An advanced guide for experienced modelers, from building blocks to hand-building Gundams

"Heh... As expected..." Ross lowered his head and mocked his own naiveté. "How could an organization like that not have backups?"

Do you want to continue? Do you want to start over? Do you want to destroy all that stuff?

But what about the goal? What about the location? What about the transformation, the people who make them?

Thinking of this, Rhodes felt frustrated and powerless.

"…Roz?"

Mariu's voice sounded from Ross's left.

Ross raised his head and glanced at Malu and the middle-aged man with brown hair and a beard standing in front of Malu.

"...General Halberdon, this is Ross Links, a space scrap recycler." Mariu was stunned for a moment after seeing Ross's eyes. Then, she immediately adjusted her state and introduced Ross to the middle-aged man. "Like Kira, he has been protecting the Archangel since Heliopos."

"Oh, I read about your deeds in the report. Thank you so much for protecting the Archangel and the Strike Gundam along the way." Halberton smiled as he stepped forward and extended his hand toward Ross. "I didn't expect such a powerful pilot could exist among the natural population. He could unleash such power simply by reassembling a modified mecha from the remains of the King."

Jinn wreckage modified machine?

Ross couldn't help but stand up from the railing, and after standing up straight, he glanced at Malu behind Halberton.

Malu said nothing, just shook his head slightly.

"Yeah, it's me." Rhodes shook Halberton's outstretched hand and then let go.

Obviously, as Malu's mentor, how could Halbaton not see that Malu was intent on protecting the young man before him? Out of concern and trust for Malu, Halbaton simply followed Malu's words.

After seeing the young man in front of him, Halberdon also began to examine the young man in front of him who was favored and protected by Malu.

"I didn't expect there were still people who liked wearing old-school bomber jackets like this..." Halberton glanced at Ross's outfit and started talking. "You don't see many of these clothes these days."

"After all, it's a style from many years ago." Ross nodded, not feeling impatient because his thoughts were interrupted.

Rather, he needed some time to digest this feeling of powerlessness and cheer himself up again.

"Haha, I didn't expect someone to have the same taste as me." Halberton got straight to the point, walking to the viewfinder and gazing at the familiar Earth. "This view, no matter how much I look at it, I never get tired of it."

"Yes, Earth, the cradle of mankind." Ross also looked at the scenery of the Earth. "But humans can't stay in the cradle forever."

"Oh, I didn't expect you to think that way." Halboten turned his head and looked at Ross with a smile. "Were you thinking about something like this just now?"

"...Not really." Ross reached out and grabbed the railing in front of the viewing window, looking out at the Earth. "It's... something that's very relevant to me."

"Oh? What's it? Something about love?" Compared to the Earth Army's senior generals, Halberton at this moment looked more like an old man chatting in the park. "Why don't you tell me? I, as someone who's been through it, can give you some advice."

"It's not about feelings..." Ross sighed. "It's better if you don't know."

"Once you know about this kind of thing, you can't stay out of it."

----split line----

PS: Chen Bai's 19 sets of costumes will be taken off the shelves indefinitely, and some of them need to be put back on the shelves with added fabrics. Although I also bought quite a few... Tsk, it seems that Huabei Warriors need to be launched.

My blood pressure soared and I felt numb.

Volume 22: Chapter : Staring into the Abyss (Fog)

Inside the Gnarkuli, Halberton was looking at the small container marked "Smart Brain" with a serious expression.

The hangar had been sealed off at this time, leaving only the crew of the Archangel and people trusted by Halberton.

Looking at the mechanical components that had been placed in the center of the hangar, leaving Madoc scratching his head as he couldn't think of how to disassemble them, Halbertton couldn't help but think of the conversation they had just had on the observation deck.

……

Half an hour ago, viewing platform.

"It's hard for me to reveal this matter because I don't know whether you can be trusted."

"I guarantee that if you trust me, Ross, then General Halberton is trustworthy."

"Okay... have you disassembled the contents of the container labeled 'Smart Brain'?" Ross asked this question after Halberton expressed his desire to know the whole story.

"It's not disassembled. Inside is just a machine that docks with the MA. It's said to be a newly developed automatic combat unit. I don't know the exact structure." Halberton didn't understand why Ross asked this question, but he felt that the automatic combat unit was the reason Ross said that. "And the specific reason is..."

