What Should I Do If My Ex-Girlfriend's Pheromones Smell Too Good? - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Speed, The Professional’s Clever Touches, and Venus de Milo’s Broken Arm!

For Shu Qiong and Yan Xiangyu, last night was destined to be a sleepless one.

In the morning, Yan Xiangyu was brushing her teeth with dark circles under her eyes when she saw a ghostly figure drifting behind her in the mirror, footsteps light and unsteady.

The “ghost” caught sight of her dark circles and let out a subtle smile: “Good morning.”

Yan Xiangyu nearly choked on her mouthwash: “Did you pull an all-nighter?”

Shu Qiong looked at her gloomily: “You don’t look like you slept well either.”

“…”

Last night, both had suffered an “pheromone eruption.” Since neither was in a position to mock the other, they tacitly agreed to move on from the topic.

Shu Qiong stood beside Yan Xiangyu, squeezing toothpaste onto her brush. “Does your back still hurt?”

Yan Xiangyu met her gaze through the mirror: “Much better.”

A moment later, Yan Xiangyu finished washing up. Before leaving, she pulled a handful of candies from out of nowhere and smoothly tucked them into Shu Qiong’s pocket. “Don’t get so absorbed in your work that you forget to eat.”

With the toothbrush still in her mouth, Shu Qiong imitated Yan Xiangyu’s usual cool demeanor and gave a sharp wave of the hand to signal she received the message.

Amused, Yan Xiangyu tucked back a stray lock of hair that had stuck to the corner of Shu Qiong’s mouth while brushing, and then she left.

Once ready, Shu Qiong headed straight to her workshop without delay. She planned to finish the major assignment for her Practical Mech Construction class today.

The door closed, the lights flickered on, and a whirlwind of chaotic activity began. Shu Qiong chewed on chocolate, occasionally stretching her limbs and pounding her lower back to relieve the tension.

She stayed in the workshop the entire day. Shu Qiong felt she had truly pushed herself to the limit today, losing all sense of time. She made do with a tube of nutrient solution for lunch and actually managed to finish modifying the standard-issue mech a day ahead of schedule.

Since no one had classes on Wednesday afternoon, Shu Qiong took off her goggles and checked the time on her bracelet; it was only a little past three.

Yan Xiangyu happened to be in the training area taking a break. Seeing Shu Qiong’s message, she replied, “Be right there.”

She parked her mech in the lounge and used the central control system to teleport to the second floor. Five minutes later, she appeared outside Shu Qiong’s workshop.

The door was open, but currently, only one person’s figure could be seen inside.

Song Lianqiao was already quite familiar with them and gave a cheerful greeting: “Hi~”

“…Hello,” Yan Xiangyu nodded politely. “Where’s Shu Qiong?”

Song Lianqiao replied happily, “I don’t know!”

She had also been soaking in the workshop all afternoon researching her own major assignment, but she was lacking inspiration and was frustrated to the point of pulling her hair out. When her idol sent a message, she came over immediately.

“You guys got here fast?” Shu Qiong’s startled voice came from behind.

After finishing her work state, she had actually sent messages to three people. The first to reply instantly was Su Heyi. Unfortunately, he held a student cadre position and was currently in the administration building, attending a meeting with a “soul-less” expression, with no end to the meeting in sight.

Shu Qiong assumed the other two would take a while to arrive, so she had stepped out to the restroom.

“But the timing is perfect.” Shu Qiong was in a great mood. “Come, come, let’s go see the results of my modification.”

First, she accepted Yan Xiangyu’s mech via the console, then tapped her own: “My ‘Starsea’ prototype. What do you think?”

The initial conditions for a military academy standard-issue mech are limited, so high-level optimizations aren’t really possible. Additionally, because Shu Qiong was very precise with her budget, she discovered she actually had money left over after the modification.

Since reimbursable funds shouldn’t be wasted, she decisively ordered several cans of the best paint and gave the mech a full-body makeover.

Shu Qiong had great aesthetic taste. The originally dull grey body of the standard mech had been painted a deep navy blue, accented with patterns of silver-white, light blue, and pale yellow, combining a sense of technology with a dreamlike beauty.

Song Lianqiao couldn’t take her eyes off it, her voice full of envy: “So beautiful… I want to change the color of my mech too.”

Yan Xiangyu asked, “Prototype? Are there 2.0 and 3.0 versions coming?”

Shu Qiong snapped her fingers: “Bingo! Congratulations to this student for spotting the main point. This is actually a ‘speed-optimized’ entry-level low-spec mech I attempted based on the requirements of the Mech Design League. If the test results show this line of thinking is viable, I’ll start upgrading the model further.”

As she spoke, she transferred this unique standard-issue mech downstairs, setting the destination to the first-floor training hall.

Three or four in the afternoon was the busiest time for the training hall. As soon as the three of them released Starsea, its striking appearance caught everyone’s eye.

“Holy cow, which master designed this? It looks so high-end.”

A senior student specializing in mech manufacturing narrowed his eyes: “The aesthetics are high, but why does the structure look so familiar…”

A mech pilot student beside him slapped his thigh: “Of course it’s familiar, this is a damn standard-issue mech!”

“…Is this for the freshman Mech Construction practical assignment?”

The crowd’s expressions shifted.

Mainly, in the past, no one would waste precious budget on something as trivial as a paint job. Budgets were never generous to begin with; every mech designer wished they could split a penny in half. Only someone whose brain had malfunctioned would use funds for spray paint.

This must be an amateur who cares way too much about looks!

Shu Qiong didn’t care about the comments around her. She eagerly climbed into the cockpit: “I’ll try it first?”

Yan Xiangyu and Song Lianqiao had no objections: “Your mech, your call.”

