Sky-cracking Rider

"Huh! That's it?"

The staff at Jiu Defense Company furrowed their brows as they looked at the row of modular dormitories.

Looking up, down, left, and right, even in the scorching heat of the equator, they could not find a trace of standalone air conditioning or ventilation ducts. At most, the roof had an added layer of white insulation panels with limited effectiveness, barely better than nothing. Above the window near the door was just a cheap exhaust fan, spinning feebly.

Without that fan, the inside would truly turn into a steaming cage, just add water and it could be a ready-made sauna.

Through the window, one could see the standard layout of a single room with a bath, all of which did not even total twenty square meters.

The bedroom contained only two single beds and two nightstands, with a long metal bar and five four-pronged iron-wire hangers on the wall, and a light bulb hanging from the ceiling; that was all there was.

On the nightstands, the desk lamp and electric fan were combined into one unit. It was hard to tell if it was a fan with a lamp or a lamp with a fan. The fan's diameter was less than 10 inches, pitifully small, and its wind power was likely just as inconsequential.

The bathroom wasn't large either; one could vaguely make out a washbasin and a shower area squished next to the toilet. Squeezing two people inside at once would probably be tight.

Such conditions were even more primitive than the standardized dormitories at the Aircrew Base.

The organizers probably pocketed plenty from the sponsors' generous contributions, or alternatively, once The Abyss Coliseum events concluded, these items that would become useless junk would have to be disposed of at an additional cost. Maybe they would just be abandoned or sold to local businesses. This is why a regular guest like Jiu Defense Company would be provided with the cheapest possible accommodations, without the slightest consideration of spending any more money, fearless of any protest from them.

Only seven rooms were allocated to Jiu Defense Company, and there were absolutely no more available. They had no choice but to squeeze in as best they could.

As the boss, Hanna naturally had a room to herself.

Devil Pepper Irinei Rusios was a tomboy and couldn't share a room with the men, even though she herself wouldn't mind.

Chekhov Big Bear and Assistant Lahar shared a room, then Fragrant Orchid Carlos Silva Lane with Dragon Artemisia Salila, Salad Mayer von Koller with Nutmeg Salaman Francis, and Rookie Chen Fei with Xiao Ming, each pair sharing a room.

Newcomer Sauerkraut Tempun Schneider thought he was lucky to have drawn a bye and have a room to himself, but just as he'd set his luggage down, the organizers stuffed another person in. The extra bed didn't stay vacant for a moment, indicating that the accommodations were indeed very tight.

The newcomer brought with him a strong scent of curry that quickly filled the room. Judging by his attire, he seemed to be a participating pilot. As soon as he entered, he lifted his chin to look at Tempun, his nose turned up, his eyes dismissive.

Both treated each other as if they were air, with nothing to say to one another, complete strangers within the same room.

If one still couldn't get used to these accommodations, the Mobile Base Vehicles that had not yet been converted back into Energy Points were also a good living environment, although their interior was entirely metallic, giving off a distinctly cold and hard vibe.

To improve this deficiency, Chen Fei found some wood, preparing to add some desks, chairs, benches, and wooden floors to the vehicle's cabin. It wasn't that he was reluctant to spend Energy Points, but naturally, real wood was more comfortable.

The hosts also had ready-made furniture for sale, but it was overpriced and of poor quality and not worth the money. This became clear immediately, and they decided against it.

Although the surroundings were desolate, with nothing but rocks and sand and most of the scant vegetation being low shrubs and wild grass struggling to peek out of crevices, wood was surprisingly easy to find and in huge quantities, without costing a single Star Yuan.

The exhibitors brought not only their products and equipment but also a large amount of packaging material, which included solid wood crates. The largest could even be reconstructed into wooden huts on the spot.

The wood dismantled from the Northern Weapons Industry Group's area was enough for Chen Fei's use. If he didn't take it, it would likely be used as firewood or just left piled up to naturally decompose.

Speaking of carpentry, mechanic Xiao Ming was also skilled with wood. With the right tools, making tables, chairs, and benches was a breeze, and what Chen Fei had in abundance was all sorts of tools.

Big Brother Xiao's carpentry workshop started immediately, and items like tables, chairs, and hangers missing from the guest rooms were gradually added.

The wood might not have been of high quality, but it wasn't meant to last long. With all the tables, chairs, and benches needed, Big Brother Xiao quickly got busy.

Chen Fei had scheduled a time block with Teacher Shen Fei to borrow equipment and arrived at the territory of the Northern Weapons Industry Group right on time. Multi-story buildings and towering factory halls rose from the ground, well-planned and lush with greenery.

Compared to the shabby row of guest rooms occupied by the Jiu Defense Company staff, it was the difference between wealthy neighborhoods and slums.

The Abyss Coliseum organizers from the Space Exploration Technology Company would rather upset military contractors and participating parties than leave a bad impression on their paying customers from the same industry. After all, leveraging their non-sovereign, neutral stance, they could make a tidy profit every five years.

