But Monoeye Hawk did not accept his good-willed gesture.

Hearing this sentence close to the meaning of "I'm letting the dog out to bite" Monoeye Hawk's brows leaped up, almost surpa.s.sing his hairline. "Aren't these just a few little s.h.i.+ts? Did you have to show off at a galaxy-level? Jingheng Lin, can't you live without striking a pose?"

Jingheng Lin answered coolly. "Your Excellency sees what you think of in your heart."

On the other side, Cow had recovered from his surprise. This slim yet unfortunately not good-looking man expressed impressive bravery under the threat of eight missiles. He swung a voice message over immediately, "Pffft, I have three thousand more men, we'd die before surrendering!"

Jingheng Lin snickered. "You're going to give me three thousand prisoners? That's way too polite of you, I would feel ashamed."

Bixing Lu: "......"

Not taking Commodore Lin's mental strength into consideration, this normally reserved man was surprisingly efficient at battle, not even fazed the slightest bit when fighting against both the enemy and his own ally.

Just as Bixing Lu was shaking his head out of exasperation and the hilarity, Jingheng Lin glanced at him once. For a split second, this ex-Union commodore's heart thunked to the bottom, doubting that he must have a terrible image in Bixing Lu's eyes.

Not respectful to the old nor kind to the young, had a s.h.i.+tty temper, and enjoyed being sardonic.

But what solution was there to it? In his lengthy military life, acting and pretending had become an indispensable part of his life.

In the First Galaxy, no one cared about how many battles the commodores fought, how many pirates they wiped out, or what military theories and defense insights they had--hype was everything. It could be praise or infamy, even having dirt on him smeared all over the media was okay. The only thing needed was not to be forgotten by the people, who had enjoyed peace for over two centuries.

Because Wotto needed someone like him. The Union's Council needed a ruthless, ambitious, eye-catching image of a dictator that seemed like that no one could do anything to. They needed someone that could be used as a public antagonist.

The Union was "equal and free". What could the equal and free Union use to stop the Seven Galaxies from having military autonomy? It wouldn't make sense, so they needed such a villain on the surface. He had to be powerful enough to keep everything under control, had to be able to keep the hatred centered on him, had to be able to make the Union's center say "helplessly" to the people, "We can't do anything to him, either. But we're not afraid of power, and are constantly fighting against him."

The council needed an iron-handed antagonist, and the Military Committee needed him as Xin Lu's successor, as a mascot to balance the military's inner rifts. In these years, he spent all his energy on maintaining such an image, drifting between every party.

Or how else could someone so young like him, not even a hundred years old, climb to such a high position?

Could have it been his extraordinary abilities?

Ever since he left the Union—for the past five years—Jingheng Lin had wanted countless times to get rid of this shackle-like "image", and find back himself that was buried alive in the past.

But thirty years had gone by and he couldn't remember what he was originally supposed to be like.

Maybe he really was someone that couldn't live without striking a pose.

"You can try connecting to the mental network now," Jingheng Lin spoke abruptly, "Zhanlu's mental network is covered on it right now--I can let him give you the appropriate amount of access according to your mental capabilities."

The four students were dazed, not realizing that this sentence, without a beginning or an end, was addressed to them.

As no one answered for a while, Jingheng Lin had to add a seemingly nonchalant sentence, "But just for a short while—a mech as small as this can't keep up with Zhanlu's energy consumption for long."

Bixing Lu leaped up instantly. "What are you all standing there for, kiddos! Why are none of you realizing how precious this chance is?"

"How dare you use Zhanlu to bribe people, you shameless son of a b.i.t.c.h!" Monoeye Hawk screeched.

Unfortunately everyone ignored him.

This was Zhanlu, the Union's most legendary mech! How many chances did one have in their whole life to see a real life heavy mech, not even talking about feeling its mental network in person!

In contrast with the tiny mech's mental network, which simply smashed down on them, Zhanlu, with an AI, was like a caring nanny. The moment the students entered the mental network one by one, he quickly calculated each of their mental strength levels, and automatically s.h.i.+elded most of the informational stream from them.

He even appropriately put an ancient music box melody on, asking Mint, "Does this decrease your anxiety?"

"...Uh, thanks, you don't have to do that," Mint got gooseb.u.mps from the AI's creepy taste, quickly refusing him politely, "I'm just mostly afraid of the empty s.p.a.ce, and it's okay now as there're so many people outside right now......um, could you pause that? This sound reminds me of a ton of horror movies."

Zhanlu's immense mental network was huge, and for those being new to it, it gave people a feeling that shook their heart and soul. It made one recall their shock gazing up at the boundless starry rivers in the sky for the first time when they were young.

Until this moment did the students realize that Cow and his tightly packed goons were all clearly displayed within the mech's range of sight. Pus.h.i.+ng their gazes forward, they could even indistinctly see their base two days away.

Human conscious, wrapped in a mental network like this, had a unique feeling. As if one was an ant, miniscule like a speck of dust in an endless, cerulean sea. Yet also feeling like one had already been set free from one's tiny body, becoming the only true G.o.d in this boundless terrain.

