Chapter 11: The AO Dynamic
Bai Mu followed Situ out of the corridor. As they walked side-by-side, with Qiao ahead of them, Situ suddenly leaned close to Bai Mu, his gossiping expression laid bare. “How was it last night?”
Bai Mu looked at Situ in confusion. “How was what?”
Situ winked at him. “You know… that… did you use it?”
Bai Mu looked at Situ’s mysterious expression and thought back to the crowd watching the show this morning. He knew what Situ was asking. He was already angry at Han Naijin’s nonchalant attitude, and Situ’s question only made him more irritated. “Nothing happened between us!”
Hearing this, Situ looked very surprised, his expression becoming even more unreadable. He scanned Bai Mu from head to toe for a long while before asking tentatively, “Not even one?”
Bai Mu didn’t know what Situ meant by “using one,” but he truly didn’t want to dwell on this topic. Looking at Qiao, who was walking ahead in a fine suit and a bow tie, he was curious about the boy’s background. So he asked, “What is Qiao doing here?”
“You mean him? Ah Jin and I picked him up,” Situ reached out to pat Qiao’s shoulder. As if remembering something, he suddenly said, “You’re not jealous because Qiao is an Omega, are you? We all just see him as a younger brother.”
Hearing his name, Qiao turned back to look at them. Situ poked Qiao’s back to push him forward and whispered to Bai Mu, “Qiao is a war orphan. You know Planet Labol, right? Qiao is a member of the Monty Imperial Family from Labol.”
Bai Mu knew of Planet Labol—the planet famous for its black crystal ore.
The Hongdu Galaxy primarily used crystal ore as its main energy source. The most common were blue and purple crystals, usually used as mass energy. Higher grades were white and red crystals, which could be used as reaction energy for mecha power furnaces. The Kingdom of Anga was wealthy precisely because of its rich red crystal deposits.
Aside from these, there was one kind of crystal that was extremely precious and rare—black crystals. Black crystal ore was the highest quality energy crystal for mechas.
About ten years ago, black crystal mines were discovered on Labol, and the deposits were exceptionally rich. While the black crystal mines brought wealth to the citizens of Labol, they also became their “original sin.” Since the discovery, Labol had fallen into endless wars. Whether it was star pirates or other nations, they all found excuses to attack. Eventually, the Monty Imperial Family was massacred by star pirates. The Empire then occupied Labol under the guise of maintaining interstellar peace.
Situ continued, “Years ago, when Ah Jin and I were mercenaries, we happened to be on a mission on Labol. You know, we only needed to fulfill our employer’s contract and didn’t care about anything else. At that time, the Monty family was being slaughtered. This little kid was hiding somewhere, and when he saw Ah Jin, he grabbed his leg and wouldn’t let go. He wasn’t even as tall as Ah Jin’s leg back then.”
Situ’s brow was tightly knit, his expression grim, no longer his usual playful self. From Situ’s expression alone, Bai Mu could feel how brutal that war had been.
“There were too many war orphans; we couldn’t take care of them all. Ah Jin shook him off, but he just grabbed on again. He followed us all the way—couldn’t get rid of him. Later, I don’t know what Ah Jin was thinking, but he spent quite a bit of money to have him sent back to Laea City to be cared for. When we returned to Laea City later, we brought him back to our side. We don’t know what the kid went through, but he must have been terrified. Now, his head…”
Situ shook his head and let out a sigh.
Bai Mu’s heart also sank. No wonder Qiao always dressed like a young master—he actually had such a background. Bai Mu watched Qiao’s retreating figure with emotion. Though Qiao had suffered misfortune, he was the lucky one among millions of war orphans. What was it that made him fixate on Han Naijin at that time, placing his last hope on someone who didn’t seem that reliable?
Bai Mu had no way of knowing.
“So you really didn’t use even one?” Situ’s expression was conflicted.
Bai Mu truly admired Situ’s ability to switch so naturally between a war tragedy and gossiping about AO relationships. The gloom Bai Mu had just felt vanished, replaced only by a headache.
