Imperfections Chapter 56

"I think that this decision does not fit your behavioral pattern," Zhanlu's voice reverberated in the empty Heavy Mech No.3, "What made you do such a decision, sir?"

They were at a desolate field ten days away from the base. The messy signals shot out through the already formed anti-tracking system -- as if a giant kaleidoscope had taken shape between the expanse of stars.

The three wary base teams were already well hidden.

The Heavy Mech No. 3 had shut down its weapon system, leaving only a virtual cannon--the virtual cannon was actually a special electromagnetic wave. Whoever was marked by it was considered as "hit". When the mark reached a set intensity, it meant that the s.h.i.+eld had lost effect.

Exactly like a toy, it was quite laughable.

Jingheng Lin felt like a two-point-three meter giant holding a two-inch long squirt gun, standing at a busy intersection, ready to play tag with a bunch of preschool kids.

The kids sincerely felt fear in their hearts. Like chicks without fur, they hid in the narrow paths which reached everywhere, terrified that they'd become the next gone soul soaked by the squirt gun.

And Commodore Lin's mission for the next four hours was to rummage through all the boxes and chests, find them one by one, and gently squirt their soft little b.u.t.ts with his squirt gun--not too hard, or the almond in their head would have a concussion in front of him.

Even worse, this embarra.s.sing process would be recorded on camera, and was to be taken back for people to spectate after the exercise had ended......the only good thing was that this place was already out of the internal network's range, which meant that the base couldn't have a live broadcast.

Commodore Lin, having been brave and powerful to the public eye for many decades, finally lost it all at this moment.

However, there was nothing more important in the world than a man's reputation, so Jingheng Lin bluffed at Zhanlu, his expression unmoving, "The three remaining teams in the base are almost a result of something close to natural selection. Through cla.s.sification on their own, they split into the ingenuine type, the st.u.r.dy defense type, and the special forces team. Each of them has their own strengths. If they know how to cooperate, and also get used to the anti-tracking system, they still have a considerable amount of potential."

"You didn't comment like this last time," Zhanlu revealed his intention innocently. "As you said last time, the remaining three teams symboled human society's three most stubborn tumors--despicable b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, the foolish majority, and the daydreaming dumba.s.ses with grandiose aims but puny abilities."

"......" Jingheng Lin went silent for two seconds. "That was a joke."

This time, Zhanlu didn't go "Hahaha", but asked a little confusedly, "Based on the context and your usual language pattern, I do not think that was a joke."

Jingheng Lin's tone started to turn unfriendly. "The biggest difference between humans and AIs is that humans' actions and language don't have a constant pattern."

Zhanlu retorted justifiably. "Sir, it seems that you have not majored in either sociology or psychology. As a matter of fact, research on humans' action patterns had already started back in Earth times. Every seemingly complicated action done by humans actually has its internal logic. For example, based on your historical data, you are going to tell me to......"

Jingheng Lin: "Shut up!"

Zhanlu: "......shut up."

The Union's top mech almost spoke at the exact same moment with his owner. Zhanlu paused, and then replied faithfully, "Yes, sir, initiating command 'shut up'."

Jingheng Lin: "......"

He kind of wanted to dismantle Zhanlu from Heavy Mech No. 3 right now. Secondhand mech cores like this only deserved to be installed on bikes in gyms.

"You guys should all know the rules by now," At this moment, Bixing Lu's voice rang out in every mech, "In the previous drills, none of you had access to the anti-tracking system, but it's different this time. Everyone in the three teams will have access to the anti-tracking system. In this drill, your opponents will not be each other, but only Commodore Lin himself. He will be your hunter. To put it simply, this game was about everyone chasing down each other with their eyes covered, but this time, Commodore Lin will be the only one with his eyes covered, and he will be chasing down each of you."

Hearing this, the mech pilots in the three teams did not feel fortunate that the difficulty was reduced. They tensed up even more instead.

"Today, we're not going to eliminate anyone." Bixing Lu kept on going, "From now on, we're going into the scoring round. The ones with the lowest ranking will be in charge of patrolling the outskirts of the base until they strike back in the next round. I have to remind all of you something: distant patrolling is long and painful. And when there's danger, you will be in the frontline. Plus, when pa.s.sing some areas, there won't even be any signals between patrol members to communicate which can form symptoms such as anxiety and mental strain, and that will affect your future performance to a certain extent. That means that, if you lose once, you might never be able to turn the tables. So please, everyone, be careful today."

