Do You Qualify for Special Recruitment

Xilin looked up. To his left, his Flying Skateboard was placed, and to his right, his backpack. He was reading the Seven Luminaries Weekly, which seemed to be talking about him, but the little kid...

Following the sound, he found an old man with graying hair sitting on a chair not far away, calling out to Xilin. A pile of parts lay on his lap.

"Little kid, help me out for a second, hand that over," the old man said, pointing to the side of Xilin's chair.

The old man spoke with a slight gasp, likely from exertion.

Xilin picked up the part that had rolled next to the chair and walked over to the old man.

"Thanks, little kid."

"Grandpa, I'm almost eighteen."

"Oh, little kid, almost eighteen? This old man is one hundred and thirty."

Xilin: "..."

Forget it, little kid it is.

After taking the part, the old man began assembling the pieces in his hands, connecting each joint. Many of these connections required significant skill; an inexperienced person would take at least ten minutes per joint. But this old man connected them almost instantly, showing he was deeply skilled in this craft. Every finger was utilized to its fullest, providing leverage, balance, and pressure...

Although the old man had been a bit breathless earlier, his hands were steady. The parts in his hands were like fragmented pieces of art, slowly coming together to form a dazzling masterpiece.

The old man assembled with great focus, and Xilin watched with equal intensity. By observing the old man's movements, he could learn many assembly techniques. Xilin had never seen anyone utilize their fingers to such an extent, even their fingertips and the gaps between them were put to use. Parts danced on his fingers, only to be assembled onto the main body the next moment.

Beyond his finger dexterity, Xilin noticed the old man's keen judgment of parts. A glance at the main body's interface, followed by a sweep over the pile of parts on his lap, allowed him to accurately select the exact piece needed.

As the old man assembled, a 3D image formed in Xilin's mind. Once a part was attached, the next piece to be connected at the interface would already take shape in his mind. Then, Xilin's gaze and the old man's finger movements would almost simultaneously land on the correct part.

Ten minutes later, a fifteen-centimeter-tall Small Robot was complete. Xilin had watched the entire assembly process. He knew how complex the internal circuitry, chips, and components were. Even some engineers he had met on Brown Earth Star would take half a day to assemble such a robot, and their quality control would still be questionable. But the product the old man completed in ten minutes would undoubtedly pass inspection with flying colors!

"Huh?" After finishing the assembly, the old man noticed the little kid who had helped him pick up the part was watching. His eyes lit up with interest. "Little kid, interested?"

Xilin looked at the Small Robot in the old man's hand, which was smoothly performing a dance. He replied, "No." Then he prepared to return to his seat.

"Hey, little kid, don't rush off. Keep this old man company for a bit. Waiting for a bus alone is boring."

But you seemed to be having fun, Xilin thought to himself.

"Let me get my backpack and Flying Skateboard."

"Just leave them there, no one will take them. Come here quickly." The old man, afraid Xilin would leave, shifted his position and patted the empty seat next to him, signaling Xilin to sit down.

Xilin sighed and sat down after glancing at his backpack and Flying Skateboard.

"Little kid, you saw me assembling the parts just now?"

Xilin nodded.

"Did you see clearly?"

"There are a few places I don't understand."

"Which parts?"

Xilin pointed out his questions. Although he had memorized all the old man's actions in assembling the parts, he couldn't understand the principles behind a few of them.

The old man was surprised by the questions Xilin raised. Without a certain understanding of this model of robot assembly, one couldn't ask such questions. It seemed this young man had studied before. However, the old man didn't show it on his face and explained each of Xilin's doubts. The old man spoke simply and directly, without using many difficult professional terms like some pretentious teachers to show off their knowledge.

"The circuitry is the robot's nervous system. It takes a lot of effort to install this nervous system accurately. I, this old man, am good at it because I have a lot of experience; practice makes perfect."

