Chapter 80: Apology

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Apology

"Alright."

The middle-aged man extended a hand to Xiang Yi, who was sitting on the ground, trying to soothe the pain in his body.

Xiang Yi looked baffled and gestured at his two arms, both of which had been broken.

The middle-aged man gave an awkward smile, then reached out to support Xiang Yi by the shoulders, helping him up and leading him back into the junkyard.

Just as the two of them entered the junkyard, a patrol car pulled up outside the main gate.

A police officer rolled down the window and shouted toward the middle-aged man, who was leading Xiang Yi toward one of the only two buildings in the junkyard, "Master Chang, did we just hear gunshots from over here?"

The middle-aged man turned and called back, "Just a few punks. I chased them off."

"Everything alright?"

"All good. You guys get back to your work."

The officer exchanged greetings and quickly drove away, showing no intention of lingering. It was as if they didn’t care... or rather, weren’t worried about what happened here.

"What did they call you?"

"Master Chang. I’m the owner of this junkyard."

"Come with me."

Master Chang led the way, beckoning for Xiang Yi to follow as he entered the shorter of the junkyard’s two buildings.

The other building was taller and seemed noisy in the night, suggesting some equipment was running inside.

In contrast, the building Xiang Yi was entering was quiet. It was probably where Master Chang lived.

In the living room, Master Chang rummaged through a medical kit, took out a ring-shaped medical device, and fitted it onto Xiang Yi’s arm.

It was a very precise-looking medical tool.

Xiang Yi glanced at its name on his panel.

["Quick-Heal" Single-Use Automatic Bone-Setting Apparatus]

[Energy Core: "Nanfu" Recyclable Battery]

[Functional Module: "Quick-Heal" Integrated Scan and Bone-Setting (with Bone-Molding Agent)]

[Structural Framework: "Quick-Heal" Annular Auto-Setter Frame]

Automatic scan, automatic bone-setting, automatic injection of the bone-molding agent.

Xiang Yi had actually acquired something similar from the scavenger team before. It was the same brand, but it lacked the final function of injecting the bone-molding agent.

"How long will this take to heal?"

"At most, it’ll set a simple fracture in half an hour. You’ll have a full recovery of bone condition in ten hours. It’s a very useful piece of kit."

After fitting another apparatus onto Xiang Yi’s other arm, Master Chang led him to a seat in front of the coffee table.

"So... let me just confirm one last time. What exactly were you doing around my place tonight?"

"I know there’s a bounty on you, so it’s not convenient for you to be moving around. I want to hear the truth."

Xiang Yi told the truth. "I need some rare, high-grade metal materials. I was planning to come over tomorrow during the day to buy some electronic junk from you and see if I could salvage anything."

"But when I was passing by tonight, I heard a commotion and saw a crowd gathered here, so I thought I’d circle around to see what was going on, and then..."

Master Chang’s mechanical eye twitched a few times. He suddenly reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, doing his best to keep his expression neutral so Xiang Yi wouldn’t notice anything was off.

’What Xiang Yi said was completely logical.’

’It’s just that his timing and location were so unfortunate. A gang of thugs had just shown up, and my damn temper got the best of me.’

’I’d managed to hold back at first, but when I saw a figure on the thermal imaging monitor—squatting in the distance all bundled up like a leader—I just couldn’t take it anymore...’

’Thinking back, when I first found Xiang Yi, I think he did say something about being here to buy something.’

’But I was in the heat of the moment, and the second I saw him take a step back, I couldn’t help but get in his face... I could have chased him down from fifty meters away, so why was I in such a rush?’

Master Chang suddenly felt the urge to smack himself.

With a multi-million bounty on his head, it was perfectly understandable for Xiang Yi to be cautious.

Looking back, he was definitely the one in the wrong.

When you do something wrong, you have to apologize and make amends.

This was a rule Master Chang always lived by.

’But admitting my mistake directly would be too much of a blow to my pride as a man... so it would be better to apologize and compensate through actions.’

