"Don't worry, Liam will fix it," Yuxue said, gently pulling Tan Bingbing along as she looked at Endymion walking ahead.
"But he…" Tan Bingbing still seemed uneasy. She had watched him for a while before he suddenly said he was going to eat. Could it be an excuse to avoid the repair?
"Bingbing, if Liam said he's going to eat, it's because he has already found the cause of the malfunction. He just needs some time to fix it," Yuxue smiled slightly. "I trust that there's no mecha Liam can't repair."
"Yuxue, how can you be so confident in him?" Tan Bingbing was not just surprised, but downright shocked. The boy the world labeled a failure was being praised by Yuxue like this?
Yuxue simply smiled and said nothing. She caught up with Endymion, wrapping her arm around his.
"Endymion, I didn't know you could cook so well!" Tan Bingbing couldn't help but exclaim. The surprises Endymion was giving her today were truly more than she could have expected.
"Bingbing, you're lucky to taste the dishes Liam makes!" Yuxue laughed. "Besides me, you're the second girl who's had the privilege of eating his cooking!"
"Really?" Tan Bingbing looked at Endymion.
"Well, it's true, but it's not quite like Aunt said," Endymion shook his head. "The others just never bothered to try my cooking."
"No way, I'd love to eat it every day!" Tan Bingbing blurted out, only to realize how the words might sound. Her cheeks turned bright red as she quickly looked away.
"Alright then, since you two are in the same school, Liam, you should cook for Bingbing every day!" Yuxue gave the two of them a teasing look.
"T-That might not be a good idea…" Tan Bingbing glanced at Endymion, a hint of expectation in her eyes.
"What's the problem? Bingbing, why don't you just be Liam's girlfriend?" Yuxue quickly added with a mischievous tone.
"Aunt, don't say that! Bingbing already has a fiancé." Endymion hurriedly responded.
Yuxue shrugged nonchalantly. "So what if she has a fiancé? They're not married yet. If it doesn't work out, she can always call off the engagement!"
Tan Bingbing's face flushed deeply, but she didn't speak. In front of Yuxue, she didn't carry even a hint of her Ice Beauty image. Instead, she looked like a shy neighbor girl.
"Uh, I'm full, I'm going to fix the mecha!" Endymion felt the awkwardness in the air and decided to escape.
When it came to dealing with girls, Endymion had no experience. Grant had been absorbed in his magical studies and never interacted with women on a personal level. As for Endymion himself, he had once secretly admired a girl—Murong Yan'er—but that had ended badly when she and Meng He had humiliated him in the Purple Bamboo Forest just half a month ago.
Looking at Tan Bingbing now, she was indeed stunning—perhaps even more so than Murong Yan'er. Her figure was incredibly seductive, but unfortunately, she was already taken.
"What am I thinking?" Endymion shook his head, deciding he had more important things to do than think about women.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Endymion focused on Tan Bingbing's mecha. He had already pinpointed the issue; now it was time for the repairs.
Rather than simply repairing it, he was going to re-engineer it. In reality, the mecha hadn't malfunctioned; it was simply designed with a flaw that had gone unnoticed earlier.
The core flaw lay in the neuro-kinetic feedback loop. Tan's mecha used Type-VII neural interfaces that required a 99.97% biometric match—impossible for any human. As Endymion recalibrated the cerebral dampeners, he discovered something chilling: the tolerance parameters had been deliberately sabotaged.
Tan Bingbing's mecha was a specialized mecha, designed specifically for her. The idea was to achieve perfect synchronization between the pilot and the machine, but the problem was that the mecha was tuned to an exacting standard—one that couldn't accommodate even minor changes in her physical state. If her weight changed, or her body altered in the slightest, it would cause malfunctions.
As Endymion adjusted the components, his mind raced with possibilities. He had no doubt that someone had deliberately tampered with the mecha's designs. And he had a chilling thought: Was Tan Bingbing's own twin sabotaging her?
Tan Bingbing's fingers unconsciously touched her lips. Moments ago she'd called him "pervert," yet now she watched breathlessly as his hands danced across circuit boards—those skilled fingers that made her heartbeat accelerate in shameful ways. Her previous scorn was beginning to fade, replaced by a fascination that was becoming increasingly hard to deny.
"Don't disturb him." Yuxue gently pulled Tan Bingbing back as she tried to move closer.
Tan Bingbing stared at Endymion. His demeanor now was completely different—calm, composed, and exuding confidence and wisdom. This person could not possibly be the same "failure" that everyone talked about in the academy. She even started to question whether this was truly Endymion.
Suddenly, Tan Bingbing felt a deep curiosity about him. She silently resolved that once she returned to school, she would make it a point to learn more about him.
7:00 PM, Nodin Academy Mecha Arena. The place was buzzing with excitement, packed with both mecha enthusiasts from the Mecha Department and casual spectators from other faculties.
Nodin Academy always encouraged healthy competition among students, and for mecha warriors, the best way to improve was through combat. Since they were still students and not allowed on actual battlefields, the mecha competitions were the best substitute for real combat.
Tonight's match was no ordinary event. Both competitors were first-year students in the Mecha Department, but their strength was exceptional, and their popularity was off the charts.
Usually, boys dominated the mecha competitions, and the Mecha Department had about a 3:1 male-to-female ratio. But tonight, the crowd was almost evenly split between men and women, with the girls' voices ringing the loudest.
The reason for this unusual situation was simple—one of the competitors was "The Brooding Prince" Andre.
Andre, a first-year student from Class Two, was handsome, powerful, and carried a melancholy yet refined aura that drew countless girls to him. Unfortunately, he was cold to all of them.
This made Andre a target for jealousy from many of the other male students. It was said that Andre had broken up over a hundred couples, and several others openly claimed they would take him down, though no one had succeeded yet.
However, the boys in the crowd tonight weren't just there to boo Andre. Their true target was the other competitor—"Ice Snow Goddess" Tan Bingbing.
Tan Bingbing had stolen the hearts of countless boys since she entered the academy. Though her cold demeanor made it hard to approach her, she still had a huge number of admirers.
Both Andre and Tan Bingbing were One-Star Mecha Knights, and both had maintained undefeated streaks of ten wins each in the arena. Tonight's match would decide who would extend their streak and who would finally lose their invincibility. With their immense popularity, it was no surprise that the arena was packed to the brim.
However, as the match time approached, Tan Bingbing still hadn't arrived, causing her supporters to grow anxious. If she didn't show up in the next two minutes, she would be considered to have forfeited.
The seconds ticked by, and just as the referee was about to declare Tan Bingbing's forfeiture, someone suddenly shouted, "Look at the sky!"
"Wow, true to her title as the Ice Snow Goddess, her entrance is as extraordinary as ever!" One admirer sighed dreamily.
A beautiful mecha flew through the air at incredible speed, landing heavily in the arena.
Thank you all for reading this chapter! As a new author, I truly value all your feedback and suggestions. Please feel free to leave your thoughts, and I'll be happy to incorporate any suggestions you have. Your support and insights mean a lot to me as I continue on this writing journey. Keep reading, and I hope you're enjoying the story!
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