The Lin Sisters could be ruled out.
That left the Li Family Siblings.
After saying goodbye to Old Luo and getting some time to rest, Luo Bing immediately called Li Chuyi.
He had Li Shiwu's number too, but she was a girl, and they were not particularly familiar with each other. Calling her out of the blue would have been a little abrupt.
Li Chuyi was more straightforward.
"Luo Bing! I watched the remote footage of your battle today from beginning to end. It was absolutely incredible!"
"As expected of a genius with a Spiritual Connection Index of 99. I admit I underestimated you before. Sigh, I wonder if I can reach your level after training hard!"
The moment the call connected, Li Chuyi's voice came rattling through like a machine gun.
Hearing that, Luo Bing figured the other party probably had no idea what had happened either.
"You will. Diligence is the most admirable talent of all!"
Still, just to be safe, Luo Bing deliberately asked:
"Chuyi, have you heard anything about what happened at the base? The atmosphere seems a little off."
Li Chuyi replied frankly from the other end:
"Really? I'll go ask General Luo later. Nothing that happens at the base can be hidden from General Luo."
Nonsense. If he wanted to hide something from someone, no one would ever find out about it.
"No need, Chuyi. Maybe I'm just being paranoid because it was my first battle."
"Is that so? Hahaha, I was like that back then too. I thought I was the only one, but apparently not. Sure enough, we're the same kind of people!"
No, no, maybe you were the only one.
After several rounds of probing, Luo Bing hung up on Li Chuyi.
"It's certain now. Old Luo hid it from all the pilots... What could have forced him to do that?"
Luo Bing was puzzled.
Although base commanders held tremendous authority, they still needed to establish sufficient trust and familiarity with the pilots.
That was for the base, and for the countless civilians protected behind it.
Both sides could have their own thoughts and opinions, but there could not be conflicts that endangered the public.
Luo Bing could not think of any reason to hide something from every pilot.
"In that case, asking the familiar older brothers and sisters at the Command Center definitely won't work. They won't disobey Old Luo's orders."
"Then the only person I can turn to... might be her."
She did not sweat the small stuff, stood apart from others while maintaining her own style, and once her research interests were piqued, she listened to no one.
Someone so undisciplined and unwilling to be managed would normally have been kicked out of the base long ago.
But if she possessed sufficiently outstanding talent...
Then it was fine. Everything could be tolerated.
The phone rang.
"Dr. Chen, it's me, Luo Bing."
Dr. Chen had already returned to her laboratory. Seeing the caller ID, she frowned slightly before relaxing again.
"So he noticed something was wrong that quickly?"
"Commander Luo is a rough sort. There are no major problems or oversights in the big picture, but expecting him to cover every single detail is asking a bit too much of him."
Dr. Chen shrugged, placed her wig on a nearby coat rack, then answered Luo Bing's call while holding a test tube in one hand.
"What a rare guest, Pilot Luo Bing. Your performance today was truly extraordinary. Even I was a little surprised."
"A Spiritual Connection Index of 99. What an astonishing talent!"
"I had long heard that once the Spiritual Connection Index reached 95, every additional point represented a world-shaking improvement. But I truly never imagined 99 would bring such a qualitative leap."
"Perhaps it's because the highest Spiritual Connection Index among the mecha battles I watched before was only 98?"
Dr. Chen made no attempt to conceal her admiration.
To her, Luo Bing's performance was nothing short of stunning.
She had not cared much before, but now, it was impossible not to care.
Gold remained gold wherever it went, always drawing the attention of those with ulterior motives.
Luo Bing frowned.
Dr. Chen had said too much—far too much compared to usual.
"Dr. Chen, do you have some advice? Or are you simply amazed? This doesn't suit your usual image."
Dr. Chen giggled foolishly over the line, like some creepy old man stalking someone on a tram.
"Hehe, I would like to give you a full-body scan, but you're such a precious treasure—and a great treasure who has already seen real combat. If I really did that, I'd definitely end up in court, and I probably wouldn't be able to do any research for the rest of my life."
"But..."
"Taking two drops of blood for testing isn't too much, right?"
"If possible... I'd also accept some special bodily fluids!"
