The mecha's feet crushed half a discarded e-bike, its knees slamming into a corner convenience store. Lin Ye's temples throbbed as he keenly sensed the armor's condition: tiny cracks in the left arm, energy leakage from the right leg thruster, and the most critical—the single faint blue light flickering in the chest's energy core.
"Energy reserve only sufficient for basic mode," the mechanical voice blared again. "Terminate synchronization immediately."
"Who said terminate?" Lin Ye gritted his teeth, recalling the red alert blaring from his mother's medical pod, the footprint of Chen Mo's humiliation still fresh. "Give me… give me weapons!"
The left armor deployed a particle beam cannon; the right unfolded an electromagnetic blade. Chen Mo's hovercar screeched to a halt three hundred meters away. Trembling, he mashed the comm button: "Family Guard Team, this is Chen Mo—unknown mecha in the Old District, prepare…"
The particle beam's blue light tore through the night. Lin Ye aimed for Chen's thruster—he meant to warn, not kill. But his eyes widened in shock: the beam's power far exceeded expectations, piercing the hovercar's protective layer and burning charred holes into the metal hull.
"Energy overload!" the voice screamed. "Current sync rate 1%—cannot sustain high-energy weaponry!"
The mecha's arm jerked uncontrollably upward, the beam swinging toward the sky. Only then did Lin Ye realize: what he'd thought "basic" operations were a dimensional mismatch for the Xingqiong. He frantically cut the weapon system, but the thrusters auto-activated, slamming the colossal frame into a neighboring residential building.
*Boom!*
Concrete chunks pelted down like rain. Lin Ye spun dizzily in the cockpit until the Xingqiong jammed between two buildings, grinding to a halt. Gazing at the damaged structure, his heart pounded like a drum—cries echoed below. A little girl was trapped in the rubble.
"Help… help…"
Lin Ye's hand pressed uncontrollably onto the control panel. The mecha's mechanical arm tore through warped steel plates, lifting the girl to safety with precision. When his fingertips brushed her warm cheek, the chest's energy core flickered to life with a second blue light—sync rate rising to 5%.
"Emotional fluctuation detected in suitable host," the voice softened. "Activate 'Guard Mode'?"
"Go!"
The Xingqiong's pupils glowed with a warm golden hue. It bent and threaded into the wreckage, propping up cracked concrete slabs with hydraulic clamps and clearing shattered glass with electromagnetic suction cups. By the time the last elderly resident was carried out, dawn light streaked the horizon. Collapsed in the cockpit, Lin Ye's uniform soaked through with sweat, yet he felt more lucid than ever.
"Sync rate dropped to 3%," the voice reminded. "Return to a concealed location."
The mecha retracted its weapons, merging into the Old District's e-waste mountain. Lin Ye removed his helmet; damp air laced with rust flooded in. Only then did he notice his watch had returned to his wrist, the star map rotating slowly. On the back of his right hand, a pale blue starlight mark had appeared.
His phone vibrated—a hospital payment reminder: *Ms. Lin Shufen's today's treatment fee overdue. Remaining time: 02:17:34.*
He fumbled for the crumpled paycheck stub in his pocket—twelve takeout orders last night had earned eight hundred yuan, but the medical pod's base fee alone cost three thousand. Gazing toward where the Xingqiong loomed, its outline indistinct in the morning mist like a sleeping beast, he whispered:
"I'll make you unlock your full power."