Book 10: Chapter 6: Exclusive Bingren

“Vera, where exactly are you taking us?” Watching the number of people in their group steadily decrease as companions were led away into side passages by beautiful guides, Qin Lun asked curiously, glancing at the Gith girl beside him.

After resting for an entire day yesterday, the Apostles had gradually overcome the discomfort of their new bodies. Early this morning, a team of Gith beauties led by Fuyutsuki woke all the Apostles, requesting they participate in Bingren training.

Eager to quickly adapt to the new combat methods, the Apostles naturally had no objections. They followed their respective guides out of the living quarters. Midway, however, the guides began leading the Apostles one by one into separate side passages, seeming to isolate them completely.

“Sir, please don’t worry!” Though young, Vera was quite clever. She smiled and explained, “The Bingren are The Faith’s most powerful combat units. Each one has its own separate maintenance bay. Even during testing aboard the ship, strict supervision is required to prevent a Bingren from losing control.”

“Losing control?” Qin Lun frowned slightly. Vera’s words gave him an uneasy feeling. In his understanding, since mechs were artificial constructs, their operating systems might have some level of intelligence, but shouldn’t lose control… unless that artificial intelligence achieved self-awareness.

Qin Lun didn’t press further about the meaning behind Vera’s words, because just then, the Gith girl led him onto a dedicated side passage elevator shaft descending deeper into the ship’s hull.

“So this… is a Bingren?” Even though he’d seen projections of these giant space warriors, shrunk down in size, seeing the colossal machine with his own eyes still delivered a visual shock.

The Bingren before him stood about sixty meters tall and over ten meters wide. Its proportions were roughly humanoid. Qin Lun, himself two point eight meters tall, stood only about ankle-height to it.

Its appearance was vaguely human, but with ferocious features: a protruding jaw, a conical forehead, and a tightly shut mouth revealing tooth silhouettes – like a silent beast.

Silver-grey armor plates hung all over the Bingren’s frame. Yet, where joints were exposed, they clearly had a rusty-brown, muscle-and-bone texture.

“Vera, is the Bingren a bio-mechanical suit?” Qin Lun stood on the bay’s catwalk, unable to resist turning and asking.

“Allow me to answer that, sir Apostle!” Before Vera could speak, a friendly voice sounded behind them.

Qin Lun turned and saw a thin, young soldier standing there. He was smiling, gazing at the Bingren with unconcealed pride, bordering on fanaticism.

“Bay 032 Bingren Unit, Ordnance Offi—” The young soldier made the same mistake Vera initially had, spouting a long, melodic string of syllables that left Qin Lun helpless. He looked pleadingly at Vera.

“Sir, you can just call him… Sherlock!” Vera chuckled, taking out her small card to translate before saying it. In reality, this translation just took similar sounding syllables to make an Earth-like name.

Sherlock seemed rather petite among Gith males, about Vera’s height, lacking noticeable muscle. He wore optical glasses, his face still boyish, suggesting he wasn’t much older.

“Sir, little Sherlock here is a genius just like me,” Vera leaned close to Qin Lun’s ear, whispering, though her tone felt more like teasing the young Ordnance Officer than a private chat. “Don’t let his age fool you; he holds three Master-level certificates in math and mechanics.”

“Hey, little Vera! I’m at least a year older than you, you’re the minor!” Hearing Vera call him “little Sherlock,” the sixteen-year-old leaped up as if his tail was stepped on. He planted his hands on his hips, glaring at the beautiful Second Lieutenant Junior Grade.

Fifteen-year-old pilots… sixteen-year-old Ordnance Officers… No matter how gifted these teens are, they shouldn’t be on a battlefield. It seems the Gith are truly desperate now. Qin Lun’s eyes flickered as he silently noted this.

“Ahem… Sherlock, please give me a detailed introduction to this Bingren. I appreciate it!” Qin Lun smiled and stepped between them, separating the two puff-cheeked youngsters glaring like little roosters.

“Oh! Certainly, sir!” Sherlock snapped back to attention. Flustered, he took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair, offering an apologetic gesture.

Listening to Sherlock’s explanation, Qin Lun learned the Bingren before him was indeed a hybrid of living parts and machinery. The Bingren were originally pure metal machines. Only after the Gith Star System suffered invasion by the Jannamer did hybrids emerge.

War against the Jannamer hinged on the Bingren’s mobility. Using biological tissues in certain parts gave the already high-mobility mechs even better flexibility, boosting performance.

“Sherlock, won’t putting living tissue into the mechs lower their defenses?” Qin Lun asked curiously.