"...It uses the interfaces and anti-tampering screws specially designed by Blue Cosmos, right?" Rhodes smiled and said the answer that Halbotton was about to say.

"Also, sometimes armored units equipped with automated combat components attack friendly forces, right?"

"...How did you learn this?" Halbotton's relaxed expression faded, replaced by a serious tone. "These things should be military secrets. Please answer my questions directly."

"...You have one last chance to give up. Forget what I just said and stay out of this, General Halberton." Rhodes didn't panic at Halberton's change of attitude; instead, his expression grew serious. "If you continue like this, there's no turning back."

"I, Halbottom, have never been afraid of anyone." Halbottom didn't pay attention to the warning in Rhodes' words. Instead, he became more determined to get to the bottom of it.

"... Let's go to the hangar." Ross turned around, as if he had made up his mind, and left without looking back. "Everything I faced, and the reasons why I fought, I will explain there."

……

The perspective returns to the present, in the hangar.

"I can't open it, Captain Malu." After struggling for a long time with the disassembly interface of the "automatic combat component," Madoc gave up. "The interface is completely new, and only the adapter cable they provided can be used. To disassemble it, I have to go..."

"Looking for me, huh?"

Just when everyone was at a loss, Ross brought Christina into the hangar.

"Yes, it's up to you to do it, Ross." After seeing Ross, Maddox smiled and gave Ross a thumbs up.

After seeing Ross use a pile of wreckage that others thought was completely useless to make those adapters, Ross became a walking "mechanical problem expert" in the eyes of the maintenance team.

"Smart Brain... As expected, after all this time, it's still using the structure I designed." Ross, contrary to his usual image of a "sunny and cheerful big boy", had a gloomy expression as he stared at this "automatic combat component".

"What? The structure you designed?" Before becoming the captain of the Archangel, Malu was a technical sergeant. Naturally, he could understand how sturdy the lock design of this device was and how sophisticated the structural design of the almost one-piece shell was.

"Before I became a waste recycler, I was a researcher at Blue Cosmos." Ross deftly pulled out a piece of debris and quickly, with a file, ground it into a strangely shaped screwdriver head. "This thing is the main project of that institute. I designed the structure in CE 68, and I'm surprised it hasn't been modified in all these years."

As the electric screwdriver unscrewed the special anti-tamper screws one by one, Rhodes' expression became increasingly gloomy.

"Christina, do me a favor." Rhodes instructed Christina to grab the handle on the other side and prepare to remove the shell.

Fortunately, we are in space, otherwise two robotic arms would be needed to dismantle the shell.

As Rhodes and Christina took apart the outer shell of the "automatic combat component", this device that seemed mysterious to others finally revealed its inner workings.

But after seeing the contents of this component, Gnacuri fell into an eerie silence.

"How...how could this happen?!" Seeing the contents of this "automatic component", Malu subconsciously covered his mouth, fearing that he would scream.

"I didn't expect it to be this kind of thing?" Even Mu, who was always optimistic and originally very excited, couldn't help but feel disgusted.

“…” Baki Lulu didn’t say anything, but it was obvious that what she saw had already impacted her worldview.

Atop a sophisticated electronic platform suspended in the air, connected to a vast array of cables within a shockproof structure filled with springs and steel frames, rests a specially crafted semicircular glass cover. This semicircular cover is filled with a specially formulated nutrient solution.

Floating in the nutrient solution is a human brain connected to wires via implanted electronic components.

"Smart Brain is the code name for this project. It's ostensibly about developing an intelligent, automated combat system for armored vehicles." Rhodes put on headphones with a slightly unfamiliar air and pulled out a tablet. "I thought so too, so I designed this platform for them, originally intended to house a quantum computer."

"But in the end, they put a gun to my head and let me know their true intentions." Rhodes sighed and spoke a truth that sent chills down everyone's spine. "This isn't some AI-guided automated combat system at all. They're building high-performance bio-CPU wetware."

"Blue Cosmos takes a large number of orphans from Earth's orphanages. When they reach the age of sixteen to eighteen, their brains are taken out and made into wetware like this."

