Familiar Old Face

All right. Newt steadied his emotions. It was time to get down to business.

The two had just made their way from the Shatterdome's eaves to the hospital rooftop, then successfully entered the top floor through a ventilation shaft. Next, they had to find Rosen's room, and before Rosen was taken away, Newt had to get all the information he needed from him.

A long corridor stretched before them. Lin Yin clearly knew the way. Without a word, she took the lead, and Newt hurried after her.

There was no one else in the corridor. The two walked one ahead of the other in silence...

But Newt could never stay idle. A row of windows lined his left side, and he could not help looking outside—the view beyond lay fully exposed before him.

"Ah?"

Newt suddenly widened his eyes in astonishment. Only now did he realize just how long it had been since he had last left the Shatterdome—the outside world had changed completely.

Behind the Shatterdome, the neon-lit commercial districts were gone. They had once provided all kinds of entertainment for the tens of thousands of Shatterdome employees, but now the buildings appeared to have been entirely taken over by the military. Green trucks streamed back and forth below without end.

The upscale hotels in the distance also seemed far more dilapidated. Some had walls covered in ivy, while flocks of birds chirped as they circled overhead, as though they had made the upper floors their homes.

Everything outside the windows showed that the old, glittering Hong Kong was no more.

"What happened?" Newt could not help asking Lin Yin.

"War is coming soon." Lin Yin did not turn around. She merely glanced sideways out the window and said blandly, "The government issued evacuation orders long ago. There aren't many people left in the coastal cities."

War? Newt had always felt distant from that word.

It was not that it had nothing to do with him. Rather, whenever the pilots fought the kaiju to the death outside, he could only sit anxiously in the Command Center. Perhaps he had once dreamed of becoming a pilot too... but that could only be a dream for his next life.

Just as Newt's thoughts ran wild, Lin Yin suddenly reached out and stopped him.

"We're here."

Rosen was bored out of his mind. The burly man in black would not yield to threats or persuasion, merely watching him with a cold stare.

Under that gaze, Rosen felt as if the other "Rosen" inside him was about to come back to life. Long ago, no one had dared stare at him like that. As for the gun in the man's hand, Rosen was not afraid of it at all. He had at least a hundred ways to snatch it away.

But in the end, Rosen suppressed the restless urge within him—what would escaping accomplish? Other than this place, he had nowhere left to go. Rather than suffer humiliation elsewhere, he might as well obediently take a bullet and get it over with.

But then, something changed.

"Tap, tap, tap." A series of knocks drew both their attention.

The soldier immediately gripped his gun tighter and moved toward the door.

"Who is it?" the soldier called out.

"Me! Me! Newton Geiszler!" came the reply from outside.

Rosen froze when he heard it. Dr. Newton? What was he doing here?

"Dr. Gessler?" The soldier had clearly heard of Newt's reputation, but he still asked cautiously, "I haven't received any notice of your visit."

"Commander Jiang Tianzheng sent us." Lin Yin's voice followed from outside—leaving Rosen even more shocked. Lin Yin had actually come to see him? He would not have believed it even if it killed him!

The two heavyweight names in succession made the soldier hesitate no longer. He slung his gun over his back and briskly opened the door. Yet once it opened, an unexpected gift awaited him.

First, a shadow darted into the room. The soldier might not have seen it clearly, but Rosen did—

It was Lin Yin, her face icy and stern.

Lin Yin swung her fair left hand and, with lightning speed, brought a vicious knifehand strike down on the right side of the soldier's neck!

The blood vessels leading to his brain took a heavy blow. The soldier immediately felt as though he were suffocating and staggered back several steps. Lin Yin then moved around to his side and delivered another brutal strike to his temple.

Both blows landed on vital points. The soldier's vision went black, and he passed out cleanly. Lin Yin picked up his gun and slung it over her back.

Only after Lin Yin had finished all that did the still-shaken Newt step into the room.

"My God, why did you knock him out?"

"Because we don't have credentials." Lin Yin's face returned to its usual calm. "Otherwise, it would not be us knocking him out. It would be him pointing a gun at us."

Once the exchange ended, the two finally looked at the utterly bewildered Rosen.

"Dr. Newton, there's not much time. Hurry and begin."

Newt took the duffel bag Lin Yin had been carrying for him and pulled several strange-looking devices from inside—what looked like a few stickers and a wireless sensor.

Rosen suddenly felt afraid—Dr. Newton had always tinkered with kaiju, like a veterinarian. Seeing him tinker with people now felt thoroughly unnatural.

"Don't be afraid, Rosen." Newt forced a smile. "It's simple. This is a miniature brainwave receiver-transmitter. You just need to keep wearing it."

As he spoke, Newt placed the "stickers" on Rosen's forehead and the back of his head. Then he lightly peeled away their backing, and they firmly adhered to Rosen's skin. They even turned transparent, making them impossible to notice at a glance.

They looked incredibly futuristic. Newt then stuffed the sensor into Rosen's pillow.

"As long as you keep them on, I'll be able to receive your brainwaves continuously."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rosen suddenly remembered that he had not asked what Dr. Newton was here for. "Brainwaves? What exactly are you here for?"

Newt had no choice but to tell Rosen every detail of what he had previously discovered.

"You're saying... Kunlun is simulating my thoughts?" Rosen suddenly recalled that scene from his dream—back then, Kunlun's eyes had been his own, and it had felt as though he had become Kunlun.

"That's right." Newt nodded, excitement written all over his face. "If we can truly make this theory work, then we'll never have to worry about pilots or Sync Rate again. It's incredible, isn't it?"

Rosen nodded happily as well.

If Dr. Newton's theory truly worked, then he would be the first person it applied to. When that happened, Rosen would finally be able to prove himself.

But then a voice shattered Rosen's beautiful dream.

"Don't move."

Rosen looked up to see a dark gun barrel before his eyes.

The soldier Lin Yin had defeated earlier had gotten back up. He pulled out his tactical pistol and aimed it at Lin Yin, Newt, and Rosen.

Lin Yin had knocked off his helmet, finally revealing his true face: sharp brows, bright eyes, and an imposing bearing. Yet a long scar utterly ruined that air—it began at his left ear, crossed the bridge of his nose, and ran all the way to his right ear, as if it had sliced his entire face in two.

At the sight of that face, Lin Yin suddenly froze. She narrowed her eyes and murmured in disbelief, "It's you... Sun Zheng Tang?"