Volume 5, Chapter 1 – A Microcosm

[Good evening, viewers. Welcome to this episode of New Perspectives on Mecha. I’m your host, “Muyu.”]

In the dim rental apartment, a young woman with her hair pinned up lay sprawled on the sofa, staring blankly at the television screen.

The room lights were off, making everything look bleak and sinister. The television was the only light source. Its mottled glow provided only the faintest illumination, yet even so, whenever the brighter highlights lingered for a moment, they still revealed the white pimples breaking out along the woman’s brow ridge, as well as the oily sheen glinting across her smooth cheeks and in the gaps between her strands of hair.

The tea table beside her was cluttered with all sorts of junk: discs, videotapes, half-eaten boxed meals, snacks, shopping cards, cash slips, and keys. But the most eye-catching thing was an employee ID badge hanging off the edge, its strap dangling halfway down.

Shen He. That was the name displayed on the badge. Beside it was a photo of someone who looked bright, cheerful, and full of sunshine, almost like a completely different person from the blank-faced woman on the sofa.

But in truth, they were both Shen He. The difference in appearance came only from being at different stages of life and in different circumstances.

“When they introduced the job, they never said I’d have to help push ‘construct mecha’…”

Muttering her thoughts with lifeless eyes, Shen He instinctively fixed her gaze on the screen, intending to hear what new conclusions this episode would come to.

New Perspectives on Mecha was a new program. According to rumors circulating online, it had not been recommended in previous years, which in practice meant it had been “very hard to get through censorship.” But in recent years, as conditions worsened in various ways, it was said that morale had become rather dispirited both among the higher-ups and among ordinary people. In response to public opinion, they had no choice but to approve it, though an additional supervisory panel had to be set up for it.

That naturally brought up the host, “Muyu.” She was twenty-eight this year, with a mature, intellectual sort of beauty. Just sitting there in glasses and professional attire was enough to create an excellent atmosphere.

Muyu’s full name was Wang Muyu. She had previously been one of the hosts of the hugely popular competition show Debating the Dao Under Heaven. Rumor had it that in her early twenties, she had even personally competed in quite a few tournaments and had won several small-event championships.

For someone like that to be transferred over to New Perspectives on Mecha, even if only temporarily, did that not in itself suggest a certain tendency?

Shen He sighed inwardly.

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As a native-born and, by her own reckoning, hardline Eastern Xia citizen, she had always rejected foreign technology.

It was not that she wanted to beat it to death with one stick and ban its use entirely. But at the very least, it should not be barging in like this. At minimum, their own people should be left enough room to study it and catch up.

But unfortunately, circumstances were stronger than people.

Eastern Xia’s overall strength was not weak. This modern nation possessed territory broader than ever before, and after taking in large numbers of refugees, its population had nearly doubled… and that was after accounting for the losses from the demonic disasters and demonic mutations that followed the country’s founding.

Shen He did not understand exactly why things had turned out this way. She was not very sensitive to politics, and she did not understand what those important figures, those chaotic meetings, had actually decided.

But she truly could feel that things were getting worse year by year.

At the very beginning, when they announced the founding of “Eastern Xia,” everyone had cheered with joy, as though changing a name alone could change something, as though it could immediately sever them from some rotten mire.

When Shen He was little, she had believed that too. She was only twenty-four this year. Ten years ago, she had been fourteen, barely in her second year of middle school, unable to understand any profound truths. She could only gather fragments of information from the adults’ chatter over tea and after meals.

She still remembered how happy her parents and relatives had been that day. The whole family had only just escaped from their refugee state, yet her father had said with certainty to everyone: tomorrow would definitely be better, because a new symbol would rise to lead them and open up a new future.

Her mother had been delighted too. Together with her father, she brought out some of their stored supplies and cooked a whole table of good food. The table had been filled with laughter and cheerful voices. Even her aunt, who had always been at odds with their family because of debt issues, had unusually joined in the conversation.

At first, it really had been like that. Even in the first few years after, there had been city reconstruction, technological implementation, innovation, and that same sense of vitality everywhere.

