Gundam UC Hunting Time

"I've read all the training manuals and tactical reports he wrote! His MS tactics are truly groundbreaking!"

"Hmm... Is it really that amazing? You can become an ace by driving this piece of junk?"

Wearing her mechanic uniform and arms crossed, Anne Brevig thought Noelle was a bit over the top. A Latina with tanned skin and black hair, and an engineer in Delta's experimental unit, she knew all too well how unreliable Zani's machine was; it was highly suspicious that someone could pilot it and become an ace.

“Annie, you don’t understand. I assure you, he is an absolute MS warfare expert. Many of the MS tactics we use now were proposed and improved by him, right, Captain Matt?”

Noelle defended her idol and even pulled Captain Matt Healy aside to verify her claims.

Lieutenant Matt Seely had the typical look of a soldier, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He was frowning because of the difficult fighting and seemed taciturn, but he still gave an affirmative answer when asked.

"Among my instructors at the MS Pilot Training School, there are people who came from Luna 2, and their instructor is Captain Hayashi, who is rumored to be very skilled."

"See? See!"

Noelle excitedly clenched her little fist, listening to the girls in the team discussing this person incessantly, while her fellow MS pilot, Anish Lofman, stood unhappily with his hands on his hips.

"What? Another one trying to steal the spotlight."

"What!? You're not convinced? Well, you'll at least have to become an ace first, right?"

Anna teased him, and Anish Lofman hesitated, looking frustrated to the point of madness.

"Ugh, this is infuriating! I'm so angry!"

"Don't look so jealous, it's unsightly."

Anne added insult to injury, Rachel covered her mouth and laughed, which made Aneesh unable to help but cry out in despair.

"Miss Rachel, don't be fooled by guys from outer space."

As they were talking, a jeep sped by, kicking up a cloud of dust, and then Lin Xingyuan, the main character of the conversation, appeared. The moment the group was seen, the live chat exploded.

[Wow! Rachel, the blonde queen!]

Noelle, my forever first messenger!

[Annie is pretty good too!]

[PL, please note that Matt is the top graduate of the Federal MS Pilot School.]

Thanks to the flood of intelligence, Lin Xingyuan already knew everyone before he even arrived.

"Ah! They're here!"

Because Lin Xingyuan often appeared in promotional brochures, the group recognized his face—even though he was wearing makeup, they could at least recognize him. When they saw him coming, they stood at attention and whispered among themselves.

“What? Surprisingly ordinary,” Anish Lofman said sourly, and this time Annie agreed.

"Indeed, he doesn't resemble the male lead in the movie at all."

"Keep your voices down!"

Noelle turned around and glared at the two of them unhappily, and then everyone raised their hands in salute.

The car stopped beside him, and Lin Xingyuan got out with his bag.

"This is Captain Lin Xingyuan, who has come to inspect the area."

The driving staff officer, Bill, introduced Lin Xingyuan, then introduced Matt and the others, and then hurriedly left.

"Relax, everyone. I'm just here to take a look. There's no need to be so tense."

Lin Xingyuan returned the greeting, lowered his arm, and said with a smile, showing no airs of an elite ace pilot. Then, Noel exclaimed softly.

"So young..."

She was younger than Lin Xingyuan, but judging from their faces, they were indeed about the same age, which amazed Annie.

Although she knew Lin Xingyuan was young, she didn't expect him to be this young.

“We’re talking about you, Captain Lin,” Rachel said with a generous smile, displaying the demeanor of a mature and sophisticated woman. “It’s an honor for us to meet the legendary Black Reaper here.”

"That's just propaganda exaggeration. On the ground, you have more experience than I do. Nice to meet you."

Lin Xingyuan said modestly, shook hands with Captain Matt, then with Rachel and the others. When it was Noelle's turn, the girl was excited and her face was flushed.

"Captain, could you sign this for me?"

"I'm not a celebrity, but it's okay."

Lin Xingyuan answered with a smile, suddenly reminiscing about the days when he used to play games.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, he got down to business.

"This is the Zani manufactured on the ground."

He examined the machines up close, becoming even more certain of his earlier assessment—these Zanis did indeed utilize a significant amount of Project V technology. The most obvious evidence was their weaponry: cannons, rocket launchers, missile bays, and the machine guns manufactured by the Eight States were already finalized, outpacing the progress of Luna 2.

"Is it very different from Zani in Luna 2?" Anne, an engineer, asked with interest.

"Ah."

"For example?"

There are ten fingers.

"what?"

"Zani of Luna II mostly only have three fingers."

"Uh? Really?"

"That's true, so most of the Zani in Luna 2 are unable to engage in close-quarters combat."

Lin Xingyuan shrugged, then began to question everyone about details, such as walking speed, propulsion distance, propulsion altitude, propulsion time, fuel capacity, coolant capacity, rotation speed, bilateral angle, differences in detectors, differences in weapon control systems, ballistic performance, and so on. His meticulous and professional attitude made everyone in the test unit take it seriously, no longer daring to be the slightest bit careless. After understanding the specific data, Lin Xingyuan personally boarded the aircraft to experience it for himself.

"Ah, so this is the bondage of gravity..."

Feeling as if he were moving in water, Lin Xingyuan experienced the sluggishness of maneuvering. After becoming familiar with the basic operations, he began to explore the machine's boundary performance, however—

"No!!"

