Plan

Fall of Sydney.

What happened in Sydney circled the globe at breakneck speed. No matter how far away you were, as long as you were still part of the human world and could receive online information or television news, you would definitely know about this headline that had flooded every screen. The diehard Wall Faction naturally wanted to suppress the news, but the previous worldwide live broadcast, the follow-up news coverage, and the Jaeger Faction seizing the chance to rise from the ashes all rendered their efforts futile.

Besides, news this big could only be suppressed for a while, buying them some time to catch their breath.

The collapse of the Sydney Life Wall was like a bucket of cold water thrown over all the fanatical Wall Faction supporters and the citizens who agreed with them. In weather as frigid as the current winter, it chilled them to the bone!

A damaged section of wall had also destroyed the trust and hope the Wall Faction had painstakingly built. It was not enough to make everything collapse completely, but the doubts and opposition that had previously been forcefully suppressed all emerged at this moment. Their momentum was so great that many officials, businessmen, and scientists who had once supported the Wall Faction had to avoid their edge.

The PPDC, an underground organization whose presence had dwindled almost to nothing over the past half year, once again openly became the center of the world's attention. Yet according to information revealed by the governments of various countries, there were now only four intact Jaegers left. For a time, the angry public became even angrier. They would not reflect on their own past support for the Wall Faction. They had merely been jointly deceived by those officials and businessmen! Now, faced with the facts, they had awakened!

So, after learning from reporters' speculation that the PPDC headquarters also had only four intact Jaegers, people whose faith in the Wall of Life had plummeted once again came down with Jaeger Shortage Syndrome.

Reporters who supported the Jaeger Program spoke freely, taking the opportunity to vent the views that had previously been suppressed. The official Alliance spokesperson for the member states was briefly left tongue-tied under their questioning, unable to fend them off. One reporter in particular, Naomi Sokolov, used the cutting words, "The Wall of Life that took us years to build was breached by the Kaiju in just one hour," not only fully igniting the public's anger, but also leaving the spokesperson speechless.

Alaska.

The helicopter's rotors whipped up the surrounding snow as Stacker Pentecost, dressed in a long, heavy coat, stepped down from the open cabin door. His gaze immediately settled on a somewhat scruffy man who clearly had not bothered with his appearance in a long time.

Raleigh Becket, the final pilot of the Third-Generation Jaeger Gipsy Danger.

"Mr. Becket." Protected by a group of heavily armed soldiers, Stacker Pentecost greeted the man.

"General." Raleigh Becket replied instinctively.

"Long time no see."

"To be exact, five years and four months." Raleigh Becket's expression was complicated. There were some things he did not want to think about, yet sometimes he could not stop himself from thinking about them.

"Can we talk?"

"Of course. I have an office." Raleigh Becket nodded and led Stacker toward where he worked.

"You weren't easy to find. I came up empty at several places already. I thought I might come up empty again this time." As Stacker observed the surroundings, he spoke to Raleigh Becket, who was leading the way ahead.

"I have to follow the wall if I want work." Raleigh Becket shrugged. "It isn't easy to find a job that puts food on the table these days."

After saying that, Raleigh Becket sat on a crate piled with odds and ends. Looking at Stacker Pentecost, who had walked over to him, he said, "You can tell me why you came now."

"I think you should know what I've been busy with these past few months."

"Sorry, I haven't paid attention to the news in a long time." Raleigh Becket interrupted Stacker Pentecost.

"I spent six months activating and gathering every Jaeger that might still be able to take the field. There's one Jaeger, a Third-Generation Jaeger, that needs a pilot." Stacker said calmly.

"I don't think I'd be your first choice." Raleigh Becket shrugged.

"In fact, you are my first choice. Everyone who piloted it except you is dead." Stacker denied it.

"You know, I can't accept someone else entering my mind again. The moment my brother Yancy died, I died too, because I was in the Drift with him." Raleigh Becket walked over to Stacker and refused. "Find someone else."

"That isn't a problem." Stacker Pentecost looked at him. "Dr. Luke Field upgraded the Drift System. If you don't need one, you can pilot Number Three alone."

Raleigh Becket fell silent for a long time at those words. Looking into Stacker's eyes, he asked, "Does it have to be me?"

"There's a saying: if the end of the world is coming, would you rather die like a warrior inside a Jaeger, or die somewhere else?" Stacker asked in return.

"What can I do?"

"I have a plan."

PPDC Headquarters.

"This place doesn't look so good." Looking at the bustling, crowded base, Raleigh Becket felt as though he had entered the Afterlife.

