2.1 Mech Engineer: System V. System

Qiao Chen woke up to a familiar dizziness and sense of motion sickness that invaded his mind. It felt exactly like the first time he crossed over- nausea. Then he felt pain radiating from his forehead. He reached up and touched his forehead. His fingers grazed against the gauze wrapped around his head. Once the dizziness subsided, Qiao Chen opened his eyes and looked at the room.

It was a European styled and luxurious bedroom. He surmised that the current body he was in belonged to a well off family.

After observing the room for a while, Qiao Chen felt that the room was oddly familiar. Even without the system's information briefing, he seemed to have recalled a few things… The system soon began its automatic briefing. The images played in Qiao Chen's mind, and he closed his eyes to watch.

This was an interplanetary world. Nations were divided by planets and stars. In this world, women didn't exist as a gender identity. There were only males and ghers. The ghers looked like men but had the reproductive capabilities like females; the ability to conceive and bear a child. Ghers were also physically weaker than the males. The gher's outward body structure was the same as the males. The only distinguishable difference was that females had a red, plum like mark on their necks. Males did not have any marks.

This new body was a gher. His name was Qiaoyi Flock. Qiaoyi was a mech engineer. He was also the young master of an aristocratic family, and he had an engagement agreement since childhood. He and his fiancé were initially in love with one another.

After they grew up, his fiancé became a soldier. During a battle, the fiancé's mech was attacked by enemy forces and suffered a malfunction. He and the mech were swept away and crash landed on a small, remote planet. Then, he was rescued by a gher named Greene Barnett. Over the course of the emergency, they were in constant close contact with one another. This eventually ended up with strong emotions growing for each other.

Qiaoyi was at the Imperial College of Engineering while this all took place. When Qiaoyi found out that his fiancé was classified as Missing in Action, he was distraught over the thought of losing his beloved. He anxiously waited for his fiancé's safe return. Finally. his fiancé returned safely. However, he came back with some female named Greene.

Qiaoyi immediately sensed a problem. The problem lie solely with the two's interactions. He brought up the issue and only heard his fiancé, Jared's excuses "that Greene was merely his savior" and that he was "just repaying a debt of gratitude". However, Qiaoyi wasn't blind. He clearly saw those "debts of gratitude" as something much more intimate.

After Greene arrived within the empire, he followed Jared to the military base he worked at. Then Greene applied and was employed by the fifth fleet base. Greene was initially employed as the mech repairman's assistant. Qiaoyi knew this. He was worried. His fiance and some random gher were going to spend too much time together. He didn't want the two to be alone with each other anymore. After he graduated, he desperately and immediately went straight to the fifth fleet base and joined as a mech engineer.

While Qiaoyi was in school, he was considered a genious mech engineer. He made many breakthroughs and discoveries in the mech research division. Numerous bases wanted to recruit him because of this. However, he chose to work for the Fifth Fleet's ship force. With such resounding accomplishments, Qiaoyi was immediately promoted to chief engineer after he was hired.

The trio worked at the fleet's base of operations. However, Qiaoyi constantly witnessed Jared giving Greene special treatment. Jared never really paid him any more attention once Greene entered the picture. He ended up targeting Greene out of pure jealousy. Nevertheless, where ever Greene went, Jared also followed nearby. Even though Qiaoyi accused and had multiple arguments with Greene, Jared constantly backed and sided with Greene. This stoked the flames of jealousy in Qiaoyi's heart. His own dear and beloved fiance who he loved since childhood chose to believe an outsider! The jealousy in Qiaoyi's heart could only grow and grow. He truly considered Greene a homewrecker for intruding in on and pursuing an engaged male.

Unfortunately for Qiaoyi, Greene wasn't a simple person. Within three to four years, he was promoted from the repairman's assistant to a fully fledged mech engineer.

As Qiaoyi worked with the newly promoted Greene, he came in close contact with Greene's though process and knowledge of engineering. In the beginning, Greene's mistakes and fumbles could be explained as simple mistakes. However, he soon came to the conclusion that Green didn't have any mechanical engineering fundamentals let alone talent in the field of mech engineering. However, even though Greene had no theoretical knowledge of mechs or mech engineering, he had constant breakthroughs and discoveries with his final products. This was even though he couldn't tell the basic metals apart or even name their innate qualities.