How do I make people believe that an Alpha and an Omega spent a night in the same room and nothing happened?
Bai Mu knew Situ wouldn’t believe his words, so he stopped speaking.
But Situ couldn’t figure out for the life of him why they didn’t use even one. He focused his gaze on Bai Mu again, seeing the Omega’s irritated expression. This…
He clearly wasn’t satisfied!
Situ suddenly came to an “understanding,” but the realization distorted his face. It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck him from the blue. He shouted in shock, “Holy crap! Could it be that that guy… can’t perform?!”
Qiao, who was walking ahead, also heard this. He turned back to look at Situ in confusion. Situ patted Qiao’s head. “Go, go, go. Kids shouldn’t listen to this.”
Situ pushed Qiao further ahead.
Bai Mu took the chance to quicken his pace and headed straight for the garage.
But he still heard Situ muttering to himself behind him, “Could he really be impotent? I never heard him say he had issues in that area before…”
During the entire drive to the mecha base, Situ was troubled by two questions:
- Was what Bai Mu said true?
- Did he need to find time to accompany Han Naijin to see a men’s health specialist?
It wasn’t until the maglev car stopped at the mecha base for inspection that Situ temporarily suppressed these two questions and became professional again.
After the inspection, Situ drove the car directly to Apron No. 1. The two got out and took the lift to the maintenance site.
Tang Li and the others were already waiting. There were even more people than yesterday.
Seeing Bai Mu arrive, Tang Li remained very cordial on the surface. He said warmly, “Mr. Luo Yi said he would provide a repair plan today. All the mecha masters of the base are here waiting with anticipation. I’m sure Mr. Luo Yi won’t disappoint everyone.”
Tang Li’s words were like a needle hidden in wool. The others also showed disdain—everyone was waiting to see him fail to provide a plan and lose face in front of the crowd.
Bai Mu, however, said very calmly, “I have indeed designed the repair plan.”
The site fell silent for a moment. This was clearly not the answer everyone expected. An Omega should have apologetically told everyone that he couldn’t find the cause of the coordinate system failure, let alone design a repair plan in one night. In fact, an Omega shouldn’t even have come here today—why wake up early to face everyone’s cold stares when he could stay in the Consul’s bed and coax him? But Bai Mu had said something everyone never expected.
After the brief silence, a wave of discussion erupted.
“You say you’ve designed a repair plan. What if we execute it and it doesn’t work? If you delay the maintenance progress, can you bear the responsibility?” a man with a pair of triangular eyes said.
A person with a raspy voice chimed in at the same time, “Exactly. Independence Day is getting closer. This batch of mechas is supposed to handle the security for Independence Day. We can’t let you use them for trial and error.”
Hearing this, Bai Mu looked toward the two of them. His gaze was so cold it was as if he were looking at air. The two felt somewhat uncomfortable; Bai Mu’s stern aura seemed to freeze them. They realized that in this maintenance site, the most composed person wasn’t their Chief Mecha Master, but the young Omega they had just mocked.
Tang Li laughed lightly, pretending to mediate. “Everyone’s concerns aren’t without reason. We indeed can’t just execute any plan. You can’t turn to any doctor when you’re desperate. Mr. Luo Yi, I’m sure you understand this logic.”
Bai Mu nodded and gave a smile. He took a deep breath, his tone steady. “Then, I will now prove to everyone the feasibility of the repair plan I designed.”
Accompanied by Situ, Bai Mu entered the cockpit again and reinstalled the main control panel in front of the pilot seat. He sat in the seat and pulled up the coordinate positioning system interface. Currently, the interface showed:
Distance from Star Hongdu (AU): Unknown
Star Hongdu was the star that all planets in the Hongdu Galaxy orbited, and it was the primary reference point for the galaxy’s coordinate system.
Velocity Relative to Hongdu (AU/Y): Unknown Orbital Inclination: Unknown Declination: Unknown Right Ascension: Unknown …
All coordinate data was “Unknown.” Naturally, this interface was also projected onto the giant holographic screen at the maintenance site. Every move Bai Mu made was visible to everyone.
