Before him stood a digital illusion made of program codes—none other than the founder of Celestial Being, Aeolia Schenberg. At this moment, his consciousness had been fully uploaded into VEDA, and his physical body had become little more than a shell.
Just like Tieria in the future, who would upload his consciousness into VEDA, even death would merely mean the replacement of one living terminal for another.
Wait a minute!
There's a problem here!
The reason Tieria could do this is that he eventually awakened as an Original Innovator. If Aeolia is in the same state now, then does that mean...
Yang Hui carefully observed Aeolia's projection, trying to discern something, but since it was only a projection, he could see nothing.
However, Aeolia seemed to have noticed Yang Hui's actions and spoke up, "Are you looking for this?"
Yang Hui froze for a moment, then his expression subtly changed. Aeolia's image had shifted. The whites of his eyes were now filled with shifting, colorful radiance.
"You really are an Innovator," Yang Hui instinctively exclaimed.
"It seems I was right. You know a lot, don't you?"
"Hah..." Yang Hui exhaled, although he was mentally prepared, he still felt a jolt of shock.
"You are a curious existence, Yang Hui," Aeolia said calmly. "After I designed and built the super-large quantum calculation system, VEDA, it began performing vast amounts of future simulations. Although there were countless possible outcomes, under Celestial Being's interference, there was only one result.
However, twenty-three years ago, something changed. This was the first major shift in two hundred years. After countless recalculations, we finally identified the source of this change, and it was you.
VEDA's new results suggested two options: one was to eliminate you before you could affect our plans; the other was to use you as the core to modify the plan. After considering both options, I chose the second one. I want to see what possibilities you, as this variable, will bring."
"Hah, there's no need for that," Yang Hui declined immediately. He certainly didn't want to become the core of Celestial Being's plans, especially when it meant replacing Setsuna and merging with the ELS at the end.
"You've missed your chance, Yang Hui. The moment you joined Celestial Being, the plan was already set in motion. You, me, Leesa Kujo(aka Huang), and the entire Celestial Being organization, not to mention all of humanity on Earth, are all incapable of standing apart from this transformation," Aeolia said.
Yang Hui frowned. But as Aeolia had said, even ordinary people could not escape this transformation, especially with the arrival of the ELS. No one would be able to avoid it.
Yang Hui, however, was someone who preferred to control his own destiny. He would rather die fighting than leave his safety in the hands of others.
"Hah..." Yang Hui breathed deeply, calming himself before asking, "You didn't come here just to say this, did you?"
"No, I came here to announce your appointment."
"My appointment? Besides being an MS designer and a reserve Gundam Meister, is there something else?" Yang Hui asked, surprised.
"From now on, you are the Chief Officer of the Celestial Being Project, with equal authority to mine. All the resources of Celestial Being will be at your disposal..."
"Wait! While I appreciate the recognition, please allow me to refuse," Yang Hui immediately refused.
He didn't know how deep the waters in Celestial Being were, but he knew that without a major family or financial backing, he couldn't control those who supported and monitored the organization.
Take the Konna family, for example. Since the establishment of Celestial Being, they had been scheming to take over Aeolia's plans and alter them to make the Konna family the rulers of Earth.
Many other supporters had also changed over the years. As portrayed in the anime, aside from the Celestial Being troops who were kept in the dark and loyally carried out the plans, the others were all pursuing their own agendas.
Yang Hui wasn't about to play political games with a bunch of sly old foxes.
"Refusal is not an option. This decision was made long before you joined Celestial Being, and it was passed on to all the observers."
"I... damn it!" Yang Hui was ready to storm over to VEDA's mainframe, drag Aeolia's body out, and beat it to pieces. Had they already decided everything without asking for his opinion? Was this really the polite thing to do?
Aeolia's face remained unchanged as he quietly waited for Yang Hui to stew in his impotent rage.
"Hah..." After a long pause, Yang Hui finally calmed himself and started analyzing the current situation. Since there was no avoiding it, he might as well make the best of it.
"So, I have the authority to allocate all of Celestial Being's resources?" Yang Hui asked.
"Yes."
"I understand."
With that, the first conversation ended. Although it was frustrating, Yang Hui had already been made the highest commander of Celestial Being, and there was no point in arguing further. With his knowledge of many things, he would need to make more preparations.
But before the communication ended, Yang Hui asked Aeolia, "Are you really an Innovator?"
"All artificial Innovators are based on my genetic template," Aeolia replied.
