Obtaining Treasure

Even though she was completely forgotten, Lu Xiaoxiao didn't feel upset at all and introduced herself to Zhou Yi once more.

"Ah, sorry about that. I'm not going back to the dorms, you can go back first."

Go back to the dorms? How could she be in the mood to go back to the dorms now? She wanted to go see the mechs!

"Then where are you going? To wander around campus? Let's go together."

Your classmate Lu Xiaoxiao extended a warm invitation.

"No, I'm going to work."

Ah, so she was a child from a poor family.

Looking at Zhou Yi's receding, slender back, Lu Xiaoxiao's eyes were filled with motherly affection. She secretly made up her mind that she would definitely treat this classmate from a poor background who was striving to improve herself well in the future.

When Zhou Yi arrived at the library entrance, Qi Lan was, as always, lounging on a chair, basking in the sun.

"Aunt Lan, the opening ceremony is over, I'm here to report in."

Zhou Yi smiled. On one hand, she was genuinely grateful to Aunt Lan for giving her the opportunity to get close to mechs.

On the other hand, of course, she was showing her diligence as a worker, getting into character early to try and please her superior.

Hearing the voice, Qi Lan, who had been lazily lying on the chair, opened her eyes and glanced at the Star Brain on her wrist.

"This opening ceremony took quite a long time, it's over now?"

The opening ceremony, which ended in just two short sentences, was long??

Zhou Yi silently complained in her heart.

"The ceremony ended in two minutes, and then assigning majors took some time."

Zhou Yi explained. Two minutes, she was really being generous.

"All the majors have been assigned, what did you choose?"

Qi Lan asked with interest.

"Mech Infantry." This was something Zhou Yi had decided long ago.

"Oh?" Qi Lan raised an eyebrow.

She had gone to the second floor later to look at the books, and all the textbooks for Mech Masters were neatly arranged on a separate bookshelf.

She thought that when this child told her she was choosing Infantry, she was just saying it casually, and that after being so interested in the Mech Master textbooks, she would eventually choose Mech Master.

It was truly an unexpected choice.

"Those mechs on the third floor are all scrap. If you want to use them for combat practice, I'm afraid it won't work. How about you reconsider if you still want to work here?"

"Of course I do!"

Zhou Yi could hardly bear to hear the word "mech" now. As soon as she heard it, her eyes would light up, and she couldn't stop getting excited.

Scrap mechs were even better, making it convenient for her to disassemble, assemble, and study them carefully.

"Alright, I'll take you up."

Seeing Zhou Yi like this, Qi Lan's interest grew.

Mech Infantry and Mech Master...

Would the little girl in front of her make the same choice as that child before?

"I've already completed all the procedures and sent them to your Star Brain. I've told you the working hours: at least four days a week, four hours a day. As for the salary, it's 20 Star Coins per month. Do you have any other questions?"

Twenty Star Coins a month, it really was pitifully little.

Considering the price of one nutrient solution per Star Coin, it was enough for Zhou Yi's food for about a week.

But that wasn't important.

"Are the mechs here?"

Qi Lan led Zhou Yi to the third floor. This was Zhou Yi's first time on the third floor, and it wasn't entirely filled with books as she had imagined.

Instead, there were only a few bookshelves and a large warehouse with a lock.

That warehouse was vast, occupying almost two-thirds of the entire floor.

"Yes, it's here."

Qi Lan took out a key and opened the door.

As the door was pushed open, a smell of dust and rust hit them.

Zhou Yi instinctively covered her mouth and nose, opening her eyes to see everything in the room.

The warehouse was vast, probably several hundred square meters.

The center was very empty, and except for the wall with the door, the other three walls were lined with large objects.

Complete and broken mechs were piled up layer by layer like garbage. Various shattered parts were scattered everywhere on the ground.

A few particularly complete mechs still managed to stand in the center area.

The central open space was left extremely large, like a specially designated arena.

These guys only found in the warehouse were lifeless; they couldn't possibly participate in any more matches.

"So many..."

Zhou Yi was dumbfounded.

She had thought the third floor only stored a few scrapped mechs, never imagining there would be so many.

"This isn't a lot. Huadun has been operating for so many years. In the beginning, every student was issued a mech upon enrollment. The ones broken during Mech Infantry training, plus those broken by Mech Masters during repairs, and those unusable due to age—they all ended up here, adding up."

Huadun, after all, had a history of several hundred years. Everything scrapped was kept here.

"If they can't be repaired and are scrapped, why not throw them away?"

Zhou Yi didn't understand what use there was in keeping so much scrap material.

"Perhaps, they're waiting for a miracle."

Qi Lan said thoughtfully.

"You're not the only one who has been here."

"Alright, here's the key. You'll be in charge of this warehouse from now on. Your job is to clean the entire third floor of the library, top to bottom, organize the books by category, and clean the warehouse too. It's so dusty, no one can even get in."

Qi Lan disdainfully tossed the key to Zhou Yi and retreated.

"I'm going to sleep. Don't bother me if there's nothing important."

After speaking, Qi Lan went downstairs, leaving Zhou Yi standing alone in the center of the vast warehouse, surrounded by countless mechs.

"Is this... heaven?"

Having lived her entire life on the D71 Star Block, Zhou Yi had truly never seen much of the world. So many complete and broken mechs seemed like shining treasures surrounding her.

What outsiders saw as trash were priceless treasures in Zhou Yi's eyes.

She walked closer to the mechs and gently placed her hand on the arm of a rusty red mech, feeling the coolness transmitted from her fingertips.

"Then, let's start here."

Let this miracle begin here.

Zhou Yi went to the second floor and brought the few books she couldn't understand in many places to the warehouse.

These books were among the most advanced here. Basically, even Mech Master students in their third year could barely understand them, let alone apply them.

Mech graduates from Huadun almost said goodbye to the word "mech" after graduation.

Infantry without enough Star Power were meaningless to the Alliance, and Mech Masters without talent only knew the superficial, so no team would ever use them.

Of course, over its many years of operation, Huadun had had a few scattered children from lower-level Star Blocks who had low Star Weave levels but possessed great talent or perseverance.

However, such children would basically show their prowess during the Hundred Schools Alliance Competition in their second year, and then be ruthlessly recruited by schools on higher-level Star Blocks, never graduating from Huadun.