Chapter 51: Mu’s Awakening

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This was Ye Chong’s third month in Black Cove and his task of the day was to mine for black gold ore. The ore was one Black Cove’s speciality commonly found scattered in orbits around the planet. It was indeed a tedious job to mine the valuable ore. The mining ships could not enter the asteroid belt, so mechs were utilized instead. It was impossible to perform scans of the asteroid belts. Hence, holographic images were taken and inspected with the naked eye in search of ore deposits. The process of mining the ore was also akin to a mixed training regimen that tested one’s piloting skills and eyesight. To make matters worse, the procedure of transporting the ore back was also a challenging task.

The yield of the black gold ore was extremely low. It was primarily used to manufacture the black masks worn by Ye Chong and the rest.

Ye Chong’s mech, the F-58 was similar to the others’ in Black Cove. They were all black humanoid mechs. However, due to Ye Chong’s deft hands, his mech was modified to include a few extra features which kept it at par with his skills.

In truth, Ye Chong had improved tremendously in these past few months. More importantly, he began to understand the concept of battle strategies instead of relying solely on his instincts and experiences as he did before. He also thought that Mu’s foundation training for him was not as ridiculous as Hak said, but was surprisingly quite useful to him. Ye Chong was not very skilled in the ancient martial arts and he was not particularly interested in them either. For instance, Ye Chong did not find that the breathing technique taught by Hak was effective. As for foundation and steel sphere training taught by Mu, he finally surpassed the tenth level of steel spheres that he was struggling with for a long time after sacrificing blood and tears. The silver liquid’s effect was truly remarkable and it sure did give him satisfaction.

Ye Chong had seen Hak in action. Although he had the strength of a bull, Ye Chong still felt a hint of disappointment. If Hak and Mu were to fight against each other in a combat, Ye Chong was quite confident that Mu will take him down effortlessly with just a stab.

“Oh dear Mu, when will you wake up? I miss you so much!“ Ye Chong thought to himself.

His vision darkened and Ye Chong shifted his focus back to reality only to realise that his mech was approaching towards a very large rock. Ye Chong was startled and immediately maneuvered his mech out of its way just in time to avoid collision.

The presence of the rock indicated that the black gold ores were depleting around that particular area. Thus, he would have to travel further into the asteroid belt in order to get his hands on the ore.

Ye Chong drove his mech deeper into the recesses of the asteroid belt.

He flew deeper inside and yet could not manage to find any black gold ore along the way. It seemed that he was out of luck today.

Ye Chong was dispirited. However, as he decided to make a turn back, a huge black gold ore of around two meters in diameter came into view and it was heading further away from him at a high speed.

Ye Chong gained confidence and pulled himself together. Without further hesitation, he accelerated his mech and went after the giant black gold ore.

All of a sudden, his mech rocked violently and Ye Chong felt as though he lost control of it and being pulled in by a strong attractive force. The mech was flying all by itself.

Ye Chong immediately sensed something amiss. He quickly reversed the engines and steered backwards in hopes of escaping the pulling force.

Even though he had increased the engine’s capacity to its maximum, his mech was still being pulled forward.

When Ye Chong looked ahead, he was dumbstruck. The debris around him were pulled towards the same direction as his mech by an external force. Ye Chong then noticed that the debris were forming a whirlpool pattern and he became aware of what he was about to face.

An asteroid whirlpool! This must be an asteroid whirlpool! This was Elma Zone’s most terrifying feature. Due to its existence, not many dared to venture into the depths of the zone.

“No way! How can I be so out of luck?” Ye Chong wailed mentally.

Ye Chong tried desperately to escape from the grasp of the asteroid whirlpool but no matter what he did, it was of no use!

As the asteroid whirlpool grew larger, it became more visible. Ye Chong realized how massive the asteroid whirlpool was and realised that he was just a speck of dust compared to it!

Ye Chong felt very helpless.

