Poor Man’s Repair

"Sam, you want me to seduce him?"

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me that you are not interested in him. I am only giving you a free excuse, if it doesn't work out, just do it for fun, isn't that why you escaped your old man to come to me? Don't you worry; I will cover everything for you… ah… you sneaky little fish, that’s what you wanted me to say isn't it?"

Ma Xiaoru showed her tongue as she grinned at Samantha, revealing the naughty side of her. "Well, thank you sister, but how are we gonna seduce him?"

"Come closer, let me tell you."

Upon learning Samantha's plan, Ma Xiaoru was convinced that Wang Tong was about to walk right into Samantha's trap.

Wang Tong stopped by a domestic robotic mechanical repair shop after school. The girl working there gave him a warm smile as she watched him walk into the store.

"Sir, what would you like? We have any kind of intelligent robots you can imagine."

"Actually, I am just looking to repair my robot."

"Ah-why of course, what kind of robot is it?"

"Type C, it's an older model, I only have the main frame, would you be able to bring him back?" Wang Tong said as he took Charcoal's main frame out of his space crystal.

The girl's face turned awkward. "I'm very sorry sir, but the manufacturer has already discontinued this model. It wouldn’t be impossible if you weren't asking to replace the whole body. The parts are very difficult to come by you know. It will be cheaper if you consider any of the newer models."

"How much would it be to restore him, including the parts?"

"You have to understand sir, that it's quite an arduous job to go through our inventory for very specific parts, especially for dated models like yours.

I estimate that it would be roughly over two hundred thousand credits, labor and parts included. You might as well just buy a new model. Our entry level, the E series starts at twenty grand, if you would like to add more sophisticated features, the price might vary quite a bit."

Regardless of if it was twenty grand or two hundred grand, to Wang Tong, they were both astronomical figures.

Failing to find any solution, Wang Tong had to give up. He walked out as he sighed at the ridiculous cost of reviving a robot, very much similar to reviving a human.

It seemed that Charcoal might have to remain in his mainframe for a while.

Wang Tong took the City Express home. He looked out of the windows as the flying vehicles whirled by him like many flies. He thought about his future, his life and decided that he would have to start to save more money, as soon as the monthly test was over.

Instead of going straight home, he stopped at a few stores close to school to see if they were hiring any part-time employees. It wouldn't be hard to find a part-time job, but the tricky part was to find one that could fit into his school schedule.

By the time he got home after a few hours of fruitless search for a part time job, it was already night. The light in his house was lit. "Could it be a thief?" Wang Tong thought. "I don't have anything, why would the thief want to steal from me?"

Wang Tong was shocked as he walked into the house and saw the person inside, it was Ma Xiaoru.

Ma Xiaoru stood up as she watched Wang Tong walk in. "One hour and five minutes, I never would have thought that waiting could be so annoying. Sorry for the intrusion, I had the caretaker open the door for me since it wasn't very comfortable waiting outside."

"That's fine, please sit. What's up Ma Xiaoru?" Wang Tong asked.

"Call me Xiaoru, the principal told me to come tutor you; she’s worried that she hasn't given you a fair chance," Ma Xiaoru said with a cunning expression in her eyes.

"There's only four days left..." Wang Tong felt speechless as the help came so conveniently late.

"Wang Tong, you didn't come out as someone that gave up that easily," Ma Xiaoru spoke as if she was alluding something.

"This is…too much to ask," Wang Tong hesitated.

"It's nothing. Hey, be a man, don't be so sheepish."

Wang Tong shrugged his shoulders and said, "I’m fine with it, but it would be a lot of work for you as I do have a pile of questions."

"We will help each other; I might have some questions for you after we are done."

Wang Tong could smell something fishy in the air. They said that there was never a free tutor.

Wang Tong listed all the questions he could not solve and showed them to Ma Xiaoru, doubting that she would be able to answer every single one of them. But to Wang Tong's surprise, Ma Xiaoru did just that. Having been equipped with a private tutor in every single subject, Ma Xiaoru had learned every subject by heart. She didn't feel that any of Wang Tong's questions were even remotely challenging.

Years of neglect of studying had led Wang Tong to accumulate a lot of questions, and Wang Tong had feared that the sheer amount of questions would have quickly scared Ma Xiaoru away. But to his surprise, Ma Xiaoru explained every question patiently without showing any sign of being annoyed. Thanks to Wang Tong's EMF, it was then easier for Wang Tong to pick up the new knowledge once everything was explained by Ma Xiaoru.

When Ma Xiaoru finally finished explaining the last question, two hours had already passed. Wang Tong marveled at the how quickly time flew when it was spent with a hotty.

Ma Xiaoru took a deep breath and smiled, "Is there anything else? I don't think you are slow at studying at all."

"I never said I was slow, do you think I’m stupid?"

"No, but you wanted others to think so, right?"

Without answering Ma Xiaoru, Wang Tong poured a cup of water for her and sat on the opposite end of the table, "What do you want to know from me?"

Ma Xiaoru was shocked by the question, "From you?"

"Haha, yea, the principal wouldn't want you to come help me for no reason, feel free to ask me anything you want."

Ma Xiaoru didn't seem embarrassed about having Wang Tong see through her ruse. "We both watched the recording of your performance at the anatomy class, and we were both intrigued about how you did that."

Ma Xiaoru said it candidly, feeling that there was no point in hiding anything since their ruse had been seen through.

"Ah, that was nothing. Anyone can do it under extreme circumstances. You see, while I was on Norton, I had to face Zergs corpses every day, and I had to keep the nutrient transformer running as well, so I..." Wang Tong suddenly stopped, fearing that the details might gross out Ma Xiaoru.

"You did that all by yourself!?" Ma Xiaoru exclaimed from the bottom of her heart. "If it had been me, I wouldn't have been able to survive a single day. What about your tactics, it seemed very powerful. You don't have to answer me right now, but I believe that the principal was also very interested in your ability. I think it would be very favorable for you to clear things up with her, should you want to remain in Ayrlarng."

Ma Xiaoru's words made Wang Tong feel comfortable about sharing his secrets. And he knew it would only be a matter of time before the cat came out of the bag anyways.