Choice

The standard synaptic connection rate for linking with a Jaeger was 80 percent.

Below 80 percent, not only would the Jaeger itself be unable to unleash its full strength.

Even its basic operating systems would struggle, let alone fighting a kaiju.

No wonder Mao Shucheng had opened Jaeger synaptic connection testing to the public.

In a great nation with over a billion compatriots, there would always be someone whose connection rate met the standard.

Just as the three of them were watching the soldiers below undergo their synaptic connection tests.

The soldier standing guard at the entrance came in to report.

"Report! Someone named Xiao Shou has arrived at the gate. He says he is Team Leader Jin Rong's family member."

Jin Rong slapped her forehead, having completely forgotten about it.

"Sorry, Commander. It's my birthday today, and my mother asked Xiao Shou to bring me some longevity noodles."

Jin Rong apologized to the two officers.

She had always been someone who put work first, and she felt somewhat guilty about delaying work over personal matters.

Even though it was only a trivial matter of having someone bring her food.

Naturally, Mao Shucheng and Zhu Qian did not take it to heart.

"Go on, A-Rong. You're always so tight-lipped. If you'd just told me it was your birthday, I could have given you the day off. Why trouble your family with making this trip?"

"How could such a small matter delay work? I'll go down and get it right away."

Watching Jin Rong hurry downstairs, Mao Shucheng could not help sighing.

Jin Rong had been his longtime subordinate. She had served as his secretary when she first enlisted, and after all these years, he had long treated her like a younger sister.

Jin Rong was meticulous, and her tactical analysis abilities in particular were unmatched.

When the Jaeger Combat Department was established, Mao Shucheng immediately decided that Jin Rong would lead the Jaeger Combat Information Analysis Team.

This was no ordinary position. It was responsible for intelligence analysis during Jaeger operations, a crucial link that could determine victory on the battlefield.

It was simply too demanding. She was busy with work, already over forty, and still unmarried.

It was not as if Mao Shucheng had never introduced potential partners to Jin Rong, but she had always brushed them off using work as an excuse.

And so the years had slipped away.

He still remembered that Jin Rong had been a lively, cheerful girl when she first enlisted.

Until the kaiju invasion two years ago threatened the survival of the entire human race.

That burden had fallen upon every soldier.

Half a year ago, when "Shanlan" invaded, people only knew that nearly ten thousand civilians had died in Dalian.

Yet they did not know the price the military had paid to kill "Shanlan."

An entire tank brigade had been wiped out. Of more than three thousand people, only a few dozen survived.

The air force had deployed an entire Falcon unit. Of twenty-two fighter jets, only two remained.

That was not even counting the other ground combat units.

In that battle, more than eight thousand soldiers had died and over twenty thousand had been wounded. More than three thousand of them were severely injured and had no choice but to retire.

One had to understand that the troops deployed in that war were all specialized units, yet the battle had still been so difficult and brutal.

This also made the senior leadership recognize the importance of the Jaeger Program.

Conventional weapons were useless against kaiju. Every battle was practically fought by piling up human lives.

The lives and property of civilians were also under enormous threat.

Using nuclear weapons would be even more foolish. Even if they could kill the kaiju, it would still be mutually destructive.

Fighting for every inch of land would become a joke.

Naturally, these matters could not be made public. If civilians learned of the military's casualties and their helplessness against kaiju.

Wouldn't the entire country erupt? It would be detrimental to social stability.

The military could only endure the pain and project the image that they could protect everyone.

And the newly established Jaeger Combat Command Center bore the pressure of resisting the kaiju, along with everyone's hopes.

In the war against kaiju, they could not lose, nor could they afford to.

Jin Rong hurried to the base entrance.

Seeing Xiao Shou carefully shielding the lunchbox in his arms, afraid it would get wet in the rain.

Her heart could not help warming.

Xiao Shou was also a child she had watched grow up. Though after she enlisted, she had returned home less often.

Still, seeing the once unbearably mischievous Xiao Shou become so sensible that he had gone out to work and help cover the Orphanage's expenses, how could she not feel fond of him?

And Xiao Shou worked at her mother's shop, where he could also look after her mother. That spared Jin Rong a great deal of worry.

Having no children of her own, Jin Rong had always treated Xiao Shou as her younger brother, even as her own child. She had long considered him part of the family.

Along with that affection came deep sympathy for him.

Abandoned by his family as a child and left an orphan, the Old Director, who had cared for Xiao Shou most dearly, had even sacrificed himself for him. That had become Xiao Shou's nightmare.

Wasn't Xiao Shou's desperate work to earn money now also a way of numbing himself, so he would not have time to dwell on it all?

How could anyone not feel sorry for him?

His life had been harder than most children's, and he lived exhausted.

If not for the elderly and children still waiting to be fed at the Orphanage.

He probably would have collapsed into depression long ago.

Jin Rong accepted the lunchbox and saw Xiao Shou's yearning gaze toward the Shatterdome base before him.

She turned back to look at the steel behemoth as well, thinking of Mao Shucheng's resolve from earlier.

"Do you want to come inside and have a look?"

Perhaps the person "it" had been waiting for had finally arrived.

After passing through layer upon layer of checkpoints, Xiao Shou finally followed Jin Rong into the interior of the steel behemoth.

When he saw the Jaeger standing in the base's main hall, Xiao Shou understood why he had needed to sign a confidentiality agreement just to enter.

Xiao Shou stood there blankly, his eyes holding nothing but that blue-black "giant."

Anyone seeing a ninety-meter-tall Jaeger for the first time would probably be stunned by its majestic grandeur.

Jin Rong told Xiao Shou to stay where he was. She needed to ask Commander Mao Shucheng and Deputy Commander Zhu Qian for permission to give him a synaptic connection test.

Xiao Shou nodded blankly, focused only on the Jaeger. In truth, he did not dare move around recklessly.

All around him were engineers hauling equipment and soldiers armed with live weapons.

Jin Rong took the elevator straight to the Command Center. After hearing her request, Mao Shucheng and Zhu Qian naturally did not stop her.

Because they had already reached a consensus on this matter moments earlier.

Jin Rong went back down and personally oversaw Xiao Shou's synaptic connection test.

She explained the precautions for the Neural Synaptic Connection to Xiao Shou.

At first, Xiao Shou cooperated eagerly. After all, who would not be tempted by a chance to pilot this Jaeger?

But when he heard that neural docking required revisiting his memories, Xiao Shou began to hesitate.

The thing he least wanted to remember over the past six months was the moment the Old Director died saving him.

Whenever he thought of it, he would find something to distract himself. It had become an obsession, a demon in his heart.

Seeing Xiao Shou's reluctance and hesitation, Jin Rong understood what he was thinking and looked at him with sympathy.

"Xiao Shou, some things must be let go. You have to look forward."

Xiao Shou did not respond, his expression twisting slightly.

From above, Mao Shucheng saw that Jin Rong and Xiao Shou had not moved for a long time and grew somewhat puzzled. He immediately took out his intercom and asked Jin Rong what was going on.

"Jin Rong, what's wrong?"

"Commander, Xiao Shou's closest family member died saving him during Shanlan's invasion half a year ago. It happened right in front of him, and he doesn't want to relive it."

After reporting, Jin Rong saw that Xiao Shou was still frowning tightly and felt even more pity for him.

"Xiao Shou, how about I take you out?"

Xiao Shou was truly at a loss. On one side was the chance to pilot a Jaeger; on the other was a past he did not want to remember.

Just then, the base broadcast sounded.

"Kid, if the kaiju attacks again and you're given a choice, would you rather flee around in panic down there, or pilot a Jaeger and take it down!"