Reenactment

"Report! Kunlun's mental connection is showing anomalies!"

In the command center, the neural connection diagram on the main display screen warped. The Synaptic Link between Kunlun and the pilot was no longer perfect, and the Sync Rate index was fluctuating wildly.

"This..."

No one had ever seen anything like it. They all stared nervously at the monitors, an ominous feeling beginning to spread throughout the command center.

Kunlun's body suddenly twitched, then it raised its hands and clutched its head tightly, as if in immense pain.

The colossal Jaeger began to sway back and forth, startling the staff in the Jaeger hangar, who scrambled backward.

Seeing Rosen convulsing, Mike disregarded the negative effects of interrupting the Synaptic Link and forcibly removed the Mind Cap from Rosen's head!

The Mind Cap was a crucial tool for Synaptic Link, and without it, the success rate was almost zero.

But something unexpected happened again. Even without the Mind Cap, Rosen did not exit the Synaptic Link state. His eyes remained blood-red, and he stared straight ahead expressionlessly. Then, a despairing message came through the communicator again.

"Out of sync! Out of sync! Both the pilot and Kunlun are out of sync now!"

Mike felt Kunlun shake violently a few times before freezing completely.

Simultaneously, alarms blared in the Jaeger hangar, and the staff began to evacuate in a panic.

"Rosen..." Mike had nowhere to retreat. He had never seen anything like this. He could only try his best to awaken Rosen's mind.

"Rosen, relax, take a deep breath..." he kept saying. "Snap out of the memories, don't get trapped in them... Right, didn't you hate basketball? Come on, think about basketball... Remember the 76ers I told you about? They've already disbanded..."

If a third party were present, they would surely have praised Mike's quick thinking.

But it was too late. Rosen was already lost, unable to extricate himself.

The violent fluctuations in brainwaves forced Rosen back into the Synaptic Link state.

"I... I..."

The memory of his last failure haunted Rosen like a nightmare. He realized there was a problem with his Synaptic Link to Kunlun. He tried with all his might to control it, but the problem only worsened.

He felt his limbs gradually going numb...

His senses grew further and further away from his body.

The scene from a year ago seemed to be replaying itself.

"No... no... no!!!"

With the last shred of his will, Rosen forcibly awakened his own consciousness. However, just as he caught his breath, the scene changed again.

The giant, dark red eyes suddenly vanished, and in the blink of an eye, Rosen found himself in a city in ruins.

Before him lay rubble and ruins, the sunset like blood.

A haze of gray dust was drifting down from the sky.

"Where... where is this..."

Rosen suddenly felt suffocated. He was on a rooftop, and in the distance, the bridge broken in half – wasn't that Tsing Ma Bridge?

This was Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong where the Shatterdome was located.

But Rosen soon discovered the problem. In his memory, Tsing Ma Bridge had never been damaged, and...

Rosen looked around and suddenly realized that the architectural style of the city seemed somewhat old.

However, Rosen couldn't afford to dwell on that. Just then, a piercing alarm sounded, and the helicopter hovering above him also whirred loudly.

Boom... boom...

A dull, heavy roar was approaching Rosen.

Rosen found he was still wearing the black Pilot Suit. Although it hindered his movement slightly, he dared not take it off easily. He could only hurry downstairs and run towards the street.

The further he ran, the greater Rosen's confusion grew. While this was indeed Hong Kong, the buildings were too old. Rosen even spotted the Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, which he had only seen in photos – that building had been demolished back in 2022.

Wait... is this... before 2022? Rosen suddenly realized something.

Why am I here?

How old was I then...?

Just then, a piece of paper blew past Rosen's eyes. He instinctively caught it.

It was a torn newspaper, with the headline in large characters: "God of Desire" approaches Hong Kong. The date was blurred, but Rosen could barely make out the year – 2020.

2020?

Rosen froze.

Because at that time, he had only just been born.

"No, it's impossible... My memory has somehow gone back to 2020..." Rosen shook his head in disbelief. "This is impossible... Memories from that time shouldn't be in my mind now, and the Synaptic Link shouldn't involve things outside my memory."

Just then, the rumbling grew louder. The violent shaking made Rosen lose his footing and fall to the ground. Then, the source of the sound finally revealed itself – a tall building collapsed with a deafening roar, its massive shadow appearing before Rosen.

It was a Kaiju that looked eerily similar to a human, with four limbs and standing on two legs. All the skyscrapers around it were dwarfed by its height. This 30-story-tall monstrosity had blue-green skin and a mouth disproportionately large for its body. Rosen could even clearly see the debris of buildings still stuck in its maw – a mouth that, just like its name, was the "God of Desire."

"ROAR!!!"

The Kaiju opened its mouth, spewing a visible storm and countless building fragments. Its thick legs slammed into the ground, each step leaving a crater. As it swung its arms, the buildings lining the streets instantly crumbled.

Suddenly, its searchlight-like eyes glanced down, meeting Rosen's gaze.

It seemed to have developed a keen interest in the ant before it.

"ROAR!!!"

Here it comes!

He's here!

It let out a sky-piercing roar, and with a mere lift of its leg, it toppled countless smaller buildings. In an instant, dust billowed up, obscuring the sky.

"Shit!"

Rosen's face contorted in panic, and he took off running. But soon, he lost his bearings in the dust and debris. He could only weave frantically through the streets, and the ground gradually began to show bodies...

Their bodies were twisted, their faces contorted in agony, and the number of corpses grew.

Rosen felt as if he were running through a sea of bodies.

The Kaiju stomped down in front of Rosen, emitting a thunderous roar as if the sky were collapsing. Rosen had no choice but to immediately turn and flee in another direction.

Rosen knew he could never outrun the Kaiju, so he quickly rounded a corner and darted into an alley – several cars were then hurled like pebbles at the corner.

Rosen sprinted desperately through the alley, and the Kaiju, seemingly enraged by Rosen, began smashing indiscriminately at the buildings. Bricks and broken beams rained down on Rosen.

Several rocks struck Rosen, bloodying his head. He could only raise his hands, shielding himself tightly amidst the stone shower.

Inside the cockpit, Mike watched with wide eyes as Rosen, his eyes bloodshot, slowly raised his right hand.

The console's indicator lights began to flash, and text appeared on the heads-up display: Weapon systems activated.

Whizz... Sizzzzzzzz...

After a burst of static, the Kunlun's right wrist lit up – it signified the activation of the "Cloud-Mist High-Pressure Magnetic Storm Ring," which hadn't seen the light of day for a full year.

However, this time, its target was not the Kaiju.