8 Build.
Shi Lang was taking tips from a few staff members, some of them even generously offered to teach them after their shifts. The boy gratefully accepted their offer. After an hour, he came back and found the class standing like puppets.
He followed their gazes and found that Jane was dragging a big frame piece that looked like a leg. He hurriedly rushed over and asked, “What are you doing, Jane? Stop. You will damage the frame.”
Jane stopped and said, “These guys were not able to decide what they should start building first, so after discussion, I dragged this out. Now we will start building the mech from down to up.” with a smile on her face.
Shi Lang turned to face the guys, and they all lowered their heads in shame. Jane was the tech student, but she was good at sitting behind the computer and not physical labor. They did not expect her to do this.
Shi Lang said, “If you guys do not mind, then I would like to distribute your tasks. We do this in rotation. Tim, you and Lucas will be responsible for cleaning for the first round. Second Jake, and Aron….”
Following that, he gave the physical tasks to the boys in the class. The parts were damaged from the wear and tear. They also accumulated some dust in the dump yard. Some minor damage was to be fixed before the parts could be placed inside a proper Mech.
Then he asked the girls to take out a bench and use the computer system to use the automated design assembly software to help them keep track of things. This software will help them with following the design they have come up with. He asked the rest of the girls to brainstorm if they could improve the functions without compromising the quality.
The people all agreed with the tasks and they began to work. Shi Lang was not allowed to do heavy labor, so he was supervising the people. The stronger you are the faster you heal. He would take a week to completely recover from his injury. Otherwise, a normal human could have died from that kick.
The people changed shifts every couple of hours. Only Shi Lang was the one who had yet to take a break after four rotations. He was standing the whole eight hours and guided the classmates. He meticulously checked every refurbished part.
The old instructor Tyson watched all this from inside the Mech Bay and nodded in appreciation. It has been a long time since he has spotted such a hard-working student. It was not that he was impressed with Shi Lang standing for eight hours, but he appreciated his patience with his classmates, how he carefully and cautiously checked everything.
If he knew that this guy was an old relic and not a normal young teenager, then he would topple his workbench in shock or might have a cardiac arrest. Well, the battle class students were tired and left without paying much attention to the technological class.
Some scoffed in silence, a whole day and they have not even assembled the basic shape so they thought this was not going to be anywhere. Shi Lang did not bother with these people when it was sunset, and the school was about to close. Only then did he go back home.
They did not bother with the parts being safe. Tyson arranged for the guard to give special attention to the parts. Shi Lang came home, had dinner with his parents, and went to sleep right away.
He was exhausted from all the standing and moving, but he did not tell people. His parents did not ask him anything as well. They were aware that he was weaker than the people and with the exams coming close, he must have been working hard, so being tired was fine.
The next day, Shi Lang woke up and after getting ready, he ate the breakfast his mother made, and with the last bite in his mouth, he ran out. He reached in time and directly began to set the tasks for the people for the day. Today they finally began to assemble the mech.
The girls had come up with some suggestions. Shi Lang and the rest discussed and then decided to ask the staff of the Mech Bay, today Battle Class did not have Mech pilot lessons so they helped Shi Lang without any problems. The progress was good and the help from the experienced people was the key part here.
It took them two days to assemble the frame and then two more days to put the parts into place and finally on the sixth day, they finally created the mech. It had an ugly look, but Shi Lang personally took over the painting to change the ugly looks. It was as if the whole machine was exchanged.
Jane and the girls did not expect the Black and white contrast to turn the ugly mech into what looked like a domineering machine. The height of this mech was 9 feet. The body did not look like the standard mech.
The standard mechs all had an appearance that was close to human beings. However, this mech was peculiar. The legs were reverse joints, the arms did not have claws but were either. The arms were designed in such a way that they could change between various weapons in the minimum time. The cockpit was also a spherical cabin that was meticulously designed to reduce drag and also had a better bullet deflection surface.
Tyson could not help but praise the technological branch more than he saw this. The ingenuity of the design made him pleased. The body was very not bulky but slender and the curves were eye-pleasing. Tyson circled the mech and asked Shi Lang, “Kid, what is the idea of those steel braids at the back of the head?”
The mech had a lot of steel wires braided together, protruding from the back of the head. Shi Lang said, “Those have two uses. One, they are to counterbalance the mech when it changes to different weapons, the second, well, that is a surprise for later.”
Tyson saw a mysterious smile on his face and asked in a low voice, “You plan to take on Mech battles?”
Shi Lang nodded to him as he said, “It has been a long time, Sir. They need to know that we are all Terran.”
Tyson was familiar with the sentiment and nodded. He wished them luck and left. The Battle Class never thought much of this ‘egg’. They named the mech, Egg, because of the design. Shi Lang spent the night in school as a guest. He shared his room with Lucas.
The students of the battle class were all happy with the build. They were rejoicing in their moment of accomplishment. The parts were all not handmade. The girls used an industrial three-dimensional printer for this. The armor coating on the mech was all molded in the three-dimensional printer. The outcome was quality and precision.
They were students who have never done something like this. They were taught how to maintain a Mech, but creating one was never done by students in history. Rosa Blues came forward and registered for their work in the Terran Mech Certification Organization.
The Mech was odd in design, but it passed all the criteria of a mech. However, how can everything go so smoothly? In the wee hours, the technology branch was all gathered in the infirmary. They were informed by Rosa.
She received a call from the infirmary that the patrol guards found two of her students near the washroom, and they were both injured seriously. She called over the rest of the class immediately. The two students had their arms fractured and their jaws dislocated. The doctor said that it is done with the same method. People of the technology branch were all two-star Terrans, except Shi Lang.
Rosa pulled out the surveillance, and they found a grey-haired boy moving away as he avoided the CCTV. Everyone knew that this guy was a person from the battle class, but they did not have any evidence and thus could only grit their teeth.
Upon waking up, the two students told everyone that they were discussing the mech they made. Suddenly the battle class guy came in. They did not say anything, but the guy deliberately started to humiliate them. Calling them chickens who made eggs. They were angry but held back and the guy looked at their expressions and picked up the fight.
The dorms of the two classes were in the same building, the battle class was on the left side, while the technology class was on the right. They ‘shared’ the common area and washrooms. Shi Lang heard the account and was angry. Just because he was a sunny guy did not mean he would allow people to walk over his face.
He left the infirmary and came to the dorm room. He did find Jenkins and his cronies coming out of the building but ignored them like they were wind. This irked the battle class, however, they could not act in the open. The warden of the dorms was right there in front of them. The school did not mind competition in the shadows, but if they were excessive in the open, they would have to pay the price.
Shi Lang came back to calm down his rage. He was not a person to lose his mind easily, but the pressure kept building up, and if he did not find a way to vent. Then he will commit some actions that might regret forever.