Chapter 56: The Greatest Hits of the World
The kind-hearted little princess Cagalli, in repayment for the moon government's kindness, lent Orb Union's newest MS, Akatsuki Gundam to Anaheim for research purposes indefinitely. In response to her act of kindness, the Lunar government issued temporary visas to all the personnel she brought with her and arranged for a variety of different jobs for them. Deeply moved, Cagalli eventually decided to let Kira join Anaheim as well, and told him to treat people with integrity and work well, and to try to create value in returning to society soon.
Looking at the two young people who were so happy to be sold by them, Ade's mood was a bit complicated. Not only Cagalli, even Kira is unexpectedly naive. He acted mature when he talked to himself, but after entering Anaheim, he immediately showed his true form.
Now Kira is particularly close to Ade, and regarded Dr. Lingus as a very nice guy. He's also very enthusiastic about his work, and does everything he's asked to do. Thanks to him, Ade got a lot of precious data.
"Dr. Lingus, all the items on the list have been completed, what should I do next, please?" Kira asked Ade from the cockpit of the prototype MS.
"Activate your S.E.E.D and run another set, I need to compare the data."
"Yes, Doctor." Kira executed it immediately without saying a word.
His overly cooperative attitude made Ade puzzled - he was taking a hold of Kira and being a little friendly to Kira, but not so much, right? After thinking about it for a long time, he still can't figure it out. He decided to ask Lacus later.
The only one who wasn't too happy was Shinn, because his position as Anaheim's strongest tester was taken away from him.
"This is the data of the psycho who saved Freedom's pilot?" Shinn looked at the test results of Kira with a defiant face, "I can accept Captain Ray's experience and technique, but this one, he is simply cheating by his perverted physical qualities!"
"You can't say that, Shinn. You're also a Coordinator, for Kou or Amuro, you're also cheating with your physical quality." Ade felt that Shinn actually knew it, but he simply didn't like Kira, "Kira Yamato is also a Coordinator, only he's more adjusted than you. And he was a general, right? Didn't you just graduate from military school?"
"It's because you didn't go to military school, Adrien-san, that you're confused by that title." Shinn looked disdainful, "The instructor said back then, Orb Union's military rank is issued for fun, don't take it too seriously. If you don't believe me, ask Mr. Uraki himself, he should know it."
"Is there really such a thing?" Ade remembered that he heard similar remarks on Londo Bell, but he didn't care much about this, "Shinn, after he comes down, you can also go do the tests."
"No problem." Shinn looked unconvinced, "My data will not be worse than his."
Now Ade was busy with the NT-only machine that he had promised to design for Londo Bell. As for Akatsuki Gundam, he researched its mirror system that could reflect particle beams, which he's mostly interested, and then tossed it aside. Its design has little value for him. This system's only immune to particle beams without I-field, and has zero resistance to all live weapons and particle streams with I-field (beam sword).
Once an MS is equipped with this system, it means it can no longer be hit by live ammunition or beam saber. Unless live ammunition weapons are one day eliminated, its mirror function can only be useful on some special occasions. Only a top-ranked ACE like Kira can drive Akatsuki, otherwise, even a barrel of cluster rockets can easily destroy it.
About that NT-only MS, Ade directly took Jegan as the basic model and modified it. This isn't because he's lazy or has any bad taste, but simply to verify whether Jegan's design has reached the strength envisioned, and by the way, makes an advertisement to Bright - look, Jegan can really turn Gundam! Hurry up and pre-order it!
The development of beam pods went pretty smoothly, because Ade could do the live verification himself. After Scirocco and Char knew that he's an NT, it's almost equal to the whole world knowing about it, so there's no need to hide it anymore. The only limit the beam pod has is it's energy, which has a higher energy consumption than the D.R.A.G.O.N system. The battery-powered MS can't afford to equip too many beam pods.
"Nuclear is good …" Ade silently chanted. So many designs limited by energy. Shinn can shoot down Freedom - it's mostly because Athrun was shocked by F91's residual image function. Otherwise, with Freedom's nuclear power, it could have used reasonable tactics to buy time and wait for F91 to drain the battery itself - the physical residual image and VSBR's energy consumption were terrible.
It's a pity that Dr. Minovsky died early, otherwise, he would have been able to get the small fusion furnace out with his natural talents. Ade had a feeling that the next technological breakthrough in energy would probably change the whole world's landscape.
The day passed quickly and the progress today was very pleasing. The Gundam's fuselage is almost complete, now he only needs to debug for the psycho-frame and beam pods, it won't be long before we can call Amuro and the others over for live testing.
When he got home, Lacus was cooking dinner, Ade changed his clothes and washed his hands and started to set up the dishes skillfully. Recently, Lacus's cooking skills have improved very quickly. To be honest, it would be painful for him if he had to drink nutritional supplements or order take-out again like before.
After the meal, Ade is usually in charge of cleaning up, and then the two of them usually chat for a while. Unlike C.C., who lies on the couch watching TV after dinner, Lacus rarely watches TV, she seems to have other interests, such as playing something on the computer.
"By the way, there's a question I can't understand for a long time." Ade, who had packed up the dishes, sat down opposite Lacus, "Why does Kira Yamato trust me so much? It doesn't make sense. And he's naive for a while and mature for a while, I don't really get it."
"If you think about it, the naive one is the norm, and the mature one only shows up when it's about Cagalli." Lacus gave a straightforward answer without thinking, "According to what I know, Kira doesn't kill people on the battlefield, right? Whether it's kindness, childishness, or arrogance, at least, his moral sense is particularly strong. Once such a person has done something that goes against his moral values, the feedback of guilt will also be extraordinarily strong."
