Chapter 42

Bixing Lu had just jumped down from the mech platform when he heard a strange sound. By the time he turned around, it was too late.

He was only about eight hundred meters from the nearest mech, but he didn't have a human-shaped mech core which could turn the base upside down. All he had on him was a curved spatula!

Meanwhile, on the mech platform, Jingshu Huang had just stumblingly connected to the mental network. The compatibility level barely reached 53%, and the tenuous mind-mech link seemed as fragile as gossamer. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to calm down, and struggled to adapt to the mech's point of view. Unfamiliar as she was, the scene showing up before her nearly scared her into breaking the connection.

Since Bixing Lu and the rest started stirring the pot, the idlers in the base had all gathered outside the mech station to watch the drama. They proceeded to bear witness to this accident as well, unleashing a cacophony of screams and yells. A traumatized former Self-Defense Force member grabbed the railing. "I've already said that mechs can't be operated by normal people! Why didn't you believe it?!"

Bixing Lu had no time to acknowledge him. Turning and running towards the nearest mech, he clicked open base access, trying to force the accelerating rail to close.

Despite braking, the tiny amount of friction was far from sufficient to overcome the high inertia of the mech. Thundering, the accelerating rail changed its direction. It arched upwards as much as possible, narrowly dodging the coolant tower and suspended power station. Macabre sparks jumped out from its points of contact with the surrounding structures.

Eight hundred meters – even the world record for sprinting that distance unassisted was nearly one and half minutes, long enough for a mech to burst out through the thin artificial atmosphere of the base.

Bixing Lu opened the contact station remotely, yelling at the pilot who lost control, "Hold on to your mental network!"

Unfortunately, the pilot had already lost consciousness under the strong stimulation. He was frothing so much at the mouth that it seemed liable to choke him to death. The mind-mech compatibility swiftly dropped below 50%, and the mental network connection simply broke.

The closed accelerating rail could not cool down, and was unmistakably overheated – alerts were screaming across the whole mech station.

What was worse was that at the same time, other mechs connected by the inner net and contact station saw what was happening on the ground. Panic rapidly spread to the sky. Some of the pilots had never passed the basic mental resilience requirement in the first place – many of their compatibility levels started fluctuating along to the events on the ground.

In the blink of an eye, there were already three or four pilots who had broken off from their mental network connections. The freshly-formed defensive net looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment, while panic kept spreading –

Monoeye Hawk cursed, "You can't force sludge up a wall!" He sunk his consciousness into the mental network, trying to fill the gap. However, he was already preoccupied with eight mechs. As his burden unceasingly increased, he started to show signs of mental power overload. However, the mental network of a small mech did not have Zhanlu's broad coverage. Even if he forced his mental power over its limit, he could only deal with localised problems within a short range.

Suddenly, Saturday's voice sounded from the contact inner net.

"Let me handle it!" Saturday said.

Monoeye Hawk felt like even his gums were oozing blood, tasting iron every time he opened his mouth. "Are you sure you can?"

"There's no other choice!" Saturday said.

Holiday roared hoarsely in his carrying voice, "Mom!"

Monoeye Hawk had finally seen it all. "What kind of prayer for luck is that supposed to be?"

During the construction of the mech's defensive net, Bixing Lu had taken emergencies into consideration. First, he counted the number of experienced pilots and distributed them according to their mental network coverage. If anyone fell offline, someone nearby could hold that part of mental network. After listening to his blabbering, Monoeye Hawk thought that it was bullshit. Those so-called "experienced" pilots were on the same level as the members of the patrol team they met when they first came to the base. They ought to thank God for not losing the connection themselves, let alone be counted on to help others!

Who would have known that so many problems would crop up before the construction of the defensive net was finished? They actually had to use the plan!

On the ground, the accelerating rail had already been pushed to its limit. Bixing Lu spotted Jingshu Huang's parked mech outside the rail from the corner of his eye. "Little Huang!"

His voice traveled through the contact linker right into the Jingshu Huang's ear, making her jump.

"You've learned this before!" Bixing Lu said.

Right. Back then, in Zhanlu's mental network, Lin had personally let them experience how to expand and stretch their mental network, and invade other mechs via the overlapping parts of mental networks.

But ... how could that be possible?

Just half an hour ago, she'd thought that she was just going to be a human mascot dragged up to the sky by Bixing Lu.

Now he wanted her to stall an out-of-control mech by herself?

Sometimes, one second could be infinitely long. At that moment, Jingshu Huang's train of thought had already looped three times around the eight galaxies, trying to find evidence that "miracles are possible". Her mind wandered through places of legend: the vast IU, the unsurpassable Eden, multidirectional interstellar routes... Such unimaginably beautiful visions were far too remote and unrealistic to give her any strength – she was just a vacucelebral hooligan adrift in the Eighth Galaxy.

One side of the out-of-control mech had already been derailed. Jingshu Huang's gaze chased after it. Her vision was narrowed to a small strip, as if everything in the world except her and the recalcitrant mech had ceased to exist.