It was supposed to be Qiaoyi who was hailed as the talented genius, but after he entered the Fifth Fleet's Mech Engineering Department, things went awry. Initially, everything was smooth sailing. Then he had a mistake here, and then another mistake there. Eventually, all of his work consistently had mistakes. To make matters worse, for each of those mistakes, Greene would always come in the nick of time and find the solution. Greene- the one who couldn't tell the difference between an alloy or a metal. Everyone praised Greene because of his contributions.

The previous Qiaoyi just couldn't understand why or how all it all happened. Qiao Chen on the other hand, knew. His system provided the crucial information needed to understand the situation.

Greene was a transmigrator. What was more was that Greene crossed over with a system as well. Greene truly was mech illiterate. However, after he transmigrated into this plane, he taught himself the basics of mechs. Then, he became the repairman's assistant and gained firsthand knowledge and experience of mechs. Armed with a deeper understanding of the field, Greene used his system to steal future data from other excellent engineers such as Qiaoyi. The research had not been completed yet, so all he needed to do was modify it enough until it became his own discoveries.

As for Qiaoyi's constant barrage of mistakes, that was also Greene's doing. He used the system to hack into Qiaoyi's computer and make secret changes in Qiaoyi's data. Then, since he knew what the mistakes were, he was able to gallantly appear like a knight in shining armor. On the plus side, as the one who created the mistakes, of course he was the only one who was able to quickly save the day. His plan was full-proof.

In the previous life, Qiaoyi had a bit of an extreme character. With the loss of his lover and career, he almost went insane. He put his heart and soul in competing against Greene and ended up making numerous poor choices. Greene purposefully provoked and goaded Qiaoyi so he'd be blinded by rage and walk right into obvious traps.

Jared did feel some guilt towards Qiaoyi for falling in love with Greene. But Qiaoyi increasingly exhibited an extreme and almost violent behavior. Along side his workplace misconducts, Jared eventually lost his guilt. Armed with Qiaoyi's increasing craziness, he was able to justify his unfaithfulness away. He became disgusted with Qiaoyi's antics. After a series of compounding incidents, Jared successfully dissolved the engagement.

In the end, Qiaoyi lost his engineering license. He was supposed to be the engineering star, the best of the best among all the stars. In exchange for his grandfather's title and official position, Qiaoyi had his sentence lessened. However, by the order of the Imperial Star Supreme Court, Qiaoyi was sentenced to house arrest and ordered to never interact with anything that was related to mechs. This was when Qiaoyi developed a severe depression. Mechanical engineering was his life and soul, and Jared held his heart. Overwhelmed by the loss of his life, soul, and love, Qiaoyi Flock committed suicide by overdosing on medications in his garden.

Greene, on the other hand, lived a life filled with sunshine and roses. His system assisted in launching him into the stars. Greene constantly grew in fame and success. In the end, the Wilson family allowed the marriage between Jared and Greene. With nothing to stop them, their success reached far and wide.

After absorbing the information, Qiao Chen opened his eyes. Words escaped his mouth, "What a fool to fall head over heels like that. How can I be that stupid?"

Why did Qiao Chen say 'I'? While he was reviewing the information the system sent him, he noticed a few peculiarities. All of these things lead to him deducing that Qiaoyi was one of his past reincarnations. During the system's broadcast, the information roused his memories. He recalled later events that would have happened later, before the system even got to it. Even then, the emotions that were swirling within were another indicator. These feelings weren't things that would be felt from some third party spectator. He already confirmed that there were no empathy stimulating programs running in his system. Therefore, he knew that for these feelings to be so near and dear to his heart, then that only possibility was that these situations were things that he should have personally experienced.

