I, a ship girl, am the savior of civilization.

At the same time, Laura compared the energy difference before and after the creation, and a strange feeling arose in her heart.

"It can provide enough fuel for the mothership to travel about 200 nautical miles at economical speed. Isn't that a bit too little?"

The nuclear reactor has enough energy to allow the mothership to sail 40 nautical miles, and Laura can easily afford the energy required to manufacture a bunker-buster missile.

The Dawn did not directly confront the Axehead, and the military's attacks could not reach the mothership, so the effects of the Wind of Resurgence repair could not be tested for the time being. Laura was currently in San Francisco, so the buff from the ship's will was out of the question.

"With Axehead dead, the military will probably start looking for trouble with the Dawn. Just to be safe, let's avoid it for now."

Considering that she was still in someone else's territorial waters, Laura thought for a moment and then activated the mothership's newly activated deep-sea mode.

External weapons were retracted into the ship's interior, missile launchers were all shut down, and even the three 460mm guns demonstrated capabilities they had not previously possessed, retracting into the mother ship's armor along with their base turrets.

Suddenly, the mothership changed its original hedgehog-like appearance. The Dawn, now in deep-sea mode, looked like a harmless egg, slowly sinking into the ocean and eventually disappearing from the surface.

By the time the search party arrived, the Dawn had completely disappeared.

7. Electromagnetic railgun

In the deep sea, the Dawn, transformed into deep-sea submersible mode, silently concealed itself in the darkness, evading any possible search. Even before the tech tree was fully unlocked, Laura had already browsed information related to the ship's hull configuration, a fundamental technology.

It was the bonus Deep Dive mode that allowed Laura to cast aside her worries and boldly expose the Dawn to others. Otherwise, Laura might have needed to think again about how to reliably seize the Axe's head.

Under normal circumstances, the Axeheaded Ship would be considered a special case by the US government, so the Washington D.C. forces wouldn't immediately go on high alert after the San Francisco attack. Instead, the Dawn, as the MVP of the San Francisco campaign, would receive even greater attention.

Having witnessed the Dawn's combat capabilities, Laura no longer believed that greedy politicians were willing to coexist peacefully with her.

It would be best if the Dawn didn't reappear for a while. With Axehead's antics in San Francisco, Laura's plan to stay with Uncle Jefferson was essentially no longer hindered. Until the second Kaiju appeared, Laura planned to continue living by Uncle Jefferson's side.

If Laura remembers correctly, the second Kaiju will land in Marani, Philippines, in six months. At that time, Laura can continue remotely piloting the Dawn in combat.

There are only so many Kaiju landing events in the movie with specific times and locations. Including Axehead, the early Kaiju were all weaklings, so Laura naturally had to seize every opportunity to obtain Civilization commands.

For Laura, whose ultimate goal is to reach for the stars, this is a considerable sum of money.

"Speaking of which, there's still an order I have on hand?"

With that in mind, Laura opened the tech tree again. Gazing at the dazzling array of technologies, Laura fell into deep thought. After unlocking the ship's hull configuration, the most basic part of the pyramid-shaped tech tree was now available.

The four main categories are attack, defense, strategic destruction, and others.

Strategic destruction is an off-specification weapon. From what Laura has seen so far, technologies such as "interplanetary hyperspace teleportation" require a minimum of three civilization commands and indicate that they need to be equipped with prerequisite technologies such as shipborne controllable nuclear fusion energy.

Although it looks tempting, it's a technology that Laura, who currently only has a few civilization commands and a blank ship body, can't afford.

Trying to shift her focus to areas where the poor should be looking, Laura pondered how to use her remaining instructions wisely.

With the Dawn's capabilities, coupled with its deep-dive mode, as long as Laura doesn't act recklessly, 13 years of Earth's technology will hardly pose a threat to her. Therefore, Laura plans to focus her development efforts on countering the Kaiju.

The Kaiju have virtually no long-range attack capabilities, so there's no need to upgrade the mothership's armor. Furthermore, during the previous Battle of San Francisco, the Dawn was quite a distance from the Axe, and given that activating land-based/air-based modes is unlikely in the short term, mobility isn't a pressing concern.

In this way, Laura can only choose between attacking and other options.

Other technologies, including intelligence gathering and mothership energy, are not currently in urgent need.

The Dawn is powered by nuclear fuel rods sufficient for seventy years, and even considering the long-term consumption of ammunition replenishment via the Revival Wind, it should have more than enough power to survive until the wormhole closes. While the bunker-buster missiles are powerful enough to kill Kaiju like the Axehead, their threat to the Kaiju will gradually diminish as the invasion intensifies.

