Locke

Su Ming and Warren were invited aboard the Temporary Army No. 32 spacecraft by Lieutenant Walker just like that.

"Zhong Li, two new planet-level mechanics have arrived. Sorry for the trouble, but please arrange things for them!"

After boarding the spacecraft, Walker spoke to a young woman beside him.

The young woman was called Zhong Li. Her skin had a healthy wheat-colored tan, and her neat, short hair made her look particularly brisk and capable.

She walked over, and when she saw Su Ming and Warren, her eyes lit up. She immediately smiled and said to them, "That's great! We're in desperate need of mechanics right now. You came at exactly the right time. Come with me—I'll take you to your quarters."

Su Ming and Warren nodded, then followed Zhong Li toward the interior of the spacecraft.

They had not gone far when the spacecraft began to vibrate slightly. Su Ming looked out the window and saw the buildings on Planet Nop gradually shrinking into the distance.

Clearly, the spacecraft had taken off and was leaving Planet Nop at extremely high speed.

"This is the mission hall. You can take a look!"

At that moment, Zhong Li's voice rang out.

Hearing her, Su Ming and Warren turned their gazes toward a hall nearby.

A huge LCD screen stood in the center of the hall.

Large numbers of missions were scrolling across the screen on both sides.

"Planet Zilin has been attacked by Star Bandits. Mission: exterminate the Star Bandits. Recommended personnel: 10–20. Recommended level: Level 3 Gene Warriors or above. Mission merit: 100 points per person."

"Repair 20 planet-level weapons. Requirement: complete within 10 days. Personnel limit: none. Recommended mechanic level: able to repair planet-level weapons or above. Mission merit: 400 points per item."

"Interstellar Black Merchants are suspected to have passed through the Eastern Wasteland Starfield. Mission: capture the Interstellar Black Merchants and deport them back to their country. Recommended personnel: 5–10. Recommended level: Level 4 Gene Warriors or above. Mission merit: 300 points per person."

These were only a few of them. There were probably tens of thousands of similar missions.

There were so many that it was downright terrifying!

Throughout the hall, many soldiers could be seen lingering and looking over the missions, apparently struggling to decide which ones to accept.

Su Ming and Warren were both stunned when they saw the missions.

Zhong Li smiled and explained, "The Temporary Army is relatively loosely managed. As long as you earn more than 200 merit points a month, that's enough. These are the combined missions from across the entire star system. It's not just us who can accept them—other Temporary Armies can too. Whoever completes a mission first gets the credit for it."

"There are small spacecraft aboard this ship for soldiers to use when carrying out missions. When you have a mission, you can borrow one from the mission center. After that, you can leave on your own to complete the mission!"

Zhong Li said this with a smile.

Su Ming and Warren immediately understood.

They had been wondering how a Temporary Army with a thousand-person complement could accept more than ten thousand missions. How could they possibly finish them all?

It turned out that everyone across the entire star system was competing to complete the missions. No wonder there were so many!

At that moment, a man's voice rang out nearby.

"Zhong Li, I heard that two more mechanics joined this time. These two young fellows, right?"

The three of them froze and turned around. A uniformed man was walking toward them, looking at Su Ming and Warren with undisguised delight.

"Locke?" Zhong Li was startled and asked in surprise.

"Are you two the mechanics who just joined?" Locke smiled and nodded at Zhong Li, then looked at Su Ming and Warren and asked with a smile.

"Uh... yes..." Su Ming found the man's enthusiasm a little overwhelming.

When the man heard that Su Ming was a mechanic, his face immediately lit up with delight.

"That's wonderful! Temporary Army No. 32 finally has more mechanics!" After saying this, the man excitedly pulled out a Mechanical Battle Saber. With an expectant look, he said to Su Ming, "You two, could you please help me repair this? It's a planet-level superheated battle blade!"

Su Ming and Warren stared blankly, completely unable to figure out what was going on with the man.

Why had they run into someone this eager to make a request the moment they arrived?

Seeing the strange looks in their eyes, Zhong Li gave a bitter smile, then said to Su Ming and Warren:

"Please don't take it the wrong way. There was only one planet-level mechanic aboard the spacecraft before, so whenever a planet-level weapon broke, everyone had to ask that mechanic to repair it. That meant they usually had to wait several days before their turn.

"But now that the two of you have joined, you can greatly ease that mechanic's burden. That way, everyone won't have to wait in line!"

Hearing Zhong Li's explanation, the man called Locke nodded repeatedly, then said with a bitter smile, "Please don't blame me, you two. I was just too anxious. If I don't get my battle saber repaired, I can't go out on missions, so..."

After hearing their explanations, Su Ming and Warren finally understood. Su Ming then asked in surprise, "Are mechanics really that rare?"

"It's not that mechanics are rare. Planet-level mechanics are rare!"

"There are plenty of surface-level mechanics, but such mechanics usually have little chance to come into contact with planet-level machinery. They spend their whole lives repairing surface-level machinery, which is why planet-level mechanics are so scarce!"

After Zhong Li finished speaking, Locke added, "That's not the whole story, either. The main reason is that planet-level mechanics usually come from wealthy families that can provide them with ample financial resources to practice dismantling machinery. Only then do they have a chance of being trained into planet-level mechanics!"

Hearing this, Su Ming and Warren simultaneously felt something strange.

As fate would have it, one of them came from a major family. Although Su Ming had been driven out midway, he had still dismantled quite a few mechanical components.

Warren had been even luckier. Back on Planet Nop, he had become Su Ming's assistant by pure accident, and as a result, he had benefited tremendously and acquired planet-level Mechanical Knowledge.

Thus, neither of them had much sense of how precious planet-level mechanics were.

Only after hearing this did they realize that planet-level mechanics were actually this rare.

"All right, Locke. The two of them have only just joined the army. According to the rules, they have to wait until their Merit System is activated before you can spend merit points to have them repair your weapon. If you ask them to repair it now, aren't you taking advantage of them?"

Zhong Li stepped forward and refused Locke on Su Ming's behalf.

Hearing this, disappointment appeared on Locke's face. He smiled bitterly and said, "I was too anxious... Sorry for the trouble!"

He picked up the battle saber in his hand and prepared to leave.

But at that moment, Su Ming suddenly spoke. "It's fine. Repairing the battle saber won't take much time. I'll fix it for you now!"