Li Lin remained silent as he locked eyes with Heimerdinger for a long moment, only exhaling quietly when he felt somewhat uneasy and looked away.
It was only today that Li Lin realized Heimerdinger was quite cunning, far from the "innocent" image he projected.
Leaving aside the fact that Shyvana's mother passed over the skies of Piltover without harming anyone in the city, the Argent Mountains were sparsely populated, and the dragon itself rarely posed a threat to ordinary civilians, relying on bloodline senses to search for her daughter... or perhaps to hunt down Shyvana, a descendant with tainted blood.
Heimerdinger clearly intended to use Shyvana's mother to conduct a true combat test with Gaboga. After all, during the confrontation with Malphite, Li Lin never really exerted himself, only using Gaboga's fist, rocket missiles, and defensive measures, not even deploying the "Energetic Particle Lance."
Heimerdinger was evidently dissatisfied with this performance test, hence shifting his focus to the Elemental Dragon.
Coincidentally, apart from the Vastaya and Ionia, the remaining Elemental Dragons from Shurima in Icathia and remnants of Noxus pose significant malice and threats to humans, allowing Gaboga to eliminate the dragons with benefits and no harm.
Moreover, the Gate of Mourning served as Demacia's outpost to monitor Noxus's military movements in the southern Argent Mountains, located at the frontline of military friction between the two countries, clearly not within Demacia's borders.
Even if Gaboga suddenly appeared there, Piltover had reason to claim it discovered a dragon threatening humans, thus sending a mechanical giant to eliminate it. The Demacian royalty and nobles could not say anything.
Although they had their own Silverwing Air Force, clad in Runeplate armor and accompanied by brave and skilled Silverwing Cavalry and Silverwing Gryphons, it was simply not a problem to kill a dragon.
Li Lin was intrigued by Heimerdinger's proposal, but accompanying concerns made him stifle his immediate agreement.
"But... doesn't the Council need to approve the deployment of Gaboga?" he asked.
"Ho ho ho... You don't need to worry about that. Even if they support the Gaboga plan, Gaboga is the property of Piltover University, and overall, it's my decision how it's used."
Heimerdinger chuckled lightly, waving his hand. "As long as we don't bring disaster to both cities, and with the reason of eliminating dragons and protecting the people, they won't say anything... Well, at least Councilors Kiramman and Medarda won't say much."
Li Lin couldn't help but sigh and rub his forehead.
So, you're secretly having me pilot Gaboga against a dragon, collecting combat data?
Seeming to sense his doubts, Heimerdinger patted his leg reassuringly. "Don't worry, kid. I'll take responsibility for anything that happens."
Taking everything into account, Li Lin agreed to Heimerdinger's proposal.
Initially, he thought he could defeat Shyvana's mother and rescue Prince Jarvan IV of Demacia using only Project Genesis·Infinite Armor and his own mechanical forces.
However, upon careful consideration, facing a dragon in a mech suit and discussing this with Jarvan III and Jarvan IV, mentioning that this set of armor was his own design, would be enough to earn their attention.
Moreover, it wouldn't be impossible to request some Petricite from Jarvan III.
Afterward, Li Lin and Heimerdinger roughly discussed the plan and decided to first send Mechanized Engineers to investigate the situation.
The Argent Mountains were vast. Just the segment from the Gate of Mourning to the Demacian border spanned nearly a thousand kilometers. Shyvana's mother could be anywhere.
Driving Gaboga to search for a dragon tens of meters long in thousands of square kilometers was impractical.
They might attract the Dauntless Vanguard of Demacia and the Silverwing Air Force before finding the dragon...
As official trade with Demacia was prohibited, Piltover couldn't build Hextech Hex Gates within Demacia's borders and could only construct them near Bandle City.
Li Lin mobilized two hundred Mechanized Engineers, transporting them via Hextech Hex Gates to Bandle City before entering the Argent Mountains to trace Shyvana's mother's whereabouts.
Regarding Jarvan IV, Li Lin knew he decided to go there because the Gate of Mourning was captured by Noxus, but for now, Noxus' troops in the southern Argent Mountains of Terwa had not invaded toward Demacia.
He planned to wait for this young and ambitious prince to be deeply embroiled in Noxus' siege before preparing for a heroic appearance.
Although there was some suspicion of using Jarvan IV's safety to improve relations with Demacia, this was currently Li Lin's best way to obtain Petricite, so he had no choice.
...
...
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by.
Midsummer had arrived, and Piltover had entered the rainy season.
On a gloomy early morning, Li Lin got out of bed and woke up Caitlyn.
