Who is Playing the Love Development Game in Gundam

"What is the Archangel doing here?"

He Kui's words undoubtedly echoed the thoughts of many present.

Although it was widely known that the Archangel had gone to Orb, the Orb government would never officially admit it.

And even if they did, why would the Archangel come here now? Orb is a neutral nation.

Soon, a full-channel communication provided everyone with an answer.

"This is Murrue Ramius, captain of the Archangel, belonging to 'Pallas.'"

"In accordance with our long-standing principles of peace, we request both sides to immediately cease all acts of war in this area."

"...When did you manage to bring the Archangel here?"

Sulei asked with a strange tone.

"I didn't."

He truly hadn't. As for why they used the name Pallas, He Kui had a few guesses.

After all, if they had used Orb, it would have been a blatant violation of Uzumi's declaration of neutrality.

It was understandable, but as one of the parties involved, He Kui felt a strong sense of dissonance.

Soon, he sensed another signal growing stronger as the Archangel descended.

"...Cagalli!? Why are you here?"

Opening Xiao Liu's audio channel, even the battle-hardened He Kui was completely stunned.

Cagalli was actually on the Archangel.

"Ah!"

As if startled by his loud voice, Cagalli trembled.

"Why are you scaring me all of a sudden? I came to help!"

At this moment, Cagalli was already in the cockpit of the Strike Rouge, and she was even holding him.

"...Did your father let you come?"

"I ran away on my own."

"..."

Looking at Cagalli's matter-of-fact expression, He Kui felt like he was about to spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

As long as Cagalli wasn't in danger, Xiao Liu wouldn't alert him, which was why he hadn't noticed anything unusual.

He thought that after several months of effort, Cagalli had settled down, but instead, she pulled off something big.

"Because you would definitely stop me."

"I can still stop you now."

He Kui said gloomily.

"But then you'd be exposed, right? You're nearby, aren't you, He Kui?"

Cagalli looked down at him and laughed brightly.

Facing her bright gaze, He Kui sighed.

"Cagalli has become smarter."

"I was always this smart."

Cagalli had been testing him since she boarded the Archangel.

If he had the capacity to pay attention to this situation, he would have stopped her, but he hadn't.

So in Cagalli's view, there were only two possibilities: either he was busy with something else, or he was busy with the East Asia situation.

And when he received the signal and looked over, it was almost certain that he was nearby.

Her reasoning was clear and logical.

Although neither side had concrete evidence, and although he could refute it, He Kui chose not to.

"You already have the answer. Are you really not going back?"

"No."

"Alright, but isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to misuse someone else's flag like this?"

Forcing her to go back might trigger Cagalli's rebellious streak, so it was better to let her go.

No matter what, he was still here. As long as he wasn't directly facing Creuset and the Reborn Gundam, he could still manage to hold his ground against the enemy.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, if Pallas finds out, she'll definitely intervene."

Cagalli looked at He Kui and continued.

"Right?"

"Right. But what terms did ZAFT offer that your father actually agreed to?"

"A 5% food import quota, half of what the Atlantic Federation demanded, with gradual increases in the following years."

"...That's definitely worth agreeing to."

A full year's 5% food import quota would be enough to feed many people. It was unexpected that ZAFT would go to such lengths for the Kaohsiung Base.

"Clyne and a few families from East Asia are backing this."

Cagalli added.

As the two of them spoke, the ship's internal communication system came online.

"Stay safe and remain within our light shield's range."

"Understood."

Cagalli responded.

"Well then, Miss, the Archangel is in your hands."

Murrue's voice came through the comms, tinged with helplessness.

He Kui finally caught sight of Kira's new Mobile Suit, a heavily modified version based on the Astray Gundam.

It was quite different from the one used during the defense of Orb.

Two massive cannons were mounted on its back, along with high-precision radars on both sides. It resembled the Lightning Backpack, but it was even larger, and the thrusters on its back had also been significantly upgraded.

As He Kui was still observing, Mu, who was preparing to launch, felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck his mind.

"That man..."

Mu ejected and immediately headed in that direction. The Archangel's light shield descended just in time to block the beam fired by the Reborn Gundam.

Meanwhile, He Kui, along with PLANT's underwater MS Force, managed to hold off the enemy.

As the prolonged battle continued, the scales of victory gradually began to tip in their favor.

While Creuset was still entangled with Mu, he calmly revealed a smile.

"I didn't expect you to join in on this mess."

Creuset said nonchalantly.

"Has Orb finally lost its patience?"

"Orb? Never heard of it."

"Hmph."

Creuset let out a light scoff and continued.

"But you don't actually think you've won, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

As soon as Mu finished speaking, twelve massive warheads with long trails of fire rose into the sky from three destroyers at the end of the coastline.

"That's... a nuclear bomb!? Are you insane!?"

"I'm not insane. I'm just running out of time."

Creuset laughed heartily.

This had been one of their objectives all along—to disguise the nuclear bomb as a ZAFT weapon and attack East Asia.

No matter what East Asia thought, this would completely sever any possibility of cooperation between the two sides in the eyes of the public.

Of course, everyone's radar wasn't blind.

That's why they had tried to destroy the radar, but unfortunately, they hadn't succeeded. Still, he launched the bomb anyway. Even if they couldn't frame ZAFT, and even if most of the bombs were intercepted, just one landing would be enough.

In Creuset's mind, this nuclear bomb was always meant to be launched.

At the same time, He Kui, who was underwater, received the signal.

"Luna, Shihe, cover me!"

Without time for any other emotions, He Kui pushed the thrusters beneath him to full speed, instantly breaking through the surface of the water.

However, it was still too slow. The aquatic products that couldn't take off were destined to be unable to catch up with the speed of those twelve nuclear bombs.

"Self-destruct. I'll try to charge upwards using Aegis."

He Kui said coldly. With a hundred million Aegis, if all the power was transferred to the jet system, it might indeed be possible to catch up and then use Little Bird's Quantum Virus.

This was the best way to prevent East Asia from being directly hit by the nuclear bombs. There were no East Asian troops stationed on this island, and besides PLANT, there were even more ordinary people. They had to stop it.

(End of Chapter)