Chapter 133: The Sanctuary’s Reaction
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Oh, so you want to learn the craft from me?" The old man looked at Ye Chong, deeply moved by his request. Ye Chong’s earlier demonstration of his knowledge in mechs had impressed him. Hei Zi was looking delightfully at Ye Chong from the side. If Ye Chong could stay, then he would have someone to seek advice from! Since the beginning, he had always figured things out by himself, since Master could not help him in this respect.
"Yes!" Ye Chong replied steadily. After his discussion with Mu, they agreed that now was not the right time to take the five tests by the Sanctuary, since the situation outside must be tense! Going out recklessly now would be a foolish decision.
Ye Chong was not wrong. The situation was severely tense, much like what he imagined. Feng Su’s report to the Sanctuary about Guardian’s features and her thoughts on them had garnered great interest from the higher-ups. The report was collaborated by words from the MPA’s mech pilots. Hence, the Sanctuary higher-ups had ordered for the retrieval of this potential game-changing mech at all cost.
All citizens of the Orbits realized in trepidation that something had happened. The Mentalist Sanctuary’s forces were presented for the first time in full to the public. Even in the complicated environment such as the Orbits, they could still perform a thorough search of the area. No one dared to defy them; the first few rebellious people who refused to cooperate were met with indescribably horrible fates that chilled others to the bone! Such extreme methods employed by the usually moderate Sanctuary made everyone realize the firm resolution of the Sanctuary! With those few early examples, no one dared to challenge the Sanctuary’s powers again!
That was how, long after that incident, the Orbits came to be as peaceful as Heaven itself.
Ye Chong was unaware of all these facts. This was much due to the fact that the Sanctuary had not reached their area in their search, and secondly, that Ye Chong himself did not go outdoors often.
The good natured Hei Zi was overjoyed by Master’s acceptance of Ye Chong. He grinned stupidly, as if he was the one who was accepted instead. On the contrary, Ye Chong’s expression was neither joyful nor disappointed; he was calm as usual, and this won the approval of the old man - he believed this apprentice of his would definitely be someone extraordinary one day.
Ye Chong began by learning basic carving skills. The old man was pleasantly surprised to find Ye Chong improving quickly! Basic carving skills were fundamentally a practice in strength control. This had always been part of Mu’s training courses for Ye Chong, and Ye Chong was undoubtedly superior in it, second to none. This was the reason for his rapid improvement.
With a curved bone in his left hand, Ye Chong focused intently as his right hand wielded a carving knife, cutting vertically and horizontally. His every cut was precise, as his left hand held the bone steadily. The old man stood behind him, his expression portraying admiration. Beside Ye Chong was Hei Zi, staring unblinkingly at the knife in Ye Chong’s hand, afraid of disturbing him. Little Nan Nan put her hands tightly over her mouth, as she watched the curved bone in Ye Chong’s hand slowly took shape. Every since Ye Chong apprenticed under the old man, he had spent much of his time in the underground workshop, and little Nan Nan had followed him around like a puppy.
The solid curved bone was no match for Ye Chong’s knife; with every cut of the knife, skeleton dust fell to the ground. Ye Chong put his knife down gently with an easy expression, devoid of any emotions. His left hand held a lifelike engulfer, one of the animals he was most familiar with. Hei Zi exhaled in relief at his side, and spoke enthusiastically, "Hah! Junior Brother [1] is really talented, it’s only been a few days, and you’re already so good at this!"
It was Shang’s turn to come out, and the mech spoke condescendingly in Ye Chong’s mind, "What’s the fuss? You call this talent? What a bumpkin!" Of course, Ye Chong ignored Shang’s typical comments.
Little Nan Nan crawled onto the table and grabbed the engulfer out of Ye Chong’s hands, savoring her new toy!
The old man approved of the work deeply, but kept his expression calm as he said, "Hmm, that’s roughly it, you still need to practice more. From today onwards, you can learn about mechanical carving!"
He paused, but continued once Ye Chong was paying full attention to him, "Manual carving is usually for processing small parts or details of larger parts. We usually make do with mechanical carving. It’s not hard, I might even say it’s quite simple. The difficult part is in choosing the right skeleton materials. That’ll take experience. Your job now is to familiarize yourself with all the skeleton materials we have here until you get the hang of it. I’ll also be teaching you how to differentiate between them. That’s the essence of being a skeleton carver …"
Abruptly, the visitor’s intercom on the wall rang, and interrupted the old man’s word. Hei Zi quickly went to answer the intercom, and turned back to inform the old man loudly, "Master, it’s Uncle Yan!"
The old man frowned slightly, and said to Hei Zi, "Alright, go invite him in!"
Hei Zi replied in an affirmative tone and left in a hurry.
The old man spoke softly to himself, "Strange, why’s he here now?"
After a short moment, Hei Zi came back with a huge man.