She could hear her own heartbeat and anxious panting. Amidst useless commands she repeatedly issued to her unresponsive mech, a hopeless idea took root. "I can't do this." She thought.

Yet at the exact moment that the mech started to flip over, the mental network which had always rejected her finally hesitatingly shifted. It was as if some kind of trigger had been accidentally pulled – it suddenly spread out.

Perhaps one could call it luck.

Or, maybe, every turn of fate in the world arrived on the coattails of luck.

Nothing in the vast infinity of time and space could escape the ruthless accompaniment of probability. From light, to the universe, to quantum entanglement, to mortal joy and sorrow – the dice of fate keep spinning towards unknown destinations.

Jingshu Huang sucked in a breath. She had just caught a glimpse of the interface of the mech in the spreading mental network. Mustering up the same unhesitating spirit she had while smashing Spider's head with a wine bottle back then, she rushed in. She felt like she had been cut in two. The stress exerted on her by the mental network rose sharply. However, she had just successfully invaded the other mental network!

She was floundering in a flood, grasping at thorny vines. In situations like this, she had no time to think about her pain or her fear – she could only desperately hold on to anything she could reach.

"Stop." She thought.

The out-of-control mech dragged her consciousness along on its way down, ignoring her weak voice.

"Stop! I said stop!"

At this point, some of the gathered base inhabitants suddenly echoed her, "Stop it!"

They kept yelling – the first sound was a little messy, but the second one established an example to follow. Voices flowed together like rivers into an ocean. "Stop it!"

The out-of-control mech had already tilted more than 45 degrees and seemed liable to flip over any second. Yet, strangely, the crush of people who were terrified seconds ago seemed to have suddenly found a unified voice. Nobody was screaming or running away anymore. Instead, they spoke together, "Stop it!"

At the last second, Bixing Lu finally reached the mech. At that moment, the reverse braking function of the recalcitrant mech was activated successfully. Its tilted side sprayed out dense smoke, slowly pushing it back up!

Bixing Lu's mental network immediately spread out over the mech. Jingshu Huang's compatibility level was teetered dangerously at 50%, which gave Bixing Lu a chance to get in. In order not to squeeze the girl's fragile consciousness out and hurt her, he operated with extreme precision and care. Stopping his own compatibility level at exactly 50%, he used the delicate balance to take hold of the out-of-control mech. It finally came to a stop at the edge of the accelerating rail.

He finally gently told Jingshu Huang, "Girl, clear out slowly. Slow down, don't be nervous. You're the most talented student I've ever seen."

Jingshu Huang followed his orders instinctively, reeling her mental network back in slowly. Earlier, during the tension stretched across a few seconds, her sharply increased blood pressure had broken capillaries. It was only at this moment that she realized that her nosebleed had already flowed into her mouth.

Cheers exploded from the crowd, mixed with sobs.

And at the same time, in the air, the mere tens of Self-Defense Force members miraculously held the connections for their failed comrade successfully, just like the iron mesh of the defensive net.

It seemed like there was really a dead mother's spirit blessing them.

Twenty minutes later, Bixing Lu readjusted the accelerating rail and sent the damaged mech along with injured personnel to the infirmary. He let Jingshu Huang leave first, and then he lined up nine more unmanned mechs on the rail.

The three hundred mechs seemed to form a closed circuit at the very moment that they connected to each other. All their interfaces had linked together. Incredibly, the resultant mental network was operational!

Initially, it was as if everyone was staggering around with a heavy stone on each of their shoulders. Now, the stones had linked together to form a slab, distributing the burden evenly. Everyone was liberated from their unsustainable mental networks!

It took a while before Saturday came to his senses again. When he did, he asked, "Last night, were you setting up this... what's it called again?"

Bixing Lu didn't speak through the intranet, or from the communication ccenteron the ground. Instead his voice sounded directly in Saturday's ear though the mental network. "It's called 'iron chain', a phenomenon made possible by the resonance of interfaces, using similar principles as the wireless control of mechs. However, it usually isn't used in battles, but rather in parades."

"But why?" White asked in a spirit of curiosity, "Wouldn't resistance to invasions be very convenient if people connected to each other like this during actual combat?"

Bixing Lu chuckled. "Everyone saves energy, but they would correspondingly sacrifice some control over the mental network. You guys collide with each other even when you're only driving your own mech. If all these people operate so many sets of mech together, won't it be a complete mess? By the way, has our school paid too much attention to science over arts? Has nobody ever heard of the story of the 'Battle of Red Stars*'?"

*TL note: this is a play on words referencing the Battle of Red Cliffs,

a famous real-life battle in Chinese history where a tactician managed to defeat

the overwhelming numbers of the opposing army by burning their boats

while they were linked together, just like how the ships are

linked together in this strategy.

"Red what?" Rickhead asked.

