Can Ci Pin/Imperfections(残次品)BL by Priest

Chapter 46

Jingheng Lin licked his lips.

His lips were cracked. The tang of blood and the tiny brain made it slightly easier for him to concentrate. If the high fever and the mental strength overload the antibody caused didn't count as much of a problem, the dehydration did.

He dragged out the emergency repair tools in the inner parts of the mech and checked the power system –– normal.

Since Primalien still needed him to guide the way for him, it was impossible for him to give him a mech that couldn't travel.

Jingheng Lin quickly and neatly dismounted one of the sixteen cooling fins.

Every cooling fin on the mech was two meters wide and tall, and all were about three centimeters thick. Smart regulation chips were installed on their upper left corners, and if you cut them open, you could see a special low temperature radiator core flowing in it. Each of the cores were approximately palm-sized, and could maintain super cold temperatures for months. After they expired, they would be gathered up on one side, regularly pushed out.

Of course, the radiator cores couldn't directly touch the skin. Normally about ten degrees below zero, the expired ones were instead friendlier.

Jingheng Lin removed several radiator cores that had already expired, but weren't discharged yet. He stuck them directly on himself, packaging himself into a human shaped ice pack, forcing himself to cool down.

The bird youth squatted down beside him and watched, melancholy showing in his eyes, him doubting that this person, whom he had fished out with much difficulty, had not much left to live.

"Don't worry," Jingheng Lin said, "At this speed, we'll be back on the passages in less than a day, and there'll be supply spots on the passages."

Plus, after a day, Primalien would think that the Rainbow Virus in his body had onset, and would definitely show up.

"What's your name?" Jingheng Lin asked.

The bird youth considered it for a while, but then shook his head as if he was embarrassed. It made sense, as Primalien did possibly address him in some way, but that was definitely not a respectful one of any sorts......As to his own name, he probably forgot it long ago.

Jingheng Lin then asked again, "Can you read?"

The bird youth still replied with a shake of his head. Then he opened his mouth to say something inaudible.

Clearly he could speak human language. But his morphed tongue and vocal cord forbade him from making normal sounds, so he could only make similar shapes with his mouth. With context, Jingheng Lin could understand the individual words, but when it came to extended sentences, he found it difficult. The two of them stared at each other for a while, unable to communicate. The bird youth curled up in despair, his flat arms round his knees. He looked down, like an insecure bird wrapping itself in its wings.

Jingheng Lin tested him half in earnest, half in jest. "If you know Cow, how come you don't know who I am?"

The bird youth shook his head, stretching out two fingers at him with difficulty. Then he kept trying to mouth a word to him, and on the third try, Jingheng Lin understood it through his fever seared eyes.

He was trying to say the word "save".

"He saved you twice?"

A shake of the head.

"He saved your life, but you've only seen him twice."

This time, the bird youth nodded.

The two of them, unable to understand what the other was trying to say, communicated for a while with a ton of blatant guessing and difficulty. Jingheng Lin roughly understood a story he did not know was right, or rea l–– from what he heard, many years ago, for some reason, Cow had saved this bird youth once. And not long ago, because of trading, Cow met Primalien, who loved to shop at black markets, out in extraterrestrial areas. The bird youth, who was staying close to Primalien, remembered him. He gave Cow a hint to some degree and told him the news that pirates were about to invade.

Jingheng Lin pretended that he finally understood, but did not actually believe it.

He thought that this story sounded like those fake ancient novels sold on the side of the streets. An entire article of "chivalry" and "repaying debts of gratitude", with a theme that described how ancient people had virtuous morals and how the height of people's morality nowadays were going downhill.

Ignoring how cliche this "repaying debts of gratitude" story was, just the fact that Primalien allowed the bird youth to get close to Jingheng Lin and let the two of them out together made it impossible to be a coincidence.

Jingheng Lin pretended he was drained of energy and exited the mental network. He shifted the mech to autopilot, closing his eyes to rest.

After some time, when the bird youth thought that he was asleep, only then did the bird youth approach him tentatively. He observed him for a while, and put out a hand above his forehead and breath to check his temperature. Then he found a blanket from somewhere, hesitating as he did not know whether to cover the person using cooling fins or not.