When Reid left Wang Liu Mei, the young lady was still in a strange state, frowning one moment and smiling the next.
Reid knew Hong Long was a trustworthy person. The one he had always served was not the family, but his younger sister, Wang Liu Mei. So, before leaving, he said to her, "Miss Wang Liu Mei, don't be too harsh on Hong Long in the future. He is, after all, your blood brother, the one who cares about you and loves you the most."
Reid's words were, in fact, a hint that Hong Long could be trusted, telling Wang Liu Mei not to be so wary of him.
However, Reid was worrying for nothing. Even if he hadn't said this, Wang Liu Mei wouldn't have done anything to Hong Long.
He was her own brother, after all. Moreover, the fact that Reid had openly invested in her right in front of Hong Long, without hiding anything, proved that Reid didn't consider Hong Long a threat to this investment.
So, Wang Liu Mei just nodded and said nothing more after asking Hong Long to see Reid out. Her mind was now busy organizing a vast amount of information and plans.
As for Hong Long, he was also an awkward person. While seeing Reid off, out of Wang Liu Mei's sight, he gave a 90-degree bow and said, "Thank you," expressing his gratitude for Reid's help to his sister.
There was nothing wrong with the thanks, but Reid couldn't shake the feeling that in Hong Long's mind, he was being treated as some kind of philanthropist.
But it didn't matter. Wang Liu Mei herself surely understood that nothing is more expensive than something free. This time, she wouldn't be collaborating with Ribbons with any wishful thinking. She knew clearly that if Ribbons gained complete control of the world, her only option would be to sell herself to Reid.
Back in the Hypersonic Transport Plane, Reid immediately contacted Hoshino Ruri and asked, "Ruri, you should have found Kowloon's position by now. What's the situation with Celestial Beings?"
Hoshino Ruri quickly replied in her emotionless work voice, "Kowloon is currently piloting a Gouf, moving at high speed from Europe to the Middle East. There's no network around him, but I've hacked a spy satellite and am keeping an eye on it.
"As for Celestial Beings, not long after we left, Kati Mannequin led a Union and AEU Wodom Pod unit and launched a surprise counter-attack.
"Although Celestial Beings managed to hold the line briefly using the asteroid belt, their defensive line was ultimately broken because Gundam Virtue, for some reason, did not sortie. Dynames sustained moderate damage protecting the Ptolemy, but subsequent Celestial Beings' Mobile Armors arrived, flanked the enemy, and shot down three Wodom Pods, forcing the Union and AEU forces to retreat.
"The Ptolemy then used the cover of the asteroid belt to relocate, heading towards the Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 1."
Hearing this, Reid thought that Kati Mannequin was truly a Tactical Forecaster on par with Sumeragi. That surprise counter-attack was indeed brilliant.
Dynames was moderately damaged, just like in the original story. He just didn't know if Lockon's right eye was blinded, but he was definitely injured.
However, that was none of Reid's business right now. During the final battle, he would try to save him, but he wouldn't force it. After all, everyone has their own path.
So, Reid spoke again, "Ruri, check if the battle between the Throne Meisters and the United Nations' cleanup force over in De'ul in the Middle East is over. They should have been engaged for a while now."
Hoshino Ruri didn't know that the Throne Meisters weren't actually part of the official Celestial Beings, so when the battle started there, she had been quietly monitoring it. The military in the Kingdom of Azadistan was live-streaming it anyway, so she just had to hack in and watch the broadcast.
Therefore, Hoshino Ruri immediately replied, "The battle has ended. The Wodom Pod unit there defeated the Throne Meisters with a brilliant coordinated rotational formation. Noin has already taken her people to hold a meeting to study this formation while she has the time."
Reid acknowledged that the Human Reform League's coordinated formation was indeed formidable. Without a way to quickly detect the GN Fangs, they managed to intercept them by relying on 360-degree, gapless observation and movement, combined with a dense web of firepower.
He knew that if it could allow ordinary soldiers to effectively counter GN Fangs, it would certainly be effective against Dragoons and Funnels as well. The difficulty was a bit high, as it required each mobile suit to maintain relative synchronization while the entire formation rotated at high speed, but it was definitely worth in-depth study and inclusion in their training program.
But right now, the most important thing was the Throne Meisters' next hiding spot. He needed to go and intercept Kowloon.
So, Reid asked directly, "Ruri, do you know where the Throne Meisters are heading now?"
Hoshino Ruri hadn't actually paid attention to where they had fled. She paused for a moment before saying, "They are moving towards the Atlantic Ocean. Their true destination is unknown for now. Also, Kowloon's Gouf just changed its path. He has also started moving towards the Atlantic. There's a seventy percent chance that Kowloon's current target is the Throne Meisters.
