Girl and Mech

Thunder Eagle Nebula, Planet Tellas.

Apocalypse Year 14, Gan State, Zhenhai City.

Third Defense Line Main Stronghold, "Obsidian Sky."

"Pass, can't pass, pass, can't pass..."

A white-haired, red-eyed girl sat on the bed, draped in a silver tactical jacket, throwing darts one after another at the scoreboard.

"Pass!"

As the thirteenth dart hit the bullseye, the girl cheered spontaneously, her slender legs swinging back and forth.

Knock, knock, knock!

There was a knock on the door.

"Bai Ying, General Chen wants you in the control room."

"Coming, coming!"

Bai Ying jumped off the bed nimbly, grabbed a handful of candy and stuffed it into her pocket, and ran excitedly towards the door.

Two minutes later, Bai Ying was once again raging in the control room.

"Didn't you say I passed the test! Why won't you let me pilot the mecha!" Bai Ying grabbed the general's collar fiercely. "If you won't let me go to the battlefield, then don't make me stay in this iron cage!"

No one dared to step forward to stop Bai Ying's impolite behavior. Although she was beautiful, she had a fiery temper and high combat power. Usually, everyone could only walk around her.

What's more, Bai Ying was personally recruited by General Chen, and her status within Obsidian Sky was self-evident.

A few daring young men who wanted to get close to her were beaten to the ground in the arena.

"You passed the combat test, but your synchronization rate with Xing Tian is too low. You can't even fully control the mecha. Going to the battlefield like this is just throwing your life away."

General Chen didn't show any reaction to Bai Ying's impolite behavior, he simply and casually moved Bai Ying's hand away from his collar.

"Bullshit! Why did you give me an A for my evaluation level if I can't control the mecha! Also, the antique you gave me is a first-generation mecha. Don't look for problems with me about the low synchronization rate, look for problems with the mecha!"

Bai Ying pointed to the battle-scarred Xing Tian outside the glass, her eyes full of disgust and unwillingness.

But neither of them knew that the seemingly shut-down Xing Tian mecha was currently in a low-power hibernation state.

"Argue! Argue hard! It's best not to let that girl pilot the mecha!"

Yu Xiao's receiving system clearly heard the conversation between the two.

That's right, he had transmigrated to a world where technology was soaring but facing a catastrophic disaster.

Moreover, he had become what men liked the most—a giant mecha fifty meters tall, weighing eight thousand tons, equipped with wrist-mounted combat blades, dual heavy cannons on its back, and rocket boosters.

He had seen all kinds of transmigration stories in his previous life, but transmigrating into a mecha for someone else to pilot was a bit too avant-garde for Yu Xiao.

He found it hard to imagine two sweaty men inside him fighting monsters. It gave him a bit of "mechanical unease."

The good news was that the Xing Tian he had transmigrated into was already a retired legendary mecha with a successful career, and the cockpit only had one control seat. Yu Xiao didn't have to worry about being torn into pieces by monsters on the battlefield.

The bad news was that the recent battle situation wasn't good. Humans were retreating steadily, and the Xing Tian mecha had been pulled out to be used as a training machine, and the pilot was a neurotic girl with extremely violent attack methods.

In dozens of simulated training sessions, Bai Ying never considered the performance limitations and endurance issues of the Xing Tian mecha.

When firing, the gun barrel would overheat. She used rocket propulsion for the entire movement, and relied on overload to withstand close combat damage.

Originally, Yu Xiao, as a mecha, had no pain, but the synchronization device of the first-generation mecha was very backward. In order to strengthen the connection between the pilot and the mecha, the two had to undergo neural synchronization, which directly made Yu Xiao experience the so-called "phantom pain" in battle.

What was even stranger was that every time Bai Ying established neural synchronization with him, he could feel Bai Ying's hidden hatred for Xing Tian!

But why would anyone have such a deep-seated hatred for a mecha?

Even if Xing Tian had offended her in the past, she should blame the pilot!

Yu Xiao couldn't figure it out, and could only temporarily put the problem aside.

After all, there were more important things he needed to worry about.

After each training session, the Xing Tian mecha had to undergo a long period of maintenance. Yu Xiao firmly believed that if this continued, he would break down in the base sooner or later!

But what could he do?

The Xing Tian mecha was not equipped with artificial intelligence. He couldn't communicate with Bai Ying at all. Every time the mecha was damaged, he wished he could pop up fifty windows to warn Bai Ying, but Bai Ying simply ignored him.

"Sigh, that girl really doesn't cherish it at all. No matter what, Xing Tian is of commemorative significance, how can she treat it so roughly!"

"After all, she is someone personally assessed by General Chen! Whether we like her or not, she's the only one in this base who can pilot Xing Tian."

"She's clearly a genius, how can her personality be so bad, it's completely the opposite of the general..."

"Xing Tian's power furnace energy conversion ratio is getting lower and lower. It is estimated that it will be permanently deactivated after the next training and sent to the Silent Graveyard for dismantling and recycling."

"There's no way around it. Instead of spending money to repair the old mecha, it's better to use the money to build a new one. The current manufacturing technology is already very mature, and the cost difference between the two is not too much."

Two maintenance personnel stood on Xing Tian's shoulder armor, their voices full of regret.

What?

Dismantled and recycled!?

I have performed meritorious service for the country! I have shed blood... ah no, coolant for humanity! You can't dismantle me, I want to go to the museum! I want a traveling exhibition!

Though Yu Xiao wasn't sure if he'd still be conscious after being dismantled, he absolutely couldn't take that risk!

His life was on the line; Yu Xiao had to figure out a way out before he was ruined by the white shadow!

