Xu Le cautiously stretched out his finger, gingerly touching the dusty mechanical arm in front of him. As his finger made contact, dust immediately stained his abdomen, but the surface of the mechanical arm's three alloy peaks revealed their original color, emitting a faint black light, albeit somewhat dim. The machine armor was covered in dust, seemingly left here by someone long ago, sitting for many years as if waiting for its master's call, despite its eternal stillness.
A chilly sensation traveled from his fingertip to his brain, and Xu Le let out a gentle breath. His eyes were filled with restrained excitement. This was the first time he had personally seen a real machine armor up close, let alone touched it. He even worried that the machine armor would come to life at his touch.
Of course, Xu Le had seen pictures of many machine armors in library periodicals. A month ago, on a hilltop, he had witnessed 11 of the latest black machine armors surrounding Uncle, but the impact of touching one was far more shocking. This was the most powerful close-combat weapon of the federal military, often existing only in the fantasies of young federal enthusiasts. Xu Le looked at the worn-out machine armor with excitement, discovering that it was not just old but also quite clumsy in design, barely reaching the height of the ceiling, which diminished its intimidating presence. The weapon loading system had been stripped, and the alloy components' joint spots were damaged. He wondered if it could still move.
Somewhere inside the mechanical leg of the worn-out machine armor, Xu Le found a data plate. He wiped off the dust and stared at the characters written on it in a daze. He didn't understand when the federation had developed this type of machine armor. The small watermelon, whom he held in his hands, curiously extended her tiny head and, after looking at the plate, said, "Elder Brother, M02."
M02, the first-generation machine armor of the federal 37 constitution. It was a prototype, but the subsequent machine armor designs mostly followed its principles. This included the present highest-level M52 series machine armor used by the federation military, which could be considered its descendants and successors. Xu Le raised his head, looked at the worn-out machine armor, and let out a sigh. He never expected to have the opportunity to see such an antique legend.
"Oh no," the small watermelon noticed Xu Le's excited and eager expression and cautiously reminded him, "It's dangerous."
Xu Le scratched his head and chuckled. He realized his impulsiveness was a bit unreasonable this time. He forcefully restrained his desire to continue observing the machine armor, as he understood that, compared to his own interests, solving the small watermelon's predicament was the top priority. He held the small watermelon's hand and continued walking towards another part of the room, casually grabbing a toolbox from the wall and removing the anchor screw from the air conditioning duct. Without turning back, he said, "Wait here, don't wander off."
This storage hold, or rather, the abandoned goods storage hold, was quite remote. It was likely that no one had visited in many years. Xu Le wasn't worried about the small watermelon's safety. However, shortly after he crawled through the dusty and dirty ventilation pipes, he squatted in front of the small watermelon, panting. Irritated, he said, "Why didn't you remind me? I can't crawl like this!"
Although there were no monitoring devices in the air control ducts, some sections were narrow enough that adults couldn't pass through. But a child like the small watermelon could easily crawl through these pipes inside the spaceship. The small watermelon looked at the dust on Xu Le's face and giggled, covering her mouth.
...
...
Upon reaching the small watermelon's room, Xu Le's expectations of the truth were shattered. Although he had studied under the guidance of the machine repair master for a long time, his skills were still disorganized. Perhaps due to his selfishness, in the following days, he became more peaceful and spent time playing with the small watermelon in the room. They ate the somewhat monotonous but not entirely unappetizing synthesized beef. The small watermelon was an incredibly clever child. Even in that remote and quiet room without children's books or a television, she never got bored. She would sit on the bed peacefully, listening to Xu Le as he told stories, or she would tell him stories instead.
"Small watermelon, don't you find it boring to stay with me all the time?" Xu Le seemed unchanged on the surface for several days, but deep down, he grew increasingly anxious. This young girl, who suddenly appeared by his side like an elf, how should he handle her? Although the journey was long, the day would come when they reached the Capital Star Circle. He couldn't hide her from so many people, nor could he take her away. Moreover... the small watermelon's family must be worried about her. The question was, could her family be trusted?
"As long as I don't have to play the piano or paint, it's good," the small watermelon looked into Xu Le's eyes, nodding earnestly. In her little heart, finding joy in their idle days was the greatest pleasure.
Xu Le shrugged. He truly didn't understand the way children think. While the small watermelon found joy in idleness, he felt that something was amiss. The long space journey, surrounded by peace and serenity in the vast and beautiful expanse of space, had become a monotonous repetition. Xu Le looked at the dim stars in the distance through the window and suddenly understood that his strange feeling stemmed from longing for something.
...
...
Covered in dust from head to toe, Xu Le spent half a day crawling through the ventilation pipes from Zone 32's clean area. Finally, he reached the rejected storage hold and opened its golden gate with anticipation. He didn't have time to bask in his success as memories flooded his mind. Lost in the spiderweb-like pipelines of the spaceship, he raised the worn-out, discarded old-style machine armor impatiently, unveiling it in front of him once again.
In that instant, Xu Le confirmed that his intuition was correct. For the past few days, he had yearned to return here, to see this worn-out machine armor again. He was now overwhelmed with satisfaction and a faint excitement. He longed to return here, to see this machine armor, not because he had an intense desire to control it, as most young enthusiasts in the federation did, but because... he wanted to fix it.
Although Xu Le had passed the initial test to become a Ministry of Defense machine repair officer, he couldn't continue down that path. However, his ideal and deep-rooted passion for repairing things had not diminished. Since he was young, Xu Le had a strong interest in fixing things. Even after four years of working with Uncle, his interest hadn't waned; instead, it had grown stronger. Whether it was in the mine tunnels of Hexi Province's capital suburb or the repair shop on Xianglan Main Road's fourth block, whenever he saw broken electronic appliances brought in by neighbors, such as malfunctioning crystal screen televisions or electric cars with gear-shifting issues, or even damaged life chips, he felt an exhilaration and impulse, akin to a condor spotting its prey, to immediately repair those broken items.
Seeing the worn-out machine armor before him, Xu Le realized that this time was different from the past. He was not just an observer, but a participant. Xu Le was an individual, but he was also part of a group. Since he had made it this far, he couldn't simply leave. Whether he would be able to restore this tattered machine armor to its former glory was uncertain. He wasn't even sure if he could repair the broken three-alloy surface, but he decided to give it a try. Before starting, he adhered to his good work habits. He meticulously wiped away the dust from the damaged surface of the machine armor, finally finding a vacuum plastic bag. He let out a low exclamation of joy as he discovered the instruction manual for the M02 machine armor, just as the book had described. Holding the manual in his hands, Xu Le began to study it with great interest. He stood, leaned against the wall, and eventually sat down. The starlight outside the spaceship remained unchanged, and so did his gaze. He earnestly and greedily absorbed all the parameter values and module structure patterns, wholeheartedly immersing himself in the study. Time passed unnoticed.
After a while, Xu Le finally put down the instruction manual and pondered for a long time. Then he started gathering the tools and materials he needed from the rejected storage hold. Occasionally, he raised his head to observe the extent of damage on the worn-out M02 machine armor. His gaze wandered over the machine armor's shoulder and suddenly stopped at the entrance of the cave-like opening outside the cabin door. He smiled sheepishly. The little miss had poked her head through that opening, her black hair covered in dust, looking pitiful. She looked at Xu Le on the floor and said, "Elder Brother, I'm hungry."
Xu Le returned the toolbox to its place on the wall and chuckled, "I'll go to the kitchen and bring something to the table."