Super Gene Optimization Fluid

CH 293

Default Dyslexic Roboto Lora

lliams had the habit of using his teeth to bite the head of a pencil.
This was an old habit of his and the amount of pencils he had chewed on from young until now might even fill more than his office’s space.

In any case, the Chief of Staff was always in deep thought.
It was an open secret that he would break several pencils a day as a result of his chewing, and the more cheeky men had even given him the nickname Pencil Killer.

Williams’s head sported short, red hair, which was unique to his family.
The fiery and bright color was akin to a lit flame in a dark night.
His forehead had a tight set of seventeen wrinkles, each of incredible depth and texture, as if they had all been carved prominently by a sculptor.

The last name Williams had a long history in the Alliance.
From way, way back, the Williams family had been known to produce very resourceful and wise military commanders.
They mostly served the military as staff officers or fleet commanders, and this had already gone on for many dozens generations.

It was said that the Williams family all had the unique features of red hair and forehead full of stress lines.
The more forehead lines, and the brighter their hair color, the higher their IQ.

According to historical records, the person who had the most stress lines in the Williams family was the great-grandfather, Denton Williams.
The man had a shocking twenty-nine stress lines on his forehead, and his hair was redder than the midday sun.

Unfortunately, it seemed that this Denton Williams had been too clever and had become disillusioned with life early on, so he chose to fly a dilapidated warship into a blackhole, ending his life at the tender age of twenty-seven.

Though Pine Willians did not have as many lines on his forehead like his ancestor, and his hair was not overly explosive, either, the achievements that he had attained would leave plenty of his ancestors embarrassed.
He was the Chief of Staff for the Alliance Military, calling him a high-ranking powerhouse of the Military Triumvirate would not be inaccurate.
His importance in the military scene could be better described as all-encompassing, influencing well-beyond the confines of Alliance army.
Furthermore, he was only fifty-three years old, the youngest in the Military Triumvirate with a limitless future ahead.

Jotted down on his notepad was an analysis of the tournament.
This was also a habit of his, writing down what he thought whenever he felt that he was faced with something he had trouble analyzing so that he could break it down one by one, slowly eliminating the uncertainties until he derived a final answer.

The tip of his pencil scratched upon paper once more, quickly, and as the words lessened, a clearer image gradually came into his mind before a smug smile appeared on Pine Williams’ face.

That was when the clear beeping of his communicator sounded.
Williams picked up the call and saw that the call had come from the other member of the military triumvirate, the Chief of Navy, Admiral Layton.

“Have you gotten your conclusion?” Layton asked.

“Yes,” Williams softly answered.

“Great.
Come to my office and tell me your analysis.
I’m thinking of having an argument with you over this,” Layton said.

Pine Williams furrowed his brows lightly.
He and Layton had been arguing for almost twenty years.
They had been going at it ever since they met in that staff officer joint conference, and now that the two of them had become two of three pillars in the Alliance Military, their bickering had carried on as well.

Layton loved arguments.
He seemed to argue for the sake of arguing.
Even something like how many sugar cubes were there in a coffee or whether what should be used was Britannia resin sugar or Millenstein coconut sugar was among his topics of argument.

There was a joke, which went like: There were two economists having a meal in a restaurant.
The waitress asked what they wished to eat, only for the two to answer at the same time, “It doesn’t matter what we eat.
What’s important is for us to get the bill as soon as possible so that we can argue over the pricing.”

Layton was just like those two economists; he was the sort who would be uncomfortable if he was not arguing over something.

“The last time you won an argument was 749 days, 15 hours, and 22 minutes ago.
I do believe that you won’t be winning this time, either.” Williams chuckled.

Layton retorted, “Don’t think you can be proud just because you’ve won 197 times.
Let me tell you something: Even if you have a thousand or ten thousand wins over me, you won’t be able to stop me from arguing.”

Williams shrugged.
“I really believe you because you’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”

Layton had his doubts.
“I’ve always thought Tai’s the most stubborn person you’ve met?”

“Tai?” Williams laughed.
“Tai’s persistent, while you’re just really stubborn.”

Layton waved his hand unhappily.
“Let’s not talk about this.
I’ll be waiting for you in my office.”

“Okay.
Prepare some of my favorite fruit salad with maple syrup, and a Mullis coffee,” Williams reminded.

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…

After some time, Williams pushed open the most luxuriously decorated door in the naval headquarters.
He saw that Layton was already seated on the sofa inside, waiting for him.
He had a microcomputer in his hand, intently reading the information displayed as his finger drew on the projected image.

The coffee on the table still had steam coming off it, and a plate of salad, , as well as a silver jar containing sweet maple syrup, was right next to it.

“To some people, no amount of preparation will be enough.” Williams laughed as he walked over.

Layton threw a glance at Williams and tossed the microcomputer to one end of the sofa.
He leaned back and said, “That was a military report.
It’s been a few months since those guys in the Death Trio Star Region have been garrisoned, yet the fighting has yet to begin, and the reason’s still unknown.”

…

Williams poured some maple syrup over his salad, the sweet fragrance of the brown liquid giving off a rich aroma.

“Do you wish to argue over the war simulations for the Death Trio Star Region?” Williams asked as he used a ladle to stir the syrup still in the jar.

