novelraw Chapter 110 : Red Moon Snow Plain
Chapter 110 : Red Moon Snow Plain
Chen Sui's first recovered perception was her hearing.
In her ears were lowered voices of conversation, followed by the ticking countdown sound of the medical pod being activated.
Zhou Chen's big face was pressed against the transparent glass of the medical pod. When Chen Sui opened her eyes, what she saw was his facial features flattened against the glass, and the metal ceiling behind him.
One glance at the structural style and she knew it was the base station.
"Are you trying to make a funny face?"
Chen Sui only opened her eyes a crack, gradually opening them wider after adjusting to the light in the base station.
Zhou Chen was startled, immediately leaning back, almost falling on his backside. He quickly steadied himself, his expression crumbling for a second before he pounced forward: "Little Sui, waaah, you're finally awake."
The delight on his face was so brilliant that his voice attracted several people from surrounding academies, who gathered around the medical pod to look.
Several heads suddenly appeared in her field of vision, forming a circle. Chen Sui suddenly understood how Cheng Wei felt when he saw so many people at the Competition Committee space station.
"Hi?"
Some of the more extroverted, socially confident ones had already waved in greeting.
Chen Sui looked at them one by one, noticing that among them were no Saint Laurent members, which made her curious.
She looked around, found the medical pod's treatment panel, and closed the treatment process.
"Hey, hey? You're getting up already?"
Zhou Chen watched with surprise as she pushed open the medical pod door and walked out.
When Chen Sui sat up, she could clearly feel a heaviness in her head. She instinctively shook it a few times, hearing the cracking sound of joints grinding.
When Xie Chunshi pushed the door open, he saw the analyst sitting up. "You're awake."
Chen Sui exchanged greetings with the military academy students around her. Familiar people had already surrounded her, while the less familiar ones stood back, eagerly watching the Star Academy Seven analyst.
Chen Sui nodded to the commander, looking around the medical room. She wasn't the only one lying in a medical pod. Gu Qinxue, Jiang Zhongyu, Xue Yaoyao, and Saint Laurent's strong attacker He Lanxiu were all receiving medical treatment.
She swept this scene with a somewhat bewildered look, catching a glimpse of Noya and the remaining two people huddled in a corner. His golden hair was all fluffed out, looking even more like a mushroom under the lights, with his whole body radiating a resentful aura.
"What happened?" Chen Sui looked at the commander. She clearly remembered that the battle situation was still good before she collapsed.
Before Xie Chunshi could speak, Noya on the side heard her voice and looked over. The shota face no longer had its energetic expression; his eyes drooped, full of resentment: "Damn the Red Moon Snow Plain, damn the energy bodies, I want to kill them all, waaah."
"After all that, now I know why the energy bodies were clustering—they were all coming for my energy monitoring equipment!"
"They snatched it and ran, the damned thieves."
"If they had the guts, they'd have stayed one more second. I would have electrocuted those rotten snakes!"
Xie You, who had just entered the medical room, was glared at with fiery eyes, and he stepped aside. Seeing others looking at him too, he slowly said: "Why are you looking at me? I'm not with them."
His Black Mamba was much cuter than the white jade thunder serpents, okay?
Chen Sui's expression gradually darkened as Noya spoke.
When Noya finished, he felt the atmosphere in the room suddenly solidify.
Ink Hills, Na Luo River, and Xitisi people all stopped talking. Several of the more active students secretly glanced at the Star Academy Seven analyst.
The analyst's hair hung loose, somewhat messily drooping on her head. Her bangs covered her eyes, but a dangerous aura emanated from her, as if she might throw a punch at any moment.
Noya, having watched Star Academy Seven's replays, instinctively stopped talking and closed his mouth when he saw this.
Feeling the pin-drop silence around him, he thought, now it's completely quiet.
Chen Sui hated noise the most. Noya pressed his lips together; he didn't think he was speaking that loudly. Did Chen Sui have morning grumpiness?
As he was speculating, the analyst swept the room with her one good eye, and when she saw Gu Qinxue lying in the medical pod, the air pressure suddenly dropped.
