"Lin Jie, Lin Jie, are you okay... cough, cough..."Curly Hair hurried over, lifted Lin Jie up, and propped his upper body against his own legs. He quickly patted Lin Jie's charred face.Lin Jie slowly opened his eyes; as soon as he opened his mouth, a wisp of black smoke puffed out, covering Curly Hair's face entirely. "I'm alright, just a bit dizzy..." Lin Jie sat up and shook his head hard.This junk area was piled high with all sorts of mechanical wreckage, including no small number of aging energy batteries. On top of that, he'd found a "treasure," so he'd let his guard down for a moment—never expecting to get electrocuted straight away. Luckily, his physical fitness was solid; otherwise, this shock alone would've landed him in the hospital."So this is your mechanic?" Li Zhe and Da Wei walked over from the side at that moment, both wearing smirks of schadenfreude."...What about it? Is there a problem?" Curly Hair's tone lacked confidence. He'd originally wanted to use Lin Jie to save face in front of Li Zhe and Da Wei, but never imagined Lin Jie would pull such a stunt."Problem? No, of course not. Setting aside everything else—being able to stay conscious after a shock like that? That physical strength is no joke. You take good care of him; we'll head out first. Hahaha..." Li Zhe tossed out those words, then turned to rummage through the junk mountain with Da Wei, their loud, unbridled laughter echoing as they walked.In all honesty, if you really got down to it, a mechanic getting shocked wasn't a big deal. What electrician who'd been at it for years hadn't gotten zapped a couple of times? The issue was that Curly Hair had been confronting Li Zhe one second, and the next, Lin Jie had gotten electrocuted and rolled down the junk mountain—looking so utterly 狼狈 in the process. This contrast made Lin Jie seem extremely unprofessional."Yesterday, watching you run those diagnostic procedures, you seemed like a senior mechanic. How could you make such a rookie mistake?" Curly Hair shot Lin Jie a somewhat complaining glance. When Lin Jie fell like that, he'd lost face right along with him."Because rookie mistakes are the most common..." Lin Jie wiped his slightly charred face. "You're wrong. I didn't get shocked because of a mistake this time—I did it on purpose!""On purpose?""Yeah, on purpose.""Then why the hell would you intentionally get electrocuted?""I think your hairstyle's nice. I wanted the same one."Curly Hair was left speechless, not knowing how to respond. He could only shoot Lin Jie a helpless thumbs-up."Alright, take this." Lin Jie didn't want to dwell on the topic any longer. He stuffed a black, disk-like object into Curly Hair's hand."An intelligent core? Is this why you got electrocuted just now?" Curly Hair's eyes lit up, and all his complaints vanished instantly.Mechs were classified by several standards: weight class, output energy level, and firepower configuration—plus whether they were equipped with an intelligent core. An intelligent core didn't just act as a main control chip; it also had a built-in auxiliary AI. It could monitor the pilot's and mech's status in real time, record combat data, and develop autonomous combat modes based on the collected data. Even when the pilot wasn't present, the mech retained a certain level of combat capability and judgment, serving as a combat aid in specific situations.That said, intelligent cores were extremely expensive and rarely equipped on low-tier mechs. Usually, only mechs at the Vanguard class or higher had them—and Lin Jie had found this one in a wrecked Vanguard-class mech. It was precisely because he'd found such a treasure that he'd let his guard down and gotten shocked."Not 'got electrocuted'—I was just getting a perm," Lin Jie corrected him."Fine, fine, a perm. Look, you just... you just finished your perm, so you must be uncomfortable. Rest here for a bit; I'll go look for the other stuff." Curly Hair nodded. After tucking away the intelligent core, he moved much more briskly, his whole body brimming with energy.With the main control chip sorted out, it meant the Mammoth mech would soon be combat-ready—everything else was trivial. Lin Jie was a major hero now, so whatever he said went.What Curly Hair didn't notice, though, was that as soon as he turned to leave, Lin Jie's expression quickly settled, and his eyes darkened in an instant.Glancing left and right to make sure no one was paying him special attention, Lin Jie leaned back against the mechanical wreckage behind him, closed his eyes, and pretended to rest. But his consciousness sank into his body the moment he closed his eyes.Even Lin Jie himself hadn't expected that this electric shock would turn out to be a blessing in disguise—it had finally roused the Rubik's Cube that had lain dormant inside him for 23 years."So... what's going on here..."In his consciousness space, Lin Jie stared at the Rubik's Cube hovering quietly in front of him, a faint frown on his face. For so many years, this Rubik's Cube had just floated there silently. No matter what he'd tried, it had never reacted—until now.Above the Rubik's Cube, a faint blue number "1" had appeared out of nowhere. Somehow, Lin Jie also felt a strange new connection between himself and the cube. It seemed... like he could twist it now.After a moment of hesitation, Lin Jie decided to try twisting the Rubik's Cube. This thing had been inside him for over 20 years, and it had finally shown signs of life. If he didn't try now, what if this connection vanished? He might never get another chance to move it again.Lin Jie gave a mental command to the Rubik's Cube—and this time, it finally obeyed, rotating once exactly as he'd imagined. The patterns that hadn't shifted in 23 years finally changed.Hum.The next second, the Rubik's Cube trembled slightly. The pale white patterns on the face facing Lin Jie suddenly lit up with faint blue fluorescence. After a brief flicker, the fluorescent light drifted upward, converging above the Rubik's Cube into something like a holographic projection—complete with detailed structural breakdowns.From its shape, it looked like an oversized firearm.At the same time, a piece of information appeared in Lin Jie's mind:[Star Beast · Red Python[Type: Heavy Energy Rifle[Rank: E+[Combat Modes: 3[Output Energy Level: 800~1700[Minimum Equipment Requirement: Private-class Field Mech]After reading the description in his mind, Lin Jie looked back at the 3D structural projection above the Rubik's Cube and slowly opened his eyes. A question mark practically materialized above his head.Twenty-three years! He'd lived in this world for 23 years, checking on this Rubik's Cube almost every day, trying to communicate with it, hoping it would react, hoping it would be useful. He'd put so much effort into it, and now that it had finally stirred—all it gave him was a weapon blueprint.And it was a low-tier E-rank blueprint, no less.Lin Jie's eyes were filled with speechlessness. I'm a senior professional, for crying out loud. Do I even need you to give me a blueprint this basic?
