Although Monoeye Hawk was a munitions dealer, he boasted to be good at every kind of crime, and robbing seemed like another easy job for him. In less than ten minutes, he gathered all essential supplies on Lu's list, set up the program and transported the supplies one by one into the mech without needing four useless a.s.sistants.

One was B4, a cold black hole, and the other was Monoeye Hawk, a slayer from Cayley. The students weren't brave enough to break the ice and talk with both of them. Neither the cool student nor the energetic one was able to show off their personalities. What they could only do was just to stand aside, huddle together and tremble like four tiny animals in a huge storm without any shelter. Behind them was the lost and defeated homeland they did not dare dwell upon, while here in front of their eyes was the endless wandering in s.p.a.ce.

Mint's personal terminal glowed at that time, and it was a call from Bixing Lu in the main control room with the help of the communication network in the supply station.

The teens never felt that Lu was a reliable person when they used to sit in a cla.s.sroom or auditorium, hearing his boring speech. But when his projection appeared in front of them, they had the sudden illusion of salvation and then surrounded him.

Bixing Lu asked, "Are you scared?"

Only one sentence from him almost brought the students to tears.

Mint choked a little and asked, "Headmaster Lu, why haven't you come here?"

"The smugglers and fugitives have their own secret channel. If the people in this supply station fled in advance with all weapons taken, there must be a definite accurate information source. Following them would be much safer than wandering in s.p.a.ce. So I'm trying to hack into their communication database." Lu lowered his head, concentrating on checking the program of the mainframe, and what they could see via the projection was only his profile. He talked with them at the same time, "Don't be afraid, you know life is an adventure of no return. It is the status quo and you'll be used to it. So, are you ready for the first mech operation cla.s.s?"

Among the four students, both Mint and White had their own goals and never thought of learning to drive the mech. Jingshu Huang was suffering from vacucerebral syndrome - based on contemporary theory of brain science, when vacucerebral syndrome would concentrate on non-human brain devices and link with them, it would have irreversible defects, which meant that she might not be able to link with the mental network. If she was lucky enough to link, the compatibility would still be very low.

Suppose they were in a regular cla.s.s, even the teacher tied them up to the chair and forced them to listen to what he or she said, the only result would be four "Emperor of Sleeping on Desks." There would always be some "wooden heads" that were born unable to understand.

"Mechs are lethal weapons designed for the interstellar war. As the wars magnified to interstellar level in the early age, wars.h.i.+ps usually needed soldiers from several battalions. The cooperation of different arms in one wars.h.i.+p was also necessary and it included professional drivers, surveying and mapping expert, artillerists, just to name a few. The outcome was inefficiency and high error rate. If spies or rebels broke into the wars.h.i.+p undetected, it would bring incalculable losses to the whole force on the wars.h.i.+p — that was why mental networks were created."

In the midst of great confusion, the distorted man's voice from the personal terminal was still gentle and calm, having a quiet power here. Even Monoeye Hawk, who used to despise his weird dream, looked up at him and didn't disturb him.

"With the help of highly intelligent mental network, all functions of the wars.h.i.+p can be concentrated on only one mech. Once the consciousness of  a human being and the mental network are connected, that being becomes the soul of the wars.h.i.+p. After connecting, all of your senses would be replaced by the sensors of the mech. A huge amount of information would flood into your brain. That's why many people will get a shock and slip into a coma when they connect with the mental network for the first time."

White asked: "So how do we adapt to the mental network, headmaster?"

Lu was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Call me by Mr. Lu from now on, there is no school anymore - the method to adapt to the mental network is an easy question to answer,  which is, to get familiar with every part and function of the mech so that you can make full prediction about what kinds of feeling they could bring to you. Normally, we prepared simulators for you at cla.s.s. It's divided into different senses, and then we stack them up the same way as the mech through the learning process, and that is why we need to learn it for a whole year."

Hearing the unachievable task Bixing Lu announced, Rickhead looked at the complicated signals and programs of the mech that continuously inputted supplies, and could not even dare to think about his friends and mom who were still on Beijing-ß planet. Great sorrow arose from the bottom of his heart, and he was almost beaten by tremendous despair. "I cannot understand, headmaster…Mr. Lu. I can't do it as well, I was ordered to quit school when I was just in seventh grade during compulsory education. They said I had a low IQ!"

Jingshu Huang continued gently, "I'm suffering from vacucerebral syndrome, Mr. Lu. I'm born with low mental capacity.

White: "I…I'm not talented, Mr. Lu…"

"Shh…," Lu stopped them, "Count your breath, and take a deep breath ten times. Don't make a mistake."

With the sobs disappearing, there was no change in the speed of Lu's words. It seemed like he would not be disturbed even the sky is falling or the students are just stupid. "Just remember this feeling, this is the first lesson you need to learn in mech operation. Once you find you're unable to match with the mech or adapt to the huge amount of information, get rid of all distractions and unused senses. Concentrate on counting your heart beat or breath for about ten times. Then you'll realize the fluctuating frequency of the mental network is similar to the frequency of your counting. It represents the first step for the mental network to accept you."

