PFC Chapter 1: The Mech That Descended from the Sky, and the Boy Protected by the Mech
Chapter 1: The Mech That Descended from the Sky, and the Boy Protected by the Mech
The year 763 in the Noxian calendar was no ordinary year.
During this year, the relationship between Piltover and Zaun suddenly became strained due to a contraband theft.
Neither side would back down an inch!
But just as a direct conflict seemed imminent, new situations arose in both cities:
Piltover suddenly announced that they had mastered a new power called "Hextech";
As for Zaun, the former leader, Vandall, quietly stepped down and was replaced by a gloomy man named Hilko.
Suddenly, the situation seemed to stabilize again.
As far as Mrs. Piltover in the Upper Town was concerned, they didn't care much about what was happening in the Lower Town.
All the Piltover residents felt they were about to witness the "Hextech Era" pioneered by two young men.
As for the Zaunites in the lower city, they have even less reason to care about the scientific progress in the upper city.
They didn't even have time to care about Vander's affairs; they were all focused on a colossal creature that suddenly appeared out of the sky—a humanoid machine that was four meters tall and gleamed with a metallic sheen!
The thing crashed down near the Fugen Bar with a tremendous roar, without any warning.
Upon discovering the discovery, Hilko immediately sent people to remove and hide it.
Even well-informed people couldn't figure out what Hilko had gotten from that imposing behemoth.
But they had all vaguely heard some rumors—
It's said that the big guy was protecting someone;
That massive thing itself seemed impervious to even explosives;
That big guy's name is a bit of a mouthful, it's called...
Cheng Ying Tactical Mech!
"Aaron, the 200th anniversary of Progress Day is just a few days away, and I'm so bored."
"Hilk went to see that Marcos again, saying he wanted to use Piltover's Hextech portal to transport something, but I didn't hear clearly."
A girl with two long braids that dragged on the ground rested her cheek on her hand, looking utterly bored.
She could have sat properly, but instead she would put her legs up on another table and occasionally fidget, using her toes to bother the young man who was engrossed in his work at that table.
Fortunately, the young man called Aaron seemed to be used to it and didn't mind.
He was writing something intently, with a very detailed drawing and densely marked diagram beside him.
If you look closely, you'll find that what's drawn on that blueprint is none other than the humanoid machine that crashed in Zaun nine years ago!
"Hey, aren't you going to talk to me either?"
The girl seemed to be annoyed by Aaron's blatant disregard and kicked Aaron's arm even harder.
She pointed at the blueprints on Aaron's desk, pouting with obvious displeasure: "Nine years! You've been studying that junk for nine years!"
"Even if it protected you and ensured your safe landing, you don't need to keep dwelling on it, do you?"
"If you ask me..."
click -
As soon as the girl finished speaking, the tip of the pencil in Aaron's hand suddenly broke off.
He paused for a moment, stopped what he was doing, and turned to look at the girl.
"Hey, I didn't even kick you hard! You're not really angry, are you?"
The girl suddenly panicked and made up excuses haphazardly.
She wasn't really afraid of Aaron; she was just worried that she had messed up again and would be disliked by the person closest to her.
Fortunately, Aaron didn't mean it that way.
He didn't even care about the girl's complaints, but instead repeated the keywords she had just mentioned:
"The 200th anniversary celebration of Progress Day?"
Aaron's gaze froze, finally settling slowly on the blueprints in front of him.
He suddenly stood up, gently lowered the girl's feet that were propped up on the table, and then stared at her:
"Jinx, don't you always say you're bored?"
"Would you be interested in... coming to Piltover with me?"
……
"Aaron" is not the boy's full name.
Even his current appearance, which is in his early twenties, doesn't match his actual age—considering the nine years he spent in Zaun, he should be almost forty.
He was originally a staff member at the Institute of High Energy Physics, involved in matters related to the high-energy particle collider.
At his age, he is fully qualified to be called a "young prodigy".
