NOVEL WEB Chapter 11: Chapter 11
The old man led Tian Kaiwen straight into an unremarkable two-story gray building. Just as they reached the door, they saw a soldier who was also wearing only his underwear and had a pair of standard Federal automatic mechanical repair arms on his hands. The old man grinned and muttered to himself in a low voice, "Hehe, did those damned guys come to their senses today? Knowing I'm shorthanded, they actually sent two people." Then he shouted at the soldier, "Hey! You, what are you looking at? I'm talking about you. Come with me!"
The mechanical-repair soldier looked thoroughly disgruntled, as if he'd been saddled with an extremely arduous task. He followed the old man with his head down, then turned his head and secretly asked Tian Kaiwen, "Brother, what did you do? To be sent to this monster's hands."
The fat guy was taken aback. He had a vague sense that something was amiss and said, "I just got here. I don't know anything." He thought to himself, "Oh no, it must be about those more than twenty times of desertion recorded in the battlefield automatic recorder." Ever since he joined the army, the fat guy knew that according to military regulations, deserters would be subject to a military trial and punished according to the severity of the circumstances. The most severe punishment was the death penalty! Especially soldiers who deserted during the war were almost invariably executed. Although he was a mechanical-repair soldier, the number of times he'd run away was a bit too much.
In fact, apart from the combat-maintenance teams specifically assigned to combat units, other professional mechanical-repair soldiers didn't belong to the combat sequence. In the military, they were in the same logistics sequence as field hospitals. When the battle situation was unfavorable, they should be evacuated first. Unless in special circumstances, they wouldn't be sent to the battlefield. And if they hadn't received a combat order, running away when their own combat units were routed couldn't be considered desertion without a fight.
The fat guy's deception record was already known to some people. In their eyes, they just thought this mechanical-repair soldier was really good at running away and lacked the consciousness of self-sacrifice and fighting to the end for the country. It was inevitable that they felt a bit contemptuous of this guy's cowardice. However, at most, this would just affect the fat guy's future in the military. The charge of desertion didn't really apply to him.
Thinking this way, the fat guy felt a bit panicked. But once he was here, he had no say in the matter. He thought that if he had known this, he might as well have spent a few more days on the road or just gone into seclusion in the mountains.
The old man led them through several twists and turns in the corridor, passed through several thick iron gates, and then entered an elevator. He fiddled with the control console of the elevator for a while, and a panel popped up. The old man placed his hand on the panel, and a green light scanned his palm from top to bottom and then his pupil. After confirmation, the elevator finally started and went down. After about five or six minutes, the elevator finally stopped. Based on the fat guy's perception of the elevator's speed, they were at least five or six hundred meters underground.
"Where on earth are we? I'm just a mechanic. There's no need to lock me up this tightly!" the fat guy wailed in his heart.
The elevator door opened, and a corridor appeared in front of the three of them. They walked dozens of meters along the corridor and came to a transparent disinfection room. The old man pushed the two of them in and said repeatedly, "Hurry up and get in. After disinfection, there are antibacterial suits next to it. Get them and put them on yourself!"
Hearing that it wasn't a gas chamber, the fat guy's heart, which had just been raised, relaxed a little. He quickly entered the room, washed himself under the shower, and put on a large-sized antibacterial suit.
Seeing that the fat guy was quick, the old man nodded in satisfaction and said, "Well, you're quite fast." After waiting for a minute, seeing that the other mechanical-repair soldier was still dawdling with putting on his clothes, the old man roared at him, "You damned guy, hurry up! Don't waste my time."
Finally, when the mechanic had put on his clothes and came out, the old man led the two of them through the last door. It was an alloy automatic door. As soon as they entered, an enormous hall came into Tian Kaiwen's sight. The hall was piled with mechanical parts, mechas, weapons, and all kinds of equipment. In the center of the hall, there was also a huge central computer with tens of thousands of electronic signal tubes flashing. A group of people in white dust-proof work clothes were bustling around. There were also some passages and doors around the hall.
The fat guy was a bit puzzled. This didn't seem like a prison; instead, it looked like a huge laboratory.
The old man pointed to a pile of things in a corner, which were indistinguishable as mechas or parts, and said to Tian Kaiwen and the soldier, "Get to work and repair these for me right away. The blueprints are in the computer. Look them up if you don't know. Tools and parts are all available here. Food will be sent down regularly. Help yourself. I only have two requirements: speed and quality! Now is a time of war, and our experiments are urgent. If you can't keep up with my progress, you'll be shot! If you break this equipment, you'll also be shot! If you can't fix them, you'll definitely be shot!"
As soon as the fat guy heard this, his face turned pale instantly.
The old man looked at the fat guy curiously, who had a pale face and was sweating profusely, and then continued, "If you've heard clearly, get to work right away!" With a wave of his hand, he went straight into a room inside, muttering to himself as he walked, "Wasting so much of my time! All of you should be shot, all of you!"
It seemed that although he hadn't gone through a military trial, he was probably already convicted. Now this was his only chance to atone for his sins and save his life. Thinking of this, the fat guy, like a toy rabbit powered by a nuclear battery, rushed to the pile of parts at the fastest speed and buried himself in work. He wanted to use his best performance to change the sentence from a death sentence with a reprieve to life imprisonment.
Looking at this hard-working mechanical-repair soldier, the laboratory staff looked at each other in surprise. They rarely saw such a diligent repairman. Usually, the soldiers sent here to help were those who had made mistakes outside and were sent here to be punished. Because the workload was too heavy, there was no freedom, and the things to be repaired were very profound and complex, they all complained bitterly. A guy like the fat guy was really rare.
Two days later, everyone in the laboratory knew that they'd found a treasure this time. The fat guy worked longer hours every day than those of them who were crazy about research. His movements were incredibly fast, and he could almost repair some rare mechas or weapons without even looking at the blueprints. When the other mechanic received the order to leave here, the mountain-like pile of broken items had been basically repaired by the fat guy alone.
This fat guy was really a talent!
The fat guy quickly got on familiar terms with the researchers in the institute. This guy, who was so afraid of death, was eager to do almost everything. Repairing mechas and weapons damaged during research and experiments was his forte. Coupled with his sweet-talking and good-natured personality, everyone in the laboratory grew quite fond of him.