"Things are different now. We're an underground organization without official status, Mr. Becket." Stacker Pentecost led him, Mako Mori, Hermann Gottlieb, Newton Geiszler, and the others briskly deeper into the base. "The fact that we're still allowed to exist, still allowed to keep these Jaegers, and still allowed to operate around the world while everyone turns a blind eye is already a blessing."

"All right." Raleigh Becket, carrying a backpack, dodged a forklift and hurried after Stacker ahead of him in small steps. "What's this plan you mentioned?"

"Don't be in such a hurry. Let Mr. Hermann introduce the current situation first," Stacker Pentecost said.

Then a man with a somewhat neurotic-looking face suddenly darted out in front of Raleigh Becket, startling him.

"Look over there." Hermann walked backward as he pointed behind Raleigh Becket. Raleigh followed the direction of his finger and saw an enormous countdown clock embedded in a metal wall. Looking at the huge thing, watching every second tick away, seemed to fill one with urgency.

"What is that?" Raleigh Becket turned to look at Hermann.

"The War Clock! I discovered the frequency at which Kaiju emerge from the wormhole and invented a mathematical model based on it to estimate the approximate time and number of Kaiju appearances." Hermann said proudly.

"Is that possible?" Raleigh Becket asked in surprise.

"Of course. Based on the observed changes in wormhole energy, the Kaiju's appearance frequency, and their size, I discovered certain patterns and summarized them. I don't have a blackboard with me right now, so I can't lay it out and prove it to you. But you only need to know that, in the time ahead, Kaiju will appear more and more frequently, and their numbers will continue increasing. The next Kaiju appearance is one week away. Soon, that interval will become days, then hours, and eventually minutes! At that point, a densely packed Kaiju army will appear, and humanity will be wiped out." Hermann Gottlieb's expression was somewhat manic, his tone impassioned.

"In fact, he can't prove that. In other words, his research still lacks sufficient evidence," Newton Geiszler jabbed from the side.

"Literature, philosophy, politics, promises—they can all lie, but mathematics does not!" Hermann Gottlieb panted as he glared at his colleague who had undermined him.

"Mathematics doesn't lie, but errors in calculation can still lead you to the wrong answer." Newton Geiszler shot back without yielding an inch.

"The Sydney incident already proved my prediction! The mathematical model I built is useful in practice!" Hermann Gottlieb proudly produced his evidence.

"That could have been a coincidence. After all, you made predictions before too, but Sydney was the only time you were actually right." Newton Geiszler rolled up his sleeves and shrugged. Under Hermann's murderous glare, he ran ahead first. Hermann Gottlieb, whose legs were somewhat inconvenient and who leaned on a cane, muttered a few curses. Then, under Raleigh Becket's astonished and helpless gaze, he lightly slapped himself on both cheeks a few times before turning his attention back to Raleigh.

"Anyway, the prediction is terrible. If we can't find a solution, our only ending will be extinction. Just like the dinosaurs!" Hermann Gottlieb suddenly lost interest in explaining. After summarizing his conclusion, he fell silent.

"Didn't you report the results of your prediction to the member states?" Raleigh Becket asked curiously. Surely the member states would react and make arrangements if they knew about intelligence this important.

"Hah? Of course I reported it. But what was their response?" Hermann Gottlieb's face showed a trace of mockery. "'Nonsense! We understand, Mr. Hermann! We'll discuss it and notify you once we have a result.' Even through the phone, I could hear their undisguised perfunctoriness. If the world is destroyed, they'll bear at least half the responsibility!"

"Then have you come up with a way to solve this problem?" Raleigh Becket asked.

"Of course. Naturally, we've been trying to solve it. What Newton and I have been working on these past few months includes this. Predicting the monsters' appearances and so on is only part of the results." Hermann Gottlieb raised his head like a victorious rooster.

"What about him? What did Dr. Newton discover?" Raleigh Becket asked with interest. He had been off the battlefield for over five years, and he did not mind hearing more cutting-edge information.

"Him? He compared some Kaiju samples and concluded that these Kaiju are manufactured Biological Weapons, the vanguard force of an extraterrestrial civilization invading this planet. Because some of them have perfectly identical DNA. It's absurd!" Hermann Gottlieb curled his lip.

"That isn't absurd at all! Luke also agrees with my research. He believes these Kaiju are asexually reproduced Biological Weapons created by an extraterrestrial civilization. Fundamentally, this isn't some farcical monster invasion. It's a war between civilizations! Even if the other side at the far end of the universe hasn't gone all out, we've already been pushed nearly to the end of the road." Newton Geiszler suddenly jumped out, making both men flinch.

