"You're saying that star shark oil, after refining, can be used as a plasma combustion aid? Hmm, that's a new angle."
Wang Tianwei rubbed her chin, surprised she hadn't thought of it herself.
"Eugene's right. That stuff's thermal stability is too poor for it to be used as lubricant, so it might as well be used directly as a combustion aid.
It can lower the ignition threshold, allowing for an instant startup even under low temperatures..."
Leola finished her call with her parents and pushed open the door to find a dozen virtual screens floating in midair. She recognized some of the people on the screens, and others she didn't.
Wu Fangyu was huddled with the others in a corner of the mech bay. A couple of screens were projected from the light computer on her wrist, and she still held a pen and paper in her hands. When she saw Leola come in, she first raised her index finger to her lips, making a "keep it down" gesture, then waved her over.
"Come on, over here."
Leola bent down and quickly weaved between the virtual screens, drawing glances from a few of the people on them. But once they realized she was just a student, they went back to focusing on their discussion.
Sitting beside Wu Fangyu were Taylor and Wu Pingzhuo. Their eyes were practically spinning like pinwheels, yet on their light computer screens appeared the eager, curious faces of Liansheng and Lucas... Just how many feeds were they patching into?
Once Leola had settled in, Wu Fangyu leaned over and lowered her voice:
"You haven't missed much. Ma Jie and the others just started their discussion."
Leola pointed at the video he was recording. "Do they all know about this?"
From a quick glance, she had already spotted several big-name figures. If they were recording or distributing this without authorization, it might cause trouble for Wang Tianwei...
"Of course! Haven't you checked the group chat yet? Ma Jie sent the call recording with the teachers straight to our group, you know, that 24K Prodigy Support Club group.
The teachers said anyone who had time should listen in, so right now pretty much everyone who can get online is online. Those without time will just catch the replay later."
Leola finally nodded and opened her own light computer.
"That's good."
As long as it didn't cause her any trouble, it was fine.
The soldiers had originally thought they were coming to learn how to oil their mechs, but the difficulty level of the lesson had suddenly been cranked way up!
Still, it was strangely interesting to listen to. These veteran mech engineers were racking their brains over a material that wasn't even all that rare, all with the single-minded goal of making their soldiers' mechs more mature.
Maybe the performance would only improve by a fraction of a gear, but the effort they were putting in was far from negligible.
The information revealed in their conversation was enough to give them a much better understanding of their own mechs, so they weren't leaving empty-handed. Not to mention they also served as "high-definition relay cameras" for everyone else.
"Cold-start capability is way too important. You guys, back when you were in the sea... that guy from First Military Academy, Wang Kaiyu? He's your brother, right?"
"Yes."
At the mention of First Military Academy, the three people in the room plus Lucas on the screen all sat up a little straighter.
"Wang Kaiyu's mech was exactly because its cold-start speed was too slow that you were able to dismantle its weapon so easily..."
The more Fu Xingyuan listened, the more he felt how little he'd known about mechs all this time.
As the most important "partner" and weapon for a soldier, if he'd figured out earlier what those teachers were discussing, he could understand his own mech better and adjust his fighting tactics according to its condition.
In the past, they had relied too much on Leola. But in reality, they were the masters of their mechs...
Jian Jingyu and Zhang Laila had been learning under Wang Tianwei for a year, so they could basically understand what the teachers were saying.
They both knew that their mechs would soon be getting another upgrade. Ma Jie might even put them in charge of refining the star shark oil. So now, they couldn't afford to let their attention wander even for a second!
Meanwhile, three teachers from First Military Academy and Valk had been wandering around the training rooms trying to find their students for a lesson check-up, but they couldn't spot them anywhere. They couldn't help but wonder, where had everyone gone?
Just then, they saw a mech bay with its door slightly ajar. Selina casually pulled it open.
A dozen or so big shots from the mech engineering world were "floating" in midair, arguing heatedly about something. Some of them were even faces that used to be printed in textbooks.
In the corner, the students were all listening intently. Wu Pingzhuo was trying to raise Lucas's virtual screen even higher...
Selina quietly closed the door again.
"Are they in there?" Lin Youpu, the teacher from Valk Academy, asked from behind.
"Yeah... all of them."
"All of them? The soldiers too?"
Gaskell was a bit confused at first, but then he remembered something.
"Oh! Are they finally learning how to oil their mechs?"
The few teachers all knew that the students' knowledge had been getting "more and more mixed," but based on their performance in the competition, a broader knowledge base seemed to be a good thing.
"No. They're attending a master class."
"A master class? Wang Tianwei is teaching it?"
Lin Youpu blurted out. Selina was silent for a few seconds before speaking:
"...Do you remember Academician Chen Qizhen from the Federal Academy of Engineering?"
"I remember. Don't tell me..."
Gaskell's eyes went wide.
What do you mean? Academician Chen Qizhen was giving lessons to those kids? Did they even understand it?
The mech engineers, fine. But what about Taylor and Barry? Did Gaskell not know who they were?
Selina nodded. "Also, my old mech instructor from First Military Academy back in the day... they're all having a video conference with Wang Tianwei. Everyone else is just listening and taking notes. I took one look and left."
"..."
Selina wasn't sure what else to say.
She hadn't seen that old mech instructor from her school days in years. She heard he had retired with the Highest Lifetime Honor...
The teachers were all silent for a long moment, exchanging glances.
"...Let's go."
"Where?"
"They said they wanted hotpot, didn't they? Since we've got nothing to do anyway, let's go buy some groceries for the kids..."
On the way to the first cafeteria, the silhouettes of the three teachers seemed a bit bleak in the wind.
Not even the principal, let alone them, could probably manage to invite so many famous mech engineers for a public lecture to the students all at once.
It felt like Qilin Academy's teaching resources were already on a completely different level from theirs... and the problem was, all of this was purely Wang Tianwei's personal network.
Sigh. They might as well take advantage of any scraps they could get. Thankfully, that kid didn't have many hobbies besides eating.
When the nine students finally came out of the mech bay, they were all dizzy and empty-stomached.
Wang Tianwei had originally planned to just grab a quick bite of something simple, but when they got to the cafeteria, they saw that the hotpot in the middle of the table was already set up!
All around the hotpot was a spread of dishes, both meat and vegetables. The pot was boiling, sending up steaming clouds in the air. The owner of the hotpot stall smiled and explained:
"Eat up! Your teachers already prepared everything for you. The meat and veggies came from my stall. If you need more, just tell me!"
"Whoo! Thanks, teachers! Thanks, boss!"
Wang Tianwei cheered and sat down at the head of the table first.
Even when Wu Fangyu pulled him by the arm to sit down, Taylor was still trying to process everything he had just learned.
"That teacher said cold weapons can recharge energy while hot weapons drain it... What if I alternated between them—do you think I could invent a perpetual motion machine?"
Wu Fangyu thought she must have misheard at first. After confirming Taylor was serious, she fell silent for a long moment before replying,
"If you had been born a few centuries earlier... even Einstein would have gotten out of your way."