Xie Chunshi cleared his throat and gently explained what had happened at the foot of the snow mountain.
The lightning snow had stirred up snow waves, tossing the military academy students and dragging the mechas apart.
Fortunately, the Red Moon Snow Plain, having devoured a large amount of energy, didn't have strong lightning storm energy to seriously impede the analysts' energy entanglement, and didn't completely sever the energy connections.
At this point, the mechas hadn't completely separated. As they were stabilized by their momentum and the surrounding terrain, they managed to withstand the blizzard together.
However, unexpectedly, beneath the snow layer, white jade thunder serpents suddenly rose up, charging directly at Saint Laurent's analyst Xue Yaoyao. Her mecha was swatted away, directly caught up by the white jade thunder serpent group. Gu Qinxue and Saint Laurent's strong attacker quickly reacted, chasing after them.
Just as the blizzard passed, they ended up fighting with the white jade thunder serpent group.
The two who went to rescue Xue Yaoyao had just avoided the white jade thunder serpent group when they were surrounded by pursuing energy bodies.
So everyone was again trapped in an energy body encirclement. To break through, several people suffered injuries of varying severity.
Gu Qinxue and He Lanxiu were more seriously injured, having taken several electric shocks from the white jade thunder serpents.
As for Xue Yaoyao, an energy body's ice spike had directly pierced her cockpit. Her mecha damage level had exploded to 79%. Ink Hills' analyst Jiang Zhongyu's spirit body had blocked it once, otherwise she would have almost been eliminated, but the energy monitoring equipment on her mecha's chest had been taken away by the energy bodies. Both Xue Yaoyao and Jiang Zhongyu were severely injured.
Chen Sui listened quietly. The military academy students' faces looked somewhat gloomy. Thinking about it, she couldn't help but sigh: "The Red Moon Snow Plain energy bodies must have gone crazy, fighting so desperately just for monitoring equipment."
Puluo added from the side: "I even saw groups of crystal eaters. It seems all the energy bodies were triggered."
The crystal eater groups weren't close to the main base station position. Traveling across half the Red Moon Snow Plain to the vicinity of the main base station just for monitoring equipment—who would believe there wasn't something fishy going on?
But this was too strange.
"Logically, energy bodies don't have intelligence, their group information is different from ours. Could there be some signal on the monitoring equipment that attracted them?"
He Lanqi speculated, the long-haired girl sitting in front of He Lanxiu's medical pod, looking at the gentle-faced young man inside.
That was her own brother. He Lanqi's mood wasn't great right now; even the usually elegant girl couldn't help but wear a sour expression.
Noya, being reminded, thought for a moment and explained: "The monitoring equipment's implanted chip was provided by the Competition Committee. There shouldn't be any problem, right?"
In the control room, the evaluators who had watched the military academy students' entire breakthrough were also pondering.
Song Xingzhang had left early, and Master Zhao Rui from the Analyst Association had taken his place.
While Jian Run was still talking about the characteristics of energy bodies, Master Zhao Rui nodded quietly. After he finished, she added: "The chips provided by the Competition Committee are the latest development from the Analyst Association and the Star Alliance Central Research Institute, incorporating updated energy fluctuation information from all energy fields, specifically designed for the Sultry Red Forest situation to create comprehensive monitoring equipment."
"We can't rule out that some energy waves might attract energy bodies," Master Zhao Rui paused. Her long hair was elegantly tied up behind her, and despite her kind, gentle face showing some smile, her tone was particularly cold: "But for such a large-scale energy body gathering phenomenon, it's more like hierarchical command from a higher energy body."
"But almost all the energy bodies in the Red Moon Snow Plain appeared during the breakthrough, including many large-scale SSS-level energy body groups. This kind of hierarchical command isn't something energy bodies in the Red Moon Snow Plain should possess," Jian Run looked at Master Zhao Rui, seemingly waiting for her opinion.
Even energy bodies with high-level control attributes would find it difficult to command such massive SSS energy body groups.
