The First Analyst of the Interstellar Era

Chapter 47 : League Preparation

She looked suspiciously at Xie Chunshi, wondering if he was checking on her schedule, and immediately added: "I was just about to go to sleep."

No intention of staying up late.

Xie Chunshi heard the implication in her words, a trace of amusement passing through his eyes. He gripped his hand, and Chen Sui noticed that he had been fidgeting with a mecha ring all along.

"Student Chen Sui, I need your help with a personal matter."

Xie Chunshi gestured toward the maintenance room behind her. Chen Sui glanced at his mecha ring—a pure black circle that seemed to have a line of text engraved on it, but the ceiling light was too bright, revealing only a layer of dazzling metallic luster.

Chen Sui turned and led him inside. On the maintenance room's operating table, items were neatly arranged, the surface spotlessly clean. Chen Sui activated the holographic modeling device.

"Is there something on the mecha that needs modification?"

She looked back at Xie Chunshi while setting the parameters.

The young man was very tall with a slender build, his curly wolf-tail hairstyle softening his cold demeanor.

He handed over the mecha ring: "It's about the red rust."

At those words, Chen Sui's movements paused, her eyes darkened momentarily, but she maintained her composure as she placed the ring in the projection area. Regaining her normal expression, she turned to look at him.

"You know about the red rust too?"

Just as she finished asking, a flash of light appeared before her, and a mecha materialized.

The familiar pure black shell, broken cloud patterns—the mecha was in an extremely serious state of damage. Chen Sui instinctively looked at the analysis data.

[Damage level: 93%]

"Hiss------"

Chen Sui couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath, looking at the familiar cloud patterns and structure.

A textbook example she had seen in countless mecha assembly and modification books.

Completely unrecognizable compared to the severely damaged mecha before her eyes.

"Is this Black Execration?"

—The mecha piloted by the first chairman of the Star Alliance, the Song family heir, one of the three most famous mechas in the Star Alliance.

Chen Sui suddenly understood why Xie Chunshi wasn't using Black Execration and had temporarily modified a personalized mecha instead.

The level of damage to this mecha indicated that Black Execration was completely ruined.

"How did it end up like this?"

Chen Sui frowned deeply, beginning a three-dimensional examination of the mecha's interior.

Propulsion system, defense system, attack device, energy storage system—none of them were functional?

She rotated the mecha, exposing its back.

Seeing the scene before her, Chen Sui's pupils suddenly contracted.

Red rust was everywhere, clinging to the mecha like toxic liquid.

"It underwent energy erosion in an energy field for too long. Most components were destroyed by energy, and the back is covered with red rust. Once removed, the mecha's skeleton will loosen."

Xie Chunshi explained as he watched Chen Sui's worried expression.

Chen Sui shook her head at his words.

A loosened mecha skeleton meant the mecha would completely fall apart—essentially, this mecha was beyond saving.

Black Execration's history could be traced back to the distant Kamanna Empire. It was a mecha jointly created by Master Jin and Chairman Song Yunlai. In the history of Star Alliance mechas, it held milestone significance, representing the Star Alliance's most cutting-edge and durable mecha technology.

If red rust infiltration could cause a mecha to disintegrate, it would be a tremendous threat to all mecha pilots.

"Apart from this, did the previous diagnostic maintenance engineers mention anything special about the red rust?"

Chen Sui looked at the red rust on Black Execration, which was more than twice as abundant as on her mecha, her gaze deepening.

She asked tentatively.

Xie Chunshi sensed from her words that Chen Sui had unexpected information and answered truthfully: "No. All maintenance engineers who have handled Black Execration viewed the red rust as an unknown material. They tried to peel it off for research, but whenever they touched the red rust, the mecha skeleton would vibrate."

Chen Sui's brows furrowed.

Something wasn't right.

When she first came into contact with red rust, she directly felt an energy attack.

As her internal doubts rose, Chen Sui took out an unused fragment of her mecha [Forest Envelopment] from her spatial button.

She placed the fragment on the operating table's surface and gestured to Xie Chunshi: "Try touching it?"

Looking at the ring of red rust on the edge of the green mecha, Xie Chunshi found it strange but didn't show it. Following Chen Sui's instruction, he extended his finger and tapped on the red rust.

The young man's distinct-jointed hand rested on the mecha fragment, covering the ring of red rust at the edge, then he looked up at her: "What is it?"

"What do you feel?"

Chen Sui's eyes fixed intently on him.

Xie Chunshi lowered his gaze, his black eyelashes casting shadows beneath his eyes. From this angle, he appeared somewhat vulnerable.

He answered softly: "A bit cold."

Chen Sui pressed her lips together, a breath caught in her chest, neither rising nor falling, causing her considerable discomfort.

"Besides that, you didn't feel anything else, didn't feel------"

She paused, watching Xie Chunshi's expression closely while lowering her voice: "An energy scanning out from inside?"

The girl's slightly hoarse voice echoed in the quiet maintenance room.

