The Lin Family

"Did a fever fry your brain?"

Lin Chengjun sat behind his desk, the teacup in his hand frozen halfway to his lips. He was just over fifty, his temples already gray, but his eyes remained as sharp as lasers cutting through steel plates.

Lin Yuan stood before him, his military uniform immaculate and his expression calm.

The top-floor office in the Lin Military-Industrial Building was enormous, but the air within seemed to have solidified.

"Every word I said was serious." Lin Yuan repeated himself. "East Asia must establish an independent MS research and development system. We won't follow the Atlantic Federation's Dagger path, and we won't copy PLANT's high-mobility elite unit path. We'll forge our own."

Lin Chengjun slowly set down his teacup.

"Do you know what you're saying?"

He rose and walked to the window, his back to Lin Yuan. Outside lay the full view of Lin Industrial Park. From here, he could see six heavy manufacturing plants, two ballistic missile assembly lines, and the skeletal frame of a space warship under construction in the distance.

"East Asia has the world's greatest heavy industrial capacity. That's true." Lin Chengjun's voice was low. "But advanced MS? We can't even fully grasp the Atlantic Federation's Dagger control systems. We have to buy half-finished operating systems from them before conducting secondary development. Power cores? Every United Army standard model requires Atlantic Federation certification. Armor? The Phase-Shift Armor patents are in their hands."

He turned and stared at his son.

"You tell me, what are you going to use to 'forge our own path'?"

Lin Yuan did not yield.

"Ceramic Steel."

"What?"

"A new composite armor material." Lin Yuan spoke evenly, as if delivering a technical report. "It possesses extreme defensive capabilities against both kinetic and energy weapons. I already have a preliminary laboratory design. What I need is industrial-grade smelting equipment and a materials team."

Lin Chengjun's brows twisted into a knot.

"When did you start researching materials?"

"It's part of my personal technical reserves. The source is not convenient to disclose for now."

"Not convenient to disclose?" Lin Chengjun's voice abruptly rose. "You're telling your own father it's 'not convenient to disclose'?"

The two looked at each other.

The air remained taut for several seconds.

Lin Yuan offered no explanation. He knew he could never tell anyone about the existence of the Warhammer Technology Tree. But he also knew that convincing an old fox who controlled the lifeblood of East Asia's military industry with mere empty words was harder than fighting a war.

He changed his approach.

"Father, how much do you know about the Atlantic Federation's G Project?"

Lin Chengjun's expression shifted slightly.

"That is one of their highest-classified projects."

"Yes. Five MS based on entirely new concepts, codenamed the GAT-X series. Strike, Duel, Buster, Blitz, Aegis." Lin Yuan rattled off the five names in one breath. "Every one of them far surpasses the performance of current Dagger units. Phase-Shift Armor, beam weapons, even transformable frames. The Atlantic Federation has kept them tightly hidden, refusing to let even an 'ally' like East Asia touch them."

Lin Chengjun's expression changed.

"How do you know this?"

"That isn't important." Lin Yuan took a step forward. "What matters is that ZAFT will soon steal them."

"What?"

"ZAFT has already acquired intelligence on the G Project. A raid is being prepared. The target is the Heliopolis colony satellite, and it will happen within two weeks."

Lin Chengjun's fingers unconsciously clenched.

His instinct for war told him that his son was not speaking nonsense. Information so specific—project codenames and unit names—could not have been fabricated out of thin air.

"Suppose what you're saying is true." Lin Chengjun lowered his voice. "ZAFT steals the G Weapons, and the Atlantic Federation suffers losses. What does that have to do with us?"

"It has everything to do with us."

Lin Yuan walked to the desk, picked up Lin Chengjun's fountain pen, and drew three circles on a blank sheet of paper.

"The Atlantic Federation. PLANT. East Asia."

He drew a thick line between the first two circles.

"After the G Project is stolen, direct conflict between the Atlantic Federation and PLANT will escalate rapidly. Both sides' MS technology will evolve at breakneck speed in the fires of war. Freedom Gundam, Justice Gundam, Providence Gundam—over the next few years, many high-performance units that surpass the existing framework will emerge."

He paused.

"And what about East Asia?"

The pen tip fell onto the third circle, but drew no line from it.

"We'll still be using other people's Daggers." Lin Yuan's voice became low. "Still waiting for others to toss us scraps of technology. By the time the Atlantic Federation and PLANT decide a victor, East Asia will either be annexed or turned into a dumping ground."

"Future wars will be decided by MS. Not naval guns, not nuclear weapons, and not political negotiations. MS."

"Whoever possesses the strongest MS technology system will be the one who writes the rules of this world."

The office remained silent for a long time.

Lin Chengjun sat back down, folded his hands, and stared at the three circles on the paper.

"How many resources do you need?"

"The Lin Family's Seventh Workshop. Transfer Xu Yanqiu's team from the materials division. Give me full access to the plasma controlled-fusion data from the energy laboratory." Lin Yuan did not hesitate; he had clearly considered this long ago. "In addition, I need an independent research institute established in the name of the Special Equipment Bureau, codenamed 811. Personnel, budget, and technical direction will all be autonomous."