Beside them, Lu Cuining heard this and lowered his eyes, falling into thought.
Meanwhile, Master Zhao Rui in the center revealed a faint smile, calmly explaining: "Perhaps it's not an energy body from the Red Moon Snow Plain. The magma beast in the Sultry Red Forest isn't originally an energy body that should be born in the Sultry Red Forest, is it?"
This sentence seemed to clear Lu Cuining's thoughts. He immediately understood and looked at Master Zhao Rui.
Jian Run also quickly grasped her meaning.
In Star Alliance history, there were few energy bodies that couldn't be predicted.
These rare high-level, unpredictable entities, whose signals couldn't even be influenced by monitoring equipment's dormancy signals, were basically all primary energy bodies from a major energy field.
The energy fields they inhabited had signal fluctuations far exceeding other energy fields, with more complex environments.
The Star Alliance called these troublesome energy bodies High-Level Primary Energy Body Groups.
And these energy fields were the currently famous Ten Major Energy Fields.
"So could it be—"
Jian Run was about to ask, but halfway through, seeing Master Zhao Rui's smiling expression, he swallowed his words.
If that were true, wouldn't it mean that the primary energy body groups from the Ten Major Energy Fields were no longer restricted by their energy fields?
This news would be explosive for the Star Alliance. Before everything was thoroughly investigated, he at least couldn't confirm this in public.
Jian Run changed the subject: "No wonder Director Mo's work hours have been so unstable lately. When energy fields have problems, it's indeed hard to stay stable."
He sighed. The starnet comment direction was quickly diverted. The clever ones who understood knew not to speak now, and those who didn't understand had even less to say.
Mo Qiu'an was indeed quite overwhelmed at the moment.
Having the monitoring equipment taken by energy bodies made the already anomalous Red Moon Snow Plain situation even worse.
While the entire Competition Committee was bustling, at the edge of the control room, in a secluded corridor.
He Lanrui quickened his pace to catch up with the somewhat limping Song Xingzhang: "Your leg still hasn't adjusted?"
His voice was somewhat different from Song Xingzhang's memory. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed, and neither of them was young anymore, which startled Song Xingzhang, who turned around with his hand against the wall.
"Appearing out of nowhere? Or trying to scare me?" Song Xingzhang asked with a stern face.
He Lanrui's face broke into a smile. Though he was getting on in years, his complexion was vibrant, his features still showing traces of his handsome youth.
"Deliberately scaring you," he grinned, moving to hook Song Xingzhang's neck. As he was about to lower his hand, he suddenly remembered his old friend's leg condition and paused, changing to grasp his arm instead.
Song Xingzhang noticed He Lanrui's change in movement but showed no emotion.
He Lanrui, who had just been maintaining a master's dignity in the control room, completely revealed his true colors in private, leading Song Xingzhang away as if escaping.
"Let's hurry up. I'm just afraid they'll arrange a shift for me too," He Lanrui respectfully declined the control room evaluator's work.
"And then they'd make me comment on Little Yu a bit. If I say something good, this unreliable child might make me lose face; if I say something not good, Little Yu might see it and feel bad."
He Lanrui muttered.
Song Xingzhang glanced at him and suddenly asked: "Was that call from Master Lalnuo?"
He Lanrui paused in his speech. "They couldn't reach Ji Qing, so they forwarded it to me."
"I see," Song Xingzhang's sharp gaze swept over him, watching He Lanrui's pretense of composure. He suddenly smiled, his face creasing with wrinkles: "After ten years, you still haven't improved. You're still terrible at lying."
He Lanrui's hesitant eyes fixed, and he helplessly spread his hands: "Only you say that. Look who else would think I'm lying."
"That student of yours is a bit strange. I asked Master Lalnuo myself."
He Lanrui said seriously.
Song Xingzhang snorted: "I'm not stupid, I can see."
He Lanrui pressed his lips together, stopping his persuasive words when he heard: "This attribute isn't a bad thing. There's nothing worth specifically mentioning."
