Chapter 452: Chapter 452: Repair

Hopka and Fakadon stood before the console, discussing the location of the CSW emergency pulse signal source.

"What are you two doing? Why don’t I see the scout ship that sent the distress call?"

Long Ming asked Hopka, confused.

"The scout ship is inside the Insect Nest."

Hopka said, taking a deep breath.

"You’re not kidding me, are you?"

"Do I look like I’m joking?"

"So you’re saying the scout ship just happened to fall right into the Insect Nest?"

The corner of Long Ming’s mouth twitched as he spoke.

"I don’t believe it either! But the signal is coming from inside. See for yourself if you don’t believe me!"

Hopka grouchily pointed for Long Ming.

Long Ming glanced at the signal monitor; it really did seem to be coming from inside the Insect Nest.

"Now we’re in real trouble."

"Captain, what in the world is going on?"

Fakadon asked, bewildered.

"How should I know!"

Hopka was on the verge of losing it.

"This can’t be a coincidence. The ship probably crashed nearby, and the swarm dragged it into the Nest as a war trophy."

Long Ming offered his theory after a moment of thought.

"So, does that mean everyone on the ship is dead?"

Fakadon said hesitantly.

"Impossible. If they were all dead, who’s sending the signal?"

Hopka shot back, annoyed.

"Captain, who could possibly survive in an Insect Nest that large?"

The very idea seemed impossible to Fakadon.

"Could it be possible the survivors are holed up in a safe room inside the ship? That would explain why the insects haven’t found them."

Long Ming voiced his theory after a moment’s thought.

"Pull up the schematics for the scout ship *Feixiang*."

At Long Ming’s words, Hopka immediately caught on.

"Yes, sir!"

Fakadon immediately brought up a holographic schematic of the *Feixiang*.

Long Ming and the others leaned in to examine it, discovering the ship had quite a few safe zones.

"Captain, what’s our next move?"

Fakadon looked to Hopka, at a complete loss.

Hopka was also extremely agitated, his expression flickering.

"We rescue them, of course?"

"If you dare go down there, you won’t even need the Insect King to make a move. The bugs on the lower levels will tear you to shreds in minutes."

Long Ming replied, exasperated.

"Damn it... are we really going to give up?"

Hopka couldn’t accept it.

Seeing that Hopka and the others were out of ideas, Long Ming sighed and asked.

"Hopka, can you repair Mechanical Gods here?"

"We can?"

Hopka looked at Long Ming, puzzled.

"Can you repair this Mechanical God?"

Long Ming asked, taking out the Third Generation Mechanical God, the *Lurker*.

The sight of the Mechanical God made Hopka fly into a rage, as if someone had stepped on his tail.

"Fuck! Isn’t that Gailte’s Mechanical God?"

"I found it."

Long Ming reminded him with a smile.

"Well, don’t show it to me if you just ’found’ it! The sight of it makes me fucking want to punch you."

Hopka was fuming.

Gailte might not have been his subordinate, but they were from the same faction.

"Do you want to save them or not? If not, I’m putting this away."

Long Ming said, making a move to put the Mechanical God away.

"Wait! It can be fixed!"

Hopka snapped.

"Then hurry up and take me to get it fixed."

Long Ming said to Hopka with a smile.

"Hmph. Follow me!"

Annoyed, Hopka led Long Ming to find his mechanic.

...

「A short while later.」

They arrived at the maintenance bay, where they found an elderly man in overalls.

"Master Akbai."

Hopka called out.

Master Akbai turned to Hopka with a smile.

"Hopka, what brings you here?"

"I need you to take a look at this Mechanical God and see if it can be fixed."

Hopka gestured for Long Ming to bring out the Mechanical God.

Long Ming complied, materializing the *Lurker* onto the maintenance platform.

"Isn’t this Gailte’s Mechanical God?"

Akbai sounded a little surprised.

"It is. Can you fix it?"

Hopka asked right away.

"Let me see."

Akbai stepped forward and carefully inspected the *Lurker*.

Long Ming and Hopka waited in silence.

"The damage isn’t too severe, and as luck would have it, I have some spare Mechanical God parts. I can’t repair it completely, but I can get it about seventy or eighty percent of the way there."

"As long as the cloaking function works, that’s all that matters."

Long Ming told Akbai.

"That shouldn’t be a problem."

"How long will it take?"

"Five hours at the absolute fastest."

"Then I’ll leave it in your hands."

"Mm."

Akbai immediately got to work.

Long Ming and Hopka stood to the side, watching Akbai work.

"Hopka, there’s something I’m curious about."

"Spit it out."

"I remember hearing that Mechanical God mechanics are pretty rare, and in high demand."

"No shit."

Hopka grumbled.

"So where did you manage to poach a Mechanical God mechanic like him?"

Long Ming was genuinely curious.

Never mind whether Hopka could even afford his salary; with the kind of dangerous missions Hopka took on day in and day out, no sane person would willingly serve on his ship.

"Not everything is about money."

Hopka said in a low voice.

"I see."

Hearing Hopka say that, Long Ming pretty much understood.

...

「More than five hours later.」

Akbai announced to Long Ming and Hopka with satisfaction.

"It’s all fixed."

"Impressive!"

Long Ming looked at the repaired *Lurker* and nodded.

Hopka immediately said to Long Ming.

"Let me borrow this Mechanical God. I’m going into the Insect Nest to rescue them."

"No."

Long Ming replied without a moment’s hesitation.

"What the hell? Are you messing with me?"

Hopka’s face immediately darkened.

"I’ll go."

Long Ming said calmly to Hopka.

"You’re going? That Insect Nest is incredibly dangerous. I should be the one to go!"

For a moment, Hopka was touched.

In truth, whether on a dangerous mission or the battlefield, he was always the one to charge in first. It was rare for anyone to offer to take his place.

But he never expected Red Ghost to offer to go in his place.

"Forget it. You’re good in a head-on fight, but you don’t have the finesse for infiltration. I should be the one to go."

Long Ming replied, shaking his head.

"Fine!"

Hopka didn’t insist.

"Do you have a private outfitting platform?"

Long Ming asked Hopka.

"We do."

Hopka then led Long Ming to a private hangar.

The hangar contained a solitary mechanical platform and a launch port.

"No peeking."

Long Ming said to Hopka with a grin.

"Piss off. You’re not some pretty girl, so what’s there for me to watch?"

"Good enough!"

"I’m heading back to the command center. We’ll be providing support from out here. You have to come back alive!"

With that, Hopka turned and left without looking back.

Long Ming watched Hopka’s retreating back with a smile, then walked onto the mechanical platform.

...

「A moment later.」

Long Ming suited up in the *Lurker*, activated its cloaking function, and leaped from the *Azure Blue*’s launch port, speeding toward the enormous Insect Nest.

The ground along his path was teeming with writhing, chitinous insects.

Long Ming deftly dodged the creatures.

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