Jill Young left with the slightly bewildered Dr. Jacob, while the rest of the group whispered among themselves. Some scoffed at the nickname "The Queen," but most were busy speculating about what kind of tests Dr. Jacob was conducting. Everyone here wanted to become a real Mecha Hunter pilot. Even if they weren’t dreaming of saving the world, the perks and pay for Mecha Hunter pilots were excellent—and they were treated like celebrities.
Sure, the job was dangerous, but in today’s world, it’s honestly hard to say whether it’s riskier inside the mech or out.
After a moment of awkward silence, Jasper Xiao suddenly turned to Jack Young and spoke: "Uh, bro, what should I call you?"
Jack Young glanced at him but didn’t respond.
Jasper Xiao felt embarrassed. He didn’t realize that, for Jack Young, even giving him a glance was a big deal. As for answering questions, Jasper wasn’t even close to qualifying.
Jasper Xiao stayed quiet for a while, clearly thinking something over, then finally asked, "I know this is a bit forward, but I have to ask—when she called you ‘brother’ just now, did she mean you two are blood siblings, or just close? The word ‘brother’ in Chinese can mean a lot of things. I don’t even know why, but I just had to ask."
But, as expected, Jack Young didn’t bother with him, just sat there quietly. Not even "in one ear and out the other"—Jasper’s question didn’t even make it to his ear.
Faced with that silence, Jasper Xiao was seriously awkward. He’d never been snubbed like this in his life, but now he’d been left hanging in front of everyone. At least Jack looked at him when he said hi—when it came to questions, he didn’t even get a glance. That was some next-level arrogance. Jasper’s eyes flickered, then he finally sighed, "Alright, my bad."
He crossed his arms and sat back in his seat, silent and a little gloomy.
Next to him, Li Yuncong swallowed nervously, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. What’s going on here—are they about to fight? Hope I don’t get dragged into this…
"Next up, Li Yuncong."
"Here!" The call couldn’t have come at a better time!
Li Yuncong shot up like he’d been poked with a tack, jogging to the little room at the end of the hallway. He opened the door to find something like an interrogation room: a desk, a lamp, and Dr. Jacob sitting across from him, looking oddly frustrated, as if something strange had just happened. Seeing Li Yuncong, Dr. Jacob slapped his own cheeks, trying to perk up: "Take a seat."
"Oh, okay." Although he was told to sit, there wasn’t a chair in sight. Li Yuncong grabbed a wooden chair from the corner, and Dr. Jacob quietly jotted something down.
"Alright, Mr. Li Yuncong, I’ll just ask a few simple questions. Relax and answer however you feel—let’s just chat, okay?"
"No problem! Small talk’s my specialty."
"Good, here’s my first question." Dr. Jacob began, "You know Mecha Hunter pilots get paid a lot—three times as much as airline pilots. If you became a pilot, what would you buy with all that money?"
Li Yuncong answered without missing a beat: "Figurines, of course!" He started counting on his fingers: "I’d collect every Hatsune Miku figure, the full set of battle-damaged Ikki Tousen ones, and a Rei Ayanami body pillow. Oh, and there’s more…"
Watching Li Yuncong get all excited, lost in his own daydreams, Dr. Jacob rubbed his temples in frustration. Should he stick to the original plan for the next question? If he did, this kid might talk for half an hour. But if he skipped it, he’d lose an important part of the psychological assessment.
Forget it, may as well ask.
"Alright, Li Yuncong, if you could have any woman in the world fall in love with you, no strings attached, what kind of woman would you pick?"
"No way, that’s an option?!" Li Yuncong instantly forgot he was taking a test, acting like he’d really been summoned before God to make a choice. His eyes bulged, face flushed, and he started panting: "That’s easy! She’s gotta be *** plus super rich, absolutely gorgeous, tiny waist, long legs, pale skin! Oh, and—" He glanced around, then leaned in close to Dr. Jacob, looking a little embarrassed, like he was sharing a dirty secret: "She’s gotta be factory-sealed, if you know what I mean…"
Yeah… asking him that was definitely a mistake. Dr. Jacob was exasperated, but he forced himself to finish the interview and jotted down his initial psychological assessment of Li Yuncong.
