Star Hunter.

Chapter 203 Since I'm too old to move, my apprentice will take over.

Chapter 203 Since I'm too old to move, my apprentice will take over.

Mo Heng's roar immediately aroused the curiosity of the people in the Sixth Fleet and the Third Fleet who were resting in the adjacent building. They all craned their necks to look in this direction, and a few secretly adjusted the surveillance cameras and hid in the room to watch closely.

Several vice-captains recognized Soli, which made them even more curious about who this person was who could make Soli accompany them so patiently.

Behind Old Master Mo were two military personnel, and besides them, there was a squad of guards at the reception point. These guards, whose lowest rank was major, were there to protect Mo Heng. The two men accompanying Mo Heng were both major generals, demonstrating Mo Heng's influence within the military.

However, only Suoli knew all this. The people in the Sixth and Third Fleets did not know. The people protecting Mo Heng were not wearing military uniforms or badges, but they were clearly military personnel from their every move, only their ranks were unknown.

Upon hearing Mo Heng's voice, Xi Lin hurriedly came out.

It's been years since I last saw him, and to be honest, I miss him terribly. Over the years, I've only seen his image in some high-profile electronic publications, but those are just the sides of him he wants others to see. Only his close friends and family know the other side. Like now, for example.

When Mo Heng saw Xi Lin emerge, he sized him up. He had seen Xi Lin's current appearance before, but seeing him in person still made him exclaim: "Look at this kid, so silly!"

Because many people were watching, Old Master Mo was very lenient and did not take action.

"Let's go inside and talk." Mo Heng put his hands behind his back, his face stern, and walked straight inside.

"Please go ahead!" Xilin breathed a sigh of relief. If Mo Heng were to pinch his face right now, Xilin's prestige would probably drop to zero.

The fact that Mo Heng was stern-faced proved that he wasn't truly angry. On the contrary, Old Master Mo must be plotting something. This was Xi Lin's guess based on his understanding of Mo Heng.

  

Sure enough, as soon as they entered, Mo Heng reached out from behind his back and grabbed Xi Lin's face.

The gray cat, perched on a tall cabinet not far away, gaped wide-eyed. Good heavens, this old fellow is even more vicious than the one surnamed Ci! He actually pinched my face!

The two major generals following behind Mo Heng twitched; Old Master Mo's old habit had struck again. They had personally witnessed Old Master Mo pinch their leader, the famous Star Alliance general, until his face turned bright red.

Soli, who came in with them, also watched the master and apprentice with great interest. He had only heard about Xilin from Bat, Nata, and Songbaluo. Even Jifeng praised him, but after observing him up close this time, he couldn't see anything for the time being.

"You really are a heartless bastard, aren't you?!"

"Yes, yes, if you say so, then it must be so."

Grandpa Mo maintained the pinching gesture while scolding Xilin until the end, and even Suoli and the two generals felt a pain in their balls and faces when they saw the red marks on Xilin's face.

Then, as expected, came a barrage of criticism and reprimands, with spittle flying everywhere.

Finally, after holding back all that he had been holding back for so long, and having given the necessary reprimands, Mo Heng beckoned to a major general who carefully took the box he was carrying and handed him a spherical instrument.

Seeing this setup, Xilin knew Mo Heng was going to check his homework. Xilin hadn't used instruments to measure overall accuracy much in recent years, but hopefully it hadn't decreased.

Xilin led Mo Heng to a temporary workspace, Ci Jincheng also came over to join in the fun, and Grey Cat would not miss this opportunity either.

Xi Ying, who was in the next room, didn't need to go over to see what was happening. He could find out what was going on through the surveillance network and the monitors in the work area. After this incident, he was responsible for destroying the record, as instructed by Xi Lin.

Mo Heng carried the box over and placed it on the table. Then, he carefully took out a pile of parts inside, all of which were rather delicate components.