Like a thunderclap, it exploded in Xie Chunshi's ears.

His mind quickly processed this information, and almost simultaneously, Xie Chunshi thought of a series of entanglements.

His pupils contracted slightly as he gripped the fragment, tracing along the red rust: "Are you saying the red rust internally stores energy factors?"

"But how is that possible? Since the appearance of the rift in the Star Alliance, which brought energy fields and energy bodies, only energy field environments can generate energy storms."

Chen Sui, observing his contemplative expression, voiced her conjecture: "What if the red rust itself is an energy field internally?"

The origin of energy fields traced back a hundred years.

A deep black rift split open from Planet Eleven District. Along with the rift came powerful energy storms.

The moment it descended, it transformed an entire planet in the former Eleventh District territory into energy field lands.

Countless energy factors dispersed from the rift, spreading throughout the star sea.

Star beasts, under the influence of strong, rich energy factors, underwent mutations, developing energy crystals within their bodies.

Energy bodies that arrived with the rift spread across all planets, releasing storms from energy crystals by burning life, forming numerous energy fields.

And humans, under the long-term influence of energy factors, underwent awakening evolution, entering an era of mass awakening.

After the rift disappeared, every inch of interstellar territory was filled with energy factors. However, the existence of energy bodies required rich energy support and could only exist in energy fields.

Either there had to be powerful energy bodies releasing energy crystals to enrich the environmental energy factors to form a field, or energy storms could not appear in interstellar territory.

People called this sacrificial formation of energy fields by energy bodies "descent."

Chen Sui's statement was incredibly perplexing. Xie Chunshi instinctively wanted to refute it, but as the words reached his lips, a strong premonition told him.

She was right.

If red rust could release energy, there was only one possibility.

—It was inherently an energy field.

Chen Sui's calm voice in the night sounded spine-chilling.

"I've been curious for a long time," she sat on the swivel chair at the operating table, her gaze distant: "How did the rift appear, and through what method did energy bodies descend into the star rings?"

"Transition? Do they have their own civilization in their world?"

She looked toward Xie Chunshi, her gaze penetrating: "You should know, right, Team Leader Xie?"

The darling child of the two worlds united by marriage in the Main Star Ring, with both father and mother at the highest positions in the Star Alliance, should know something about these classified contents.

Xie Chunshi pondered silently.

Chen Sui didn't necessarily need an answer; she already had her suspicions.

"I've heard that the SSS-level energy field [White Day Paradise] is currently the only known dark attribute mutated energy field with light attribute damage."

"After seeing the data on White Day Paradise, I started to wonder if the rift and the descent of energy bodies might indicate that among energy body groups, there are attributes we don't know about."

"Such as------"

"Space."

As the final two words sounded, Chen Sui pressed the button on the operating table.

[Mecha sequence initiating, please enter key]

Ignoring the bombshell she had just dropped, Chen Sui glanced at Xie Chunshi's stunned, almost rigid body. Acting as if nothing had happened, she abruptly ended the topic and tilted her head toward Xie Chunshi: "Team Leader Xie, time to enter the password."

Xie Chunshi's expression remained unmoved as he stepped forward, first looking at her curled up in the chair, her emerald eyes blinking.

The wolf-tailed young man lowered his gaze, his voice suppressed: "Military secret."

Chen Sui's gaze showed understanding: "Alright."

She didn't press the issue. The answer about red rust wasn't important; what mattered was that she knew an energy body had destroyed her mecha. That was enough.

Chen Sui extended her hand toward Xie Chunshi: "Please."

Xie Chunshi lowered his eyes and entered his biological information into the holographic operating panel.

The mecha ring opened, the holographic model closed, and the mecha placement platform opened. Four mechanical arms extended from the ceiling and side walls, retrieving the enormous mecha body and placing it on the display platform.

Chen Sui jumped down from her chair.

Quickly approaching the mecha, a virtual panel appeared before her. As her fingers operated it, her standing position was ejected upward.

The giant black iron giant looked somewhat dim under the lights. The erosion marks and wounds covering its body made it look particularly battered, showing none of the impressive appearance recorded in images.

Chen Sui's fingertips extended toward the red rust, but just before touching it, she paused and requested: "Team Leader, please turn on the energy simulation device for me."

She pointed in a direction, and Xie Chunshi walked over slowly, activating the simulation device and releasing a micro energy field.

As energy factors enriched, Chen Sui's core crystal waited cautiously.

Her fingertip touched the red rust, and a violent energy surged along the energy factors, directly entering her spiritual domain. Her core crystal rippled with circles of green light, annihilating the invading energy.

A flash of pain swept through her mind. Chen Sui flicked her hand, breaking contact with the mecha.

Xie Chunshi noticed her slight frown, contemplation in his gaze.

Whether it was him, maintenance engineers, or others, they had all touched the red rust.

But it seemed only Chen Sui had detected the energy contained within it.