Well, no one knew that this old fox was the true mastermind behind everything. The poor Alessandro Konna, the poor Lifonz, would never know that they were being played by Aeolia from the start to the very end.
Leaving the 001 communication room, Yang Hui returned to the meeting room, where everyone was still waiting for him. Huang had already engaged in a lively discussion with the others.
"Hey! Is Mr. Myer your fiancé?" Christina asked, covering her mouth in surprise.
"Yeah, we were planning to get married soon, but it seems it will have to be postponed," Huang replied regretfully.
"Shh, how romantic," Lockon whistled teasingly.
"Is this a case of 'married soldiers'?" Lasse laughed.
"Not surprising, right? Mr. Ian's wife is also a member of Celestial Being," Allelujah said.
"How nice, I don't even have a girlfriend," Lichti complained.
"What are you all talking about?"
"You're back!" Huang, seeing Yang Hui approach, immediately took his hand, confirming their engagement.
Everyone teased and congratulated them, but one person didn't quite understand the atmosphere.
"Now that you're back, let's begin," Tieria said, standing before Yang Hui, already becoming somewhat impatient.
"Hey, Tieria, after all, we..."
"Okay."
"Mr. Myer..."
"Isn't time tight? As fellow pilots, the best way to understand each other is through combat, right?"
"Well, that's true," Lockon, who had intended to suggest they rest for a day before starting, seeing how Myer had given up on marriage to join Celestial Being, gave up. Yang Hui had already accepted Tieria's challenge.
The group made their way to the simulation training area, where Yang Hui and Tieria wasted no time and entered the simulation cockpits.
"Ian," Yang Hui's voice came through the simulation.
"What's up?"
"Please record our data, especially mine. We'll need your help with future mobile suit development."
"Got it, leave it to me."
The call ended, and the simulation began. The battlefield selected was a flat terrain, and Tieria naturally chose his beloved Gundam, the Virtue. But Yang Hui's choice shocked everyone—it was simply an Earth Federation Iron Man high mobility type.
"Hey, Myer, isn't that decision a bit hasty?" Lockon commented.
"That's right, the Earth Federation's MS are more advanced than UNION and AEU, but they're still too fragile compared to Virtue."
"Huang, aren't you worried?" Christina asked.
Everyone turned their attention to Huang.
"I'm not worried," Huang said. If her real identity didn't need to be kept secret, she would have just revealed Yang Hui's battle record.
Four years ago, during the defense of the space elevator, Yang Hui piloted the land Iron Man high mobility type. Though it was specially modified, it was still an Iron Man, yet he single-handedly destroyed 23 enemy MS and earned the title "Young Tiger."
Seeing Huang's attitude, everyone became even more curious about Yang Hui's piloting skills and stared at the screen intently.
"Let's begin. I want to see the level of the Gundam Meisters."
"Virtue, begin target destruction."
Tieria, also someone of few words, immediately raised the GN rocket cannon after the countdown. The green GN particles wrapped around Virtue, and the pink beam began to form at the barrel.
"Sigh, this is too confident," Yang Hui sighed and moved the Iron Man.
It wasn't long before the GN field dispersed, and a huge pink beam fired, but Yang Hui had already predicted its trajectory and dodged it in advance.
The GN rocket cannon's power was indeed enormous, but it needed time to charge, and after firing, it also required time to recharge the GN particles. This time gap allowed Yang Hui to close the distance with Virtue.
The 200mm rapid-fire smoothbore cannon fired. Facing the incoming shots, Tieria didn't even attempt to dodge or defend. Confident in Virtue's heavy armor and the newly developed E-carbon armor, he didn't believe the Iron Man's cannon fire could cause significant damage.
As expected, the shells only sparked small explosions on Virtue's surface.
The subsequent battle became quite boring. Virtue charged up, and the Iron Man dodged and shot. One could not hit, and the other could not penetrate.
"Sigh, this is so boring."
"Myer should be losing, right?"
The other two Gundam Meisters commented, and most people shared the same opinion. After all, Virtue's performance was unmatched, and it was nearly invincible against the Iron Man. Though Yang Hui's piloting allowed him to avoid Virtue's shots, the Iron Man was still walking a tightrope. If he got hit once, it would be over.
But Huang had a different opinion.
"
No, he'll win."
"Huh?"
Everyone looked at Huang in confusion and then at the screen. Before long, their expressions began to change to shock.