A wicked glint flashed in Sat.u.r.day's eyes. Foucault was making the last adjustments to his team, and Weasel was already using the anti-tracking system's access to check the other two team's locations--it didn't matter if his team was wiped out, they wouldn't really die anyway. As long as his two compet.i.tors were worse off than him, he could naturally rise in the ranks.

"Lin, you've said before that the pirates' battle experience and skills are far above our imaginations," Bixing Lu's voice flowed out of Heavy Mech No. 3's communication device like it was right beside his ears. Jingheng Lin's ears twitched slightly, and he heard the other say, "If the pirates really can scan out this area by remote signals, I want to know if the anti-tracking system can handle this challenge. Don't hold back."

Jingheng Lin glanced at the communication screen, and Bixing Lu immediately added, "I meant don't hold back with me, do stop where you should with them."

"Don't hold back with you?"

Bixing Lu somehow heard something inappropriate from this normal question. Flas.h.i.+ng a smile, he quickly cut off the call, his ears beet red.

Jingheng Lin: "......"

A moment later, he came back to the present, poured a mere half a cup of wine for himself restrictedly and sighed.

A ma.s.sacre started in the commodore's messed up tangled worries.

"Sat.u.r.day," Holiday's voice sounded from the communicator, "Weasel's men are on the move. They're right next to Foucault's now, are they planning to work with them?"

Sat.u.r.day sank into deep thought for a moment. "Foucault's team is the largest, so they're the biggest target, and relatively the easiest to track down. If I'm the opponent, I'd definitely list him as my first target."

Holiday let out a not completely understanding "ah". "Then why did Weasel..."

"To meddle in things," A Self-defense Force member said, "Don't you know him after all this time of fighting? Right now, they're approaching them, acting like they're gonna ally with them, but once Foucault's team's discovered by Commodore Lin, the first thing Weasel will do is to attack Foucault, and crumble such a huge force from the back. The Heavy Mech No. 3 can't go past a mech fleet so easily, either, which means that Foucault's guys will become a perfect s.h.i.+eld for Weasel. Weasel can attack the Heavy Mech No. 3 hiding behind a s.h.i.+eld, and no matter how many valid hits they actually get in, as long as they hit it they get points--they even have a transfer point behind them so they can retreat whenever they're finished."

"Weasel didn't join the patrol that time," At this time, another Self-defense Force member said quietly, "He doesn't know what it's like to fight against that Commodore Lin."

"What's it like?" Sat.u.r.day asked.

"His mental network......" As he spoke, the Self-defense Force member's voice started to tremble, "When his mental network sweeps over you, it feels like you're a sick wheat plant--when the sickle arrives, you have no s.p.a.ce to duck, and you're harvested before you know it. Then, when you're forced to separate from your mental network, it's not as easy as when you normally drop out of it. You have the illusion that you've dropped yourself in ice-cold water, that you've fallen into empty s.p.a.ce, no place on your body follows your command. It's like you've really died. Sat.u.r.day, boss, I was on the outer ring. Some of the ones that faced Commodore Lin directly, don't even ask if they can still pilot mechs--they can't turn off the lights at night when they sleep, not even in the base. Weasel doesn't have a chance. With their firepower, they can't hit the heavy mech if they're out of its mental network range, and the second they've entered its range, they can't escape."

"Don't panic," Sat.u.r.day spoke in a stern tone, "We still have the anti-tracking system. Now, listen to my command. Spread out, and keep in formation!"

"Sat.u.r.day, Heavy Mech No. 3's moved!"

Under the anti-tracking system's surveillance, Heavy Mech No. 3's...o...b..t was revealed down to the smallest detail for the three teams. It started to travel in circular motion in the perimeter of the anti-tracking system. Then it stopped beside a transfer point.

"Sat.u.r.day, boss, what is he doing?"

"Don't guard the transfer point, move out right now," Sat.u.r.day said swiftly, "Spread out a bit more."

"We can't," Holiday replies, "We're not in the internal network. Our communication is based on fixed signals right now, if we spread out more we won't be able to reach each other!"