I pressed on the circular instrument, and it floated up, revealing a scanning detection port facing the cilene. At the same time, a light screen popped up above the prototype, displaying some basic detection data.

Seeing the data above, Soli was slightly surprised. Looking at the seemingly small pile of parts, there were actually nearly 100,000 of them!

Without needing to say much, Xilin opened the parts and took a look before starting to work.

A major general brought over a chair for Mo Heng to sit down, and then everyone's attention was unconsciously drawn to Xi Lin's actions.

Every time Mo Heng watched Xilin assemble, it was as if he were admiring a rare work of art. Mo Heng had used a video of Xilin assembling before as a teaching example, but its effect was more of awe than guidance. After all, there are very few people who can reach Xilin's level, not even some of the great mentors of the Seven Stars.

After Xilin left, all the students of Qiyao who had seen the assembly video inquired about the person who assembled it, but the instructors who knew the inside story all kept quiet, only saying that it was someone related to Mo Heng. To this day, that video is hailed as a classic by the students of Qiyao.

Having become more proficient, Mo Heng no longer needed to look at the testing equipment. Based on experience, he knew that Xilin had definitely improved. He could get the answer he wanted simply by looking at the data on the testing instrument's screen, but Mo Heng couldn't bear to look away. Undeniably, watching Xilin assemble was a pleasure.

Unlike the sense of urgency some so-called senior engineers have when assembling equipment, Xilin's movements are very comfortable to watch, as natural as breathing. However, in fact, Xilin's movements are very fast, so fast that you can overlook some of them, but these overlooked movements do not affect the smoothness of the whole series.

Different people, with different abilities and viewing angles, will more or less miss some of the movements, but they will all be drawn to the movements in Xilin's hands.

At this moment, no one watching would think about how this person could distinguish the order of the parts being assembled, or that this person could know which parts to assemble without looking at the fitting parts. The viewers' minds were actually very empty. As Xilin's hands moved, they cleared their minds of thoughts, and the entire empty world of thought was left with only the slowly taking shape of the object.

Ten minutes later, a mechanical snake, about the thickness of a finger and half a meter long, was assembled.

The two major generals were immediately jolted awake. They had been lost in thought, and if anyone had tried to harm Mo Heng during that time, they wouldn't have had time to react!

How could people like them, who had undergone rigorous training and experienced countless battles, be subjected to air defense thinking! Although part of the reason was that they believed Xilin wouldn't harm Old Master Mo, as guards, they still underestimated Xilin! Facing someone like Xilin, even the slightest negligence could put them at a disadvantage.

Now they finally understand why Xilin was on the A-level list in the military's secret archives.

Those who follow Mo Heng must know something about Xilin. Based on their status in the military and the secret information provided by General Mo Qing, they certainly know a lot of things that others don't, especially about Xilin.

At this moment, they even wondered how long it would take for Xilin to enter the S-level rankings.

The assembled mechanical snake didn't look like a mechanical snake at all; its special materials and precise assembly made it look indistinguishable from a real one. It nimbly coiled around Xilin's arm, raised its flat, triangular head to look at Mo Heng and the others, its forked tongue flicking out.

Mo Heng swallowed hard. After Xi Lin stopped what he was doing, his mind was no longer on the little snake. He didn't need the testing equipment to check the snake's qualification; he was absolutely certain that it was a high-level qualified snake.

Mo Heng turned his head to look at the data displayed on the screen. One column showed a series of numbers.

The initial overall accuracy reached the theoretical value of 99.98, but after three steps it reached 99.99 and has remained at this level ever since.

Mo Heng's face flushed with excitement, his lips trembled but he couldn't utter a single word, and after taking a deep breath, he completely forgot to exhale.

"Master, take a deep breath, take a deep breath, and don't forget to exhale!" Xilin hurriedly reminded Mo Heng.

Mo Heng suddenly stood up, stammering, "You you you you you..."

Mo Heng grabbed Xi Lin's face and tried to say "you" for a long time but couldn't get anything out. His breathing was rapid, which made the two major generals and Suo Li worry that something might happen to the old man.

