Can Ci Pin/Imperfections(残次品)BL by Priest

Chapter 56

"I think that this decision does not fit your behavioral pattern," Zhanlu's voice reverberated in the empty Heavy Mech No.3, "What made you do such a decision, sir?"

They were at a desolate field ten days away from the base. The messy signals shot out through the already formed anti-tracking system –– as if a giant kaleidoscope had taken shape between the expanse of stars.

The three wary base teams were already well hidden.

The Heavy Mech No. 3 had shut down its weapon system, leaving only a virtual cannon––the virtual cannon was actually a special electromagnetic wave. Whoever was marked by it was considered as "hit". When the mark reached a set intensity, it meant that the shield had lost effect.

Exactly like a toy, it was quite laughable.

Jingheng Lin felt like a two-point-three meter giant holding a two-inch long squirt gun, standing at a busy intersection, ready to play tag with a bunch of preschool kids.

The kids sincerely felt fear in their hearts. Like chicks without fur, they hid in the narrow paths which reached everywhere, terrified that they'd become the next gone soul soaked by the squirt gun.

And Commodore Lin's mission for the next four hours was to rummage through all the boxes and chests, find them one by one, and gently squirt their soft little butts with his squirt gun––not too hard, or the almond in their head would have a concussion in front of him.

Even worse, this embarrassing process would be recorded on camera, and was to be taken back for people to spectate after the exercise had ended......the only good thing was that this place was already out of the internal network's range, which meant that the base couldn't have a live broadcast.

Commodore Lin, having been brave and powerful to the public eye for many decades, finally lost it all at this moment.

However, there was nothing more important in the world than a man's reputation, so Jingheng Lin bluffed at Zhanlu, his expression unmoving, "The three remaining teams in the base are almost a result of something close to natural selection. Through classification on their own, they split into the ingenuine type, the sturdy defense type, and the special forces team. Each of them has their own strengths. If they know how to cooperate, and also get used to the anti-tracking system, they still have a considerable amount of potential."

"You didn't comment like this last time," Zhanlu revealed his intention innocently. "As you said last time, the remaining three teams symboled human society's three most stubborn tumors––despicable bastards, the foolish majority, and the daydreaming dumbasses with grandiose aims but puny abilities."

"......" Jingheng Lin went silent for two seconds. "That was a joke."

This time, Zhanlu didn't go "Hahaha", but asked a little confusedly, "Based on the context and your usual language pattern, I do not think that was a joke."

Jingheng Lin's tone started to turn unfriendly. "The biggest difference between humans and AIs is that humans' actions and language don't have a constant pattern."

Zhanlu retorted justifiably. "Sir, it seems that you have not majored in either sociology or psychology. As a matter of fact, research on humans' action patterns had already started back in Earth times. Every seemingly complicated action done by humans actually has its internal logic. For example, based on your historical data, you are going to tell me to......"

Jingheng Lin: "Shut up!"

Zhanlu: "......shut up."

The Union's top mech almost spoke at the exact same moment with his owner. Zhanlu paused, and then replied faithfully, "Yes, sir, initiating command 'shut up'."

Jingheng Lin: "......"

He kind of wanted to dismantle Zhanlu from Heavy Mech No. 3 right now. Secondhand mech cores like this only deserved to be installed on bikes in gyms.

"You guys should all know the rules by now," At this moment, Bixing Lu's voice rang out in every mech, "In the previous drills, none of you had access to the anti-tracking system, but it's different this time. Everyone in the three teams will have access to the anti-tracking system. In this drill, your opponents will not be each other, but only Commodore Lin himself. He will be your hunter. To put it simply, this game was about everyone chasing down each other with their eyes covered, but this time, Commodore Lin will be the only one with his eyes covered, and he will be chasing down each of you."

Hearing this, the mech pilots in the three teams did not feel fortunate that the difficulty was reduced. They tensed up even more instead.

"Today, we're not going to eliminate anyone." Bixing Lu kept on going, "From now on, we're going into the scoring round. The ones with the lowest ranking will be in charge of patrolling the outskirts of the base until they strike back in the next round. I have to remind all of you something: distant patrolling is long and painful. And when there's danger, you will be in the frontline. Plus, when passing some areas, there won't even be any signals between patrol members to communicate which can form symptoms such as anxiety and mental strain, and that will affect your future performance to a certain extent. That means that, if you lose once, you might never be able to turn the tables. So please, everyone, be careful today."