For the Greater Good

At ten o'clock the next morning.

Xiao Shou boarded the tram for the military base, carrying a stack of lunch boxes.

The military base was built on the docks of Lushunkou District.

The entire structure stood a full two hundred meters tall.

Like a steel wall, it guarded Dalian.

Although Xiao Shou knew a military base had been built here,

he had never been allowed to visit it.

In fact, visits were not permitted. At most, people could look at its exterior from afar.

Get too close, and the soldiers stationed at the gates would stop you.

Even from a distance, the two-hundred-meter steel base was enough to leave people awestruck.

Up close, it was an entirely different experience.

Xiao Shou felt that even Shanlan had never put him under such immense pressure.

Standing beneath the base, a person was truly too insignificant. Even a drop in the ocean could not describe it.

More than half the base stretched out over the sea. Its six enormous hangar doors could probably accommodate even aircraft carriers.

The portion on land had spacious landing platforms, where helicopters would take off and land from time to time.

Xiao Shou had once thought that the military base stationed in Dalian was merely for show, with a few planes and tanks.

But now, he saw that was not the case. Even without counting the firepower he had yet to see,

the base itself was enough to halt a kaiju's advance.

At the very least, it would take the creature some time to tear it apart, buying people enough time to evacuate.

Xiao Shou looked up at the gigantic steel beast, and before he knew it, his body had started moving forward.

He was finally stopped by the sentries when he neared the base gates.

Only then did Xiao Shou snap out of his daze.

He hurriedly explained why he was there and asked the soldier to notify Aunt Rong.

But the weather chose that moment to turn unpleasant, and a fine drizzle began to fall.

The rain was not heavy, and Xiao Shou did not mind it.

Still, to keep the lunch boxes in his hands from getting wet, he chose to shelter beneath the eaves of the gate security post.

The sentries did not stop him. Instead, one soldier was assigned specifically to keep an eye on him.

With nothing else to do, Xiao Shou continued looking up at the steel beast.

The fine rain washed over the base in utter silence.

Xiao Shou thought that even a raging storm probably could not shake this steel beast in the slightest.

Lost in thought, Xiao Shou was caught off guard and shoved to the ground by an outside force.

It turned out to be a female soldier hurrying to get out of the rain. She had been running with her head down and had not noticed Xiao Shou beneath the security booth's eaves.

She crashed straight into him.

The female soldier hurriedly got up and pulled Xiao Shou to his feet, repeatedly apologizing.

Only then did Xiao Shou get a clear look at the "culprit."

She was about the same age as Xiao Shou, with an oval face and delicate features.

Even in military uniform, her stunning beauty could not be concealed.

Naturally, Xiao Shou was not going to make an issue of it. He said it was fine and let it go.

He picked up the lunch boxes that had rolled onto the ground, opened them, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw nothing had changed.

Grandma He had carefully made a bowl of longevity noodles and several side dishes for her daughter.

She had spent the whole morning preparing the broth, even temporarily closing her shop.

What he was delivering was not food, but a mother's love for her child.

It could not be ruined just like that. Thankfully, nothing was wrong.

Inside the military base.

This military base was actually called Shatterdome.

Nation Z's first Shatterdome base, a facility specially built to house Jaegers.

More than eleven thousand elite engineers had been mobilized.

The nation had invested over twenty billion yuan.

It had taken nearly half a year to complete construction.

The Jaeger's components had been manufactured by factories all over the country, as well as some abroad.

Only half a month ago had all the parts arrived at the Dalian Shatterdome base.

They were assembled here.

Now, the assembly was basically complete.

The entire Jaeger was black and dark blue, eighty-nine meters tall and weighing three thousand two hundred tons.

It was powered by nuclear energy.

A nuclear-powered turbine engine sat in its chest.

A nuclear reactor was housed within it.

The Jaeger's right arm was fitted with an electromagnetic attractor.

It could draw in surrounding objects, especially steel and other metals, and use them to strike targets.

