Near-Perfect Synaptic Connection

The broadcast echoed throughout the entire Shatterdome base.

Everyone who had been busy at work stopped what they were doing as if by unspoken agreement.

They looked toward the young man standing before the Jaeger, wanting to know his answer.

He was easy to pick out. He was the only person in the entire base not wearing a military uniform.

Xiao Shou raised his head resolutely, glanced at the towering Jaeger before him, then turned toward the command center.

"Sir, this isn't a multiple-choice question, is it?"

"Old Zhu, this kid's interesting."

Hearing Xiao Shou's answer, Mao Shucheng laughed heartily and spoke to Zhu Qian beside him.

Jin Rong smiled faintly upon hearing the answer and no longer hesitated.

She directly placed a helmet-like device over Xiao Shou's head.

It was the Jaeger Neural Synaptic Connection Tester.

It tested Xiao Shou's Neural Synaptic Connection level through memory regression.

The higher the value, the greater the compatibility with the Jaeger's consciousness sensors.

After putting on the helmet, Xiao Shou nodded at Jin Rong, signaling that she could begin.

Jin Rong immediately pressed the button and watched the Synaptic connection waveform graph console before her.

To outsiders, Xiao Shou looked as though he had been electrocuted, trembling slightly.

Only Xiao Shou knew what he was experiencing.

It was like watching a movie, except he himself was the protagonist.

He saw himself, still wrapped in swaddling clothes, being left at the entrance of the Orphanage.

His wailing cries alerted the Old Director, who had been in his prime back then.

It seemed the Old Director had not been exaggerating when he bragged that he had been handsome in his youth.

Then came the days when the director and the elderly residents of the Orphanage treated him as one of their own, doting endlessly on little Xiao Shou.

And little Xiao Shou, in turn, soothed their lonely hearts.

Then he grew a little older and played with the other children at the Orphanage.

One day, a married couple came to the Orphanage to adopt a child.

He saw the reluctance in the Old Director's eyes and Sister Bao'er's longing for a life outside.

Before the director brought him before the couple, he spat out the laundry-powder foam he had hidden in his mouth beforehand.

He pretended to foam at the mouth, making the couple think he was sick, so they chose Bao'er instead.

Afterward, he climbed into the director's lap. The Old Director's eyes were filled with relief, along with guilt that he could not give the children a better life.

Xiao Shou's childhood and adolescence had been wonderful. Though he lived in poverty, he had been happy.

He had the love and care of the elderly residents at the Orphanage, the neighbors, and Grandma He.

Until that day arrived.

At the console outside.

Jin Rong looked at the data displayed on the screen and reported over the comms.

"The Neural Synaptic Connection value is stable. It has currently reached eighty-two percent."

After saying that, joy filled her heart. This value had already met the standard for Jaeger Neural Synaptic Connection.

And it still showed no sign of stopping its rise.

He saw Shanlan again. That monster's appearance had been deeply etched into Xiao Shou's mind.

At that moment, Shanlan's hoof was descending toward Xiao Shou from above.

The moment felt so familiar, yet it was one he never wanted to remember again.

At last, those powerful arms lifted Xiao Shou up.

But their owner could no longer evade Shanlan's hoof as it came crashing down.

"No!"

As Xiao Shou relived the memory, he was no longer as dazed as before. He reached toward where the Old Director had been.

"Oh my God!"

Jin Rong, who had been monitoring the changing values, was startled.

The screen now showed that the synaptic connection rate with the Jaeger's consciousness had reached ninety-five percent!

What did that mean?

Near-perfect synaptic connection!

Even the first pilot's synaptic connection rate had only been eighty-nine percent, not even reaching ninety.

That alone had delighted them beyond measure. They had thought they had found a treasure.

But what did a ninety-five percent synaptic connection rate mean?

Other than the ninety-seven percent synaptic connection value of Jacob Smith, the genius pilot of America's Wanderer—

Xiao Shou surpassed them all.

Mao Shucheng and Zhu Qian, standing on the command platform, were equally exhilarated.

Not only had they found a second candidate to pilot the Jaeger, but his synaptic connection value was so high. It far exceeded their expectations.

Before they could finish celebrating, a tremor suddenly ran through the area.

Thump! Thump!

"It's the Jaeger! The Jaeger is moving!"

An engineer working on the Jaeger's installation shouted.

Everyone nearby turned their eyes toward the Jaeger.

"What's going on?!"

Mao Shucheng turned and asked the information analysis team behind him.

The Jaeger was of critical importance. There could not be the slightest mistake.

"Report! The Jaeger's internal neural control system and consciousness sensors have activated for no apparent reason!"

A female soldier from the information analysis team behind him answered.

Suddenly, the Jaeger's right arm extended forward, its fingers spread wide.

Jin Rong below naturally saw the scene.

She realized that the Jaeger's movements were identical to Xiao Shou's movements within the synaptic connection.

A voice in her heart kept telling her that this was because of Xiao Shou.

Even though he was not inside the cockpit at that moment.

Seeing Xiao Shou's face twisted into a ferocious expression and the Synaptic connection waveform graph on the console screen beginning to fluctuate violently,

she hurriedly forced the synaptic connection to terminate.

The moment the synaptic state was severed, Xiao Shou collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Quick, the medical team!"

Mao Shucheng watched from the platform as Xiao Shou, already placed on a stretcher, was carried away below.

"I want his file. Everything—from his birth until now!"

Name: Xiao Shou

Age: 19

Height: 175 cm

Weight: 65 kg

Personality: Kind and sincere, introverted (currently showing mild depression and social withdrawal)

Social relations: Orphan; grew up at the Dalian Third Social Welfare Orphanage. His closest relative was Old Director Xiao Kaiyuan (killed half a year ago during Shanlan's attack on Dalian)

Current workplace: Grandma He's Noodle House on Jianguo Road. Owner: Grandma He (mother of Lieutenant Colonel Jin Rong)

Friend: Li Xintong (Bao'er), a friend who grew up with him at the Orphanage. Adopted at age thirteen by Li Liansheng and his wife, owners of Dalian Wada Trading. Now twenty-one, she returned to the Orphanage to take over as director.

Looking at Xiao Shou's file on the desk before him, Mao Shucheng was very satisfied.

"His background is clean. He meets the requirements for recruitment as a Jaeger pilot."

"Then it's decided? The military headquarters won't approve this easily."

"To hell with them. The only thing we need to consider is whether we can hold the Pan-Pacific Defense Line. With near-perfect synaptic connection, Xiao Shou is unquestionably the best choice. The rest isn't a problem."