The rising killing intent was reined back into his eyes as Felix desperately restrained his emotional outburst, issuing orders in a calm and steady voice.
"Rescue the personnel. Search for the remains of the fallen soldiers—retrieve whatever fragments you can find, even the smallest pieces."
Observing Felix's tightly controlled expression, Phelps saluted and replied respectfully, "Understood!"
Hearing the response, Felix gazed ahead while piloting the Genesis Gundam and inquired, "Send me the escape trajectory of the Providence Gundam and Creuset's team!"
"Yes!" Phelps nodded, answering with solemn gravity.
As the reply reached his ears, Felix glanced at Phelps before terminating the communication.
Shortly after receiving the data from Phelps, Felix pushed the thrust lever forward, pressed the pedals firmly, and maneuvered the control stick leftward.
The Genesis Gundam pivoted left while its rear thrusters amplified their output.
Once the turn was complete, the rear thrusters reached maximum threshold output.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished from the skies above Lorentz Military Base.
Simultaneously—
Creuset's Team
"Captain, enemy units are still tracking us!"
Inside the Providence Gundam's cockpit, a voice rang out.
Hearing this, Creuset's lips curled slightly, his smile exuding coldness and bloodlust.
"Leave it to me," he uttered in a brief, placid tone.
The rapidly advancing Providence Gundam halted its forward momentum. The Dragoon Wireless Guided Weapons detached and swiftly maneuvered backward.
The cautiously trailing ZAFT reconnaissance MS, upon detecting the anomaly, attempted to react but were struck by the wireless guided weapons.
The MS pilots vanished from the airspace alongside their exploding units.
"All eliminated," Creuset remarked in an offhand manner.
The Dragoon Wireless Guided Weapons returned to their original positions as the Providence Gundam turned and resumed its advance.
During the Pursuit
Watching the corresponding tracking data disappear, Felix's expression instantly hardened, killing intent surging repeatedly in his eyes. He growled under his breath, "Damn Creuset!"
With that, Felix had no choice but to rely on instinct to continue pursuing in that direction.
Throughout the chase, Felix attempted to use his abilities to locate Creuset and his team's position.
After several attempts, Felix sighed in resignation, inwardly lamenting, 'The distance is too great—there's no way to pinpoint Creuset's location.'
Thinking this, he could only press on, guided by intuition.
Aprilius City District 1
PLANT Supreme Government Office Building
Patrick, awaiting updates, finally received word from the Joint Design Bureau.
"Chairman, we've determined how Creuset bypassed the safety lock," reported the Joint Design Bureau Director.
Lifting his gaze to the Director, Patrick inquired in an even tone. No sooner had he spoken than the Director began his report.
"Based on our analysis of scattered information from the Lorentz Military Base, our final reasonable conclusion is that they bypassed the security lock using an electronic virus!"
Hearing the response, Patrick frowned in confusion and muttered under his breath.
"Using an electronic virus?"
The Director of the Joint Design Bureau nodded and continued.
"They transmitted the electronic virus into the Providence Gundam's system through an interface, using it to invade the entire operating system and ultimately achieve the goal of bypassing the security lock."
After understanding this, Patrick's expression instantly darkened. His voice grew low and carried a hint of anger as he questioned.
"The Providence Gundam is equipped with the latest quantum computer and has the newest firewall installed. How could these new technologies still be affected by the electronic virus Creuset prepared?"
Hearing the question, the Director of the Joint Design Bureau wore a bitter expression and replied with a wry smile.
"Chairman, the security lock wasn't originally integrated into the entire operating system. It's a code function module that was transplanted later."
The Director paused briefly before continuing.
"In other words, the connection between the security lock code module and the entire operating system isn't as tight as the links between the various code function modules within the original operating system."
Understanding dawning on him, Patrick interrupted.
"So according to you, the taut rope between the original operating system and this security lock has snapped?"
Hearing Patrick's concise analogy, the Director swallowed the words he was about to say and nodded in response.
"Exactly!"
After answering, the Director noticed Patrick's extremely unpleasant expression and quickly added.
"Chairman, we've been working all this time to safely integrate the security lock into the entire operating system, but progress hasn't been smooth. Multiple attempts have caused coordination issues with the original system, which is why the Providence Gundam hasn't completed the operating system replacement. This weakness has remained!"
Listening to the explanation, Patrick didn't say much, merely looking at the Director with deep, unreadable eyes that showed neither pleasure nor anger.
"Captain, where should we go next?"
"Establish contact with the Earth Alliance!"
After glancing at the Vesalius captain on the communication screen, Creuset gave his direct answer.
Hearing Creuset's idea, the Vesalius captain immediately furrowed his brow, unwillingness surging in his eyes.
Creuset noticed these emotional fluctuations completely but wasn't surprised. He explained gently.
"Contacting the Earth Alliance is to thoroughly muddy the waters. Only this way can we escape during the chaos and do what we want to do."
Though the explanation made sense, the Vesalius captain's eyes still showed reluctance. However, he understood Creuset's intention in his heart.
Being reasonable, he nodded to Creuset, then ended the communication to attend to his duties.
Watching the communication end, Creuset's lips curved into a slight smile.
'The waters indeed need to be muddied, but not to escape from here. It's to make the two fish in the muddy water tear into each other without restraint.'
A maddened laugh echoed in his heart, then Creuset's true thoughts surged within him.
......
During the pursuit, Felix perceived everything around him through the screen and his abilities.
The moment he sensed it all, Felix swiftly piloted the Genesis Gundam to charge forward.
After advancing for a while, the wreckage of MS's came into view.
Observing the state of the debris, Felix maneuvered the Genesis Gundam rapidly through the remnants.
Once he passed through, grief welled up in Felix's eyes as he roared in a voice filled with fury.
"Creuset!!!"