I dragged my exhausted body back to my container workshop—a place that looked more like a garbage dump.
The air was thick with the acrid stench of ozone mixed with engine oil—the lingering scent of the brief but brutal battle that had just ended.
My mech, the "Wrench," sat in the center of the workshop, covered in fresh scars—scorch marks from cutting torches on its armor, and dents left by heavy impacts.
It looked even more like a pile of junk than before.
But I knew this hunk of junk was worth way more than anyone could imagine.
"Capture it intact. Bring it back in one piece."
Jinx's final words pierced my mind like a needle.
Why?
Why would that gang of cutthroats from the "Brotherhood" be interested in a mech cobbled together from a tractor engine?
It didn't make sense.
Unless... they knew something I didn't.
I scratched my greasy hair in frustration, forcing myself to calm down.
Now was not the time to let my imagination run wild.
I had to repair the "Wrench" as soon as possible; the next attack could come at any moment.
I climbed into the cockpit and began checking the combat logs. It was a habit of mine: after every battle, I would review all the data to find areas for improvement.
Just as I pulled up the sensor logs, a file flagged as "Signal Anomaly" caught my eye.
What's this?
I opened the file, and a highly encrypted communication signal appeared on the screen.
The signal came from that leader mech I'd just scrapped.
The moment I detonated the biogas tank and blinded their sensors with smoke, the "Wrench's" recording system had captured this signal.
This must have been sent by the leader while calling for backup or reporting the situation to his superiors.
The "Brotherhood's" encryption?
My heart skipped a beat.
If I could crack it, maybe I could find out what they were actually plotting!
I started trying to crack it right away.
But soon, I frowned.
The encryption was... weird. It wasn't a standard algorithm used by the Imperial military or any major corp. It looked more like... some heavily modified, homebrew junk from the black market.It wasn't complex, but it was tricky as hell—like a bizarre key cobbled together from scrap metal. You wouldn't even know where to begin.
I tried several standard decryption tools, but every single one of them failed.
Red "Decryption Failed" warnings kept popping up on the screen, as if mocking my incompetence.
Damn it!
I slammed my fist onto the console, the metal letting out a dull thud.
Just as I was about to give up and go get some sleep to clear my head, my eyes fell on something sitting in the corner.
The old data terminal my father had left me.
That black cube, model number "YF003."
Just a little while ago, it had automatically helped me fend off the "Brotherhood's" electronic jamming.
A crazy idea suddenly popped into my head.
Didn't this terminal... contain a decryption tool that I couldn't make heads or tails of?
I had always assumed it was something my father used to crack mining machinery firewalls or the like.
But... what if?
What if it could handle this kind of makeshift encryption?
Figuring I had nothing to lose, I pulled up that encryption/decryption tool from the terminal and dragged the captured "Brotherhood" signal into it.
I didn't even expect it to work; I just wanted to give it a shot.
But what happened the very next second froze me in my tracks.
On the screen, the encrypted signal that had left me helpless began to disintegrate the instant it touched my father's tool, like ice meeting a branding iron!
Line after line of garbled code was rapidly deciphered, resolving into clear text!
"Target confirmed. 'Ghost' protocol active. Repeat, 'Ghost' protocol active!"
"Orders changed. Abort destruction. Execute Plan B. Capture target unit alive!"
"Must ensure the 'Engine' remains intact!"
My ears rang, and my mind went blank.
Ghost protocol?
Engine?
Were they talking about... my "Wrench"? That "Harvest-7" tractor engine?!
How was that possible!
But before I could even recover from this massive shock, something even more incredible happened!
My father's data terminal suddenly let out a rapid series of beeps!
A window I had never seen before popped up on the screen.[Key match successful.]
[Detected "Ghost" protocol key... Unlocking next-level encryption clearance...]
[Engineering Log YF003-L2 successfully unlocked.]
What?!
I stared blankly at the screen, my heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of my chest!
Cracking the "Brotherhood's" signal... turned out to be a key?
A key to unlocking the deeper secrets within my father's logs?!
With trembling hands, I clicked open the newly unlocked log.
The format of the log was completely different from what I had seen before; it was more formal, and also more... cold.
[Project Log: Ghost Engine]
[Chief Engineer: Gideon]
Gideon...
Gideon...
G...
My gaze snapped to the massive industrial wrench leaning against the wall.
The wrench with the enormous letter "G" engraved on it!
My breathing stopped instantly.
Fighting down the churning in my gut, I continued reading.
[Log Entry #247: Test failed. Prototype out of control again. The 'Ghost Echo' phenomenon cannot be contained; it is eroding our firewalls and attempting to self-replicate. The Imperial bureaucrats only want results—they have no idea what kind of monster we have unleashed.]
[Log Entry #251: They want to weaponize the 'Ghost Engine.' I refused. This is a Pandora's Box, not a gun to be handed to madmen. I must find a way to protect my family before they take everything away.]
[Log Entry #259: I succeeded. I have split the core data of the 'Ghost Engine' into several parts and hidden them in the most unlikely places. A wrench, an ordinary farm engine... Who would have thought that the Empire's top secret is hidden within this junk?]
[Log Entry #260: I am preparing to take them and leave. If I fail... if one day you see this, my child... remember my warning—]
The log ended abruptly there. The final line was written in a bold, blood-red font.
[Do not trust anyone from the Valerius family!]
Boom!
In that moment, my world completely collapsed.
Valerius...
That was the surname of the Imperial familyMy father, Gideon, wasn't some damn miner! He was the chief engineer of a secret project!
The "Ghost Engine" he spoke of—that's the "Ghost Echo" I've been hearing all this time!
To protect us, he hid the core data of this damn secret project inside... inside my wrench! Inside the engine of the *Wrench*!
And his final warning was for me not to trust the Imperial Royal Family...
My blood felt like it had frozen solid.
I slowly raised my head and looked at the battle-scarred *Wrench*.
Right now, in my eyes, it was no longer just a pile of cobbled-together scrap.
It was a mobile treasure trove.
A mobile bomb.
A secret... one that could drive a dark syndicate like the Brotherhood into a frenzy, and one the Imperial Royal Family would pay any price to obtain.
I finally understood.
The reason the Brotherhood wanted to capture my mech intact wasn't because of my piloting skills.
It was because their scans picked something up—the *Wrench*'s engine had triggered that so-called "Ghost Protocol"!
They had discovered the secret my father left behind!
I slowly stood up and walked over to that massive wrench marked with the "G." I reached out, my fingers gently tracing the cold engraving.
Gideon...
My father.
Turns out, what you left me wasn't just a pile of cold tools.
You left me a puzzle, a curse, and... a reason for revenge.
I gripped the wrench tightly; the touch of the cold metal instantly cleared my chaotic mind.
The Valerius family...
The Imperial Royals...
Inside my chest, a cold flame—mixed with rage and bloodlust—began to burn fiercely.
I don't know what you did to my father.
And I don't know what you did to my mother.
But now, I am here.
You think I'm here to compete?
Wrong.
I'm here... to collect a debt.