Imperfections

Chapter 63


"A guerrilla warfare like this, it is due to the Heavy Mech"s excellent commander." Ares Von squinted, "You look at that "life and nature": they are in mortal fear of death though they keep endless talks of environmental protection, and the vanguards around them share an average man-mech matching of over 80 points, thus the elites of the AUG have been divided and defeated by them, however, they collapsed at the first blow given by their foes though they were dauntless and fearless. So how strong are their foes" mental strength? But unfortunately, his men are trash."

The person tagging around Ares Von was a nurse who was responsible for a.s.sembling his body. One way or another, the nurse became a nominal admiral after having been around with the killing maniac for a long time. The "admiral" could be a well-qualified nanny while he barely knew anything about war and fighting, so he remained unclear and unknown to Ares Von"s word.

"Can"t you understand? Moron." Ares Von relieved a sigh and scolded him without any anger and gloominess on his face, because he liked idiots and people under his control. Wise men, as far as he"s concerned, were dangerous. It was the Sword of Damocles over his head that must be eradicated, and for these numb but well-behaved people, he would like to explain patiently and unhurriedly to them, "The particle cannon is way too inferior in damage and attack to the missile. If a rain of missiles had stormed in, at least a flank of the s.h.i.t would go off. Elusive as ghosts and sophisticated as the elders, foes won"t make a stupid mistake. I guess the foolish bombardment of the rubbish would disturb missile trajectories......Maybe almost all men of the excellent commander are novices who just learned how to drive a mech, they fire particle cannons just because they don"t know how to adjust calibration."

The mech"s shield, to an extent, could hold off particle cannon. Suffering from the sneak attack, the pirates" forces of "the prophet" were indeed thrown into confusion, though they didn"t suffer severe injuries. Mechs that were shot down should be ascribed to missiles fired by Heavy Mech No.3 in the mess.

Although "the prophet" was cheated by Prince Cayley, he wasn"t really that stupid. It was because he took his enemies lightly, and after a while, he was also aware of the problem.

"The prophet" laughed grimly and stomped at the floor, "Take the 20-year data of the Silver Ten Squadrons out and do a preference a.n.a.lysis!"

Usually, the highest level heavy mech would be invested with billions on building the core of the mech, even the AUG was not exempt.

Openly, the prophet regarded modern technology as a great scourge, and AIs as mental drugs, but in fact, to emanc.i.p.ate all mankind, their great prophet would not hesitate to get in touch with these banes and curses in flesh.

The AI database of the AUG was heavily regulated, which meant it didn"t have any authority and ability of autonomous learning. It could only be considered as a supercomputer with restricted functions designed for wars. Without the chat function, the supercomputer certainly didn"t talk nonsense as the Zhanlu did in its task execution. If Admiral Lin saw it, he would sell Zhanlu as junk out of jealousy.

The no-nonsense AI quickly derived the combat data that the AUG"s hara.s.sments on the IU were frustrated by the Ten Squadrons. In less than 10 seconds, preference a.n.a.lysis was finished, automated comparison of terrain was completed, areas inside the range of missiles were divided and the percentage was labeled on it-----Based on the historical data, the AI summarized the combat style of the Ten Squadrons and marked the possible hiding area of the Base"s Armed Forces after their transfer in accordance with the probability!

"The Prophet" swept the statistics and made a rapid decision, selecting three areas labeled with the highest probability. He divided his firepower into three for the indiscriminate missile attack, as a frightful smile painted his face. "Release the communication signal interference!"

Immediately, the communication channel of the base"s Self-Defense Force ended up with "beep" and the screams from a broken voice.

Usually, a well-trained regular army wouldn"t be afraid of that trick, the communication signal interference didn"t matter at all —— the vision of the mental network far surpa.s.sed that of naked eyes. With mental networks connected, the driver could have a clear image of his comrade-in-arms and commander. As a thought came to the commander, other people could also receive it under a silent tacit understanding.

However, could a makeshift armed forces have a tacit understanding? They even just learned the rule that no chatting in the communication channel was allowed under the iron hand of Admiral Lin.

The flock of delicate sheep suffered a head-on blow as they had yet to enjoy the power and prestige. The sudden signal interruption blindsided hooligans of all ages in the base who at once became a group of babies who couldn"t find their mom.