"So he was overwhelmed by guilt after knowing that Cagalli was his sister?" Ade followed her train of thought down the road, "I'm tantamount to affirming him and freeing him from his guilt?"
"It's a little more complicated. He has the internal condemnation of social morality on the one hand, and the subjective sense of having to be responsible for Cagalli's life on the other, along with the fear of ruining the person closest to him." Lacus thought for a rare moment, as if organizing her words, "It's just my guess. He has actually been controlled by Cagalli. But Cagalli is a good, kind girl who wouldn't even realize that and just treats him as a mere lover, unable to help him de-stress."
"So with nowhere to vent this stress, he kept protecting himself with a 'protect Cagalli' shell until one day he couldn't take it anymore and broke down …" Ade sighed, "What a twisted love."
"You, as the only one who knows the truth, affirmed his worldview and freed him from the stress of impending collapse. If you wanted, you could have controlled him at that time, and that's what I hinted at you then." Lacus smiled happily, "But with Ade's emotional intelligence, you can't do such things."
"It can't be done even with enough emotional intelligence." It's nothing to be ashamed of being despised by Lacus for his emotional intelligence, "Don't have any strange expectations of a scholar."
"But Ade, you're relying too much on logical reasoning and NT radar, you'll lose out one day if this continues." Lacus showed a worried expression, "Have you thought about what to do if someone frames you without malice?"
"Isn't the matter of framing me itself malicious?" He thought about it and didn't understand, "If you don't have malicious intent, you're not trying to hurt me, right?"
"That's not necessarily the case. For example, if a bad woman takes advantage of your weakness, using you to help her achieve something that only benefits her, what can you know and do?" Lacus sighed seriously, "I'm really worried about what you're going to do when I go back to PLANT."
Oh, right, as promised, Lacus is going back to PLANT. I'm already used to her presence, sometimes I can't help but forget this fact …
Lacus looked at his slightly lost look, raised the corners of her mouth, and did not speak again. She got up and went to the room. A short while later, the girl came out with a stack of printouts, "Now ZAFT has begun to withdraw its troops to the universe, its defeat is only a matter of time. So I also began to prepare. This is the result of my recent period."
"What is it? An action plan?"
"Do unto others as they do unto you." Lacus put a stack of printed paper in front of Ade, "When Aznable first dealt with my father, it started with spreading rumors online, and when the coup finally took place, they made the rumors into actual charges, making everyone think that my father was really a traitor just like the rumors."
"Is this the rumor you wrote about Aznable?" He picked up the manuscript paper and flipped it over casually, it was densely packed with words, "Is this what you've been working on every day lately? This thickness… it's almost a novel, right?"
"It's processed according to the information provided by you, involving revenge, undercover, conspiracy, assassination, scandal, romance, and so on. Everyone likes to read this, right?" The young girl's expression was somewhat cold, "I must let Aznable taste the bitterness that my father has tasted."
Ade can completely understand Lacus's feelings. He looked down at the young girl's masterpiece, only to see the title printed on the cover - Char's Secret History. The novel is written in chapters, each chapter is not long, very easy to spread. In the expectant gaze of the young girl, he began to read from the first chapter.
At the beginning of the story, Char reminisces about his years with Garma Zabi at the cadet school, while tearfully plotting to kill Garma. As Garma is dying, he shouts to Char, "I don't blame you," and then the chapter ended at the point when Char is about to recall his reason for killing Garma.
"The level of writing and chapter breaks are perfect! Readers' curiosity will be caught immediately just by reading the first chapter." Ade couldn't wait to turn to the second chapter, "but doesn't Aznable look like a positive character if you write so?"
"No one will believe it if you say that he's a crazy murderer in the first chapter. First, you have to make the character believable." Lacus was very pleased with Ade's reaction, "Once people accept the character, it's up to me to make up whatever I want."
He continued on, Char was portrayed as a vengeful avenger. After his father was killed, he lived along with his sister, and was bent on revenge despite his sister's discouragement. Finally, he changed his identity and joined the army to start his revenge plan. After killing Garma, he knew he could no longer go back, when he inadvertently found out that his beloved sister was in the Earth Federation camp and had an indescribable relationship with Amuro. That's when Char woke up to the fact that the one who he really loves is actually …
"Wait, another brother-sister relationship?!" Ade patted his chest and almost choked to death, "Don't tell me it was Cagalli who you got the inspiration from."
"That's right." The young girl smiled smugly, "It would have been a much more raw personality change, thanks to Cagalli, her story inspires me a lot."
After that, Char's character became twisted, and all the death of the Zabi family members were because of him in this novel. After the war, he didn't hesitate to enter the political arena, just to completely eliminate the Zabi faction from within, so that revenge is complete. In fact, now that the Zabi faction has become the Aznable faction, his revenge has been accomplished. Nonetheless, his twisted desires could not be dissipated, and the painful Char used his secretary, Haman, as an object of releasing his unbridled anger.
"Wow, this play, this depiction, this detail, this scale! I'm still too naive!" Ade gulped and muttered to himself, "I never expected you to understand so much."
"For the record, these are all made up to attract the eyes of the readers." Lacus blushed, "I copied them from the Internet, and none of them is my personal imagination. Ade, you must not misunderstand it and have some strange association."
He nodded self-deceptively and continued to read. Even though Char's atrocity to Haman gradually escalated and became more and more excessive, he still began to feel unsatisfied, and after some struggle, he finally laid his clutches on -
"Mineva?!" Ade flipped through the back of the paper, and there was no more, "Where's the next chapter? I want an update!"