"Wait, did you hear something?"

The ground vibrated beneath the feet of the two mechanics.

"The power core! The power core is vibrating! Get back to the maintenance platform!"

Inside the control room, the people who were still arguing and watching the show also realized something was wrong and turned to look at the hangar.

Buzz!

A red light suddenly struck the glass of the control room—the light from the huge mono-eye on the head of the Xingtian mech!

"What's going on? How did Xingtian suddenly activate? Did the maintenance crew do it?" The commander immediately picked up the intercom and asked.

"Xingtian mech activated on its own. We don't know if there's a problem with the hibernation system!" The person on the other end of the intercom sounded nervous.

At this moment, only Yu Xiao knew that this was because his "mech-brain" was overloaded—whenever he thought about overly complex problems, the power consumption of the Xingtian mech would increase.

But before, to hide it, he would only think about these problems before the mech was powered on for maintenance or training preparation. But just now, hearing about his impending fate of being dismantled, he admitted he panicked.

So, should he shut down and pretend he just short-circuited?

Just as Yu Xiao was considering whether to put on an act, his radar detection system suddenly went off—several red dots were rapidly approaching the "Dark Azure Sky" base.

Ah, did I really short-circuit?

The next second, a deafening alarm sounded throughout the base!

"Warning! Incoming energy strikes detected! Please evacuate immediately to the nearest shelter!"

At the same time, dense red dots appeared on Yu Xiao's radar panel, so numerous it looked like someone had spilled a bag of rice!

Suddenly, several glowing blue fireballs smashed through the hangar ceiling, heading straight for the people in the control room!

In the nick of time, the Xingtian mech suddenly reached out and pressed the fireballs that were still in the air against the wall!

Blue mucus flowed from the gaps in the alloy giant's fingers, accompanied by bursts of rising white smoke.

"How did Xingtian start moving on its own..."

Before anyone could ask, hurried footsteps came from outside the command room.

"Report, General! The Sun Moon Island front line just sent a communication. The behemoth Leviathan launched a round of unknown energy attacks into the stratosphere, and based on the direction, it's heading towards Zhenhai City!" A communicator rushed into the control room, panting as he reported the information he had just received to General Chen.

Bang bang bang!

Around the base, hundreds of artillery pieces had already opened fire on the sky, the huge roar momentarily drowning out the alarm.

"Everyone, immediately go to combat readiness level one! All non-combat personnel, take the stairs to the underground air raid shelter!" Despite the suddenness of the event, General Chen quickly deployed his orders, "Notify Zhenhai City to cut off all unnecessary energy supplies and turn the energy tower to maximum power, channeling it to the defense shield!"

"General!" Just after giving the order, a soldier stumbled in, his face full of horror, "Those... those energy bodies! They're all monsters! Type-Two monsters and Aggregate Beasts!"

"Mobilize the ground forces, pull the formation back inside the high walls, and have the squads cooperate with the armored units to eliminate the Type-Two monsters!" General Chen's face was clouded with concern, and he turned to ask the communications officer, "What's the situation at the front line? Are there any spare mechs that can be transferred back? We need mechs to clear out the Aggregate Beasts."

"Report, General! Red Hurricane and Raider are already on their way back! It'll take another half hour!"

"Then hold on at all costs!"

Rumble!

Fireballs filled the sky, dragging blue tails of flame as they struck towards "Dark Azure Sky" like a meteor shower.

The dense anti-air fire kept blasting these spheres into scattered chunks of meat, but many still landed successfully, and the monsters hatched, roaring as they hunted all living things!

Type-Two monsters were all around five meters in size. Compared to those behemoths that were easily dozens of meters tall, they could be eliminated by ground forces with heavy firepower even without mobilizing the mechs.

Aggregate Beasts were different. They were formed by the fusion of a group of special Type-Two monsters, and could quickly evolve into sub-behemoths of around thirty meters in just a few seconds. The most troublesome thing was that they didn't start in their aggregate form.

Minute after minute passed, the sound of artillery fire outside the hangar didn't stop at all, and the people in the command room kept relaying various information, deploying the general's latest orders.

The white shadow was left behind. She had changed into a black, tight-fitting combat suit and stood in the cockpit of the Xingtian mech.

Outside the mech were dozens of thick cables and maintenance drone swarms, doing their best to maintain the mech to its optimal condition.

The white shadow was currently the only person in the base who could operate a mech, and Xingtian was also the only mech left in the base.

It had been ten years since Xingtian's last actual combat.

The girl and the mech were an unstable insurance policy, but General Chen had to gather all the combat power he could mobilize!

"Roar!"

A roar that didn't belong to humans echoed outside the hangar, and it was definitely not the volume that a Type-Two monster could produce.

"Get down!"

As soon as General Chen finished speaking, the huge steel blast door was torn open, and red claws grabbed the iron wall, creating a string of sparks.

An Aggregate Beast!

"What's the status of the mech's maintenance!" The white shadow's eyes stared fixedly at the crack in the door.

"The power core is operating at a peak of only 60%. The heavy machine gun is loaded, the mobile joints are normal, and the rocket thrusters are fully fueled!" Even while lying on the ground, the maintenance personnel still dutifully reported the current situation. "The mech still needs ten minutes of auxiliary charging!"

Outside the hangar door, the Aggregate Beast was impatiently tearing at the gap, trying to squeeze in.

The white shadow suddenly smiled. She ignored the maintenance personnel's words and directly activated the neural synchronization link.

Seconds later, the Xingtian mech suddenly severed all the cables connected to its body!

"Come on, old thing, let me see how you became a legend back then!"