Master Chang had already decided to arrange a job for Xiang Yi in the junkyard.

Coincidentally, Xiang Yi seemed to be in need of some materials from the junkyard, so this should make up for his losses.

However, Master Chang first needed to confirm Xiang Yi’s technical skills and the general effects of his Spiritual Energy abilities so he could assign him the right work.

"What can you do? Know any general mechanics?"

Xiang Yi didn’t dare make any promises. "I don’t remember, but I could probably figure it out if I got my hands on something."

"Really, you don’t remember?"

"Really. Aside from my memories after I was in prison, everything else is a bit of a blur. I can’t even recall what I used to do."

"Amnesia?"

"Something like that."

"What about stuff from college?"

"I actually went to college?"

"..."

Master Chang saw that Xiang Yi’s expression didn’t look like he was faking it.

He couldn’t help but think back to the phone call from earlier.

What exactly happened to Xiang Yi in the years before he went to prison?

His friend didn’t have any leads, and it was even less likely for him, who spent all his time in the junkyard, to find out.

Not that he actually planned to investigate anything. He intended to shelter Xiang Yi for a while, but he couldn’t possibly support him for a lifetime.

Even if he was willing, Xiang Yi might not be. It would all depend on Xiang Yi’s own plans.

Master Chang pointed to the Laser Rifle currently being held by Shi Tie and asked, "Then how did you make that?"

"Using Spiritual Energy."

"I know it’s Spiritual Energy, but how exactly does it work? If you don’t want to say, you don’t have to."

Xiang Yi looked hesitant.

’When facing someone this powerful, it’s not like I could resist if he decided to kill me. But if I reveal too many of my valuable, long-term abilities and end up being kept by someone like him, I’d be no different from a Blood Crystal locked away in a containment room. That might actually be a fate worse than death.’

Xiang Yi could feel that his Spiritual Energy was extremely powerful, especially his Spiritual Enhancement.

He didn’t need to master any particular technique; as long as he had enough Spiritual Power and a finished piece of equipment or some other object, he could produce stronger, more unique, and more specialized weapons, tools, or devices.

If a Spiritual Ability like that were discovered, Xiang Yi would most likely lose his freedom completely.

No matter who it was, Xiang Yi could never casually display such an ability.

As for the other Spiritual Power he possessed... to be honest, Xiang Yi didn’t want to show it to anyone, especially not to someone he had just met.

After hesitating, Xiang Yi didn’t answer the question directly. Instead, he said, "There’s still something I don’t understand. Why was your attitude toward me so different before and after?"

Master Chang could see that it was difficult for Xiang Yi to place any real trust in him.

’This is all because my actions earlier were too rash. If I had just talked to him properly from the start, it wouldn’t be this complicated. No matter how complicated it is, I still have to compensate him. But to do that, I have to earn back his trust first... which means I guess I’ll just have to lose a little face.’

Master Chang let out a sudden sigh. "Alright, I’ll be honest with you too," he said.

"You saw what happened earlier, right? A bunch of thugs came here to cause trouble, talking about collecting protection money."

"I saw. Didn’t you have your robots chase them away?"

"I did, but I also happened to spot you squatting over here, and the way you were dressed was a bit... well, I thought you were with them."

Xiang Yi had bundled himself up to hide his identity, so he certainly didn’t look like a good guy.

"I’m a veteran, discharged from the army. My first instinct is to solve everything with violence. I know I’ve got a bad temper and don’t know how to pull my punches."

"When I made that call earlier, I was having a friend look into your background. Turns out you’re actually a good person, and that’s when I knew I’d screwed up. That I’d done something wrong."

"But I didn’t want to lose too much face, so I figured I could arrange a job for you or something, and protect you for a while."

"I know you might not believe any of this, but I have to say it."

Master Chang stood up and bowed solemnly to Xiang Yi. "For what happened today... I’m truly sorry."