A thin female voice suddenly sounded behind him. He looked back and saw a beautiful long-haired girl standing by his table, holding a broken part in her hand. Seeing him finally looking at her, she felt embarrassed. âItâs like this, my part was accidentally broken, but there is no recasting instrument here. I just saw that you are very proficient with that hammer, so I would like to ask if you can help me fix thisâŠâ
As she spoke, she seemed to feel that her request was a little too much, and her tone was too harsh, so she hurriedly added, âIt doesnât matter if you canât, and thank you for helping us girls just now.â
Qiao Zhiya glanced at Luo Li, who didnât stop the girl from asking for help. He put down his textbook and got up, replying in a friendly tone, âWhatâs broken? Let me see for you.â
The long-haired girlâs eyes lit up, her gaze subconsciously landed at Qiao Zhiyaâs slightly-fluttering ears as he got up. Strangely, her face turned red, so she hurriedly handed over her part. With a small voice, she said, âThe interface is broken, and itâs too small for me to fix itâŠâ
Qiao Zhiya took the part and turned it over in his hands, and found that the interface was a little uneven, which affected the assembly. He reassured her and asked for her patience as he took his small hammer. He removed the hammerâs handle, revealing an even smaller hammer, about the size of his pinky finger. He used it to gently smooth over the uneven surface of the part.
The long-haired girl didnât expect that there was a smaller hammer hidden beside the hammer. Her eyes widened, blatantly staring at the increasingly-bouncy ears. Her fingers fiddled with the hem of her clothes, her eyes seemed to be brighter.
A few minutes later, the girl who introduced herself as Yi Lian left happily holding the repaired part. The other students who accidentally tossed the broken parts saw this, hesitated, and tentatively asked Qiao Zhiya for help.
They thought that the other party would refuse, but they didnât expect that the Native was unexpectedly kind and easy to talk to. He didnât care about the matter of grabbing materials before, and patiently helped them repair all their parts.
So they all felt guilty, sincerely apologized to Qiao Zhiya, and became friendly.
Sang Bu glanced at Qiao Zhiya while assembling his part. Seeing Qiao Zhiyaâs blushing face after being praised by everyone around, his ability to win respect and love of their classmates really moved him. His expression immediately softened.
The morning class was successfully concluded. Except for Cao Tian who was stubborn and refused to ask Qiao Zhiya for help, everyone handed in a complete set of parts and completed their first class assessment.
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âI think you already know what you are missing.â Luo Li glanced at them before the class ended, projected a tool classification map into the air, and said, âBefore the next class, I ask you all to bring a copy of this tool. Mecha manufacturing is indeed inseparable from various sophisticated and high-end instruments, but in the case of missing or damaged instruments, you must be able to find a way to solve the problem with your hands. Okay, class is over.â After finishing speaking, he turned off the projector, and was the first one to leave the classroom.
Only then did the students understand Luo Liâs purpose for arranging this assessment. They all looked at Qiao Zhiya and saw that he was tidying up his table. They quickly followed his lead.
The theory class in the afternoon was held in the large classroom, with all eight classes together in one room. Ning Kongran came over and sat with Qiao Zhiya, and got to know Sang Bu on the way. Xiang Kun sat quietly in the front row, burying his head in flipping through his notes, without even looking at them.
Qiao Zhiya watched him suspiciously for a while, and found that he had been concentrating on reading. He also touched his own textbook, his ears fluttered about.
In the evening, after washing up, he laid down in the starnet cabin solemnly, ready to confess to the bearded teacher.
A minute later, he crawled out again with a blushing face, laid down on the bed and took out the special helmet â he hadnât been online for a long time, and he actually forgot that his account could only be logged in with the special helmet.
The bearded teacher was not online, and there were several messages lying in the mailbox, all sent by him. He also found that the bearded teacherâs class has been canceled, and the class fee he paid in advance has already been refunded by the system.
âIsnât the bearded teacher going to continue teaching me?â
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He was taken aback for a moment, then panicked, and hurriedly opened the latest message sent by the bearded teacher and read it.
The message was very long, and the beginning of the message was to comfort him that it didnât matter if he didnât get into the military academy. He could study hard in other schools. He also left him a communication number, telling him that if there is something he doesnât understand, he can directly dial the communication to ask him. The teacher also encouraged him to continue to work hard, and explained that the reason for closing the class was because he would be very busy after returning to school to teach, so he didnât have time to hold his VR class, not because he didnât want to teach Qiao Zhiya anymore.
The panic disappeared, Qiao Zhiya looked at this message full of concern from the teacher, his heart filled with guilt.
He hasnât been online since his entrance examination. The bearded teacher must have thought that he failed the exam, so he disappeared without a trace.
After blaming himself, he looked at the remaining few messages.
The other messages were all earlier, and they were all from the bearded teacher who asked about his exam status and encouraged him. One of them mentioned Luo Li, saying that he also went to the military school to work as a teacher, and joked that the two of them might also become âMaster and apprenticeâ teacher duo.
