I'll Give You the Money

Xu Lingqu opened a new arena room, but Mighty King Bunny Ao kept sending her friend requests on Sky Network with message attachments.

【I just want to know if you really rely on your own skills!】

【Really not considering being a stand-in?】

【I'll offer you a price you can't refuse】

...

While that was flooding her messages, in the arena, after waiting a long time, someone finally came in, left a line—"Weird name, plain appearance, the arena has bots, huh."—and left.

The bot Xu Lingqu: ...

Liu Ming was cracking up. "I told you, dressing like that on Sky Network will get you discriminated against."

Xu Lingqu simply logged out of Sky Network. It was about time to eat anyway, so she figured she'd stock up on some nutrient packs this time.

She pushed open the door and stepped into the hallway. A person was lying face-down not far from her door, unknown whether dead or alive.

They looked a bit familiar. Xu Lingqu crouched down, flipped the person over, and recognized her—Natata, the girl from the mech engineer track.

Liu Ming, who had followed her out of the room, watched curiously as Xu Lingqu reached out to check Natata's breathing. Good news: she wasn't dead. Bad news: there was no doctor in the infirmary, so they could only have a medical bot do a basic diagnosis.

Xu Lingqu carried her on her back. Natata was very light—she was already a petite girl, and carrying her felt like holding a feather, like a gust of wind could blow her away.

Before leaving, she made sure to shoo the nosy Liu Ming back inside.

Since she'd familiarized herself with the terrain beforehand, Xu Lingqu moved quickly. She laid Natata on the hospital bed and watched as the household bot began running a basic diagnosis.

A minute passed.

Medical bot: Low blood sugar—the patient fainted due to not eating.

Xu Lingqu: ?

This was the interstellar era, and she'd managed to starve herself? Nutrient packs in the cafeteria cost one credit apiece—practically being given away. Was she on a diet?

The medical bot didn't waste any time and directly administered an injectable nutrient pack to Natata.

Within five minutes, the girl on the bed slowly woke up.

The medical bot truly worked wonders.

Natata's lips were still pale. She opened her eyes and looked around in a daze. When she saw Xu Lingqu, she froze. "Xu... Xu Lingqu... you..."

Her brain had clearly short-circuited. She had no idea what had happened.

"You fainted in the hallway outside my dorm. I brought you here," Xu Lingqu said succinctly. She stood up and sighed. "Come on, I'll treat you to a proper meal."

The moment Natata heard the word "eat," she subconsciously swallowed. She obediently followed behind Xu Lingqu.

When Xu Lingqu arrived at the cafeteria and ordered fresh dishes and rice, laying them out on the table, Natata wolfed down several big mouthfuls. Only after her stomach was somewhat filled did she realize what an embarrassing thing she'd done.

She'd fainted from hunger at someone's dorm door, been taken to the infirmary, and now Xu Lingqu was even buying her dinner!

Natata nearly choked. Xu Lingqu pushed the water on the table toward her.

"If you can't swallow, drink some water," Xu Lingqu said helplessly. After entertaining a kid on Sky Network, now she had to remind a classmate to eat and drink water. She felt like a kindergarten teacher.

It was like being treated like an idiot. Natata quickly drank several gulps of water to wash it down. Recovering, she patted her chest to catch her breath and said, "I'm sorry... I should pay for this meal..."

"Forget it," Xu Lingqu refused outright. "I'm afraid you'll be lying there again tomorrow. You're at the point where you don't even have money for nutrient packs. What happened?"

Sure enough, in Xu Lingqu's eyes, putting on a brave front to hide things was completely useless.

Natata took a deep breath and said weakly, "I owe a huge loan."

Before Xu Lingqu could react, she hurried to explain: "It's definitely not for anything shady—it's the tuition and material fees for the mech engineer track."

Being a mech engineer was an extremely expensive path. If a family was just barely middle class, they basically couldn't support it. The tuition and material fees were an endless pit, nearly turning the profession into a privilege of the rich. Fortunately, the field valued talent. Schools would make exceptions for talented students, or they could apprentice under master mech engineers early to earn a pittance.

"My parents left me a long time ago." Natata lowered her head, her fingers clenching the fabric of her pants. "Before entering Moye, I took out a huge loan to continue studying mech engineering. After learning about my situation, Instructor Guan helped me negotiate with the bank, letting me start repayment only after I found work... I'm really grateful to him. But now, there's an important mech engineer apprentice competition... It costs 150k in material fees to enter, and I want to try for this chance."

"Even if you saved one or two credits on nutrient packs, you wouldn't scrape together 150k before the competition ended," Xu Lingqu said, frowning slightly.

"Sorry, sorry—I was so fixated on going that I did something this stupid without thinking. I must have been so dizzy from hunger I couldn't see straight and got off at the wrong floor outside your room..." Natata waved her hands. "I didn't mean to cause you any trouble. I won't do it again."

Xu Lingqu stared at her for two seconds. A commander's gaze was too sharp; Natata felt her whole body stiffen under it. So tense!

"What was your final rank in the mech engineer track?"

Natata tremblingly raised two fingers. "Two."

All things considered, she had some talent and a deep passion for mech engineering. Even after her family fell apart, she'd gritted her teeth and persisted, even taking out loans to get into one of the six military academies' mech engineer programs.

Xu Lingqu spoke up: "I'll give you the 150k to enter."

"Huh? Huh???" Natata jumped in shock. Fortunately, they were the only two in the cafeteria at this hour.

"A reasonable investment." Xu Lingqu lowered her head and directly transferred 90k to Natata. "I'll get the rest to you soon. When does registration close?"

Natata, too stunned to function, was like a crashed household bot, reacting mechanically: "Next week... No! Xu Lingqu, I can't—I can't take your money."

God, how could she take Xu Lingqu's money to enter a competition after collapsing in front of her door today? It looked like she was trying to scam her...

"You'll need to pay me back eventually—it's not a gift." Xu Lingqu glanced at the things on the table. "Finish eating first."

Natata obeyed the order and sat down obediently, tears welling up in her eyes. Xu Lingqu had been so good to her. She wiped her tears away. "I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

Xu Lingqu shook her head. "What I want you to pay back, you probably can't pay back quickly. No rush."

Natata was curious. "What do you want me to pay back?"

Xu Lingqu: "An S-class mech."

Natata: ?????