Genius Mechanic: Chapter 204

Slared Contaminated Zone(Star Alliance Mission)

204. A Strange Plant-Type Pollutant

Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake and An Zheee 

At the side of the scene, where the ice fog’s magnetic field was gradually expanding, a black mecha was positioned on the flank of a snow peak. It hadn’t completely left the magnetic field’s range, precisely maintaining a position within the magnetic field’s influence, keeping its coordinates entirely hidden.

Using the high vantage point, it scanned the distance with a Sniper Cannon’s long-range scope, spotting all the suspended mechas from the powerful teams.

Soon, it descended from the high ground and regrouped with its nearby teammates.

Hu Luobu and the others had just taken down a few A-Level pollutants. When Wen Yi came down from higher up, Lu Xi was the first to ask, “What’s the situation?”

Wen Yi simply said, “There are a lot of mechas, all in the area where we were, in the snowfield.”

While they were dealing with the giant bird that caused the blizzard, the tremors from the neighboring snow peak caught their attention. When that massive avalanche occurred, Ke Lin and Wen Yi initially planned to check the situation immediately, but their team’s sole KID mecha pilot, Lu Xi, suggested they observe first.

That observation revealed the approach of many strong teams nearby.

They definitely couldn’t go over there, but they needed to confirm their teammates’ situations as soon as possible.

Ke Lin looked at Wen Yi, “How should we handle this?”

Wen Yi was deep in thought.

Just then, Chi Lizi, who had been scouting further afield, flew back and, upon landing, said, “I just left the magnetic field and received a message from Captain Qi. They’ve already reached the base station. I also briefed them on our situation. Captain Qi believes the avalanche was likely caused by KID and advised us to stay away from that area.”

Qi Sicheng had contacted the Dawn spacecraft through the base station and confirmed the situation on the ship before passing the information to the others.

Upon hearing this, Hu Luobu said, “I knew it! There’s no way this mountain collapsed for no reason! Burying people like this is KID’s specialty.”

He couldn’t help but glance at Lu Xi; it was hard to imagine such a quiet and gentle girl being part of KID’s group of ruffians.

Lu Xi softly defended her team to her teammates, “We don’t bury people every time.”

Ke Lin glanced at Hu Luobu, “Do you really know them that well?”

Hu Luobu retorted, “I’ve been buried by them, after all.”

Chi Lizi nodded in agreement, “Experience does make a difference.”

Hu Luobu: “I wouldn’t recommend trying it.”

Wen Yi pondered… More and more strong teams were gathering around them. They had already started entering the peculiar ice fog’s magnetic field with a clear purpose. However, they couldn’t just wait around since they had lost contact with their commander, Ying Chenlin.

“If we can’t get closer, what can we do?” Chi Lizi asked in confusion.

The ones missing were Zhao Lejie and the main forces of KID. Given Ying Chenlin’s intelligence, he wouldn’t just sit idly by in the avalanche; it was highly likely that he had caused it intentionally. With strong teams now surrounding them, charging in would only waste Ying Chenlin’s prior arrangements. It would be better to use the gathering of the strong teams in the Snowy Mountains as a chance to thoroughly investigate the situation around it.

After a brief discussion, Ke Lin and Wen Yi made their decision.

“We’re going on a mission.”

—

Meanwhile, in Slared’s underground, the group of five under attack were diving deeper.

After Yuan’s warning, even before Ying Chenlin could speak, You Su and Huo Yan also noticed the anomaly.

“Is Lao Zhao’s shield freezing?” Huo Yan asked.

Zhao Lejie, focused entirely on controlling the shield, immediately checked the shield’s data upon hearing Huo Yan’s comment. Sure enough, he found feedback showing ice forming on the shield, “Damn… what kind of place is this underground—”

You Su’s gaze lingered on the mecha’s surface temperature. In less than two minutes, the surface temperature had plummeted by 30 degrees, and it continued to drop as they descended.

Such a drastic temperature change was strange, as normally, the deeper one goes towards a planet’s core, the higher the temperature should be.

Yet now, the deeper they descended, the colder it got.

