The early morning sunlight seeps into the room through the tattered curtains, and the mottled light and shadows cast on the table, as if telling the traces of time.
The furnishings in the house couldn't be simpler - a low table, a few chairs, and a few toolboxes piled in the corner. It looked extremely shabby yet full of life.
"Eat quickly, don't just stare at those books. No matter how good a book is, it can't be eaten as a meal."
While Xiang Su was sorting out his hunting equipment with his rough hands, he glanced at Xiang Fan who was staring at the psychic calculator in a daze.
There was a hint of helplessness in his tone, "Practice cannot be achieved by just reading books."
"I understand, Dad." Xiang Fan looked up and agreed, but his eyes fell on the psychic calculator.
This piece of equipment, which already showed signs of wear and tear, was bought with Xiang Su's years of accumulated income. He knew clearly that this represented countless dangerous adventures that his father had taken.
On the low table was a bowl of spiritual rice porridge and a few pieces of slightly burnt dried meat of low-level spiritual beasts.
Xiang Fan lowered his head and ate. Although the porridge was a little cold, he swallowed it without a trace of disgust. He just thought to himself: "I need to reduce the amount of spirit stones I need to charge my mecha. I can use the remaining money to buy more delicious food for my family."
Xiang Su took a sip of porridge and sighed, "The price of materials has dropped again in the past few days. Hunting a spirit beast is so risky, but the income is getting less and less. If this continues, our family's life will be..."
He didn't continue speaking, but the frown on his face was heavier than his words.
Xiang Fan raised his head and moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he could only utter one sentence: "Dad, don't work too hard, I will..."
"What do you mean by later?" Xiang Su stood up and carried the hunting equipment that seemed heavier than he was.
"If I can't support the family, how can you? You've spent a lot of spirit stones on your broken mecha!" Although the words were harsh, his tone revealed helplessness and a hint of reluctance towards his son.
"Dad, that spirit stone... is mine..." Xiang Fan was about to explain, but he saw Xiang Su had already opened the door, and his straight back disappeared in the morning light.
Xiang Fan was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head to continue eating porridge, but found that the porridge in the bowl suddenly became a little cold.
He silently wrapped up the pieces of dried meat on the table and stuffed them into the toolbox that his father hadn't taken away, muttering to himself, "Eat something good so you can beat those spirit beasts."
Then he picked up the psychic calculator, touched the whitened buttons, and said softly, "One day, I will make something better, if only to save you from having to carry around this crap."
He lowered his head and stared at the notes in his hand, with a slight smile on his lips: "Just wait, one day, I will make this day different."
Before Xiang Sulin left, he turned back and patted Xiang Fan on the shoulder, his tone unusually gentle: "Don't overthink it. Although our life is hard, as long as we don't give up, we will always see the light. Just do your thing and don't take on too much."
After saying that, he picked up his heavy equipment and disappeared at the end of the alley with his tired figure.
Xiang Fan stood at the door in a daze, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart.
He glanced down at the notebook in his hand, then at the bowl of cold porridge on the table, and said to himself, "One day, I will make sure my father doesn't have to work so hard anymore."
Returning to the table, he silently finished the bowl of porridge in one gulp. It tasted a bit bitter, but it made him more sober.
He turned his head to look at the shabby mecha model in the corner. The mecha stood there quietly, like a silent partner, accompanying him through countless nights.
The issue of mecha has always been a dead end.
Xiang Fan sat in front of a crude workbench, holding a burnt energy converter in his hand, and studied it for a long time with a frown.
He sighed, put the converter back into the mecha, and flipped the switch hard.
"Buzz--" A low vibration sound was heard, followed by a short explosion, and the mecha completely shut down.
Xiang Fan slapped his forehead and laughed wryly at himself, "Alright, even this junker has some temper."
He took out his notebook, compared the structure of the psychic circuit in the book, and adjusted the circuit again.
After tinkering with it all night, his hands were covered in engine oil and his face was scratched by flying parts, making him look like a soldier who had just crawled out of the battlefield.
"Fanzi, don't work too hard. You can't delay your cultivation."
Xiang Su dragged his tired body through the door and saw Xiang Fan still tinkering with the mecha, with a look of worry on his face.
"It's okay, Dad." Xiang Fan scratched his head. "I just want it to be able to move a little bit so it can help you move some things."
Xiang Su snorted and said in a feigned anger, "If you have this much time, practice the basic sword techniques a few more times, maybe you can build your foundation sooner."
"I know, I know."
Xiang Fan agreed verbally, but when Xiang Su turned to leave, he muttered under his breath, "How can the swordsmanship be reliable if the mecha doesn't move?"
Despite the lack of resources, Xiang Fan did not give up.
He dug out the psychic theory he had learned from 496, tried to connect a scrapped psychic drive chip to the spare energy pipeline, and repeatedly adjusted the psychic flow path.
Finally, when he was debugging late at night, he pressed the start switch, and the mecha actually trembled slightly, and then slowly stood up.
Although the mecha's movements were stiff and its shell was bumpy, at that moment, Xiang Fan seemed to see hope.
"Haha, it worked!" Xiang Fan rolled on the ground excitedly as he looked at the energy index jumping on the panel.
He controlled the mecha to raise its arm. Although the movement was a bit awkward, the flow of psychic energy finally returned to normal.
He sat in the yard, holding the mecha control console, staring blankly at the starry sky, muttering to himself, "With a little more lubrication, maybe it can still run a few steps. Even if it's a bit ugly, my mecha still has dignity."
The mecha stood in the courtyard, its worn shell glowing faintly in the moonlight, as if silently guarding his loyal partner.
Xiang Fan patted the mecha's leg gently and said seriously, "We will be even stronger, right?"
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