Chapter 92 Machinery
The giant ostrich gradually approached its target, swooping down towards Zhou Jiu and Chu Qi, and nimbly grabbing at them with its claws.
A sense of danger made Zhou Jiu pull Chu Qi and roll quickly to avoid the flying grab. Zhou Jiu touched his torn sleeve, blinked, and looked up at the ostrich above his head.
"So this wasn't an illusion? But do ostriches really exist that can fly and have such sharp claws?"
According to records from the early post-apocalyptic period of ancient Earth, ostriches looked just like this.
"...Are you kidding me? I'd think everything I've learned is fake."
As Zhou Jiu spoke, she dodged the mutated ostrich, assuming it was a rare and mutated one. "Seriously? Why is this thing only chasing after me?"
Zhou Jiu tried to avoid her, originally intending to bring Chu Qi along, who had calmed down slightly but was still staring blankly at the spot, only to find that the ostrich was completely ignoring her.
"That means you have a connection with animals," Zhang Xi said, watching Zhou Jiu's video in the observation room, knowing the truth.
"...This joke is not funny."
The ostrich flew back and forth, and Zhou Jiu seized the opportunity to punch the ostrich in the neck. But Zhou Jiu's expression suddenly twisted, making Qiao Shiyi, who was watching the video, burst out laughing again.
"We've hit a brick wall, haha."
"Brother Shi, is it that funny?" Mo Wen didn't see the humor in it and was puzzled to see Qiao Shi, who was usually serious, laughing so hard.
"Isn't it said that Zhou Jiu can punch alien beasts? Why does she look like she's in a lot of pain?" Qiu Heng, a writer known for his post-apocalyptic works, asked Qiao Shi with a slightly puzzled look at Zhou Jiu's expression. Qiao Shi was the only person here who actually knew Zhou Jiu.
"Fake? A mechanical ostrich." Zhou Jiu quickly stepped back, creating some distance, and moved his hand, which had actually hit the metal plate.
"Made by machine." Knowing the show's style and deducing from Zhou Jiu's expression, Qiao Shiyi spoke at the same time.
"You two have great chemistry," remarked Feifei, a regular guest singer.
Qiao Shiyi shook her head helplessly: "The captain's expressions are very rich, he's too easy to guess."
"team leader?"
"team leader?"
Qiao Shiyi remained silent. Upon seeing an old acquaintance, his persona suddenly crumbled.
"Huh? What's going on?" Chu Qi, finally waking up from the hallucination, looked at the person and bird fighting in front of her and slowly stood up, leaning on a tree.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Chu Qi exclaimed, looking at the scene unfolding before her.
Zhou Jiu finally chose her usual magical artifact, a copper coin, and used it to scrape directly onto the central core of the mechanical ostrich.
Chu Qi clapped her hands, moved forward, and revealed her signature smile: "Hello, I'm actress Chu Qi. You're amazing."
Looking at Chu Qi's face, Zhou Jiu observed that she had a broad forehead, a bright and full forehead, slightly wide-set eyebrows and eyes, bright and expressive eyes with long and slender corners, a straight nose with a slight bump, well-proportioned cheekbones, a wide mouth with white teeth, a full chin, and neat teeth. This was the face of someone who would become very successful and wealthy after the age of thirty.
"Hello, my name is Zhou Jiu."
"I know you. I followed you in the StarNet Mech Competition. You were really good at playing with mechs."
"Thank you." After saying this to Chu Qi, Zhou Jiu continued to explore the mechanical ostrich.
"What...are you going to do next?" Chu Qi asked, slightly puzzled by Zhou Jiu's inexplicable actions.
“We’re still a bit far off, and we don’t know what the production team will do next. Let me see if this works.”
Chu Qi stared blankly at Zhou Jiu's actions, wanting to help but unsure how.
"Will this work? Can the backend of the intelligent operation system for machinery be modified?"
"This is a common type of simple mechanical operation on the market, similar to a household robot, but it is equipped with weapons for attack. The principle is similar. For easy maintenance and later modification, the intelligent backend command is usually installed in the machine with a control board. We only need to change a few commands to fix it and make it fly us to our destination."
Chu Qi nodded, then suddenly remembered that her mode of transportation was missing. "Hey? Xiao Jiu, have you seen my bicycle?"
“No.” Zhou Jiu shook his head and continued to make changes to the intelligent control panel of the mechanical ostrich. “However, about a hundred meters to the west, there is probably still a trace of the smell of psilocybin mushrooms. It has a hallucinogenic effect, so be careful.”
"Oh, okay, then you can wait for me here and we can go together?"
"Can Zhou Jiu fix it? I heard she studies mechanical engineering; is she more skilled in mechanics than in mecha?"
Qiao Shiyi shook her head. "I only know that she's incredibly strong in combat. As for mecha, we didn't have the chance to come into contact with modern combat mecha back on E-Star and the desolate planet, so I don't know much about that. But I feel like she hasn't had time to learn her major yet. During her initial freshman internship, she was taken prisoner by the mecha and command majors to the front line of an exercise, so she didn't have time to learn about starships related to mechanical engineering. Then came freshman training and the start of the semester. Anyway, not long after, she arrived at Spruce Star, and that's how it is now."
"But she fixed the flying motorcycle before too? Don't you think she could fix it?" Fifi asked.
"This can be fixed. Didn't she explain the principles? It's very simple."
"...You can do that too?" Feifei asked, looking at Qiao Shiyi's inexplicably arrogant expression.
"Of course I won't, the captain will." Although Zhou Jiu is only a beginner in their team, he is still considered a student of Professor Sun, who is also Sun You's nominal father. Of course, he only learned this recently after regaining his memories and asking Lin Xiu.
"...Then you act like you know it."
“We have different roles, and these are indeed simple.”
"You've only been learning about mecha for such a short time?" Qiu Heng calculated the time Zhou Jiu had been exposed to mecha, something she hadn't seen online.
"She seems so versatile. It really shows the difference between a genius and an ordinary person," Fei Fei'er exclaimed.
"She's not a genius. The captain is very good at managing her time; she's almost always busy. But she seems to have studied divination the longest, and she spends every now and then memorizing things about face reading and geomancy on her personal computer."
"Is it that metaphysics?" Qiu Heng and Mo Wen looked at Qiao Shiyi with interest.
Qiao Shiyi was silent for a moment. He looked at Zhou Jiu who was about to enter, stood up, and wondered whether he should continue to be gossipy or maintain his aloof persona.
"Alright, let's welcome our guest." Mo Wen picked up the water gun.
Qiao Shiyi also picked up the bubble gun provided by the program team from the sofa and set it up from the side, hiding it in the blind spot of the entrance door.
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