Meanwhile, torrential missiles surged to their hideout.

According to the probability a.n.a.lysis, the blind attack targeting the whole area was inaccurate, so the other side might blindly hit the jackpot.

If Jingheng Lin had been here, he wouldn"t have cared at all. However, composure couldn"t be found on the Self-Defense Force of the base which communication was cut off. They were already a total mess. What"s more, thickly dotted missiles stormed in, and they suddenly fl.u.s.tered and panicked, judging that the anti-tracking system went wrong.

The trashy Self-Defense Force of the base messed up. People who went rigid under fright and fear might get the right result compared to those who ran about with a quick mind. They exposed themselves and caught missiles right on their bodies when they couldn"t get orders.

In no time, a gap was split on their well-organized troops.

The eyes of the four students nervously darted to the 3D live broadcast in the Heavy Mech No. 3. First, they all took a breath in, but several seconds later they did realize that it wasn"t a loss in a video game: their mechs were shattered by real missiles, thus people who went here with them could never come back!

The thought made them hardly able to hold their pounding heartbeat.

Whether by Jingheng Lin"s composure or his ignorance of s.h.i.ts, nothing could be shown from his face. He sent a fixed-point signal on the remote system of Heavy Mech No. 3 to Bixing Lu"s mech through the nearest transfer point.

The remote signal penetrating the transfer point was exposed under the nose of pirates, but the emergency transfer was finished before pirates could catch them. As four students were almost crushed by protective gas at the corner, Heavy Mech No. 3 befell among pirates like an apparition.

Meanwhile, Bixing Lu who received the remote signal didn"t decipher the content at all. He immediately established contact, sent the remote key to all encrypted and unencrypted transfer points, and quickly connected to the anti-tracking system, which he built himself, familiar with it as he was with his own home.

Bixing Lu "stuck" the remote signal that belonged to Heavy Mech No. 3 on the anti-tracking system and weaved a huge net. Then he used his mech as a signal transfer station to an interference-free "communication channel" through the system permissions of all small mechs.

At the moment the connection was established, Jingheng Lin"s voice was heard, "Transfer to 004, idiots!"

The idiots almost cried with joy as they heard what Jingheng Lin had said. They obeyed Jingheng Lin"s order without thinking, thus nearly hitting the pirates" mech group collectively.

Jingheng Lin said, "Missiles!"

The scared base"s Self-Defense Force cried out in terror, at the same time fired guided missiles in all directions, and also cried out for their parents, there were all kinds of obscenities coming from their mouths.

The pirates didn"t expect that these mobs could repair their communication so fast. As their attention was on the Heavy Mech No. 3, roaring and screaming missiles had exploded among mechs.

Meanwhile, Heavy Mech No. 3 had mopped up the mental network of dozens of mechs around it. The ma.s.sive shield coated the mech"s body with a silver color, and all its particle cannons were fully opened. Then, it narrowly dodged missiles sent by the other side.

Jingheng Lin swept a glance at the Self-Defense Force and felt that these undisciplined and unorganized base soldiers were all paramecia that could not understand complicated orders.

*Paramecium/paramecia are single-celled protists, i.e. LJH just compared them to the most basic of all living things

If an order of "cover the converging attack on the enemy"s tail" was released, these idiots who couldn"t even tell directions would cause a s.p.a.ce accident. Thus he swallowed his tongue back and gave a rather brief order, "Men for transfer point 0045, women for 0031, go!"

It was so easily understood, even idiots could "seat by their own number".

The chaotic base Self-Defense Force was divided into two teams in an orderly manner as if they were fish dragged by a magnetic field in two directions. They went through the transfer point quickly. At first sight, it seemed that the previous battle was just a bluff, they resembled a seasoned honor guard.

It surprised the prophet. He thought, "Faked it? A trick?"

It was the first time that Jingheng Lin had commanded this troop, which made him like a toll collector sitting beside a toilet. Taking advantage of the thick protective hood of his heavy mech, he angrily crashed right into the nearest pirate"s mechs from him. At the same time, the high energy particle cannon was fired by Jingheng Lin with accuracy and speed to pop his mech out and narrowly dodge three missiles following him before he could make the emergency transfer!

Three missiles came and crashed into the transfer point suddenly.

