Chapter 115: His Design Sketch… Impossible… Part 1

Ela said nothing. He sat up and glanced at the half-open door of the interrogation room.

Xie Jianxun gestured for him to go in. “They’re still waiting for you.”

Soon, Ela came out as well. It was clearly just a routine questioning, nothing more.

Once they regained their freedom of movement, Xie Jianxun’s first stop was to find the Captain.

Min Xingwen and his team members sat in the break room, discussing among themselves. You Liang sat beside him, leisurely crossing his legs and peering down at something.

Xie Jianxun pushed the door open, and everyone in the break room turned their heads.

Min Xingwen rose, gripping the back of his chair. “Boss, you okay?”

Xie Jianxun shook his head. “I’m fine. They just asked about what happened earlier. What about the injured guy I brought back?”

Min Xingwen replied, “We sent him to the hospital.”

Xie Jianxun sat in a spot next to him and couldn’t help asking, “So, what exactly happened?”

The Captain hesitated for a moment before slowly explaining. “It actually had nothing to do with us… Pretty much like this: a mech team was training in the Wild Zone. During an attack on a Giant Mineral Beast, one of the mechs malfunctioned by coincidence, and people got caught in the crossfire and injured. Though the injuries were severe, fortunately, no one died.”

Xie Jianxun recalled what the injured man had said about He killing someone, and he felt a slight relief.

It was probably because the scene of the injury was so gruesome that people mistook it for a fatality.

It was also fortunate that he had arrived at the call for help in time and diverted the malfunctioning mech; otherwise, that injured man might have died on the spot.

You Liang, legs crossed beside them, boasted smugly, “If I hadn’t gotten there so fast, that bleeding guy inside would’ve bled out and died.”

It turned out that You Liang had been wearing an Exoskeleton at the time. He had charged into the Danger Zone and rescued the injured man.

The Captain showed a somewhat disapproving expression toward his actions, but given that he was one of the bosses—and the City Lord’s son—he spoke rather tactfully.

“Saving people is good, but that’s the Danger Zone. Don’t be so reckless next time…”

You Liang dismissed it casually. “I run fast anyway. I won’t get hurt.”

Xie Jianxun thought to himself that his family must trust him quite a bit, considering his personality—they’d even shoved him straight into the Wild Squad.

He turned to the Captain, who began discussing their next plans.

“Boss, with such a big incident, we probably can’t enter the Wild Zone for a while. Do you want a refund or what?” he asked cautiously.

Xie Jianxun said strangely, “We can’t enter the Wild Zone anymore?”

The Captain confirmed, “Yeah, that malfunctioning mech stirred up a mess in the Mining District. A bunch of Giant Mineral Beasts got spooked. It’s chaos inside now—lots of camps got attacked. We have to wait for the Outpost to sort everything out.”

So that was it. The materials Xie Jianxun wanted would have to wait, or they’d need to source them from another Wild Zone.

He thought for a moment and said, “No problem. A few days’ delay is fine. I won’t ask for a refund. Next time you head out on a Wild mission, just call me along. How’s that?”

After all, the overall experience had been top-notch. Aside from that last mishap, the earlier parts felt like a pleasure trip—great service, tons of fun… ahem.

Min Xingwen laughed. “No problem. We do have a few missions left unfinished. We’ll head back in once the Outpost reopens the Wild Zone. Hmm, looks like the Electric Baton isn’t effective enough. We’ll need to apply for a hunter’s license and bring guns.”

On the other side, the Deputy Captain sighed. “If only we had a Combat Mecha. Too bad no one here can pass the Advanced Mech Engineer certification.”

Moments later, someone from the police station came over and knocked on the doorframe.

“It’s over. You can all go.”

The group quickly stood up, feeling like survivors of a disaster. Finally, they could head home for some proper rest.

At the Outpost entrance, Tuls was deeply reflecting on his negligence. “I shouldn’t have left the boss and climbed the tree myself. I should have shared fortune and hardship with the boss, advanced and retreated together…”

Xie Jianxun covered his ears and signaled him to stop.

“Don’t do that, Mr. Tuls,” the Little Adventurer said sincerely. “I can run fast on my own, and barely manage with Ela too. One more person, and it’d be tough.”