On the ground, seeing Lin Xingyuan piloting Zani from a slow jog to a long stride, then unleashing full power, maneuvering left and right in the air, landing and then jumping back and forward, constantly performing high-intensity maneuvers, Annie screamed, clutching her head. Sure enough, the next second, while maneuvering, Zani suddenly seemed to be electrocuted, its whole body jerked, and it froze, crashing to the ground with a thud, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

【Ha ha ha ha】

The machine crashed, and Lin Xingyuan almost couldn't catch his breath. His shoulder was painfully constricted by the seatbelt, and the comments section was filled with laughter.

"Ah...it's over..."

On the ground, Matt and his group were horrified and rushed to help. With the help of two other mechs, the mech was flipped over. Lin Xingyuan climbed out of the cockpit and looked at the group speechlessly.

"Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this machine?"

The machine couldn't even handle this level of maneuvering. Is the reliability of the Zani on the ground really that bad?

Rachel and Annie hurriedly explained, and Lin Xingyuan then realized that compared to the Luna 2, which was largely assembled from Zaku parts, the Zani produced on Earth did indeed have more serious reliability issues. Firstly, most of the parts were hand-made by the Federation, inevitably leading to some areas where things weren't done correctly. Secondly, mobile suits do bear a heavier load in a gravity environment than in space—the Zaku also had this problem. Therefore, after the first wave of landing operations, Zeon quickly developed a ground combat version, specifically designed to improve and enhance its operational capabilities under gravity.

"I see." Lin Xingyuan sighed, and took the opportunity to do a good deed: "Remember, the cockpit door of the mass-produced machine should open from the top, or increase the chest cavity area to allow for an angle for the door, otherwise it will affect the pilot's escape."

Author's message

……

……

Happy Lunar New Year's Eve! May you have good fortune and sweet dreams, and many journeys to the north and south.

Chapter 82 This wind, this smell, this is the smell of the battlefield!

"What a farce..."

On the command ship of the Pompan class, Vice Admiral Ireland frowned as he stared at the fallen mobile suit in the distance, feeling quite displeased.

A mere captain!

He recalled the other person's gaze, a gaze that seemed to see right through him, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

What's wrong with this guy? Did Rebil discover something? Is that why he brought him here?

After hesitating for a moment, he pressed the doorbell on his desk, and soon a soldier came in and greeted him humbly and cautiously.

"General!"

"Go tell them that the Black Reaper has come to visit."

"Yes."

The soldier accepted the order, turned and left. Soon after, a small plane took off from the base, flew backward, circled around, and headed towards the Zeon-controlled area.

On the other side, Lin Xingyuan received a warm welcome from the Delda test team—at least from the female soldiers.

He and Noelle discussed tactics, and with the various ingenious ideas suggested by the comments, he firmly attracted the girl's attention, and her favorability quickly reached the maximum level.

He talked to Rachel about military management, using his past experiences as a topic of conversation, and engaged in in-depth exchanges with her, which resonated deeply with her and greatly increased his favorability towards her.

He talked to Anne about MS engineering and design principles, sharing the knowledge he had learned from May and the solutions he had drawn from the gacha game. He immediately gained her respect and affirmation, and his goodwill towards her was almost overflowing.

So much so that at dinner time, the three women sat around him, chatting and laughing happily, which almost brought tears to the eyes of the other male soldiers.

"Why?! Our unit's three most beautiful girls are going to be snatched away by some guys from outer space!"

Anish, filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred, cried out in sorrow, echoing the sentiments of everyone, except Matt, who was distracted and completely indifferent.

"Captain, what's up?"

"Is this the time to be thinking about these things when we're at war?"

Matt cursed irritably, and Anish couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"This is the time to truly enjoy yourself..."

Suddenly, a loud bang interrupted Anish's mutterings. It was the sound of a shell exploding nearby. Matteng stood up and looked in the direction of the explosion.

"Zeon's artillery barrage!?"

"They're already this close!?"

Everyone stood up, and Lin Xingyuan stopped his pleasant conversation with the girls and looked in the direction of the shelling.

[Judging by the timing, these two days are when the Zeon forces' Belgrade offensive units will begin their direct attack on the Belgrade base.]

But they lost; Rebil's troops pushed them back.

As the barrage of shells rained down, the comments that had been clamoring for Lin Xingyuan to get close to the beautiful woman immediately shifted, displaying new information.

Now that he knew the result, Lin Xingyuan was no longer nervous.

"It's alright, they can't beat us."

He spoke casually to the girls, but they were still uneasy. At that moment, the Pompanzee-class Patton, deployed in the base, raised its turrets and began firing. The sound of the shells was deafening, and the large-caliber shells left trails in the air like trains, whistling as they crashed into the distance. Then, the Type 61 tanks and other armored forces in the base also started moving, making a rumbling sound.

"But……"

"General Rebil is here; trust his command."

Lin Xingyuan smiled, sat down again, and continued drinking tea, his calm demeanor inspiring everyone.

It has been said that during wartime, soldiers actually spend most of their time waiting. Lin Xingyuan currently has no clear affiliation or mecha, and he doesn't think he will be sent to the battlefield. Therefore, after finishing his tea, he asked Rachel to help him find a tent to rest in—after all, he hadn't had a proper rest all day, having been fighting and traveling from space to Earth.

He was entitled to rest in a guest room on the Pangpan-class ship, but seeing that the Pangpan-class ship was constantly firing to provide support, he gave up on the idea.

In the middle of the night—

"Who?"

Sensing someone pacing around outside the tent, Lin Xingyuan woke up and asked warily.

"Captain! That..."

Rachel's tense voice came from outside, hesitant to speak, which was very unusual for her. Lin Xingyuan got up and opened the tent. Seeing her worried face and looking completely lost, he asked in confusion.

"What happened?"