126: Chapter 126 The Merchant from Another World

...

"I hope you honor the trade; I will be back very soon."

After the child in the observation room flashed a bizarre smile, he reverted to an innocent and well-behaved appearance in the blink of an eye. Then, looking at his surroundings, his little mouth puckered, and he began to wail loudly.

Disappearing at the same time was the crate on the table containing a set of Jaeger pilot suits.

It had already been three days since the bizarre disappearance of the Eureka Striker, and the story that had been told halfway through was finally finished.

Opposite him, Teks Pentecost fell into a brief silence, then gave the order to bring in the child's mother, Yvette.

Teks walked out of the observation room, looked at everyone, and said, "Tell me your thoughts."

What does it feel like to know your own ending in advance?

The Hansen father and son, Newton Geiszler, Hermann Gottlieb, and the newly arrived Raleigh and Mako Mori were all here, their faces etched with uncertainty and shock.

Chuck Hansen: I'll be detonating a nuclear bomb with Commander Teks soon?

Herc Hansen: Chuck is dead?

Raleigh Becket: What did he mean by saying I'm the protagonist?

Dr. Newton, with his thick and messy hair, clutched his head and wailed, "NO! NO! How am I a villain in the future? That's impossible! I love Kaiju culture, but that doesn't mean I'm a traitor!"

"Commander, I..." Hermann, the mathematician, was the calmest person here, and at this moment, he steadied his nerves.

"I must point out that from all existing physical and mathematical models, concepts like soul possession or consciousness projection are completely erroneous."

"Consciousness, even the most complex human consciousness, is the product of specific electrochemical activity in brain neurons! It cannot be... like a radio signal, broadcast at will, and certainly cannot cross such vast spatial distances."

Teks said, "Dr. Hermann, are you saying this is a hoax?"

"No, I believe it's real. This is my intuition. I saw long ago that this crazy fellow Newton would become a traitor."

"Commander, then what do we do? Do we agree to his request?" asked Mako Mori, dressed in her navy blue uniform.

"He has no evidence for what he says; the United Government will not agree."

Everyone fell silent. Clearly, this unknown entity claiming to be an otherworld merchant had brought them too much astonishment.

Besides having miraculous means like spatial superpowers, this merchant had also concisely revealed what would happen next in this world and how to close that Wormhole.

In exchange, he wanted all the technical data of this Jaeger base.

"Wait, isn't this the evidence?"

Chuck Hansen pointed at Newton, who was questioning his life. "According to what that man said, Dr. Newton underwent a Kaiju neural drift, and his consciousness has been infected by the Precursors. Those Kaiju are coming next time specifically to confirm Dr. Newton's existence. We can completely use this to set a trap!"

"If those two Kaiju really come, it proves his words are true."

Teks fell into thought, then said in a deep voice, "How much time is left on the War Clock?"

This was the countdown used to estimate Kaiju attacks.

"Commander, 13 days left."

——

[Evacuation from Pacific Rim Dimension successful. Obtained resources: Drivesuit]

[Pacific Rim Dimension weight increased. Current weight: 18%]

Returning to the underground space, Lin Fang looked at the spoils in front of him with satisfaction; with this, he could pilot that war machine.

Coming outside, Lin Fang manifested the Eureka Striker from the warehouse into reality.

BOOM—

As soon as this war machine appeared, it created a highly impactful visual contrast with the surrounding buildings. This massive steel body could even hold its own in front of that distant Schwarzschild Channel.

Who wouldn't want to pilot a mecha once?

This was the reason Lin Fang had gone back without stopping. At this moment, he was standing on the elevated platform in front of this mecha.

After a moment, Lin Fang asked, "Xiao Hei, are you finished?"

[Permission override complete, all safety locks released; neural interface protocol rewritten and optimized, operating system kernel permissions transferred, pilot biometric identification bound to: Lin Fang]

[Hatch opened. Boss, it is yours now]

"Well done, Xiao Hei. You truly are an important member of our company."

Lin Fang walked inside. It was a side-by-side integrated dual-pilot pod. This design allowed pilots to operate the mecha in a highly collaborative manner, and was also for the convenience of the two pilots performing a neural drift in the movie.

The core of piloting this mecha lay in a technology called "Neural Handshake," which allowed pilots to directly control the massive mecha through thought.

This was somewhat similar to the IMM External Neural Electrodes Lin Fang had obtained in the wandering earth, another form of advanced technology.

However, the neural connection placed an immense mental burden on the pilot. In the movie, it usually required two pilots to share the burden through synchronized consciousness.

[Boss, connection successful]

Lin Fang raised his hand. He felt that he alone was enough; he didn't feel any burden at this moment.

The massive steel body of the Eureka Striker emitted a low hum. This mecha perfectly replicated Lin Fang's movements. A giant metal fist slowly clenched, letting out a satisfying hydraulic hiss.

Within a few minutes, Lin Fang was already able to manipulate the mecha to complete a series of movements smoothly.

The only drawback...

Controlling it as he walked toward the Schwarzschild Channel, Lin Fang felt a bit of regret. If only it could fly.