In a massivemand center, the cold metallic walls shimmered under artificial light. Dozens ofrge screens hung suspended in the air, while countless smaller screens were arranged below. Nearly every small screen had a humanoid figure seated in front of it, busily working.


    The shrill sound of rms echoed throughout the room. Amidst the chaos, the personnel hurriedly checked their assigned instruments, fingers darting across input devices in an attempt to quickly gather the necessary data.


    Several humanoid figures rushed into themand center’s bridge. Before they had even steadied themselves, the leader spoke sharply. “What’s the situation?”


    “Commander, we’re detecting energy-level fluctuations at the wormhole’s exit—it’s about to open!” shouted one of the operators below.


    “What?!” Themander’s disbelief was palpable. “ording to Dr. Benba’s calctions, the next activation wasn’t supposed to ur for another 15 months!”


    “We don’t know, sir, but it’s happening now.”


    “Where is Dr. Benba?”


    “He’s been notified and is on his way. He’ll be here in about five minutes.”


    “There’s no time! The wormhole is opening. Who’s on duty?”“Strider and Cyclone Dancer, sir!”


    “Dispatch them immediately to investigate. Recall all off-duty teams as well!”


    “Yes, Commander!”


    —


    Outside themand center, a vast metallic base loomed. A massive 60-meter-high side hatch began to open slowly, revealing two towering mechas, each just slightly shorter than the hatch itself.


    The mechas strode forward, their steel frames colliding with the metal ground beneath them, creating deep reverberations that caused a faint tremor throughout the base.


    On the expansive za before the hatch, two equally enormous missiles—each over 50 meters tall—rose from theirunch silos.


    “Hey, Rooney?”


    “Signal is stable. I can hear you.”


    “Don’t be so serious, man,” the speaker teased before adding, “Looking at those two big sticks gives me a bad feeling.”


    “With the wormhole activating out of nowhere, no one was prepared for this. We need to move as quickly as possible to find out what’s going on.”


    “I knew pulling duty with you wouldn’t bring me any luck. Here’s hoping those engineers had time to disarm the warheads on those missiles.”


    “Unfortunately, time clearly isn’t on our side.”


    “Do you know why I hate you, Rooney?”


    Inside the cockpit, Rooney shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, Zeki. Just keep yourself in check while we’re en route. I don’t want my partner screwing up.”


    Zeki was about to fire back when themander’s voice suddenly crackled through themunication channel: “Focus, soldiers! For your sake—and ours—don’t waste time. Get moving!”


    The concept of mecha pilots was a rtively new one within the Federation. About ten years ago, an incident shook their civilization to its core. In the depths of the Jane Obak Trench, an undersea region, an extraordinarily powerful energy wave was detected, heralding the sudden appearance of a wormhole.


    The wormhole closed shortly after it opened, and despite months of painstaking searches, the Botians, limited by their technological capabilities, found nothing unusual.


    But then, the wormhole opened again, and from it emerged a massive creature over 50 meters long. The beast was extraordinarily fast, immensely strong, and wreaked catastrophic havoc on the Botians.


    Conventional weaponry proved nearly useless against it. In the end, the Botians resorted to a desperate measure: setting a trap and detonating three medium-yield nuclear warheads at close range. This managed to eliminate the creature.


    However, as the Botians prepared to clean up the resulting nuclear contamination, they discovered something even more terrifying. The creature’s corpse had reacted with the radiation, intensifying the contamination and causing it to spread slowly but steadily.


    To this day, the Botians had no way ofpletely neutralizing this pollution. They could only seal off the area and attempt to slow its spread.


    Monthster, while debates raged over who was responsible for the ecological disaster, the wormhole reopened. A second monster appeared, bringing with it yet another area of contamination.


    It was only at this point that the Botians fully grasped the magnitude of the threat. Scientific projections revealed that if 20 such polluted zones appeared on their, the entire ecosystem would copse. While the Botians might not face outright extinction, over 90% of their poption would perish.@@novelbin@@


    This apocalyptic scenario galvanized the Botians into action. They pooled their global resources and developed a n. The Mecha Warrior Project.


    The n was straightforward: construct mechas equal in size to the monsters and use them to physically kill the creatures, thus preventing their bodies froming into contact with nuclear radiation.


    The challenges of building such colossal mechas were quickly ovee thanks to global coboration. However, the original idea of using artificial intelligence to pilot the mechas fell short. The AI systems struggled with the unpredictable and fast-paced nature ofbat due to overlyplex algorithms and limited adaptability.


    Thus, the Botians pivoted to Botian pilots. However, the humanoid design of the mechas made them extraordinarily difficult to operate. To ensure real-time responsiveness, the possibility of distributing the controls among a team was ruled out, which meant the pilot had to manage everything solo.


    This required individuals with exceptional vision, lightning-fast reflexes, precise hand-eye coordination, and a solid physical constitution. Moreover, the pilots couldn’t suffer from acrophobia and needed a strong sense of spatial awareness and strategic thinking.


    When the military conducted initial screenings, the number of suitable candidates was far too low to meet the needs of the mecha program. During this time, the wormhole opened twice more, bringing two additional contaminated zones to the.


    Time was running out. To find enough qualified pilots in the shortest time possible, the Federation developed a simted training system and opened recruitment to everyone, regardless of background.


    Office workers, housewives, students, recluses—even petty criminals—could be mecha warriors if they passed the initial selection and met training standards. Past mistakes were forgiven in favor of future survival.


    This unconventional approach finally provided the mecha corps with enough pilots, though their diverse backgrounds resulted in varying levels of quality, creating headaches for theirmanding officers.


    Zeki was one of those headaches. Before joining the program, he had been a professional esports yer with a mboyant personality. He loved his new role, finding these massive “toys” far more exhrating than virtual games.


    His extraordinary reflexes and hand speed allowed him to execute shy and extreme maneuvers, even with the cumbersome mechas. Zeki thrived on individual performance and enjoyed being the center of attention.


    Rooney, in contrast, was far more mature andposed. Formerly a senior executive at arge corporation, hecked Zeki’s raw reflexes but excelled in meticulous nning and keen observational skills. Rooney consistentlypleted his missions with precision and demonstrated exceptional team coordination.


    Though Zeki often imed to “hate” Rooney, theirplementary personalities made them an incredibly effective team. Their synergy was undeniable, earning them a reputation as one of the most reliable pairs in the mecha corps.