Extra Chapter 20
Stellar Calendar 278, September 25th, Clear
I’ve decided to take up a position as a professor in the Mecha Department at the Federal Military Academy. However, I won’t be teaching regularly—probably once a month, occasionally through the Star Network.
Today, during my first class, I brought Baldy with me. Baldy enjoys the atmosphere of the training ground and gleefully operated his little mecha, frolicking around.
The students were not paying attention in class, instead sneaking glances at Baldy. When they saw Baldy’s small mecha moving swiftly, running, jumping, and bouncing around non-stop, they let out exclamations of surprise, their faces showing ashamed expressions. Only one, named Xue, frowned and didn’t fit in with the others clapping nearby.
Under this praise, Baldy’s desire to perform intensified even more, and he happily began to spin in circles. He just loves it when people praise him.
In the end, I had to take Baldy, who was disturbing the class, out and let him play with Ruge and Bobo.
After class, we spent half a day at Central Star shopping before finally taking a mecha ride home.
Bobo held a mechanical flower in his hands, saying it was a gift from a student at the Federal Military Academy, with brown hair and brown eyes, one of my former students.
There are many people with brown hair and brown eyes, and the gift might have been an attempt to curry favor with me. After checking the simple toy to ensure there were no issues, I returned it to Bobo.
Baldy looked on enviously as Bobo generously shared the toy with him.
Come to think of it, Bobo has received many types of flowers, and today he even got a metallic flower.
Does this mean Bobo will have many admirers in the future?
The thought of countless suitors chasing after Bobo made me somewhat unhappy. A statement from Ruge once resonated with my current feelings.
“Our home-grown cabbage is about to be rooted by pigs.”
Thinking of this, I immediately took Baldy to the virtual arena for training. Baldy needs to become strong enough in the future to drive away the worthless suitors around Bobo.
While I was logging into the virtual arena with Baldy, Ruge also took Bobo to play a singing game. After each song, they used a voice changer to prevent online users from uncovering their identities.
If only I had been so cautious back then… maybe I wouldn’t have fallen so far.
“Xue Yuexiao’s Perspective”
Xue Yuexiao is the chief of the Mecha Department at the Federal Military Academy, heir to the Xue family, a rising star in the virtual arena, challenging the honor roll top 100 via live broadcast on the Star Network. He progressed like a meteor, singing forward with unstoppable momentum until he reached second place.
Then he faced the greatest setback of his life.
He was ground into the ground by the number one on the leaderboard. This wasn’t the main point; the main point was that not only was he crushed in strength, but his dignity was also humiliated—
Originally as majestic as a god, his mecha suddenly stumbled and staggered like a toddler learning to walk, poking at the air around him.
If Xue Yuexiao hadn’t lost his ability to move, he would have rushed up and aimed his neck at the light sword, cleanly ending his life.
But he couldn’t. All he could do was endure the mockery, repeatedly, under the gaze of billions of viewers. His face burned with shame and indignation; this public humiliation shattered his pride into pieces.
Xue Yuexiao, who had been proud all his life, tasted the bitter taste of complete loss of dignity for the first time.
When the light sword finally stabbed into his mecha, Xue Yuexiao felt like the game was over, and the sound announcing the end of the match was like heavenly music.
This match was his unspeakable failure, and he didn’t understand why Marshal Xi had to humiliate him like this until today, until he saw Marshal Xi’s child manipulating a mecha in a manner that was oddly familiar to Xue Yuexiao, taking small, brisk steps around the training ground.
At that moment, Xue Yuexiao suddenly realized, his heart in turmoil.
He didn’t even know how to face Marshal Xi’s child with the right expression…
When His Excellency Marshal carried the little mecha like holding a chick, Xue Yuexiao’s confused thoughts finally calmed down. He reluctantly focused on listening to Marshal Xi’s lecture.
Every student was paying extremely close attention; His Excellency Marshal’s personal lectures were probably unique in the entire galaxy. At this moment, anyone who missed a word would be regretful.
Yet Xue Yuexiao unconsciously looked at the side door of the training ground when he was listening to the lesson – the direction where Marshal Xi’s child left.
What is the child inside the small mecha like?
Xue Yuexiao wanted to know what the child, who once jokingly poked him, looked like.
His pride did not allow him to not know who he lost to.
Soon it was break time. Xue Yuexiao left the training ground under the pretext of going to the restroom, and circled around to the side entrance of the training ground. There, he saw a small mech sitting beside the abandoned shell of a giant military mech, lazily tapping its fingers on the mech’s hull.
Alone, the small mech sat atop the abandoned giant, a bit lonely yet leisurely swinging its short legs.
The small mech’s sixth sense was remarkably sharp. Xue Yuexiao merely glanced from a distance, and the small mech immediately perked up its head, aligning its gaze with Xue Yuexiao’s position.
Xue Yuexiao tensed instinctively, assuming a combat posture.
