The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2800

Chapter 2800 - Bottled Up

The atmosphere in the Prosperous Hill System changed considerably over the last three days!

While Ves had been isolating himself in the workshop in order to prepare his mechs for the next phase of matches, the citizens of the Life Research Association vented their feelings in public.

The state’s proud biomech industry, and by extension its entire biotech sector, was under attack!

"How can a foreign mech designer who is younger and less experienced than Frederico Navarro gain the upper hand? It’s impossible!"

"Don’t worry just yet. Biomechs are a lot better at picking themselves up. I bet that Navarro’s biomechs will be completely healed by the time they step into the arena! That Larkinson fellow will weep at the sight!"

"What if we lose? The reputation of our strongest industry will tank! No one will think highly of our products anymore!"

"It’s all the fault of the radicals! Whoever publicized this dumb design duel should be fired! No, they should be shot!"

Tongues wagged both at the grassroots level and the higher levels. While the design duel was less acute in other star systems, Prosperous Hill was at the heart of the vortex. No matter how much the locals tried to ignore the issue, they simply couldn’t get around the discussion of what might happen in the future.

In truth, many people weren’t as deluded and caught up in upbeat delusions as everyone thought. There were plenty of folk who observed various shortcomings and deficiencies in how the LRA was run.

Despite investing massively in biomechs, they failed to gain ground in the rest of the star sector.

The rest of the biotech industry fared a lot better. The exobeast industry, beast design industry, pharmaceutical industry, augmentation industry and so on all achieved good results. They were not only progressing further ahead than the industries of other states, but also brought in a lot of revenue!

In contrast, the biomech industry failed to become a comparable expert activity. The only foreigners who bought biomechs to begin with were either diehard fans or curious customers. Too few mech buyers were persuaded on the merits of biomechs over classical mechs.

"The tally is 3-2 in the favor of the foreigner. How can this be? Even if the score is tied, we would still lose out in the end because that just shows our biomechs aren’t worth the trouble! Why are our biomech designers so useless!"

"Maybe the radicals have a point. We’ve been muddling along for several centuries in the same direction and it hasn’t worked out. If we want to turn Majestic Teal into a paradise for biomechs, we need to go on the attack!"

While it sounded ridiculous to use the results of a single random design duel to gauge the strength of the LRA’s biomech industry, many people didn’t know any better!

They weren’t scientists nor statisticians. They didn’t understand the fallacy of making bold conclusions out of a single sample. They just looked at a single instance where a classical mech designer squared off against a biomech designer and instantly concluded the entire biomech industry was doomed!

With unknown powers manipulating public opinion in various different directions, the Lifers had become more divisive over the issue!

Some wanted to do anything the Supreme Sage told them to. They possessed a slavish devotion to the greater Lifer in their midst.

Others bought into the narrative of the radicals and other deviant factions who advocated for change.

There were more groups of people who developed all kinds of thoughts. Whether they were correct or not, the heated tone of the debate caused everyone’s attitudes to harden!

For example, the recruiting hall that the Larkinson Clan had rented downtown had suddenly turned into the site of a rapidly-growing protest!

"LARKINSONS GO HOME!" Someone yelled while projecting a virtual banner that stated the exact same words. "WE DON’T WANT YOUR TRASH CAN MECHS!"

"Expel the foreigners! Don’t let anyone who doesn’t use biomechs!"

"You better not win or there will be hell to pay!"

The protesters were fairly harmless. No one carried any weapons and even if they did, the security measures were robust enough to withstand any attack that didn’t involve mechs.

Regardless, the demonstration had become far too disruptive. A lot of prospective recruits decided to turn around as soon as they noticed the angry crowd parked in front of the recruiting hall.

The Larkinson Clan was forced to abandon the original recruitment hall and rent a more inaccessible site that was situated higher up the tree buildings. With the relatively strict traffic rules, it was impossible for protestors to approach a building from mid-air and linger for a long period of time. It was simply too hazardous to let them mill around at an altitude. _{frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓}

Still, the relocation and deteriorating public opinion disrupted a lot of arrangements. The Larkinson Clan succeeded in recruiting tens of thousands of eager recruits in the past few weeks, but it still suffered a shortfall in many different positions.

Many other transactions experienced disruptions as well due to the spreading discontent in Prosperous Hill.

Even though the planet depended heavily on acting as a nexus of foreign trade, the locals became increasingly more hostile towards foreigners who were responsible for injecting lots of wealth into their economy!

The people were restless. Traffic had lessened but there were significantly more people on the streets. More mechs were visible as the demand for armed escorts increased. Although no one had crossed the line and opened fire on someone, that was only because the planet was too well-regulated.

Yet the authorities were very reluctant to tighten the rules even further. They were keenly aware that humans could only tolerate so much control over their lives.

Besides, there were plenty of factions who wanted to give ordinary people the room to voice their discontent.

"It’s all building up to something." Ves whispered his guess. "No one riles up so many people for nothing. The radicals and combinants don’t seem like the types who make so many moves in order to achieve a minor shift. There’s a greater goal in mind."

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