Mecha Simulations: The Turbulent Galaxy

The neon lights of Taijing City cast a blood-red halo over the ruins. The air reeked sweetly of mech coolant, mingled with the scorched smell of dust. The shockwave from the collapse of “Titan” had toppled half of the central tower. The concrete and rebar wreckage lay piled along the streets like broken matchsticks, while sparks from circuits that had yet to go dark crackled among the rubble, illuminating the devastation.

Su Li knelt before a piece of metal still warm from the blast, her fingertips trembling as they traced its dark golden armor. It was a fragment of Xingyuan's breastplate, still marked with spiral patterns scorched into it when the stellar core's energy erupted. The knees of her work pants were torn, and drops of blood seeped onto the fragment, baking into dark stains in the heat.