The pirates around were almost scared to death. They all fled and ran, lest the explosion would catch and cover them, thus leading to collision and mess.

The prophet burst with anger, "What are you running for? Don"t you know the high energy threshold for the blast of the transfer point? A missile is nothing, catch him!"

The pirates took a look and realized that the transfer point attacked by missiles remained quiet and silent, thus they started their attack and pursuit right away.

Just as they were about to follow the guidance of big data a.n.a.lysis and went through the transfer point to attack the base"s Self-Defense Force, a "crackling" sound appeared in the communication channels as if it had been cut off. Now, it was too late for them to escape.

The transfer point exploded, the vanguard of pirates vanished into nothing in the wheat field of fire.

Meanwhile, a troop of mech popped up from transfer point 0045, giving a wanton and indiscriminate attack on the enemy"s empennage. As pirates opened their protective shield urgently and prepared to return fire, another troop of the mech emerged out from a blind corner of their vision, firing missiles into their mech"s tail. The pirates suffered a crushing defeat, and the guerrilla sunk into a labyrinth-like anti-tracking system again.

The high-spirited valiant pirates" troop turned into a defeated rooster in a flash, feathers flying, thoroughly in a tight corner.

Bixing Lu paused, "What did you install in the transfer point? Time bomb?"

"A detonation system to reduce the energy threshold of the explosion in the transfer point." Jingheng Ling paused and added, "Transfer points that could be the frontline have been installed with it, usually seen in the home court."

Bixing Lu casually asked, "When did you prepare it? Why didn"t I see it?"

Jingheng Lin kept quiet, and other people dared not speak, thus creating an eerie silence in the communication channel.

Bixing Lu quickly figured out that it was prepared in those days Jingheng Lin hid from him.

Commodore Lin did make full preparation for the war against every minute while he didn"t delay any business in hiding.

Giving a dry cough right away, Bixing Lu immediately acted as Jingheng Lin"s army engineer.

"......They released the interference signal before firing their missiles in three directions, and it isn"t a random selection but an accurate one produced by a probability a.n.a.lysis model. The energy waves produced in that blast would cause many effects. If their data processing worked well, our anti-tracking system will be easily exposed to enemies, so never do it again."

The prophet "shared" mutual thought with Bixing Lu. At the moment that the transfer point exploded, the supercomputer gathered a large amount of data right away, almost describing the profile of the anti-tracking system.

Meanwhile, referring to the battle style of Silver Ten Squadrons, it had estimated out a series of transfer points that might be under ambush.

The pirate"s troop marched in flexibly and quickly.

The AUG let the data take action for themselves, thus their attack seemed objective and scientific.

As the once most elite army in the IU, the Silver Ten Squadrons became barbarians who followed their leader to shield Eden.

Extremes would meet in the world.

Jingheng Lin gave a glimpse over the vast telecommunication chart stretching away onto the place outside the borders.

"I see," he said as two different retreating routes were formed. Jingheng Lin stretched out and squeezed, sending messages to two troops just divided by him, "Retreat separately and quickly, or you will die five seconds later."

At the same time, pirates rapidly found abnormalities in the base"s Self-Defense Force, "Prophet, the enemy is retreating!"

"a.n.a.lyze their routes!"

In the prophet"s supercomputer, a myriad of historical and real-time data overlapped before two rough retreating routes were worked out in five seconds, which was pretty close to the real one.

"Silver Ten Squadrons......" the prophet was exasperated with red eyes, "Release the transfer interference!"

As long as the landing of the opponents" jump could be prejudged,the interference could change the transfer route, which was the forte of Prince Cayley.

However, the Self-Defense was frightened into fleeing without any hesitation and grace. Though the pirates" responded quickly, most of them were out of sight in five seconds except for a few slow escapers.

As the transfer interference only caught a few slow ones, the pirates tried to take their mental networks away and capture them. However, several drivers at the front line were stunned before they could stretch out their tentacles from their mental networks. Jingheng Lin had taken several underachievers" authority away. Strong mental power fought back through the mental network, the vanguard of the pirates were overwhelmed and the self-destruction program was activated right away.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Heavy Mech No. 3 whirled several arrested mechs away like a wind, then disappeared in the energy field of transfer points.

