This is really not mechanical ascension

Blue Star Civilization… Silver Grey Star… Third generation immigrants...

I... have I transmigrated?

The excruciating pain tearing through every nerve made it difficult for Li Ming to feel anything else.

He didn't know how much time had passed. His chest heaved like a bellows as he struggled to sit up, touching his own neck, which was searing with pain.

A moment later, as his physical condition improved slightly, he sat on the bed with the support of the wall. On the left wall, a virtual poster projected an image of a well-proportioned young girl in black stockings that wrapped around her rounded, long legs, shifting between various poses.

There was a roll of toilet paper on the bedside, but Li Ming didn't look at the waste bin at the foot of the bed.

"Hanging…" He lifted his head and looked at the thin rope hanging from the ceiling. It had snapped due to the weight.

"Such a mess… no wonder suicide" Li Ming muttered with a wry smile, understanding the situation thanks to the recently acquired memories.

The reason his predecessor had committed suicide was that his father had mortgaged their house to borrow a large sum of money at high interest rates from the Fierce Tiger Gang.

However, he had been killed by an out-of-control hover car three days ago. The fire was fierce, leaving no remains and the perpetrator had yet to be found.

The predecessor believed that the Fierce Tiger Gang had discovered the house had been sold by Li Changhai a long time ago but was still mortgaged to them, a case of double-dealing, which is why they killed him.

After Li Changhai's death, his predecessor stayed indoors and didn't dare to go out for two days. But what was more desperate was that his predecessor suspected Li Changhai had been scammed.

The sole purpose of borrowing so much money was to buy an admission qualification for him to the University of Science and Technology located on the Capital Star.

That's the highest institution within the Blue Star Civilization. A mechanic, how could he possibly afford an admission qualification? After Li Changhai's death, there was no follow-up.

The money was swindled, the house sold, and the contract signed. It wasn't even possible to mortgage it to the Fierce Tiger Gang anymore.

As for running away… outside of Silver Grey City, except for the over-mined pits, the next city is on the other side of the planet.

He really was left with nothing but a miserable life. Given his predecessor's timid nature, living in constant fear and driving himself to suicide was quite normal.

"Need to think of something… otherwise, I'll have to turn to the sea." Li Ming joked grimly, his eyes lighting up slightly, "Right… Li Changhai's room…"

Once outside the door, at the end of the hallway was Li Changhai's room, with a silver-metallic door, cold and smooth in material, much more upscale than his small wooden door, but it was firmly closed.

Normally, Li Changhai never allowed his predecessor into his room, who also obediently complied, but Li Ming didn't care.

"Password incorrect…"

"…"

"…"

"Beep… Locked. Please try again in five minutes…" The merciless voice of the smart lock resounded. Li Ming's expression darkened. Li Changhai's birthday, his predecessor's birthday, identity codes… none of them were correct.

"Could you open it?" Li Ming suddenly called out, but the empty room responded with silence. He frowned, "Did it crash again?"

Descending to the ground floor, he was immediately hit by a potent mix of smells of engine oil, causing him to involuntarily furrow his brows.

The space was quite large, with several rooms merged into one. The central area contained a machining center made of four metallic mechanical arms, six meters long and four meters wide, shining in silvery white.

"What's it called again…" He couldn't remember, his predecessor wasn't interested in mechanical repairs.

The ground was covered with dark brown oil stains, and the surroundings were littered with many bottles and cans, most of them containing coolants and various types of oil, along with several torque wrenches and electric screwdrivers.

Upon opening the black metal box in the corner, the dense bundle of circuits made his head tingle. Repairing household security systems was a technical job.

His predecessor was reclusive, reticent, and somewhat timid. During the twelve years of mandatory education in Silver Grey City, he had dropped out in the tenth year due to bullying and did not wish to continue attending.

In short, he was too inadequate to take over even this meager family business, nor was he good at studies, making his future look bleak.

That's why his father had considered buying an admission qualification as an option, as the University of Science and Technology was located on the Capital Star of the Blue Star Civilization—Blue Star.

It was also one of the three key support projects after the Blue Star Civilization joined the interstellar alliance.

He couldn't repair security systems, but Li Ming knew another way.

"Rebooting is enough to solve 90% of problems," he said, fumbling to find the chip socket and pressing it, the built-in elastic structure ejected the thumb-sized chip.

This security system had been hacked by his father, it couldn't be restarted with just a press of a button, it could only be restarted by removing the chip...

Li Ming stood there stunned, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"I don't have any memory of eye modifications in my previous life, could this be..." His eyes heated up at the sight of the pale blue screen only he could see.

[Heiser 850 Chip (Cracked Version) -- Unrated: A processor chip cracked by mechanical engineer Li Changhai, which removes the backdoors left by Heiser Company and increases the operating frequency.

Control Conditions: 1 point of metal energy

Control Effect: Mechanical Repair -- Beginner

Control Ability -- Overload Operation: Increases reaction speed by 10%.]

Li Ming glanced at it, somewhat puzzled, but he knew he needed to figure it out quickly.

Holding the chip, the touch of its cold, smooth surface calmed him, his back's golden touch points still bearing black marks.

He began to study the basics of his livelihood, and it wasn't until dawn that Li Ming exhaled a breath of air, "So that's how it is..."

At that moment, there were numerous metal objects in front of him, all covered with rust, some even turning to ash.

The pale blue screen was not complex, it absorbed metal materials to extract metal energy, his most essential substance.

After the metal energy was extracted, the metal materials would gradually decay, turning into ash.

By infusing special mechanical creations with metal energy, they could be "controlled," gaining effects and abilities.

Effects functioned like passive skills, activated simply by being placed in the Control Bar, whereas abilities were active skills.

Below the bar, spaces were arranged in a row, acting as storage for the Controlled Objects, seemingly without limit.

However, the majority of mechanical creations were not recognized, like torque wrenches and such.

He tried for a long time, and in the room, besides that chip, only the lathe met the control requirements.

[Qingtai Four-Arm Mechanic Lathe -- F-level: A basic maintenance lathe produced by Qingtai Company, capable of handling ordinary alloys.

Control Conditions: 50 points of metal energy

Control Effect: Mechanical Repair -- Intermediate

Control Ability -- Assisted Repair: Four mechanical arms equipped with repair tools emerge to assist.]

"Directly generate four mechanical arms? How does it generate them?" Li Ming muttered to himself, curious yet puzzled.

Imagine, even if it's just carrying repair equipment, in terms of strength alone, it is formidable enough, it's just a shame... 50 points of metal energy, that's daunting.

He absorbed all the metal objects in the room he wouldn't need in the short term, yet the count on the pale blue screen only reached [1.1].

"Two one-meter cast iron shafts swallowed up, and it's only 1.1, and those are solid," Li Ming marveled to himself, but at least it met the minimum storage requirement.

He clenched the chip in his palm, the energy flowed from his fingertips, gradually covering the chip.

Then with his palm empty, his pupils suddenly shrank, and a flood of information surged into his mind, causing his head to start throbbing.

Various symbols flowed like waves, basic mechanical engineering transmission structures, torque formulas… power line assessments...

He felt like he had just become a novice repair technician, although still at the theoretical stage, he was gradually understanding various repair methods, no longer a complete novice.