When someone's voice was too firm, others who did not have strong willpower would follow him unconsciously.

The anxious students started to accept what he said. The four wooden heads unexpectedly broke through in such extreme situation like this.

Lin moved his eyes off the projection and said, "Report the progress of the mech repair and charging."

"Reserve energy system has been completed and defense system has been repaired. The mental network is restarting, energy reserve up to 85%, expect to be finished after 10 minutes."

"Has the searching progress finished, Zhanlu?" Lin asked, "And where is the Ninth Squadron?"

The mechanical hand fell down from his arm, and then Zhanlu transformed into his human shape, "Sorry sir, it can't be located. The signal of the Silver Nine has disappeared."

There were two possibility if the signal disappeared. One was that the Ninth Squadrons has been attacked, the communication system was broken or even the whole army was annihilated. The other was that they met an emergency situation, and forced to evacuate temporarily.

Neither situation was optimistic.

Lin shut his eyes for a moment, "What about the others?"

Zhanlu hesitated, and then said, "The communication system over the Seven Galaxies of the Alliance has all crashed."

With the collapse of the capital planet, the temporary evacuation of politicians, and the collapse of communication systems, the IU was in much worse situation than his imagination.

So...was the Eden still in operation?

Without Eden, the union citizens were as fragile as a pet cat without sharpened claws dropped in the wild woods. Even basic survival would be a problem, it would be impossible to fight against the interstellar pirates.

This was by no means a chaos caused by IU's Military Commission's mistakes, but a war that had been conspired for a long time.

"No wonder that they in such a hurry to kill me." Jingheng Lin sneered, "The IU were a bunch of fools used as a tool by moles and pirates."

At that moment, Zhanlu raised his head, as if he had captured a foreboding smell hidden in the dark sky.

"What?" Lin asked.

"I detected a strong energy fluctuation sir, and I suggest immediate evacuation!"

Zhanlu was just a mech core without his body and antimissile system. If he could detect the energy fluctuation in the way, it meant the supply station would be swallowed within five minutes.

The enemy didn't even leave them half an hour!

"Prepare for the orbital acceleration." Jingheng Lin declared immediately and turned to Monoeye Hawk, "Ok that's enough. Get up and set out now."

Monoeye Hawk blew smoke out of his mouth, "The medicine box hasn't come out yet."

"There's no time to lose." Lin spoke quickly, "Go!"

Eternal archenemies were forced to cooperate in this case. Finally Monoeye Hawk stopped acting contrary to Lin, disrupting the delivery process rudely and pushed students into the entrance of mech. Noticing that Mint looked around anxiously, he pulled her by the back of her neck as if catching a cat, lifting her up and throwing her directly into the entrance which was several meters away from them.

Mint screamed, "Mr. Lu is still at the main control room!"

"I know." Monoeye Hawk and Jingheng Lin answered almost at the same time.

Jingheng Lin turned around and left immediately, but for Monoeye Hawk he didn't have confidence in Lin and wanted to catch up, but then his shoulder was pressed hard by a cold mech hand.

"Mister Lu." Zhanlu said, "The third attack has already happened on a planet that cannot be located. The aftershock will arrive here in just five minutes. What you have to do right now is to board the mech, take in charge of the mental network and prepare the docking rails. Headmaster Lu has set remote controlled magnetic fields so you can capture them after the acceleration of mech. Please believe that the commodore will take him to catch up."

Monoeye Hawk roared, "Entrust my son to him?! I…"

Zhanlu interrupted him in a low voice, "Your son?"

Monoeye Hawk's face changed with shock.

"Please rest a.s.sured", Zhanlu said, "The commodore asked me to tell you that, according to the ancient saying, Headmaster Lu is like a tiger tally in human shape. It means captains who had followed Commodore Xin Lu would a.s.semble when he appears. He is even more cherished than the Silver Fortress. Commodore Lin will use his life to guarantee Headmaster's safety."

The AI pressed on his shoulder heavily. His green eyes were as pure as they were decades years ago.

Great men came and pa.s.sed over and over again; the eight galaxies changed tremendously over and over again. Some people grew old and some people had gone. Only he was the one who got rid of time, as he was as he stood by Xin Lu years ago, having that innocent and conscientious look.

...But his words were cold and heartless, the same as Lin's style.

Suddenly Monoeye Hawk shook his hands off. He stepped on the mech and linked with the mental network without a word. The power system of the mech revved with great noise, and the mech slid to the rail little by little.

In the main control room, Bixing Lu had actually heard Lin's words via the personal terminals of the students, but he couldn't leave now. He managed to find out the information about the underground route successfully and he put his personal terminal against the mainframe to download it. But the progress bar went slow as if it was pulled by a weak ox. The progress was only up to 90%.

His personal terminal broke down with a buzz. The communication system was the first victim of the interference from the storm of energy waves.

