Lin Yin took only one minute to put on her Pilot Suit. That crimson combat suit had accompanied her in killing thirteen kaiju. Now, they would face a new enemy—Kunlun.
She nimbly climbed into the cockpit, as efficient as ever.
"Ready! Release the cockpit!"
Two minutes later, Lin Yin's incomparably resolute voice came through the Command Center's communicator.
At the command, the cockpit shot down along its rails like lightning.
Then, a tremendous disturbance came from Hangar One—Shandong, one of the strongest Jaegers in human history, had deployed.
"Attention! Do not use thermal weapons under any circumstances!" Jiang Tianzheng issued another command to Lin Yin. "Destroy Kunlun's head! As for Mike Kane inside... dead or alive!"
"Got it."
The moment Lin Yin finished speaking, an enormous steel hand appeared against the wall beside Hangar One's entrance.
The 160-meter-tall Shandong braced himself against the wall as he emerged from Hangar One. Every step he took left a massive footprint in the base grounds. Then, the crimson figure swept past the Command Center, kicking up endless clouds of dust.
"Mission confirmed: eliminate Kunlun. All thermal weapons have been locked."
Lin Yin was making her final mission confirmation, but her voice was quickly drowned out by the roar. All other noise vanished beneath Shandong's heavy footsteps.
Watching Shandong head toward Hangar Six, Jiang Tianzheng could not help but feel solemn respect. He straightened his body and gave Shandong's back a standard military salute, seemingly muttering to himself.
"Lin Yin... I'm counting on you for everything."
At that moment, Mike was astonished to discover that the rampaging Kunlun had suddenly stopped. After releasing one final magnetic field, the Cloud Mist Magnetic Storm Coil retracted, while the metal parts orbiting Kunlun's right arm like satellites fell one after another to the ground.
Mike had already imagined ten thousand ways he might die—burning to death, suffocating from lack of oxygen, being electrocuted into charcoal, or something else... But what was happening before him undoubtedly ignited a fierce desire to survive within him.
Shaking off his despair, he hurriedly shouted into the communicator, "Command Center, I've brought the situation under control! I'm requesting an immediate end to Kunlun's test run!"
But there was no response. Nothing came through the communicator.
Mike leaned closer to it and kept shouting. Only then did he realize the communicator had long since lost its signal. He guessed that the powerful magnetic field from Kunlun's right hand had damaged some radio port earlier.
What... do I do now?
There was no one left on the heads-up display. All the staff had fled when Kunlun fell into chaos. Now, outside the Jaeger, there were only red danger lights flashing and alarms piercing the sky.
And he could not contact the Command Center either... Mike was completely at a loss.
However, at that moment, a sound began echoing through the empty Shatterdome.
Thump... thump... thump...
The sound was rhythmic, like a drumbeat. The detection equipment on Kunlun's console also lit up. According to the display, something was approaching Kunlun.
Mike was not a pilot, so he could not get more data from Kunlun. But he knew it could not be an enemy. How could there possibly be an enemy inside the Shatterdome?
It had arrived.
A crimson figure appeared on Kunlun's holographic heads-up display—yet reality immediately proved Mike wrong.
The crimson figure was Shandong, and in Shandong's right hand he dragged a weapon specially made to deal with kaiju—Soul Extinguisher, a gigantic spiked hammer.
The handle was seventy meters long, and the hammerhead weighed a full eight hundred tons. At that moment, Shandong dragged it across the ground, sending great showers of sparks flying.
Shandong looked exactly like a gladiator from Mike's memories, but Mike did not believe this kind warrior was about to give Kunlun, where he was sitting, a friendly maintenance inspection with that hammer.
"He's here to kill us." Rosen's voice suddenly came from nowhere, startling Mike.
"You're finally awake, man!" Afraid Rosen had not grasped the situation, Mike immediately added, "Look at the mess you made. We're about to die!"
"I know."
Rosen's eyes were still blood-red, but after waking, he looked completely composed. There was even a faint smile on his lips—
Mike suddenly felt as if Rosen had become a different person. His previous steadiness and caution had been swept away. Now, all that remained in that body was the ease and comfort of having cast off a burden.
Rosen raised both hands, one before the other at chest level, and Kunlun immediately mirrored the movement—Kunlun even copied Rosen's deep breath, despite not having lungs.
That was not something a 50% Sync Rate could achieve.
Mike froze for a moment before instantly reaching a conclusion. Then he suddenly realized something. "No way... Are you planning to fight a Mark 8 Jaeger?"
"What else?" Rosen did not even raise his head.
"Are you insane?!" Mike could not tell whether Rosen was crazy or he was. "No matter how you look at it, shouldn't we surrender?"
"You can try. See whether you can climb out of the cockpit faster than that hammer can come down."
Their argument was doomed to have no outcome. At that moment, Shandong flicked his right hand, catching Soul Extinguisher firmly in his grip. Then he strode forward and charged at them with murderous momentum—now, the Grim Reaper had truly arrived.
"Mike." Rosen suddenly turned and asked, his face full of smiles, "Want to live?"
"What kind of stupid question is that?!"
"Then help me." Rosen blinked. "To be honest, I haven't fought in seven months."
"Fuck you!!"
Mike furiously spat out a curse.
Watching the two Jaegers in the distance, Jiang Tianzheng could not help feeling a pang in his heart. They should have been humanity's weapons against kaiju, yet now they were slaughtering each other...
Just as Jiang Tianzheng's thoughts ran wild, Kunlun suddenly moved.
The enormous Jaeger suddenly held both hands out flat, bent at the waist and knees, and assumed a standard pre-combat stance. Its single eye blazed with a burning light.
"Hmm?"
Jiang Tianzheng and Lin Yin voiced their doubts almost simultaneously. Kunlun was no longer swaying; it seemed to have emerged from its chaotic state. Jiang Tianzheng looked at the display again. The neural connection between Kunlun and its pilot had indeed stabilized, but the Sync Rate was still only 50%.
However, Kunlun's communicator still received no response, so both of them tacitly chose to continue the attack.
Shandong gripped Soul Extinguisher tightly, while Kunlun stood tall and heroic. The three eyes of the two sides met as they took their stances—
June 14, 2043, 10:34 a.m. This day should have gone down in history.
Because humanity's first Jaeger civil war was about to begin.
Before you continue