Sure enough, the pirates caught up in five minutes as Jingheng Lin said. Bixing Lu suddenly figured out that their enemies had the behavior pattern a.n.a.lysis of Jingheng Lin.......no, of the IU armed force of the Silver Fortress. Jingheng Lin not only knew it but also made the utmost of it, so enemies would believe in the data a.n.a.lysis as well as their guess without a shadow of doubt.

"His aloofness, it was to deceive people," Bixing Lu thought with admiration, "How shrewd is he?"

"Admiral," he suggested in a solemnity in the communication channel, "The core of the anti-tracking system was installed in transfer point 001. If you get close to 001, your remote communication will betray our base."

Jingheng Lin seemed to chuckle and didn"t reply.

He just wanted to expose the location of the base.

Bixing Lu came to realize this: "Got it."

Monoeye Hawk said, "Wait a sec, got what? Jingheng Lin, are you reliable?"

"The prophet" fired a row of particle cannons to sweep away debris of self-destructed mechs before he raged.

"s.h.i.t, let heavy mechs take their lead!"

Even if mental networks were taken away from heavy mechs, the self-destruction program could not be activated in an instant. These gigantic mechs steamrolled like chariots of G.o.ds. In the back-and-forth battle, the base"s Self-Defense Force ran around to nowhere like nimble snakes with chasers following them.

And pursuers pressed on every stage and almost caught their predators every time like a donkey lured by carrots. The two sides exchanged gunfire as well as injuries, thus the prophet became impatient. He couldn"t wait to smash his supercomputer as his anti-scientism became increasingly strong.

Ares Von has seen it all here — a bystander always saw through everything — he knew that the AUG was the rabbit rushing into the enemies" trap. He put his hand on the chest and sighed deeply, "Awesome, excellent —— It seems like we have thrown "a meat-stuffed bun" to a dog —— tell our brothers to dress the ranks, prepare for a tough battle."

Meanwhile, the base"s Self-Defense Force got very close to the core area of the anti-tracking system.

The pirates approached, then they were aware of the helplessness and inability of the anti-tracking system.

The energy waves revealed the base to pirates.

The fluctuation of energy waves from two directions stunned him at first, then he clapped violently, "I do know why they prepared such a complicated system —— they tend to hide something else!"

Foucault, who had just responded, lost her voice on the channel, "Oh, no!"

The base Self-Defense Force panicked, forgetting the strict enforcement of orders and prohibitions in the war. They reversed direction subconsciously and chased out.

Strangely, Jingheng Lin didn"t stop them.

The prophet"s supercomputer sensed the enemies" movement, "The core of the anti-tracking system was found."

The unorganized and undisciplined base Self-Defense Force was a heap of loose sand that could not catch the well-trained pirates fleet. They were repulsed by a wave of particle cannon, and the prophet, carrying his fleet along with him, rushed to the encrypted transfer point 001.

The armed force of the base panicked —— the anti-tracking system wouldn"t work at all if enemies pa.s.sed through transfer point 001.

Their honest reaction showed the pirates the way, so the prophet had convinced himself of his guess. He approached transfer point 001 and started jumping.

However, unexpected things came in a flash.

Transfer point 001—— where the core of the anti-tracking system laid —— exploded.

The prophet, along with his main force, wasn"t even able to make a single noise. They were devoured by ma.s.sive energy, like a pile of fragments of broken vases.

As an enormous trap, the whole anti-tracking system vanished with the pirate fleet before the energy turbulence turned into weird silence.

After a time, Monoeye Hawk mumbled, "......f.u.c.k."

Jingheng Lin took his shield back and ordered coldly, "Prepare to return."

The rest of the people gathered together behind Jingheng Lin, numb and puzzled.

All of a sudden, Sat.u.r.day asked incredulously through the channel, "We......won?"

His words seemed to let everyone forget that they must not talk in the communication channel.

"We won?"

"We defeated the pirates!"

"On my G.o.d!"

Some cheered, while some sobbed quietly. They talked all at once in the channel.

Jingheng Lin, surprisingly, still kept his temper.

But Bixing Lu kept his shield open, scanning around unremittingly.

Ares Von looked at the messy base Self-Defense Force from a distance and said, "Ah, they have begun to celebrate their victory."