Chapter 22: Staying Out All Night! Are You Trying to Die?!

Delin urgently dialed Mr. Desmond, but after the Light Brain rang for two minutes, there was no sign of anyone picking up on the other end.

He anxiously shook the Light Brain hard, trying to even out the signal, as if shaking the mush in his brain.

He called again, but still no answer.

Puzzled, he muttered, “Taking care of a seriously ill old mother, and you can’t even spare a moment to answer the phone?”

With no other choice, he quickly tidied his appearance, cleared his throat, pretended to have just come in from outside, toolbox in hand, and walked over as if he’d just noticed the commotion in the repair shop’s backyard.

“Good afternoon, Little Xie.”

Delin set the toolbox on the ground and looked somewhat surprised at the Landship in the center of the backyard clearing. “Does the customer want to repair a Landship? What’s wrong with it?”

Xie Jianxun nodded and awkwardly operated the lift, using the forklift arm to hoist the Landship into the air, making it easier to crawl underneath for repairs. “Uh, Delin, it seems like there’s an issue with the wiring below.”

“Landship repairs are Mr. Desmond’s specialty. Should we wait for him to come back before fixing it?”

Delin desperately signaled Xie Jianxun with his eyes. Xie Jianxun hesitated. “But Mr. Desmond hasn’t been back at the shop for days…”

The customer quickly said, “I need this Landship right away. I’m afraid I can’t wait for him to return.”

Xie Jianxun politely replied, “Please wait while I take a look first.”

Delin laughed. “Haha, I’ll head inside. Be right back, right back.”

Delin pretended to greet them casually while darting back into the shop to rummage through the drawers in the back room’s bookshelf, trying to find books on Landship structures.

Big shot, hang in there! he thought, clattering through the shelves and cabinets.

Xie Jianxun crawled into the space under the elevated Landship, removed the outer panel, and suddenly remembered how they had sat under a star pirate ship before, intently working on similar wiring issues in the belly of a Landship.

His heart skipped a beat as he realized the faulty section was extremely similar to that one.

Back then, the young and handsome man had shoved tools into his hands and asked indifferently, Do you know how?

Xie Jianxun crawled out from under the Landship. The anxious customer approached. “Can it be fixed?”

Seeing him nod confidently, the customer finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He complained, “Before I came, I asked the repair masters in the village. They said Landships look big and rugged, but they’re actually really hard to fix, so I came all the way into the city looking for someone reputable. Everyone recommended Desmond, but he’s not at the shop… Hey, you’re Little Xie the repair master, right? If you can fix it, that’ll be fantastic.”

Xie Jianxun estimated the time—at least three hours to start.

“I can wait, I can wait.” The customer nodded eagerly.

He poured a glass of water, invited the customer to sit, and went to fetch the full set of toolboxes from the back room.

Back in the shop, Delin grabbed his arm like a thief and whispered, “Can you fix it?”

Xie Jianxun said softly, “I’ve learned how before.”

The young man finally relaxed, slamming shut the five or six open drawers with one foot, pretending he hadn’t just eaten dirt.

He winked at Xie Jianxun. “Then I’ll keep doing my jobs. If you need anything, call me. If nothing else, I’m a few years older than you when it comes to dealing with people.”

Xie Jianxun knew what he meant and smiled brightly. “Got it, thanks, Mr. Delin.”

Back in the backyard, the customer was replying to Light Brain messages.

Xie Jianxun took a deep breath, unlatched the toolbox, and pulled out his most familiar modified screwdriver. He had only agreed to take the job because he was certain he’d done something like this before.

But standing alone under the Landship now, he felt a flicker of hesitation.

This was him on the battlefield by himself.

No one to save him—did he really want to tough it out?

Or should he just tell the customer they couldn’t fix it here and suggest he find someone else?

The customer noticed he’d gone still and hesitated. “Little Xie the repair master, what’s wrong?”

Xie Jianxun snapped back, flashing his usual bright smile. “Nothing, just reminiscing a bit. Have a seat; it’ll take a while.”

By the time night fell, the customer couldn’t wait any longer and left temporarily to grab dinner.

Delin sat dozing on a seldom-used little stool in the backyard until Xie Jianxun finally crawled out from under the Landship, rubbing his sore neck.

A gust of wind made his nose itch.

Delin sneezed, half-opening his eyes and mumbling, “Done?”

His young colleague, who had kept saying “not yet,” hesitated uncertainly. “It should be… done.”

“…Done?!”

Delin jolted awake, hurried to the lift platform, and since Xie Jianxun was too exhausted to move, volunteered to climb inside the Landship to run the final tests.

He ignited the engine; interior lights came on, the Landship emitted the friction sound of the engine starting, accompanied by a slight brake pad scrape, and the underbelly rollers stopped.

Delin’s excited voice came from inside: “Awesome!”

He finally relaxed his taut nerves and collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.

He didn’t care about the sandy dirt; his repair uniform was dusty anyway. He leaned back, squinting at the mottled stars in the sky.

The Desert Planet’s skies were always clear, perhaps due to the geography with few clouds, allowing a clearer view of the starry expanse.

Lights flickered, and a head poked out from the Landship.

The head grinned, giving him a thumbs-up “well done” gesture. Xie Jianxun’s lips curved up as he smiled back. “The customer should be back soon. Aren’t you coming down?”