Layton shook his head.
“Not today.
Let’s first argue about what happened in that round.
I’ll prepare for what’s happening in the Death Trio Star Region tomorrow.”

Williams used a fork and dipped a piece of fruit in the maple syrup before putting it in his mouth, not commenting about what Layton had just said.

Layton could feel his stomach churning when he saw how Williams ate his syrup-covered fruit.
He frowned.
“Williams, that syrup is ridiculously sweet, upsetting your stomach when you eat it.
Why do you like to eat what kids enjoy eating?”

Williams chuckled.
“The human brain is the most important organ that we humans can’t do without.
Aside from protein, the brain uses plenty of sugar to keep it functional, so people who use their head a lot enjoy eating sweet things.
This is normal.”

Layton had already heard Williams say this many times, and he had no wish to continue discussing it.
That was because the truth had already been proven that Williams had thousands of reasons as to why he enjoyed sugar so much, and there was no way he could win an argument with him over it.

Thus, Layton turned the topic back onto the issue that he was most concerned with today.

“So? What do you think of the warship duel in the Golden Finger Cup that I sent you?” Layton asked.

Williams nodded.
“I’m usually not the type to watch any warship events organized by the Association of Machinists because those participating in it aren’t really combat experts, but this particular match you sent me had gone well beyond my expectations.
The course of events was very exciting, with an equally spectacular finish as well.”

Layton burst into a raucous laughter.
“Alright, then.
Then, tell me, how did Xia Fei win the round despite the power disparity?”

Williams laughed.
“You’re the one who wants to argue about it, so you ought to start first.”

Layton was no hypocrite, so he immediately started, “Then, I’ll tell you: It’s because Xia Fei used two medium proton bombs.”

“Proton bombs are unable to generate powerful pulse waves within a sixty-kilometer radius, and participants in the Golden Finger Cup’s warship event were using frigates.
That’s why they’ve all been outfitted with light missiles, and the speed and range of such light missiles are fine, but their lethality and plating aren’t worth mentioning.
Meanwhile, the pulse waves from Xia Fei’s proton bombs have been enough to destroy the defensive plating of those missiles, causing all the missiles to explode.”

“Due to the speed of the explosion being too quick and how concentrated it was, it’s hard to tell whether the missiles were actually detonated by the proton bombs or they exploded while still a distance away from his ship as opposed to directly landing hits on its hull.”

“I had it checked, and Xia Fei is a speed ability user who has cultivated until the Advanced Star River rank.
The reaction time of speed ability users far outstrips that of a common man, and that’s how he was able to detonate his proton bombs with perfect timing,” Layton explained without leaving a single fact out.

Williams nodded as he sent an orange wedge soaked in maple syrup into his mouth.
“I agree with that as well.
We have no arguments here.
Carry on.”

Layton shook his head helplessly.
This was the nature of arguments; he had to find a difference in perspective and then propose their opinions accordingly.
There was no need to argue if the two parties agree with each other.

Drinking some coffee, Layton continued, “After being subjected to the two waves of attacks, Xia Fei suddenly shut off his engine to divert all the power toward restoring his energy shield and the charging of the proton bomb.
That’s because the Kestrel-class frigate does not possess enough top speed; it would be futile even if he were to attempt increasing his distance just to evade the enemies’ attacks.
After all, he couldn’t dodge the missiles if he’s too slow, and that means he wouldn’t be able to get rid of their pursuit.

“That’s why Xia Fei had his power system concentrate on his defensive systems, taking advantage of that moment when his proton bomb exploded to accomplish a tactical turn while in the ensuing conflagration, diving right into the midst of his enemies.”

Layton looked at Williams’s reaction once he was done, only to see the redhead still taking large bites of fruits soaked in syrup, completely unresponsive.
This meant that Williams also agreed with his assessment of the combat maneuvers employed, and they had yet to find a point of contention.

“Okay, it’s your turn; I’m taking a break,” Layton said.

Williams nodded, wiping his mouth clean with a handkerchief as he took a sip of the quality coffee.

“The reason Xia Fei’s missiles could take down an enemy ship in two volleys is the installation of a target painter on his ship.
He also made certain modifications on the equipment itself, or else it would be impossible for him to take down a Kestrel-class frigate with merely eight spitfire light missiles, given their lethality.

“As for how he modified them, it’s my guess that he installed a signal-positioning component in his target painters, increasing not only the enemy’s signal radius, but also the accuracy of his missile strikes.
That’s a clear indication that he has knowledge of precision-positioning, or else he wouldn’t have been able to make his missiles strike their targets with such fidelity.”

Layton nodded.
“Agreed.
Continue.”

Williams gave it some thought before saying, “We’re wasting far too much time doing it like this.
How about I just posit a bold hypothesis of mine? We’ll surely find our point of contention this time.”

With a point of contention, that meant they could begin their argument.
Layton eagerly nodded, perking up as he got ready to argue with Williams.
It was funny; others would often promote friendship after finding commonality with each other, yet these two bigshots in the Alliance Military were desperate to find differences in perspective so that they could argue with each other.

“Do you recall that escape pod which Xia Fei destroyed in the end?” Williams asked.