Boundlessly alone, yet boundlessly free.

This was Zhanlu, the Sword twice deserted by the Union.

The adolescents were not aware that except for Zhanlu's two masters, no one had ever been allowed to step into this territory.

"Follow me." Jingheng Lin's voice sounded beside everyone's ears. "Don't be afraid of the mech and don't push against the mental network. The mech is your friend, not your enemy."

"Commodore Lin," White asked tentatively, "Zhanlu is quite gentle, but I still feel that 'Beijing'...and the training mental network simulation on 'Beijing' are so terrifying."

"Small mechs are just poorly made and dumb, you'll be fine once you get used to it." Jingheng Lin replied.

In between their words, thin waves rippled on Zhanlu's mental network. From the mech's perspective, time and s.p.a.ce became completely different things. On any part that was overlapped with other mechs, the feel of layers and layers of mental networks was tangible.

The students could feel the mental network wrap around them and ram right into an enemy mental network, they simultaneously let out sharp screams.

But at the next second, they realized that they had already suffused right into it. The enemy's mental network was like a dissected chip, a.n.a.lyzed part by part in front of their eyes. Jingheng Lin did this on purpose. He let them clearly see the entire process of intruding an enemy network, dissecting it with detail.

Headmaster Lu, catching the chance, cut in, "Although the enemy's mech has a better performance than Beijing, the pilot's suitability is only slightly higher than 50%, which means that it's probably the first time he ever piloted a mech. He's just here to increase the number of troops."

Just as he finished, the pilot probably felt that his mental network had been invaded, and was scared s.h.i.+tless right away. In his panic, his mental strength wavered, and his suitability dropped below 50%. Before anyone could make a move against him, he "disconnected" on his own.

"It's a newbie problem, he's terrible mental-wise just like the few of you," Bixing Lu said quickly, "Can you feel their mental network's port now? When the suitability is lower, it means that the port's opening is larger, and is easier to be taken over by someone with stronger mental strength--the pilot's pa.s.sed out now, the suitability is zero, and the port's completely open. While he's still unconscious, you can try with the standard steps of connecting to a mech mental network to connect to that mech, and if you can successfully tether to it, you can reversely control it. Don't be scared, the Commodore's right here."

He just went with the whole thing and made Jingheng Lin his teaching a.s.sistant.

Jingheng Lin didn't say a thing. Cow's huge group of mechs was entirely in Zhanlu's mental network's range, him simply sweeping them all off like fallen leaves raked away by an autumn gust. The opposition was stunned, unable to understand why such a tiny mech like this could have such a large mental network.

It was too late for them to retreat when they finally realized what was happening. The "chorus" had its formation stirred into disarray. Cow had recruited these degraded products of pilots from who knows where--they were possibly all temporary workers trained and sent on duty in a hurry. They lost half of their men by accidentally colliding with their own. The ones with operational errors and the ones who had dropped out of their networks of their own accord tangled up into one humongous mess. Occasionally a mech or two were unexpectedly successfully controlled by the students. As the students could not really pilot the mech, the reversely controlled mech dashed all over the place like it had lost its s.h.i.+t, dancing weirdly on the spot and starting a not-so-small wave of panic.

Just like that, an entire mech force was annihilated.

But Jingheng Lin didn't have the chance to be awe-inducing for long, either. Once they pa.s.sed the three minute limit, Zhanlu had almost drained the entire mech's power, the mech's low power alerts screeching in a discordant harmony. It was impossible for them to keep on going like this.

"I told you that showing off would get us in trouble! Zhanlu, you're taking up too much energy!"

"Wait," Bixing Lu said, "They've sent a communication request."

"Turn the alarms off and accept it." Jingheng Lin immediately said.

The tough, "we'd-die-before-surrendering" Cow blurted loudly, "Stop it, stop it. Bro--brother, Hawk, I was wrong, I didn't realize how powerful you guys are! I'm a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I'm a good-for-nothing!"

Just as he finished his words, the Beijing mech had only its last energy storage left. Zhanlu's spread out mental network was forced to dissipate into thin air, and the AI became a mechanical hand again, resting on Jingheng Lin's arm.

Jingheng Lin and Monoeye Hawk, standing on the close-to-running-out-of-power Beijing, perfectly kept their "seeing as you're finally sincere, I'm going to not kill you for now" faces. Like two out-of-this-world superiors of this world that had the power to take or give lives at their liking.

Cow was successfully intimidated by them. He felt the pressure a while ago puff into dust, and thought that it was because he had surrendered just in time. He quickly let out a relieved sigh, a smile of flattery on his face, "Monoeye's right, since we're facing an enemy of human society, Prince Cayley, we should get together in our common goals and fury! Everything's prepared now, the only one left we need is...how do I call you, sir?"

Jingheng Lin lazily answered a word. "Lin."

"What? Ah, you're Blackhole's B4, I've longed to meet you, you really are much more impressive in person than in other people's words!" Cow's mouth was wide, showing them his diamond encrusted front teeth. "We just lack extraordinary people like B4! Monoeye's my family, my brother, he's been giving me discounts ever since we began trading, and today he's brought me B4, bringing honor to our place! To be honest, I haven't been so lucky in a long, long time! I'll have to check the date carefully once I'm back, it must be that unlucky birth star of mine has finally ended its retrograde!"

