Li Chunyu sighed, "I don't know what's up with Bowinton. He was fine yesterday, but he's vanished today. I can't reach him on Comm-link either; I've emailed him."

Ziye puffed out her cheeks, thought for a moment, and said, "Forget about him for now. Let's first discuss an issue we need to settle before even starting production."

The four boys spoke in unison, "What issue?"

Yi Yi, one of the boys, had a rather rough voice, and the four of them speaking at once sounded like a neat military shout, startling Ziye so much she nearly flinched.

Ziye jumped, clutching her chest and rolling her eyes. "Can you keep it down? I’m easily scared."

The twins laughed so hard they nearly collapsed. "You get scared? That's rarer than finding natural light on a space station!"

Ziye glared at them, cheeks still puffed out.

Li Chunyu smoothed things over, "What's the problem? Tell us what it is."

Ziye said, "It’s naturally about the mecha components. The competition rules state we can only use a maximum of three non-self-fabricated components. We need to decide which three those will be before we start making what we need."

Bobo immediately chimed in, "The engine?"

Sprent countered, "The central drive shaft is also critical."

Ax thought for a moment. "I think the shield generator is the most important. The shield's durability and hardness must be perfect. If it shatters under cannon fire, we’re done too."

Li Chunyu pondered, "I believe we must have a powerful enough CPU; otherwise, nothing else matters."

Ziye just considered the matter, saying nothing.

Seeing her placid expression, they asked, "What do you think?"

Ziye tapped the central drive shaft with her stylus. "I'm certain I can build this. No problem."

—The reason she was so confident was that the drive shaft was one of the core technologies mastered by Tangshan, and she happened to have learned it.

Li Chunyu asked, "Then which components are your weak points?"

Since Ziye was in charge of fabrication, the best approach was for her to build the parts she excelled at, and they would buy what she was less skilled with on the market.

Ziye looked conflicted. "I want to try the engine, but I can’t guarantee anything. The engine types I'm most familiar with are the most basic and ancient; they probably won't handle the combat on the battlefield." The strengths of the Queen-class and Monarch-class lie in firepower, not engine performance.

The other three looked troubled after hearing this.

After all, this was an intergalactic competition, the largest they would participate in during their time at the academy. It would be dishonest to say they didn't value it highly. If they lost to others because of the engine, they would certainly be unwilling.

Viewed from another angle, no matter how grand the competition was, it was still just a competition.

The purpose of a competition was to experience, in advance, what they would need in future life, or rather, to taste the battlefield ahead of time.

If they didn't dare to experiment in a competition, they certainly wouldn't dare to experiment on an actual battlefield. People like that would find their paths narrowing, and they would inevitably be defeated by those brave enough to try.

The Out-of-Sheath team was a top-ten powerhouse at Lingsi, and everyone understood this principle. Thus, as soon as Ziye finished speaking, all three showed varying degrees of internal struggle.

"Ahem, I think we should give it a try," Sprent was the first to speak with a slight smile. "Isn't the point of a competition to pit things you built with your own hands against others? If what we make ourselves can compete with what they buy off the shelf, that's where the fun is!"

Ax immediately agreed. "+1. Relax, it's not a huge deal. If you want to try, let's try."

Li Chunyu looked at Bobo, then at the twins, finally settling her mind. "I also want to see if the mecha I designed can withstand sustained artillery fire."

With everyone on board, Bobo shrugged. "Looks like I don't have a choice but to agree."

This meant both the drive shaft and the engine would be self-built.

Ziye chuckled inwardly; it was close to what she had intended. The metal they planned to purchase was mainly for fabricating the engine and the drive shaft. She recorded this with her stylus and then stated, "The CPU is my weakness."

Li Chunyu replied, "It's not my strong suit either."

The others had no objections.

Good, the CPU was settled for purchase, but which manufacturer to buy from led to another round of debate.

The five of them spent the entire day in the lab, discussing every single component, determining whether to buy or build, where to purchase from, and how to proceed with the construction.

The mecha was primarily conceptualized by Li Chunyu, with Ziye responsible for fleshing out the details, the twins providing pilot experience feedback, and Bobo handling the integration. This mecha had reached this stage by fusing the intellect and effort of all five.

However, the five still worried it might not be good enough, so they reviewed everything again, starting data testing and analysis. By the time they finished, it was already night. Thinking that tomorrow would be much smoother with Bowinton present, they contentedly returned to the school apartment to sleep.

Many Lingsi students remained on campus during the break, and students returning from leave were trickling back, along with a significant number of new freshmen. The campus was bustling.

Ziye flew her skiff over the lively campus, let out a breath, and said to Little Sprout, "Doudou, I'm thinking of using some Renwei metal pulled by Douzai for the central drive shaft. Do you think that's feasible?"

Little Sprout activated a light screen and instantly displayed a screen full of data. "See for yourself."

