"First test of the battleship's close-in defense system, begin!"
Shen Le sat on the forward deck, holding a huge stack of checklists and facing Cloud Kun's helm and the Porcelain Tower, Mountain Warden, before it. A military officer stood to his left and a Special Affairs Bureau researcher to his right, both clutching notebooks and carrying camera equipment, ready for action.
"First item: sensory-link experiment! Mountain Warden, can you connect your senses with Cloud Kun, Compass, and Scroll, so that they can see what you see?"
[I'll try...] Mountain Warden answered uncertainly. Inside the Porcelain Tower, the two Porcelain Swords touched, producing a soft clink.
After a while, it answered somewhat anxiously:
[It doesn't seem to work... I can't find the feeling... How am I supposed to talk to them?]
"Don't panic, don't panic." Shen Le patiently reassured it. Then, he half-closed his eyes and entered a meditative state. Within his sea of consciousness, small points of light lit up one by one.
"Cloud Kun?"
[Here!]
"Compass?"
[Here!]
"Scroll?"
[Right here!]
"Wedding Dress?"
[Here, here!]
"Li Xingtang?"
[Here!]
The little ones aboard the ship answered one after another. Centered around Shen Le, several points of light formed a radial structure, then crisscrossed and connected with one another.
Finally, Shen Le pulled Mountain Warden in as well, connecting it to the network. Immediately, several nearby points of light tentatively sent rays toward it.
[Connect!]
[Come on, connect!]
[See? Isn't it connected now...]
[Can you see now? Can you see what I can see?]
Two more researchers rushed out of the cabin. With several clacks, they set up a huge LCD screen at Shen Le's front left and connected the cables.
Soon, the screen flickered and displayed the scene inside the cockpit: Compass's needle spun wildly, while a miniature map of the