Mint's voice sounded brokenly: "Hurry up…Mr.…Lu.."

Progress at 93%.

"Be quiet." Lu said gently, "Don't scream out all the time. As a girl, that's not elegant."

Progress at 95%.

"It's too dangerous to fly around without destination to avoid the interstellar pirates, the probability of survival is very low, you know. Students, there's no such thing as 'act on the spot' or 'surviving on the spot' in the interstellar war. As vulnerable carbon-based beings, there is no way to survive from the encirclement of super-s.p.a.ce ma.s.sive mechs by only counting on probability or luck. I have to get this..."

The progress was up to 97% when his personal terminal has been suddenly disconnected under great disturbance.

Bixing Lu stared at the progress bar like nothing happened.

If he died at the supply station and failed to get information, the others would still walk a tightrope across the universe even if they could flee here successfully.

98%… 99%… the supply station started to shake, sirens filled the air - of course, the defense system of this tiny supply station was only a tiny bit better than nothing. If it started to alarm, the aftershock of the explosion was right around the corner.

The rails which were going to launch the mech roared at the same moment. Because the air density was distorted by the intense heat, the distant scenery began to look strange, like a mirage in the desert.

The tone of the completion prompt, as if sounds of nature, softly rang. Bixing Lu took a deep breath and was ready to leave, but Jingheng Lin suddenly kicked open the door of the main control room before Lu could take an action.

Lu had never thought that Lin would come here personally, and so he was frozen for a moment

"Just follow me." Taking his hand, Lin dragged him out and reached out a gun from somewhere. He shot at the door of overhead track. They could see a near-earth high-speed rail car parked on the locked rail.

Without waiting for Lin to say a word, Bixing Lu headed straight for it, swiping his personal terminal. In no more than a second, he unlocked the car, the proficiency was comparable to professional car thieves.

Jingheng Lin accelerated the track car to the highest extent. The two in the car were slammed against the back of the seats. The crash could break their ribs if they were not strong enough.

At this time, in the abyssal dark supply station without any artificial illumination, one could notice a pale s.p.a.ce spreading above the horizon, as if there would be a sunrise.

Breathtaking sceneries were always so ominous.

The mech carrying Monoeye Hawk had sped up and ran along the track. The joints between the track and their mech had become loose. The mech was ready to launch.

Monoeye Hawk was so tense as if he was a string that's about to break. His sight that was attached to the mental network tended to pierce through the whole supply station. But at the next moment, the speed of the mech exceeded the critical value and flew out of the track!

Mint suddenly turned green: "Wait, Mr. Lu!"

The rail of the mech and track car were perfectly vertical. However, a successful capture at this speed was as hard as picking a specific leaf off from the trees along the highway.

Monoeye Hawk couldn't keep silent anymore and shouted: "Brake..."

Zhanlu, equipping into the mental network as a mech core, interrupted his braking order immediately: "Mister Lu, it can't be done!"

In a flash, the track car pa.s.sed by the intersection of their tracks, and it was about to reach the point just below the mech while the speed of it boosted wildly. The remote controlled magnetic fields were suddenly activated. A strong control force permeated along with the simple and temporary magnetic field made by Lu, and therefore it took over part of the permissions of the mental network.

Jingheng Lin seemed to have split into two consciousness. One controlled the mech to reach out a catcher to capture the car. The other drove the car straight ahead towards it.

The protective gas in catcher spread into the car instantaneously. It transformed into a amber-like matter once it was exposed to human body. The powerful shock absorption was built up through a short distance as the catcher went forward by inertia. But the bottom of car and track itself sparked and suddenly exploded.

At that moment, the catcher turned sharply as forced by the mental network. A wreckage of the car blew out and it whistled past Lu, hitting Lin's back.

However, n.o.body had noticed the subtle movement. They could not open their eyes due to the blinding burst of light and even the booming sound of the explosion was covered by the great noises from mech.

The catcher withdrew to the mech with a rush.

Zhanlu: "Give up the permission Mr. Lu, or you will get injured."

Monoeye Hawk thought to himself: "f.u.c.k!"

However, he had to admit that he was not as skillful as Lin, so he smartly disconnected from the mental network before Zhanlu finished his warning to avoid being driven out by force again. On the other side, Lin took over the mental network as he got in touch with the fuselage. Great teamwork had they done.

At the next moment, the mech launched its emergency transfer process.

The supply station was flooded by ominous white light. The light chased the mech which had just got rid of the gravity. They watched it expand and nearly hit them, but then the mech suddenly disappeared.

Traveling through the distorted and distant s.p.a.ce and time, there was a slight s.h.i.+ft in the target coordinates. Inside the catcher, the solidified protective gas dispersed. Jingheng Lin wobbled and failed to stand up at last, because he was injured badly by wreckage of the car just now. There was a wound that went from the back of his waist to his shoulder, running right through his back.

The wound, which was just plugged by protective gas, started to bleed.

Lu Bixing's heart almost stopped, rus.h.i.+ng to catch him: "Lin!"