Delin swung a leg out from inside the Landship and laughed scoldingly. “Bro didn’t clock out waiting for you to finish. Aren’t you gonna treat me to a popsicle for that?”

Xie Jianxun said, “Sure. If it weren’t for the book you found later, I really wouldn’t have solved some of those issues.”

The customer soon returned from dinner, delighted to take away the perfectly repaired Landship.

When paying, he not only covered the rush fee but added extra.

Xie Jianxun eyed the amount. “Did you tap wrong?”

The customer waved it off with a smile as the two apprentices escorted the big client to the door. “For the overtime so late—it’s your tip. You two master repairmen, if anything breaks next time, I’ll come straight to you.”

Delin touched his nose, feeling like he hadn’t done anything—how was he a master repairman now?

After seeing off the customer, Xie Jianxun stretched his arms lazily, yawning sleepily.

It was past seven, nearly eight; nearly four straight hours of work without a break would tire anyone made of iron.

Now that he thought about it, Xie Jianxun ached all over.

“It’s so late—come have dinner with bro?”

Delin poked his lower back, egging him on. “Master repairman, you gotta show me the ropes more from now on.”

Xie Jianxun laughed. “Sure, I’m starving anyway.”

They tidied the shop, turned off the lights, locked up. Delin said there was a great restaurant and invited Xie Jianxun to give it a try.

Xie Jianxun had a nagging feeling something was up, but he couldn’t recall what.

It wasn’t until Delin ordered the food and casually grabbed two cups of mint water from behind the counter that his scalp tingled—he’d completely forgotten to check in with the inn.

Worst of all, he didn’t remember Alex’s contact number!

Delin returned with the two cups of mint water and saw his young colleague fidgeting like there were nails on the wooden bench.

Xie Jianxun stammered, “Um, do you know the public phone number for Slieberlich Hotel?”

…

At the front desk, the phone rang.

It was usually takeout orders or upstairs guests needing front desk help—like a broken toilet or collapsed bed frame.

Alex was sprawled on the counter, propping his face with one hand and dozing, when the phone rang. He irritably picked up.

“Hello, Slieberlich Hotel first floor front desk… You trying to die?! Staying out all night? Got some nerve!”

The soft voice of the pretty little waitress on the other end shrank back after the scolding, sounding smaller.

“There’s urgent work to handle… Fine, fine, finish eating and get back quick.” He noticed the Mechanical Puppet glancing over and couldn’t help adding, “One’s right here in front of me. Anything you want to say?”

Before he finished, a distinct-jointed hand reached out and took the phone.

Alex tsked irritably and flopped back down.

The Mechanical Puppet’s expression remained cool, its pupils slowly shifting from light blue to deep blue, though it wasn’t very noticeable at the dimly lit inn front desk at night.

Its voice stayed mild. “Do you need me to come pick you up?”

The voice on the other end paused, then said dryly, “Oh, sure, that works. What’s the name of this place?”

After getting the exact address, it relayed it to One.

One replied politely, “Got it. I’ll be there soon.”

It hung up, looked up, and saw Alex glancing sideways with raised brows. “So trusting… I thought you two were a couple. You watched him like a hawk before.”

The Mechanical Puppet set down the phone, puzzled. “He’s human; I’m a Mechanical Puppet. How could we be a couple? I just need to fulfill my duty of care toward my human.”

The young boss watched it untie its apron, roll up its sleeves, and prepare to go fetch its human home personally.

He tsked again, deciding not to bother.

Xie Jianxun sighed in relief once the call ended.

Delin seized the chance to recommend, “Quick, try this—hot spicy dried beef strips with their special sauce. Spicy and fragrant, not dry at all.”

They ate and chatted. Xie Jianxun had a small appetite but found every dish novel and ended up eating too much, too full to want to stand.

Delin returned after paying. Xie Jianxun offered to split it, but he refused.

Delin rubbed his hands awkwardly—Xie Jianxun was seeing him so reserved for the first time and felt a bit surprised.

“Um, I’ve realized I’m nowhere near ready to handle jobs solo.”

Delin said glumly. “The jobs I took the past few days were simple, so I managed, but today’s customers? I was totally lost! You were busy with the Landship in the back, couldn’t even ask for help… Uh, so, can you teach me more usually?”

He finished with a pitiful look at Xie Jianxun.

Xie Jianxun thought it was something major, but it was just this.

He said generously, “Of course. Isn’t that what we’ve been doing? Just ask me if you have questions.”

Delin waved his hands. “No, no—I want to put all my jobs under your name from now on. You do them, I’ll assist and learn how. Pay: one for me, nine for you. Deal?”

Xie Jianxun’s mind didn’t catch on at first.

After thinking it over, he understood and shook his head.

Delin was stunned. “No? Why?”

Xie Jianxun said calmly, “By contract, we’re both apprentices with equal status in the shop. Putting jobs under my name makes me your boss—that’s not right.”

“Besides, you can assist when Old Man Desmond gets back. Learning from him beats me any day!”

Delin’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “But repairing fine parts is really hard.”

His not-yet-adult young colleague frowned seriously and lectured him:

“Look, you’re just scared it’s too hard. Who doesn’t start from zero? If you were really that bad, Old Man Desmond wouldn’t have taken you as an apprentice.”