Marani in the Philippines is the last Kaiju landing site in Laura's memory, meaning the Kaiju in the Philippines is likely the last one Laura will encounter. After that, if she wants to obtain Civilization Commands, Laura will need to compete with the Jaegers for Kaiju kills.

In other words, in the battles that follow, Laura will have to face level three and four Kaiju.

Therefore, the Dawn's attack capabilities are of paramount importance.

Having determined her future needs, Laura finally chose her goal.

[Adapted Electromagnetic Railgun: The same railgun as the Hyperion, propelled by Lorentz force, a pure kinetic energy weapon. An upgrade from the original 460mm main gun, although the caliber has been reduced to 430mm, its launch velocity of 2000m/s allows for more concentrated penetrating power.]

[Activation Cost: 1 Civilization Commands]

Activation confirmed!

Without the slightest hesitation, Laura immediately selected the electromagnetic railgun technology. Instantly, Laura felt a familiar physical change, as if something was changing. Almost in an instant, the main guns that were originally mounted on the three ends of the ship disappeared, replaced by three sets of electromagnetic railguns.

Even in deep-dive mode, Laura's hull modifications remained unaffected.

The newly installed three electromagnetic railguns have severely limited firing angles, making it impossible to replicate the previous 460° salvo. However, sacrificing the possibility of a salvo has resulted in an extreme increase in attack power.

Guided by modern fire control systems, the electromagnetic railgun is virtually pinpointable. Although it hasn't been tested yet, Laura is confident that if the axe reappears in front of her, a single tungsten steel bullet will send it flying.

"Then let's head towards Marani."

The Dawn adjusted its course and then slowly submerged towards the Philippines. For the next six months, the Dawn would remain hidden at a safe depth in the Maranhão Sea, quietly waiting for the next Kaiju.

—The dividing line six months later—

During these six months, Laura and Uncle Jefferson finally established a legal guardianship relationship. Due to the contamination by the monster Blue, Jefferson eventually moved away from San Francisco and came to Orange City with Laura.

The two cities are not far apart. Orange and San Francisco face each other across the sea. Sometimes, Uncle Jefferson could even look out at the half-ruined city and reminisce about the Golden Gate Bridge that sank into the sea.

Jefferson returned to his job in Oakland, assisting refugees arriving from San Francisco with both new and old colleagues. Thanks to his excellent performance in evacuating people in San Francisco, Jefferson even received a raise.

During this time, Laura lived a rather comfortable life. If you exclude the experience of Jefferson forcibly sending Laura to school, it was indeed a pleasant daily routine.

However, everything changed when the second Kaiju landed in the Philippines.

The initial claim that the Kaiju was the first to be discovered has been debunked, and it turns out that the Kaiju invasion will continue indefinitely.

Although many people still harbor a glimmer of hope, the countries around the Pacific have already held relevant meetings to discuss the mysterious invasion of the monster.

However, in the relevant meetings, in addition to the Kaiju that invaded a second time, the main focus of the discussion was also the unknown giant ship that blew up the head of the invading Kaiju with a single shot.

8. Shattered Dome

When news of the monster's landing in Maranhão broke, the world inevitably fell into panic.

Although Laura managed to kill the Kaiju twice in a row, the military still managed to analyze the Kaiju threat based on combat records from the Battle of San Francisco. With conventional weapons largely ineffective, establishing a targeted agency was imperative. Thus, the PPDC was born.

After news broke that countries around the world were preparing to form a joint emergency response agency, the PPDC, Jefferson decided to respond to the call and prepare to do his part in the fight against the Kaiju.

In the earlier incident where the axe fell in San Francisco, many of Jefferson's former colleagues in the San Francisco Police Department perished in the chaos. Coupled with the more generous treatment he received, Jefferson naturally did not hesitate to devote himself to the cause of saving all mankind.

Moreover, given his outstanding performance and status as the first officer to come into contact with the axe, Jefferson was already on the priority list. When the documents were sent to Jefferson, he couldn't find a reason to refuse.

The only drawback is probably the relocation from the gradually accustomed city of Oakland to Hong Kong. As the first confirmed PPDC Shattered Dome base, it will gather elites from all over the world. To be honest, if it weren't for the experience of the Axehead invasion, Jefferson might not have been able to take on the role of the Hong Kong base.

Laura wasn't really bothered by the move. Since she could manipulate things virtually, the ship girl's physical location didn't matter. However, considering Jefferson's safety, Laura felt Hong Kong was indeed a good choice.

As the location chosen for the Shattered Dome of PPDC, aside from a later monster invasion, the Hong Kong base was definitely the safest place.

Unless he is chosen as a Jaeger pilot, Jefferson is unlikely to encounter any danger.

