Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 26 Oh dear, she's still a tsundere.

For the next short period, the days of vector manipulation were so full that it felt like they were being crammed into a smaller shell than they originally were.

During the day, I went to Qingqiu City and worked as an assistant to Red Spider, recording parameters, moving instruments, disassembling layers, and listening to him explain the body structure and energy logic in that fast and ruthless way.

When I came back at night, I would either be forced into the training area by Zhen Tianzun and beaten, or he would lift me up and adjust the angle and center of gravity of my blade.

In the spare moments she had free time, she had to keep going through the terminal, slowly absorbing the things she hadn't fully digested during the day into her brain module, while also juggling two part-time jobs.

She's incredibly busy. She's never been this busy, not even in high school.

But it is precisely because she is busy that she can feel herself getting better little by little.

There is no such thing as suddenly becoming good at everything overnight.

These were parameters that Red Spider casually threw out. She wouldn't feel annoyed by the sheer number of modules like she did at first. She could only grit her teeth and write them down first, and then look them up later.

When Zhen Tianzun said that her left shoulder was still hunched and her waistline hadn't been straightened, she didn't have to wait for him to reach out and straighten her every time; she could adjust it herself a little first.

The vehicle forms are becoming more and more obedient.

Now, when she travels to and from Qingqiu City, it's no longer about saving a little money on transportation. More often, she'll practice the sharp turns, low-angle sideways movements, and short jumps she'd tested a few days ago.

Several times, she even made such a beautiful turn on the way back that she couldn't help but applaud herself internally.

The feeling of living a slightly more decent life can really be addictive.

It was probably around this time that Starscream began to realize more and more clearly that this broken machine wasn't stupid.

That day, as usual, she stood by the technical table, organizing a set of newly scanned internal structure layers for him. Red Spider, still disassembling a damaged scan from another machine, didn't look up, only casually asking, "Why can't we just delete that three-layered buffer structure next to the main energy trunk?"

While adjusting the projection, the vector quickly replied, "Because it's not a pure buffer layer, but a transition zone used to accommodate both repair parts and the original structure. If you delete it directly, the parameter surface will become neater, but once the load is applied, the connection point will break first."

Red Spider paused for a moment.

The vector has been observed.

He slowly raised his eyes, glanced at her, and said in a tone that sounded like he was nitpicking: "At least recently your brain modules have finally started to seem to be working."

Without even blinking, Yin Vector replied, "I'll take that as a compliment."

Red Spider snorted and turned his gaze back to the projection.

"Don't be too optimistic," he said. "I just haven't found anything more worthy of my criticism yet."

He said "Oh" and casually pulled up the parameters on the next page.

She knew very well that for Red Spider to say something like this was practically an admission that she had indeed caught up recently.

In the following days, this feeling became more and more obvious.

Sometimes he only says half a sentence, and she already knows which layer of structure the second half refers to. Sometimes he asks her to memorize a set of parameters, and before he even repeats it a second time, she's already opened the interface that needs to be called up next. There was even a time when Spyder had just zoomed in halfway on an internal damage diagram, and she handed him the side tools first.

As Red Spider took it, the wing on its back twitched slightly: "Now you're starting to act like a usable assistant."

These words, coming from his mouth, still didn't sound like boasting.

But the vector can understand.

"Thank you," she replied naturally. "After all, the pilot who taught me is highly skilled, and it would be too disrespectful of me if I didn't learn it."

Red Spider's hand movements were noticeably smoother, but he still refused to give a direct answer.

"Come on," he said coolly. "Praising your kind of machine too much will only make your brain module overheat."

I almost couldn't help but laugh when I saw the vector.

She's getting to know the Red Spider's temperament better and better now.

This senior scientist and semi-underground repairman is a strange machine; he has a bad temper and a truly venomous tongue.

However, he has a very obvious characteristic: as long as the praise is on point, his originally very sharp spine will soften a little.

It's quite proud, but its thorns aren't completely gone.

It will change from "I'm too lazy to talk to you" to "Then I'll say half a sentence more".

For a vector, this is almost no different from discovering some kind of invisible shortcut.

Of course, sometimes she does it on purpose, and sometimes she doesn't.

For example, the other day, Red Spider was disassembling a schematic diagram of a flow distribution structure, adjusting a few load distribution points as he explained. She stood beside him watching for a while, and without thinking, blurted out, "That step you made was really well done."

The red spider's finger paused in mid-air for a very brief moment.

Then the wing behind him twitched slightly.

The movement was very small, but the vector was visible.

She knew immediately that she had hit the right spot again.

Red Spider didn't want her to realize that she was being praised even a little bit too much, and her tone remained critical: "This is the most reasonable way to change it."