The turbulence around them continued, with the ice forming on Zhao Lejie’s shield shattering shortly after forming due to the impacts. They were being dragged further down by those strange tendrils, with the tendrils almost completely entangling the entire shield. When the searchlight shone out, it was impossible to see the state of the surrounding ice layers clearly.

Before they could even figure out why the ice was forming amid the turbulence, they were suddenly thrown shield-first into a vast space. The plant tendrils covering the shield’s surface slowed their movements but continued to grip Zhao Lejie’s shield tightly, refusing to loosen their hold.

Lin Yao’s entire mecha was upside down. Struggling to see what was happening, he asked, “Are we there yet?”

Huo Yan shined his spotlight through the gaps between the tendrils outside and noticed that they had arrived at a rare open space. “It looks like we’re there. The outside seems quite spacious.”

Zhao Lejie, who was being crushed by Lin Yao, grumbled, “We’re there, so could you get off me already?”

Lin Yao quickly scrambled to his feet, pulling Zhao Lejie up in the process. “Oh, oh, sorry about that. Thanks for the hard work.”

“Now you realize how hard it is for me!” Zhao Lejie complained while propping himself up with one hand on his shield. Just as he regained his balance, he suddenly noticed that the plant tendrils covering the surface of his shield were crawling slowly.

The sound of their crawling echoed eerily in the vast underground space, causing the mechas inside the protective shield to momentarily freeze.

The beam of the spotlight was lowered, illuminating the tendrils crawling on the ceiling. Like some kind of crawling creature. They circled Zhao Lejie’s shield, making a rustling noise as they moved, before eventually retreating slowly.

Lin Yao: “It seems like that thing is licking.”

The rustling sound continued to linger in the air as Zhao Lejie held up his shield, unsure of what to do. “…My shield is dirty now.”

Huo Yan: “No worries, just give it a wash and it’ll be fine.”

The tendrils didn’t retreat completely, with a few thick ones still tightly coiled around the Defensive Shield. However, the gaps that were left open were enough for everyone to see the situation underground clearly.

Huo Yan pointed his spotlight outwards, but the beam couldn’t reach the end.

The dark, lightless ice layers of the underground space were immensely vast. The ice-formed stalactites hanging from the ceiling resembled the sharp, eerie teeth of a giant beast. In this peculiar ice-layered space that seemed endless, spikes of ice hung everywhere. The ice-layered ground was uneven, with several areas forming bizarrely tall ice pillars.

These ice pillars were of strange, irregular shapes.

Ying Chenlin’s gaze stopped on the nearest ice pillar, and suddenly he shouted, “Huo Yan, shine the light to the left.”

As soon as the light hit that spot, everyone instantly got goosebumps.

Inside the ice pillar was a pollutant.

Seeing this, Ying Chenlin quickly turned on his own spotlight and shined it around. Every one of the irregular ice pillars surrounding them had pollutants trapped inside.

You Su’s eyes darkened slightly. “Ying Chenlin, look at the one in front of us through your scope.”

Hearing this, Ying Chenlin immediately looked through the scope. The magnified view instantly revealed the details of the ice pillar.

Inside the translucent, white ice pillar, a pollutant was motionless. At its lower left, thin, black tendrils were crawling, penetrating the ice and clinging tightly to the pollutant. The legs of the pollutant had already turned into white bone.

Seeing this, Ying Chenlin’s expression changed slightly, and he quickly looked at the other ice pillars, feeling his heart sink.

Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that these pollutants were in the same predicament as them—dragged down by the roots and turned into nutrients for the pollutant.

Lin Yao’s eyes widened, “Has it been drained dry?”

Zhao Lejie looked up at his shield, which was already covered in ice. “Damn it, are we really that unlucky?!”

Huo Yan: “It seems to be getting colder.”

Deep beneath the Slared Snowy Mountains, the temperature had reached an eerie freezing point. Even with the temperature control system inside the mecha cockpits, the biting cold still seeped in through various gaps, making the temperature inside drop lower and lower.

This strange chill gave everyone the sense that they were on the brink of freezing to death, prompting them to increase the cockpit temperatures to ward off the cold.

Zhao Lejie was the coldest among them, his mecha was nearly pressed against the edge of the Defensive Shield’s light circle, and a thin layer of ice had even formed on his mecha. He had to move his body to shatter the ice off himself.