Bixing Lu sighed. "If you haven't heard of the 'Battle of Red Stars', you must have at least heard of Prince Cayley's attack a few years ago on a parade in the periphery of the Third Galaxy... Hey, old Lu, don't get excited, I'm staying on topic — I didn't even mention him!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Someone yelled through the mental network, "Mr. Lu, is your school still admitting students?"

"Mr. Lu, how about overage students? I'm already a hundred and two years old, but I'm still young at heart."

"Mr. Lu, can we choose the subjects of the entrance examination by ourselves? I can't even read some IU-ese words, can I enter based on my ability in sports?"

"Mr. Lu ..."

The bright white light from the defensive shield swept out of the atmosphere like it was reflecting off fish scales. When people in the base looked up, they could see the sunlight through the originally blue sky being refracted by the extra shield. Cascading rainbows streaked across the edge of the sky like kites, passing through the horizon and back again.

The surveillance cameras in the base had been loyally fulfilling their duty, transmitting every scene to Jingheng Lin, who was en route back. He had unconsciously stopped writing some time ago, watching over the base in silence. He saw how they constructed the defensive array of mechs in the midst of danger, until that crude shield was formed. People on the ground were dancing and singing like it was a festival.

At the momentary lapse between two pieces of music in his earphones, Zhanlu took the chance to ask, "Sir, are you smiling?"

"You're mistaken." Jingheng Lin impassively glanced over at the coordinates of the location of mech 'Beijing'. From the corner of his eye, he saw the chart of power fluctuations near the coordinates.

It was a palm-size chart, monitoring the surrounding factors such as gravity and cosmic rays in real time to create a complicated diagram for computer analysis.

Till now, Jingheng Lin had spent most of his life on military mechs. The moment that he saw the shape of the charted power fluctuations, he felt a sense of foreboding: "Zhanlu, cover 'Beijing''s mental network, then maximise the field area of your scan."

"Yes, Sir," Zhanlu said. A moment later, "Everything is normal within the scan field."

"Use the nearest six transfer points to expand the scan field." Jingheng Lin said.

Zhanlu reminded him, "Sir, the remote scan is consumes a lot of power, our energy level isn't..."

"Scan it." Jingheng Lin said.

Zhanlu obeyed the order, crossing the transfer point. Their limited field of vision immediately expanded to the endless continuum of space. At the same time, mech Beijing detected a sudden loss of a sizable portion of its stored energy, and started to send out disgruntled alerts.

The next moment, Zhanlu locked onto some silhouettes. Jingheng Lin's gaze intensified – it was a ghost-like mech army, consisting of a heavy mech as central command surrounded by at least a hundred military mech. They flew quickly and quietly across Zhanlu's slightly blurry field of vision. Prince Cayley's pirate emblem was printed on their bellies.

"Sir," Zhanlu quickly estimated their battle capabilities. "They have formed a medium-scale team of well-armed military mechs. It would appear that that they are attempting to search for undetected underground routes."

In the IU, such an army would have to be led by an officer ranking higher than a captain.

They could destroy Beijing-ß within a few minutes.

"Egret is quite remote, and is usually used to link underground routes. They probably blew it up to clear the underground routes," Jingheng said in a low voice. "Their sailing direction is close to the underground route near the base."

Jingheng Lin was presently at the underground route of the base, and could connect to the inner net of the base from his current location. This meant that if the pirates were to move just a little closer, the intranet would enter their scan field.

Those oblivious idiots that were still celebrating were going to be entirely exposed.

He could not allow the pirates to go any further.

Jingheng Lin shot up and swiped in the air. Semi-finished military-use survey maps showed up in front of him. His fingers swept over a few of the transfer points on it, causing data of simulated flight paths to pop up. He chose a route within ten seconds, turning to command Zhanlu, "Prepare to transfer."

"Sir," Zhanlu said quietly."The last backup power source has less than 60% power left. More than half of the power system has been damaged. The defensive system is almost completely broken. Considering that our mission was surveying and mapping, we have only brought three missiles and six particle cannons to reduce the weight of the starship. You've already used one missile out of the three. Do you plan to use this pile of scrap metal to fight against an entire pirate army? I hope that you will consider other plans."

Jingheng Lin turned back to the monitor screen.

It was just a stream of high-energy particles. In his eyes, it was just a little bit stronger than the solar storms of the eighth sun. Those people, however, acted like they had just lived through the apocalypse.

They had no home, no identities. They were thieves and smugglers – people living on the fringe of society even in the garbage-filled Eighth Galaxy.

Maybe, for these pieces of trash, successfully sending three hundred mechs skyward would count as the greatest accomplishment of their lives.

Under the surveillance cameras, several kids were chasing each other around in front of the administrative building. They made a ruckus and set off a bunch of homemade fireworks. Oblivious to the fact that Cow, the boss of the base, was staying in the underground jail right next to them, they passed it while heartlessly fooling around among themselves.

Jingheng Lin huffed derisively.

Then, he repeated the command, word by word. " Prepare, to, transfer."