MRG Chapter 57: A Mecha’s Heart

Translator: Kii

The warehouse dormitory was a double room with a small floor area and simple furnishings, but it was still tidy.

Cliff handed the magnetic card to Mu Chen. “I’m sorry to inconvenience you for now, Your Highness.”

As he spoke, the ceiling’s metal baffle above kept making a buzzing noise.

Due to the warehouse being the sealed type, ventilation was installed, but it had been in disrepair for many years. The constantly pouring air hit the detached baffle of the air outlet, creating a neurotic sound from time to time.

Cliff looked at the ceiling helplessly. “The rest of the facilities in this room are in good condition, it’s just that it’s noisy here. I’ll have someone fix…”

Before he finished speaking, Mu Chen stepped on the ladder and got on the bed. He reached out his hand and pressed on the metal baffle, pushing it back.

Ka-chink!

And the noise stopped.

“Done.”

Under Cliff’s slightly shocked gaze, Mu Chen wiped his hand with a piece of paper and threw his bag at the foot of the bed. “Take me around to other places.”

He had been living in No.1 Military Academy for four years and had camped in the wild in all kinds of extreme weather conditions. This dorm was nothing to him.

The layout of the Sweiman warehouse wasn’t all that complicated, with several main areas including the AI control room, server room, pre-processing storage area, sorting room, maintenance workshop, and storage warehouse A and B.

Right now, Mu Chen followed Cliff to a huge warehouse covered in dust. The various steel bars and ironware were piled up in a mess on the shelves, which look like a “thorny jungle.” He needed to bend down intermittently to prevent himself from “unfortunately contracting tetanus.”

“This is Storage Warehouse B; most of the military weapons that can’t be repaired will be stored here. We usually call it the “junk dump…” Cliff threw back a piece of the mechanical arm that fell on the ground and said to Mu Chen, “If you have anything you like, you can just take it to play with. “Treasure hunting” is one of the few pastimes in this dump.”

As he spoke, Mu Chen unconsciously moved a few steps forward. He was attracted to the open space at the end of the narrow shelves. There was a big thing hidden inside. It was covered with a huge black curtain, and at first glance, it looked at least two or three stories high.

After receiving the okay from Cliff, Mu Chen reached out his hand and took off the curtain.

With a “clang” sound, the steel giant revealed its full appearance in the flying dust. It was a first-generation large-mecha with the “T-001” marking engraved on its left shoulder.

Mu Chen was slightly stunned. The last time he saw the first-generation of this model was at the natural science museum in the capital.

He never expected he could actually see the “living fossil” with his own eyes.

—One that wasn’t enclosed in a glass case.

He walked two steps forward and arrived before the mecha, carefully observing the structure of this mecha.

Normally, the Sweiman Warehouse shouldn’t store weapons of this level of mechas, and it seemed that this mecha had been placed here for quite a few years. A thick layer of dust had accumulated on the metal frame, as if it had been forgotten by time.

Cliff saw through Mu Chen’s confusion, explaining to him:

“Well, this… The year this warehouse was built was when the war was at its most intense. The invasion of Doyle Star caught us off guard. At that time, the old dynasty was declining, the territory of Blue Planet was divided, and there were no military footholds that could resist the Zergs. Many things were built in a hurry. We had to build defensive structures while also fending off sudden Zerg raids at any moment.”

“The pilot of this mecha was one of the soldiers who were sent to protect the construction of the Sweiman Warehouse. When the warehouse was almost completed, he died in front of the iron gate. THe mecha was 30% damaged. At that time, the base was busy dealing with the waves of Zerg swarms and had no time to transport the damaged mecha, so it was simply sent to the newly built base. In the first few years, we frequently asked our superiors how to deal with this mecha, but we didn’t get a clear response. They seemed to think it was a pity to dismantle it and sell it as scrap, but it was too useless to use it on the front line. Later, as time went by, no one cared about it anymore.”

