Chapter 7 - Chapter: Simon’s Suspicion and the Trash Area Discovery

Contact Keno"Connecting to Keno's communication. Please wait…"In Zone T of the Ninth Prison, inside Simon's "presidential cell," Simon sat on the living room sofa and issued the command softly. The communicator's AI program quickly dialed the number upon receiving the instruction. After a few busy tones, a faint blue holographic projection appeared above the device."Oh, my dear uncle…"The projection showed a young man with neatly styled hair, wearing a shirt and a bow tie, and a short beard. He leaned against a desk, holding a coffee cup in one hand and waving to Simon with the other. "How have you been in prison lately? I watched the live stream of the last Death Star flag match. Mammoth got pretty banged up, didn't it? Can it still compete in the next matches? Well, no matter what, don't lose heart—don't mope around like you're ready to die. Of course, if you insist on dying, I'd advise you not to use that electronic collar. Its blast isn't strong enough; you might not die cleanly. If you need it, I can have someone smuggle in some drugs—just one milligram, and I guarantee you won't stand a chance of surviving."Simon stared at Keno, his face darkening by the second.His full name was Simon 里尔 (Lille), and the young man in front of him was Keno Lille—his nephew, his blood nephew. This kid had perfectly inherited the Lille family's cunning and deceitful genes, yet he scoffed at hiding behind the pretense of a humble gentleman like his father did. Even to his own uncle, he always acted infuriatingly arrogant."That's enough, Keno. I didn't call to fool around with you," Simon snapped, his face stern. "Help me look up someone: Lin Jie, 23 years old, ordinary human, Karl Star Nation cosmic citizenship. He was locked up in the Ninth Prison these past two days—he's probably a high-level mechanic.""Lin Jie… Alright, I'll try…"Keno sensed Simon's seriousness and straightened his expression slightly. He picked up a tablet nearby and tapped away at it. But when a photo popped up on the screen, his seriousness vanished in an instant. He turned the tablet toward Simon, his face filled with amazement. "Whoa, he's a good-looking guy. Uncle, have you taken a liking to him? I can't believe you've only been in prison for two or three years and your orientation has changed…""Your jokes aren't the least bit funny, Keno!""…Fine, stop scowling, my dear uncle. Looking like that every day will make you go bald," Keno said. "Tell me—why do you want to look this guy up?"Do I even have hair left to lose? Simon touched his bald head—so smooth not even a mosquito could stand on it. He didn't scold his nephew further; instead, he told Keno about how he'd met Lin Jie the day before.He'd taken Lin Jie in, but that didn't mean he fully trusted him. Lin Jie was an ordinary human who'd run into danger just days after entering prison—and Simon had happened to be there. His mecha had just broken down, and Lin Jie had just turned out to be a mechanic… These coincidences piled up, making it hard for Simon not to doubt Lin Jie's identity—doubt if he was an undercover agent sent by the Karl Star Nation government to spy on him.That was why he'd asked Keno to investigate Lin Jie. With the Lille family's resources, digging up someone's file should take no time at all."I see…" Keno listened to Simon while flipping through his tablet. A faint smile suddenly appeared on his face. "Uncle, this Lin Jie is actually quite interesting. His file is encrypted—I can only access basic information. I can't view his detailed life story.""Encrypted?" Simon frowned. "So he is an undercover agent, then.""No, Uncle. I think this proves he's not," Keno immediately 反驳 (countered). He tossed the tablet onto his desk. "If I were planting an undercover agent next to someone, I'd definitely forge a flawless, detailed life file for them to be investigated—instead of hiding their entire past like this."That makes sense… Simon nodded, then looked at Keno. "So what do you think we should do now?""Our mechanic had an accident. Since we've got a ready-made one showing up at our door, I suggest you cooperate with him first," Keno said. "As for his real identity, I'll arrange for someone to look into it—it'll take some time. Of course, if you're worried, I have a backup plan. With that electronic collar on, he's just an ordinary human—he can't resist at all. You could…"Snap!Simon ended the call and slouched back onto the sofa, exasperated. At the same time, he made up his mind: if he managed to get out of prison this time, he'd "take good care" of this annoying nephew on behalf of his late older brother.On the Death Star: A Trash Area"This helmet is pretty good. Mammoth's neural link helmet is broken—the visual transmission module isn't working. This one can replace it. Come, let's check if it fits," Lin Jie said, taking a helmet he'd just stripped from a scrapped mecha and placing it on Curly's head.It fit perfectly.Lin Jie nodded slightly after a quick look, then left the helmet on Curly's head and went back to searching for other needed parts. Curly glanced at the prison guards standing on a high platform, monitoring him and Lin Jie, then bent down to help Lin Jie rummage through the trash.Although this was a trash area, filled mostly with scrapped mechanical wreckage, it was like how usable parts could always be found in junk cars—there were still one or two "treasures" to be found here.Besides, Private-class mechas were basic models; their unit modules were low-value, so few merchants would bother disassembling and reusing parts from old mechas. In just a short while, Lin Jie and Curly had already found quite a few usable components.Unfortunately, they still hadn't found a suitable main control chip—the most crucial part."Main control chips are valuable. As long as they're still usable, someone usually strips them out first," Curly said. "We don't even know if we'll find one. The only good news is we still have plenty of time."Lin Jie tossed a broken mechanical arm aside and turned to Curly. "Tell me about yourself. What's your mecha synchronization rate? What rank are you now?""64% synchronization rate. Before I was imprisoned, my mental strength had just reached General-level—though I never got to pilot a General-class mecha," Curly replied."64%?" Lin Jie looked surprised. "With a 64% synchronization rate and being an almost-General-level pilot, you could've lived well outside. Why did you end up in prison, working for Simon?"In this universe, most power ranking systems went from weakest to strongest: E, D, C, B, A. Only mecha pilots were an exception—their ranks were determined by the class of mecha they could pilot. Whatever class of mecha you could handle, that was your rank as a pilot.A General-level mecha pilot was already no small feat.