Chapter 4

At the counter, a middle-aged man with dark skin, a messy beard, greasy hair, and a hefty body was watching the program on Trent TV, holding a transparent bottle half filled with Whiskey.

"Hey sir, I ran into some trouble, I'm sorry I'm late..." Ajax hurried forward.

The person in front of him is Kent, the owner of this maintenance station, who is notorious for his bad temper, especially when it comes to his employees.

And he was targeting Ajax. While others earned 4,000 eddies a month, Ajax only earned 1,200 even though he worked ten hours a day.

But no matter what Kent did, Ajax had to endure it because he needed these eddies to support his life. He was still underage, and it was almost impossible to find a job elsewhere if he left this place.

More importantly, he can expand his mech-related knowledge here and even have close contact with a complete mecha, something few jobs provided.

Seeing that it was Ajax, the half-drunk Kent staggered to his feet angrily: "Do you have any fucking idea of what time it is? You don't, do you? If you did then you wouldn't be so fuckign late! Get out, fuckers like you who can't get to work on time deserve to be poor forever!"

"I'm sorry, sir..."

Smelling the strong scent of alcohol spewing from Kent's mouth, Ajax just lowered his head and apologized, explaining was useless anyway.

"This is your salary for last month. Don't even think about getting paid if you are late again this month!" Kent took out a small stack of greasy banknotes, all in denominations of 100 eddies, from nowhere.

Ajax immediately wiped his hands and took it in panic, not expecting Kent to give him a salary at this moment.

But soon he noticed something was wrong; he hesitated for a few seconds before raising his head: "Sir...there is only one thousand here... I'm missing 200..."

"The factory's rule is to deduct 200 eddies every time you're late. Do you think you have a right to an opinion? Or do you think you're not late? Get out if you think you should get paid for being late! If you don't want to get out, then get to fucking work!" Kent just picked up the bottle, his face frowned again, and he slapped the money out of Ajax's hands.

Feeling the pain in his hands that were numb, Ajax frowned, his brain flooded with he most painful way to kill this pig. But soon reason took over, and he bent down to pick up the eddies on the ground one by one.

He knew that Kent was deliberately targeting him, and it was not the first time that he maliciously withheld his small salary these years.

But he can't do anything about it, at least not right now.

Looking at Ajax who lowered his head, Kent sneered, took a sip of Whiskey, and felt a satisfying burn as the alcohol slithered down his throat. He knew Ajax would not dare to resist him, even if he went overboard.

The workers in the distance also noticed this scene, and they all laughed. They didn't like Ajax either due to the fact that his mech maintenance skills were superior to theirs, which affected their performance. They couldn't wait for the day that Ajax had enough and left.

Just when Kent thought that Ajax would obediently go to work, unexpectedly, Ajax walked up to him again and handed over the small stack of eddies: "Sir, I want to buy something from you..."

"Oh?" It was Kent's turn to be surprised this time, "This is new. Tell me brat," he spat "what is it you want to buy?"

"I want a complete mecha system, a second-hand one is fine, plus a set of green energy blocks," Ajax said word by word.

"This ain't enough," Kent said, a scowl growing on his face.

"I still have 4,100 eddies here..." Ajax slowly took out a stack of eddies from the inside of the backpack, old and new, with various denominations, "this should be more than enough."

"You..." Kent was stunned for a moment, sobering up almost immediately, he quickly took the eddies, counted them, and nodded with a smile on his face, "You little shit, alright, this is enough. Are you sure this is all you want to buy?"

"Yeah I'm sure, I'm still trying to fix that mech. All I'm missing is a system." Ajax rubbed his hands.

"You haven't disposed of that piece of shit yet?" Kent curled his lips.

He remembered that about five months ago, Ajax asked him to see a mecha, saying that he picked it up from a ruin and wanted to repair it.

But the mecha was in such a horrible state at the time, that it had almost nothing of value. The time and eddies it would take to repair it were estimated to be about the same as buying brand a new mecha. Kent scolded Ajax, asking if he was a vagabond who only knew how to pick up trash. He didn't expect Ajax to stick to it and actually repair it.

"Well, I'm taking a gamble. I'm confident in my abilities and if I can't repair it, then oh well, guess it ought to be a lesson learned." Ajax's expression was firm and his words were full of confidence.

He was using up the eddies he had saved for nearly a year.

Originally, he thought that he would try to repair the mech with more savings, but after the earlier events at the Apollo Academy, he couldn't wait any longer.

"Okay, suit yourself then; I'll go get the parts." Kent clapped the banknotes in his hands, put down the Whiskey bottle, started humming a song, and walked to the warehouse.

He concluded that the mecha picked up by Ajax could not be repaired, it was just a waste of time and materials, but why should he give a fuck? He's making money and this dumbass was the one footing the bill...

After a while, Kent handed a box to Ajax, and with a grin, he said, "Here ya go; I wish you luck."

Ajax could hear the sarcasm in Kent's tone, but ignored it and took the box carefully: "Sir, um...I have something to do tomorrow, so I will take a leave of absence, but I'll do all the work tonight and leave after that."

"You what?" Kent wanted to get angry, but when he remembered the eddies Ajax had just given him, he calmed down, "Okay, just this once. Don't get used to it."

"Thank you, sir, thank you." Ajax thanked him repeatedly. He knew that a leave of absence could only be asked when Kent was in a good mood, otherwise, it was impossible.

"Yeah, yeah. Now get to fucking to work! You wasted enough time already!" After dismissing Ajax, Kent picked up the Whiskey bottle again, took a sip, let out a low audible "ahh" and continued to focus on his Trent TV program.

.....

After detouring for several sections, Ajax came to a small room similar to a warehouse, about 20 square meters squared, with no air ventilation except the door, and a floor littered with tools. This was where Ajax spent most of his time.

Despite the sweltering heat, Ajax closed the iron curtain and set aside the things he had in his hands. He then walked to the end of the room and pulled on a large black canvas, revealing a mecha awaiting repair.

It had been nearly half a year since he found it. Initially, only the broken upper body of the mecha was salvageable. However, after six months of dedicated work, the current mech stood at a height of about 6.7 meters, complete with limbs, and a light blue hue of spray paint pattern on its face was visible.

Although the body of the mecha bore numerous hand-welded repair traces, giving it an overall unattractive appearance, the occasional glint of cold light under the weak illumination was enough to indicate its potential as a formidable foe, much like other aesthetically pleasing mechs.