Qiao Zhiya was sad to see it, so he hurriedly wrote down the communication number of the bearded teacher and logged out of the VR. Not giving himself a chance to hesitate, and regardless of whether the current time was right, he entered the number of the bearded teacher and dialed it directly.
The communication was quickly connected. Lo and behold, the voice that answered him was that familiar hoarse and deep voice, specifically the one he heard all morning. âHello? Who is this?â
âWait, not only I heard it this morning⊠that slight voice cadenceâŠâ
âWhy donât you talk.â
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The voice grumbled, and simply requested a video call. Then, the voice became a little farther away, as if calling from afar. âMaster, help me answer this call. Sigh⊠the number is unfamiliar, maybe it is your mysterious baby apprentice. I have requested a video chat for you, come quickly.â
There was a sound of footsteps, and then a familiar gentle voice called out, âReally? If not, Iââ
Qiao Zhiya stared wide-eyed, watching his homeroom teacher Luo Li appear in mid-air after the video call was connected. Then an elegant middle-aged man with black hair and red pupils appeared in the camera. Instantly, Qiao Zhiya connected that his homeroom teacher and senior brother should be the same person. Then, he became stunned silly once he remembered that this old manâs voice matched with Master Shang, who appeared in that auction in Room 066.
Xiao Yan said that Master Shang was his motherâs master. Chu Rong said that if the bearded teacher was the person he guessed, then he must not be a bad person. The bearded teacher said that his apprentice was too old to find a partner, and he also was happy that his studentâs son finally found a partnerâŠ
The middle-aged man completely revealed his figure, and his red pupils became more and more obvious.
No, thatâs right, this red pupil, this look⊠is the bearded teacher. Luo Li called him master, but Luo Liâs master is obviously Master Shang, so the bearded teacher who has been teaching him isâŠ
âQiao Zhiya.â
Shang Hongsen looked at Qiao Zhiya who was looking at the hologram stupidly, clad in pajamas. The expectation in his eyes disappeared a little, but his expression was still gentle. âWhy are you calling at this time? Is this the number Xiao Rong gave you? Whatâs the matter?â
Qiao Zhiya looked at him blankly, shook his head absent-mindedly, then nodded quickly. He fixed his posture, and replied in a small voice, âLaoshi⊠no no no, Master Shang, good evening⊠I, IâŠâ
âDonât worry, speak slowly,â Shang Hongsen sat down on the sofa and motioned him not to worry.
Still with such a gentle attitude, Qiao Zhiya was certain of his guess. He closed his gaping mouth, trying to find proper words. He lowered his head, his long ears popped straight as he confessed in one breath, âIâm sorry, Laoshi, Iâm Meissen. I lied to you, I donât have A-level spiritual power, itâs SâŠand later it became SS.â
Shang Hongsen still looked at him gently, remained silent for a few seconds, then suddenly glanced at Luo Li, who was about to fall asleep. âWhat did your junior brother just say?â
Luo Li raised his eyelids and said in a disrespectful tone, âMaster, you always recognized him as my junior brother, so donât pretend you didnât understand, okay? Iâve been thinking about it for more than a month. I searched the freshmanâs roster countless times, and finally found him. Donât pretend as if you werenât happy with his profile. I swear nobody will laugh at you.â
ââŠBastard, go back to your own dormitory, donât rely on me.â Shang Hongsen tore off his gentle expression. He kicked his big apprentice out of the camera mercilessly, then looked at Qiao Zhiya with a serious face, but remained silent.
Qiao Zhiya was disturbed by his look, and apologized again, âYes, Iâm sorry, I shouldnât deceive you. I was in a special situation at the time, soâŠâ
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âStop,â Shang Hongsen interrupted him as he looked closer at the blond youth. Suddenly, he took out a somewhat familiar part from his space button, and asked, âDid you make this?â
Qiao Zhiya immediately recognized that it was the part he made during the entrance examination, so he quickly nodded. âYes, I made it. Is there something wrong? Why is it in your haââ
âMeissen is your side account?â Shang Hongsen interrupted him again, put away the parts and asked.
Qiao Zhiya shut up and nodded obediently. His ears dropped down again.
âWhat is your main account?â
âI just applied for it not long ago, my ID is QiaoâŠâ
âHave you verified your resident status?â
âIt has been verified,â Qiao Zhiya continued to answer obediently.
Satisfied, Shang Hongsen tapped his communicator as he found the website he searched for. He then sent a link, saying, âOkay, go sign up, today is the deadline, so hurry up. After class at noon tomorrow, go to the fourth floor of the No. 1 practice building, in the mecha manufacturing department. Look for me, I have something for you.â
After speaking, he hung up the communication.
Qiao Zhiya was bewildered by his straightforward arrangement, and was stunned for a moment before raising his hand and clicking on the link Master Shang sent him.
After the webpage popped up, he saw a line of big characters written on the header of the websiteââ
[Welcome to the sign up page for the 1106th Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition! We wish all contestants a satisfactory result.]
âIsnât this⊠the competition Luo Li participated in last year?â