True Drift

--June 18, 2043, 4:07 a.m.--

Meanwhile, after the silver-white figure dragged "Gecko" away from Shandong, everyone in the Command Center finally let out a long breath.

Jiang Tianzheng naturally knew that figure well—it was Kunlun, which had been standing by in the sixth mech hangar.

A few dozen seconds earlier, Kunlun had smashed through several mech hangar doors and the outer wall of Shatterdome. Now, it was locked in a fierce brawl with "Gecko."

Experience truly mattered. Jiang Tianzheng thought that his decision to go to great lengths to keep Mike Kane at Shatterdome had indeed been the right one.

"Has Kunlun's communicator, which malfunctioned during the last battle, been repaired?" Jiang Tianzheng asked a staff member beside him. "I want to speak with Mike Kane."

"It has been fully repaired."

"Patch me through."

The Command Center had just completed its signal link with Kunlun when an urgent voice message immediately sounded from the communicator.

"Command Center?" Mike Kane's voice sounded panicked. "Kunlun is out of control. Did you activate remote control?"

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

"Huh? Then what's going on? I'm not the one piloting it!" Mike said anxiously. "After the system finished loading, the motion platform locked up. I can't move at all!"

The atmosphere in the Command Center immediately turned strange.

On the main screen, Kunlun and "Gecko" rose and fell amid a sea of smoke and dust. Kunlun's movements were beautiful. He dodged "Gecko's" savage forelimb attacks with nimble footwork while using the Chain Sword in his left hand to carve shocking wounds across "Gecko's" body. Azure blood splashed across Kunlun's armor from time to time.

Kunlun raised his right fist, and the Cloud-Mist High-Pressure Magnetic Storm Ring around his wrist lit up! Then the fist crackling with electric arcs slammed down on "Gecko's" head. Countless iron objects, drawn by the magnetic field, howled out of the smoke and dust. "Gecko" was beaten senseless and left in a sorry state.

Kunlun's movements flowed like water, seamless and decisive. Yet Mike Kane now denied that they were his doing.

So who was piloting Kunlun? The question arose in everyone's mind.

"Look here."

Newt suddenly spoke up. With a smug expression, he raised his right hand and pointed at a secondary screen beside the main display—the one showing Sync Rate data for every mech and pilot.

"Do you see it?"

Following Newt's finger, everyone immediately noticed something unusual.

The inactive mechs had all dropped to zero, while every mech still operating, from Shandong to Tianshan, had a Sync Rate above 85 percent.

There was only one exception—Kunlun: 50 percent. Its noticeably lower figure stood out starkly.

"That isn't Mike Kane's Sync Rate." Jiang Tianzheng narrowed his eyes, something stirring in his mind. "You mean... Rosen is remotely controlling Kunlun?"

"No, it isn't remote control," Newt corrected him. "You still don't understand what I mean. Kunlun and Rosen have identical brainwave patterns. Their brains are transmitting the same brainwaves."

Seeing everyone's puzzled expressions, the part of Newt that loved showing off swelled even further.

"It's not a question of you controlling me or me controlling you." Newt grew more excited as he spoke. "It's like two computers. Once you connect them with a data cable, they are no longer independent..."

"Please put it more simply, Doctor," Jiang Tianzheng reminded him.

Newt nodded. He decided it was time to summarize.

"This is series connection, not parallel connection." Newt's eyes widened, making him look like a fanatical religious believer. "Now, they are indistinguishable from one another."

"Kunlun is Rosen."

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

At that moment, he stood on the motion platform, but there was nothing he could do—the platform seemed locked in place and would not move. He could not even forcibly disengage from the piloting state. In front of him, all kinds of buttons on the console flashed with multicolored lights, as though someone really were controlling Kunlun from afar.

On the holographic HUD before him, "Gecko" had already been beaten black and blue by "him." Kunlun's attacks struck "Gecko's" face like a raging storm. Though Mike could not actually control the mech, he found it deeply satisfying.

Could it really be Rosen? Mike thought. It seemed every question had only that one answer left.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out in the cockpit.

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

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

"What the hell?" Mike muttered in disbelief.

"Have you forgotten that you are currently in a drift state with Kunlun?" Rosen reminded him. "I'm borrowing Kunlun's drift connection to speak with you."

Mike suddenly understood. The voice was appearing directly inside his head!

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

"My body is on Shatterdome's roof right now." Rosen's voice turned urgent. "Listen carefully, Mike. I need a helicopter. The connection between my body and Kunlun cannot stretch too far. Report the situation to the Command Center immediately and have them send a helicopter over!"

"Got it!" Though his mind was full of questions, there was clearly no time to address them one by one. Mike immediately connected to the Command Center and reported the situation to Jiang Tianzheng in full. With Newt's theory as proof and the current circumstances to support it, Jiang Tianzheng gave the order almost without hesitation.

A Chinook helicopter immediately headed to the designated location and lowered its cables—

One minute later, images of Rosen and Sun Zheng Tang inside the helicopter appeared on the Command Center's secondary screen.

Sun Zheng Tang still had a comical plaster cast around his neck and looked utterly excited. Rosen, meanwhile, was in a rather strange state. His brows were slightly furrowed, his eyes bloodshot as he stared into the distance with total concentration.

"Did you see his eyes? His brain nerves have merged with Kunlun into one, sharing information!" Newt shouted at once. "This is true drift!"

Although it remained unclear whether the mech's combat capability would be enhanced in this state, Jiang Tianzheng still nodded in approval.

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

"No." Rosen answered bluntly. "In this state, other than faster reaction speed, nothing else has changed." He continued, "I can only hold on for a little while. After that, we'll have to rely on everyone's coordinated action."

Just as Rosen had said, despite Kunlun's ferocious assault, "Gecko" remained standing—from the start of the battle until now, "Gecko" had suffered far more damage than anyone could have imagined, yet it still seemed lively and agile. A Generation 8 Kaiju was truly extraordinary.

"Gecko" gradually regained its footing, and Kunlun could no longer pursue it easily. What had been a one-sided battle became evenly matched.

"Did everyone hear that?" Jiang Tianzheng swept his gaze across 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 the mission will be completed."

"Then the second round of combat begins."

As soon as Jiang Tianzheng finished speaking, Sun Zheng Tang's excited roar immediately rang out through the communicator.

"I'm telling you, brother, hurry up and kill it!" Sun Zheng Tang shouted. "Then you won't have to go to BJ. One kill should cut at least ten years off your sentence!"

In the end, everyone in the Command Center could no longer hold it in and burst into hearty laughter.