Chapter Nine: The Physicist's Weapon

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Shang Lu thought, I’ve seen this young lady before. Not just seen her—I’ve even given her a hand once.
“I... I’m looking for Teacher Ji.”
“Who’s Teacher Ji?” the girl asked. Shang Lu was taken aback. Could there really be someone in this workshop who didn’t know Old Ji?
“He’s the chief engineer, Chief Engineer Ji.”
“Oh, you mean Chief Ji.” The girl turned her head, pressing down the brim of her hat, popping a bubble back into her mouth. “But he’s no longer the chief engineer. From now on, I’m the chief engineer. Did Chief Ji tell you anything before? What’s your position? Why are you here to see the chief engineer?”
“Then... where is Teacher Ji?”
“Don’t bother looking. He just fell down from here and passed away. By now, he’s probably being sent for cremation.” The girl waved her hand impatiently. “You’d better hurry and run to the botanical garden. Maybe you can still catch his ambulance.”
With a soft thud, Shang Lu’s folder dropped to the floor. He stood there stunned, struck by a bolt from the blue.
He’s gone?
“Th-this th-this th-this...”
The girl’s bright eyes glanced sideways. She arched her slender waist back and suddenly burst out laughing.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
She held her belly and laughed for a long time, then turned sharply and shouted:
“Chief Ji! There’s a silly kid here looking for you!”
From behind the massive crimson Lotus head, a dirty white coat appeared. Old Ji’s hands were covered in grease, and every wrinkle on his face looked so familiar. “Oh, Shang Lu, you came just in time. I was just looking for you. There’s a lot of work today. Let me introduce you—this is Shen Jiang, the chief operator and pilot of the Crimson Lotus. You can call her whatever you like; she’s the one who drives this thing.”
Old Ji gave a thumbs up, pointing to the Crimson Lotus behind him.
Shang Lu knew she was the pilot; this was their second meeting.
“Hello, inspector,” Shen Jiang leaned forward and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Nice to meet you?
Before Shang Lu could think further, Old Ji’s hands, stained with black oil, grabbed his shoulders.
“Here, this kid is Shang Lu, the technical engineer stationed at the Automation Base, a student of my old friend. Very gifted, very talented, very conscientious, very confident. From now on, I’m counting on you to guide him well. I promise, he’s a fine sapling.”
What a model of the “four nots” youth: not lazy, not mediocre, not reckless, not weak.

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Shang Lu frowned. What did “guide” mean?
“You have a lot to learn. Comrade Shen Jiang is the pilot of the Crimson Lotus. Besides me, there’s no one here who knows this giant machine better than her. Also, she’ll teach you…” Suddenly, Old Ji grabbed the radio and shouted toward the opposite side of the cavern, “Don’t mess around! Don’t mess around! No swinging like that! I swear by the heavens! Damn it—!”
He didn’t even have time to say more to Shang Lu or Shen Jiang. Waving his arms, he strode down the metal walkway with heavy “thud thud” steps.
Shang Lu and Shen Jiang exchanged a glance, their eyes following Old Ji’s retreating figure. A group of workers was trying to hoist an enormous aluminum alloy plate in the direction he was heading.
Shang Lu stood there uncertain, hesitating for a moment, wanting to follow Old Ji.
But Shen Jiang grabbed his arm firmly.
“You have your work. Chief Ji has entrusted everything to me. Follow me.”
...
Shen Jiang was twenty-eight years old. Shang Lu found it hard to imagine such a young woman entrusted with the crucial role of giant machine pilot. To him, such an important and complex piece of super-large equipment would usually be operated by experienced combat pilots or heavy machinery operators, typically around forty-five, energetic, and level-headed men.
Chen Yu once said the giant machine itself was a division-level unit equivalent to the 151st Division, directly under the Military Commission’s jurisdiction. Even though it had only one pilot, this meant that the young woman before Shang Lu was actually on par with the base commander and political commissar.
“You’re right,” Shen Jiang walked ahead, hands clasped behind her back, turning slowly. “During the early development of giant machines, heavy machinery operators—especially excavator drivers—gave great support.”
“Then why…”
“Because the selection of giant machine pilots is not as simple as you think. Strength, willpower, and experience alone are far from enough.” Shen Jiang smiled. “According to current selection criteria, women are more suitable for this job than men. So among all active giant machine pilots, women are in the majority, roughly a 60:40 ratio.”
She leaned sideways, propping a hand on the outer shell of the Crimson Lotus’s head, then took off her cap to fix her hair.
Shang Lu was startled. He remembered Old Ji warning not to touch that thing casually.
“It’s okay, you can touch it too,” Shen Jiang said.
Hesitant, Shang Lu slowly reached out and touched the huge head’s outer shell. They stood at the side, near the temple area. It was truly a marvel of human engineering. From every angle, it looked godlike. The Crimson Lotus’s head had no human features; instead, it had six enormous eyes, probably sensor lenses, each big enough for an adult to crawl inside. On the side and back of the head were layers upon layers of cooling fins. Through the gaps, black honeycomb filters could be seen.
The texture felt rough and warm—not like metal.
“It’s not metal,” Shen Jiang said. “It’s composite material. The Crimson Lotus uses very little metal on the shell to reduce weight.”
“Doesn’t that compromise defense?” Shang Lu asked.
“The Crimson Lotus doesn’t need armor because she’s not a warrior. She’s a scientist.”
Shen Jiang’s answer left Shang Lu puzzled.

