The cold wind was biting.
The World was bleak.
In fact, various industries were also bleak.
Since August 11, 2013, the future direction of this World had completely deviated from its course.
People's former fantasies had become Reality.
This World had welcomed unknown invaders.
However, the invaders were not alien warships as imagined, but colossal beasts that crawled out of the wormhole that suddenly appeared deep in the Pacific Ocean!
The first giant beast was later named Axehead.
Before it, people never believed that such a walking mass of flesh could withstand their Technology weapons.
After it, people realized the powerlessness of their current Technology weapons when facing such colossal beasts.
After Axehead landed in San Francisco, people poured endless ammunition on it for several hours, but still failed to stop its advance, and finally had to use three nuclear bombs to cause its death. However, at this moment, a prosperous city also became ruins, becoming the burial ground of this colossal beast, Axehead.
What terrified the World even more was that the attacks of the colossal beasts were not isolated incidents; six months later, the second attack arrived silently and unexpectedly, followed by the third attack nearly four months later, and the fourth attack three months later.
In these three attacks, people once again used their ultimate weapons to turn the tide, but in addition to suffering massive casualties and urban destruction again, they also repeatedly witnessed the powerlessness of their own Technology weapons when facing these colossal beasts! The radiation from the ultimate weapon could be reduced to a minimum by various methods, but the toxicity of the Kaiju's own blood, after permeating the land and evaporating, would turn the local area into a dead Sanctuaries.
Under the pressure of these successive crises, authorities in various countries around the World could no longer stand idly by, nor could they continue to treat these Kaiju attacks as accidental natural disasters. They completely abandoned their fantasies and began to cooperate.
In 2014, the Pacific Rim Defense Coalition (PPDC) was established, with its Headquarters in Xianggang.
At the first PPDC summit, many scientists put forward their own proposals. Some scientists proposed researching more reliable targeted lethal weapons, while others, at the behest of their financial backers, suggested building high walls to block Kaiju! Some scientists even proposed building "humanity's own Kaiju," a giant Jaeger project to counter invading Kaiju: the Hunter Program. However, among the numerous diverse proposals at that time, this proposal was not a high priority.
Because no one could estimate the time required for this plan to succeed.
But the scientist who proposed this, Jasper Shepherd, did not give up. He approached one of the PPDC's leaders who was very interested in his plan: Stacker Pentecost, hoping that he would invest the funds he controlled into this project. After receiving investment and support, he also brought in his former student, and indeed his disreputable old flame, the renowned neuroscientist Dr. Caitlin Lightcap.
And in just three months, Jasper and Caitlin's research team achieved incredible results, coming incredibly close to the project's success. In less than two months, the prototype of the first Hunter Program product, "Brawling Boy," had already begun testing. This rapid progress, as if divinely aided, also led Official authorities from various countries, who had previously been skeptical of the plan, to increase their investment.
However, things are always full of twists and turns.
The first human-machine link test failed, leading to the death of the test subject. The test proved that a single person's neurons simply could not withstand the mental load when connected to and operating the Hunter Program product. This previously promising project was cast into Shadow. Stacker Pentecost's enthusiasm also cooled down after repeated setbacks. However, at this moment, the sunk cost he had invested in this project had left him with no retreat; he could only grit his teeth and use various connections and networks to re-gather funds for Jasper and Caitlin.
And Jasper and Caitlin truly seemed like chosen ones; in just eighteen days, Caitlin developed the Drift system, which could synchronize the brain neurons of two pilots.
When another Kaiju attack occurred two months later, Caitlin and her partner Sergio personally piloted the first prototype Jaeger, "Brawling Boy," and for the first time achieved the feat of defeating a giant beast with a Jaeger. This greatly boosted people's despairing spirits and caused the popularity of Jaegers to skyrocket worldwide!
As the first successful practical project invested by the PPDC, the World's nations behind it also took the opportunity to decide on a course of action.
Jaeger maintenance Bases sprang up one after another, and military weapons and personnel from various countries also moved in. The globally popular Hunter Academy also began recruiting students from all over the World.
It seemed everything was developing for the better.
And now, nearly eleven years have passed since the first Kaiju appeared.
In eleven years, the changes in this World have gone beyond anyone's imagination from ten years ago. Almost all of the World's resources have been poured into the Hunter Program, a gold-devouring behemoth. If it weren't for the fact that this project involved so many branches, with numerous Technology achievements that could be used in other areas, the funds of various countries in the World would probably have already been unable to bear the endless stream of Jaegers rolling off the production lines. Even so, the Hunter Program has left the national treasuries of various countries overwhelmed.
It is well known that when war investment is too high, it will correspondingly affect social investment. And now, although various countries are not in complete chaos, many places, except for a few countries and cities, are largely in disarray. There are even incredible Kaiju worship groups rampant among them. They believe that Kaiju are a punishment given to humanity, and that humanity should not resist, but should gladly and piously accept them.
Of course, under ten years of promotion and combat achievements, the number of Jaeger worshipers is also considerable. Among them, fanatics, in opposition to Kaiju worship groups who regard Kaiju as gods of destruction, regard Jaegers as guardian deities. They even call the seven renowned pilots and manufacturing groups of the past decade the "Seven Great Machine Gods"!
Dr. Caitlin Lightcap, who created the human-machine neural Drift system and gave Jaegers "consciousness."
Jasper Shepherd, the Father of Jaegers, who promoted and created the first Jaeger.
Cai Tiantong, the genius who knows all the data and information of every Kaiju like the back of his hand, including the power to classify and name Kaiju.
The eccentric group of Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb, who study Kaiju weaknesses and use their self-created mathematical models to research and predict Kaiju attack frequency, quantity, and appearance time.
Stacker Pentecost, the only Jaeger pilot known to the World who, after his partner was severely injured and lost consciousness, single-handedly controlled the first-generation Jaeger, Tango Wolf, to defeat a Kaiju; the PPDC Marshal and Hunter Academy instructor.
And finally, Luke Field, who mysteriously appeared three years ago and single-handedly helped Shao Industries revive and become a giant in the World's Jaeger industry chain.
...
Shao Zhiwen, the head of Shao Industries, looked at the bleak scenery outside the window and couldn't help but recall his first meeting with Luke Field. That surprisingly young man, and his greeting, "Youngster, no, Brother Shao, want to team up?" still remains fresh in his memory. Of course, what left an even deeper impression on him, and what immediately made him put aside all his concerns and choose to partner with Luke Field, was a miniature mechanical Kaiju over two meters tall that was by Luke Field's side at the time.
It was the first Kaiju, Axehead, that everyone could recognize at a glance!
It looked like it was made of a pile of scrap metal, unpainted, and a bit ugly, but it was exceptionally agile and obedient!