Ying Chenlin had no choice but to increase the temperature inside his cockpit to 35 degrees. He fully understood the pollutant’s strategy now. No wonder it had let go halfway through dragging them—it was waiting for them to loosen their resistance before dragging them into its domain to absorb them.

However, the resistance offered by the mechas within the ice layer was beyond its expectations, and their ice-breaking actions had also attracted the pollutant’s attention, prompting it to act again.

“This isn’t normal freezing. The cold here is strong enough to freeze even energy sources.” Ying Chenlin deployed a detection tool from his mecha, connecting it to Zhao Lejie’s mecha. The data from the shield was quickly transmitted over.

Zhao Lejie was taken aback. “What are you doing?”

Ying Chenlin frowned, “I’m helping you repair your shield. We can’t let it fail.”

The Defensive Shield was an energy light barrier formed by a shield-type weapon, which had a certain stability and variability.

The light barrier formed by this type of defensive weapon covers a large amount of energy, consuming a significant amount of it each time it’s deployed. As Tank mechas operate in Contaminated Zones, the materials chosen for the mechas possess some level of cold resistance, and the freezing point of weapon energy is extremely low.

In a normal environment, weapons couldn’t be frozen; there was only one possibility—the pollutant was causing the Defensive Shield to freeze.

In an environment like the Snowy Mountains, the likelihood of encountering ice-type pollutants was the highest. Ying Chenlin had seen weapons capable of freezing mechas in competitions, but freezing a mecha and freezing energy were two different scenarios.

Moreover, Zhao Lejie’s current weapon was one of Ying Chenlin’s creations, with even stronger cold resistance than typical defensive weapons.

If the weapon energy could freeze, and Zhao Lejie’s shield failed, the mechas wouldn’t last long in this environment. Huo Yan’s Counter-Damage Shield didn’t have the same level of defense; until the cause was determined, Zhao Lejie’s shield needed to be preserved.

“Wait!? How many pollutants are there in this place?” Zhao Lejie asked.

Lin Yao: “If we’re unlucky, just one; if we’re lucky, there should be many.”

Zhao Lejie: “…”

Do you guys at KID have a weird understanding of luck?!

You Su, relying on his searchlight and scope, scanned all the ice pillars around, while Theo’s voice continued in his mind.

“Wow, I’ve never seen the one on the left before!” Theo kept glancing around. “Oh, and there’s another one—never seen that one either! It’s not even recorded in Slared’s database, and neither is it in ours. Is that one on the left an S-Level?”

You Su was secretly alarmed; the pollutants in these underground areas were all incredibly rare.

Lin Yao shouted, “Is that an S-Level Ice Bird?! I’ve seen it in Slared’s database.”

Huo Yan remarked in surprise, “Then this plant-type pollutant must be really strong if it can use an S-Level as nutrients.”

“It seems there’s more to this than just cooperation,” You Su added. “This plant-type holds a higher position.”

Ying Chenlin’s mental power entered Zhao Lejie’s mecha through the Medical mecha’s interface for data adjustment. Upon inspection, it was found that the ice covering the shield had only frozen the surface energy; the internal energy had not reached a freezing point.

This was good news—if only the surface energy was frozen, then it meant that Energy Cannon shots and other artillery weapons could still be used.

The shield’s wear and tear wasn’t as high as expected; Zhao Lejie’s control was very precise.

Ying Chenlin fully released his mental power, meticulously spreading it over Zhao Lejie’s weapon, extending it around him, and gradually repairing the worn areas.

Ying Chenlin withdrew his mental power. “It’s done.”

Zhao Lejie hadn’t even noticed Ying Chenlin’s mental power; the repair process had used such a small amount of it that he wouldn’t have realized it without being told. “Huh? It’s done already? Maybe you should check again; I took quite a bit of damage.”

Ying Chenlin looked at him with confusion. “There’s no need.”

Just as Zhao Lejie was about to say something more, he suddenly noticed the Artillery mecha next to Ying Chenlin, and his words got caught in his throat.

He brought up the mecha’s data and was momentarily stunned when he saw the shield’s repair data.

As a Tank, Zhao Lejie often received repairs from his team’s Medical mecha, but despite having gone on many missions with KID, this was the first time Ying Chenlin had used a Medical mecha to repair him.

