Fixing Cars, Watches, and Computers

Repairing cars, watches, and computers

Four hundred years after natural disaster swept the world.

The seemingly eternal, great empires of the past had collapsed and vanished, leaving only dot-like city-states scattered amidst the fog to reflect their former glory.

Some said that everything would be rebuilt after destruction.

Others said that this was merely the final lingering glow before destruction.

June, Northern Federation, Haizhou, Yacheng.

Beneath the blazing sunlight.

Scattered white clouds drifted across a sky made too dazzling by the glare. In the blowing sea foam, those reflections shimmering upon the sea surface gradually blurred within the waves, losing all clarity. As the faint cries of seabirds sounded, everything seemed faintly shrouded in the roaring echoes of the tides.

To the people of Haizhou, this was already a common sight not worthy of attention.

Right in this sultry afternoon hot enough to make people sweat profusely, only the buzzing of cicadas remained and vehicles on the streets became sparse, while inside an auto repair shop, the atmosphere was also growing gradually scorching...

"Little Ji Master, do you think my two headlights have some kind of problem?"

In the paint reflection of the sports car, a slender, delicate arm gradually rested upon the body of the auto-repair youth.

At this, the youth bowed head, looking towards the massive headlights to examine them carefully.

The headlights were large and bright, seeming to look back at him as well, her seductive gaze like flowing silk.

"They really do seem to have a bit of a problem."

Ji Jue leaned back tactically and concluded, "It must be minor scratches. Just get a maintenance done, and our shop recently launched the 998 Maintenance Package, which includes whole-car waxing, four deep cleanings, and it's quite a bargain. Don't you think so, Feng Ge?"

"Ah, right, right, right!" The dark, sturdy, oil-stained mechanic not far away nodded wildly upon hearing this.

"Hate you~"

The female car owner gave Ji Jue's shoulder a coquettish tap and cuddled closer.

"Then how about this exhaust pipe?"

She pleaded softly in the youth's ear, "My husband says that every time he drives, it howls especially loud, making my heart flutter with fear. Could you please help me fetch something to blow it out?"

Ji Jue looked towards the exhaust pipe.

The weather-beaten exhaust pipe looked back at him as well, dark and profound.

"Just change it for a new one."

Ji Jue reached his conclusion, "Just in time, our shop just received a pair, both Mustang accessories with certificates, 100% authentic products from Cosmos Heavy Industries... Only 12,888, bring the Mustang exhaust home! Feng Ge, come take a look quickly!"

As he spoke, he tried hard to pull away, yet he could not escape the entanglement beside him, instead struggling in vain like a small hamster wrapped around by a python.

"No, I still think there's something wrong with this car..." The woman with permed long wavy hair bit her lower lip, her gaze lingering, "Lately the engine's oil output is especially large, and right now it seems to be leaking oil already. Help me take a look."

"So serious?!"

Ji Jue cried out in shock, locked gazes for a long time with the innocent engine beneath the hood, and concluded, "It might be a lack of maintenance. We suggest you purchase our 24999 whole-car maintenance package. Register now and we'll even give you exquisite floor mats and a fragrance pad. After the maintenance, we guarantee it will drive like it just rolled out of the factory!

Right, Feng Ge?"

"Ah, right, right, right!!!" The man holding a wrench beside him nodded, "If you register and top up a card now, there's also a twenty percent discount! Action is better than temptation!"

Unfortunately, after pushing sales for half a day, the car owner didn't even look at him once.

Instead, she was about to press her entire body against Ji Jue.

As if she had no bones at all.

"But my husband can't drive for two minutes before he stops, saying the pushing-from-behind feeling is too strong and he can't take it." The female car owner bit her lower lip and blinked, "Little Ji Master, is what he said true?"

I don't know a thing!

Ji Jue desperately wanted to tell her that it was useless asking Little Ji Master—he was only nineteen, had only been repairing cars for three and a half years, and had no experience. For this kind of matter, she had to ask Big Ji Master instead!

Oh, she seemed to have come precisely for his Big Ji Master...