However, the small mech… tilted its head slightly?
With a soft click, it tilted its head cutely, staring into the darkness where Xue Yuexiao lurked.
It was the first time Xue Yuexiao realized that mechs could be this adorable.
He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to flee in front of a youngster, even if this youngster was a witness to and participant in his embarrassing history.
Slowly stepping out from his corner, Xue Yuexiao addressed the small mech, “I… I’m Professor Xi’s student.”
The small mech placed its two little hands on its lap, sitting upright with a demure demeanor. Upon hearing Xue Yuexiao’s words, it nodded seriously, a very slight movement, akin to a chick pecking at grain.
Xue Yuexiao had never been fond of youngsters. The young members of the Xue family were all adept at causing chaos, turning the house upside down. Yet now, as he gazed upon this inexplicably obedient and sensible small mech, he suddenly understood a bit of the charm of youngsters.
“…Why are you here alone? Is there no one to play with you?” He couldn’t help asking.
The solitary figure of the small mech just now evoked… a difficult-to-express feeling within him.
“I like being alone,” came a very pleasant, soft, and tender voice.
At the moment this voice entered his ears, Xue Yuexiao’s heart softened by half in an instant. He didn’t realize he could be affected so deeply by cuteness.
“Little brother, aren’t you going to class? Dad will be mad,” When the term ‘little brother’ slipped out, Xue Yuexiao’s remaining reservations also melted away, his tone becoming gentle.
The mech’s voice was so gentle and soft, as if a slight increase in volume would startle the listener.
“It’s break time now. It’s okay for me to come out for a while,” Xue Yuexiao had never spoken so gently to anyone before. If Xue Father and Xue Mother heard this, they might be astonished.
The small mech nodded quietly and continued to sit there peacefully.
Xue Yuexiao cautiously took a few steps closer.
“What are you looking at?”
He couldn’t help but want to chat more with this small mech and listen more to its voice.
It really was… such a sweet and cute voice.
“I’m looking at flowers. It would be nice if they could bloom here,” The small mech pointed at the shell of the abandoned mech, saying this childlike sentence.
So adorable.
How could there be such a well-behaved and cute youngster?
Xue Yuexiao acted on a whim, “Wait here for me.”
He dismantled parts of the mech and retrieved tools from the compartment to make a small toy out of the materials.
Although Xue Yuexiao wasn’t a student of mech manufacturing, he had grasped some basic principles, such as making a simple mechanical flower.
In the hands of the young man, the discarded parts gradually changed shape. As he focused on making the mechanical flower, a strand of curly brown hair fell slowly over his forehead, and his originally sharp amber eyes softened at this moment.
Xue Yuexiao had never made such a boring thing. One of his roommates had once made one in the dormitory to pursue a girl.
Xue Yuexiao looked at it and remembered the method of making mechanical flowers, but he did not expect to use it today.
“Wow–” The small mech took the initiative to lean in and exclaimed.
The young man’s movement stopped slightly.
When he heard the “wow” of the childish voice, satisfaction enveloped his heart. This was a feeling that even winning in the virtual arena couldn’t bring him.
Xue Yuexiao handed the mechanical flower in his palm to the small mech calmly, “For you.”
“Thank you, little brother! Little brother, you’re amazing~” The small mech happily hugged the flower, not sparing any praise.
Xue Yuexiao’s expression could still pretend to be calm, but his palm could not help but clench into a fist.
Suddenly he understood why his roommate had to bring his girlfriend to play games–
“Do you… usually play games with Dad?”
General Xi had two small children, and Xue Yuexiao was afraid he had the wrong one.
The small mech nodded, “Yes, Dad takes me to play games.”
It seemed that this was the original “joke” against him. But Xue Yuexiao couldn’t hate him.
He was silent for a while, whispering softly, “Can you let me see what you look like?”
The small mech hesitated for a moment, “But Dad said I can’t let others see what I look like. Little brother, you can’t take pictures, and you can’t tell others what I look like, okay?”
Xue Yuexiao agreed, and he and the small mech pinky swore.
With a click, the small door of the cockpit slowly opened, revealing a delicate little face. It was a young mech as beautiful as a doll, with jet-black hair, azure eyes, and a shy and cute smile.
“Little brother, thank you for the flower. You should hurry to class and don’t be late~”
He waved his small hand and looked at Xue Yuexiao, who was lost in thought.
If Xue Yuexiao’s inner monologue could be turned into bullet comments, it would be like this:
# Brother can wait for you for twenty years at most #
# Blood tank has been emptied #
# I really want to take home and raise #
# What is this peerless cuteness #
# He’s so cute that I’m out of my mind #
# The little milk voice is so cute #
Xue Yuexiao stood dazed in place.
After hearing “late,” he suddenly came back to his senses, rushing back to the training ground. It wasn’t until he arrived that he realized he had forgotten to ask the name of the small mech.