"Master, breathe, take a deep breath, and catch your breath," Xilin said.

"Slow down my ass!" Mo Heng practically roared.

Suoli's lips twitched. This was the demeanor of a dignified four-star academician.

After Mo Heng released Xi Lin's face, he spun around in place, leaving Xi Lin and the others puzzled. What was wrong with the old man?

As Xilin was thinking, Mo Heng suddenly stopped and pointed at Xilin: "You're coming with me to that planet later, there's a mission!"

No one could dissuade Old Master Mo from his words, so the two major generals didn't try to persuade him at all.

Mo Heng needs approval and permission from some people in the military to bring Xilin to that planet. Old Master Mo will naturally contact the relevant personnel personally. They only need to protect Old Master Mo.

Mo Heng was a man of action. After making the decision, he told Xi Lin to pack his things and bring along any useful tools. Of course, these useful tools referred to assembly-related tools, not dangerous items like firearms. After saying that, Mo Heng took out his communicator and began contacting people.

Suoli was dumbfounded. He wasn't in that circle and didn't know what a comprehensive accuracy of 99.99% meant. Even if he knew a little, he didn't know what that number meant to Mo Heng and the others, so he couldn't understand Mo Heng's current feelings.

Mo Heng went into a small cubicle next door to contact someone. While Xi Lin was packing up his tools, he gave a signal. Xi Ying, who had been watching the monitor, noticed a flicker in his eyes and deleted the footage of what had just happened in the workshop. However, although the video was deleted, the scene of Xi Lin assembling the equipment remained in Xi Ying's memory. Unless he forcibly deleted it, the memory would persist. At the same time, Xi Ying's expression became subtle, and his fingers moved with minute movements. If Xi Lin were there, he would recognize that this was exactly the same frequency of his own finger movements during assembly, only west Ying's movements were less pronounced.

Mo Heng quickly finished contacting the person, nodded to Xi Lin, and said, "Let's go!"

Knowing Mo Heng's personality well, Suo Li didn't mind Mo Heng's disregard for him. Suo Li gave Xi Lin a look, "Be careful, contact me if anything happens."

Xilin nodded and then left.

Ci Jincheng was also one of the Star Alliance Research Institute personnel who were invited this time, so he left with them.

Gray Cat and west Ying didn't go with them. Putting aside whether the military would allow such characters to enter the planet, if these two revealed anything in front of the academicians of the Star Alliance Research Institute, they would probably have a hard time getting away, given the nature of the situation.

During a break while taking Xilin to that large planet, Mo Heng talked to Xilin about the so-called "mission".

Many of the academicians from the Star Alliance Research Institute who were invited this time are people who have made contributions and have influence in various fields, and they are now conducting research in different places and regions.

There are sixteen engineering personnel like Mo Heng, who are currently busy working on a mountain of machinery.

Some of the senior academicians who were invited were unable to do everything themselves due to their age. They had to rest after working for a while, and during their rest period, they would also supervise and guide the work.

These figures brought their prized students with them, and while researching this massive machine, they also took the opportunity to instruct their apprentices. However, Mo Heng did not bring any apprentices with him when he arrived on this planet, and inevitably, he received some criticism from his old rivals. So, when Mo Heng saw Xi Lin, he unleashed a torrent of abuse to vent his pent-up frustration.

However, when Mo Heng returned from his trip and disembarked from the aircraft, his arrogant demeanor surprised his old colleagues.

Xilin followed beside Mo Heng, carrying a plain toolbox. He seemed unassuming and quite ordinary, like a mere errand boy. But anyone who knew Mo Heng knew that he wouldn't keep an ordinary errand boy by his side. The people who had carried Mo Heng's toolboxes before were all major generals.

Mo Heng walked slowly over with his hands behind his back, stood with several senior academicians, looked at the huge machine, nodded his chin in that direction, and said, "Xilin, let's go."