Yet this woman didn't look like someone to be trifled with at all. What if Big Ji Master came out and got beaten until it threw up?

He was so scared!

Ever since he was a kid, he had suffered far too many such covetous gazes.

Back at school, only senior schoolgirls and female ruffians had set their sights on him. Ever since he came out to work, these bad women from society kept popping up, lusting after his beauty and wanting to get hands-on. As for now... just looking at her, she wanted a free ride and didn't even plan to give any gifts? Truly, the rites were collapsed and propriety was ruined!

Delusional woman, truly pathetic!

Ji Jue kept exchanging glances with the nearby mechanic Lu Feng, but Lu Feng wouldn't speak, merely leaning against the wall to watch his misfortune with schadenfreude.

Until his savior fell from the sky...

Bang!

Amidst a loud explosion, a burly figure appeared at the doorway, resembling a flesh mountain as she carried two brand-new tires and dropped them onto the ground, shattering the silence.

"What are you messing around with?"

The crew-cut female boss with shoulders as thick as an ox, capable of riding fine horses, raised her hand to wipe away the oil stains on her apron, a pair of bulging fish eyes looking over, "Changing an engine, is it? I'll do it... Are you two very free? If you're so free, go unload that cart of tires by the entrance into the warehouse."

"Alright, alright, tires, tires, I love tires the most!"

Seeing the boss rescue Big Ji Master from dire peril, Ji Jue instantly beamed with joy. The female car owner's expression twitched twice, seemingly displeased that someone ruined her good deed, but when the female boss slightly revealed a terrifying aura of crushing mountains and rivers with one punch, along with her dead-fish stare, the woman's lips parted and closed a few times, not daring to speak.

Underneath the awkwardness, he pinched the cheek of the kid who was doing homework behind the counter, praised the little friend for being so cute, and then got into the car and drove away.

On the other hand, Lu Feng, who had watched the whole lively spectacle to his heart's content, watched those pair of huge headlights drive away, clicking his tongue and sighing in pity. Then, he took a big slap to the back of the head from Lu Ma, almost tumbling over like a rolling gourd.

He scrambled up, giggling: "Oh, Ma, if you'd come a bit later, maybe they would've applied for a 9999 Gold Card!"

"Old lady here runs a repair shop, not a duck house! Little Dog, you're asking for a beating!"

Lu Ma scolded angrily, shouting out his childhood nickname, clearly furious: "Like watching the fun, do you? Since you've watched enough fun, after you move the tires, get your ass over to clean out the backyard latrine!"

Now, it was Ji Jue's turn by the doorway to watch the fun.

Splendid.

Truly splendid!

Moving the tires didn't take much effort; the shop had an old forklift of its own, and Lu Feng, retired and back home, had plenty of muscle in his arms, so naturally it didn't require an ordinary college student working a part-time job like him to exert himself.

In the afternoon, business was slow as well.

After moving the tires and washing two cars, everyone lay around in the shade, with nothing to do.

Lu Ma kept an eye on a few kids doing summer homework, while Lu Feng lay on a mat, watching short videos and giggling foolishly. As for Ji Jue, he borrowed the shop's old computer—whose age was probably close to his own—and began to continue writing his thesis.

In the afternoon, the sunlight shone on the young man's handsome profile, causing passing young women and middle-aged aunties to stop and gaze.

The only pity was the burn scar that crawled from his collar up to his neck and finally spread to his cheek. So fierce, it was like a flaw in white jade, a pity and a lament. Otherwise, wouldn't it be wonderful to debut as an idol?

At worst, there would be wealthy aunties waving cash to invite him into big villas to sing and dance, which had to be better than fixing cars in a dump like this, right?

Yet Ji Jue didn't feel it was much of a pity, nor had he ever thought that working part-time at a repair shop was anything bad.

In this day and age, catastrophes ran rampant and all affairs were difficult; for an orphan whose parents died early and who was plagued by bad luck, it was already not easy just to stay alive. Having kind people take him in to work, never docking his pay and trying every possible way to help him out, was already like smoke rising from his ancestral graves.

