Hong Long's online search for Reid was clearly under Wang Liu Mei's orders.
Wang Liu Mei's primary purpose in seeking out Reid was actually to help Alejandro Corner and Ribbons Almark extend their goodwill.
So, once the serious business was concluded, Wang Liu Mei turned into a curious child, asking question after question.
After all, from Wang Liu Mei's perspective, uncovering even one more of Reid's secrets was worthwhile—like "Besides reading minds, what other special abilities do you have?" "Can you use magic?" "What is the true form of the legendary immortals?"
Reid knew that the more he said, the more mistakes he might make, so he had Ange perform for Wang Liu Mei on the spot: tying a knot with pure metal chopsticks without even blushing, and even leaving a fingerprint dent in them.
Then, Reid said calmly,
"Ange has the Dragon Bloodline and is my wife."
Wang Liu Mei expressed surprise that this seemingly delicate woman possessed such monstrous strength. Her train of thought immediately derailed, and she marveled,
"So dragons really existed in the past? There really were Dragon Knights in the world? Wait, no—it could also be 'dragon riders,' since if a princess was kidnapped by an evil dragon and not eaten, she was probably used for reproduction.
But Reid, you said Miss Ange is your wife, so does that make you a Dragon Knight? Though, can your physique handle it?"
Reid looked at Wang Liu Mei speechlessly, thinking, What is this girl's head filled with? What's all this talk about 'riding'? And my physique is none of your concern!
However, Reid couldn't exactly crack dirty jokes with Wang Liu Mei, who was just a year shy of adulthood, so he changed the subject and retorted,
"Hong Long has 'dragon' in his name too. He must have carried you on his back plenty of times. So, are you a Dragon Knight as well?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Liu Mei didn't dwell on Reid's physique anymore. She looked at Hong Long and said,
"I'll change his codename later. If a real dragon ever shows up and hears his name, it might just swat him dead."
Reid didn't respond, because who knew if otherworldly invasions included worlds with angelic dragons? If a bunch of dragons showed up, Reid wouldn't be surprised in the least.
But at this point, Reid felt he had bluffed enough for the day—he'd demonstrated spatial teleportation and fabricated the special bloodline.
Although Reid suspected Wang Liu Mei might interpret the latter as some kind of enhancement method that drastically increases human strength, it didn't matter. The goal was simply to infinitely elevate his mystique in her mind.
That way, this girl, who was cunning from head to toe, would fall into the logical trap of overthinking and over-imagining, making her afraid to test or betray him recklessly.
Thus, after finishing the hotpot, Reid took his people and left.
This time, Reid couldn't make everyone disappear together, so he split them up and spent three days enjoying themselves in the Land of Abundance before each of them gradually vanished from the Wang family's surveillance.
Reid knew that during those three days, the Wang family had surely tried to collect shed materials like hair and skin flakes from his group to verify whether they were even human.
But Reid didn't care—the cloning and biochemical technology in the AD Universe were mediocre at best; they couldn't produce a Quasi-Innovator with such genetic samples.
Moreover, they wouldn't even be able to decipher Ange's genes. Even Reid himself hadn't managed to fully understand the genetics of Ange and Vivian.
So, for the following period, Reid truly relaxed as if on vacation.
Relying on the mobility of the Gran Chaos, Reid spent his mornings enjoying varied breakfasts across Human Reform League cities, had French cuisine at AEU for lunch, and in the afternoons either played on Union beaches or immersed himself in the digital world. Evenings were reserved for skewers and crayfish in the Human Reform League or enjoying some romantic nightlife. (Primarily because going out at night was unsafe in non-Human Reform League areas, and many establishments closed early.)
Unfortunately, this vacation-like lifestyle lasted less than two weeks. According to Hoshino Ruri's intelligence, the Human Reform League's orbital elevator had inexplicably seen a 10% increase in transport volume over the past three days, but today this extra 10% suddenly disappeared.
Frankly, this was a minor fluctuation, which is why it completely failed to alert the Celestial Beings agents in the original timeline.
But to the observant eye, the loophole was quite apparent.
First, the additional 10% consisted mainly of communication and sensor equipment, yet the Human Reform League's publicly announced orbital station maintenance plans didn't require such quantities.
Moreover, the orbital elevator passenger manifests revealed numerous individuals with concealed identities. Though Hoshino Ruri didn't dig deeper into their backgrounds, this alone proved the Human Reform League was preparing something.
