temporarily assigned to them until their second year, and they have to return it to the school at the end of their third-year term."
"They don't issue mechs until the second year?"
Zhou Yi truly had not known that. She had thought every military academy issued them upon enrollment.
She lowered her eyes. She could not wait until her second year.
Actually, Huadun used to issue them upon enrollment too. But the school was not doing well now. Even without buying new mechs, the maintenance costs of those old mechs were too high, so...
"You've read books for so long, but you haven't touched a real mech yet, have you?"
"Mm." Zhou Yi's voice sank. She simply had no opportunity.
"You've never gone up to the third floor of the library, right? There's a large storage room up there, filled with junk. They're all scrapped mechs that have fallen into disrepair over the years, though a few can barely still be used..."
"I'll come to work tomorrow. Thank you, Aunt Lan!!"
Before Qi Lan could finish, Zhou Yi shouted at once.
What work-study job? This part-time job was like pie falling from the sky! Where else could she find such a good opportunity?
Heaven was truly helping her.
"I should warn you in advance, the pay for helping at the library is very low."
"No problem!"
Forget low pay—even if she had to borrow usury to do it, Zhou Yi would come!
"And you need to work at least four days a week, four hours each day."
"No problem!"
What four days and four hours? Even if there were eight days in a week and twenty-five hours in a day, she would gladly do it!
"And..."
"No problem! Aunt Lan, I'll report in after school tomorrow. Wait for me."
Before Qi Lan could finish speaking, Zhou Yi ran off in a flash, as though afraid Qi Lan would change her mind.
"This child."
Watching Zhou Yi race away, Qi Lan could not help smiling.
After Zhou Yi disappeared completely from Qi Lan's sight, Qi Lan remained slumped in her chair. She opened the communication interface on her Star Brain and dialed a number.
"Old Yi, there's a child at our school this year who I think is quite interesting. Her name is..."
Under the pitch-black sky, artificial lights hung high overhead. Laughter echoed throughout the Huadun campus, forming a sharp contrast with the quiet world outside.
Most residents of the D72 Star Block had spent the entire day mining. Their bodies had long since become sore and exhausted, and they had already entered their dreams.
Waiting for them the next day was still the same repeated exhaustion and toil.
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