The True Synaptic Link

——June 18, 2043, 4:07 AM——

Meanwhile, after the silver figure dragged the 'Gecko' off Shandong, everyone in the command center finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Jiang Tianzheng was all too familiar with the figure—it was Kunlun, who had been on standby in the sixth Jaeger warehouse.

Dozens of seconds ago, Kunlun had smashed through several Jaeger warehouse doors and the Shatterdome's outer wall, and was now locked in a fierce struggle with the 'Gecko'.

Old ginger is spicier, Jiang Tianzheng thought. It was indeed the right choice to go to great lengths to keep Mike Keane at the Shatterdome.

"Has Kunlun's communicator, which malfunctioned in the last battle, been fixed?" Jiang Tianzheng asked a staff member nearby. "I need to speak with Mike Keane."

"It has been repaired."

"Connect me."

Just as the command center finished establishing a signal link with Kunlun, a slightly hurried voice message immediately came from the communicator.

"Command Center?" Mike Keane's voice sounded a bit panicked. "Kunlun is out of control, did you activate remote control?"

"What are you talking about?" Jiang Tianzheng almost thought he misheard. "Aren't you the pilot of Kunlun? Remote control? We don't have that technology."

"Huh? Then what's going on? I'm not the one piloting now!" Mike said urgently. "After the system finished loading, the motion platform was locked, and I couldn't move at all!"

The atmosphere in the command center instantly became strange.

On the big screen, Kunlun and the 'Gecko' were rising and falling in a sea of dust. Kunlun's movements were exquisite; while dodging the 'Gecko's' fierce frontal assault with agile footwork, he used the Chain Sword in his left hand to leave shocking wounds on the 'Gecko', its azure blood occasionally splashing onto Kunlun's armor.

Kunlun raised his right fist, and the Cloud-Mist High-Pressure Magnetic Storm Ring on his wrist lit up! Then, the fist, crackling with arcs of electricity, smashed fiercely onto the 'Gecko's' head, and countless iron objects were also affected by the magnetic field, whistling out from the dust. The 'Gecko' was disoriented and quite battered.

Kunlun's movements were fluid and seamless, but now, Mike Keane denied it was his doing.

Who is piloting Kunlun? The question arose in everyone's minds.

"Look here."

Newt suddenly spoke up out of the blue. With a smug look, he raised his right hand and pointed to a secondary screen next to the main screen—it displayed the Sync Rate data for each Jaeger and its pilot.

"See?"

Following Newt's index finger, everyone immediately noticed something peculiar.

The deactivated Jaegers had a Sync Rate of 0, while all the operational Jaegers, from Shandong to Tianshan, had Sync Rates above 85%.

Among them, there was one outlier—Kunlun: 50%. Its lower value made it stand out.

"This isn't Mike Keane's Sync Rate," Jiang Tianzheng narrowed his eyes, a thought dawning on him. "You mean... Rosen is remotely controlling Kunlun?"

"No, not remote control," Newt corrected. "You still don't get what I mean. Kunlun and Rosen have identical brainwave patterns; their brains are emitting the same brainwaves."

Seeing their confused expressions, Newt's desire to show off grew even stronger.

"It's not a matter of you controlling me or me controlling you," Newt said, getting more excited. "It's like two computers; once you connect them with a data cable, they're no longer independent..."

"Please be more concise, Doctor," Jiang Tianzheng reminded him.

Newt nodded and decided to summarize.

"This is series connection, not parallel connection," Newt said, his eyes wide like a fervent religious follower. "Now, they are indistinguishable."

"Kunlun is Rosen."

Mike, inside Kunlun's cockpit, was startled by Newt's words.

He was currently standing on the motion platform, but he was helpless—the platform was locked, and he couldn't even force a disengagement from the pilot state. In front of him, the various buttons on the control panel were flashing with colorful lights, as if someone was truly manipulating Kunlun remotely.

On the holographic head-up display before him, the 'Gecko' had been beaten black and blue by "himself." Kunlun's attacks rained down on the 'Gecko's' face like a storm. It had to be said, although Mike couldn't actually control it, he felt quite satisfied internally.

Could it really be Rosen? Mike wondered. All the problems seemed to point to this one answer.

Just then, a voice suddenly sounded in the cockpit.

"Mike?" Rosen's voice echoed. "Are you in Kunlun's cockpit?"

Mike immediately looked around—but the cockpit was empty, with no sign of Rosen anywhere!

"What the hell?" Mike exclaimed, dumbfounded, muttering to himself.

"Did you forget that you are currently in a Synaptic Link state with Kunlun?" Rosen reminded him. "I am borrowing Kunlun's Synaptic Link to communicate with you."

Mike suddenly understood; the voice was directly in his mind!

"I am! I'm in Kunlun's cockpit!" Mike replied. "Where are you now?"

"My physical body is on the roof of the Shatterdome," Rosen's voice became urgent. "Listen carefully, Mike. I need a helicopter. The connection between my body and Kunlun can't be too far. Report the situation to the command center immediately and have them send a helicopter!"

"I got it!" Although filled with doubts, there was clearly no time to resolve them one by one. Mike immediately contacted the command center and reported the situation to Jiang Tianzheng in detail. With Newt's theoretical proof and the current situation supporting it, Jiang Tianzheng issued the order without much thought.

A Chinook helicopter immediately headed to the designated location to release a hoist—

One minute later, Rosen and Sun Zheng Tang's images appeared on the command center's secondary screen from inside the helicopter.

Sun Zheng Tang still had a comical neck brace on, looking excited. Rosen, on the other hand, appeared somewhat odd. He frowned slightly, his eyes bloodshot as he gazed into the distance, looking completely focused.

"See his eyes? His neural network has merged with Kunlun's; they're sharing information!" Newt exclaimed upon seeing this. "This is true Synaptic Link!"

Although it was still unclear whether the Jaeger's combat power would be enhanced in this state, Jiang Tianzheng still nodded in affirmation.

"Are you confident?" Jiang Tianzheng asked Rosen, who appeared on the screen.

"No," Rosen replied bluntly. "In this state, apart from my reaction speed increasing, nothing else has changed." Rosen continued, "I can only hold on for a while longer. The rest will depend on everyone's coordinated efforts."

As Rosen had said, despite Kunlun's fierce assault, the 'Gecko' still stood firm. The damage it had sustained since the battle began was far beyond anyone's expectations, yet it seemed to be running around as usual. A Generation 8 Kaiju was indeed extraordinary.

The 'Gecko' gradually stabilized its footing, preventing Kunlun from pursuing easily. The previously one-sided battle had turned into a stalemate.

"Did you all hear that?" Jiang Tianzheng surveyed the room. "All remaining pilots must form a team and coordinate their actions. As for command authority... Lin Yin?" Jiang Tianzheng asked Shandong through the communicator.

"Leave it to me," Lin Yin's weak voice came back. "I guarantee I'll complete the mission."

"Then, the second round of combat begins."

As soon as Jiang Tianzheng finished speaking, Sun Zheng Tang's excited roar immediately sounded over the communicator.

"Hey, big brother, hurry up and finish it!" Sun Zheng Tang shouted. "You won't have to go to BJ then. Getting one kill will at least shave ten years off your sentence!"

The people in the command center couldn't help but burst into loud laughter.