Qiao Chen complained to himself. When I was Qiaoyi, how was I so foolish? I did the complete opposite of everything that I should have done. So much for being considered a genius… Greene seriously didn't even have to life a single finger. I took care of myself for him! Thank goodness I crossed over early enough to do something. Qiaoyi hasn't made too many mistakes yet.

Qiao Chen lightly brushed the wound on his forehead. The wound was caused by Qiaoyi's jealousy. Recently, Greene had been purposefully exhibiting ambiguous behavior that caused Qiaoyi to realize something was amiss. Jared constantly fawned and flattered Greene under the pretense of paying back the life saving favor, but any fool could see that their relationship wasn't purely platonic. This ambiguous relationship between Greene and Jared caused Qiaoyi's jealousy to flare up. He wanted to test Jared's loyalties. He messed with the elevator levers and caused a situation where Greene and he would fall off the elevating platform of the mech. Qiayi wanted to see who Jared would choose to save in a moment of crisis. During this time, Jared stood atop the mech. As he saw the two fall… the result was that he unhesitatingly went passed Qiaoyi and chose to saved Greene.

Therefore, Qiaoyi fell and injured his head. To add salt to the wound, not only did he get injured, but he also caused an iron rod to dislodge on his way down. This caused damage to the nearby mech's sensors and engines. Then, these damages caused over ten sensors to short circuit and explode. The military invested a lot of time and money into the mechs. The sensors that short circuited were quite expensive to manufacture. To make matters worse, several critical and essential programs required to run the sensors were lost since they hadn't been saved. He was rescued and promptly sent home.

Qiaoyi's transgressions were all recorded by the surveillance monitors. Qiaoyi's punishment was delayed only due to the fact that he was in a comatose state. Luckily, his grandfather had significant a status, so even if he hadn't fallen into a coma, the punishment would have been delayed anyways. After he recovered, Qiaoyi wouldn't even be notified of any punishments until he returned to base.

Qiao Chen believed that people would not hesitate to save the ones they truly loved. It didn't matter how much he could have loved someone; if they chose to first save another person's life over himself, then that was it. It was over. He would never yearn for the person or relationship ever again. If his "love" had a change of heart, then let them go. It wasn't worth it to waste his time and love over that kind of person. On the other hand, for his past life Qiaoyi, it was the beginning of the end.

Now for this lifetime… let's pit my system against Greene's. Hopefully Greene can do more that what he showed in the past life. It would be too boring if I won too easily.

Since Qiao Chen knew that this life was a life of his own reincarnation, he wouldn't just complete the objective. He would absolutely avenge himself and realize all of his past life's hopes and dreams. He owed it to himself to avenge his past.

Qiao Chen sat up and pressed the button on the beside. It wasn't long before the housekeeper came by with two servants in two.

"Young master, you've woken up. Are you feeling better now?" The housekeeper greeted. A servant came from behind and held out a tray. The housekeeper picked up the cup of water and some medicine. Then he passed it to Qiao Chen. Qiao Chen took a sip of water first to quench his dry throat. Then he proceeded to take the medicine.

"Has the doctor come over yet?" Qiao Chen asked as he handed the water back to the housekeeper.

"Yes. The doctor said you are recovering well. He examined you for a few days and didn't find any abnormalities. You will need to do some physical therapy for a few more days to fully recover. However, if you feel any discomfort, then you need to notify us immediately." The housekeeper respectfully replied.

Qiaoyi was still asleep when the doctor came in to examine him, so the doctor wasn't able to explain it to him. Once the doctor finished his examination, he told the housekeeper everything so he could explain everything to the patient for him.

"Is grandfather home today?" Qiao Chen inquired.

"The Duke is not home at the moment." The housekeeper then added, "However, Master Jared has just arrived. He is currently in the living room."

"Is that so?" Qiao Chen said. It was just like the past life. The 'brilliant' Jared only remembered to visit five days after I was injured. Then he continued, "Then I will go and see him."

Qiao Chen walked into the living room. He saw Jared sitting there drinking tea. Jared saw Qiaoyi enter, but did not get up and greet him. He stay seated and asked, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, more or less so." Qiao Chen sat down opposite to Jared. Qiao Chen remarked, "How rare. You don't usually remember to visit me. Thank you for coming."

