Is the long-range mineral scanning radar unlocked from Su Lei useful? It certainly is. While there are many asteroids now, most need to be surveyed to determine their internal mineral content before being dragged back to a satellite near PLANT for mining. Enhancing the scanning radar would indeed improve efficiency from the ground up.
Based on this, does He Kui need to seek out relevant personnel for the PS armor?
"What's up?"
Releasing her embrace, Su Lei curiously looked up at him.
Her round, black eyes lifted upwards, their innocence as clear as a pristine pond.
"Are you familiar with phase shift theory?"
"Phase shift? Haven't really heard of it."
Su Lei's answer did not resolve He Kui's doubts.
"No worries, let's go. I'll send you a few eagles next time."
"Um, could we skip the eagles?"
Su Lei tugged at He Kui's sleeve, slightly embarrassed.
"No eagles?"
"I'm just a bit scared..."
"Okay."
Considering she's afraid of spiders too, perhaps owls with their round bodies could serve the same purpose and even provide some shielding.
With this thought, He Kui bid farewell to Su Lei and returned to his office upstairs.
"Director He, you were amazing!"
As soon as he entered the office, the admiring looks from the staff were all directed at He Kui.
"What?"
Approaching the screen everyone was gathered around, he saw the footage recorded by the beam experimental ZGMF-1017 GINN's onboard recorder.
The footage was blurry and the first-person perspective was quite chaotic.
"We got this while analyzing the data. Knowing you participated in the battle, we analyzed the ZGMF-1017 GINN you and your partner were in."
"Thanks for your hard work."
"Next time, take us with you. Hoth got lucky!"
Someone led the chant, and others began to echo the sentiment around He Kui.
"If there's a chance..."
He Kui gently declined their request to join the next battle.
He truly didn't want to experience that again; it felt like dancing on a razor's edge. Although it raised Su Lei's favorability to 120 and made progress with Shihe, it was far too risky.
Without a guarantee of survival, he wouldn't be reckless.
Reminding himself of this, He Kui returned to his office.
He came not only to see Su Lei and collect the two hundred thousand but also to inquire about the phase shift armor technology. Unfortunately, there were no results.
None of the five major design bureaus had a team researching this. Or if they did, it wasn't public.
After turning on his computer, a message from the Junk Guild came through on his phone.
"Mr. He, there's progress on the information you asked us to monitor."
The calm voice of the boss came through the headset.
"What progress?"
"Currently, no organization on PLANT is conducting related research, but..."
"But?"
"This technology was initially proposed by a neutral nation's research organization, though they haven't made much progress either."
"..."
He Kui instinctively glanced around.
"Which neutral nation?"
"The Orb Union."
Hearing this expected yet unwelcome name, He Kui's eyebrow twitched.
"I understand their delegation is currently in May City for the DSSD's deep space development conference. If you need, I can arrange a meeting."
"No need."
He Kui refused decisively.
That's a joke. Given Orb's future situation, any contact with them now could come back to haunt him and cause significant trouble.
And being discovered now would be even worse.
"Alright, we've prepared the goods you requested and have shipped them."
"Thanks for your help."
After hanging up, He Kui no longer felt like staying in the office. Being officially on a break, he decided to go for a walk.
The garden district, lush with greenery, was meticulously maintained by robots, exuding a sense of orderly beauty.
Yet it lacked vitality, resembling artificial flowers.
"Every time I walk by, I think these are fake flowers."
A voice echoed He Kui's thoughts from behind.
Turning around, he saw a spirited woman with orange short hair in a red short jacket staring straight at him.
"Director He, what a coincidence."
"Erica Simmons from Morgenroete, is the deep space development meeting over?"
Realizing who she was, He Kui cautiously took a step back.
"More or less. I've heard that the beam weapon team you lead has been making waves, leaving the Earth Alliance at L4 in a mess."
"Just a lucky break."
"Well, I have work to attend to, so I'll take my leave."
As He Kui stood up from the garden's bench, Erica's words stopped him.
"What do you think of Orb, Director He?"
Was she trying to recruit him? Did the Junk Guild leak his request? Or was this Erica's original plan?
"It's quite nice, but I still think PLANT is better. Oh, here, a little memento for you, Erica."
He Kui bent down, picked a flower from the garden, and handed it to Erica.
"Okay."
Erica's face showed a strange expression as she accepted the flower from He Kui's sudden gesture.
"Then I'm off."
Seeing no change in the virtual interface, He Kui breathed a sigh of relief as he left the garden under Erica's puzzled gaze.
"Erica, what did he say?"
"Nothing much, he rejected quite firmly. But is he really the inventor of the small beam weapon?"
Answering the question in her earpiece, Erica gave a wry smile.
"Still not sure. Oh well, since he didn't respond, let's leave it at that."
The person on the phone fell silent, while Erica looked at the flower in her hand.
Was this a warning against her invitation? Or a gesture to smooth over her earlier rejection? But she only asked tentatively; he didn't have to give her a flower, did he?
Meanwhile, relieved that Erica didn't react to the gift, He Kui was also at ease.
If there had been a reaction, giving or not giving would have been aiding the enemy.
It seemed completing the PS armor research here was nearly impossible.
"It's time to change direction."
He wanted PS armor for its excellent defense, improving his chances of survival in future battles.
But ZAFT would eventually acquire PS armor anyway.
If not, he'd wait for them to capture a Gundam and get his hands on it then.
In the meantime, he would focus on his current work.
If he could complete the deep-space mining research, his rising reputation in ZAFT might allow him to p
articipate in the reverse engineering of Gundam technology.
Having temporarily set his future direction, He Kui felt much more relaxed.
"Alright! I'll buy more beef today!"
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