[1] Genius Mechanic

Chapter 7

Rat swarm

The sky is gradually darkening, and the wind in the mountain forests intensifies as night falls. When Ying Chenlin had penetrated deep into the Banute contaminated area, approximately 3 kilometers inward, the self-updating map of his mecha displayed a warning alert. He turned off the "deep penetration warning," and the light blade by his side still dripped with fresh blood.

In the mecha's field of vision, a sharp-toothed rat with crimson eyes turned and ran towards the outskirts of the Banute pollution area as soon as it saw Ying Chenlin behead one of its kind.

[Emergency notice from the Banute pollution Area Management Bureau: Mutated pollution sources detected in the area. Mecha pilots deep within the pollution area are advised to evacuate immediately!]

The emergency notice flashed only twice before it was quickly disrupted by the chaotic magnetic field, turning into a sizzling signal tone.

"pollution source, at least A-level," Ying Chenlin remarked.

Ying Chenlin: "But the outer Green Wall ore is not enough, and we can't leave yet. We need to go further in."

Inside the cramped cockpit, he was the only one. There was no response from his spirit-interface.

After he spoke, Ying Chenlin paused and looked at the black-red necklace hanging around his neck.

The black-red mecha necklace fell from his collar with a silent elegance as he moved.

He wasn't accompanied by his S-level mecha, "Yuan." Instead, it was an ordinary B-level mecha without any intelligence, taking all actions based on the direct orders of the mecha pilot.

"Forgot you're not here right now."

Communicating with a mecha while piloting it felt like a deeply ingrained habit.

Ying Chenlin didn't chase after the fleeing sharp-toothed rat. He raised his right hand slightly.

A slight sense of exhaustion, tinged with sourness, spread along his nerves, making his right hand holding the weapon feel exceptionally heavy. Fatigue from piloting the mecha set in faster than memory.

But he hadn't reached his fatigue limit.

Perhaps his current mecha was emitting less psychic energy, making him less sensitive to the mutated flora and fauna in the contaminated area. Thus, his weak psychic energy was an advantage, and so far, the highest-intensity mutant he had encountered was the sharp-toothed rat.

With the immediate danger eliminated, Ying Chenlin found a safe place to sever the psychic connection and retrieved a syringe from a corner of the cockpit to inject himself. After attending to these tasks, he focused on the map of the route he had taken and the pollution threshold.

The danger level of the Banute Deep Area was higher. From the outermost area to his current location, the pollution threshold had increased from 1240 to 2310, surpassing the maximum value for the Banute pollution area. This was clearly abnormal.

Ying Chenlin turned off the notifications from the pollution Area Management Bureau. His A-level psychic energy was more than sufficient to pilot a B-level mecha, but his psychic energy depletion was rapid, especially in this contaminated area. With rest breaks, his maximum endurance in such conditions was two days.

In two days, he would need to accumulate enough resources before departing at the very least.

Ying Chenlin glanced at the deeper sections of the Banute pollution area. He still wanted to venture further in. The deeper sections held more unknown dangers, but they also contained richer resources. Materials like the Green Wall ore were scarce in the outer region, but after entering the deep area, mining traces were visible nearly every kilometer. Unusual signs and traces of energy-class minerals were also becoming more prevalent, with holes drilled into the ground visible almost everywhere.