At that moment, he thought that his fate was about to be ripped to shreds. Who would have thought that after rebelling against his destiny for so many years, his death was determined by an asteroid whirlpool? Ye Chong drowned in his sad thoughts.

“Idiot! What are you fantasizing about? Are you looking forward to your death?” a voice suddenly played in his mind.

Ye Chong startled and felt an instant joy. “Mu, is that you?”

“Alright, there’s no time for talking. Now direct the mech nine degrees away from the radius vector and make small bi-directional angle adjustments along the way!” His assumption wasn’t wrong. It was Mu! This was a voice Ye Chong would never forget in his life!

Ye Chong suppressed his overjoyed emotions and quickly moved his hands over the controls. He did not have any doubts on Mu’s instructions. If there was someone whom Ye Chong trusted with his life, it would definitely be Mu!

Ye Chong’s hands manipulated the controls at lightning speed. His breakthrough with the ten steel spheres in his training had paid off in this situation. Ye Chong’s shadow-like hands were no longer just skin and bones, but they were as solid as rocks.

Ye Chong’s F-58 suddenly changed its direction and started to shake vigorously and laterally at small-angles. The F-48 was like a black fish desperately struggling to escape from a fishing net, struggling non-stop! Like a miracle, the F-58 began to pull away from the asteroid whirlpool!

Ye Chong gave a sigh of relieve.

“Now switch to eight degrees from the radius vector and repeat the motion!” Mu’s voice rang again.

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“Hu, hu, …” Ye Chong panted heavily. All the hustle and bustle to save the ship from being sucked into the asteroid whirlpool had drained most of his energy but it was all worth it.

“Looks like you have improved tremendously!” Mu commented lightly.

Ye Chong was still absorbed in the joy of escaping death and reuniting with Mu. “Yeah, I’ve been training at Black Cove and learnt quite a few things!”

“Black Cove?” Mu’s tone sounded off.

And so, Ye Chong began his story from when he first awakened. Mu listened intently while occasionally interjecting a few questions.

When Ye Chong finished, Mu went quiet.

“Is there a problem?” Ye Chong asked curiously.

Mu kept silent for a few moments before answering, “That Black Cove that you mentioned might be a problem!”

“A problem?” Ye Chong was baffled.

Mu did not answer him directly, but instead he asked, “Ye, did they give you this mech?”

Ye Chong nodded. “Yeah, this mech has an amazing performance and it can even withstand the deadly asteroid whirlpool. I’m impressed!”

“Remove the seventh photon circuit board from under the controls in the mech and check it carefully,” Mu’s voice was still calm as ever.

Ye Chong took out the seventh photon circuit board as instructed and began inspecting. He believed Mu had his reasons for him to do it. Hmm! As expected, something was not right. There seemed to be a return circuit that was capable of signalling. By logic, there should not be a return circuit in this part of the circuit board.

Ye Chong might not be well educated in worldly matters, but he was not dim. On the contrary, he was very bright and he could deal with situations like these with a breeze. Without hesitation, Ye Chong used some tools to remove that photon return circuit for he was not keen on being spied upon.

“Don’t worry. It’s just this one spot. I have checked the rest for you!” Mu spoke leisurely.

Ye Chong only acknowledged with an “Oh.” Ye Chong was not particularly angry about it since he had learned much from them and there was no free lunch in this world. “However, the food at their canteen was not that bad,” Ye Chong thought yearningly and licked his lips.

“Ye, you said you were soaked in some kind of silver liquid.”

“Mm, you’re not saying that’s a problem too right?” Ye Chong said with hesitation.

“The possibility is very high!” Mu did not care for Ye Chong’s feelings and spoke plainly.

“That damned Black Cove…” Ye Chong was about to give a furious glare in the direction of Black Cove to express his anger when he suddenly panicked. “Mu, I think we’re lost!”

“I realized earlier on,” Mu replied lazily.

“What do we do?”

“Based on my experience, anything that happens around you can be said to be incalculable events,” Mu declared decisively.