Sherlock didn’t answer immediately. He glanced at Vera first. “Sir, see those silver-grey metal blocks on the Bingren?”

“Those are APB Force Plates. They’re for defending against enemy ranged attacks!” Seeing Qin Lun nod, Sherlock continued with a slight frown, “But up close, the Bingren’s defense becomes irrelevant… Past battles show that once a Bingren is physically touched by Jannamer surface tissue, survival rates drop to zero. No defense helps then. Only high mobility gives a pilot a chance.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Qin Lun was mildly surprised. Actual combat forbade even physical contact with the Jannamer. For the first time, he felt the stark danger involved.

“Wait, you mentioned ‘enemy ranged attacks’? The Jannamer have ranged capability?” After a moment’s thought, Qin Lun seized another key point from Sherlock’s words.

“Well…” Sherlock and Vera exchanged a sudden, bitter smile. Vera provided the explanation.

When the Jannamer first invaded Gith civilization, these nomadic space creatures possessed no ranged attacks. Yet, they possessed exceptional mimicry abilities. During the prolonged war, the Gith lost many starships, aircraft, and even early Bingren units to the Jannamer.

Gradually, these space monsters began mimicking them. Initially, the starships and Bingren mechs they formed were hollow shells, lacking functionality.

Over time, however, the Gith discovered the Jannamer had successfully mimicked starship weaponry: electromagnetic cannons and ray-guns. Even the secondary weapons on Bingren units were copied.

From then on, what was supposed to be civilized beings hunting primitive space monsters turned into genuine interstellar warfare between fleets and mechs. This, primarily, was why the once powerful Gith civilization, rulers of their entire star system, were ultimately driven from their home.

“I see!” Qin Lun breathed out softly. His eyes sharpened, a playful smile appearing. “But that was then. It’s been over a thousand years since the Gith encountered the Jannamer. You surely prepared for this trait, right?”

“Yes, sir!” Sherlock and Vera shared another look, this one happier. “Actually, the AB Field and the biological Bingren units are the main achievements of our scientists over the last thousand years.”

“AB Field, in your own terms, stands for Anti-Biological Field,” Sherlock explained enthusiastically. “In our scientific tests, it effectively shields against Jannamer physiological and psychic contamination. It prevents a Bingren from losing combat ability instantly after being captured.”

“However,” Vera added, her pretty face creased with concern, “the AB Field hasn’t been battle-tested. We truly don’t know how effective it really is. Sir, if you ever receive a sortie order, please don’t rely blindly on it.”

“Haha, I got it!” Qin Lun laughed at Vera’s adorable expression of worry. He instinctively reached out and ruffled her hair. The gesture made the Gith girl flush and grumble as she scrambled aside to fix her mussed hair.

“Sherlock, if the AB Field is Anti-Biological, but earlier you said it defends against ranged attacks?” Qin Lun recalled the earlier conversation, now puzzled.

“Heh, sir! I think you confused the APB Force Plates I mentioned with the AB Field!” Sherlock couldn’t hide a grin. “Actually, the APB Plates provide two types of force fields. One is the AB Field, meant for close-quarters defense against Jannamer contamination… though its effectiveness is uncertain.”

“The other is the AP Field, Anti-Particle Field. That’s the one that defends against the enemy bioweapons’ electromagnetic bolts and ray guns! The problem is, the AP and AB Fields can’t operate simultaneously. In battle, the pilot must switch actively. If they activate the wrong shield against an incoming attack…” Sherlock gave a theatrical shrug, spreading his hands and blinking innocently. “Well, sir, I really don’t need to spell out what happens then.”

“Indeed…” Death itself usually stirred little in Qin Lun’s heart, but he maintained a concerned frown. Thinking further, he asked, “Does the AB Field interfere with the Bingren’s own biological components?”

Hearing this question, Sherlock’s eyes brightened. A mysterious smile spread across his face. “Sir… the answer to that becomes clear the moment you step inside this particular Bingren. That’s also the biggest difference between you Descendant Apostles… and us ordinary Gith.”

“Oh? Let’s begin then!” Qin Lun smiled lightly. “What do I need to do?”

“Stand by, sir!” Sherlock pressed the communicator at his right ear. His playful attitude vanished instantly, replaced by the stern demeanor befitting an Ordnance Officer.

“Bay 032, all personnel, attention! Initiating first test of unit codenamed ‘Seventeenth Fallen Angel’. Mecha charging systems activate! Begin ejection procedure for external cockpit! Prepare to lower pilot walkway! Pilot ingress countdown commencing: T-Minus 30 seconds…”