"That only counts if you fix it yourself," the vector replied matter-of-factly.

Red Spider didn't answer this time.

But the next second, the structural layer he was about to close suddenly disassembled another layer, explaining the more detailed compatibility logic underneath as well.

The vector stood to the side, listening and silently making a note in the core.

well.

This tactic proved effective.

Of course, while things were relaxed, strange things did happen.

For example, she increasingly realized that it was indeed difficult for her not to notice the red spider's feet.

It wasn't intentional; I was just genuinely curious.

Those high-heeled feet don't seem like the kind of structure that the word "stable" would like.

But Red Spider walks more steadily than anyone else. When it turns, stops, and moves back and forth around the technical table, its center of gravity is controlled beautifully. Even the rhythm of the wing flapping has a very sophisticated feel to it.

Why does she look a little seductive...?

Finally, one day, as she stood by the tech desk, watching Red Spider walk over from the other end, the question that had been nagging at her for so long finally burst forth: "Can I ask you a question?"

Red Spider didn't even look up: "You've already spoken."

"With your foot shape," Yin Zong pointed to the structure below his legs, "doesn't it usually affect your center of gravity?"

The air was silent for half a second.

Red Spider slowly raised his eyes, his gaze seemingly trying to determine whether she was serious about the question or just bored and itching to ask.

Finally, he sneered: "It's the brain module that's affecting the center of gravity, not the feet."

Pointer vector: "..."

Row.

This machine is indeed the same one.

She wasn't intimidated at all, and even nodded quite seriously.

"I understand," she said. "It means your configuration is high-end, and someone like me with insufficient brain modules shouldn't even think about it for now."

Red Spider was about to continue teasing her, but upon hearing this, the wing on its back twitched slightly, as if it had been slightly appeased by the phrase "high-end configuration."

"At least you know where you're lacking now," he said slowly. "That's more confident than being completely ignorant, and it's slightly more agreeable."

Yin Vector rolled his eyes inwardly.

She figured it out.

The best way to deal with someone like Red Spider is not to argue with him directly, nor to always give in to him. The best approach is to tolerate his sharp tongue while subtly praising him at the right moment, in a way that resonates with his tastes.

If you praise him correctly, he'll readily reveal the good stuff that follows.

This is much better than just getting scolded.

-

Meanwhile, Zhen Tianzun's training continued uninterrupted.

The long blade on her left forearm was still too long and awkward for her, but at least now she didn't feel like it wasn't her hand when she raised it. The initial sense of unease gradually transformed from a strong aversion to something she could barely accept, as she adjusted her stance, drew the blade, retracted it, cut, and parried.

She still prefers to exert force from the right side first, and she won't change that so quickly.

But Zhen Tianzun is right. Since the sword is on the left, she can only practice on the left side.

Despite her awkwardness, she practiced again and again.

With more practice, the number of times Zhen Tianzun scolded her for "losing her balance" finally decreased slightly compared to the beginning.

The vector is already quite satisfied with this progress.

After all, getting a "not bad" out of the mouth of the Heavenly King is about as difficult as getting a "not bad" out of the mouth of the Red Spider.

These are all high-risk projects, so it's not advisable to have too high expectations.

The days slipped by little by little in this rhythm of being a bit busy, a bit tiring, but definitely moving forward.

On the other side of the sound waves, it seemed to have truly quieted down.

At least on the surface.

That private channel that was forcibly connected in the backstage corridor never popped up again for no reason. There were no new probes, no second round of questioning, and no day when she walked around the corner and suddenly saw an overly quiet face standing there waiting for her.

The gravitable vector did not completely abandon that matter because of this.

Quite the opposite.

Every time she went backstage at the arena afterward, she would subconsciously glance at places with dimmer lighting, more corners, or quieter spots.

On one occasion, she had even taken two steps away before belatedly realizing what had happened:

...She's now even starting to worry that the opportunity might suddenly pop up from some other channel.

This feeling wasn't exactly good or bad; it just meant that she remembered that confrontation very well.

Furthermore, she had a vague yet increasingly clear intuition.

That private channel probing was definitely not the end of it.

The kind of machine that uses sound waves isn't the type to start something and then casually abandon it.

Now that he's already eyed her once, he won't just give up without a reason.

Thinking of this, Yin Vector looked down at the terminal on his left forearm that was still lit up, tapped the edge with his fingertip, and went through that small piece of encryption and outer protection again.

Only after she finished did she put her hand down.

The clamor from the main arena in the distance drifted over, drowning out the metal structure, as if something was churning up in the distance.

As Yin Zongxiang looked up in that direction, a comment inexplicably popped into his head.

...It's best if there's no other sick or diseased machine.

But she herself knew that such expectations were mostly meaningless.