Xilin felt a bit nauseous listening to this; it sounded exactly like "close the door and unleash the dogs."

Several elderly academicians who were resting nearby looked over with a "Huh?" One of them, also a four-star academician, rubbed his leg and shouted, "Old rascal Mo, who is this? You know we can't let irrelevant people in here."

Those who are allowed in are obviously approved and are not unrelated individuals. The old man said this only to put Mo Heng in his place, and everyone understands this principle.

Mo Heng, however, did not show his usual stern expression. Instead, he pretended to be calm and said, "This person is too old to move, so my apprentice will take over."

These words greatly surprised the senior academicians.

It was the old man who first asked, "Old rascal Mo, when did you get another apprentice?"

Mo Heng tilted his head slightly to look at the sky: "I've had a disciple for a long time now..."

Hearing Old Master Mo's sigh, a mixture of pride and feigned misery, Xilin's hand holding the box trembled. The way he spoke made it sound like he'd experienced the vicissitudes of life to have a disciple.

Several senior academicians scoffed, "Keep pretending, keep pretending."

The senior academicians all paid some attention to Mo Heng, their apprentice who was appearing before these academic giants for the first time. Mo Heng was not only mysterious, but also too young—so young that it was hard to trust his abilities.

After Xilin arrived, he didn't start working immediately. He put down the box, walked around the huge machine, attracting the attention of several of his old academician apprentices who were busy at work.

Seeing his apprentice paying attention to Mo Laopizi's apprentice, an old academician's face immediately darkened, and he roared, "Focus on your own work! What are you doing, paying attention to others?!"

Mo Heng glanced sideways: "Sigh, some people are just born to attract attention."

The other senior academicians resting there decided to ignore Mo Heng's words and didn't pay much attention to Xilin either. Anyway, failing to produce results would be a direct slap in the face to Mo Heng; facts would prove everything, let's see how long that old rascal can gloat!

Xilin ignored everyone else's thoughts, walked around the large hemispherical machine, and then frowned in thought for a while. Gray Cat had once said that machines also had their own language, and that one could understand the information they wanted to convey by "listening".

This massive and complex machine is capable of shielding scanners. Without understanding its principles and general structure, no one dares to attempt to work on it. Therefore, even with over a dozen academicians personally involved, there has been no substantial progress. They may be experienced in assembly, but they are no match for Xilin in the language of mechanics, nor would they consider that approach.

After carefully sensing the subtle anomalies caused by non-human activity in the surroundings, I realized that there were very few plants around, so the subtle anomalies must have been caused by this huge machine.

After the chip was further stimulated, Xilin made significant progress in his ability to "hear" machine language. As his thoughts gradually settled, he was able to "hear" some intermittent "language".

Xilin transformed these "languages" into tangible images in his mind.

Thus, in Xilin's mind, what surrounded this large machine were a series of non-floating graphics.

Following the movement and trajectory of these graphics, Xilin arrived at one of the mechanical locations. The spot Xilin was looking for was nearly ten meters above the ground. He unfolded the flying glide, flew to that spot, and then pressed it.

"Hey, you brat, don't touch things like that!!" an elderly academician roared in exasperation. Impatience, young people are just too impatient. Mo Heng doesn't seem to care; impatience can lead to disaster. He needs more tempering!

But as soon as the old academician finished speaking, the huge hemispherical mechanical object, which had been silent all along, unfolded outwards from the top point at an angle, like a flower blooming, with several small petals.

Mo Heng slapped his thigh excitedly, "Hey, look, it moved!"

Several senior academicians rolled their eyes in unison. Anyone with eyes can see that something's been done!

However, it must be admitted that Mo Heng's mysterious disciple is indeed capable. Whether it was a coincidence or not, he did touch a crucial point, which is as exciting as opening a shortcut in a maze.

But looking back at Mo Heng, the senior academicians wanted to remind this smug academic scoundrel: Mo, watch your arrogance!