Repeat That

That night, Nie Yun spent all his savings on two barrels of diesel and a pile of scrap metal. Before dawn the next day, he took the Sea Wolf out to sea.

On the boundless ocean, the sun rose in the east, casting a brilliant red glow that gilded the Sea Wolf. Standing at the bow, Nie Yun spread his arms and embraced the morning sun.

It wasn't that Nie Yun had suddenly been overcome by poetic inspiration.

"Mm~ This feels so good. How did I never realize sunbathing was this nice? It's so warm. Ah! That's the stuff!" Nie Yun couldn't help shouting.

"Why do I feel like I'm becoming more and more like the Mechanical Insect? I can even sunbathe without getting hungry. Am I still human? Hmm... That question's too philosophical. It's not for me!"

Then he turned around and couldn't help grinning. The silvery-white Mechanical Insect seemed to love the sunshine, too. It had actually crawled up onto the sail and spread itself out, soaking up the sun's light and heat.

After a night of multiplying and making repairs, the Sea Wolf's keel had been completely restored, and the Mechanical Insect's numbers had multiplied several times over. It had grown into a mass about the size of a millstone.

The silvery-white Mechanical Insect had taken over most of the sail, like someone had painted an abstract silver design across it.

"Come on, my little darlings. Eat up! Like they say, many hands make light work, and strength can work miracles! So a big enough crowd can work miracles! Clearly, our numbers aren't high enough yet! We're not strong enough! So get breeding! There's no family planning here. I repeat, there's no family planning here!" Nie Yun swept his hand, and a silvery mass surged toward the pile of scrap metal, which stood half a person high.

By noon, the little ones had used up both barrels of diesel, and only some gray-white powder remained of the scrap metal. But the results were impressive: the Mechanical Insect had completely taken over the Sea Wolf's sail. Now they lounged lazily in the sun while repairing and reinforcing the sail at the same time.

If another ship passed by and saw that glittering silver sail, its crew would probably curse and call it a show-off!

The Sea Wolf was decades old and poorly maintained. There wasn't a single part of it in good condition. Nie Yun figured that since he had plenty of little brothers now, he couldn't forget about his own brother, either. He decided to have the Mechanical Insect reinforce the Sea Wolf from bow to stern!

By then, Nie Yun had finally reached his chosen destination.

It was an uninhabited island, far from the mainland. Nie Yun had been there a few times before. It had something he—or rather, the Mechanical Insect—could use.

After circling halfway around the island, the Sea Wolf slowly approached a beach. The place was deserted, but it held something Nie Yun had been coveting: a shipwreck!

Beside the white sandy beach, an old, battered single-masted sailing ship lay stranded. Half its hull had sunk into the sand. After enduring the passage of countless years, it was impossible to make out what it had originally looked like, and it was covered in all kinds of algae.

Who knew how many people had already picked it over? Apart from the ruined hull, there was nothing of value left.

But what looked like junk to everyone else was a precious treasure to Nie Yun. As the saying went, even a wreck had a few pounds of iron! To Nie Yun, who had the Mechanical Insect, the ship itself was excellent raw material!

Nie Yun brought the Sea Wolf alongside the wreck and secured them tightly with a rope. Then he waved his hand, and the Mechanical Insect, freshly charged by the sun, swarmed over. With a beaming grin, Nie Yun watched the point where the wreck touched the Sea Wolf vanish as if it were melting, while the Sea Wolf's contact surface gradually turned like new!

A deal that cost nothing sure put him in a good mood!

With an ax in hand, Nie Yun happily went ashore to chop firewood... No, wait, to gather energy!

Before long, another bonfire party got underway aboard the Sea Wolf. Nie Yun stretched and watched the Mechanical Insect devour the wreck. At the same time, the Sea Wolf rapidly changed shape as if it were being refurbished. He grinned so wide he showed all his teeth!

"Brother, I haven't treated you badly, have I? Don't worry. When I get the chance, I'll find you a real metal beast and upgrade you straight to the next generation! A full-scale modernization!" Nie Yun stroked the hull as if he were caressing his lover.

It seemed he'd already forgotten his original plan to preserve the Sea Wolf as a collectible from the days of yore. Men really were fickle!

"Rustle, rustle~" A familiar sound at his feet pulled him back from his lovely daydream.

He looked down and saw that the ax he'd used to chop firewood had somehow been reduced to a wooden handle, and it was still disappearing fast.

Another rustling sound came from nearby. He glanced over and saw that the anchor he'd had for decades, once covered in rust, was now coated in silver and slowly "slimming down."

"What the hell are you doing?!" Nie Yun was stunned.

Wait, hadn't he just said something he shouldn't have? What was it?

Nie Yun suddenly snapped out of it. Damn it, he'd just said, "There's no family planning"!

"Stop, stop! Stop breeding!" Nie Yun hurriedly shouted. Then, heart aching, he picked up the anchor. The thing had weighed dozens of pounds, but now he could lift it easily with one hand.

"Waaah~ We've been through so much together. Why did you have to suffer such a terrible fate? The gray-haired must never have to bury the black-haired! How could you bear to leave me like this? Where am I supposed to find another anchor that handles so well?!" Nie Yun was close to tears.

Then he suddenly seemed to remember something. With a shout, he tossed the Black-Haired Person aside and sprinted into the cabin as fast as he could.

"Ah!" After a scream, Nie Yun stumbled out of the cabin, utterly dejected.

"It's gone! It's all gone! How could you even eat the pots and pans? I only bought them recently. They were still babies! Have you no humanity?!" Nie Yun looked on in anguished indignation at the Mechanical Insect, which was still eating the wreck.

But the little ones didn't care that they were eating their owner's pots and pans. If it was iron, they ate it!

At this point, he could only accept this cruel reality.

"Alas, at least leave me a pot to cook instant noodles in. What am I supposed to eat now?" Nie Yun sighed.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, part of the Mechanical Insect nearby suddenly broke off and quickly assembled into the shape of a pot, like someone building with blocks.

Nie Yun stared. It could do that?!

He picked up the gleaming silver "pot" and tapped it with his hand. It rang out with a solid clang. It was sturdy, and there was no reason he couldn't use it as a pot!

Nie Yun was overjoyed. "You can turn into whatever you eat? Come on, come on, bring all my babies back!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a pile of pots, bowls, and pans appeared in front of him in no time, identical in every way to his original set!

"Hahaha! Good, good work! What are you waiting for? Eat! Eat your fill! There's no family planning here! I repeat, there's no family planning here! Hahaha!"

The laughter from the uninhabited island startled a flock of birds in the woods.