Assembly Successful

Fortunately, Huadun's classes ended early, around four o'clock.

"Zhouzhou, do you want to go check out the club recruitment booths? They're all recruiting new members. If we join the same club, we can hang out together later! Hu Manduo, you should come too."

Lu Xiaoxiao enthusiastically pulled Zhou Yi and Hu Manduo along.

"I'm not going. I still have a part-time job. You two go ahead."

Zhou Yi had been looking forward to getting out of class all day. Her mind was full of the pile of Mech parts she had yet to assemble. How could she possibly be in the mood to look at clubs?

She did not want to wait even one more minute.

"A part-time job? Zhou Yi, you have a part-time job too? We're only sixteen. Can we even work?"

Hu Manduo's eyes were full of confusion. They were still students, so why did she need to work?

"At our school library. I'm earning some money for Nutrient Solution. Anyway, I'm going now. See you tomorrow."

Zhou Yi could not even be bothered to brush them off anymore. She gave them a hasty goodbye and sprinted away.

"Zhouzhou is so pitiful. She's working so hard just to earn enough for Nutrient Solution, even running that fast..."

The sympathy in Lu Xiaoxiao's eyes deepened as her maternal instincts overflowed.

Hu Manduo wore the same expression as Lu Xiaoxiao, with even a touch more guilt.

So the Nutrient Solution he had found so unbearable before was something Zhou Yi could not even afford. She had to run off to work for Star Coins so she could buy it.

How pitiful...

Meanwhile, Zhou Yi had no idea that she had completely become the poor little thing in her two good classmates' minds. She simply hurried to the library as fast as she could.

Although school had started, the library was still as empty as ever. No one came by at all.

Zhou Yi borrowed cleaning supplies from Aunt Lan and took them to the third floor.

There was too much dust in the warehouse. Yesterday, she had not noticed anything while immersed in the Mech, but when she returned to the dormitory to change that night, she discovered that her clothes and pants were filthy beyond recognition.

She took out the key and opened the door. The huge pile of Mech parts she had dismantled yesterday still lay quietly in the most prominent spot, as though waiting for Zhou Yi to arrive.

Zhou Yi did not want to waste a single moment. She quickly cleaned the warehouse floor and walls.

Although the warehouse covered a large area, it was fortunately open and easy to clean.

She had no energy for the scattered Mech debris piled around the room for now, but Zhou Yi still gave the few big fellows that could remain standing a rough cleaning.

After all, she had not even been willing to study these yet. She had to protect them.

As she cleaned, Zhou Yi found a complete set of tools beside those standing Mechs.

She had seen every one of these tools in books related to Mech Masters!

"I can't believe there's such an unexpected surprise!"

When she saw the tools, Zhou Yi even threw away the broom in her hand.

She had been worrying during the day about whether she could assemble it herself without tools, and whether she should ask Aunt Lan for help in thinking of a solution.

Everything had fallen into her lap without any effort.

Zhou Yi tested the tools one by one. They still worked.

Although each had been left unused for a long time and had aged to varying degrees, they were still ten thousand times more convenient than assembling a Mech with her bare hands.

She should not be too greedy.

Once everything was ready, Zhou Yi went to the pile of parts in the center and prepared to assemble them back into their original form.

A large, precise combat machine like a Mech had countless large and small components, all extremely intricate.

Assembly was always more difficult than dismantling.

Faced with such a massive pile of things, Zhou Yi truly felt a little at a loss over where to begin.

She recalled what the Mech had looked like in its intact state yesterday, then sorted the parts before her into the main body and limbs.

The enormous pile soon became five smaller piles.

First, she would install the main body, then the limbs and head.

First, she would assemble the large pieces, then attach the smaller ones.

However, although she had tried her best to remember where every part belonged while dismantling it yesterday, she still encountered many difficulties during assembly today.

The internal components in particular were numerous and complicated. Many were tiny and similar, making it difficult to determine exactly which section they belonged to.

Zhou Yi assembled and dismantled them repeatedly, trying again and again.

Whenever she truly could not figure something out, she would open the books again, find the blueprints for various Mechs, and compare them bit by bit.

When it came to Mechs, Zhou Yi had absolute patience.

Every time she correctly installed a section, she was tremendously happy. That immense sense of satisfaction was beyond comparison.

Fortunately, she had to keep walking around while assembling this time instead of sitting in one place, so her body could move about a little.

With all that movement, she drank another two bottles of Nutrient Solution midway through.

"No, something's wrong."

After an unknown amount of time, when the main body was nearly half assembled, Zhou Yi suddenly frowned.

"If I install it like this, the parts inside the energy unit won't fit. The position is wrong."

Zhou Yi had a habit of checking as she assembled, so she quickly found the problem.

Problems like this were usually caused by a tiny internal part being installed in the wrong place. Similar-looking components could be swapped and still fitted in, but once the assembly was complete, the enormous Mech would become nothing more than an immobile heap of scrap metal.

When it was time to cut her losses, she did so decisively. Zhou Yi immediately abandoned the sunk cost, dismantled every section she had already assembled, and started all over again.

The sky changed from light to dark, then gradually brightened once more.

The warehouse had no windows for the sake of concealment, and Zhou Yi had no idea what was happening outside.

She was wholly immersed in the process of assembling and learning, completely forgetting the passage of time.

By the time she came back to herself and wanted to check the time, the entire main body had already been assembled.

"Seven o'clock??"

Zhou Yi could hardly believe the time displayed on her Star Brain. She clearly felt as though not much time had passed. How had it suddenly become the next morning??

Still, looking at the Mech's now-formed main body, Zhou Yi felt deeply satisfied.

With the main body assembled, the limbs were much simpler. The framework was already complete, so she only needed to patiently fill in the details.

Her stomach began growling again, and Zhou Yi casually downed another two bottles of Nutrient Solution.

After growing used to bottled Nutrient Solution, drinking another tube left Zhou Yi feeling somewhat unsatisfied. Her stomach still felt oddly empty.

"Sure enough, it's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality!"

Looking at the remaining piles of Mech parts, Zhou Yi desperately wanted to assemble the entire Mech in one go, but there was not enough time now.

There was only a little over an hour until the first class of the morning. Since she happened to have the textbooks handed out yesterday with her, Zhou Yi directly locked the warehouse and prepared to head to the teaching building for class.

Although Zhou Yi had no interest whatsoever in what was taught in class, being late on only the second day still felt a little strange to someone who had always been a good student.

Good things came to those who waited. She would continue tonight.