"Master Lalnuo said he hopes to meet her in person. You know, the most recent space attribute awakened person in the Star Alliance was once his teacher."
He Lanrui stated the real issue.
Song Xingzhang frowned: "Where's the time? It takes several days to jump from Zone Eleven to the main star, and Master Lalnuo's condition isn't good. When he's recovered, have him come to Zone Eleven. Don't act like you're giving last words."
Song Xingzhang walked away, waving his sleeve. He Lanrui sighed helplessly, knowing that despite his harsh words, he was also worried about Master Lalnuo's condition, and hurried to catch up.
In the energy field main base station, Noya's words had put several analysts into deep thought.
Chen Sui stood up and walked out of the medical room. Seeing her cold expression, Puluo timidly stood up and asked softly: "Where are you going, Little Sui?"
He was afraid Chen Sui would go directly to her mecha to fight the energy bodies.
Chen Sui turned back, looking at them: "To repair the mechas."
Then she reminded Noya: "The monitoring equipment definitely has issues, or rather, the energy body group has issues, but that's not important. With the monitoring equipment gone, the boss changes hands. Our mission hasn't changed. So now, let's take some time to rest, then go kill the energy bodies and get the monitoring equipment back."
Her speech left Noya's mind blank.
The boss changes hands, kill the boss, get the monitoring equipment.
The golden-haired shota's hand trembled a few times, suddenly finding a bit of luck in this accident.
Well, at least she's not after me since I'm not the boss anymore.
Chen Sui only saw him pause for a second. Her gaze turned to Gu Qinxue, her eyes heavy.
White jade thunder serpents, is it?
Just wait.
Xie You caught a glimpse of the analyst withdrawing her gaze, capturing a flash of killing intent in her eyes. He couldn't help but glance away, landing on He Lanqi.
Are all analysts so murderous?
Looking at the injured He Lanxiu, He Lanqi was also harboring anger in her heart. She stood up and walked toward the Na Luo River group: "Let's go repair your spirit bodies."
Xie You could hear the urgency in He Lanqi's rapid footsteps, immediately nodding in confirmation—yes, quite murderous.
Chen Sui made sense. Rest quickly, then go out to deal with the energy bodies.
"Huh? We're not resting anymore?" Xitisi was confused by this suddenly active atmosphere.
How long had it been since they arrived at the base station?!
Zhou Chen looked around, very accustomed to it: "That's right! The sense of crisis has kicked in, right? Our analysts just like to push themselves."
"Your analysts, the medical check just showed severe rest deficiency. Does Star Academy Seven use analysts like beasts of burden?" Chi Buyu's eyes widened, his differently sized eyes becoming more apparent, his face shocked.
Zhou Chen nodded calmly: "You'll get used to it. Later you'll understand."
Rest deficiency was nothing.
Chen Sui had already evolved beyond needing rest.
Zhang Yingjie looked back at the weary Ink Hills members. They had pulled all-nighters with Chen Sui, traveled long distances, and fought hard battles.
Chen Sui was energetic and ready to fight three hundred more rounds, but the Ink Hills members were already somewhat unfocused.
Zhang Yingjie chuckled and shook his head. "Let's rest a bit first. I'll go talk to Star Academy Seven."
Xin Ming looked up at him, then sat back in the corner to check on Jiang Zhongyu's condition.
The commanders from several academies unanimously chose to rest for a moment, then left the medical room one after another.
They didn't need to guess to know that Star Academy Seven would be gathered in the repair room.
The mechas were taken out of the rings and placed on the detection platform.
The Star Academy Seven members sat on familiar long benches. Zhou Chen and Puluo sat together, and the foot soldier looked at him, taking the opportunity to ask: "How does your core crystal feel?"
"Ah," Zhou Chen answered resignedly: "Puluo, that's the 12th time you've asked me."
"It feels great, no abnormalities at all, energy control is very smooth."
Puluo touched his nose tip sheepishly, still feeling lingering fear as he looked at Zhou Chen, first recalling his severely injured form covered in lightning.
