Chapter 227: Respective Trajectories (Part 4)

Li Boyong was conducting pilot selection for the Actaeon Project in San Antonio, while Shihe brought her transfer notice to report to Armory One.

The so-called Armory One referred to a colonial satellite in the December colony cluster that had been completely transformed into a military base.

Just like the name Armory, the entire colonial satellite was a huge arsenal.

The satellite housed a staggering number of various MS, and numerous Nazca-class and Laurasia-class ships were docked at the naval port.

Besides that, many new weapon R&D projects led by the Verne Design Bureau also had specialized testing grounds here.

And the department Shihe was transferring to was one of the departments responsible for the R&D project of the next-generation main machine for the ZAFT military.

Arriving to report, Shihe met the person in charge of the project in the project director's office—a person she could never have imagined.

"Nicol!!!"

Shihe couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice, "Why is it you?"

Facing Shihe's surprised expression, Nicol revealed a warm, shy expression and said embarrassedly, "Hehe, startled?"

"Really startled. Why are you here?"

Shihe nodded, her tone unconsciously carrying a hint of complaint, "And you're the project director! You didn't say a word when we met last time!"

"Can't help it; it's a classified project after all."

Nicol said with a smile.

Shihe suddenly realized, "Did you choose me to join this project?"

Nicol extended his index finger to shush her, "Don't tell Yzak about this, or I'll be nagged by him again next time we meet."

After a pause, Nicol explained, "There's no other way; the project here is a classified matter. Yzak doesn't even know I'm working here currently."

Shihe smiled, "Alright, Director Nicol, I'll leave getting familiar with the new position to you."

"Please follow me; I'll take you to get familiar with the environment."

Nicol nodded with a smile and then took Shihe to visit the testing grounds and hangar belonging to the project.

Arriving at the hangar, Shihe saw three gray-white machines parked there.

"Gundam..."

Looking at that iconic V-fin design and the sharply defined facial design, Shihe couldn't help but softly utter the name of this series of machines.

Hearing this, Nicol smiled, "It seems this saying indeed circulates among pilots; it's a title evolved from the machine's operating system. I remember it first spread from the Alliance side."

After a pause, Nicol continued, "Because during the last great war, the X-series we captured from the Alliance exerted relatively powerful combat strength, so under the mandate of Chairman Durandal, our project began developing new Gundams as the next-generation main machines for the ZAFT military."

Subsequently, Nicol proudly introduced the three machines separately.

"Chaos, Abyss, Gaia." Shihe softly repeated the names of these machines. Listening to Nicol's introduction of the machines' performance and characteristics, she felt they really fit the names of the machines very well.

"So my mission is to be a test pilot for the project?" Finally, Shihe confirmed with Nicol.

Nicol nodded, "To be precise, one of the test pilots."

——————

Atlantic Federation, Los Angeles.

A flight from Orb landed smoothly at Los Angeles International Airport. Flay, wearing a capable black suit, went through immigration procedures without any obstacles and successfully met up with the family friend.

"Flay! You've suffered!"

The family friend pulled Flay into her arms, intimately stroking her hair.

She remembered that after her mother died, this family friend had always taken good care of Flay and gradually developed a thread of affection with her dashing father.

"If it's this aunt, even Flay, who loves Daddy the most, can agree to you remarrying."

She remembered Flay had said this to her father at the time, and her father and the family friend had begun preparing for remarriage.

Unfortunately, heaven has unpredictable storms; the war broke out, and her father was always busy with government affairs, delaying the remarriage.

After that was the advance team battle; her father died on the battlefield, and the remarriage matter was left unsettled.

"I'm back, Auntie."

Flay said softly.

In the arms of this woman who almost became her mother, her heart felt a little of the warmth of the past.

After Flay decided to leave Orb, she contacted this family friend. Thanks to the other party's background, which was no less than her own family's, after some maneuvering, her status as a deserter was finally canceled, allowing her to return to the Atlantic Federation.

To be able to enter the country so smoothly, she didn't know how much effort the other party had put in behind the scenes...

"Let's go; from now on, Auntie is your family."

The family friend took Flay's hand and walked toward the luxury car parked outside.

The driver, who had been waiting there, saw the hostess come out and quickly opened the back door, inviting the two ladies to get in.

Flay followed the family friend into the car, preparing to leave the terminal.

It was the peak period for passenger plane arrivals, so there were many vehicles at the airport, and the luxury car moved slowly through the traffic.

Vaguely, Flay's gaze was attracted by a soldier outside the window who looked a bit strange.

Strange, because that soldier was wearing a black military uniform not found in the Alliance military and was also wearing a half-face helmet on his head.

And behind the soldier were two female soldiers with identical faces.

Such a wonderful combination was indeed extremely attractive to others.

However, as the luxury car moved slowly forward, the three figures disappeared from Flay's field of vision, and Flay regained her senses, asking the family friend about the changes in the Atlantic Federation over the past year and the recent situation of the Alster family.

Li Boyong, who came to the airport to pick someone up, didn't know that he had actually brushed shoulders with Flay, an acquaintance.

He took the Xia sisters into the arrival hall and waited inside for about ten minutes before seeing the person he intended to welcome.

The new head of the Lopez Conglomerate, Miss Liumei Wang Lopez!

Of course, there was a crowd of bodyguards following behind this young lady.

However, Wang Liumei got directly into Li Boyong's military vehicle and waved her hand, letting the bodyguards take another prepared car to follow behind.

In the military vehicle, Yufang was driving in the front row, Yulan was sitting in the passenger seat, leaving the back row space for Li Boyong and Wang Liumei.

"How was it? Was the flight from Washington tiring?"

Li Boyong asked casually with concern.

"It's alright. The level of civil aviation technology in this world seems to be higher than that of my world," Wang Liumei replied.

As she spoke, she yawned, "Speaking of which, I spent quite a bit of energy cleaning up those few stupid relatives over there these past few days."

"Oh?"

Hearing Wang Liumei's words, Li Boyong revealed an interested expression, "You got things settled over there?"

"Spent some effort, designed some traps, grabbed some leverage, and finally mastered the Lopez Conglomerate."

Wang Liumei nodded and continued, "However, this Lopez Conglomerate seems to be even more remarkable than you and I imagined!"

"How so?"

"LOGOS." Wang Liumei softly uttered a word and asked, "Have you heard of this organization?" ===== CHAPTER 228 =====