"As long as you're human, it's impossible to have zero spiritual capacity. Even someone in a vegetative state has a faint spiritual presence. We've even found vegetative patients who could be linked to the neural interface, and their spiritual score measured around six or seven. This 'Teacher' is definitely suspicious." In the office, Dr. Jacob anxiously scratched his head.
"So what do you think is wrong?" Mark Long asked. "Are you saying he's a biorobotic android or something?"
"Of course not! Even if someone was secretly developing that kind of thing, even if they succeeded, do you think I wouldn't be able to tell a real person from a robot?" Dr. Jacob groaned, massaging his forehead. "Looks like we drew the short straw. This 'Teacher' is probably useless."
"You don't need to worry about that. All right, go on, call those two in." Mark Long waved him off, and Dr. Jacob nodded and left. Soon, two people came in: Jill Young and Jasper Xiao.
Before anyone could say hello, Jill Young flopped onto the sofa, her face full of annoyance, muttering under her breath, "That blockhead is causing trouble for me again..."
Mark Long chuckled at her words, stood up first, and poured two glasses of champagne, handing them over: "Vintage 2007—good stuff like this is rare these days. Give it a try."
After passing over the glasses, Mark Long spoke leisurely: "First of all, congratulations on scoring so high in the test. Two top-tier candidates at once—this is a first in human history. You heard how loud those guys were cheering just now, right? Know why they're so excited? They don't know you, don't understand you, don't know if you're good or bad, but they know you're hope, and that's why they cheered. In times like these, responsibility outweighs desire."
Jasper Xiao seemed thoughtful at that, but Jill Young cut straight to the point: "Just say what you want to say."
"All right, I'll be blunt. The current mecha is fourth generation, dual-pilot system. As far as I know, all upcoming models will be the same—there won't be any single-pilot option. Who pairs with whom is decided by Hunter Academy after a full assessment, with orders coming straight from HQ. Normally, this isn't my business. But for the future of humanity, I want to say one thing—" Mark Long leaned in, looking at Jill Young. "I hope you can partner with someone else."
Jill Young shook her head, blunt as ever: "No way."
"I understand your concerns," Mark Long laughed. "Neural linking—entering each other's memories—makes it seem like no secret can hide. But let me be clear: no matter what you've done in the past, as long as you fight for humanity's survival, no one will hold it against you."
Jill Young chuckled, "You think I'm worried about someone discovering some dirty little secret?"
"Or maybe you're worried about privacy? I get it—the higher the compatibility, the more detailed the shared memories. In theory, if your compatibility exceeds 70%, even your most private secrets might be exposed." That's a major concern for pilots—after all, who wants others to know when they started, uh, certain personal habits. "But you really don't need to worry, because once you've done a spiritual link, you'll find your partner is the most trustworthy person in the world."
Jill Young's answer was still just two words: "No way."
Mark Long sighed, trying to reason with her: "Miss, I'll be honest with you, I have the authority to decide who gets sent to Hunter Academy. If you go there, you'll have to face the partner selection issue—you can't keep running from it. Take the gentleman beside you, Jasper—I have high hopes for both of you." At this, Jasper Xiao glanced at Jill Young, a bit awkwardly.
Mark Long continued, "The fifth-generation mecha is about to be developed: higher performance, but also higher demands on pilots. 'Two pilots with a combined load of one hundred' is a simplistic view—one hundred isn't a perfect score, it's just passing. Together, as long as your compatibility isn't disastrously low, your spiritual load could reach one hundred eighty or more! One eighty means you could operate the fifth-gen mecha like it's an extension of your own body! Level three monsters have already shown up, soon there could be level four, even level five. Queen, you have to drop that 'Teacher' and find a partner. I know you care about him, so I'll arrange the best support for him, you understand?"
Jill Young was silent for a moment, and Jasper Xiao looked at her nervously, not sure what he was hoping for. But the next moment, Jill Young patted Mark Long on the shoulder. "For a bigshot, you're surprisingly considerate. I appreciate it."
Mark Long smiled.
"But leaving him is absolutely impossible." Jill Young said firmly. "Let me be clear: I won't accept any partner except him, and I won't do a spiritual link with anyone else. Either let me go solo, make a single-pilot system, or, if it's two people, it has to be him. Got it?"
