Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 10 That machine with a particularly foul mouth

"First time seeing something like this? You'll get used to it. This is definitely worth the ticket price."

The vector was brought back to its senses by the man's words and felt the other person pat it on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I know, but it was really impactful the first time I saw it," she replied, watching the audience's frenzy as if the Heavenly King were a predator surveying its territory.

She hesitated for a moment and then stopped shouting. When she finally opened her mouth, her voice did sound like a piece of junk that had come to life.

However, she still gave a thumbs-up when the other person looked in her direction.

Even Zhen Tianzun should be able to understand this gesture.

As Zhen Tianzun walked backstage, she quickly squeezed out of the audience seats.

Before leaving, she didn't forget to say goodbye to the person who was so particular about his appearance, saying that she was going to pick someone up backstage, and then she turned around and slipped out with the flow of people.

When she arrived backstage, Zhen Tianzun was wiping the energy liquid that had been splashed on his body.

"Is every match in the arena like this?"

She leaned closer and watched as he wiped himself a couple of times. Her gaze fell on the few streaks of energy liquid that hadn't been wiped clean from the edge of his shoulder armor. She paused for half a second, then casually picked up another piece of metal fabric next to him and handed it over.

Halfway through handing it over, I thought it would be better to just wipe it directly, so I simply reached out and wiped away the spot that wasn't clean.

Zhen Tianzun didn't dodge.

"Otherwise what?"

"Do I mean there will be a death in every game?"

"More or less," Zhen Tianzun said, putting down the metal fabric in his hand and looking down at the vector that was still wiping the edge of his armor. "You weren't very scared."

The vector action paused for a moment.

"A little," she said honestly, "but more than that, I think I'm just very lucky. And making money from the arena to repair mechs simply wouldn't work for someone like me."

Zhen Tianzun looked at her but didn't speak immediately.

After a two-second pause, he gave a low hum: "You weren't so stupid about this."

He pulled the metal fabric back from her hand and casually wiped away the last bit of energy liquid from the side of her neck.

"It's good that you know now."

"By the way, I saw some posts and forums mentioning certain words before." Yin Xiangzhi recounted all the words he had noticed to him.

When Zhen Tianzun heard the first few sentences, he didn't show much expression. But when he heard "don't ask where it comes from" and "can be repaired and dismantled", his optical mirror narrowed slightly.

"What you found isn't entirely useless."

The vector immediately looked up at him.

"So these really are the tricks of the trade?"

"Part of it is." Zhen Tianzun said in a flat tone, "'Old wing refurbishment' and 'frame alignment' are relatively common gray repair slang. 'Not asking where they come from' and 'only accepting referrals from familiar people' means that the other party knows what kind of work they are doing and also knows that this kind of work cannot be put on the table."

He paused for a moment: "Don't touch anything that can be repaired or dismantled."

Why?

Zhen Tianzun glanced at her: "Because these kinds of places are usually demolished faster than they are repaired."

Pointer vector: "..."

That's easy to understand.

"What about the 'experimental bench' and the 'private jobs at the Academy of Sciences'?" she pressed.

Zhen Tianzun paused for half a second, as if deciding whether or not to tell her.

"These two are more troublesome. Anyone who can be associated with these kinds of terms is either a scammer or someone who actually has some real skills."

How do we distinguish between them?

"You can't tell the difference now," Zhen Tianzun said bluntly.

The vector was blocked for a moment, but there was no way to refute it.

More and more machines were coming and going backstage, and the noise from the post-match cleanup was quite loud.

Other planes have already headed this way, seemingly to discuss settlements and next event arrangements with Zhen Tianzun.

The vector sensor wisely refrained from pressing the question further.

Those few words kept swirling in her mind.

They don't ask about backgrounds, only accept referrals from familiar people, laboratory work, or private jobs at the Academy of Sciences.

She vaguely felt that the real secret to fixing her broken shell probably lay hidden behind these words.

-

Even after returning home, those thoughts were still swirling in Yin Xiang's mind.

Once she confirmed that Zhen Tianzun wouldn't be using the projection for the time being, she immediately crawled back to the control panel and continued to delve deeper into the intricacies of repairing the mecha.

This time, instead of using those blatant keywords that sounded like she was begging to be scammed, she started breaking down, recombining, and cross-referencing those words.

"Lower-level area" is equipped with "skeleton calibration".

"Don't ask where it came from" paired with "experimental table".

"Side projects of the Academy of Sciences" paired with "renovation of old wings".

As she searched further, even she herself felt that this was no longer like looking for a repair shop, but more like rummaging through a bunch of junk information that deliberately left things incomplete.

But she did manage to pry open the crack in the door little by little.

Some posts will suddenly change the topic when mentioning "lab bench".

Some accounts seemed to be just complaining about how expensive repairs were, but someone replied, "If you really want it fixed, you can contact that guy at the Academy of Sciences."

In some old posts that have been deleted and are now only half-finished, you can still see bits and pieces of phrases like "that guy with the sharp tongue," "old tech desk," and "still taking on jobs."

Yin Vector stared at the incomplete information for a long time, slowly memorizing several recurring usernames, location codes, and speaking habits.

She had a vague feeling that she was about to find a specific direction.

There's still one last layer to break through.

She flipped through it for a long time, so long that she had to stop and adjust the focus of the optical lens.

But it was precisely because of this that she stumbled upon an old post that was somewhat similar to her own situation.

The device that posted the message was also in terrible condition, but it was damaged in an accident, so its origins are much more legitimate than hers.

Amidst the sea of ​​comments and replies, she stared at an old post that was only half-finished, her optical glasses slowly tightening.

The reply in the post was incomplete and didn't follow any context:

"If you really want to fix that rotten shell, go ask that guy with the really foul mouth."

Beyond that, there's nothing left.

Yin Xiang stared at the line of text and slowly narrowed his eyes through the optical lens.

His breath smells terrible.

Okay, this feature actually sounds more reliable than any number or address.