Tuls sighed, “Ah, the boss has such a kind heart…”

Xie Jianxun quickly changed the subject and asked him, “Did you find out about what I asked earlier?”

Tuls hadn’t been in the break room earlier because he’d gone to inquire about it.

He nodded and whispered, “Silver University students, school mech team. Yes, they’re in the inpatient ward at Central First Hospital. Boss, you going to visit them?” That was exactly what he’d asked—which hospital the injured had been sent to.

Xie Jianxun said, “Friends. Gotta check on them.”

Tuls jumped in immediately. “No problem, boss. I’ll go buy some fruit baskets right now. Guaranteed not to show up empty-handed.”

The group walked one after another to the Outpost entrance, only to see a large wave of people surging in, carrying cameras and microphones—reporters who had heard about the big incident and come specifically to interview.

“We heard this incident involved a mech malfunction, and it was Nevi Group’s new Brain Domain Mech model. Does this indicate significant control risks with Brain Domain Mechs?!”

“How are the injured doing? Can they accept an interview?”

“We heard two heroes stepped up to save people. Are they still on site? We need to interview them…”

Xie Jianxun paused, pivoted on his toes, and turned to look at the map hanging on the Outpost wall.

Then he sneaked around behind the crowd, all sneaky-like.

From inside came You Liang’s smug voice. “Yes, I rescued the injured from the Danger Zone. It wasn’t anything else—it was this Exoskeleton designed by Mr. Idis that I’m wearing…”

The reporters erupted in a tsunami of exclamations.

Tuls said in a tone of surprise, “Mr. You Liang really loves his Exoskeleton.”

Xie Jianxun lowered his voice. “It is pretty useful. Mr. Idis is a genius, right?”

He said the last part softly to Ela, who paused, then nodded solemnly. “You’re right.”

The next day.

After everyone had rested up, they piled into an aerial taxi and headed toward Central First Hospital in the city center.

Halfway there, Xie Jianxun remembered something.

He rummaged in his Light Brain Space and pulled out a piece of verdant ore, showing it to Tuls and Ela.

“I got this by chance while chasing the Mineral Beast Cub,” he said candidly. “What is it? Doesn’t look like material for Mineral Paste.”

Tuls recognized it at a glance. “That’s Emerald, boss. Raw ore, no energy factors. Definitely can’t make Mineral Paste with it.”

Xie Jianxun had suspected it was Emerald but wasn’t sure it was that straightforward.

Since Tuls confirmed it, he held the Emerald up to his eye.

Most of it was still wrapped in stone, with only one side exposing a brilliant, polished green surface. Mineral Beasts had a habit of collecting ores and grinding their claws on them, so finding Emerald in their nests wasn’t rare.

Tuls grinned. “You could have it made into jewelry or something. Need a craftsman, boss? I know one—top-notch work, and I’ll get you a discount.”

Xie Jianxun said, “Sure.”

At Central First Hospital, Xie Jianxun first made an appointment at the front desk to visit.

The receptionist checked and said it was within visiting hours, so they could go up.

Tuls slipped off quickly to buy things. Xie Jianxun held Ela’s hand as they stood in the hospital lobby, looking up distantly. He saw tiny ant-like heads bobbing on different floors and couldn’t count how many stories the building had.

The elevator rose, and they walked down a corridor, knocking on a ward door.

“Please come in.”

Xie Jianxun pushed the door open. The man in the bed saw them and didn’t seem too surprised.

Xie Jianxun placed the fruit basket very traditionally by his bedside and sized him up for a moment. “I heard you were badly injured when they got you out. How are you feeling now?”

Gu Xuning shook his head and gestured toward the egg-shaped Life Support Pod in the corner. “Just superficial wounds. A short lie-down in the Life Support Pod fixed it.”

A Life Support Pod was expensive medical equipment; even a single use cost a fortune.

As he put it, a “quick lie-down” probably ran several thousand credits.

Gu Xuning continued, “Those of us with fractures are fine—patched up and a Life Support Pod session, and we’re bouncing around again.” His brows suddenly furrowed in worry. “But for some reason, He’s still in a coma.”

Xie Jianxun said in surprise, “When Ela stopped the malfunctioning mech, he seemed to see Him moving in the cockpit. Right, Ela?”

The short figure stepped out from behind Xie Jianxun and nodded.