Two large industrial printers were placed in the dust-free workshop, with dedicated air conditioning constantly releasing cool air to maintain the temperature around 25 degrees Celsius to ensure the stability of the printed products.

Seeing Chen Fei coming, Teacher Shen Fei, who was waiting for him, gestured toward one of the industrial 3D printers—surrounded by people—and said, "Chen Fei, you'll have to wait."

"What happened?"

Chen Fei glanced at the time: it was supposed to be his slot.

"It seems to be malfunctioning. They're trying to fix it."

Teacher Shen Fei had come early to wait for Chen Fei and was the first to know the reason.

It was really unfortunate timing. The two industrial specialized printers were not brand new but were far from being old enough to be discarded. Nobody expected a malfunction to happen right at this critical juncture.

She had no choice but to wait for the technicians to resolve the issue.

"Have they found the cause?"

Chen Fei wondered how long he'd have to wait.

"At least three hours, they haven't even finished the batch before us,"

Shen Fei shrugged her shoulders, what a mess this had become.

She had wanted to let Chen Fei use another printer, but it couldn't be arranged.

The promise of a free ride, being able to use it gratuitously, was already a generosity. Naturally, the Northern Weapons Industry Group's own work schedule took precedence, and only when they had free time could Chen Fei's stuff be squeezed in.

If time was insufficient, they'd probably have to queue up all over again.

"It's so troublesome, isn't the other one working fine?"

Chen Fei pointed to another industrial printer, which was humming along at high speed, ejecting material. Under the catalytic blue light, hundreds of components rapidly constructed en masse while emitting an aromatic hydrocarbon scent. This odor was promptly absorbed by a specialized air filtration system that used filtering materials and catalytic decomposition to prevent harm to humans.

A large-scale industrial printer wouldn't just print one component at a time. Like printing PCBs, whether herding a single sheep or a flock, all the odd corners of remaining space had to be utilized, ensuring cost and efficiency were maintained.

Shen Fei said with some difficulty, "I'm afraid scheduling could be pushed to the day after tomorrow."

If the malfunctioning printer wasn't fixed, the workload would naturally have to be transferred entirely to the other printer, leaving even less spare capacity.

Being allowed to borrow the printer was already a favor done for Vice President Shen. The company's President and Chairman were there; they couldn't blatantly abuse the privilege of free usage.

"Or, let's just get straight to the point and 'sacrifice' it, no more than ten minutes, guaranteed to make it as good as new,"

Chen Fei had always been bold, even daring to tamper with such large-scale industrial printers.

"'Sacrifice'?"

Teacher Shen Fei's mouth twitched visibly.

If it were a common "sacrifice" repair, that'd be one thing, but everyone who knew about Chen Fei's skill were aware that while others might pluck feathers from passing geese, his approach would leave a complete record, involving not just one large-scale industrial printer, but likely causing the producer to beg for mercy—this was no way to carry on!

Initially, Northern Weapons Industry Group had refused Chen Fei access to the "Canglong" project, and the leader of the Huntsman Squad, Miyoshi Monk, also refused him "sacrifice" of a small Magic Cube Airship, all because whilst the skill was effective, too much of it was overkill and detrimental.

Watching the still-busy repair staff, Shen Fei slowly shook her head.

"This... definitely not!"

"Hey, I'm just having a look."

Chen Fei shrugged his shoulders and walked toward the malfunctioning large-scale industrial printer.

The repair staff argued among themselves—some saying it was a driver fault, others claiming it was damage to the transmission components, and still others insisting on an issue with the electrical system. They bickered and even came to verbal blows, with those directly handling repairs sweating profusely, yet making no significant progress.

It was truly a sight that made onlookers anxious on their behalf!

"Hey, don't you mess around!"

Shen Fei hurriedly grabbed Chen Fei.

"No worries, I'll just brush against it, won't go in!"

Chen Fei caught Teacher Shen's wrist with his free hand and dragged her toward the printer.

As an outsider, it wasn't good for him to push his way in, but with Secretary Shen as a shield, there was no problem.

"Hi! Haven't you found the cause of the fault yet?"

Chen Fei seized the opportunity to squeeze into the midst of the maintenance crew, waiting around foolishly by the side was certainly not in his nature.

Opportunities tend to present themselves to those who actively seek them, not to those who wait for pies to fall from the sky.

Who'd say no to Chen Fei when his hands-on capabilities were relatively strong?

One of the maintenance crew waved dismissively with obvious irritation, "Off you go, off you go. If you're not involved, stay to the side. Don't get in the way."

He had just had a spat with a colleague and was left red-faced and angry.

"I'm a repair technician too, may I take a look?"

Chen Xiao'er flashed his pearly whites, indeed he was a repair technician, however, that was another story. He was more adept at repairing airplanes and even better at fixing people.

Secretary Shen, who knew the truth, was both amused and exasperated. What was he supposed to fix!