When Li Jingyan approached the three major bases to discuss the Star Alliance’s mission, the base leaders had initially considered assembling a full team to fill the six vacancies. However, Qi Sicheng and Ke Lin had unanimously decided to bring an extra Artillery mecha instead of a Medical one, leading to the final team composition.

Qi Sicheng and Ke Lin had great confidence in Ying Chenlin’s repair skills, even though he was an attack-focused Medical.

This confidence was based on Ying Chenlin’s previous repair capabilities. Now, as Zhao Lejie looked at the mecha data on his panel, he suddenly realized that Ying Chenlin wasn’t following the usual Medical mecha repair system at all. Instead, he first identified the worn points and performed precise repairs on critical areas.

What would take others five minutes to complete, he had finished inspecting and repairing in under three minutes.

Having experienced Ying Chenlin’s on-the-spot repairs for the first time, Zhao Lejie was already reaping the benefits. If he had someone like this by his side, who could immediately identify and repair the most critical damage areas on his mecha, it would be like having an extra life!

Zhao Lejie: “…”

KID was incredibly lucky to have snagged such a treasure like Sink.

Repairing the shield was one thing, but the main priority now was figuring out how to leave this place or understanding the situation within this space.

As Ying Chenlin finished the repairs, Huo Yan had already compiled and sent him the surrounding information. Based on the mecha’s current detection range, the extent of this space couldn’t be estimated, and finding a single pollutant in such a vast area would be very difficult.

“Lin Yao, cut off all the roots.”

Lin Yao paused for a moment, and quickly pulled out a knife. “Old Zhao, make an opening for me.”

With his shield repaired, Zhao Lejie shook off the layer of ice, and as the ice underfoot receded, visible icy traces appeared beneath them. Lin Yao hurriedly cut all the roots entangled with Zhao Lejie’s shield before his weapon could freeze. The ice piles shattered as they moved.

The group quickly retreated, moving before they could be frozen into ice pillars.

“They’re not attacking us anymore,” Lin Yao observed.

Ying Chenlin picked up some of the roots from the ground, swiftly tying them around his feet, and said, “Tie these roots around the mechas’ joints; they have high cold resistance.”

Upon hearing this, they suddenly realized that despite the intense cold, these plant roots hadn’t frozen and were moving freely within the ice layers.

“These are good stuff!” Lin Yao tied the cut roots around the outer layer of his mecha’s feet and noticed that some of the root sap hadn’t frozen either. “Would it work if we extracted the juice and applied it to our mechas?”

Zhao Lejie:  “And how exactly do you plan to extract the juice?!”

These special root tendrils seemed to have an unusual energy reaction that could resist the cold, allowing them to move freely through the ice. When tied to the mechas, they significantly slowed down the freezing process, providing the team with much-needed mobility.

This discovery piqued their interest even more. Since these plants remained inactive, they boldly collected a large number of roots and tied them to their mechas.

Following the roots, they continued forward for some time, securing the roots with tight knots. While the roots slightly hindered the mechas’ movements, the fact that they weren’t freezing was a huge relief.

Ying Chenlin shone a light on the ice layer below, noticing black roots embedded within it. Upon closer inspection, he saw that not all of the roots were black; many were milky white, with the black portions likely absorbing blood from the pollutants.

His gaze shifted slightly upwards, stopping on Zhao Lejie’s shield.

With the roots tied to their mechas, they could now move outside the Defensive Shield for about a minute, which allowed them to better observe their surroundings.

However, despite walking a considerable distance through the ice, they found no clues regarding anything “special.”

“This isn’t working,” Zhao Lejie said. “It’s too dark here, and we can’t see anything clearly. Even if our energy holds out, our oxygen supplies might not last long enough for us to continue this underground operation. Are you sure the pollutant that controls the magnetic field is really here?”

Huo Yan also sensed the difficulty of the situation. If the pollutant had appeared in front of them, they could have just fought it. The problem was that they hadn’t seen any pollutants, only an underground feeding ground for pollutants encased in ice.

“It doesn’t seem to be lacking food or drink. What if it just waits us out?” Lin Yao asked.

