Chapter 6 Logistics Support

After roll call and mutual identification, Zhou Jiu was able to touch the mecha assigned to him. Of course, it was the mecha assigned to them for initial maintenance. After their process, the second-year students would need to conduct another inspection and maintenance.

Zhou Jiu discovered that there were only fifty of their classmates from one of their starships in this area. The starship had a total of seventy-three students: thirty in command, forty in mecha combat, two in pharmaceutical research, and one in mechanical engineering.

At first, she was suspicious and wondered what had happened to her, since being special isn't always a good thing. Later, after meeting the other two, she realized it was because of a group activity; the military academy had investigated her background and interpersonal relationships beforehand, which led to her being assigned to the wrong major.

However, she still wanted to pursue her major. Mechanical Engineering at the Military Academy was a relatively comprehensive discipline. Although the focus was on starship maintenance and management, it also included learning about mechs, logistics, and starship command. Of course, in other people's eyes, Mechanical Engineering at the Military Academy was a major that was good at nothing but knowing a little bit about everything. But Zhou Jiu remembered that the first Black Bear Legion commander at the Military Academy was a special case, as he was a member of this major. When she initially intended to pursue mech operation on Ancient Blue Star, she only mentioned it once at school. Later, after applying, she saw her major inexplicably changed, and she knew that this matter was inseparable from Ancient Blue Star. She couldn't figure out why, but because of the mission to get close to her "dream lover" Chu Zhao, she guessed that it might also be related to the Black Bear Legion.

Zhou Jiu stroked her chin. She thought, "They're not exactly undercover agents from Ancient Blue Star, are they?" As her mental strength recovered, her memories gradually returned. When she was ten, she witnessed her father talking to his superior before accepting the mission to send his daughter to another star system. Perhaps because she had practiced incantations and physiognomy since childhood, her mental strength was quite good, so she remembered their conversation clearly. They hadn't mentioned her being an undercover agent, but certain coincidences made her feel that something was amiss. She wondered what they were really doing sending that group into the Federation.

"Hey, your face is all dark." A laugh pulled her back from her wandering thoughts.

Zhou Jiu, who was just applying lubricant, smiled and said, "Huh?" Oh well, who cares? Getting close to her dream man is what she wants, the rest is up to her.

Zhou Jiu turned to her new classmate Ye Yang, a classmate who was extremely fast and could also do repairs. Ye Yang was also one of the very few who hadn't followed the trend and hadn't been successfully tricked into giving her his contact information. Zhou Jiu couldn't help but ask, "Have you ever worked with mechs before? Your technique is very professional."

"I grew up with mechs, and the more I got to know them, the more I learned how to repair them," Ye Yang said.

Zhou Jiu looked on with envy: "That's great."

"You'll be able to do it too in the future," Ye Yang said confidently after making his presence known.

Zhou Jiu continued holding the brush in his hand without saying anything more.

"I heard you broke free of your shackles and escaped on your own," Ye Yang asked with some curiosity.

Zhou Jiu nodded and then shook his head. "Actually, we were tied up in a car, along with a senior from Zongda University. Zongda's goal was to bring us back."

"We're both freshmen and don't know each other. How did you recognize us?"

“Didn’t we interact on the starship? And I can do divination, so of course I can recognize him,” Zhou Jiu said confidently.

Ye Yang looked at him with disbelief, then asked directly, "Do you know who those two students in the corner with the black mecha armor painted over there are?"

"Lu Qi, from Central Star, majoring in mecha operation. Feng Ziyue, also from Central Star, is a mecha operator."

Meeting Ye Yang's surprised gaze, Zhou Jiu continued, "Like you, I'm from the Central Star. You two know each other, right?"

Ye Yang lowered his gaze and retorted, "If we were on the Central Star, why would we be traveling from elsewhere on a starship?"

Zhou Jiu smiled and whispered, "I heard that some students have the opportunity to go to a special summer camp before attending military academy. Did you just come back from summer camp?"

Ye Yang's change in expression told Zhou Jiu that she had guessed correctly, but seeing Ye Yang's feet slightly tilted backward, Zhou Jiu blinked and whispered, "Actually, you can change your walking posture. It's too obvious. It's obviously the posture you just had after military training. I have pretty good observation skills."

Ye Yang lowered his guard; not everyone can accept having things they don't want to say revealed by others.

Is it really that obvious?

“A little. If you don’t believe me, you can observe your classmates who are also attending summer camp later,” Zhou Jiu said.

After a while, Zhou continued with his work, his gaze sometimes following Ye Yang's gaze as he looked at the others.

Zhou Jiu's gaze met Sun You's next door for a fleeting moment before she looked away, her eyes lowered. It turned out that E-Star lacked not only future admission opportunities but also preferential treatment in resources. If this was the case on E-Star, what about New Blue Star? She hadn't seen any New Blue Star students here yet. Ancient Blue Star was not only invaded by alien beasts but also suffered from severe radiation, making it no longer a habitable environment. As for New Blue Star, she had only heard that the humans of Ancient Blue Star had moved there, but she had hardly seen any news about it. In an instant, Zhou Jiu felt a long-forgotten sadness.

A commotion suddenly broke out outside, with the sounds of numerous mechs echoing around.

Zhou Jiu shifted his feet slightly, already prepared to conceal himself. Looking around, he saw only the mecha and no other weapons. Zhou Jiu placed his hand on the activation door, intending to enter the mecha immediately if danger struck.

"Run!" After hearing this, an explosion rang out outside. Zhou Jiu instantly opened the hatch, entered the mecha, and joined Sun You and Lin Xiu.

Zhou Jiu looked at the mecha's serial number and immediately activated the mecha's internal communication, connecting the two of them.

"Break out towards the ten o'clock direction; there's jungle two kilometers down there." Sun You put the internal communicator on speakerphone.

"Received." The two replied simultaneously.

Zhou Jiu looked at the many buttons and control keyboard in front of her, but didn't test them at this moment. Instead, she and Lin Xiu rushed to the front using the scavenging mech she had previously operated. Zhou Jiu breathed a slight sigh of relief, grateful for her scavenging experience. Looking at the arsenal in front of her, she remembered the weapon commands for this type of assault mech, but she wasn't sure if they were the same as those in the simulator.

There's no time to waste anymore. Zhou Jiu took a deep breath and told himself to believe in himself.

Zhou Jiu watched as the cannon extended from the mecha's right arm. The mecha half-squatted and then stood up, charging forward in an extremely sleazy posture. While half-squatting, the cannon fired at the ground in front of the opposing mecha, kicking up clouds of dust and causing the opponent to pause in their view.