"Come on, aren't you confident in Little Sui's work?" Zhou Chen joked with him, not mentioning how painful the riot was, brushing past the struggle and excruciating pain of that time with just a few words.
Puluo sighed, patting him on the back.
But what he thought was: no wonder Gu Qinxue holds such a grudge against the Gu family. He now wanted to blow up the Gu family himself.
Zhou Chen hugged his combat suit jacket, leaning back in his chair.
Since the Star Academy Seven team had been separated by the lightning snow, his mind had been in a state of high tension. After the riot, he had been constantly struggling to maintain rationality, and at the base station, he had been worried about Chen Sui and Gu Qinxue.
Now that Chen Sui was awake, he finally felt grounded and secure. He relaxed, tilting his head to the side, closing his eyes.
Xie Chunshi watched Chen Sui finish scanning the mecha's status, still concerned about her physical condition. He followed behind the analyst, noticing her eyes shift, and promptly handed her a tool, extremely efficient.
After Chen Sui had been handed several things, she sensed something unusual. She stopped her actions and, sitting on the high chair at the operation platform, was at eye level with Xie Chunshi.
She rotated the chair, meeting the commander's eyes.
Xie Chunshi noticed that her mechanical eye was shut off. Before he could speak, Chen Sui asked: "Commander, do you need something?"
"How are you feeling now?" Xie Chunshi clasped his hands. Chen Sui hadn't been in good shape when she fainted, and he hadn't had a chance to ask. Now finding an opportunity, he leaned forward, closing the distance with the analyst.
They were quite close. Chen Sui almost instinctively kicked him, but she was sitting too high and restrained herself.
Then she heard the young man's somewhat obscure voice: "The vines growing from your head, I buried them in your hair."
Chen Sui instinctively wanted to touch her head but quickly stopped herself. She raised her eyes to Xie Chunshi, about to speak, when the commander seemed to anticipate her question and answered: "No one saw. I blocked it as soon as we came out."
Xie Chunshi's voice was very low, which brought him even closer to Chen Sui.
His eyes noticed the analyst's closed right eye, and he involuntarily frowned: "You..."
"Commander Xie," his words were interrupted by a voice from behind. Noya walked in quickly.
Zhou Chen's eyes snapped open. Chen Sui looked at him, her gaze calm, indicating he should continue resting.
So Zhou Chen and Puluo continued huddling in the corner, resting with their eyes closed.
When Noya entered, he first looked at Chen Sui, then immediately noticed Xie Chunshi close to her. He couldn't help but think to himself, what are these two plotting now? Standing so close, obviously trying to avoid the cameras.
But he didn't show it, still wearing a smile as he approached Chen Sui: "Sister Chen Sui, please do me a big favor!"
Noya's golden hair bounced as he moved, looking extremely comfortable. Chen Sui's fingers twitched, and she nodded her chin at him, indicating he should continue.
Noya saw she was still tinkering with something and didn't mind: "That snow vehicle of your Star Academy Seven, can you still make it? We at Saint Laurent want to trade for a few."
"Oh?"
He said trade, which piqued Chen Sui's interest.
Just as she was about to ask what he'd trade, the repair room door opened again.
Zhang Yingjie walked in slowly, and hearing this, he smiled somewhat formally: "Commander Noya, it seems you got here a bit earlier."
Noya's face stiffened. He thought to himself, why are these people so clever? Can't they be a little slower to react?
"If there's an opportunity to make them, Ink Hills can also trade."
"You're not the only ones who can trade. We at Na Luo River can too."
Xie You's voice arrived before he did, followed by Song Yuan.
Song Yuan was a very typical black-haired, black-eyed person, with an upright posture and an air of rigor. As soon as she entered, she politely nodded and smiled at Chen Sui, then looked into her eyes and said: "Xitisi can also trade, whether it's materials or energy crystals. Star Academy Seven can set the terms."
The commanders from several academies gathered in the repair room. Zhou Chen, hearing the commotion, gave up on sleep. He opened one eye to peek at the activity outside.
He lowered his voice to chat with Puluo: "Who knew our snow vehicle would be so appealing."
