Chapter 107: Manual Mecha

“Why are you asking, Village Chief Yun?”

“Because we need to fly back, of course. Or do you all plan to spend the night here?”

“Don’t we have the flying white horses?”

Yun Qimu rolled her eyes at Pei Yu, who had asked the question. “The Pegasus card has a time limit. Right now, we can only use it for two hours. Once I put them away, the timer stops, and we’ll need to wait twenty-four hours for the cooldown before we can summon them again.”

Pei Yu: Sorry, I didn’t know.

But Pei Yu felt this was only natural—he’d never drawn a card before, so how was he supposed to know about these limitations?

Such is the fate of the unlucky.

Wu Xingyu let out a peach-flavored burp and said calmly, “I brought my mecha, but it doesn’t have much energy left. Once I get up there, I’ll pull you all up.”

Pei Yu, happily licking his jelly, immediately looked over and complained, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? If you had your mecha, you could’ve just come back yourself. We wouldn’t have had to fly all this way to find you.”

Wu Xingyu shot him a flat look. “I was busy fighting monsters.”

Pei Yu choked—was she blaming them for coming too early?

Hmph, kids these days just don’t appreciate good intentions.

He grumbled inwardly, thinking there wasn’t anything good in those treasure chests anyway, so why bother fighting monsters? But after being put in his place a few times, he’d learned to keep such thoughts to himself and not say them out loud.

Yun Qimu, however, nodded approvingly at Wu Xingyu. “Exactly, you should always fight monsters when you see them. Even a single spirit coin is still a coin. There are so many treasure chests outside—even if each one only has a single coin, it still adds up.”

Wu Xingyu frowned. Why does that sound a little off?

Pei Yu, thinking he’d picked up on some deeper meaning, couldn’t help but grin. “Hehe, Village Chief Yun is right. Every spirit coin counts.”

Noticing Wu Xingyu’s dark eyes turning his way, Pei Yu quickly averted his gaze, whistling nonchalantly. “Anyway, it’s getting dark. Let’s hurry back.”

No one else objected—the cave was too cold and not suitable for staying overnight. Better to get back early and enjoy some hot fish soup.

Wu Xingyu snorted, stifling her irritation as she quickly opened all the treasure chests. Then, with a gloomy look, she released her mecha, her face as dark as thunder.

Clearly, she hadn’t found anything good.

This time, Pei Yu didn’t dare provoke her, keeping his mouth shut and obediently following behind Mo Xie like a well-behaved little tagalong.

Yun Qimu turned her attention to the mecha.

It was a black mecha, extremely low-key and without any flashy decorations—obviously just a basic model. Yun Qimu, who’d been excited to see the future Iron-Blooded Emperor’s legendary ride, couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“We don’t have a rope long enough, so let’s just sit on the mecha’s shoulders to go up. Fly steady, okay?” Yun Qimu huffed and puffed as she climbed up the protruding metal plates, hanging onto the mecha’s thigh. She looked up and called out to Wu Xingyu, who was about to jump into the cockpit.

Wu Xingyu poked her head out and looked down at her. Her sleek black hair drifted down, brushing past her fair, handsome face and softening her usually sharp features, making her cold, serious beauty seem a little warmer.

But then her brows furrowed, and she said in a cool, analytical tone, “That’s not safe. When the mecha starts up, there’s a magnetic vibration that causes the outer shell to tremble at frequencies invisible to the naked eye. It’s hard for anyone to hold on. You look small and light—one gust of wind and you’ll be blown right off. I’m afraid you’d get shaken loose as soon as we take off.”

Yun Qimu gripped the mecha’s shell tighter, her upturned lips drooping a little as she looked up at Wu Xingyu with dark, brooding eyes.

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds.

Then Yun Qimu pressed her lips into a line and lowered her voice. “What are you saying? You think I—”

Wu Xingyu, as if suddenly realizing her own survival instincts, quickly cut her off, “I think you should come inside and sit with me. My mecha has a co-pilot seat.”

Yun Qimu’s lips curled back up, her beautiful face breaking into her usual gentle smile, her voice tinged with delight. “Alright, I’ll take the co-pilot seat.”

Her sweet, gentle tone seemed to soften even Wu Xingyu’s wooden, expressionless face. Then Wu Xingyu reached down a hand.

Yun Qimu smiled and offered her hand.

Her delicate, slender fingers rested in Wu Xingyu’s pale, long, well-defined hand, and she could feel the warmth from the other’s palm.

Wu Xingyu’s fingers unconsciously curled, the inside of her hand tingling a little. Then she tightened her grip, wrapping Yun Qimu’s small hand in hers, and with a firm pull, lifted her up.

Don’t be fooled by her thin arms—she was strong and steady, not even a hint of a tremble.

After pulling Yun Qimu up to the cockpit, she seamlessly supported her by the thighs, cradling her like a child and smoothly settling her into the co-pilot seat.

She moved so fast that Yun Qimu barely had time to react.

It was the first time she’d ever been helped onto a mecha like this. The feeling was… a little strange.

But her attention was quickly drawn away by the dazzling array of buttons on the mecha’s control panel.

She asked in surprise, “This is a manual mecha? Why not use a neural-link mecha?”

As far as she knew, by this era, manual mechas had already been phased out across the stars, replaced by the more advanced neural-link models.

Manual mechas like this one were practically antiques. Where had she even found it?

But come to think of it, the future Iron-Blooded Emperor’s legendary ride was a manual mecha called “Dark Night.”

He had led Dark Night into countless battles across the stars, crushing the six royal courts and earning a fearsome reputation on the battlefield. After that, Dark Night became a household name, and manual mechas saw a resurgence.

People gradually realized that manual mechas were truly exceptional. With enough skill, they could avoid many of the major drawbacks of neural-link mechas.

Especially for those with weak or unstable mental power—using a neural-link mecha could mean the difference between success and catastrophic failure, and such people were often deemed to have no mecha talent.

But with manual mechas, it was different.

Anyone could learn to pilot one, even ordinary people with no mental power at all, greatly increasing the accessibility of mechas.

She herself had first learned on a manual mecha.

Wu Xingyu’s dark eyes showed a hint of surprise. “You can tell?”

“Of course. Neural-link mechas are controlled entirely by mental power, so there are only a few buttons. But this one has so many—it has to be a manual mecha.”

Wu Xingyu was silent for a moment. “You’re right, that’s an easy guess.”"