It could also directly fire an electromagnetic particle cannon.

There was also a small rocket-powered thruster at its elbow.

Its left arm was thick and sturdy, and could automatically assemble into a shield when necessary.

A Mo Dao was hidden in its right leg.

The cockpit was located in the Jaeger's head.

Every inch of the Jaeger radiated a brutal aesthetic.

At that moment, several mechanical manipulators were constantly installing and welding parts at its joints.

A group of soldiers gathered below the Jaeger, conducting synaptic tests between pilots' neurons and the Jaeger's consciousness-sensing system.

From time to time, someone would remove the neural synaptic connector, shake their head with a sigh, and walk away.

Then the next person would connect, and the cycle repeated.

Suspended in the air directly before the Jaeger was a Command Center.

From there, one could clearly overlook everything in the base and even look level with the Jaeger's "eyes."

At that moment, three people stood before the Command Center's observation window.

They watched the people below undergoing synaptic connection tests.

"Sigh, nearly every outstanding soldier under thirty-five from the seven military regions has come for synaptic connection testing. This is the last batch, and the highest synaptic connection rate with the Jaeger's consciousness is only seventy-one percent."

"It is still far below the Jaeger standard of eighty percent."

The middle-aged soldier on the far right sighed.

He bore the insignia of a Senior Colonel, two bars and four stars, on his shoulders.

He was none other than Senior Colonel Zhu Qian, deputy commander of the Dalian Shatterdome base.

Forty-five years old and of average build, he had enlisted at twenty and had served for twenty-five years.

"We should expand the range of people being tested. We should not limit ourselves to military personnel."

The woman standing on the left was Jin Rong, a lieutenant colonel.

She was the leader of the Jaeger Combat Information Analysis Team.

"How could I not want to? But the military has repeatedly ordered us to prioritize selecting pilots from the ranks of soldiers. They say it makes it easier to manage and control the Jaeger's combat power. After all, a Jaeger possesses strength comparable to a kaiju's. If a pilot defected in the middle of a battle, it would be a huge problem for us."

"But that is only their excuse. Isn't it all just a struggle for a little power? Our Jaeger Combat Command stands above the military, and we possess extensive independent command authority. That is a privilege granted to us by the higher-ups."

"The people in the military are getting restless, especially because the Jaeger's first pilot came from our own Jaeger Combat Department. Naturally, they are determined to seize the remaining pilot vacancies and use them to restrain us."

The middle-aged soldier standing in the center, clearly the leader, smiled faintly after hearing this.

"Heh. If they can truly produce a pilot with perfect synaptic connection, then what if we give them what they want?"

"We do not care about this so-called power. Everything we do is for the people's safety."

"If we do not even have a home left, what use are power and benefits?"

The middle-aged man turned around and spoke to Zhu Qian and Jin Rong.

The middle-aged man was Mao Shucheng. He was also of average build, with a resolute face and sharp features, carrying the fierce, iron-blooded aura unique to a soldier.

A single general's star rested on his shoulder. He was a major general, forty-eight years old.

He served as commander of Nation Z's Jaeger Combat Command and was in charge of Nation Z's theater along the Pan-Pacific Defense Line.

However, since Nation Z currently had only one Jaeger, its headquarters had temporarily been set up at the Dalian Shatterdome base.

But one day, Nation Z would have more than just this one Jaeger.

There would even be more than one Shatterdome base.

That day would not be far off.

"I have already submitted a notice to the military proposing that we expand the pool for Jaeger synaptic testing to everyone nationwide, but the military has not approved the proposal."

"But what we must do is resist the kaiju's attacks and hold up the sky for the more than one billion compatriots behind us, for the entire Pan-Pacific Defense Line theater."

"Everything we do is for the greater good, without selfish motives!"

"Will you support me?"

Jin Rong naturally had no objections. It had been her proposal to begin with.

Mao Shucheng looked at Zhu Qian, waiting for his response.

"Of course, old friend. I have always stood on the same front as you. Always."