Through energy fluctuations, Chen Sui could confirm that the energy attached to the red rust was the same as that on her mecha.

"Where was Black Execration damaged?"

She jumped down from the descending platform.

Xie Chunshi watched her busily recording Black Execration's damaged parts: "SSS-level energy field [God-Abandoned Domain]."

Hearing this name, Chen Sui's typing paused. When she looked up, an uncontrollable flash of shock escaped: "It was also damaged in the God-Abandoned Domain?"

Xie Chunshi pondered for a second before cautiously answering: "Not certain."

He noticed Chen Sui's use of the word "also." "This mecha fragment as well?"

Chen Sui nodded, tossing the mecha fragment back into her spatial button.

"That's what the person who sold me the fragment at the scrap yard said—that it was picked up in the God-Abandoned Domain."

An image of a carefree figure flashed through Xie Chunshi's mind, and he lowered his gaze slightly, seemingly contemplating something.

Chen Sui called to him, handing over her recorded materials: "Black Execration's damage is very serious. If you want me to repair it, there are several issues to consider."

Chen Sui sighed. Honestly, she didn't think she had the skill to surpass the Star Alliance's many excellent maintenance engineers and take on the task of repairing Black Execration.

But thinking carefully, it seemed to be because of the red rust.

Chen Sui guessed that others couldn't sense the energy in the red rust.

Currently, only she and Xie Chunshi knew that energy was stored in the red rust.

But as far as she knew, only she could touch the energy.

Chen Sui sensed vaguely that this wasn't a good thing. She suppressed this hidden worry and focused on completing the task at hand.

"The red rust can be removed, but the basis for removal is that Black Execration must undergo smelting. The only guarantee is that the mecha skeleton can be preserved because it's intact. Apart from that, all other devices and components must be rebuilt from scratch."

This was tantamount to constructing another personalized mecha.

And because of the high level of the original builders, the grade and compatibility requirements of the mecha skeleton for other components exceeded any of the mechas Chen Sui had prepared so far.

"I can't guarantee that I can completely finish making the other components. When necessary, you'll need to provide high-level maintenance engineers to help. This is a list of the materials needed for the current maintenance."

Writing down a long list of mecha materials, Chen Sui listed such an extensive inventory for the first time. Some items on it were so expensive that she felt her balance draining just by looking at them.

"If you want to repair it, be prepared to burn money."

As she said this, thinking of the wealthy young man before her with the family fortune of Wisteria Star, Chen Sui decisively swallowed the rest of her words.

Sure enough, Xie Chunshi's expression remained calm: "If it can be repaired, money is not an issue."

Chen Sui laughed wryly.

Right. Only she thought money was a problem.

Xie Chunshi gave her an inexplicable look, and the analyst forced a smile.

"What is it?"

Xie Chunshi asked gently.

Chen Sui put away her sigh about being penniless and waved her hand: "Nothing. It can be repaired. Give me temporary authorization for the mecha ring. This job will have to wait in line; there's no time before the league competition."

Xie Chunshi set up the biological information authorization for her and nodded understandingly: "For now, preparation for the competition takes priority."

Chen Sui nodded. Having been hit by the shock of the red rust and then by the shock of money, she finally experienced what it felt like to be exhausted in body and mind.

After discussing the maintenance precautions with Xie Chunshi, the two left the school team building side by side.

On the way back to the dormitory, Chen Sui yawned sleepily.

Xie Chunshi looked at their elongated shadows under the streetlamp.

Chen Sui wasn't short, reaching Xie Chunshi's chest, but she was so thin that she looked like a skeleton—visibly malnourished.

Watching her nodding head, her black short hair tied with two green hair ties—Gu Qinxue had braided her hair after Chen Sui casually mentioned that her hair was in her eyes.

Now the green plant pendants hanging from the ends of the hair ties swung with the movement of her head, looking quite cute.

Xie Chunshi's eyes carried a smile as he watched her figure ahead and reminded her: "Tomorrow the competition committee will announce the list of participating schools. If you have nothing to do these days, don't look at StarNet."

Hearing this, Chen Sui calculated the time: "It's already June."

"Time flies so fast."

She looked up reflectively. The stars in the sky flowed like pearls.

The Star League Competition would begin in early July. All participating teams would enter the competition space station for a ten-day preparation period, a ten-day competition period, and a ten-day rest period, lasting a total of seven months.

Every early June, the competition committee would publicly release the list of participating teams and their spiritual body levels.

"No wonder Instructor Yan sent me a message today asking for my awakening test report."

Xie Chunshi nodded: "The public list will also disclose standard spiritual body values, while mental threshold values and rare values will be hidden. There will be plenty of discussion about this on StarNet in the coming days. If there are extreme opinions, don't mind them."

Chen Sui's spiritual body level was A, which should be the lowest among known participating competitors, whether from the seven schools or other academies.

But Xie Chunshi had observed her in several competitions and had a premonition.

Such damaging power really didn't seem like it came from just an A-level spiritual body.