Luo Bing vaguely guessed what was going on.
Old Luo's face no longer held a smile. Instead, he turned serious:
"We're giving Sakurajima our full support, but it isn't charity, nor are we letting Sakurajima stand in the back and watch the show. They have to give it everything they've got too!!"
"They can't bring out the Sakura Saber's true combat capabilities, so our branch base will take over its operating rights!"
"Once the Sakura Saber is repaired, with three mechas stationed there, as long as the Beast King doesn't show up, I can guarantee Sakurajima's safety!"
As a retired pilot, Old Luo had a very clear grasp of the combat strength gap between monsters and mechas.
Since he could say that, it meant he truly had confidence rather than merely putting on a show.
However, Luo Bing had already vaguely sensed an ominous development.
"This, well... Uncle Luo, if I remember correctly, Sakurajima currently doesn't have any suitable pilots, right?"
Old Luo nodded.
"They don't, but we do."
"I've already looked into what happened between the Sakura Saber's pilots."
"That copilot named Nakamura has already been detained and will stand trial before the Military Court tomorrow... If it were up to me, I'd put a bullet in his head. Daring to play petty tricks inside a mecha and disregard the lives and deaths of millions—he deserves to die, hmph!"
Old Luo was somewhat indignant. After reining himself in a little, he continued:
"As for Koizumi Junko, her aptitude is decent, but she is no longer qualified to remain the primary pilot."
"I've arranged for her to serve as the Sakura Saber's copilot. As for the primary pilot..."
Old Luo turned to look at Luo Bing.
"From now on, the Sakura Saber is yours. You know Koizumi Junko, right? I remember you two seem to be friends?"
"Make the most of this opportunity!"
Old Luo patted Luo Bing on the shoulder.
When Luo Yun, standing behind Luo Bing, learned that her older brother finally had his own mecha, she immediately cheered:
"Yes!"
The King of Defense
"No cheering!"
Luo Bing lightly smacked his little sister on the head, then looked at Old Luo with a bitter smile.
"Uncle Luo, I still get headaches from time to time. Making me the Sakura Saber's primary pilot... I'm afraid I'll send it in for another major overhaul!"
After its battle against Iron Hammer, the Sakura Saber had suffered severe damage due to its pilots being too incompetent. A major factory overhaul was unavoidable.
Luo Bing suspected Sakurajima no longer had the materials for such an overhaul, so it had simply handed operating rights over to the Far East Mecha Base, making it easier for the Far East to provide protection.
Wasn't it just clinging to a powerful patron and living off others? In times like these, there was nothing shameful about it.
A few hundred years ago, plenty of barbarian little nations had taken pride in being Great Meng's dogs!
Now that centuries had passed and the tides had turned, it was best to take it in stride.
Old Luo did not doubt Luo Bing's excuse and instead gave his own explanation.
"Little Bing, your headaches are rather strange. We've cautiously prescribed anti-inflammatory and pain medication, but none of it has worked."
"If it were a physical problem, rest and recuperation would definitely be best. But when it comes to the head... Little Bing, you should get straight into a mecha and operate it at full capacity. Maybe some training will make it improve on its own!"
Old Luo patted Luo Bing's shoulder and winked his right eye.
"Besides, your copilot will be Koizumi Junko. I've read her file. Her personality may not suit being the primary pilot, but her abilities are enough for the role!"
"If anything unexpected happens, Little Bing, you can have Koizumi Junko take over as the primary pilot in an emergency. You only need to maintain the mecha connection and shoulder part of her load!"
"Little Bing, this is the best solution I could come up with. Do you think you can take on this responsibility?"
Old Luo looked as though he were entrusting both the Sakura Saber and Koizumi Junko to him, leaving Luo Bing somewhat conflicted.
Deep connection was a forbidden zone Luo Bing had never dared to touch lightly.
But if the copilot was Koizumi Junko... with her excessively gentle personality...
Luo Bing's eyes flickered. Having made up his mind, he nodded in agreement.
"If that's the case, then thank you, Uncle Luo. Maybe after I start piloting a mecha, my mental symptoms will improve significantly? Perhaps I used to lack a sense of security, and it manifested mentally. A few more fights with monsters should fix it."
Luo Bing made up an excuse for his headaches.
Once you told one lie, you had to spin one lie after another to cover it up.
Fortunately, Old Luo trusted Luo Bing completely. Otherwise, if it had been anyone else, casually lying like that could easily land them in the Military Court!
"Uncle Luo, when will the Sakura Saber be repaired?"
Old Luo thought for a moment before giving his estimate.
"If we can acquire the materials smoothly, one week will be enough."
"The Sakura Saber looks badly damaged, but that's because its entire left arm was smashed off and Iron Hammer wrecked its outer shell. You know how troublesome that corrosive fluid is."
"But that's only external damage. As long as the materials arrive, we can replace the whole exterior."
"Acquiring materials?"
The moment Luo Bing heard that term, he immediately thought of something.
He quickly looked toward the base entrance.