With that, Jill Young downed her champagne in one gulp. "Nice taste." Then she stood up and walked out.
Mark Long called out, "You have three days to think it over!"
"No," Jill Young said, one hand on the doorknob. She turned back and pointed at Mark Long. "It's you who have three days to think it over." She opened the door, stepped out, and closed it behind her, leaving the office in awkward silence.
Mark Long looked at Jasper Xiao. "You knew her before, right? That's why I wanted to put you two together. Hope you don't mind me meddling."
Jasper Xiao had no idea how to respond, so he just shrugged.
"Do you think she'll change her mind?"
Jasper Xiao gave a wry smile and shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know her that well either, but I doubt she's the type to be persuaded easily." This girl isn't one to nod along just because you talk her into it.
After Jasper Xiao left, Mark Long drummed his fingers on the table, deep in thought. Suddenly, his serious face relaxed. He picked up a pen and wrote a line on the files for Jill Young and Jack Young: Not possible to be a spy, rest assured.
(This chapter isn't over yet~ Please click next page to continue reading the exciting story!)
"A spy could never have such a flamboyant personality—if everything you do draws attention, how can you do spy work?" Mark Long immediately turned troubled again. "But should I really send her over...?"
------------------------------ Divider ------------------------------
Jill Young was assigned a room at the base. She wasn't an official pilot yet, not even an official member, but as a highly valued talent, she still got a spacious room. Of course, there was a bit of a commotion during room assignments, since she absolutely insisted on living with Jack Young.
That blockhead basically couldn't take care of himself now; he needed constant supervision, or who knows what might happen.
But the others clearly didn't know that. Many were beating their chests and sighing—it's not easy for a beauty to show up at this macho-filled base. Then, rumors started circulating that the Queen might not go to Hunter Academy after all. The news stirred up quite a storm, with everyone gossiping and taking different sides.
Even Swallow and her two companions had a secret meeting.
Young Man: "Should we try to make contact with the 'Queen'? She has a high chance of being a Chosen One."
Swallow: "Forget it, her situation isn't clear yet. She might not even become a pilot—she could get kicked out at any time. Let's just watch for now. The main target is Jasper Xiao; he's our best shot at achieving our goal."
King Kong: "I don't get why you're making things so complicated. Just grab her and force her to cooperate! If she doesn't, kill that pretty boy she cares about—let's see if she can still act up then!"
Swallow: "Don't make things more complicated. We're on unfamiliar turf, and we don't know how long we'll be here, so keep a low profile."
Jill Young, meanwhile, had no idea about all the drama swirling around her—and even if she did, she wouldn't care. Worst case, she'd just walk away; it's not like she had to become a pilot. Her real goal in this world was to get high-grade life energy from monsters for cultivation. Wanting to be a pilot was just a whim—a "Hey! I like this big toy!" kind of feeling.
If not for that, she could've taken an easier route. Like that Hannibal Zhou from the movies, who specialized in dealing with kaiju corpses for the underworld. Compared to the unfamiliar Mecha Hunters, Jill Young was much more at home in the criminal underworld.
Put it this way: if she got kicked out by the Mecha Hunters on her very first day, by the second day she'd have found Hannibal Zhou, and by the third day that whole organization would be working for her. Sure, brute force alone couldn't pull that off, but Jill Young was a bona fide underworld boss now—she knew exactly how to run a gang.
So for now, she was perfectly content to stay put and focus on something important—cultivation, or rather, sparring.
Spar with who?
Herself.
It all started when, on a whim, Jill Young started digging through stuff from before 2013 in this world and discovered that online novels existed here too. She got hooked and kept reading, and soon came across a plot where the main character, under special circumstances, fought their own mirror image and, after the duel, became invincible.
When she read that, a lightbulb went off in Jill Young's head. She shot a mischievous look at a certain blockhead. "Hey, how about we have a match?"
Jack Young, unusually, asked back: "Why?"
"Because it's fun, obviously!" Jill Young got more and more excited about the idea. "When I'm you, it's always the weak challenging the strong. When you're me, it's always the strong crushing the weak. It's hard to find an evenly matched opponent—this is a rare chance! Let's have a match, come on, let's go all out somewhere! Dragon Elephant versus Prajna, internal style versus external style—let's see who's really the best!"