Chapter 19: A Full Day Spent Revising My Thesis

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Shang Lu watched as the crane loaded all four ammunition magazines into Red Lotus. The four long arms retracted and locked into place. He wondered if the young woman inside the cockpit noticed the young man standing behind the workshop’s observation window.

Shang Lu held Red Lotus’s gaze for a long moment. The operating office was nearly level with the giant’s head, which stood like a towering Buddha. At one point, Shang Lu wanted to ask if those six sharp eyes could see hope, the future of humanity, or the meaning of its own existence—but he wasn’t sure if this man-made deity could provide a clear answer. Perhaps even this mechanical god felt fearful, anxious, and lost. It had been hastily created by humans and, from the moment it awoke, bore the heavy burden of fighting angels. Though it was fifty meters tall and weighed thousands of tons, it was still a child.

Who isn’t a child, after all?

Yet children also face life and death.

After an unknown span of time, the workers in the workshop began to withdraw. All work platforms surrounding the giant machine slowly moved away. Huge hydraulic arms supported Red Lotus’s back, gently lowering it to a horizontal position. Amid flashing yellow and red warning lights, the deep crimson giant slowly lay flat, preparing to be transported horizontally through the Nanshan Tunnel, moving beneath the mountain to beyond the defensive line.

Shang Lu turned and saw a neural signal recognition testing system in the corner of the office, covered by a layer of gray dust cloth, its outline faintly visible. He knew beneath it was a reclining chair and a neural electrical signal analyzer—his old field of expertise. He could recognize it with his eyes closed.

This was the control core office; it was not unusual to find neural interface and brain-machine testing equipment piled here. Shang Lu walked over and pulled off the dust cover, revealing an old-style neural signal recognition system, similar to the one he used at the Automation Institute. It had a wide, cushioned reclining chair with a helmet resting on the seat, and a half-human-height analyzer standing on the floor. It was powered down; all indicator lights and screens were black. Tangled cables lay in a heap, worn and aged.

Shang Lu dusted off the equipment, lifted the cables aside, and picked up the helmet to put on his head. The cables connected to the helmet hung down like dreadlocks, instantly giving him a thick, long braid.

The helmet was an electrical signal collector, feeling somewhat like a scalp massager, with dense contact points pressing against his scalp. Shang Lu had worn this many times; the sensation was familiar. Each contact inside the helmet could capture the brain cortex’s bioelectric activity with high resolution. It was perfectly suited to controlling robots. Skilled operators could command an entire five-person robot soccer team with it; two people could play a match, and Shang Lu often led the pack in such competitions.

Not to boast, but in all of Base 151, fewer than five people knew neural interface systems better than he did.

Yet these non-invasive, helmet-style electrodes could not meet the demands of the anti-Apocalypse mission. Only invasive brain-computer interface systems could shoulder the heavy responsibility on the battlefield against angels.

Shang Lu quietly lay back in the reclining chair, helmet on, eyes closed, imagining each electrode inside lengthening into steel needles slowly piercing his skull.

He opened his eyes, his gaze settling on the telephone on the desk. After hesitating for a long moment, the office door handle clicked softly.

A young girl quietly pushed the door open and peeked in.

It was Bai Shu.

“Shang Lu?” she called softly. “Are you here?”

“Why didn’t you go to the shelter?” Shang Lu frowned.

Bai Shu’s eyes brightened the moment she spotted him in the corner.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, because you didn’t go to the shelter either. Your seat on the vehicle was empty—I thought something had happened to you.” She came in and closed the door behind her with a flip of her hand, wiping the sweat from her forehead. “You scared me, had me searching all over.”

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“What for?”

“Because I like you.” Bai Shu answered matter-of-factly. She cheerfully filled a cup of water at the dispenser, then leaned against the window, sipping slowly while watching Shang Lu’s face flush with embarrassment.

“Has no one ever told you they like you before?” Bai Shu leaned in closer.

“...No.”

“Well, now you have.” She finished the water, tossed the paper cup into the trash, then came closer, placing both hands on the armrests of the recliner. Her small face was backlit, but her eyes shone brightly. She pressed her legs against Shang Lu’s chair and slowly leaned down, strands of hair nearly brushing his forehead.

“Never mind, there’s surveillance.” Bai Shu’s eyes darted mischievously as she swiftly retreated.

Shang Lu exhaled deeply in relief.

“You don’t have to be so embarrassed, and you don’t have to like me—I just have to like you,” Bai Shu said, turning around. “But who knows when I might stop liking you.”

“What do I have going for me?”

Bai Shu sized him up from head to toe. “Hmm... probably that you fit my aesthetic. You know, feelings are strange—liking someone just happens, no explanations.”

“Sounds like you have an unusual taste.”

“I do.” Bai Shu nodded. “Aren’t you going to the shelter? If you’re not, I’ll stay here with you. If the anti-Apocalypse mission fails and Base 151 is breached, we can die together.”

Shang Lu’s heart stirred slightly.

It was indeed an enticing offer—a girl saying she’d die with you, and she was pretty and clever too.

A real man would nod at a moment like this.

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“Power interface disconnected, switching to internal power supply.”

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“Arm one unlocked, arm two unlocked, arm three unlocked, arm four unlocked, all confirmed disengaged.”

“This is Red Lotus pilot Shen Jiang, reporting on system check: computing core normal, control core normal, power core normal.”

Shen Jiang floated inside the transparent cockpit, wearing the bulky, heavy force feedback control system. Control panels and pop-up windows flickered rapidly around her; she manipulated them with her eyes and thoughts—control speed far beyond manual operation. She hovered inside a data sphere, vast amounts of data scrolling on its inner surface.

Red Lotus lay flat on a massive mobile platform, being transported horizontally out of Workshop 110, through the Nanshan Tunnel, beyond the defense line. Such a huge, heavy system moved barely faster than walking. Giant spotlights shone from below onto Red Lotus’s body, bright white beams crossing to form a net, enveloping the crimson giant. Workers from Base 151 followed alongside.

The mobile platform stopped just outside the tunnel’s exit, beyond which lay the outer defense line. No one was allowed to proceed further.

“Weapons system fully loaded.”

“Standard clock synchronized.”

“Gravitational gyroscope zeroed.”

“Riemann probe calibrated.”

Shen Jiang’s eyes fixed straight ahead, gazing into the pitch-black, silent world.

Anti-Apocalypse missions were always solo endeavors. Each giant machine fought alone. She now faced humanity’s most powerful enemy in history, without any backup.

The Joint Command Center granted every giant machine pilot significant autonomy, reflecting their high rank. They could decide tactics on the battlefield since angels could easily disrupt humanity’s fragile wireless communication chains. Often, pilots received no rear intelligence, sometimes no one to speak to—they had to gather information, analyze situations, decide strategies, and execute plans alone. They were history’s loneliest warriors.

“This is the Anti-Apocalypse Joint Command Center, calling GAAS-017 Red Lotus. You are ready.”

The Joint Command Center oversaw overall coordination and mission planning, based in Guanyin Bridge, Chongqing. Base 151’s command didn’t direct operations and could only offer assistance.

A smile curved the girl’s lips. One hand opened, the other clenched into a fist, and she struck them together forcefully.

“Red Lotus—stand up for me!”