Obviously Qiaoyi was being sarcastic, but he didn't immediately complain like Jared thought he would. Jared froze from the unexpected remark, but he quickly recovered and said, "You really shouldn't have done something like this. You've hurt yourself and almost injured someone else as well."

"I just wanted to determine whether or not there is a need for us to continue the relationship between us. Now that we have the results: I'm sorry I almost let your lover get hurt along with me."

"I've told you countless times already. Greene and I are just friends. There's nothing between us. Why are you always so paranoid? Is it because you just can't trust me?" Jared quickly defended himself. He put down the teacup. Since he was at the Flock estate and there were servants in the room, he tried to control his tone. He didn't want anyone to report anything bad about him to Duke Flock.

"There's nothing else? You really didn't have a single thing going on between you two of you when you were on that remote planet? After you returned to the empire, you really haven't done anything that would have burdened me several times now?" Qiao Chen questioned.

Jared's eyes flickered quickly, but he kept a very calm expression on his face. Then he said, with a rather calm voice, "If you keep acting so paranoid, then I have no choice but to reconsider our relationship."

"Are you saying you want to break the engagement between us? Do you even dare to? Here's a better question: Do you have the courage to ask your father to break the engagement? Ah well, let's say you can even ask your dad…does your dad have the confidence to even mention such an idea to my grandfather?" Qiao Chen countered. To threaten me with a break up? Aren't you just looking down on me now? Your own father doesn't even have the courage to try and speak poorly about the arrangement let alone breach it.

Qiao Chen didn't care whether there was anything going on between Jared and Greene. The thing he really disdained was Jared's attitude and behavior. It was such an eyesore. Jared had the gall to secretly look down on him, but was too cowardly to even express it out loud. It was truly pathetic.

If the target were Jared, then Qiao Chen would probably fail this world on purpose. The thought of having to chase after a person like Jared made Qiao Chen sick to his stomach. Qiao Chen was relieved that his mission didn't require him to approach that man.

"You! …"Jared couldn't finish his words. His calm expression immediately changed. He knew that Qiaoyi was telling the truth. He really didn't dare to do it. His father didn't either. He couldn't be with the one he really loved. Because as long as Duke Flock was present, there was no way he could dissolve the marriage arrangement.

"Well, frankly speaking, I really don't care if there is anything between you and Greene. But if you actually have the guts to admit it yourself, then I probably wouldn't look down on you so much." Qiao Chen then raised his arms and spread them out as he shrugged, "A spineless male like you doesn't even deserve someone like me. Therefore, I've come to a decision. You can go ahead and be with Greene now."

"What do you mean by that?" Jared asked. His face returned to the calm expression he had earlier.

"The meaning is: I'm going to cancel our engagement. Since you didn't have the backbone to even bring it up, of course the job falls on my shoulders. I'll convince my grandfather to propose the dissolution of the marriage arrangement to your family. You'd better go back and convince your father to agree. Only then can you be with your precious Greene."

"Don't just spout random nonsense. I really don't have anything going on with Greene. If you're just angry because I saved him instead of you, then I apologize. However, the situation happened too suddenly and urgently. I didn't have time to think about who to save. I just ended up saving him. It wasn't intentional." Jared explained as his calm demeanor darkened.

"It's often the subconscious actions during critical situations that show how people truly feel. You're saying that you didn't think about it, that it wasn't intentional. However, Greene was further away from you than I was. But you just 'subconsciously' moved passed me and saved Greene. Doesn't that mean that you care more about him? That's what I've been saying. Anyways, you should be grateful to me. I am helping you fulfill your wish to be with your lover."

"Whether you believe me or not, my love for you has never changed…" Jared tried to explain again.

Qiao Chen didn't wait for Jared to finish his explanation. Qiao Chen stood up and said impatiently, "I need to get rid of this engagement. Who you choose to love is none of my business. Someone like you doesn't have the qualification to even pretend that you love me."

Qiao Chen was too lazy to even take another glance at Jared. He just turned away and left.