"Also, an armored container-like object just launched from the Ptolemy towards Earth. As per your orders, Belfgang is already tailing it in the Mystic Lightning."
Reid nodded. It was just as he expected. Ribbons was now using Kowloon as bait to waste his time, buying himself more time to seize Veda. As for Celestial Beings' action, that was naturally Setsuna going to save the object of his first kiss.
Therefore, Reid prepared to stir up some serious trouble for him, directly ordering, "Ruri, continue tracking the Throne Meisters.
"Also, use the Veda connection credentials we got from Gundam Virtue to allocate processing power and invade Veda. But don't force it. Use a lot of botnet servers, and retreat as soon as Veda begins a large-scale counterattack. Then, switch to a different wave of servers and attack again."
Hoshino Ruri found Reid's order baffling. The Gran Chaos's quantum computer didn't have enough processing power. Forcibly invading Veda was a thankless task that would also increase their own risk of being counter-hacked. So she said directly, "I still don't recommend invading Veda. It's almost impossible to succeed, and the risks are huge."
Reid understood that Hoshino Ruri had misunderstood. He said with a smile, "Don't worry, Ruri. Veda is in a state where it can't even fend for itself right now. Someone is tampering with its administrator privileges. If we invade now, we might actually succeed.
"Even if we fail, we'll activate the firewall and give the person tampering with the privileges a hard time. And there's no way Veda will be able to launch a full-scale counterattack."
With Reid's explanation, Hoshino Ruri understood. No matter how powerful Veda was, if it was already being secretly invaded, it was like a strong person with a severe cold—full of strength but unable to use it.
Now was indeed a good time. Even if the invasion failed, there was no fear of a counter-invasion.
Hoshino Ruri, after all, treated cyber warfare as a form of entertainment, and Veda was a boss she couldn't beat right now. But now that this boss was weakened, even without Reid's order, she wanted to try challenging it to see if she could "kill" the boss above her level.
So, while ensuring she continued to monitor Celestial Beings, Kowloon, and the Throne Meisters, Hoshino Ruri began to allocate most of the Gran Chaos's processing power, co-opting a large number of botnet servers on Earth to launch a direct invasion through the Veda connection line found in the Gundam Nadleeh Trial System.
At this moment, Ribbons, who had just cracked Veda's sixth-level permissions and was about to crack the final seventh level, instantly felt his "brain short-circuit."
This "short-circuit" was a physical sensation. To modify the final permissions, Ribbons naturally needed to keep Veda's firewall in a semi-dormant state.
Therefore, this was indeed the time when Veda's defenses were at their weakest. Under Hoshino Ruri's command, a massive amount of abnormal data swiftly broke through Veda's currently flimsy firewall via an internal channel, exposing all the data accessible with Veda's level one to three permissions.
This crude action naturally activated Veda's deep-layer firewall (modern server firewalls are multi-layered and distributed, triggering different levels of protection through various mechanisms. This ensures the firewall doesn't consume too much processing power during normal operation but can quickly establish multi-layered defenses when invaded or attacked).
It was a good thing Ribbons had already cracked the permissions up to level six, otherwise he would have been kicked out of Veda immediately.
However, Veda's protection mechanism now directly locked down any possibility of modifying permissions to prevent external intrusions from doing so.
This directly caused Ribbons's progress to get stuck. The permissions he had previously modified were flagged by Veda's self-check as external modifications, triggering an automatic rollback.
If this rollback succeeded, all of Ribbons's previous efforts would be for naught. Thus, he could only use the processing power he currently controlled to prevent the firewall from initiating the rollback program.
In an instant, Veda's processing power was cut by nearly half due to this internal conflict. The remaining power could only barely resist Hoshino Ruri's invasion, and the fourth-level permissions were still being slowly cracked.
Even a fool would know by now that this was Reid's counterattack. He had annoyed Reid, so naturally, Reid would annoy him back. And Reid certainly wouldn't mind completely invading and taking Veda for himself.
So, Ribbons now had to multitask, simultaneously preventing Veda's firewall from rolling back the permissions and helping Veda defend against the external invasion. As for cracking the seventh-level permissions? He'd be lucky to hold on to the sixth level at this point.
The Veda server room was now filled with flashing red warning lights and piercing alarms, which had thrown Alejandro into a state of panic. He looked at Ribbons, whose expression was somewhat contorted in pain, and asked, "Ribbons, what's happening to Veda? Did you accidentally activate the firewall?"