After speaking, Cliff reached out his hand and wiped off the dust on its left arm. He looked at the lines of words carved on it, and said in a friendly tone—

“We all call it ‘Old Booker,’ which was the name of its last pilot. He died in battle to protect this warehouse. Perhaps it was fate that this mecha had been left here until now. Also, nothing had happened to the Sweiman Warehouse over the years.”

Mu Chen fixed his gaze on the large mecha. “Why don’t you guys fix it?”

“Hahahaha…”

Cliff stroked his beard and let out a hearty laugh. “This model is so old. It’s probably older than you and me combined. It’s totally incomparable to the new models on the front line; it’s heavy and slow, consumes a lot of energy, and the noise it makes when it starts up shakes the whole warehouse just like an old car.”

Mu Chen walked over to Cliff and thoughtfully looked at the engraved “inscription.”

During the first mecha class in the military academy, their instructor introduced it to them. It was called an “inscription” and had the same function as a dog tag. Every mecha pilot would have his name engraved on the day they were officially combined with the mecha. When they die in battle, there would be a number next to the name, representing the total number of days the pilot had driven the mecha—just like the date of birth and death on a tombstone.

—From possession til death.

On the inscription that had slightly faded, there was only “Booker” left, with the number 10 beside it. Mu Chen’s pupils trembled…

Ten days after Booker became the pilot of this mecha, he died right in front of Sweiman Warehouse.

Cliff’s gaze drifted along with Mu Chen, and he seemed to be talking to himself, “Have you heard of this phrase?”

Mu Chen, “What is it?”

Cliff reached out and rested his hand on the mecha. “Regarding the rumors about the ‘Mecha Heart,’ I have never piloted a mecha, and of course I don’t have this talent, but I once heard from a mecha expert that mechas do have a heart. We shouldn’t treat it as a heap of scrap metal without a soul; they chose their owner… This brings us to the strongest mecha pilot on Blue Planet…”

Mu Chen unconsciously clenched his fist—he didn’t need Cliff to say the other party’s name, he already knew who it was.

Blue Planet’s strongest mecha pilot was Light.

Light was not only the record holder for the highest kills, he also holds the record for the longest number of days in service with a mecha.

Eighteen years ago, after engraving his own name on Eagle, the mecha had not once changed its owner.

Up until today, it was a total of 6631 days.

Cliff said leisurely, “Before the Crown Prince met it, the ‘Eagle’ was a very unruly eagle. The previous three mecha pilots all died accidentally while on duty, and none of them survived a week. At that time His Majesty Jorah strongly opposed the Crown Prince to pilot this mecha shrouded in misfortune, but no one expected that he would tame the eagle.”

At this point, his eyes regained some of their former spirit. “Before meeting ‘Eagle,’ I had never known there was such a big and tall thing in the world. It’s like a small mountain.”

Mu Chen raised a brow. “Have you seen it before?”

“Yes.” Cliff nodded. “At the time, our army unit was trapped in the shallows by the Zergs. We were basically prepared to die. Then, the Crown Prince piloted the Eagle and broke us through the siege. He was only eighteen at the time… Who would’ve thought that the royal heir of his status would willingly risk his life fighting on the front lines?”

He sighed. “Now, His Highness is the commander-in-chief of the base, so he shouldn’t take risks like before. It would be nice if there was an equally outstanding pilot that could replace him piloting Eagle.”

Mu Chen snorted and muttered softly, “Even if there is, it depends on if he’s willing…”

Cliff didn’t hear clearly. “Your Highness, what did you say?”

Mu Chen raised the corner of his lips, smiling superficially, “I said that I also think so.”

Beep! Beep!

At that moment, Mu Chen’s terminal rang.

He immediately answered the call, “Hello…”

The sound from the other side was somewhat noisy, as if there was a lot of wind. “It’s me, Xavier.”

“I asked for you—I asked my dad so many times before he finally told me. You mustn’t tell anyone.”

Mu Chen furrowed his brows. “What did he say?”

“He said…” Xavier lowered his voice and whispered, “The final decision was made by the general, which is His Highness the Crown Prince. If you aren’t on the list, then it could be that he doesn’t want you to go.”

Mu Chen didn’t say anything. Xavier shouted into the phone, “Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?”