After explaining the circuit connections, the old man pointed to the parts in several areas of the robot. "These things look simple, but a lot of effort went into manufacturing them. For example, you young people like to play with guns. Some who can afford it often order custom gun barrels and firearms, but they don't pay attention to the manufacturing process. I won't even talk about the design; that's a mentally taxing job. Then there's material selection, expanding and cutting the rifling when manufacturing the barrel... a series of processes that require precision."

The old man spoke with increasing enthusiasm, even citing several currently popular gun models as examples and criticizing them thoroughly. Among them were the DKC Series Multi-functional Titanium Gun, which was quite popular with young people, and the "Slaughter Sprite" that Xilin had seen.

"But I heard that those idiots from the Daongs Family came up with another 'Slaughter Sprite II' these past few days. I haven't seen it myself, so I don't know how it is. I hope it doesn't have the same fatal flaws as the 'Slaughter Sprite I'..."

The old man spoke animatedly, his face flushed. Seeing Xilin's silent but approving gaze, the old man became even more animated in his criticism.

However, Xilin was sweating internally. Those idiots from the Daongs Family... he was currently affiliated with the Daongs Family.

Beep--beep--beep--

A notification sound rang out. The train had arrived. The people waiting by the platform stood up, and those inside the waiting room also began to emerge.

"Old Master, I'll help you onto the train first."

Xilin picked up the two bags containing the parts, intending to help the old man carry the two bags of parts beside him onto the train before getting off to retrieve his backpack and Flying Skateboard. The weight of these two bags of parts was nothing to Xilin, but the old man was old, and carrying them would be strenuous. Moreover, Xilin greatly admired the old man's research spirit. When it came to things related to his research, he seemed to ignore any physical fatigue.

"Hey, you're a good kid. What's your name? Who is your Grand Tutor for Mechanical Engineering? I'll talk to your Grand Tutor later and ask him to give you more academic credits." the old man asked as he walked towards the train door.

Although, in principle, students' academic credits were strictly awarded based on their regular performance, the final credits awarded actually included many factors. If someone recommended them from above, the supervising tutor would give them more. There were many tutors for each course, but there wouldn't be more than five Grand Tutors. The old man immediately mentioned a Grand Tutor, indicating that his status at Seven Radiance was quite high. However, people of that level usually had special reserved cars, didn't they?

"That would be very kind of you, but I'm a New Student in this batch at Seven Radiance and haven't reported yet. As for who my tutor is, I don't know either."

"You were specially recruited?"

"No, my family paid to send me here to continue my education."

The old man was genuinely surprised. He paused and said, "You are qualified to be specially recruited!"

The old man's statement was very firm, without even the usual prefixes like "I think" or "I believe." It was a direct and imposing statement, conveying the attitude that if he said you were qualified, you were. This was likely related to the old man's status and his habit of speaking that way.

Seemingly dissatisfied that a student like Xilin wasn't specially recruited, the old man snorted, "Your name!"

Xilin smiled and placed the two bags of parts next to the old man's seat. "My name is..."

Vroom--vroom--

The sound of speeding vehicles rang out.

Two open-top flying cars, one crimson red and one bright yellow. As they zipped past the station, the owner of the red car reached out and snatched Xilin's backpack.

This was truly a brazen act in broad daylight, but the people at the station seemed unfazed, showing little reaction.

Clearly, the Old Man had seen it too, his eyes widening. He had just told Xilin that no one would take it.

"You go on ahead." After saying that, Xilin quickly jumped off the vehicle, grabbed the flying skateboard that wasn't taken along with the backpack, activated it, and then stepped onto it to chase after them.

"Sigh, if there's nothing important inside, then just let the backpack go. Chasing a flying car on a flying skateboard is futile, isn't it?" someone commented.

"Yeah, this kind of thing isn't uncommon. Those people driving flying cars are just bored. They aren't short on money, they're just doing it for fun to piss people off. Even if they get caught by the Security Team, at worst they'll just get a fine, pay some money, and settle it privately. So these people aren't afraid..."

Listening to the discussions around him, the Old Man remained silent for two seconds, then raised his hand and tapped his communicator. He searched for a comms ID on the pop-up panel, confirmed a number, and dialed it.