He didn't fully understand, but Xie Chunshi had anticipated it.
With the lightning storm devoured, the aurora state energy was weak. The transition state's arrival meant it would soon shift to the red moon state. Snow had already begun to fall on the way to the base station. When the red moon state began, the ground snow layer would grow deeper.
At this time, having a hovering snow vehicle would provide many conveniences for teams searching for monitoring equipment.
Xie Chunshi glanced at Chen Sui. The analyst was also looking at him, her eyes questioning whether to make the trade.
He passed the prepared trade list to Chen Sui. The analyst looked at him in shock. "You were prepared?"
Xie Chunshi smiled and nodded, watching her scan the list. The fierceness in the analyst's eyebrows gradually dispersed, apparently quite satisfied, until finally a pleased expression appeared. The loose strands of her hair swayed with her movements, sliding back and forth in front of her eyes.
Xie Chunshi's lowered fingers twitched, feeling somewhat itchy.
"We can trade, just follow this," Chen Sui sent the list for them to see. "However, for the components needed, you'll have to find the skeletons and drives yourselves. I've looked at the base station map. There are a few small factories near the main base station's snow mountain, and larger factories at the foot of the mountain. You should be able to find everything."
The main base station's establishment fully preserved the original buildings of Crimson Snow Star, with countless ruined factories nearby.
Several commanders looked at the list Xie Chunshi had prepared. Noya's mouth twisted, looking at Xie Chunshi in disbelief: "You little... you've been eyeing Saint Laurent's materials for a long time, haven't you?"
How long had they been traveling together? And Xie Chunshi had already figured out their inventory.
Yet what he asked for wasn't much, and they could afford it.
The comments section watched as several commanders nodded in succession, marveling.
[Star Academy Seven, this flourishing world as you wished]
[At first I didn't understand why other military academies were copying Star Academy Seven in collecting materials, now I get it]
[You've gotten addicted to shearing sheep!]
[Energy field wool, might as well shear it]
[Other academies shear the energy fields, Star Academy Seven shears both the energy fields and other academies?]
[Sharp comment!]
[If Star Academy Seven needs something and other academies help find it, isn't that a two-way effort?]
[Chen Sui even marked the material locations]
"Was it the white jade thunder serpent group that took the monitoring equipment?" Chen Sui looked at Noya.
The golden-haired shota paused, then nodded: "Yes, but with the red moon state coming, I don't know if the white jade thunder serpents will enter hibernation."
"That's good," she said ambiguously, her gaze falling on Puluo's mecha. Suddenly she said: "The white jade thunder serpent's scales, tempered by lightning attribute energy, should have excellent defensive properties, right?"
Noya paused, sensing Chen Sui's killing intent from her calm words. He couldn't help but mourn for the white jade thunder serpents, and very cooperatively added fuel to the fire: "Can we get a set for our foot soldiers too?"
Chen Sui seemed very generous in this regard: "Everyone gets some."
The commanders all smiled, making no effort to hide their hostility toward the white jade thunder serpent group.
Just as they were about to leave with the marked locations, they suddenly saw the Star Academy Seven analyst point a tool into her eye socket against a mechanical arm.
Xie You's peripheral vision fell on Chen Sui, and seeing this, he hurriedly stepped forward: "You—"
"Holy crap," seeing this scene, which looked like she was gouging out her eyeball, Noya's expression immediately broke.
The mechanical arm moved in her eye socket, followed by the sound of mechanical gears.
"Problem with your prosthetic eye?" Zhang Yingjie, who also had an eye condition, had chosen only sensory eyes due to mechanical rejection reactions and was unfamiliar with mechanical prosthetic eyes. He looked at Xie Chunshi.
"Oh, right, you analysts absorbed so much lightning energy, your mechanical prosthetic eye's signal transmission must be malfunctioning."
Noya nodded in understanding.
Zhou Chen's core crystal was restored because Chen Sui continuously purified and infused lightning attribute energy in his mental domain. Her mental domain directly faced the lightning attribute energy impact, even overflowing to her body.