The man was tall and muscular in build, his profile came with stiff angles, framing a pair of sharp eyes. His every move exuded a sense of power. Ye Chong realized then he was strong! Ye Chong was now quite experienced, and could tell just from the man’s build and movement that he was not someone to mess with. Ye Chong guessed right - this man with the surname Yan was called Yan Bingxuan, a patrolman of the area.
As the huge man stepped in, his eyes swept across the room. The sight of Ye Chong surprised him.
Hei Zi did not seem like to like this Yan guy, and brought little Nan Nan out to play.
The old man spoke, "Yan, something must have happened for you to visit us!" He then turned to Ye Chong and said, "Ye, this is the Sanctuary’s patrolman for our area, he’s quite strong! You can just call him Uncle Yan! His support will be very helpful for you in future!" He turned back to Yan Bingxuan and said, "This is my new apprentice, he’s quite knowledgeable about mechs, please take care of him from now on, Yan!"
Yan Bingxuan replied modestly, "Master Ge, you’re too courteous! The Sanctuary has explicitly ordered for your protection! It is my duty to attend to your safety. As long as it is within my means, it’s no problem at all!" Yan Bingxuan sounded respectful, and his words were flattering, but the meaning behind those words were not at all what they seemed to be. If he refused to cooperate, he could just easily say that it was not within his means.
Ye Chong realized then that Master’s surname is Ge.
The old man had a rich life experience, and could not possibly be ignorant of these social niceties. Even he himself had not truly meant his words.
Yan Bingxuan was impressed. "To think that such a young man could be approved by Old Ge, he has a bright future ahead of him!"
Ye Chong reciprocated lightly, "You’re too generous! I have much to learn!"
"Yan, what brings you here today?" The old man was getting impatient with these customary exchanges.
"You must not have heard, the world’s turned upside down out there!" Yan Bingxuan spoke mysteriously.
The old man knitted his brows in response. "What happened?"
"Word is, two people stole something from the Sanctuary, and the Sanctuary’s higher-ups were outraged! Sigh, it’s regretful that this had happened on this planet! For now, all the starship flights are cancelled. The higher-ups want us to search every house for the thieves. It’s fine for the higher-ups to be furious, but in the end, it’s we lackeys who have to do the work!" Yan Bingxuan grumbled insincerely as he discreetly watched for their reactions.
Ye Chong was startled. As expected, they must be referring to him and Mu. However, to frame them for thievery was impudent. Ye Chong was extremely calm on the outside, and Shang immediately came out and spoke to him urgently, "Ye, don’t act so calmly, you gotta show some surprise!" Ye Chong immediately affected a slight surprise on his expression, fitting for his nature.
The old man was shocked. "Someone dared to steal something from the Sanctuary?"
Seeing that both of them had reacted normally, Yan Bingxuan finally relaxed and smiled wryly, "Right? Those two must have some b*lls to do this. The Sanctuary’s people had seen them as they escaped in their mechs, one of it is a badly beaten down mech with four arms and two heads. Old Ge, have you seen anything like this before?"
Ye Chong was startled on the inside, but kept his expression calm.
"Four arms and two heads? A strange mech like that? No! If I’ve seen a strange mech like that, I would have remembered it!" The old man shook his head. Ye Chong was quietly thankful that Hei Zi and little Nan Nan were not there. If they had seen Yu Di, they would have immediately exposed him then.
"Sigh, that’s right! To find two people in such a huge area is much like finding a needle in a haystack!" Yan Bingxuan vented his dissatisfaction.
The old man nodded. "It’s definitely not easy!"
Yan Bingxuan produced a metallic sphere, flashing green lights, and apologized to the old man, "Old man, my apologies, it’s merely a formality!"
The old man waved his hand and spoke lightly, "It’s alright, do what you have to!" He saw Ye Chong watching the metallic sphere curiously, and explained to him, "That’s a special accessory for the patrolmen, called Life Seeker. Nothing alive can evade its detection! It is used to check for any hidden humans or animals. Understood?"
Ye Chong realized then of its purpose. "Understood!"
A small aperture on the Life Seeker projected a holographic image, showing five green dots on it. Yan Bingxuan counted everyone present, including himself, and found it to be exactly five. He kept the Life Seeker and spoke with a smile. "All good! Pardon the intrusion, Old Ge!"
"It’s nothing!" The old man did not mind.
Yan Bingxuan continued, "Well, that’s all to it, I’ll be taking my leave!"
"Hei Zi!" The old man yelled, and Hei Zi rushed in as he instructed, "See Uncle Yan off! Yan, I’ll not be sending you off!"
Yan Bingxuan quickly replied, "No need to! Please continue your work, Old Ge!" He began to move towards the steps that he came in through.
Suddenly, Yan Bingxuan stopped in his tracks, and exclaimed, "Huh?"
Could there be something wrong? Ye Chong, freshly relieved, was jerked back into suspense!
Translator's Thoughts
mole mole
[1] Junior Brother: Translated from 师弟, which is a way senior apprentices refer to their juniors.