After a while, a cold voice answered—

“Got it.”

……

Konaren Base.

Levi knocked on the office door, entered, and shouted, “General.”

Inside the room, a man in military uniform was leaning back in his office chair with his eyes closed, his lips pressed into a thin line, and he seemed to be asleep.

Hearing the noise, Light’s long lashes trembled. He opened his eyes, reached out his hand to rub the space between his eyebrows. A strand of hair fell from his forehead, and there was a hint of confusion in his amber eyes.

He soon regained clarity.

Light looked at the time on the terminal and furrowed his brows…

He originally just planned to close his eyes and take a nap for a minute, but he unexpectedly fell asleep and slept for fifteen minutes.

He didn’t know why, but Light had recently been feeling a sense of exhaustion. Some time ago, he thought it was because Mu Chen was in his mating period and the two were too unrestrained. But now, even after separating from the merman, this feeling of fatigue had only increased rather than decreased. In the past, even after high-intensity combat, he only needed to sleep for five hours to quickly recover his energy, but now he always couldn’t wake up.

Levi was stunned for a moment. “Did I disturb your rest?”

“No.” Light sat up from his seat, his posture was the usual upright one. “Do you have something to report?”

Levi, “It’s the matter I mentioned to you before. The top management of the base all agreed that a replacement pilot for the Eagle should be found as possible.”

Without a doubt, “Eagle” was the strongest mecha on Blue Planet, and was also an absolutely powerful weapon to go against the Zergs. It will play a huge role on the battlefield.

However, Light obviously wasn’t fit to pilot it anymore.

That year, the eighteen-year-old prince took the initiative to join the military and took the lead, leading the mecha corps to turn the tide at the most critical moment of Blue Planet.

If the armed forces were compared to a precision instrument, then the base’s supreme commander was the core, their existence like the brain. Once things go with the brain, how could the body function?

Moreover, King Jorah was already getting old. As the designated crown prince, Light couldn’t put himself in danger under any circumstances.

Levi took out his terminal after speaking, sending several files to Light. “This list has the names of the currently most outstanding mecha pilots of the Oz Empire.”

Light carefully looked through it before putting down the terminal. “Have them get ready; we’ll proceed directly to live mecha testing tomorrow.”

Having them directly sit in the cockpit was the best way to test a pilot’s capability.

Levi nodded. “Understood, General.”

In the next second—

Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt! Light’s terminal vibrated.

Upon seeing this, Levi closed the door for him and turned to leave.

The caller id on the terminal displayed “Mu Chen.” Light’s pupils trembled slightly. He was busy dealing with various emergencies throughout the journey and had no time to contact Mu Chen and explain the situation…

The other party was most likely angry.

When he thought of that, his finger slightly curled as he answered the call.

After the ringtone ceased, the atmosphere sunk into a strange silence—neither of them took the initiative to speak first.

After a while—

A harsh questioning tone came from the other end, “How is the situation at Konaren right now?”

Light, “Everything is going well, don’t worry.”

He opened his mouth, asking, “Are you doing alright?”

Mu Chen chuckled. “The lieutenant you sent to watch me didn’t report back to you, General?”

There was a hint of sarcasm in his laugh.

Light was silent.

The atmosphere once again sunk into a deadlock.

He opened his mouth a few times, wanting to explain himself, but he ultimately didn’t say anything.

Mu Chen, “Was my file suppressed by you, Gege?”

“It was you who did it, right?”

Light, “Yes.”

He didn’t deny it.

Mu Chen, “I request to be transferred to the mecha corps, this instant.”

The other party didn’t respond immediately.

Just when he thought Light had disconnected, a clear voice came from the other end—

“No.”

Mu Chen was puzzled. “Why?”

Light, “The situation right now is critical…you can’t just transfer wherever you want.”

Light’s Adam’s apple bobbled up and down. This reason was indeed somewhat plausible.

The atmosphere turned silent for a minute before a cold laugh was heard.

Mu Chen, “Is this the reason? …How about I tell you the actual reason?”

“Because I’m not a general, so I can’t be like you and just remove a name from the list without so much of an explanation!”