The mechanical arm moved freely in the eye socket. Seeing this, the commanders said goodbye to Xie Chunshi and left the repair room. Before they went out the door, Chen Sui reminded them: "If you need to repair your mechas, send them over."
When she looked over, her mechanical eye rotated a few times, returning to its original position.
Song Yuan watched with internal amazement.
This Star Academy Seven analyst was extremely proficient with machinery.
Noya didn't stand on ceremony at all. Hearing this, he happily clenched his fist: "Great! Sister Chen Sui, you're so nice!"
He reverted to that sticky tone.
Chen Sui showed a slight smile.
After leaving, Noya laughed a bit: "Star Academy Seven is quite courteous."
Noya knew she was thanking them for helping with Zhou Chen's core crystal repair.
Xie You lowered his eyes. "It's good to have someone repair the mechas. Then everyone will be on the same starting line. If someone loses, it's simply because they're not good enough."
His gloomy eyes moved toward Noya.
The golden-haired shota sneered: "Heh, you too."
Their eyes met, with some apparent hostility.
Song Yuan saw them blocking the corridor and walked through the middle with an exasperated look, pushing them both aside with her hands: "What are you fighting for? Wasn't it the energy bodies that took the equipment? The boss has already changed hands. Are you still living in yesterday?"
Her tone was calm.
Xie You had never gotten along with her, and hearing a hint of targeting in her words, he felt his blood rise. But Song Yuan completely ignored him, walking straight ahead and nodding to Zhang Yingjie.
"I'm going now."
Zhang Yingjie nodded: "We're leaving too."
Xie You and Noya stopped quarreling. The academies left in batches, preparing to find mechanical components near the snow mountain base station.
Repairing mechas was a tedious task, especially with the repair room filled with mechas from five academies.
"Do you want to rest a bit?"
Xie Chunshi watched her darting between several telescoping platforms, with all the detection devices in the repair room lighting up. She looked completely busy without stopping, and he looked at her with some concern.
Zhou Chen and Puluo had already woken up, and they nodded in agreement.
"Sui, you should rest a bit. Those dark circles under your eyes look scary."
Chen Sui paused, shooting him a glare: "What dark circles?"
Zhou Chen saw her narrow her eyes and forced a smile: "No, I'm talking nonsense."
After saying this, he muttered under his breath: "Just be stubborn. Gu Qinxue isn't blind."
Chen Sui was checking Xue Yaoyao's mecha. The damage level had nearly reached the critical point. If Jiang Zhongyu hadn't blocked it, the white jade thunder serpent could have directly pierced through the mecha and injured the driver in the cockpit.
Chen Sui's expression grew darker as she looked. Zhou Chen unconsciously crossed his arms, secretly mourning for the white jade thunder serpents.
When most of the mecha repairs were complete, Gu Qinxue hurried into the room.
"Suisui?"
As soon as she pushed the door, she looked around among the giant mechas.
Zhou Chen stood up when she entered, seeing Gu Qinxue's urgent manner, he instinctively opened his arms.
The silver-haired girl pressed one hand against his chest, pushing him away forcefully. Zhou Chen staggered back a few steps and was caught by Puluo.
Watching Gu Qinxue rush past him toward Chen Sui behind the mechas, giving her a warm embrace, Zhou Chen tilted his head.
Puluo picked up a red component from Na Luo River from the ground and handed it to him: "Is this yours?"
Zhou Chen glanced at it. The round mecha joint pearl looked exactly like a clown's round nose, as if it were lying in Puluo's palm, loudly calling him a clown.
Zhou Chen gave Puluo a deep look: "Puluo, your insults are getting more sophisticated."
Puluo smiled somewhat naively, modestly saying: "Not at all. Little Sui taught me well. I still have a lot to learn."
"You'd better not learn anymore. Learning everything will only harm you," Zhou Chen's aura darkened as he sat down and looked ahead.
Xie Chunshi walked over from the other side and sat with him. Both of them had a similar look of dejection in their eyes.