As for myself, being able to obtain more specific information when monsters appear is certainly not a bad thing.

Intelligence blockade had always been a major source of pain for Laura. While staking out Marani, the Dawn had mistakenly positioned itself in the wrong place, separated from the Kaiju landing site by a vast coastline. By the time Laura rushed there, half the city was already gone.

Therefore, after taking the Kaiju's head with the electromagnetic cannon, Laura immediately used one Civilization Command to launch a "shipborne quantum satellite" for monitoring the Pacific Rim.

[Shipborne Quantum Satellite: A small quantum satellite equipped with a composite stealth system, capable of being autonomously launched from a Dawn-class carrier for small-scale satellite observation]

Of course, it can't compare to PPDC's detection. PPDC uses energy detection; as soon as a monster breaks through the wormhole, the system will immediately issue an alert. Compared to conventional satellite detection, PPDC is naturally much faster.

Laura chose this technology only because of the wider applicability of shipborne satellites. As for the last instruction, Laura also used it to enhance her own intelligence gathering, pointing out "nanoscale combat units".

[Nanometer-scale combat unit: A nanometer-scale spy combat unit with functions such as stealth and data transmission]

Unlike shipborne quantum satellites, nanounits are not suitable for motherships, but they are more beneficial to Laura's daily life.

Or, to put it another way, the completion of a scientific and technological task.

Nanounits, with their built-in monitoring, downloading, and transmission capabilities, are simply the best choice for acquiring technology. For example, data on neural bypass Drift systems and plasma weapons can be easily obtained using nanounits.

Before the next monster invasion, the first-generation Jaeger will definitely be assembled. Based on the principle that the frequency of monster invasions is increasing, neural bypass technology will be successfully developed within six months, and the Hong Kong base, as a pioneering platform for assembling Jaegers, naturally cannot lack this technology. At that time, Laura will be able to easily recoup her investment.

It's easy to see that this is a sure-fire investment.

"Little Laura, get ready, we have to go."

During their six months together, Jefferson and Laura developed a very harmonious relationship. Jefferson treated Laura like a daughter, and Laura treated Jefferson like an older man. The family they built truly brought them warmth.

"Understood, Uncle Jefferson."

As Jefferson greeted her, Laura glanced one last time at the room she had lived in for the past six months and sighed softly. If it weren't for the mission Noah had spoken of, and the Kaiju invasion, this life wouldn't have been so bad.

However, I will eventually have to leave.

With a slightly heavy heart, Laura dragged her small suitcase and embarked on her journey to Hong Kong.

—Airplane: Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

Hong Kong, PPDC Shattered Dome Base

The Broken Dome is still under construction, but countries investing in PPDC have already designated staff dormitories. Unlike the widespread withdrawal of investment expected in 2025, PPDC holders today have ample funds. While not at its historical peak, it is in a stable upward phase.

As a family member, Laura is not allowed to enter the base in principle. However, that's alright; the nanounits themselves possess weak mobility, and wind has little effect on nanoscale objects. Given enough time, the nanounits will eventually be able to enter the Shattered Dome base.

However, to shorten the process, Laura still evenly attached one cubic centimeter of nanounits to Jefferson's body. As a new recruit, after Jefferson finished setting up the equipment, he needed to undergo a routine check to have the necessary data entered into the base.

After Jefferson entered the Shattered Dome, the nanounits autonomously detached themselves and began to move into the Shattered Dome, using the people coming and going around them as stepping stones.

Using the nanounits, Laura also observed the newly constructed broken dome.

"This is a helicopter hangar? Although helicopters aren't very useful, I still really want to move a few onto the mothership."

"The mech docking stations under construction... It seems the mech hunter plan has been finalized, but I wonder if the core technology has been developed yet."

Looking with interest at the various completed and unfinished buildings within the broken dome, Laura suddenly noticed a rather peculiar room. Compared to the other places that revealed their disrepair, the technology here seemed more advanced, and the environment was more solemn.

"How's the plan going?"

"The neural bypass is fine, and the mecha's structure should be nearing completion. Next, we need to consider the compatibility between the pilot and the mecha. But to be honest, I don't think anyone can handle such a massive amount of data."

"It's no use. Although I personally prefer to replicate the unknown ships that stopped the monsters in the previous two invasions, there's nothing we can change. It's the decision from above."

"That's true. The mysteriously appearing giant ship and the continuous invasion of Kaijus must be related. Perhaps these monsters are the creations behind the giant ship."

"..."

Several people dressed in solemn attire appeared in the scene, their faces exuding majesty, clearly important figures. Listening to their conversation, Laura was completely bewildered.

"How come I didn't know I was the mastermind behind the Kaiju invasion?"