Bai Mu looked at the interface and began to operate. Columns of data and code were programmed in by Bai Mu. At the same time, he kept pressing operation buttons on the panel. After about half an hour of busy work, the first line of data on the interface changed:
Distance from Star Hongdu (AU): 149.375
This was precisely the distance of Asteroid M2643, where Laea City was located, from Star Hongdu.
After resting for a few minutes, Bai Mu began tapping the screen incessantly again, writing his own commands and code into the main coordinate system program. Before long, the second line of data was also displayed:
Velocity Relative to Hongdu (AU/Y): 3.893
The crowd beneath the giant screen had initially thought Bai Mu was just lucky when the first line appeared. But now, everyone had fallen silent, focusing solely on the giant holographic screen. Some had even taken out their light computers to record or take photos, while others began to take notes.
Tang Li’s lips were pressed tight, his expression looking somewhat bitter.
The two mecha masters who had questioned Bai Mu earlier had initially been unmoved, but seeing everyone else taking photos or notes, they also reluctantly pulled out their light computers to photograph the screen.
On the screen, Bai Mu stood straight, his back upright. A pair of long, fair hands tapped the main control panel until every line of coordinate data was fully displayed:
Orbital Inclination: 3.9° Declination: 53°26’ Right Ascension: 18h 32m …
The data was fully displayed, perfectly matching the interstellar coordinates of Laea City.
Bai Mu and Situ walked down from the cockpit and returned to the crowd. Bai Mu remained as nonchalant as ever, but the crowd’s expressions were clearly different. Bai Mu looked toward the two who had spoken rudely earlier; both were dejected and didn’t dare look him in the eye.
Bai Mu scanned the room. Some were full of admiration, while others were resentful, but no one questioned his repair plan anymore. Bai Mu asked Tang Li politely, “Can I now announce my coordinate system repair plan to everyone?”
Tang Li wanted to give a composed smile, but found that the corners of his mouth couldn’t curve upward. “Of… of course you can.”
Han Naijin spent the morning in meetings. When he returned to the Consul’s office and sat down, he opened his light computer and saw a video sent by Situ. He opened it to watch.
In the video, a young Omega was standing upright in the middle of a crowd. Beside him was a holographic screen projecting a complex program. The Omega stood by the screen, explaining things calmly and logically, clarifying everything step by step. Facing everyone’s questions or criticisms, he answered each one without being humble or arrogant. Although some people in the video still looked unconvinced, they were all seriously recording what the Omega said.
Han Naijin played the video again, chuckling silently. He froze the frame on a profile view of the Omega’s face and watched for a long while.
The Omega’s face was clean and fair, the profile curve was perfect, and his eyes beneath his lashes were amber, reflecting tiny spots of light. As he stared at that pleasing face, he thought:
What exactly did the Omega want to achieve by actively revealing his identity as a mecha master? He still hadn’t figured it out. Han Naijin was used to holding the initiative and controlling the situation; this feeling of being “calculated” made him quite uncomfortable.
Regardless, he couldn’t let a person of mysterious identity and unclear purpose escape his control.
Thinking of this, Han Naijin pulled out his light computer and sent a message to Situ:
[Continue to keep a close eye on Luo Yi’s activities at the mecha base.]
It was lunch time. Han Naijin prepared to head to the dining hall for lunch. After eating, he would head to the mecha base.
However, when Han Naijin reached the dining hall, he noticed a problem. Everyone in the dining hall, regardless of who they were, looked at him with a strange expression. Some didn’t even hide it, glancing intentionally or otherwise at his crotch. After that glance, they would look at him with an expression that said “What a pity.”
Han Naijin sensed the strange gazes from the crowd. He looked down at himself—his trousers were zipped up, nothing was wrong. What was everyone looking at?
Han Naijin finished his lunch amidst the gazes filled with infinite meaning, then drove the maglev car to the mecha base himself.
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