"Next—The Teacher?" Wait, is that really a registered name? Do Chinese people have the surname 'Teacher'? But judging by the pattern, it’s probably the Queen’s companion. After all, no one else would use a title like that. "Go call that guy in."
Dr. Jacob waved his hand for the staff to go get him. A few minutes later, someone pushed open the door—but it wasn’t Jack Young. Instead, it was a staff member looking weirded out. "Doctor, you’d better go yourself. We can’t handle The Teacher…"
"What?!"
An hour later, Dr. Jacob collapsed onto a sofa in an office, totally wiped out. Mark Long smiled at him: "So, old buddy, how are the new recruits this year?"
"Don’t even ask, just look for yourself." Dr. Jacob tossed over a stack of files, massaging his forehead. After a moment, he couldn’t help but complain: "What kind of people are we recruiting this year? Every single one is a weirdo or a freak. That Li Yuncong—he’s a textbook case of hardcore otaku delusions. There were plenty of guys like that when we were young, but I thought they’d gone extinct. Turns out there’s still one left."
Mark Long just smiled, "That’s not necessarily a bad thing. People like that might have real potential. You and I are proof—just need a little polishing. Any promising candidates?"
"Yeah, there’s one—Jingzhe. That kid’s got potential." Dr. Jacob perked up. "Honestly, Jingzhe seems like someone to watch. We’ll keep an eye on him, he could go far. And he’s probably…" Even though the place was secure, Dr. Jacob instinctively lowered his voice, "not connected to the pilot attacks in Sydney. My initial judgment is he’s not a spy."
"Hmm." Mark Long pulled up the footage from Jasper Xiao’s initial test. During the acrophobia challenge, Jasper even managed to save someone who was about to fall. Mark nodded and kept scrolling until he got to Jill Young’s evaluation.
Seeing the evaluation, Mark Long raised an eyebrow: "You rated this ‘Queen’ pretty highly."
"I couldn’t help it," Dr. Jacob complained. "You wouldn’t believe it—my first test was to have her find a chair. I put four different chairs in the corners to see how observant and careful she was, and to get a sense of her personality. Guess what—she just sat on the desk! From start to finish, she was above it all. The aura—my god! Mark, I’m telling you, with the Queen here, things are about to get a lot livelier around the base!"
"Haha!" Mark Long burst out laughing, then asked, "So is she fit to be a pilot?"
"It’s a toss-up," Dr. Jacob said after thinking it over. "We haven’t recruited many qualified female pilots, mostly because of psychological issues. But when it comes to mental toughness, stability, stress resistance—she’s top-tier. She’s the kind of person you want on your side when the going gets tough, the most reliable teammate."
"Oh? Then why do you say ‘it’s a toss-up’?"
"Because she’s definitely not the type to just follow orders," Dr. Jacob rolled his eyes. "If she’s your teammate or subordinate, you can relax. But if she’s the boss—forget it! She might flip the table and take over any day!"
"Haha, I like that! Not my headache, it’s the commander’s problem." Mark Long was pretty pleased, then he saw Jack Young’s evaluation and frowned: "Why didn’t The Teacher pass?"
"Honestly, I don’t get The Teacher either," Dr. Jacob said, scratching his head in frustration. "He’s a real wildcard. At first, I thought he was just arrogant and difficult. Then I figured he was an idiot. But finally, I realized—he might actually be sleepwalking."
"Sleepwalking?" Mark Long was shocked. "Is it even possible to have long-term sleepwalking? And can a sleepwalker pass the neural connection test?"
"No idea. This year’s been full of weird stuff—what’s one more? Anyway, The Teacher could be either a jackpot or a disaster; I still can’t figure him out. We’ll just have to wait and see." Dr. Jacob finished, then suddenly stood up, flipping to a certain page in the evaluation results. He looked serious: "Old buddy, keep a close eye on this one. From what I’ve seen, he’s here for a reason…"
"Mm." Mark Long nodded without expression, then stood up: "Alright, come with me to the neural assessment room. That’s always the liveliest part—bet it’s started already."
Meanwhile, in another hall at the base, a crowd had already gathered. Staff from all sorts of departments were packed into the room, noisily watching the equipment in the center.
One of the candidates was wearing a special helmet, nervously watching a screen on the wall. On the screen was a graphic like a mercury column from a blood pressure monitor, bobbing up and down.