Shen He might not understand inventions like void-escape rune arrays or origin-crystal batteries, but like many ordinary people of the new generation, she could at least understand the sight of taller and taller buildings being raised from the ruins, roads stretching out one after another…

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So how had things ended up like this?

In her listless mood, only the voice broadcast echoed through the room.

[As usual, for this episode we’ve invited Mr. Jiang Anqiang, an expert in the field of mecha. Mr. Jiang, hello.]

[Hello, Host.]

The face that appeared on screen belonged to a man named Jiang Anqiang, a mature man who looked to be around fifty. Unlike Wang Muyu, who was dressed in a style inspired by antique ceremonial gowns, his clothing leaned toward the West, the polished look of a suited elite.

Wang Muyu guided the conversation onward. [After the last episode aired, we did indeed receive a great deal of controversy online. So first, I’d like to ask Mr. Jiang: what is your view on mecha technology?]

Here it came.

Shen He perked up a little.

The reason she had stayed up late waiting for this episode was not just because the company had ordered her to analyze and research it. She also wanted to see for herself what real-time online opinion would look like after the program aired, and whether it really was as “one-sided” as the rumors claimed.

[Mecha technology, that is, ‘construct mecha,’ is treated by many people like some monstrous scourge. They think that the moment you use it, you’re doing something that violates human ethics and morality, and that you have to deny your entire worldview and values along with it.]

On the screen, Jiang Anqiang gave a smile that looked faintly disdainful to Shen He and shook his head. [That is absolutely not the case.]

[I can understand why many people have these concerns. ‘Construct mecha’ is not as simple as an ordinary piece of equipment. It is not like buying a sword from some workshop, or a blade, or a set of Qi-Fire Explosive Flame Arrays, then simply owning it and using it. It requires fusion with the equipment, and to some extent that does indeed alter our internal structure.]

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[But that change is not permanent,] Jiang Anqiang said. [It is reversible.]

[When we need to use ‘construct mecha,’ we fuse with it and unfold into gigantic war-gear to fight the voidfiends.]

[Then, once we achieve victory and no longer need to function in that form, we can withdraw from that fused state again.]

[The entire process is controllable. With the assistance of biological computers, we can establish complete control over our mecha equipment. So I don’t think those concerns should exist. They are outdated and far too conservative.]

Here we go again.

Shen He curled her lip.

It felt like he was talking about her specifically.

Wang Muyu then read out some audience feedback from the previous episode, nearly all of it questioning the safety and reliability of mecha technology. Jiang Anqiang rebutted each point one by one.

[I’ve realized that even now, many people still have not faced the facts.]

Jiang Anqiang was perhaps growing impatient. His tone was no longer as calm and steady as it had been at the start.

[What are the facts? The facts are that with our current qi-method technology, it is very difficult for us to withstand the endless tide of voidfiends pouring in.]

[Yes, we can fight back. It’s not that we can’t. We have never lacked outstanding individuals willing to step forward, and there are countless examples of that. I don’t need to elaborate on them.]

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[But what is the cost?]

[What I see is countless young people dying in the demon tide like expendables. For all these years, every one of our technologies, all of our development, has been burning away just to fill that gap. And meanwhile, the opponents we once looked down on have managed to avoid this kind of meaningless sacrifice and, in only ten years, have caught up to the accumulation we built up in the past.]

[Why is that, exactly? Isn’t it because ‘construct mecha’ greatly improves survival rates?]

[I know it is cruel to say this, but I have to say it. If we do not make a new technological breakthrough, if we continue allowing this situation to go on, then we truly do not have much time left.]

[I don’t want to discuss a topic like this in public either. I know many people will fiercely attack me for saying these things. But I still have to say it: we cannot be this irresponsible.]

[I hope a lot of people will think more clearly. Even if we don’t think about ourselves, we have to think about the next generation.]

Beep—

The screen flashed, only to be shut off directly by Shen He pressing the power button.

What a textbook “progressive” attitude.

She did not bother to hide her rejection and disgust toward Jiang Anqiang.

But what he said also made sense.

Just like how she clearly disliked Star Tower Group, yet had still gone to extraordinary lengths to get this job.