Simultaneous Time Travel: Gundam? All Teammates are Old Six

Chapter 7: Bugs, Backdoors, and Trojan Horses

"Reporting, Commander! The ZAFT prisoner in the solitary confinement cell specifically requests to speak with you!"

A Eurasian soldier ran quickly up to the bridge and reported Ling Yu's almost provocative words verbatim to Maru and... Gerard Garcia, who was standing next to her.

Garcia felt like he'd heard the funniest joke of the century.

"A prisoner? He dares to negotiate with me?" he sneered. "Lock him in solitary confinement and let him sober up!"

"Wait a minute!" Maru suddenly exclaimed.

She met Garcia's questioning gaze without flinching: "Commander, this man... is very strange. He did some inexplicable things in Heliopolis, and his words may hold value we are unaware of."

"Value?" Garcia crossed his arms, arrogantly scrutinizing Maru. "Captain Lamias, are you referring to the ravings of a surrendered soldier? Or have officers of the Atlantic Federation stooped so low as to need to ask a ZAFT mortal for help?"

Maru's cheeks flushed red, but she persisted.

"I beg you, let me hear what he has to say. This concerns the safety of the Archangel and its entire crew!"

She didn't know why she was so persistent.

Perhaps it was intuition, or perhaps it was the unwavering certainty hidden behind the cynicism in that young man's eyes.

Or perhaps... she had been driven to the brink and had no choice but to grasp at any straw, no matter how absurd it seemed.

Ten minutes later, in Garcia's office.

Ling Yu sat leisurely on the sofa. In front of him stood Garcia, his face ashen, and Maru, her expression grave. Around them, eight fully armed soldiers pointed their guns at him.

"Speak, you coward. My time is precious," Garcia said condescendingly.

Ling Yu seemed oblivious to the gun barrels. He yawned and slowly began, "First, let me correct you. I'm not a henchman; I'm a professional 'internal tester.' Second, it's not your time that's valuable; it's mine."

He crossed his legs, his gaze sweeping over Garcia before finally settling on Maru.

"I only talk to 'players' who can make the right judgments."

[System Notification: The "Fraudster's Smile" effect has been activated. Your persuasiveness and charisma have been temporarily and slightly increased.]

Garcia flew into a rage, but Maru preemptively asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"It's very simple," Ling Yu said with a smile. "Your proud 'Artemis's Umbrella' is a half-finished product with a fatal design flaw. It's a 'backdoor program' that even a third-rate tester like me can spot."

"Nonsense!" Garcia roared.

"Oh?" Ling Yu raised an eyebrow. "Then may I ask, Commander, does your 'Light Umbrella' use a 'decentralized grid-like redundant power supply' mode for its energy supply? And is there a theoretical delay of 0.03 seconds in the synchronization refresh rate of the force field control protocol?"

Garcia's pupils suddenly contracted.

These are top secrets of the Artemis defense system!

Ling Yu ignored his shock and continued, "This system is like a cheesy online game."

It appears indestructible under normal circumstances, but once a few specific "bug points" are found, it can be continuously "harassed" with high-frequency, low-energy beam pulses in a completely random order...

He spread his hands and smiled like a child who had successfully pulled off a prank.

"...its central processing unit will be forced to restart due to overload. It's like when you frantically click on a crashed program with your mouse. There will be about 90 seconds of 'downtime,' enough time for us to have a cup of tea and then drive off in style."

"How...how do you know all this!" Garcia's voice betrayed shock for the first time.

Maru was completely stunned. She didn't understand the gaming jargon, but the technical terms and Garcia's reaction all proved that he was telling the truth!

Who exactly is this person?

"Me?" Ling Yu shrugged, giving a "that's a strange question" look, while subtly inserting a floppy disk into the terminal port.

"Hey, what are you doing?" a guard shouted, cocking his pistol.

"Don't be nervous, I'm just showing you something interesting. Look, this is your defense map..."

Ling Yu raised his hands, pointing his left finger at the screen, where a model of the fortress and the defense data of the laser barrier automatically loaded.

"Didn't I tell you? I'm a professional. Aren't all these things written in the 'game's' background settings and update announcements? You NPCs... oh no, you officers, don't you ever read the version update logs?"

Version... Update Log?

Maru and Garcia's minds completely went blank.

What the hell is this blog update? Anyone with a normal brain wouldn't publish military secrets in the newspaper.

So, how did he know?

Maru's eyes were filled with even more confusion, though curiosity played a larger part.

At this very moment, aboard the distant Vesalius.

A radar operator suddenly reported: "Captain Xiao Ran! Weak but highly irregular energy fluctuations have been detected at Artemis Fortress! The frequency is extremely chaotic!"

Xiao Ran suddenly raised his head and rushed to the tactical screen.

On the screen, inside the energy model representing the fortress, several nodes were flashing wildly and erratically, like an electrocardiogram.

This is absolutely not the normal operating mode of a fortress!

"What is he doing?" the adjutant asked in astonishment.

A fierce light, a mixture of excitement and apprehension, burst forth in Xiao Ran's eyes.

"He's testing... He's probed and recording data from within, bit by bit, of every defensive node of the 'Artemis Umbrella,' in ways we can't even imagine!"

"That madman! He's not trying to run away!"

Xiao Ran growled out the conclusion that sent chills down his spine.

"He wants to...take this fortress!"

At that very moment, Kruse's voice, tinged with a lazy smile, rang out on ZAFT's communication channel.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it seems our 'guests' have already made a complete mess of the banquet inside. So, as the 'hosts,' shouldn't we go knock on the door and offer some 'extra fun' fireworks?"

The next second, the three Gundams "Thunder", "Storm", and "Duel", which were already waiting, along with Kruze's Zeon, transformed into four streaks of light and rushed straight towards Artemis!

The alarm blared instantly throughout the office and Garcia's fortress!

"Report! ZAFT forces! Four new ZAFT mobile suits! They're charging in!"

Garcia's face turned deathly pale.

Of all times!

He turned around abruptly and stared intently at the young man who still looked relaxed.

Ling Yu gave him a bright smile, as if to say, "See, I told you so."

He slowly stood up, walked to Maru's side, leaned close to her ear, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Captain, now is the time to make a choice."

It's about trusting an arrogant jailer.

Or should I trust a professional "game companion"?

"By the way, it's time to settle my appearance fee."

He pointed to the monitor screen, to the hangar—the Strike Gundam.

"Let's use the temporary right to use that 'newbie special plane' to cover the first expense."