The two began arguing again. Raleigh Becket, unable to get a word in, saw Stacker Pentecost stop ahead. He immediately tightened the pack slung over his shoulder, bypassed the arguing pair, and quickly caught up.

"What exactly do you need me to do?" Raleigh Becket asked as he caught up to Stacker.

"I have a plan."

"I know you have a plan. What I'm asking is, what kind of plan is it?"

"I plan to close the Breach with a 2,400-pound Thermonuclear Bomb. Its explosive force is equivalent to 1.2 million tons of high explosives! According to Dr. Hermann's calculations, a bomb of that yield can destabilize the wormhole and make it collapse and disappear! Do you understand now? I intend to have Striker Eureka carry that bomb, and your role is to protect Striker Eureka with the others, ensure it reaches its destination, and complete this mission."

Stacker Pentecost gave him the answer directly.

"Where did you get something like that? Aren't we already an underground organization?" Raleigh Becket asked in surprise.

"There are always channels. Not every member state is uninterested in my plan. The Alexis Couple, Cherno Alpha's pilots, were a tremendous help."

"We tried this plan before. Back then, we wanted to destroy the Breach, but our explosives were knocked away before they could even enter the wormhole. It has an energy barrier!" Raleigh Becket was not optimistic about the plan.

"In fact, we already have a solution to that problem."

A clear voice cut into the conversation between Becket and Stacker. Raleigh Becket looked toward the voice and saw a young man in a white lab coat, holding a cup of hot water, with a somewhat languid air about him, extending a hand toward him.

"This is Dr. Luke Field, the designer and Maker of the Sixth-Generation Jaeger Kulturo, as well as the designer and Maker of the latest-generation Drift System. He is also the Chief Technology Officer of Shao Industries and a part-time Jaeger Modder for the PPDC." After introducing Luke, Stacker introduced Raleigh to Luke. "This is Raleigh Becket, former pilot of Gipsy Danger. He's a good young man."

Luke Field shook hands with Raleigh Becket. Luke Field was somewhat curious about the protagonist of the first story. Unfortunately, his luck had not been very good. He saved the world and got a girlfriend, but had no time to enjoy it.

"Can you explain this solution?" Raleigh Becket asked. Beside him, Stacker also focused his attention. If they could not solve the issue of entering the wormhole, the foundation for this plan's execution would not exist.

"Dr. Newton said this is a war between civilizations, a confrontation between invasion and resistance. I agree with that." Luke Field took a sip of his hot water. "If we treat this wormhole as a door, then the switch for its lock is obviously on the other side. They can come out through the door, but we have neither an invitation nor a key, so we cannot unlock it and force our way in. It is a one-way passage.

So, we need to find a key to enter. I believe the Kaiju that can pass through this wormhole freely and without being affected are that key."

"Is there really an alien civilization on the other side of the wormhole?" Raleigh Becket asked, full of curiosity.

"There is no evidence to prove that. Just as Dr. Luke's method needs to be verified," Stacker Pentecost said.

"In fact, there is a way to prove Dr. Luke's and my hypothesis!" Newton Geiszler's voice rang out. After drawing Stacker and the others' attention, he cleared his throat and said seriously, "I've been thinking: since people can Drift with each other and access one another's memories, what would we see if a human mind formed a Drift bridge with a monster's mind?

If the other side truly is an extraterrestrial civilization, if these monsters truly were manufactured, then there must be residual intelligence in their minds. As long as we can establish a Drift with a monster's brain, we can prove everything."

"That's absurd." Hermann Gottlieb, who had caught up from behind, objected excitedly.

"I think it's a method worth trying. If it truly succeeds, we may be able to obtain more vital intelligence from those monsters' brains. It would help put your plan into action." Under Hermann's astonished gaze, Luke Field spoke softly. His words caused Stacker's tightly furrowed brow to relax.

"We can try it." Stacker Pentecost nodded. For a man with little time left to live, his greatest obsession before death was eliminating that wormhole. For that, he could give everything.

"I volunteer as the test subject." Newton Geiszler raised his hand.

"You can't. Assuming this truly is a civilization's invasion, the other side may possess control over its own creations. And the memory reading in a Drift bridge goes both ways. While you are examining the monster's memories, your memories will also be examined by the other side. You know the plan. To avoid unnecessary complications, you cannot be the Drift candidate." Luke Field rejected Newton Geiszler's recommendation.

Stacker Pentecost pondered for a moment, then looked at everyone.

"I'll find a suitable candidate."