The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1216

"The True Believers sacrificed twenty-three mechs and two tunneling machines just to capture my prototype?" Ves asked with disbelief.

The Protector officer assigned to question him nodded from his open-faced helmet. "We managed to capture some of the mech pilots alive. We’re interrogating them right at this instant and we will know more at the end of the day."

This had been an awful day for Ves. Just when the prototype nearly completed all of the tests, the New Ylvaine Dynasty launched a sudden, perplexing attack on the subterranean testing ground.

Wasn’t this facility supposed to be secure? Hadn’t all the personnel been vetted all the time? How could the Protectors of the Faith allow the True Believer to take over his prototype and successfully make off with their spoils?

"It’s clear that the operation is premeditated and targeted." The Protector explained. "Their only goal was to obtain your mech prototype for reasons that isn’t clear to us. When they initially tunneled into this facility, we assumed they were targeting you. We deployed our mechs and other defenses around the control room you were in and bunkered down to meet the oncoming intruders."

"And then the True Believers suddenly turned to the testing chambers and absconded with my prototype." Ves summed up what happened next.

"Our forces harried their rear as they attempted to make off with your prototype, but they prioritized its retrieval above everything else. Their rearguard constantly entangled our pursuit force and fought without regard for their lives in an attempt to stall us as much as possible. While we managed to defeat a lot of mechs and disable two strategically-important tunneling machines, we failed to overcome their determination to extract with your mech." _{freёwebnovel.com}

Neither of them knew why the True Believers engaged in this awful trade. The value of a single beaten-up prototype of an unfinished mech design could never match up to the mechs and tunneling machines they lost.

No sane person would make this tradeoff unless they valued the prototype as much as an expert mech!

However, in the Ylvaine Protectorate, perhaps no one was more insane than the New Ylvaine Dynasty!

Ves tiredly rubbed his face. "I really have no idea what they are after. While my Transcendent Messenger is a great design, it’s extremely hard to pilot and not that much of a terror on the battlefield. It’s not worth losing seventeen mid-range mechs."

He was convinced the actual True Believers were responsible this time. Only people with no common sense would be willing to lose so many assets to obtain a single mech.

During the attack, he got a good glimpse of the mechs employed by the attackers. Unlike the cheap, bargain bin mechs deployed to attack the Church of the Grand Martyr, the mechs this time all cost around 400 million Ylvainan dollars or 32 million bright credits!

The tunneling machines cost even more as they were designed to be difficult to detect and fast. The True Believers must definitely be hurting to lose two of these expensive and extremely useful assets. Their loss directly affected their future operations on this planet!

"Do you think they want to take credit for our mech design?" Ketis suddenly asked from the side. "If they publish the mech under the names of one of their mech designers, then all of our work would be for nothing!"

"That’s not possible." Ves shook his head. "I’ve maintained extensive logs of the design process and any knowledgeable mech designer will realize that the Transcendent Messenger completely conforms to my design style. No plagiarist will succeed in taking credit for our work."

Incidents like this happened every now and then. Sometimes, the plagiarists got away with it, but most of the time the truth eventually came out. Each mech designer possessed a very distinct design style, which was like a fingerprint.

Ketis frowned while she idly scratched Lucky’s chin. "Maybe the living prophet predicted the future and saw that we were developing a great mech. Maybe he wanted to obtain a copy himself and saw that this was the best opportunity for him to obtain a Transcendent Messenger."

This sounded so ridiculous that both Ves and the Protector officer scoffed.

"Stealing the Transcendent Messenger just to make use of it is antithetical to their extremist standpoints." Ves pointed out. "As far as I know, they’ve always been strong believers of Ylvainan supremacy. They’re even more radical than the traditionalists in this regard. How could they possibly be seen piloting a mech designed by a foreigner?"

A sardonic smile appeared on her face. "You don’t know how duplicitous these cultists can get. I’ve seen plenty of cults selectively break their own rules whenever it’s convenient for them. Who knows what their living prophet was smoking when he decided he wanted to steal our prototype."

Did the living prophet himself order his subordinates to steal the prototype? That sounded very unlikely. What would he do with a hero mech?

"Is the living prophet a mech pilot?" Ves asked suspiciously.

"No." The Protector officer shook his head. "According to our files, he doesn’t possess the right genetic aptitude. He has never been seen piloting a mech in his life."

Then what were the True Believers doing with the prototype? No one knew, and that made Ves more unsettled. He guessed that the fanatics definitely intended to put the prototype to use for their own purposes. Depending on what they did with his mech, their actions could be very damaging for his business prospects in the Protectorate.

After answering some questions about the mech, the Protector officer took Ves, Ketis and Lucky down to the security center.

The Protectors of the Faith managed to take quite a number of True Believers captive. Not only did they capture the mech pilots of the mechs they disabled, but they also captured the crews of the tunneling machines.

Right now, the Protectors were desperately interrogating them en masse before the Ylvainan Inquisition and other factions took them away.

The Protector officer requested a status update. After receiving a quick rundown of the progress the interrogators made so far, the man shook his head.