"This kind of thing... I can't stand it." Ross took a deep breath and connected the tablet to the platform equipped with wetware via a data cable. "So, I destroyed that research institute."

"But apparently, this research on cosmos is still ongoing." Halbottom's tone became serious and solemn. After seeing the interior of the device, his human instincts made him feel a strong resistance. "From what I understand, this thing has begun to be initially implemented among the Atlantic Federation's troops."

“That bastard from Blue Cosmos…” Mu gritted his teeth.

"...Can you hear me?" Ross calmed down a bit and spoke in a calmer tone. He placed the tablet on the frame, allowing people to see the dialog box displayed on the tablet.

After a short period of silence, a series of words began to appear on the tablet.

"...I will follow orders. Please give the orders."

"...I'm not from Blue Cosmos." Ross sighed, his expression sad. "You're safe."

After a period of silence.

A string of words began to flash across the tablet at a terrifying speed.

"Kill me, kill me, kill me, kill me, kill me..."

Simple words, like an indescribable whisper, rang faintly in the ears of those who saw the tablet.

The screen was refreshed so quickly, as if a distressed teenager was using up all his strength to make his final wail to the world.

"...I understand." Ross had seen many scenes like this before him.

Generally speaking, this situation only occurs in experimental products marked as "failed" in the research institute. Of course, there are also many cases where "good products" collapse after a period of time.

Rhodes silently took out the RE-45 he had used last time and aimed it at the semicircular glass cover in front of him.

The soldiers around him should have pinned Ross to the ground after he pulled out his weapon, but everyone remained silent and motionless.

"If there is an afterlife, please don't be born into this painful world." Rhodes prayed for the brain in front of him, which he didn't know whether it came from a boy or a girl.

Then, he pulled the trigger.

"Bang...bang...bang..."

The gunshots rang out in the quiet hangar like church bells.

The glass cover shattered, the nutrient solution splashed... Finally, the brain exploded into debris.

"Huh..." Rhodes breathed a sigh of relief, but his hands, which could make all kinds of exquisite instruments, now drooped weakly.

Christina stood beside Roz with a sad look on her face.

"...You did the right thing, Ross." After a long moment, a strong hand patted Ross's left shoulder. Halberton's voice was filled with anger, confusion, and sadness. "You ended his suffering. Look, he left you his last words in this world."

Ross raised his head and looked at the tablet beside him.

"Thank you."

Such ordinary words, just expressing gratitude, but its weight is like a jack pressing on everyone's heart.

"To fight against something like this, is this why you got on that MS to fight?" Halberdun frowned after taking a look at the "Smart Brain" and blue cosmos logos on the disassembled shell.

Then he looked to the side and saw the Jegan D type, or the Strike Jegan, which had already completed the installation of the assault component.

"I want to apologize for the slight I showed you in my heart before."

"You are an excellent man."

Halbottom patted Ross's shoulder again.

"I jumped into this fire pit because of my own will."

"We'll get rid of these pests, I promise."

----split line----

PS: Today I am still so tired that I fall asleep quickly as soon as I lie down on the bed.

But the good news is that my mother is in good health and will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow.

Volume 23: Chapter Solomon, I’m back!

Those who experienced it that day kept silent about what they saw and heard in the hangar.

Halberton, who had already examined the Archangel up close, returned to his own battleship, the Menelaus.

"General Halberton, it has been completely disassembled."

Just as Halberton was sitting in his office thinking, the office door was opened.

Halberton's adjutant walked into the office, holding a tablet in his hand with a complicated expression.

"That man named Ross was right. The 'Smart Brain,' or Blue Cosmos, that developed these devices has been using the architecture he provided."

The adjutant handed the tablet to Halberton, which displayed a series of captured pictures and detailed recorded videos.

"The tablet is completely disconnected from the internet and cannot be remotely controlled."

Halberton slid the screen with a serious expression, and there seemed to be some kind of fire burning in his eyes.

"Those components...are all filled with crazy brains." The adjutant felt a little nauseous and a little dizzy.

I have seen body parts on the battlefield before, but for some reason, I always feel an instinctive resistance when I see brains soaked in instruments.

"...Is it done?" Halbotn closed his eyes, turned off the screen of the tablet in his hand, and put it aside.

"Everything has been handled." The adjutant nodded.