"Beep beep beep!"
Gu Ya was sleeping soundly when he was woken by a series of urgent communications.
He groggily raised his wrist to glance at it, then irritably lowered his arm.
"What the hell! Isn't it more fun to be with my lover! Disturbing my sleep!!!" he roared.
Still harboring his morning grumpiness, he raised his wrist again.
On the holographic screen, Zeng Lang said seriously, "Good news, a company has agreed to join our anti-clone plan."
Gu Ya nodded hazily and asked, "Is that all?"
Zeng Lang thought for a moment and said, "You've been out of sorts all week, what's going on?"
Gu Ya tried to sober himself up.
After a week of wild fun and returning, he suddenly felt that the classes at school were boring. He knew everything and didn't want to learn anything.
At the family gathering last weekend, the three sisters were as close as one, completely ignoring Gu Ya, not even noticing when he left.
"Maybe I've been too busy lately, and when I relax, I lose motivation. Is there anything else?" Gu Ya mumbled.
"Don't forget you have class this afternoon."
...
The afternoon was a dull cultural class, poetry appreciation.
The female teacher recited passionately on the podium.
The students below were daydreaming.
At this moment, Xie Fangbin appeared at the door and gently beckoned Gu Ya.
"Teacher Xie, what is it?" Gu Ya asked, walking out of the classroom.
"Mei Shanli is on leave due to family matters. Fan Mengtian needs a teammate, and the school asked me to find a suitable candidate. I think you're the one," Xie Fangbin said kindly, with a rare smile.
Gu Ya asked lazily, "How many days until the competition?"
"Two days. Go to the lab now," Xie Fangbin said, leading the way.
"You want me to go, so I'll go?" Gu Ya gave him no face and turned back towards the classroom.
Xie Fangbin was stunned for a moment. Suppressing his displeasure, he said in a low voice, "Consider it me begging you, alright!"
"How about this," Gu Ya stopped, and said seriously, "Teacher Xie, don't wrong yourself. Let's make a deal. If I help the academy win first place, then from now on, I will be allowed to skip classes legitimately, and come and go as I please. How about it?"
Xie Fangbin's face turned grim. This Gu Ya really didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth! Wuhe City had countless master mechanics and retired mecha mechanics. He was just a student. Did he think he was invincible just because he could modify giant snakes?
"I won't go if the teacher doesn't agree. The teacher can't force me, can they?" Gu Ya said again.
Xie Fangbin stared at Gu Ya haughtily and said, "This matter still needs to be discussed with the school leadership..."
"It's a deal!" Gu Ya cut straight to the chase, giving him no chance to react.
Arriving at the laboratory, Gu Ya saw Fan Mengtian looking troubled at a human-sized, semi-finished micro-mecha.
"What is this?" Gu Ya asked, though he had already thoroughly examined the item inside and out.
Micro-mechas, unlike androids which focused on emotions and household chores, were more geared towards heavy physical labor or combat.
Fan Mengtian briefly explained its purpose.
"What does the mechanic competition test?" Gu Ya asked.
"Fault repair, mechanical modification, and product display."
"Fault repair is self-explanatory."
"Mechanical modification is to propose a more optimized solution for a commercially available mechanical product and then perform the modification on the spot."
"And product display is the most difficult. You need to prepare a product in advance and bring it to the competition. If you're lucky enough to be favored by a giant corporation, you won't have to worry about food and clothing for life."
Gu Ya nodded, his mind already made up.
Why not just bring the exoskeleton armor motorcycle for display!
"Send me a copy of the competition rules," Gu Ya said, walking out.
"Aren't you going to help me finish the product?" Fan Mengtian asked, puzzled.
Gu Ya left the laboratory without looking back and went directly to the mecha research department of the Gu Lang Group.
After Sister Lingling returned to Hexian She, she also brought the mecha department of Gu Xuan Company. After a process of personnel selection and elimination, those who remained were all shrewd, capable, and ambitious employees.
Among them was Hong Fei.
Since rescuing Lingling, she had been in charge of the research and development of the exoskeleton armor motorcycle.
As Gu Ya entered, a latest experimental unit was being tested in the test chamber.
"Exoskeleton transformation, 897th test... commencing," Hong Fei said calmly.
On the exoskeleton motorcycle, a dummy was semi-embedded. After a smooth transformation into a mecha, the test personnel collected sensor data from the dummy to determine the experimental results.
"Not ideal, wear on the elbows and knees is still severe."
"Adjust the data, test again," Hong Fei said seriously.
A moment later, a voice came again, "Wear rate decreased by 0.03%."
Gu Ya frowned, looking at the exoskeleton motorcycle, and said, "I'll test it myself."
"No, benefactor! It's too dangerous. Most of it is experimental data. After it meets the standards, we'll need to test it with androids before testing with real humans!"
"It's fine, just keep an eye on the data, I know what I'm doing."
Gu Ya took off his jacket, brought out the dummy, and sat in the large motorcycle.
In the later design optimization, the fully enclosed design was abandoned in favor of a semi-enclosed one, with the driver's upper body exposed.
"Transform," Gu Ya murmured and pressed the transformation button.
The front wheel axle of the motorcycle made a clear twisting sound, splitting in the middle. The tire and caliper separated into upper and lower halves, shifted apart, and transformed to the sides.