Thus Reid immediately declared the vacation over, ordering everyone back to the ship to prepare for breaking through the atmosphere and positioning near the Human Reform League's orbital station.
However, since all satellites in the AD Universe were functional, Reid ultimately had Hoshino Ruri calculate solar flare activity.
Fortunately, calculations indicated a solar flare eruption would occur in approximately two hours.
Reid planned to activate the Neutron Jammer during the flare to cut off satellite communications above the Gran Chaos, then have the ship break through the atmosphere.
After atmospheric breakthrough, small EMP bombs would disable any satellites that might have captured footage, allowing them to blame everything on X-rays from solar flare activity.
Reid's plan proceeded smoothly. By avoiding equatorial atmospheric breakthrough, they evaded surveillance from the three major powers' orbital stations.
Post-breakthrough, the satellites Hoshino Ruri identified for destruction were all aging models belonging to minor Middle Eastern and African nations - satellites for which malfunctions were commonplace. Their governments were likely accustomed to this, always seeking assistance from the major powers for repairs.
When the major powers came to repair them and found all electronic components irreparably damaged, they'd naturally attribute it to solar flare activity without thorough inspection of non-domestic satellites.
Furthermore, with so many satellites affected, higher-ups could persuade these minor nations to purchase or lease new ones - a win-win situation.
Thus, the Gran Chaos's atmospheric breakthrough went completely undetected.
After breaking through, with electronic camouflage activated, AD Universe factions stood even less chance of detecting the Gran Chaos.
Reid then positioned the ship near electromagnetic interference zones. Though the zones were too small to cover over half the ship, with the Human Reform League's plans not yet implemented, occasional probes near the interference zones could easily be hacked and deceived.
The Human Reform League being an efficiency-focused nation, relevant supplies and personnel had already been deployed. The Top Martial forces didn't keep Reid waiting long - the operation commenced within seven to eight hours.
Not wanting to be mistaken for Celestial Beings and attacked by the Human Reform League, Reid immediately had Hoshino Ruri activate stealth and move close to the extreme limit of geosynchronous orbit as soon as the Human Reform League began deploying probes.
These probes were all launched outward, so this maneuver helped avoid accidental targeting.
Reid's side wasn't employing communication jamming at the moment; as long as these probes didn't physically collide with the Gran Chaos, everything would be fine.
Moreover, by staying near the extreme edge of geosynchronous orbit, if any probes did approach, Reid could have Hoshino Ruri hack them, causing them to be captured by Earth's gravity and burn up in the atmosphere.
Monitoring personnel tracking the probes would naturally assume any lost contact was due to gravitational capture and wouldn't suspect anything amiss.
Thus, Reid managed to wait without major incident until the Human Reform League's EDI-40-II Tiger-class warships detected the Ptolemy. Only after they set out did Reid order the Gran Chaos to leave the extreme orbital position and quietly follow the four vessels.
As for the Top Martial unit, they remained completely unaware that a massive presence was tailing them—effectively clearing a physical path for it in the process.
The Top Martial forces believed their plan was proceeding smoothly. After all, those accustomed to advanced technology often overlook crude methods—a common blind spot when one operates from a position of superiority, making it easy to miss what's right under their noses. (Reid, having foresight from knowing the "script," was an exception.)
Additionally, in the original timeline, the Ptolemy was unfortunately conducting Gundam maintenance and crew rotation, leaving only a helmsman—who wasn't monitoring detection radar—on the bridge. Under such circumstances, exposure was practically inevitable.
Thus, the Human Reform League quickly located Celestial Beings and dispatched four Tiger-class vessels (official data indicates each Tiger can carry 15 Mobile Suits, totaling 60 MS for this operation) for capture.
From the Human Reform League leadership's perspective, if terrorists could capture a Gundam, their elite forces certainly could.
Moreover, the SDP units (a designation pushed by Alejandro at the UN as a goodwill gesture) appearing in the Mollaria Republic were shrouded in mystery, and their pilots were clearly far more disciplined than Celestial Beings'.
"If one gives no thought to troubles in the future, they will soon have sorrow near at hand." For the Human Reform League, accepting that their equipment lagged far behind world-leading technology was difficult to swallow.
The adage "backwardness invites attack" was etched into the bones of certain ethnic groups within the Human Reform League—especially the one currently in power.
With Celestial Beings' Gundams having lost their aura of invincibility, they now resembled a youth carrying gold through a bustling market while armed with a sword. The Human Reform League leadership felt that failing to seize and study this technology would be a dereliction of their duties.