Puluo looked at the two of them somewhat puzzled, completely not understanding.
When Gu Qinxue came in, Chen Sui jumped down from the mecha. Seeing her approach, she quickly embraced her.
"You gave me a scare," Gu Qinxue was slightly taller than her, just right to see the top of Chen Sui's head when she looked up. Her tone carried some lingering fear.
Chen Sui smiled, her cheeks forming a tiny dimple: "It's just a small problem. Mental threshold depletion, I have experience."
"You—"
Gu Qinxue noticed something hidden among her hair strands. The hair band was in Chen Sui's hand, but she was letting her hair hang loose. Gu Qinxue immediately understood.
Chen Sui's eyes flickered, controlling her hand from touching her head: "A small accident."
Gu Qinxue nodded knowingly, waving for her to sit down: "You still haven't learned to comb your hair. Come here."
She calmly passed over this matter, showing no signs of anything unusual.
As she braided Chen Sui's hair, the vine with green plant buds was entwined with a strand of hair, seamlessly blending into the braid.
With all Star Academy Seven members gathered in the repair room, as Gu Qinxue sat down, Zhou Chen looked at her somewhat pitifully. After holding back for a long time, he still couldn't help but ask: "Why don't you ask how I'm doing?"
"Do I need to ask? Little Sui's mental threshold is completely drained, and if she still couldn't save you, you should reflect on whether it's your own problem."
Gu Qinxue said coolly.
She made no mention of how panicked she had been when Zhou Chen lost control.
Despite her cool tone, Zhou Chen still hugged his clothes and grinned foolishly.
"Other academies' mechas are also being repaired by Little Sui?"
Xie Chunshi nodded: "After all, they helped us a lot. Later we'll also make snow vehicles for them."
Gu Qinxue: "So next we're going to find the energy body group?"
Xie Chunshi nodded: "How are they doing?"
"All awake. He Lanxiu is okay, but Xue Yaoyao and Jiang Zhongyu aren't doing well. Xin Ming said Jiang Zhongyu's energy shield broke."
Chen Sui was still listening to their conversation while repairing the mechas. Hearing this, she leaned out: "Then tell her that I'll go give Jiang Zhongyu a new one later."
Then she looked at Zhou Chen: "You go too. I haven't had time to check your core crystal condition."
Zhou Chen pointed at himself curiously: "Hey, I've sensed that the crack is completely filled. The energy feels so abundant, I suddenly became super powerful."
Gu Qinxue glanced at him: "Do you know how much energy you absorbed?"
Chen Sui had devoured the entire aurora state's lightning storm, an entire Red Moon Snow Plain's worth of lightning storm energy. After continuous purification and compression, Zhou Chen's core crystal energy had been stacked directly to SSS-level.
Gu Qinxue's words made Zhou Chen pause. His first reaction wasn't joy, but lowering his voice, looking at the small analyst jumping between the mechas, he suddenly said seriously: "So that's why Little Sui's mental threshold was depleted? She first endured the lightning storm energy, that must have—"
Lightning attribute energy had extremely strong attack properties. The healing reaction itself was already strong, not to mention the compression and purification, and finally transferring it into his core crystal for fusion.
Zhou Chen suddenly fell silent. Chen Sui hadn't mentioned any of this since waking up.
He clenched his fist and knocked it against his palm, the emotions in his heart somewhat difficult to express. He only felt that he had never been as powerful as he was now.
"As long as you're okay, that's what matters. Little Sui said that when we get out, you have to treat us to a meal," Puluo patted him, continuing: "Don't forget you need to treat us too."
Zhou Chen declared grandly: "Of course! I'll treat everyone. When we get out, I'll take everyone out to play. Young Master Zhou will cover all expenses."
"Anyone who tries to stop my good brother from having fun, I'll fight them first."
Xie Chunshi sighed, reminding him: "You—say something positive."
Zhou Chen originally didn't believe in superstition, but having experienced several instances of jinxing himself, he now couldn't help but feel some reverence. He covered his mouth and said softly: "I mean, we'll definitely have a great time."