Even though it was the weekend, usually neither of them had anything urgent to do.
But today was an important day; the artificial satellite, Heaven's, was scheduled to launch in the evening, so it wasn't a day to stay in bed.
Li Lin hurriedly washed up and dressed, then headed downstairs with Caitlyn. They joined Cassandra, Tobias, and Kai'Sa for breakfast.
Later, at half past seven, Li Lin donned his battle armor and the warriors flew to the Piltover Canal, a satellite base in the southern plains.
Cassandra and Tobias had taken gene-enhancing potions, greatly boosting their physical endurance, so Li Lin wasn't concerned about them getting motion sickness.
Plus, in this world of Runeterra, there were no traffic regulations in the sky, so he sped ahead, landing at the satellite base in just half an hour.
Unlike the endless grasslands they had surveyed on Progress Day, the rocket launch site was bustling with scientists from Piltover University like Heimerdinger, Jayce, and Viktor, along with several council members and prominent family members.
Even Camille didn't miss this satellite launch...
Of course, aside from Li Lin, his niece Abel and the Ferros family bodyguard, no one dared to approach her.
After exchanging greetings with everyone, Li Lin, accompanied by Heimerdinger, Jayce, and Viktor in their protective suits, arrived at the rocket launch area. They quickly inspected the carrier rocket and artificial satellite to ensure everything was flawless.
For the remaining dozen hours, they stayed in the command center, continuously calculating data until the sun finally set and night fell, thickening the atmosphere on site.
Heimerdinger stood by the window, watching the rocket illuminated by floodlights outside, with Viktor and Skye standing behind him.
The atmosphere in the command center was too stifling for the old man to bear, so he came out for some fresh air.
After what seemed like ages, he glanced back at Viktor through the glass reflection without turning his head and asked, "What time is it now?"
Viktor checked his watch, "It's 9:55, Professor. We should go in."
"Phew—yes, finally, this moment has arrived," Heimerdinger took a deep breath, turned, and passed through the gap between Viktor and Skye. "Do you think, this time, we will succeed?"
Viktor and Skye exchanged a glance and followed Heimerdinger closely.
"I believe we can trust Li Lin," Viktor replied, followed by Skye adding, "Yes, this satellite... uh, near-orbit satellite, as defined by Li Lin, about seven hundred kilometers from the ground, shouldn't leave Runeterra."
"With the AI assisting our calculations, our data won't be wrong."
"That's true, but you know what concerns me isn't that," Heimerdinger shook his head.
"The gods...?" Skye pushed up his glasses, murmuring uncontrollably.
"The cosmic entities, their attitude towards humanity is vague. I don't know if they'll allow us to possess this technology to leave our mother planet."
After Heimerdinger finished speaking, he walked to the door of the command center, and Viktor finally spoke up, "I think we should proceed as Li Lin suggested."
Heimerdinger stopped in his tracks. The mechanized guard at the door opened it for the three of them, but Heimerdinger didn't enter.
He turned back in surprise to look at Viktor.
"Anyway, we have to try, right?" Viktor smiled.
"Yeah... we have to try."
With a sigh, Heimerdinger nodded slightly and then walked into the command center, straight to where Li Lin and Jayce were standing at the front.
It was now 9:58, less than two minutes away from the scheduled launch at 10 o'clock.
Everyone present couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Are you ready, child?" Heimerdinger fixed his gaze on the display screen and asked.
Li Lin took a deep breath and nodded heavily, "I'm ready."
Despite all the preparations being perfectly in place, there was virtually no room for error.
But no matter what, personally overseeing the launch of an artificial satellite, something he had only seen on TV before, made him nervous.
"Don't worry, we're bound to succeed," Jayce patted Li Lin's shoulder beside him, unusually not ruining the atmosphere, and said an encouraging word.
One minute passed quickly, and they soon entered the most critical stage.
At this moment, the neutral mechanical voice of the AI sounded throughout the command center:
[Rocket launch entering countdown phase...]
[10, 9, 8, 7...]
Each number felt like a heavy hammer pounding on everyone's heart.
Until the final "1" echoed through space, the AI uttered the words that made everyone hold their breath:
[Carrier rocket ignition, launch!]
At the same time, on the large screen, the image shown through the monitoring facilities displayed the rocket emitting flames that illuminated the night sky, with large amounts of steam rising from the cooling water below.
Shortly after, accompanied by a thunderous roar, the rocket carrying the artificial reconnaissance satellite, Heaven's Eye, lifted off slowly.
(End of this chapter)
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