The Legendary Mechanic

Chapter 33: His Worth

"Absolutely no way!"

"What if Han Xiao's motive was precisely to infiltrate us"

"That goes against our secrecy policy!"

The director suddenly bellowed, "We'll settle it the way we always do; we'll have a vote!"

The conservatives rejoiced. Aside from the one neutral minister, each faction had exactly 6 people. With the director's vote, they would most likely win it. On the other hand, the hardliners were panicking.

Suddenly, the Internal Affairs Ministers spoke, "I think that the logistics department will suit him well. Not only will it maximize his usefulness as a mechanic, we will be able to keep him under close watch since he will be inside the headquarters."

He had already resigned himself to the inevitable.

For once, the conservatives agreed with him. The logistics department was indeed the best option as Han Xiao would be confined to the HQ.

However, the director suddenly cut in, "Since we are going to make use of his talents anyway, might as well assign him to the covert ops department!"

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly froze. All the ministers turned and looked towards the neutral minister the covert ops minister who had been in the middle of yawning.

"Ahhh eh, what? Me?"

"Then it's settled!" decided the director as he slammed the table. "Words and actions may be deceiving, but motives are not. We'll let him join the covert ops department after verifying the locations he's disclosed."

The ministers all face-palmed themselves. Whatever makes you happy, boss.

The vice-director yawned to break the silence.

"Time to finish up already? What's on the canteen menu today?"

...

After the conference, the intelligence minister and the logistics minister proceeded to the logistics department together to examine the Lightweight Mechanical Arm.

They were interested to see Han Xiao's craftsmanship to gain insight on him.

The personnel they had tasked with conducting the examination was Luo Xuan, the 'ace' of the logistics department. He was the top machinery studies student of his year at the Western Capital University, and had been recruited directly into Division 13, where his continued excellence earned him the favor of his higher-ups. There were plans to transfer him to the covert ops department.

He was flawless apart from being too arrogant.

"Begin."

Luo Xuan began to get to work with the Lightweight Mechanical Arm, but he suddenly stopped and reported, "It's encrypted."

Machines were commonly installed with encryption to prevent unauthorized disassembly and reverse engineering. The [Basic Assembly] knowledge that Han Xiao possessed came with the method to install such encryption. The encryption that he had installed would take an E-class mechanic to crack. Evidently, Han Xiao had anticipated this series of events.

Rover One was also encryptednot that it mattered, since it had self-destructed.

"Can you crack it?" asked the intelligence director.

"No problem," replied the confident Luo Xuan. He didn't think that it was possible for an unknown mechanic to make a lock that he, a genius, couldn't crack.

Twenty minutes later, however, he had not made any progress, and was sweating profusely. "Four-layered encryption Is the bastard who made this machine crazy or something?"

A four-layered encryption was extremely complex to crack as the slightest error would cause the machine's internals to disintegrate, rendering it useless. Luo Xuan was at a loss of how to proceed.

The intelligence director's face had long since darkened.

"Can you crack it or not? Don't waste my time."

Luo Xuan suppressed his irritation and, through gritted teeth, replied, "This encryption is too complex. I I need more time."

"Enough. I don't have the time to wait for you. Just tell me your thoughts on the arm."

Luo Xuan face darkened in displeasure and he replied, frustrated, "The craftsmanship itself is nothing special. Only the encryption was well made. Feels like the creator is some bumpkin who treats garbage like treasure."

The intelligence director's eyes twitched, but he left without saying anything else. His men retrieved the Lightweight Mechanical Arm. His next plan was to perform actual combat testing at the Germinal bases that Han Xiao had revealed to them.

He was actually more interested in the rover; it was a shame it was burnt beyond recognition.

Division 13 may have been powerful and mighty, but one could never have enough new weapons.

"The research department is always allocated with the largest cut of the budget, yet those useless fools only know how to create useless crap like double-sided sticky bombs, curved guns that don't work at all, and fake nipples to hide poison needles! They even have male and female versions!"

The covert ops department had borne a grudge against the research team ever since two of their agents were self-poisoned due to a 'wardrobe malfunction'.

...

Meanwhile, the director was making a phone call to the tall old man.

"I have ensured that Han Xiao will join the covert ops team."

"Good work. Thank you."

"Old man, is he really worth doing all this for?" asked the director curiously.

"Heh heh. Intel is not all he has to offer. I have a feeling that he will play a crucial role in the battle against the Germinal Organization."