Lin Chengjun did not answer immediately.

He looked at his son with a complicated gaze.

This young man's performance today was completely unlike before. The old Lin Yuan had been intelligent, but cautious—more like a qualified heir than a pioneer.

But the person standing before him today had something in his eyes that Lin Chengjun had never seen before.

It was not ambition.

It was certainty.

As if he had already seen the future, and that future deeply unsettled him.

"You understand," Lin Chengjun slowly said, "that once you break away from the United Army's standard technology system, the Atlantic Federation will put East Asia on its technology blockade list. Those domestic military-industrial conglomerates that survive on United Army orders will retaliate like mad. The compromisers in parliament will use you as a sacrificial offering."

"I understand."

"Can you bear the consequences of failure?"

"I can."

"If you fail, it won't just be you who goes down." Lin Chengjun's voice hardened. "The political resources accumulated by the Lin Family over three generations, our military-industrial connections, and our foundations within East Asia's defense system will all be carved up by political enemies. Your father, your grandfather, and the thousands of employees and technicians within the Lin system will all be buried alongside you. Have you thought this through?"

Lin Yuan stood where he was and did not retreat even half a step.

"Father."

His voice was not loud, but every word was delivered with weight.

"If East Asia keeps waiting, it won't even have the right to fail."

The room fell silent.

Outside, the sky had already darkened. Lights came on one after another throughout the industrial zone, like a sea of stars forged from steel. This city consumed enough electricity, steel, and chemical raw materials every day to sustain a small nation, yet in the field of advanced war technology, it remained a giant with its throat in someone else's grip.

Lin Chengjun closed his eyes for a moment.

He thought of his father, Lin Dingyue. Twenty years ago, when East Asia had first attempted to independently develop propulsion systems for space warships, the Atlantic Federation had threatened technological sanctions, and the project had collapsed midway through. Lin Dingyue had remained silent for an entire year afterward.

The following year, he had bet all the family's resources back on the United Army's standard technology system.

From then on, East Asia had never again tried to "forge its own path."

Lin Chengjun opened his eyes and looked at his son.

"You can have the Seventh Workshop."

Lin Yuan's gaze did not change. He waited.

"Xu Yanqiu's team requires his personal consent. That old man has a temper harder than Ceramic Steel, so go convince him yourself. I can sign off on declassifying the plasma laboratory's data."

Lin Chengjun opened a drawer and took out an electronic access card.

"I'll report the establishment of the 811 Institute to the Ministry of Defense in the name of the Special Equipment Bureau. But listen carefully."

He pushed the access card across the desk, keeping one finger pressed against it.

"This is the first batch of authorization. Only the first batch. For further resources, you'll trade results for them."

Lin Yuan reached out and took the access card.

Its metal surface was cold.

"That's enough."

Lin Chengjun leaned back in his chair, seeming to age several years in an instant.

"Go."

Lin Yuan turned toward the door.

"Lin Yuan."

He stopped.

"Your grandfather is returning from East Sea Sanatorium tomorrow. If he asks, explain it to him yourself."

"I will."

Lin Yuan pushed open the door and walked out.

Sheng Lan stood against the wall in the corridor, a stack of documents in her hands. The moment she saw him emerge, she hurried over.

"Director, the Intelligence Bureau's Heliopolis perimeter files have arrived. Also, Ye Qingluan has confirmed that the Spark Project infiltration personnel are assembling and are expected to depart within forty-eight hours."

Lin Yuan took the documents and flipped through them as he walked.

"Where is Xu Yanqiu?"

"In the materials laboratory building in the 811 Industrial Zone. I heard he hasn't gone home for three days. He's been locked in a battle with a new heat-resistant coating."

"We're going to see him."

"Now?"

"Now."

Sheng Lan matched his pace, hesitating for a second.

"Director, Professor Xu Yanqiu's temper..."

"I know."

"The last time someone from the Ministry of Defense went to inspect his laboratory, he threw them out with a beaker."

"I'm not from the Ministry of Defense." Lin Yuan did not look back. "I'm the one bringing him raw materials."

The elevator doors closed.

Sheng Lan stood behind him, watching the access card in the director's hand reflect a cold gleam.

A strange feeling suddenly came over her. The young man who had awakened in the hospital room today seemed like a completely different person from the director who had collapsed yesterday.

But she did not ask.

The elevator arrived at the underground parking garage.

Lin Yuan opened the car door and got into the back seat, his fingers habitually tapping against his knee.

The Spark Project had already begun. In forty-eight hours, East Asia's people would infiltrate Heliopolis.

ZAFT's red uniforms believed they were carrying out a raid.

The Atlantic Federation believed the G Project was impregnable.

No one knew that the real hunter had already set out.

The vehicle drove out of the building and merged into the capital's nighttime traffic.

And deep within Lin Yuan's mind, the enormous Warhammer Technology Tree stood silently.

Cold and silent.

At the edge of a missing page somewhere near its base, something seemed to be faintly glowing.