"Pilot Luo Bing, what do you think?"
Luo Bing refused bluntly.
"I don't think so."
Dr. Chen spoke again from the other end.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not someone who gives nothing in return."
"Someone as perceptive as Pilot Luo Bing should have noticed that something is slightly wrong, right? So, do you want to know what exactly is wrong?"
Luo Bing answered plainly.
"I do want to know."
Dr. Chen's voice came through again.
"Then how about we make a fair and just deal?"
Luo Bing fell silent over the communication line.
Dr. Chen held her test tube as she prepared for preliminary experiments, looking completely confident.
Until...
"Very fair, but I refuse."
The call was hung up instantly.
Dr. Chen stood stunned in her laboratory. Then, after carefully recalling her conduct, she could not help but laugh.
"I was a little too eager... That little fellow is quite interesting."
On the other side, Luo Bing sent the recorded call to Old Luo, along with a voice message.
"Uncle Luo, what was Dr. Chen referring to?"
Little Bro, Wake Up 3
There were actually no secrets between Old Luo and Luo Bing.
If not for the fact that this matter involved too many things, and that he feared a young man like Luo Bing would become agitated and act impulsively in the heat of the moment,
Old Luo would not have concealed anything.
Piloting a mecha required calmness and composure. Relying on hot-blooded passion alone could even cause unstable synchronization during deep Spiritual Connection synchronization.
Though he had many concerns in mind, now that Luo Bing had discovered it, Old Luo no longer intended to hide it from him.
Shangang was openly lying on the Malaysian coast, basking in the sun.
This could be hidden for a while, but not forever.
After all...
Shangang had recovered from severe injuries and come ashore again. She was simply too eye-catching!
"Little Bing, Uncle has wronged you in this matter. Here's what happened..."
Old Luo then told Luo Bing everything about Shangang's appearance and finally comforted him.
"Little Bing, don't get worked up. You must stay calm."
Luo Bing was silent for a while before replying.
"Uncle Luo, I understand. I won't be like Xiao Yun... Uncle Luo, has the country made its final decision?"
Old Luo told him truthfully.
"Not yet. One final decision is still needed. The meeting time has been issued. It's twenty minutes from now."
The commanders of the various mecha bases had all reacted quickly.
At Commander Lan's request, the meeting began swiftly, without any hesitation.
As a practical man and a former pilot for quite some time, Chief Commander Lan, a member of the hardline combat faction, had reacted with remarkable speed.
He knew very well that although Shangang had only just appeared and it would take some time for the news to spread,
the commanders of these mecha bases did not have much time left.
Preparatory work required time, and deciding whether to fight or not also required time.
Since both would take time, it was never wrong to decide everything as early as possible and establish the overall direction first.
After some thought, Old Luo took a step back and softly said to Luo Bing:
"Little Bing, the final decision meeting will begin in twenty minutes. If you're feeling anxious, you can listen in from the side."
"But I need to make this clear beforehand: your microphone will be muted."
The highest-level decision-making meeting sounded grand, as though it concerned a decision that could determine the fate of an entire nation—and that description was not wrong.
But it was not truly all that closed off.
At the very least, the pilots who would actually take action were allowed to listen in from the side.
During the previous meeting, a pilot had even snatched a commander's microphone and unleashed a furious tirade.
Luo Bing had only heard about such things. At the time, he had been a pilot trainee and could not learn more.
Luo Bing bit his lip and pondered for a while before slowly saying:
"Is it the innermost conference room? I'll go wait inside first."
Old Luo nodded, then added another reminder.
"Little Bing, leave everything to Uncle. Don't act impulsively."
"I hate Shangang to the bone as well. Uncle will do everything he can to persuade the others to vote for her extermination with me!"
Old Luo was also worried that Luo Bing might pull another microphone-snatching stunt.
"I understand, Uncle Luo. Don't worry, I'm not that impulsive."
As he headed alone toward the enclosed conference room in the deepest section, Luo Bing felt neither joy nor sorrow.
Old Luo was a true supporter of war.
But Luo Bing did not know how many others supported war, or how many were merely trying to preserve stability and smooth things over.
This time, he would be able to see clearly.
Before you continue