What was more, he had even gotten into university. Though his food and clothing were not luxurious, he didn't worry for them either. Compared to the bleak loneliness of the past, his days were already beginning to visibly turn for the better.

Since the heavens had given him the chance to turn his life around and be a proper man, he had to rely on his own ability to live out a human shape.

He had no qualification or reason not to strive.

"A... joint design and analysis featuring a high-precision... harmonic reducer?" Lu Feng poked his head over to pry, getting dizzy and blurred just reading the title:

"What hanging thing is this?"

"Probably, it's a mechanical joint design paired with a small reducer," Ji Jue explained. "Mechanical equipment uses this kind of principle to reduce rotational speed and increase output."

"Oh, a flexible joint, right? I saw it on the exoskeleton armor in the military."

Lu Feng caught on instantly, patting Ji Jue's shoulder twice, acting even happier than if he had made money himself: "Not bad, Little Ji, fucking awesome."

Ji Jue shook his head and smiled: "Where's the skill in that? It's all thanks to my professor's guidance."

The new planetary carrier that served as the basis for the thesis and design was originally the professor's own research achievement. Being able to give Ji Jue a chance to drink some soup was already like pie falling from the sky.

Besides, nowadays apart from the opening report, basically only a skeleton remained, and Ji Jue himself walked on thin ice.

Given Professor Ye's consistently rigorous style, if he messed up, there was a good chance he would be deemed hopeless and kicked straight out of the research group. He still wanted to rely on the professor's recommendation letter to take the exam for a Level Two Engineer, so he couldn't afford not to care.

It was just a pity that the busy time didn't last long. The old computer's case buzzed with vibration and the fan wailed, clearly unable to support the arduous task of having two webpages open simultaneously while a document was open. Ji Jue could only pause for a moment.

He lowered his head to check his watch; it was only past four o'clock.

He pulled out a tissue and wiped away the oil stains on the watch strap, earnestly and carefully.

To speak of these times, apart from a handful of people, wearing a watch had basically gone from a functional necessity to a tool for showing off. Otherwise, why wouldn't one just take out a phone to look at the time?

Was it because he forgot to charge it last night?

The times were changing.

In earlier years, when Ji Jue's maternal grandfather was still around, his family's Eternal Clock was a resounding, big-name brand throughout all of Haizhou. In those years, if any family's child managed to test into a maritime academy, they were bound to come to the shop to buy a seagull pocket watch. After changing into uniform, half of the watch strap would poke out from the pocket, heaven knows how many young maidens' eyes it could attract.

Pity that Ji Jue's parents died early and the times changed too fast. The meager former glory had long since been submerged in the dust. Aside from an old shop that could mostly no longer open for business, what was left for him by his parents was only a modicum of lingering craft, and this relic they left behind.

To tell the truth, for so many years Ji Jue still hadn't figured out what brand this watch actually was. He could only guess from the intricate machinery-like markings on the watch dial that it was mostly a watch used for timing in some precise work.

The style was rare, and the design differed from the vast majority on the market. It looked like a style early sailors liked to use, but sailors' watches generally had perpetual calendars or moon phase displays on them. Yet apart from the hands, the dial of this watch had only a single window of unknown nature.

Two rows of tiny numbers seemed to slowly change with time, gradually increasing, except the trend was far too slow. When Ji Jue first wore it as a child, the numbers on it were only 06, and by now, they had reached 92.

On top of that, even stranger was that it had no crown for setting the time, no place to wind the mainspring, and not even any gaps at all.

Ji Jue had even borrowed a high-precision microscope from the school laboratory, yet completely failed to find any single seam or welding point on the watch case. It was integrated seamlessly, and even the watch crystal was wrapped within, airtight and watertight.

Ji Jue had once placed it on the desk for several months, observing it every day, only to find the ticking went on as usual—proving it didn't rely on arm swings for automatic winding either... So where did the power come from?

Could it really be a perpetual motion machine?