To be honest, Ribbons really didn't want to deal with this useless Alejandro right now, but it wasn't time to turn on him yet. He still needed to inherit Alejandro's influence. So, he could only force out a bit of energy and say to him, "SDP is invading Veda, which activated its firewall. As a result, I've been dragged into this cyber battle."
Hearing this, Alejandro became even more nervous. The last time he met that Reid Isaac, he truly felt like he had almost died. He quickly asked, "Why is SDP invading Veda? Weren't we getting along just fine before?"
Ribbons certainly couldn't say that he had attracted SDP's retaliation by contacting and hiding Kowloon, so he could only lie, "Perhaps they're trying to find Kowloon through Veda. Reid Isaac is clearly getting impatient; he even issued a wanted notice to the United Nations. Invading Veda isn't surprising."
Alejandro could barely accept this explanation, but he still asked nervously, "I see. So what do we do now? Can you still crack Veda's permissions?"
Ribbons thought to himself, Why is this guy still thinking about his grand delusions at a time like this? If SDP seized Veda, the only place he could have any dreams was in his bed.
However, Ribbons's years of self-cultivation were quite good. He gritted his teeth and said, "Mr. Alejandro, I must now focus all my efforts on helping Veda fend off SDP's invasion. If we lose Veda, we will never have a chance to turn the tables on SDP.
"I can still maintain my current permissions, but to continue modifying them will now require more time. Please be patient."
With Ribbons having said this much, Alejandro knew he couldn't be hasty now. Pushing Ribbons would only be counterproductive, so he could only fall silent and continue to wait anxiously.
However, this cyber battle between Ribbons and Hoshino Ruri was destined to be a protracted one. Neither side would be able to determine a winner in a short amount of time.
While Ribbons and Hoshino Ruri were engaged in their network war, the Throne Meisters had stopped on a deserted island in the Atlantic. There was a safe house here. Although it couldn't resupply Mobile Suits, it had food and electricity for a few people to live on.
However, this was the place where the Trinitys would fall apart. Reid, Kowloon, Sachez, and Setsuna—all four parties were rushing here. It was unclear for now who was the mantis and who was the oriole, but the Trinitys were the cicada.
The first to arrive was naturally the fastest, Reid.
However, Reid had the hypersonic transport stop on the small island closest to this deserted one. He and Xia Yulan then piloted the Hermes Zero and Blade Angel Gundam over, cloaked. He watched as Johann Trinity, while dealing with his younger siblings' complaints, contemplated an escape route.
Reid planned to just wait for Kowloon like this. He wouldn't attack the mobile suits, lest Kowloon escape by falling into the sea.
He would wait until Kowloon showed his face, then eliminate him with the mobile suit's cannons, ensuring he had absolutely no possibility of escape.
The second to arrive was Sachez's AEU Custom. He had an official identity and could take official routes, making him slightly faster than Kowloon.
Just like in the original story, Sachez had already killed the Trinitys' original collaborator, Laguna Harvey. He then used light signals to indicate he had no hostile intent before landing in front of Johann and Michael Trinity.
Johann Trinity was also desperate and clutching at straws. He only had Nena Trinity return to Throne Drei before meeting Sachez, whose background was completely unknown, in person.
As a result, Sachez directly told them that Laguna Harvey was dead, and while the two were in shock, he opened fire and instantly killed Michael Trinity.
However, just as Sachez was about to ambush Johann Trinity, an electromagnetic cannon shot down from high above, blasting Sachez, who was on the ground, away. As for Johann Trinity, not even his bones would be left now.
This electromagnetic cannon shot was naturally fired by the third person to arrive, Kowloon. He had no qualms about collateral damage.
But Sachez was as resilient as a cockroach. Despite being blasted away by the shockwave at near point-blank range, he was actually able to stand up, protected by his pilot suit. It seemed he wasn't too seriously injured.
Sachez knew at a glance that this Gouf was Kowloon's. Without a second word, he ran towards Throne Zwei. He didn't have the confidence to talk until he was inside his mobile suit.
Kowloon, meanwhile, had to face the wrath of Nena Trinity. She hadn't noticed that Sachez was still alive. Piloting Throne Drei, she roared through the open comms, "Give me back my brothers!" and was about to get up to fight Kowloon.
However, the poor piloting skills of the Celestial Beings' pilots in the first season was a common phenomenon. Throne Drei was still getting up when Kowloon's Gouf kicked it back down.
After the kick, Kowloon also opened his comms and said, "Sorry, little sister. Please wait a moment. I'll switch to another mobile suit, and then I'll send you to reunite with your brothers right away. I promise you won't be lonely on your journey."