Jingheng Lin had gained a deeper understanding of the Eighth Galaxy citizens' sense of honor.

Just like that, Cow, a lone general with no armies of his own, brought them back to his base with a forced smile on his face. He left a bunch of mechs with unconscious pilots in them, floating in s.p.a.ce, waiting to be recovered, their bitterness nowhere to be wailed.

The few of them arrived at the smuggler's underground kingdom. It was an artificial s.p.a.ce station, and gazing at it from s.p.a.ce, it was about ten thousand square kilometers in size. And half of the s.p.a.ce was used to store mechs and weapons, making the population seem even denser--in the NSC era, it was extremely rare to see a population as dense as this anymore.

"The s.p.a.ce is a bit limited," Cow said, "This used to be a supply station, but people moved in it now that they have no other option. There's tens of millions of people living in this place where you can smash someone's heel with a fart. We're really at our limit here, and it is stressing us out."

Monoeye Hawk spoke coldly, "You'd better not try to do anything, even if we're off a mech now, we can still kill you  easily."

Cow laughed bitterly. "Brother, I do owe you money. The final payment signed on the contract is three hundred million EGC, right? I can transfer it to you now, do you even want it?"

Due to the gaping wealth inequality between the galaxies, the Eight Galaxies had to use individual currencies. The different currencies had their constant exchange rates, and the Eighth Galaxy's currency's full name was the NSC Eighth Galaxy Universal Currency, which was also abbreviated into the EGC. In peaceful years, it was already pretty worthless when exchanged into the other seven galaxies' currencies, and now that the entire Union government was close to collapsing and the panicked Eighth Galaxy was occupied by interstellar pirates, the EGC was basically sc.r.a.p paper.

"To be honest, we still have enough supplies here, and our weapons and mechs are ample. But we can't really use them, as we still lack way too much actual effective combat forces. We picked this lot like picking generals among dwarves, choosing a bunch that could barely pa.s.s as decent, and we taught them mech operation after lots of hard work...yeah, and you've seen their level." The flattery on his face faded a bit, and he brought them to the main avenue.

Although it was just a s.p.a.ce station, it had quite a bit of life already. There were already vendors setting up stalls on the sidewalk, and the small, cheap restaurant on the side of the avenue had just began its day. There was someone drying  clothes on the terrace upstairs, looking down at them in curiosity at the noise. A few kids chased past them noisily, yelling civilly, "I'm going to blast you all into s.h.i.+t!

*Tuktuktuktuk--"

"Things are in a state of distress out there, and no one knows how long we can hide here," Cow's expression became serene, and he looked at Jingheng Lin, "I've heard about you before, B4, and since we have the fate to meet today, I'm going to put all my cards on the table--you can't return to Beijing-β or Planet Cayley now. News came a few days ago that the Cayley Prince Guard annihilated three planets in total, and blocked all the main interstellar routes. They called all the remaining planet's representatives over for a meeting and forced them to acknowledge their rule. I know that all of you have no place to return to now, and you know that I didn't bring you here because of......"

Monoeye Hawk snickered coldly.

Cow, lacking shame all his life, pretended that he hadn't heard him, keeping on with full sincerity, "it's because I respect people with ability--revenge or not otherwise, there's tens of millions of people living here, and there's a lot of defenseless people included. As they've chosen to seek shelter under my wing, I am responsible for protecting them. Sniping you guys outside the atmosphere was also because we were timid and terrified of strangers. But now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, and we've turned into allies instead of enemies, I see that you guys have no other place to go, so why don't you settle down here and join our self-defense force? Isn't that a win-win?"

Monoeye Hawk said scathingly, "Yeah, you wipe them out if you can defeat them, and if you can't, you try to charm them into becoming friends, and your beaters. Cow, your head does have a reason for being so big--you're getting better and better at scheming."

Cow, shameless, kept on. "Why, that's too big of a compliment. Actually, it's not just the defense part, we're also lacking the technology part. This station wasn't originally designed for people to live in, and right now the carrying capacity and artificial atmosphere all have problems needed to be fixed immediately--we're low on tech experts. My men spent all their efforts on that s.h.i.+tty network, but it was exploited instantly when we encountered you. And, plus, in all my life I've never seen such a tiny mech have such a large mental network before, you guys are just our hope sent from the heavens......Ah, we're here."

He stopped in front of a tall building. The tall building had a style the same as Cow's, and refracted the s.h.i.+ne of jewelry. On the entrance was a sign with neon lights tangled on it, making it seem to be a nightclub. On it was written the words, "The Eighth Galaxy Self-defense Force."

"Welcome to the Eighth Galaxy Self-defense Force." Cow stood under the flamboyant sign, his arms wide open, "This is our underground kingdom."

Author's Note: Today's Zhanlu is still a "charge for two hours, talk for two minutes" high tech product~

*Tuktuktuktuk: boys make out this noise to imitate the sound of machine guns.