Starsea’s sleek frame was more slender than other standard mechs. Shu Qiong manipulated it to stand straight and slowly performed a Tai Chi opening stance.

The crowd: “…” She’s just here to play! After waiting so long, this is all we get to see?

Shu Qiong unhurriedly stretched her limbs. Starsea’s massive body tilted toward Yan Xiangyu as if saying hello, then it started walking toward the horizontal bar and track zone.

She had watched Yan Xiangyu run twice and was already very familiar with this track. She excitedly got into position at the starting point.

Boom!

Suddenly, Starsea accelerated. The power system opened up completely in an instant. It started and turned at a speed far exceeding other mechs of the same type on nearby tracks, darting across like a massive bolt of lightning.

The onlookers finally realized that the paint job looked even better in motion. The dancing blue hues looked like bold oil painting strokes, while the occasional silver reflections were like brilliant stars under a dark blue sky.

“So fast!” The mechs on the adjacent tracks stopped running, standing frozen as they watched Starsea streak past them.

Shu Qiong’s every move was like a machine following a specific program. She had visualized the optimal path for this track in her mind countless times; now, those imaginary images were being faithfully reproduced one-to-one.

She controlled Starsea to slam the finish timer. The massive body even appeared light and agile during the emergency stop.

Beep beep! A line of text jumped onto the large screen above the training hall: “The fastest record for Track Ⅱ-3 has been refreshed.”

Shu Qiong stepped out of the cockpit, feeling like there were still a few details at the joints that could be further optimized.

Yan Xiangyu let Song Lianqiao take Shu Qiong’s place while she examined Shu Qiong closely. Shu Qiong knew exactly what she was thinking: “Did you think I was like you, not taking care of my own body?”

She proudly spread her arms, showing she was completely unharmed. “Totally fine!”

Yan Xiangyu laughed: “Impressive, impressive.”

Nearly everyone in the training field was watching. Song Lianqiao boarded Starsea, her heart a mix of trepidation and excitement, terrified she would perform poorly and ruin Shu Qiong’s reputation.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s just a test.” Shu Qiong mouthed the words from a distance: “Go for it!”

Song Lianqiao walked toward the simplest straight track, which only had slightly rugged terrain and few obstacles. As soon as she took her first step, she keenly noticed the difference between Starsea and other standard mechs.

Its shock absorption was exceptionally good; the pilot could minimize the sense of vertigo and discomfort that usually comes when first boarding a mech. After a few more steps, Song Lianqiao couldn’t help but look back at Shu Qiong in surprise.

A large part of the motion sickness caused by mechs comes from the high-speed moving field of vision. The human visual nerve, even with the aid of the mech’s viewing window, finds it difficult to operate so efficiently. A large part of Shu Qiong’s budget had been spent on the viewing window—shockproofing and intelligent dynamic capture were the primary upgrades.

She wanted everyone who sat in Starsea to feel as comfortable as if they were home, treating the mech’s limbs, ears, and eyes as their own.

Shu Qiong truly believed that for mech development to make a major breakthrough in the future, the most important factor would be significantly lowering the threshold for operating it.

Starting from this goal, she carefully studied the power structure of the university’s standard mechs and found it to be better than she imagined. However, looking at the practical data from cadets—including many excellent seniors—the theoretical top speed it could reach was far from being realized.

It wasn’t that the power system was inadequate; it was that the human body limited the mech’s performance. Shu Qiong realized that if she wanted to further enhance the mech’s speed, the bottleneck wasn’t the power system.

The tension in Song Lianqiao’s heart faded significantly. She had never felt that piloting a mech was such an effortless task. Following Shu Qiong’s example, she suddenly ramped up the speed and leaped from the starting point.

Beep beep! The fastest record for Track I-1 has been refreshed.

The crowd stared blankly.

So it wasn’t a pilot issue? Was it really because the mech’s performance was just that superior?

Holy crap, so the person who designed the flashy mech wasn’t an amateur—the pro was just playing with them!

Human nature is to admire the strong.

The same “showy” operation would get a “trash student” mocked by everyone, but when done by a “pro,” it earns a massive wave of respect. That’s not called wasting budget; that’s “The Professional’s Clever Touches,” or the “Broken Arm of Venus de Milo!”

Shu Qiong completely ignored their admiration, recording Song Lianqiao’s feedback line by line in her small notebook. She tilted her chin toward Yan Xiangyu: “Your turn.”

Before entering the cockpit, Yan Xiangyu was in the mood to joke: “You both refreshed historical records. It would be a bit unreasonable if I didn’t refresh one for fun, wouldn’t it?”

The onlookers were horrified. Refreshing a record for “fun”?

Shu Qiong felt this person was sometimes quite childish, so she played along: “Do what you can, Student Yan. If you can’t refresh it, forget it.”

“…” Yan Xiangyu had only meant to joke, but after hearing that, the mech that had already turned its back spun back around. “Just wait.”

Now she had to refresh one.

She walked directly to the most difficult Track VII, her gaze sinking as she scanned the narrow, winding, snake-like path ahead, adjusting her breathing rhythm. She had been practicing on this track with a standard mech all afternoon and had a solid understanding of its difficulty.

People nearby were already holding up their bracelets to record, determined to witness the moment this warrior challenged the “Hell-level” track.

“Wow, she’s really doing it!” a senior remarked. “I can barely even pass this track, let alone break a record. That record hasn’t been broken in over ten years, right? The senior who holds the top spot is supposedly a big shot in the military now.”

“I know, that record was left by Senior Lin Yuan, right?” someone nearby chimed in. “She’s retired and in politics now. Don’t call her a military big shot; she’s a giant in the political world!”

Amidst the crowd’s unflagging discussion, Yan Xiangyu drove Starsea and sprinted out with agility.