MG - Chapter 377: I’ll Have Her Come See You Right Away (Patreon)

Derek Su didn’t take Stella to a nearby medical station.

Instead, he went straight to the Zuanka Tech Clinic, a treatment facility under Mecha Island.

Crimson was staying there, and Laiya An was there now as well. Since he was already bringing Stella in for a physical examination, he could visit Crimson and Laiya An while he was at it.

When they arrived at the clinic, Derek Su happened to run into two familiar faces.

“Master, I want to...”

“Don’t even think about it. This is a hospital.”

“But... there’s a restroom, isn’t there? Cough, cough...”

“You can think about that after you recover.”

As Derek Su passed one of the rooms, he overheard this strange conversation. The more he thought about it, the more disturbing it became.

He didn’t even need to recognize their voices or peek inside. Just from the conversation, he knew exactly who they were.

Leon Li and Snowpeak.

He stopped, then took a few steps back.

Sure enough, Snowpeak was lying on the hospital bed, her face still pale. Leon Li sat beside her, peeling an apple with a fruit knife.

“Well, you’re recovering pretty nicely~” Derek Su greeted them.

“Boss Su?!” Leon Li and Snowpeak looked up. The moment they saw Derek Su and Stella, their eyes lit up.

Leon Li in particular still wore his usual expressionless face, but the gratitude in his eyes was impossible to hide.

He hurriedly stood up so fast that he knocked his chair over, clearly intending to invite Derek Su and Stella inside.

Derek Su waved him off. “No need. I still have to take Stella for her checkup. I just saw that Snowpeak was recovering well, so I stopped to say hello.”

As expected of a Mecha Girl with high Impact Resistance and Stability.

Half of Snowpeak’s core had separated and parts of it had even shattered, yet after only one night, she looked merely a little weak.

Of course, Derek Su knew Eden’s activator had definitely played a major role in that.

Since the substance was the circulatory fluid used by Frontline Psychic Energy Mechas, it was probably incredibly expensive to produce.

“She is recovering well.” Leon Li nodded, lingering fear still in his voice. “If Boss Su and Governor Eden hadn’t arrived so quickly, I’m afraid...”

Even now, the Crown Club’s ace pilot couldn’t hide the fear on his face as he spoke.

“All right. It’s over now, so don’t dwell on it.” Derek Su patted Leon Li on the shoulder.

He had already thought Leon Li was a decent guy before.

After seeing how Leon Li treated Snowpeak during the Panlong Mountain race, Derek Su had come to respect him even more.

A pilot who treated his Mecha Girl well wasn’t necessarily a good pilot.

But a pilot who treated his Mecha Girl badly was definitely no good.

Chloe Qin, whose head had already been burned to a crisp, was a perfect example.

And Eden had told him that Leon Li and Snowpeak had a Core Contract.

A Core Contract was good.

Didn’t that make Leon Li the same kind of person as Derek Su?

Leon Li nodded. He also felt there was no point dwelling on what had already happened.

He glanced at Stella, who was hugging Derek Su’s arm and swinging it back and forth.

“Is Stella feeling unwell?

“Or was she injured yesterday, so you brought her in for a full checkup just to be safe?”

“A bit of both,” Derek Su replied.

“Cough, cough, cough...”

Just then, Snowpeak started coughing from the hospital bed.

Derek Su frowned slightly. “Does Snowpeak cough like that often?”

“Sometimes. Her body probably just hasn’t fully recovered yet,” Leon Li said.

“Stella’s been coughing too, and sneezing. It started last night, and it’s been getting worse ever since.”

Derek Su had already suspected that Stella’s condition was closely connected to yesterday’s attack.

Now that Snowpeak was showing similar symptoms, he became even more convinced.

“So you think the coughing might be caused by something else?” Leon Li immediately grew tense.

“Exactly. That’s why I brought Stella here for a checkup.”

“But the healing Mecha Girls here said Snowpeak was only a little weak. Other than that, they couldn’t find anything wrong with her.”

“Is that so?” Derek Su nodded. “Either way, keep a close eye on it.

“I’ll take Stella in first and see if they can figure out what’s wrong.”

There still wasn’t enough information to tell what was really happening, and he didn’t have enough cases to compare.

Maybe Snowpeak really was coughing because her body was weak, and her condition had nothing to do with Stella’s.

After saying goodbye to Leon Li and Snowpeak, Derek Su continued deeper into the clinic with Stella.

In another room, he saw Richard Cheng and Ghost.

Ghost was still unconscious, her small body surrounded by medical equipment and covered in tubes.

That alone showed that Impact Resistance and Stability really were connected to a Mecha Girl’s physical resilience.

Ghost’s injuries hadn’t been as severe as Snowpeak’s, yet Snowpeak had recovered first.

Richard Cheng was asleep with his head resting beside the bed.

Derek Su quietly took Stella by the hand and led her past without disturbing him.

...

Thanks to Absolute Shadow’s status, Derek Su and Stella didn’t need an appointment. They went straight to the VIP department.

The healing Mecha Girl there spent the entire morning giving Stella an extremely thorough examination.

Stella continued sneezing and coughing throughout the process.

Yet according to every test result, aside from being slightly weak, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her body.

“Actually, quite a few Mecha Girls have developed these symptoms today.”

The healing Mecha Girl who had examined Stella frowned at the test reports, her face full of concern.

“We don’t know what’s causing it either. We’ve tried every treatment we have. In the most extreme case, we even replaced a patient’s circulatory fluid, but the symptoms, which resemble a human cold, still didn’t improve.

“For now, we’re continuing to monitor the situation. But so far, this strange ‘condition’ hasn’t had much of an effect on the Mecha Girls.”

“No effect?!”

Derek Su looked at Stella’s stats panel.

Her Stability had already dropped by one point, shown clearly as a green “-1.”

Red positive numbers represented temporary buffs.

This was the first time Derek Su had ever seen a green negative value. If red represented a temporary buff, then green clearly represented a temporary debuff.

So Stella was definitely not fine, no matter what this healing Mecha Girl said.

Worse, there was every possibility that her condition would continue deteriorating over time.

Derek Su’s expression grew increasingly serious.

“Who’s your superior? This needs to be reported immediately. There’s no reason to keep observing and doing nothing. I have reason to suspect this is some kind of rare infectious disease affecting Mecha Girls. If you keep delaying, it could only get worse!”

“Our superior is... rather busy,” the healing Mecha Girl said helplessly. “And sir, I need to make one thing clear. Mecha Girls cannot get sick. It’s absolutely impossible!”

Earth had only just suffered its first attack from the Void, so these healing Mecha Girls probably had no idea how serious the situation might be.

Derek Su couldn’t be bothered arguing with them.

Sometimes Mecha Girls could be even more stubborn than humans, especially once they had convinced themselves that something was unquestionably true.

So he simply took Stella by the hand, led her out onto the balcony, pulled out his phone, and called Absolute Shadow.

[Hello, Boss Su. What is it?]

“I want to see the director of the Zuanka Tech Clinic. Can you arrange it?”

Even Stella froze when she heard that.

Master wanted to meet the director right away?

Even with all the influence Xiangxiang the Rich Lady had, that couldn’t be easy to arrange, could it?

There was a brief silence on the other end of the call.

Then Absolute Shadow’s calm voice came through.

[No problem. I’ll have her come see you right away.]