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“Conventional metal armor is meaningless against the Angels. It just adds weight without any real benefit. When designing such a massive humanoid machine, weight reduction is the top priority,” Shen Jiang continued. “If armor is needed against certain types of Angels, we can add it later, whether metal or ceramic. That’s easy; the interfaces are already reserved.”
“I always feel a bit uneasy around it,” Shang Lu took a step back, hands in pockets. “I worry that one day it’ll suddenly come alive, bow its head to me, and say... ‘Mortal, you have angered the gods.’”
Shen Jiang giggled.
“That’s because you don’t understand her. Humans always worship what they don’t understand.” The girl pointed at the massive head before them, then turned to Shang Lu. “Don’t you find it strange?”
“Strange what?” Shang Lu was confused.
“Strange that it even has a head.” Shen Jiang said. “As a combat machine, why was it designed with a head?”
Shang Lu considered this. Honestly, he’d never thought about it from that angle. It seemed natural for a humanoid giant machine to have a head, but there was no engineering standard requiring it. Who said a giant machine had to have a head?
“Because inside here is the Crimson Lotus’s computing core. It houses the world’s most powerful supercomputer and the most precise gravity detection gyroscope. It’s also filled with a large amount of liquid nitrogen as coolant. This core is the most precise and expensive system in the Crimson Lotus. It must be kept far away from the harsh environment below, with high-frequency vibrations and extreme heat. Hence, the head.” Shen Jiang explained. “Her neck is actually a huge gimbal to stabilize the head.”
“What’s the supercomputer for?” Shang Lu asked. “To control its movements?”
“Your brain isn’t that big just to control your limbs. Your cerebellum is enough,” Shen Jiang said. “Like I said, the Crimson Lotus is a scientist. So she needs a smart brain. Most people imagine giant machines as clumsy, heavy, immensely powerful robots that smash enemies with their fists. That’s wrong.”
The girl turned her head, and Shang Lu could see the light in her eyes.
“If you have that stereotype, you need to change it, Inspector. The giant machine isn’t an ordinary weapon. She is a physicist.”
Shang Lu was baffled.
“A physicist?”
“What do you think we rely on to fight the Angels?” Shen Jiang asked. “Missiles? Lasers? Giant fists?”
Shang Lu was completely stunned. He realized his understanding of the giant machine had been fundamentally overturned.
“Do you want to know what our real weapon is?”
Instinctively, Shang Lu nodded.
“I’ll teach you. That was Chief Ji’s intention too. That’s why he came to me—because only I can teach you here,” Shen Jiang said. “I’m the only one in the entire base with this capability.”
“So what is the weapon?”
“It’s something only this giant physicist can decipher...” The girl paused, looking at the Crimson Lotus’s head. “Riemannian geometry and Einstein’s field equations.”