Ziye glanced at it lazily. "Of course I know. If I add even a little bit in there, the entire specification for the drive shaft would have to be scrapped and restarted. If I told them, I'd be dead before I finished explaining."

Little Sprout gloated, "Then why did you ask?"

Ziye pouted. "Fine, pretend I didn't ask."

After some thought, she got up and dialed Bowinton's number.

Although they had made many decisions in his absence today, he was still a teammate, and she needed to inform him and find out why he couldn't make it.

Surprisingly, the call connected.

Bowinton apologized, "I'm sorry. I had planned to return to school yesterday, but my grandmother unexpectedly passed away... I'm truly sorry."

Ziye hadn't expected such a thing and could only offer comfort, "My condolences."

Bowinton said, "Thank you. I’ll take the interstellar bus tomorrow morning at seven; I should be at the school by eight-thirty. We can talk then."

Ziye agreed.

On the other end, after hanging up the Comm-link, Bowinton smiled at the girl sitting next to him. "She actually believed me. Idiot!"

The girl nestled into his embrace and whined flirtatiously, "You're a bad man."

Bowinton kissed her cheek, his voice muffled, "You're the bad one. You clearly told me to slow them down, and now you're blaming me."

The girl pouted, "I just missed you too much."

Bowinton was conquered by her sweet words, leaning down to kiss her, smiling lewdly, "And then? What else do you need me to do?"

The girl smiled faintly. "I want you to—" She beckoned with a finger, and Bowinton felt a burning desire overwhelm him, pressing down instinctively...

The next day, Bowinton returned to Lingsi as promised and went to the lab, politely apologizing to every teammate.

Ziye had told the four that Bowinton was delayed due to a bereavement. Seeing his red, bloodshot eyes and exhausted demeanor, the four assumed he was overwhelmed with grief and comforted him further.

—This was, in reality, the result of him spending the entire night carousing with his girlfriend.

Bowinton secretly laughed at how naive the five of them were, while outwardly accepting their comfort with a show of "suffering."

After waiting for his emotions to settle a bit, Ziye asked, "What about your materials? Where are they? We're just waiting on yours."

Bowinton was prepared for this. "They're in the warehouse. See if you have enough."

Ziye walked into the warehouse and frowned slightly at the metal. Having dealt with alloys for many years, she could gauge the general quality instantly. The metal before her probably didn't even meet 75% purity.

However, facing someone who had just returned from a funeral, she felt awkward about scolding him. She began testing the materials with a heavy heart. As expected, the purity was only 73.7—too low even to build a door, let alone a mecha.

All three batches of metal were of extremely poor quality.

Ziye couldn't help but ask, "Why is the purity of the metal you bought so low? Didn't I specify it needed to be at least 95% pure?"

Everyone realized he had been duped, and they all sighed.

Sprent, being the most direct, angrily exclaimed, "Do you have any common sense? You got swindled over something this basic?"

Bowinton feigned panic, sweat breaking out on his brow. "The boss clearly tested it in front of me, and it showed 95% purity! How did it turn into this? Can we use this? Or should I go buy new ones right away!"

Sprent was about to say more, but Ax stopped him. "Nothing we say now helps. Little Yezi, check them—can any of this be used?"

Ziye sighed, activated the conveyor belt, and placed the metal into the purifier. "This is too much trouble. At this purity level, we'd need at least four cycles of twelve separate processes just to meet the requirements, and we definitely won't have enough volume."

Bowinton looked helpless. "Th-then what should we do?"

Ax glanced at him. "How much money do you have left?"

Bowinton was frantic. "I spent it all. I know this is my fault. I’ll cover the cost this time and buy new ones, okay?"

The more anxious he pretended to be, the less his teammates could blame him.

He knew he had succeeded and secretly sneered; his girlfriend was right. Dealing with this group required softness. The thought that they couldn't proceed according to the established schedule pleased him.

The time allotted for mecha construction wasn't long or short. Wasting so much time on materials, and then tampering slightly with the production process—their mecha wouldn't be completed!

What 'top powerhouse team'? Humph!

At this moment, Bowinton felt utterly fearless.

He had joined the team late in the semester; the semi-finals had already passed, and he hadn't formally registered as an Out-of-Sheath member. To avoid confusion among the competitors, the next formal registration would be at the finals, which was when the mechas were displayed.

Bowinton seized this gap to cause trouble so brazenly.

Sprent stomped out of the lab in anger, going to the gym to vent ferociously. Damn it, he despised scoundrels like this most!

Ax was more rational. He sat down and opened his Comm-link to redo the budget.

He and Sprent had calculated exactly how much of each metal to buy and how much it would cost.

Bowinton's stunt had spent their money, wasted time, and now their budget was extremely tight.

-(To be continued.)

For more novels, visit storyread.net.