Sat.u.r.day's gaze was glued to Heavy Mech No. 3's path, not blinking once. He spoke in a serious tone, "I've heard that commodores like him at the frontline have been through more battles than you have eaten salt, that they can feel the slightest waver in the energy field around them. The teams in the drill are scared of him, so to be ready to evacuate immediately if they're discovered, they're definitely guarding the transfer points. But heavy mechs can remote scan through transfer points..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Heavy Mech No. 3 suddenly transferred. Sat.u.r.day's heart jumped.

The next second, Heavy Mech No. 3 materialized behind Weasel. Before Weasel, who had a perfect plan arranged, could react, the entire "armored cavalry" suddenly froze! At the same time, on the monitor, Weasel's entire Armored Cavalry darkened. Without using a single particle cannon, Jingheng Lin had swept over their mental networks!

And since Weasel had a dirty plan in mind, all of his cronies' mech's muzzles were pointed at their allies, loaded. The second the control was taken away, all the virtual cannons fired, flowing over Foucault's Golden Warriors like a tide.

Thankfully Foucault was already on guard of Weasel. The moment Heavy Mech No. 3 transferred, their troops spread out instantly, so at least they weren't wiped out.

Sat.u.r.day's eyes shone. He quickly synced the coordinates to everyone's mech. "Sail back to the nearest transfer point, we're going to transfer!"

When facing Jingheng Lin, there was no time to hide, yet he was going to run straight into him!

Holiday: "Have you gone nuts, Sat.u.r.day!?"

"If we don't initiate an attack, we're only going to be chased around by him later, so don't waste time!" Finis.h.i.+ng his speech, Sat.u.r.day rushed out in the lead. The Self-Defense team, having followed him recklessly and found life on the brink of death countless times, trailed after him out of habit.

Just in this short while, Golden Warriors had already collapsed, retreating to the transfer points hastily. The next second, the Self-Defense Force suddenly rushed out of the transfer point in the opposite direction, their timing was almost perfect. In the cover of the remaining few troops, they fiercely pounced on Heavy Mech No. 3 like a dagger suddenly reaching out of the deepest dark!

The heavy mech's giant oval body was like a brilliant pearl. Staring at it through his mental network, Sat.u.r.day's human-mech compatibility reached its all time high. The virtual cannon was already fired, and it just needed to sc.r.a.pe Heavy Mech No. 3 to score wildly. Even if he was swept out the next second, it would be fine...

But then his view darkened. The next second, two controlled "Armored Cavalry" mechs happened to block the cannon--as if they could predict what was going to happen. Sat.u.r.day's heart tightened, and an ominous feeling suddenly grew on him. It was too late to retreat again. Instantly, all the hair on him grew on its end. His mech's mental network felt like it was suddenly covered by something, and a near-death feeling of asphyxia engulfed him. A "--hum--" buzzed through Sat.u.r.day's brain, his human-mech compatibility dropping directly from 75% to out of the network. He instantly lost consciousness.

The Self-Defense Force, a dagger in the dark, also fell, snapped in half. The survivors quickly retreated, wanting to flee separately under the cover of the anti-tracking system.

But it was too late. Heavy mech No.3, having invaded multiple dummy mechs, rightfully received access to the anti-tracking system. Jingheng Lin lightly pulled off the cloth covering his eyes. The hiding little rats had nowhere to conceal themselves. Within half an hour, they were all wiped out while fleeing.

The originally planned four and a half hour drill had ended in gore within forty minutes. The three teams, in an orderly fas.h.i.+on, got negative scores. They also managed to get the same negative score--they couldn't even be ranked.

Staring at one another, the four students that were supposed to monitor the training area were dumb stricken.

No matter the base's arms or anti-tracking system, in someone who had witnessed war's eyes, multiple months of hard work was actually this full of loopholes and fragile.

After some time, which no one knew how long, White finally tentatively asked in the communicator, "Pres Lu, does... does that count as the end?"

"Uh," Bixing Lu found it a bit difficult to speak, "Okay, drill's over, clean the area and watch out for the injured."

