The Suicide Soldier Appears

The line of recruits slowly advanced amid the lively chatter, and Xu De felt his heart rise with every step the line took.

He was nervous, but more than that, his mind was intensely focused.

He had watched the recruits' simulated battles on the big screen all along the way.

Fortunately, since the simulation was only meant to select a single pilot, there was no requirement to form three-man teams.

Xu De guessed this was only a preliminary screening.

Teamwork and coordination could come later. Of course, he didn't have time for that now.

He didn't dwell on it and turned his attention back to the big screen.

The three Mobile Suits on screen were once again defeated by the nimble Ginn controlled by the computer.

Watching the computer opponent show no mercy, Hans, like everyone around him, drew in a sharp breath for what felt like the hundredth time.

"So far, nobody's managed to take down even one Ginn on their own."

"Did they deliberately make the computer this difficult?"

Xu De shook his head at Hans's question but said nothing.

Some of the new recruits had chosen wire-guided missiles for their attacks. No wonder they were losing.

Judging by the Ginn's armor, ordinary Gatling guns, Linear Cannons, and even its two fixed 40 mm Vulcan Cannons couldn't penetrate it.

But those clumsy wire-guided missiles had no chance of hitting a nimble Ginn.

And they only had one shot. Once they fired, they might as well wait to die.

Missiles were only useful when you had a numerical advantage. They were siege weapons, plain and simple.

At least five to one was needed for missiles to effectively seal off most of a Ginn's escape routes.

As for the other recruits, although they had chosen Linear Cannons and Gatling guns, they couldn't properly control the Möbius in zero gravity, where inertia was enormous.

After watching the battles all the way here, Xu De had come up with an idea of his own.

They should use the Möbius's top speed and the maneuverability afforded by its small size to sweep in from the Ginn's flank or rear, avoiding the fire covering its front and sides, then look for a chance to attack its weak points with a Linear Cannon or machine gun.

That was the only way to win.

Following that line of thought, the arena shouldn't be set in an empty stretch of space like the one they were using. It should be a field of ruins.

That would restrict the Ginn's field of view as much as possible and let the Möbius make the most of its advantages.

It would also reflect the World Tree's impending destruction.

But space combat wasn't quite the same as the aerial combat he'd once known.

It involved entirely new knowledge: high-inertia six-degree-of-freedom movement, managing propellant consumption in a new propulsion system, and all kinds of orbital mechanics.

This wasn't inside an atmosphere. Inertia was absurdly high.

The importance of the various attitude-control thrusters went without saying.

No wonder only Coordinators could pilot Mobile Suits. The calculations involved far exceeded those of ordinary aerial combat.

An ordinary Natural would have their brain overloaded in seconds, leaving them unable to make the right move.

Put simply, the sheer volume of information could cripple a person's decision-making ability.

But... something about him seemed different.

At that moment, the knowledge he had learned for the astronaut selection process was merging with what the original Xu De had studied in this world.

Xu De seemed to have entered some mysterious state. His mind was racing, his thoughts moving far faster than they had in either his previous life or this one.

Perhaps it was because there were two of them in there now—a double-sized serving?

After all, with two people's worth of brainpower, even a simple one plus one could rival an ordinary Coordinator.

But he had no time to investigate that now. Faster calculations could only help him.

As Xu De rapidly analyzed the simulated battlefield before him, the line he was in continued to advance.

Soon, it was the turn of Thomas, the top scorer in the simulation.

The top student walked up to the simulator, his arrogant, disdainful gaze sweeping over the new recruits behind him.

After seeing them all avert their eyes, he turned his gaze to Xu De, who stood right behind him.

The cold threat in his eyes was unmistakable.

But the person he was staring at didn't seem to notice. He simply kept looking up at the simulated battle on another screen.

"Putting on an act. You'll only humiliate yourself."

Xu De didn't react to the redneck's provocation.

A strong body was certainly the foundation of a good pilot.

But a pilot also needed experience and a steady mind.

His opponent clearly had only one of those three qualities.

And even his physical strength was only so-so.

The muscles built up by taking too many hormones might look intimidating, but they only made him more cumbersome.

The two might be in different weight classes, but a battlefield wasn't a competition.

You didn't have to follow competition rules on a battlefield.

So, faced with someone he could kill whenever he wanted, Xu De regarded him like a little dog yapping and bouncing around in front of him. The man simply wasn't a threat.

And so, the next simulated battle began.

It turned out that despite his poor character and the fact that Xu De had ignored him, Thomas still had some ability as the top simulation scorer among the hundred new recruits.

His approach was simple and brutal. Using the Möbius's maneuverability, he didn't even bother to aim. Before the Ginn could react, he charged straight at it and detonated alongside his missiles.

As the two Mobile Suits collided and exploded in a brilliant flash on the screen, Xu De could almost hear a chorus of "Banzai!" in his ears.

Thomas was certainly fearless, but this was only a simulator.

In Xu De's eyes, this was practically cheating—and an utterly boring kind of cheating at that.

They were supposed to be training elite pilots, not suicide soldiers.

Self-destruction was a last resort, a choice made when you'd rather die with honor than live in disgrace. It wasn't the best tactic.

After all, a Möbius cost more than a Mistral, and an elite pilot cost even more.

At its core, this event was meant not only to select pilots but also to give them practice, letting them learn from and challenge one another.

It was also meant to show the people in charge—and the recruits themselves—the difference in capabilities between the Möbius and the Ginn.

Otherwise, if it were just a competition, why broadcast the whole thing on the big screen? And why arrange for people to challenge the winner afterward?

As far as Xu De could tell, the only thing Thomas had practiced was how to blow himself up skillfully.

Unlike Xu De, however, everyone around them cheered and applauded.

Clearly, this reckless approach, so characteristic of the Blue Cosmos, had stirred up the emotions of the many soldiers who leaned toward the Blue Cosmos.

Even the looks they directed at Xu De grew a little more hostile.