Two thick support columns opened their outer casings to wrap around the driver's arms, forming arm armor.
The shock absorbers retracted to the outside of the arms, and springs could assist in arm force. The two halves of the tire flipped backward, revealing mechanical palms.
The rear wheel did the same, forming legs.
Simultaneously, the motorcycle's head armor flipped backward to cover the head, forming head armor.
The ergonomically designed seat folded and tightened, encasing Gu Ya's lower body to protect vital areas, without causing driver fatigue.
Due to the use of a quasi-body energy battery, with a volume of only 0.5 square centimeters, it could provide powerful energy, leaving the saved space to be filled with parts and inflatable airbags.
At this moment, Gu Ya felt his thighs being squeezed, his knees pressed painfully. There was also a sense of obstruction in his elbows.
"Code tampered with, stop."
Gu Ya struggled out of the motorcycle and shone his wristband light inside.
"Hmm, the protective airbags for the elbows and knees are slightly narrow. When bending, it seems some parts are occupying the original space for the elbows and knees."
"It should be a chain reaction of the mechanism. We need to find the source."
Gu Ya had been upgraded to an elite mecha mechanic.
His mechanic skills were enhanced, allowing him to construct and simulate experiments in his mind.
He used [Star Blueprint] to construct a three-dimensional blueprint and then simulated the driver's driving state.
Afterward, he closed his eyes and began to repeatedly simulate the transformation process in his mind.
Watching Gu Ya fall into deep thought with his eyes closed, Hong Fei quietly withdrew the experimental personnel and stayed with Gu Ya in silence.
When Gu Ya opened his eyes again, three hours had passed.
"Hong Fei. Increase the arc of the bending lever of part 0307 by 0.7°,"
Gu Ya spoke, and Hong Fei jolted awake, opening the holographic system to start recording.
Gu Ya continued, "Shorten the circular lifting pin of part 04852 by 0.3 millimeters."
"We also need to redesign the axle and pitch of the prismatic gear 36950."
"And the outer output shaft of the return variable speed regulator."
"And..."
Gu Ya rattled off for ten minutes, the conclusions derived from simulating the modification of these parts and designs in his mind.
"Okay, I'll coordinate with the precision casting department immediately for processing. As for the items that need designing, I'll personally follow up," Hong Fei said, getting up and running out.
Gu Ya watched her retreating back and called out, "Hong Fei, haven't you rested in a long time?"
"Ah?" Hong Fei stopped and nodded.
A few pimples had appeared on her face due to endocrine imbalance, her skin was starting to turn sallow without makeup.
Hong Fei smiled faintly, "When I'm still, I remember those unpleasant things. It's better to be busy." After speaking, she lowered her head and ran out of the laboratory with a blush.
By nearly midnight, all the modified parts were installed.
Gu Ya still tested them personally.
When he got out of the exoskeleton motorcycle, a low cheer erupted in the laboratory.
A male experimental personnel asked Hong Fei in surprise, "Supervisor, who is this young man? He looks like an aloof master, is he our contracted mechanic?"
Hong Fei smiled faintly and did not reply.
Gu Ya walked out of the test chamber and said to Hong Fei, "Mass-produce one according to this specification, I have a use for it."
At three in the morning, Gu Ya pushed open Lingling's office door.
Lingling was sprawled on the office chair, snoring. Four empty beer bottles were scattered on the desk.
The smell of alcohol mixed with high-end perfume permeated the entire office.
Wu Xuan was right, Sister Lingling's sleeping posture was indeed unsightly!
Gu Ya draped his jacket over her and sat opposite her quietly, watching her.
Perhaps disturbed by Gu Ya's gaze, Sister Lingling woke up and said groggily, "You're here. Is there anything at the company?"
Gu Ya said softly, "Sleep. Tomorrow, remember to arrange for someone to invest in the Wuhe City mechanic competition."
"Let's put on a show ourselves and hype up the exoskeleton armor motorcycle."
"Have the marketing and publicity departments prepare their plans in advance, and I'll review them personally."
Sister Lingling forced her eyelids open and asked, "Was it successful?"
Gu Ya nodded.
He slowly stood up, gently wiped the corner of Lingling's mouth, and said, "Sister, you're getting married soon, maintain some image."
Lingling lowered her eyes and said, "Wu Xuan and I have broken up. We're not compatible in personality, and we're both very busy. Alas, in the end, it's all 'Pink Fox's' fault."
Gu Ya nodded and smiled, "Then we must toast to freedom! Hmph hmph~"
Lingling smiled and said, "I feel like you've changed a lot, more mature. How does it feel to regain your memory?"
Gu Ya brought two bottles of beer, handed one to Lingling, and said, "I remember you looking so cute with a stern face when you were little!"
"No way! You're making fun of me!"
"I'm thinking, what kind of man could be worthy of a woman as cool, beautiful, gentle, and ambitious as you? Wu Xuan definitely isn't, haha, he's too lame!"
"Don't say that, he was very good to me, it's just that we both knew we weren't compatible."
"As long as we don't feel awkward when we meet in the future."
"He should be the one feeling awkward! Sister wants to always be a woman beyond men's reach."
"I can't either?"
"Get lost! Don't even think about it, sister."
"Just kidding, I wouldn't dare. If you three sisters plus Ye Ying didn't tear me apart!"
"Good that you know. Cheers!"