The only silver lining for Celestial Beings was that, as in the original timeline, they didn't wait until the Human Reform League was upon them to detect the threat.
Christina, utterly exasperated by Setsuna's poker face and Tieria's "my whole family is dead" expression, hurried through her meal to return to her post, where she discovered the surrounding signal transmitters.
As in the original events, Sumeragi planned to hide the Ptolemy within an electromagnetic interference zone while devising an escape.
The four Gundam pilots boarded their units, ready to launch at a moment's notice.
Yes, there were still only four Gundam pilots here.
At this point, Tieria entered his "new" Gundam. Sumeragi knew Tieria was grappling with severe psychological issues, but there were no alternatives—he had to sortie.
So, after Tieria boarded, Sumeragi instructed him:
"Tieria, while the Gundam Plutone (Model GNY-004, the prototype of Gundam Nadleeh) is a second-generation unit and an accident-prone machine, it has undergone partial third-generation modifications. The GN Particle dispersal mechanism has been installed, allowing it to serve as a core unit to equip Gundam Virtue's ballistic weapons and become a new Virtue. However, this is still a hastily adjusted unit with a GN Drive borrowed from the Fereshte Organization. So, don't push yourself too hard."
Tieria knew exactly what Sumeragi was worried about, but he couldn't accept his previous mistakes. Deep down, he told himself he must not fail again—or he might as well die.
Outwardly, however, Tieria simply replied, "Understood. Please rest assured."
Seeing this, Sumeragi didn't press further and, as in the original plan, dispatched Gundam Virtue and Dynames first. They were to flank the Human Reform League forces from both sides, attempting to lure the enemy into dividing their troops for a containment strategy.
If the enemy refused to split their forces, the two Gundams would circle around and attack from the front and rear.
On the Human Reform League side, Sergei Smirnov—the "Russian Bear"—had earned his reputation on the battlefield. He immediately saw through Sumeragi's tactical intentions.
He then countered with a classic stratagem: feigning a frontal assault while secretly advancing elsewhere.
First, Sergei deployed all Mobile Suits from the two Tiger-class vessels, arranging them in formation behind the mothership to prevent the enemy from detecting via optical instruments that the MS weren't moving with the ships. (The distance between both sides was still great—Ptolemy's optical sensors could barely make out the enemy, while the Tigers couldn't even spot Ptolemy yet.)
Next, Sergei sent two empty ships to pretend to engage the two separated Gundams. Once these ships reached their designated course, their cockpits detached, leaving the hulls to drift forward on inertia as decoys to lure the Gundams closer.
The remaining two ships and all Mobile Suits headed straight for Ptolemy.
Sumeragi grew uneasy when she noticed the two Tigers had been diverted but were moving at an unnatural speed.
As a Tactical Forecaster, Sumeragi was well-versed in historical battles—she recognized this tactic.
Thus, she deduced her opponent was the "Russian Bear," Sergei Smirnov.
But it was too late. The communication blackout caused by GN Particles had become a hindrance—Dynames and Virtue, now far from Ptolemy, had already lost contact.
Now, Sumeragi had to rely on Exia, whose attacks were 90% close-combat, and Kyrios, which was temporarily operational but with uncalibrated shooting systems. They had to hold out until Dynames and Virtue realized the enemy was a decoy and returned.
Fortunately, Reid quietly gave Sumeragi an assist.
At this point, the Gran Chaos, trailing the four Tigers, needed to avoid stray fire exposing its position. It veered toward the flank, entering an area dense with detectors.
As planned, to prevent physical collisions with detectors from revealing the ship, Reid activated the Neutron Jammer.
All detectors deployed by the Human Reform League in this space zone instantly went offline. Communications between the Iron Man Space Types and their mothership were also partially disrupted.
Sergei Smirnov urgently demanded to know what had happened.
But the technical operator on the flagship had never encountered anything like a Neutron Jammer, and could only draw from his knowledge to suggest one possibility.
"Report, this situation closely resembles interference from solar winds, though we haven't received any solar wind warnings. Another possibility is that the Celestial Beings actually possess other large-scale jamming capabilities."
Sergei Smirnov pondered for a moment before making his judgment.
"If the Celestial Beings had other jamming capabilities, they should have used them before entering our optical detector range. Using them now makes no sense at all.
Solar winds... The warning system for that thing has always been unreliable. Could it be that fortune is favoring the Celestial Beings at this moment?
But no matter. The operation begins now!!"
(End of Chapter)