Then there was half a minute of silence in the communicator. Bixing Lu quickly adjusted his tone, speaking steadily, "There are three deadly errors today. The first is the transfer points. The previous two days, when we were laying down the anti-tracking system, I noticed him carefully avoiding all the transfer points' tracks. If he didn't do that, they'd probably die even faster today, wouldn't they? I somehow didn't remember to encrypt the transfer points back then, I was too up in my own a.s.s with two meager compliments. The second is that the teams' battle awareness can't catch up. Armored Cavalry and Golden Warriors feared before they got into battle, guarded the transfer points with all their might, and that let to them being detected by the heavy mech. The Self-Defense team was too rash, thinking other people would think the same thing they were. They didn't realize that every transfer point nearby would be under Heavy Mech No. 3's monitoring, so they jumped into the trap. The third is that the anti-tracking system's access wasn't encrypted a step further, so when our side's mechs are invaded, the opponent will instantly get all the information inside the anti-tracking system, making it their map. I didn't think it thoroughly."

"Pres Lu..." Jingshu Huang's voice trailed off.

Bixing Lu smiled. "What are you standing there for? It's close to being done, I'm fine. Quickly, go clean up the rest, I have to adjust the anti-tracking system."

The students were masters at cleaning up the rest. Soon, the ones that had to be dragged away was dragged away, and the ones that needed to be treated was treated. In a giant interstellar maze, Bixing Lu sat alone in a mech. Spread out in front of him was the data from the drill a while ago.

He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel defeated.

Ever since he and Jingheng Lin set a three-month agreement, Bixing Lu had been living in the mech station's workshop. When Commodore Lin woke up early in the morning to torture his body every day, he was also starting the day's work in the workshop. He sc.r.a.ped up every bit of his mind, yet the results were still disappointing.

And he still was just a young man.

Bixing Lu allowed himself to s.p.a.ce out for a minute, and then quickly rubbed his face, packing up his emotions--transforming the heavy hard work and effort into a feather, blowing it into the wind to drift away. Those were two main skills he mastered when he got used to drawbacks during his early years on mechs: not to view his feelings as important, not to view the time he spent as important.

Because feelings were controlled by the subjective, and as to the time spent......would not time be wasted too if one slept for a couple of months? Saying that one had "spent time" was taking himself way too important.

Then, a docking request was sent to him. Bixing Lu looked up and realized that Heavy Mech No. 3 had come close to him without him realizing. The heavy mech's port was wide open for him.

Jingheng Lin was waiting at Heavy Mech No. 3's mech port entrance. Through the gla.s.s panel, he watched Bixing Lu's tiny mech slowly park down. His face was expressionless, but his left hand, behind his back, cracked each of the knuckles on his right hand once, doubting that he had overdone things.

He had noticed the problem on the transfer points when he was helping Bixing Lu lay down the anti-tracking system, but he only adjusted it quietly and didn't notify him.

Because he knew that in front of Bixing Lu, he always lessened his harsh demanding on purpose. And the "double-edged blade"-like transfer points, in Jingheng Lin's perspective, wasn't really a big flaw. To him, it could even be a prop in actual combat--that was how Primalien died--but he didn't think that Bixing Lu would ask him to join in the base's drill.

"I should've circled around a bit more," Jingheng Lin thought, "At least I could've waited for the four and a half hours to pa.s.s before I attacked."

The cabin's air pressure finished adjusting. Bixing Lu came down from the small mech. Seeing him from afar, Jingheng Lin's back stiffened, making him seem even more serene.

Bixing Lu walked towards him, and they stood in silence for a while.

Jingheng Lin broke the silence. "A project, from the very first idea to designing, and then to finish building, is a very difficult thing. It needs systematic thinking, and needs to keep in mind every detail. It takes huge amounts of time and energy. Compared to it, it's too easy to pick a loophole to attack, as it is impossible for something to be perfect in this world. Even though checking for loopholes and filling them up to near perfection is necessary, but if someone thinks that the one nitpicking is greater than the one building, he's just plain stupid.....ahem, you don't need to mind them."

As he spoke, Jingheng Lin recalled that when he was occasionally having a bad day, Xin Lu would talk to him with his arms around his shoulders. He wanted to replicate that unconsciously, but he really wasn't an outgoing person, and had never been so "brotherly" towards another human. His raised hand stayed in the air, unknowing where to put itself. As it grew more and more awkward, Monoeye Hawk's evil doctrine grew closer to leaping out to show its existence.

Cold sweat almost burst out in Jingheng Lin's hands.

Bixing Lu looked a bit shocked. He suddenly grasped Lin's hand and looked into his eyes with his, "Are you comforting me, Commodore?"

JIngheng Lin tried to pull it back instinctively. Then he felt like it was too obvious halfway through, so his hand was just stuck there awkwardly in the middle.