16: False navigation marks

"Boss, there are more cameras here... than outside the Chief's office."

As soon as they entered the maintenance workshop, which was thick with the smell of rust and engine oil, Ma Liu immediately pulled his neck in like a frightened rabbit and spoke in a low voice.

"Of course." Chen Feng slammed his toolbox onto the workbench with a loud 'clatter,' as if intentionally speaking for the monitors to hear. "We're the Chief's treasures now. Naturally, he wants to see clearly whether his treasures are working hard for him."

He looked around; cold electronic eyes flickered with red light in the dark corners, taking in everything.

"So, we have to satisfy him." Chen Feng picked up a massive high-frequency wrench, that fanatical and greedy smile returning to his face. "Ma Liu, come give me a hand! We need to make this precious baby harder and stronger! That's the only way to dig up more treasures in C-13 Mining Area!"

"Yes, yes! Boss!"

Over the next few hours, the entire maintenance workshop echoed with the piercing sounds of hammering and cutting.

Chen Feng directed Ma Liu, welding heavy armor plates scavenged from the scrap yard onto the limbs and torso of the pioneer-3 model in the crudest manner possible. These modifications lacked any aesthetic appeal, but they made the robot look incredibly sturdy, imbued with a sense of savage power.

"Make more noise!" Chen Feng shouted to the hard-working Ma Liu while operating the cutting machine. "Let the Chief hear our sweat!"

Under the cover of this massive noise, Chen Feng's fingers flew across the virtual keyboard of the console at a speed difficult for the naked eye to track.

"System, purchase the 'Audio Spectrum Analysis Plugin,' select the cheapest model."

His mind was as calm as a machine issuing commands.

"Disguise it as a 'G-2 Sonar Detection Module' and implant it into the system's core. Yes, that version—the one with the most vulnerabilities, the one that looks most like the second-hand junk Mine Slaves like us could get our hands on."

A tiny stream of data merged into the robot's operating system without a trace. To any external log, it appeared to be nothing more than a normal module update for 'scouting the path ahead.'

This was his true 'eye' for finding the tranquility grass.

Having finished this, Chen Feng began the most critical step of his plan.

"Ma Liu, go, bring that coolant over here—all of it!" Chen Feng pointed to the other end of the workshop.

"Yes, Boss!" Ma Liu scurried over obediently.

The moment Ma Liu was distracted, Chen Feng re-entered his silent communication with the exchange.

"Purchase a one-time 'Data Injection Script,' also the cheapest kind."

He quickly finished editing a brand-new piece of code with a mischievous intent. The core of the code was a forged 'Geological Map of the Rich Ores in Sector B,' based on official data and his own imagination.

"Trigger condition: Seismic sensors detect violent vibrations at a specific frequency."

"Execution action: 'Restore' the forged geological map to the main log's temporary folder."

"Tag: Data recovery caused by system error."

"Perfect."

When Bachm checked the logs later, he would only see a greedy fool who encountered a cave-in while mining in Sector A. During the violent tremors, the robot's aging system glitched, accidentally recovering a 'deleted' treasure map that pointed to the more dangerous—and more tempting—Sector B.

A beacon to hell, tailor-made for the greedy, was thus set.

The very second he finished the implantation, the workshop door was pushed open with a 'crash.'

One of Bachm's trusted Supervisors, a man with sinister eyes, walked in followed by two Guards.

"Number 734, the Chief sent me to check on your progress." The Supervisor's gaze swept over Chen Feng and the robot like a venomous snake. "Let me see your modification logs."

"Of course, of course!" Chen Feng immediately put on a fawning smile and eagerly pulled up the operation logs. "Please look, sir! To dig up treasures for the Chief, I've reinforced everything that can be reinforced! It can definitely withstand ten or eight cave-ins!"

The Supervisor frowned as he looked at the logs filled with entries like 'reinforcing armor against falling rocks,' 'optimizing engine to save energy,' and 'strengthening mechanical arm grip.'

These records... were too normal, so normal they seemed a bit stupid.

To show off his expertise, he pointed at the icon of the newly disguised plugin and asked sharply, "What is this? I haven't seen this in the standard kit."

Ma Liu's heart instantly leaped into his throat.

Chen Feng, however, didn't bat an eye, even answering with a hint of pride, "Good eye, sir! This is a little invention of my own. I call it the 'Sound Amplifier'!"

"Sound Amplifier?" The Supervisor looked suspicious. "What do you need that for?"

Chen Feng lowered his voice and leaned in mysteriously. "Sir, you might not know, but the old-timers say C-13 Mining Area is haunted! I figured, if I install this and hear something like chains rattling or someone crying deep in the mines, we can get an early warning and get the hell out of there!"

"..."

The Supervisor's face instantly turned the color of pig liver.

Haunted?

Listening for rattling chains?

This was the most absurd, stupid, and yet somehow most damnably unassailable reason he had ever heard!

He couldn't exactly say 'there are no ghosts in this world, you're being ridiculous,' could he? On Ashen Earth Star, where undead crystals were everywhere, who would believe that?

"Hmph! Nonsense!" The Supervisor choked out after a long silence, then waved his hand irritably. "Hurry up! The Chief is waiting for your good news!"

With that, he led his men away without looking back, as if staying one more second would cause him to catch Chen Feng's stupidity.

Watching the Supervisor's frustrated departure, the fawning smile on Chen Feng's face slowly faded.

He turned his head to look at Ma Liu, who was standing beside him completely stunned.

The look in Ma Liu's eyes had shifted from initial fear to a kind of worship, as if he were looking at a god.

He realized for the first time that what Chen Feng possessed wasn't luck at all.

It was the power of 'knowledge'—something he couldn't comprehend at all, yet it made him tremble from the depths of his soul.

"Boss..." Ma Liu's voice was trembling. "You... you really are a genius."

"No." Chen Feng patted the newly refurbished steel beast and said flatly, "I'm just a Mine Slave who wants to survive."

"Now, the fangs of this beast have been sharpened."