But this talented individual with an infinitely bright future, due to an uncanny coincidence, unexpectedly found himself in this "new world"—the Runeterra, which should have only existed in the game's background story.
In his own words, the largest particle collider has an energy level of only 13.6 trillion electron volts, which is far from achieving the so-called "warping of spacetime" effect.
But that's how time travel happened.
At that moment, Aaron, who was observing and recording the new particles produced after the collision, suddenly felt a pulling sensation from the inside out, a force that was pulling his body and consciousness.
When he tried to report to his colleagues, the world appeared distorted to him.
In the next instant, Aaron vanished from everyone's sight before their very eyes!
When he regained consciousness, he found himself lying on a bed in the Fugen Bar.
Those slender wrists and the extremely low angle of view all indicated that Aaron had been reduced to the appearance of someone only about ten years old.
A group of people stood in front of him, surrounding him completely.
The leader was a man with a problem in his left eye and a gloomy face.
The man's expression was complex; he stared at Aaron as if facing a formidable enemy. After a long pause, he finally spoke, asking a question that forced Aaron to accept the reality of his transmigration—
"My name is Hilko."
"Kid, are you a Noxian super soldier? That thing protecting you outside, it..."
……
"Of course not!"
Aaron righteously and sternly corrected Jinx's mistaken ideas.
"We're not going to Piltover to cause trouble this time, but to gather some inspiration and see what the Piltover people are currently doing in terms of scientific research."
"Order!"
"It's used to complete that order, understand?"
Aaron spoke, but his feet never stopped.
He carried his black satchel, which contained paper, pens, and tools for taking notes and drawing at any time, and walked briskly toward the Bridge of Progress that connected Piltover and Zaun.
Jinx was originally walking lightly.
But after hearing Aaron's words, she suddenly fell silent.
After a long pause, Jinx finally spoke again with a complicated expression: "Come on, bring up the order again."
She helplessly spread her palms.
"I admit, when you fell from the sky, that mecha called 'Cheng Ying' was really cool."
"It not only protected you from any harm, but even Zaun's strongest heavy firepower couldn't do anything to it. It almost became my first love."
"But...it's scrapped now!"
Jinx put on a stern face, even more serious than Aaron had been earlier.
She reached out and placed her hand on Aaron's forehead, indicating that she was checking whether Aaron's mind was functioning properly:
"You said you heard a voice in your head telling you that the big guy called Cheng Ying Mech was an order from an organization for you to replicate."
"But nine years have passed by now."
"Even if that thing really did protect you, can you guarantee that the order wasn't just your imagination?"
As she spoke, Jinx pointed in the direction of Fugen's Tavern:
"Your mech was only able to move and wreak havoc for the first two years, but now it's just a piece of scrap metal that won't rust."
"If that organization you're talking about really exists, they would have given up on that order long ago."
"Face reality, Aaron."
Jinx softened her voice, her tone filled with empathetic sadness.
"I can understand that pain; the old days always seem to float before my eyes."
"While I haven't been able to forget them either, I don't want you to become like me. Do you understand what I mean?"
"..."
Jinx rarely showed her true feelings; even her voice trembled.
However, Aaron did not reply immediately after she finished speaking.
Instead, he remained silent for a long while.
Looking at the blue-haired girl in front of him, whom he had spent nine years with day and night, who was always causing trouble but was willing to confide in him about her painful past in private, Aaron took a deep breath.
He first nodded slightly, then shook his head heavily, and then reached into his bag and pulled out a slightly yellowed nameplate.
Above the nameplate, written in a script only he could understand, were the words "Researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics - Guo Yalun" written clearly and without error.
"Thank you, Jinx. But I'm sure it wasn't a hallucination."
"And... I've never doubted the organization you suspect!"
Aaron held the nameplate, tapped his temple, and a voice that only he could hear rang out, displaying an interface that only he could see:
[Identity verification successful, loading... Black Box is at your service]
Welcome, Comrade Guo Yalun!
Current order count: 1 (Orderer: PLA)