Zhao Lejie: “Are you seriously giving it ideas—”

“Zhao Lejie, open a gap in your shield for me,” Ying Chenlin said as he took out the Energy Cannon.

Zhao Lejie, hearing the command, controlled the shield to open a small gap. “What are you planning?”

Before he could finish speaking, Ying Chenlin fired the Energy Cannon at the nearest ice pillar.

The blast caused a significant disturbance underground. The ice pillar shattered upon impact, breaking apart the pollutant frozen inside. Its limbs were severed in front of them.

The sudden action startled Zhao Lejie, who had just opened the shield. Before he could react, Ying Chenlin had already reached out and picked up the shattered ice pillar, shaking off the fragments from the mecha’s arm.

Lin Yao approached and observed, “This one’s completely dead.”

Ying Chenlin switched to the Spatial Displacement Staff, using it to break the outer layer of ice. “Extract the energy crystal.”

Lin Yao quickly moved to action, soon finding the energy crystal within the pollutant’s ice. He habitually scanned it with the mecha’s detector. “Strange, the energy crystal doesn’t show any pollutant readings.”

Ying Chenlin said, “It’s been drained dry.”

Zhao Lejie was stunned. “Drained dry? Is this pollutant that terrifying?”

They knew how difficult it was to deplete the energy in a pollutant’s energy crystal, as all mecha weapons relied on this energy.

But now, these roots had effortlessly absorbed the energy from the crystal. Just how powerful was this pollutant?!

Ying Chenlin paused, glancing around. “However, it doesn’t seem to have drained it completely.”

There were no roots moving within the drained ice pillars, but some of the pillars still had roots inside. “Target those with roots.”

You Su switched to the Energy Cannon, aimed at the gap Zhao Lejie had opened earlier, and fired, causing another ice pillar in the distance to collapse. Due to the cold, the weapon’s power had decreased. He said, “Lin Yao, go retrieve that one.”

Lin Yao quickly tossed aside his shield and retrieved the ice chunk that You Su had blasted away. This time, the energy crystal he pulled out of the ice chunk still had some reaction, indicating it was usable. “This one isn’t drained; it’s still good.”

Ying Chenlin nodded. “Then pick it up. We can sell it once we get out.”

Lin Yao pointed ahead. “There’s an S-Level one up front! That one must have its energy absorbed slower!”

Ying Chenlin readied his Energy Cannon and fired another shot, bringing down yet another ice pillar.

Zhao Lejie watched in confusion as KID’s members moved around, joining in the ice pillar destruction, while he was the only one still standing in place. “??? Wait, what are you guys doing?”

Destruction? Provocation? Collecting pollutants? Or maybe just making the best of a dire situation? If they didn’t come up with a plan soon, they’d all end up dead here!

“Didn’t you say we can’t just sit around and do nothing?” Ying Chenlin kept firing as he spoke to Zhao Lejie. “Since we can’t find it, we have no choice but to lure it out.”

Ying Chenlin and You Su split up to the left and right, directing all their cannon fire at the ice pillars.

As the distant ice pillars were knocked down one by one, Zhao Lejie felt an inexplicable tingling sensation creep over him.

Zhao Lejie: “?”

At that moment, he noticed the ice beneath his feet vibrating, as if something was crawling rapidly toward him.

Ying Chenlin said, “It’s coming.”

Lin Yao, who had just retrieved the S-Level pollutant’s ice chunk, looked excited. “It’s here, Huo-ge! A big one!”

Huo Yan: “Which side?!”

“Is it on the left?”

You Su: “Underground, on the right.”

Ying Chenlin: “From the sound of it, also diagonally above us.”

Zhao Lejie: “…?”

What were they even talking about???

Just then, the ground, which had previously calmed down, suddenly began to shake. Zhao Lejie swung his light to the side, catching sight of the plant roots within the ice layer that had now started to move again, suddenly surging toward the mechas on the surface.

Zhao Lejie, bewildered, turned his head just in time to see a mass of roots lunging in his direction. At that moment, he desperately missed Qi Sicheng.

KID seemed to have gone completely mad on the brink of death, refusing to sit idle and instead actively courting danger.

Author’s Note:

The thing underground is rather complex, so this part will be lengthy.

There are quite a few pollutants in this area!

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