Just as expected, behind the long convoy transporting the Sakura Saber was another convoy carrying Iron Hammer!
It was obvious that while the convoy carrying Iron Hammer had more vehicles, their tires had sunk far deeper into the ground!
At the same Body Size, a mecha weighed less than a monster.
Clearly, the materials Old Luo had mentioned would be taken from Iron Hammer.
In this era of monster incursions, taking from the enemy to use against the enemy was not an empty saying, but reality.
Old Luo also looked toward Iron Hammer, though his gaze focused more on the huge hole in its body.
That was irrefutable proof that the Beast King had killed it in one blow!
"Besides Iron Hammer, the Serpent King is being transported here as well. But it's quite far from land—one hundred and twenty li away... Salvaging it and transporting it here will probably take quite some time!"
"Look at that huge hole. Although we've already seen it through satellite footage, it still doesn't compare to seeing it in person!"
Old Luo sighed.
"This kind of destructive power against a single body is simply staggering!"
"This Beast King earned the title King of Monsters despite having a body only eighty-five meters tall, and its Charged Breath's terrifying attack power deserves most of the credit!"
Luo Bing's expression did not change, but he muttered inwardly:
The next time we meet, I'll definitely give you another huge surprise, Uncle Luo!
"What did the homeland say? The data should have already been sent back, right?"
Old Luo nodded.
"Everything that happens here is sent back immediately, whether in text or images!"
"There are plenty of data analysts back home. After looking over the data we sent them, they gave us a reply."
"Little Bing, can you guess what they said?"
Luo Bing honestly shook his head.
Old Luo did not keep him guessing and answered directly.
"The reply came from those people at the Anshan Institute. You should know what they're like."
"They said they wanted to test whether the Beast King's Charged Breath could produce an effect of a spear piercing a shield if it were fired at Shangang."
Luo Bing was slightly dazed when he heard that.
"They want to see what happens when the strongest spear attacks the strongest shield?"
Old Luo nodded once.
"That was roughly what they meant."
Shangang, the King of Monsters with armor rated at the full score of 10.
Other monsters had armor ratings of 10 because they were qualified to reach that level, while Shangang's armor was 10 because 10 was the maximum rating.
Testing had its limits.
And Shangang, the King of Monsters who had achieved the feat of "destroying a nation," was also publicly recognized by humanity as the King of Monsters with the strongest defense in the world today!
"Enough about that. The Li Family Siblings are here."
Old Luo patted him and changed the subject, drawing everyone else's attention as well.
Following Old Luo's gaze, Luo Bing saw the Lin Sisters walking over from the distance.
They knew each other too well, so there was not much to say.
Walking beside the Lin Sisters were the Blue Blood Blade's pilots: the eldest Li sibling, Li Chuyi, with a Spiritual Connection Index of 97, and his youngest sister Li Shiwu, with a Spiritual Connection Index of 96.
The four pilots walked over together, all brimming with confidence and style.
Luo Bing's gaze swept across the four without lingering.
His eyes passed beyond the Lin Sisters and landed on Koizumi Junko, who was behind them.
Completely unlike the confident posture of the four walking together, Koizumi Junko lagged behind alone, walking with her head lowered, solitary and forlorn.
Luo Bing felt somewhat pained to see Koizumi Junko in that state.
The Junko in his memories had not been like this.
So I Was a Genius After All!
He still remembered that year's great war. After the war that destroyed a nation, Malaysia had undoubtedly suffered the heaviest casualties. It had been forcibly reduced from a surviving country to a ruined nation, with only a handful of survivors barely clinging to life.
But besides them, some people's suffering was no less severe.
The images from that year remained vivid in Luo Bing's memory, impossible to forget.
The tall and handsome Storm Red had been reduced to wreckage, completely destroyed by Shangang, with only a few broken components recovered.
His dignified father and kind, gentle mother had both vanished without a trace.
Other than carving their names onto a monument, all they could do was use their old clothes to make empty graves, barely giving them somewhere to rest after death.
Even though that resting place was more for the living to mourn the dead.
Luo Bing clearly remembered that day. The still-young Luo Yun had cried herself dry for an entire day and night. Even after her tears ran out in the latter half of the night, she continued to wail in grief.
Luo Bing did not cry. As the family's final pillar, he did not cry.
He merely stared blankly at the black-and-white portrait for a very, very long time, until his vision went dark and he fainted.
When he woke up, he saw Koizumi Junko sitting by the bed in white clothes, dozing off.
Their elders were friends, so Luo Bing and Koizumi Junko had known each other since childhood.
As the daughter of Sakurajima's diplomatic ambassador, Koizumi Junko was naturally allowed to stay by Luo Bing's hospital bed, quietly and gently watching him recover until he was discharged.
"Luo Jun, be strong."
"If Uncle and Auntie knew you were like this now, they definitely wouldn't be happy. And Xiao Yun needs you too."
"I know Luo Jun must be hurting terribly inside. If you want to cry, then cry. Junko won't tell anyone."
Before you continue