Volume One: The Illegitimate Child of the Slums

Prologue: Red 9

Star Calendar Year 2013.

Haizhou No. 12 is a garbage planet. It is one of the twelve ring planets of Riverside Star. This place is a notorious slum. In the eyes of the refined upper-class aristocrats of the capital star of the Great Eagle Empire, it has always been synonymous with filth and squalor, a haven for all that is dirty and corrupt.

The metallic tide storms formed here due to temperature and pressure differences are infamous, and even three-year-old children know about these harsh weather phenomena from the pages of "Great Eagle Empire National Geographic."

Imagine the endless electronic waste and sand and gravel on the garbage planet, swept across the land by powerful cyclones, destroying everything in their path with unstoppable force—like the ancient Greek Caesar of old Earth, sweeping across the continents with imperial might. It is a scene of utter devastation, where no living thing dares approach.

In such a harsh environment, indeed, no life could survive this terrifying and violent nature. Yet humanity is always a peculiar species, able to create tools to help them achieve miracles that no other life can.

Amid the swirling black shroud covering the surface of Haizhou No. 12, twelve flickering red lights flashed in and out of view.

The source of these twelve flickering red lights in the storm was twelve steel bodies—the pinnacle of current human technology: mobile armors!

Twelve mechs, broad-shouldered and slender, charged through the storm. The red glow from the engines mounted on their backs showed they were at maximum thrust, yet even so, these mechs seemed small and frail in the face of near-apocalyptic natural disaster.

As the twelve mechs struggled through the storm, a sudden warning sounded. Their already shaky formation instantly collapsed, and the mechs scattered in panic. The source of such terror for these technological marvels was a dilapidated mining site not far away, appearing like a scene from hell within the storm.

But this mining site was not a touching sanctuary for travelers caught in the storm. Instead, it signaled the arrival of the most terrifying "metal tide burst" within the storm!

The mining site was "moving."

This massive mining site, origin unknown, was now, under the storm's immense power, like a steel behemoth, dragging its huge, bloated, and hideous body, floating and "moving" within the storm.

"Warning!" "Warning!" "Unknown object approaching warning!"

"Unit 1, evade! Evade! Beep... zzzzz..."

"Unit 3! Unit 3!"

"Danger, collision warning! Repeat, danger, collision warning! Beep..."

...

In their field of vision, the mining site rose from the ground, spewing countless metal objects like a steel monster.

Beams, lathes, steel frames, office chairs twisted beyond recognition, cranes, abandoned fuel drums—all swirling densely in the massive storm, surging toward the twelve mechs! It was as if twelve travelers were facing a mudslide unleashed by a flash flood.

Such was the despair.

...

The next day. The Great Eagle Empire National Television, Riverside Star District TV, Donghua News, and other major imperial media simultaneously broadcast a piece of news that shocked the public—

"...A military spokesperson stated that dozens of the Empire's tenth-generation mechs, 'Sky Cavalry,' from the 333rd Regiment of the Great Eagle military, encountered a pressure storm during routine exercises on Haizhou No. 12. The mechs are missing, casualties among the crew are unknown, and the imperial military is making every effort to search for this sudden incident..."

A single stone stirred up many waves. Some citizens, unclear about what exactly happened to those mechs on the garbage planet Haizhou No. 12, held protests, accusing the imperial government and military technology departments of squandering taxpayers' money. Others spontaneously mourned the poor pilots, whose fates were likely already sealed. Foreign media outside the Empire also commented on the incident. But what drew the most attention was not the words of the Great Eagle military, but the 333rd Regiment.

As everyone knows, the so-called 333rd Regiment is actually the guard unit under the Grand Duke Norman family. The history of the Norman family dates back to the founding of the Empire. Among the four great houses that have survived to this day, they have produced three imperial heads of state and five prime ministers—a legendary and illustrious ducal family.

No one doubts the Norman family's status as the center of the imperial aristocracy. That is precisely why this otherwise common mech crash became a national news event, drawing so much attention—causing the well-wishers within the Empire to worry, the contentious to gloat, and the schemers to watch from afar.