Full-coverage Exoskeleton Equipment

"Let's wait for the two elders to come down, then we'll look at it together.

Otherwise, with just you guys, you wouldn't understand even if you saw it and talked about it!"

Seeing He Zhijun and Section Chief Zhou about to inspect the Gundam, Guo Yi boredly interrupted them.

"..."

He Zhijun and Section Chief Zhou stopped in their tracks and eyed Guo Yi with ill intent. "You're still a suspect!"

"Tch." Guo Yi smiled indifferently. "That defective product alone should be enough to offset the charges already pinned on me!

Besides, if I gave that thing to you, without me, what could you possibly do with it?

Give you ten years—if you can complete a finished product based on that and build a prototype, I'll be your grandson!"

"Can a humanoid machine even be used?"

"As long as it looks cool, that's all that matters!"

"..."

Guo Yi had successfully killed the conversation—and successfully silenced everyone.

"..."

"He Zhijun, Section Chief Zhou!"

Just as everyone fell silent, Cat Head's call came through.

"We're fine. Remain on standby!"

He Zhijun replied casually, then fell silent again, seemingly lost in thought.

"Reporting in. All clear!"

After a long while, Old Gao returned to where everyone was with the rest of Group A and reported to He Zhijun.

"Mm." He Zhijun nodded, then said to Cat Head and the others, "Challenge: Tonight is dark and windy. Response."

"Response: I like roast chicken!"

"Come down."

Hearing He Zhijun's exchange, Guo Yi asked curiously, "You even need a challenge-response code for this?"

"Is it hard to imitate our voices?"

He Zhijun shot Guo Yi a glance, making no effort to hide his distrust of a certain someone.

"My fault, then? We're both the same."

Before long, Cat Head solemnly escorted the two elders underground.

Likewise, when they saw the half-finished Gundam hanging in midair inside the factory, their mouths fell open in shock.

"Is this real?"

"It's real!" Guo Yi answered the two elders' question with confidence. "And according to my theoretical data, it's even stronger than what a certain country's anime depicted!

It just isn't finished yet..."

"How is that possible?"

Staring at Guo Yi, the two elders couldn't help shoving past the assault team's guards and stepping forward, wanting to grab hold of him.

At the same time, delighted by their astonishment, Guo Yi was practically preening. Caught off guard in his carelessness, he failed to react and let the two elders approach.

As a result, their hands passed straight through Guo Yi's arm...

"..."

Everyone froze. Then all the Special Operations Team members surrounded the two elders again, and every weapon's safety was switched off once more.

"A projection!?"

Section Chief Zhou and He Zhijun glared at Guo Yi, their expressions dark. "Where is your real body?"

"..."

Guo Yi looked at Ostrich, who was crouching halfway down and overlapping with him, then awkwardly told everyone, "Wait a moment. I'll be right there!"

Then Guo Yi vanished from before their eyes with a whoosh.

"That kid... I don't know whether to say he's got guts or not!" He Zhijun looked in the direction where Guo Yi had disappeared. His previously grim expression instantly turned into a smile as he shook his head. "Say he's timid, and he actually dared to make a deal with K2.

Say he's bold, and with his research abilities, he insists on keeping them hidden.

If we hadn't stumbled upon it by accident, he probably would've hidden it until the end of time."

"Hah." Section Chief Zhou also smiled and shook his head. "He's still just a child. You can't blame him."

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Before long, the sound of metal striking metal came from the Gundam's direction.

Judging by the noise, some massive metal object was clearly moving toward them.

The Special Operations Team members guarding the Gundam instinctively swallowed. That sound didn't seem very promising.

"!!!"

As the sound grew louder and louder, a three-meter-tall robot appeared before everyone.

It looked very much like Iron Monger, except there was no power source in its chest. Instead, it had a backpack on its back, with a Giant Blade hanging from it.

Elder Zhou and Elder Zhao cried out in shock, "Full-coverage Exoskeleton Equipment!?"

After their exclamation, the two elders tried to push past the assault team members again to get closer to Guo Yi.

"Don't move." X3

He Zhijun, Old Gao, and Old Hei hurriedly stopped them, then watched Guo Yi nervously.

"It's me." The robot's faceplate opened, revealing Guo Yi's helpless expression.

"Get out here!"

"...Doggie, remove the armor."

Clang!

With a metallic crash, the armored suit dropped to one knee, and Guo Yi jumped out from inside.

"I'm coming... don't shoot, okay?" Guo Yi raised both hands and said somewhat timidly, "I don't have any weapons on me!"

"Come here."

With an unhappy look on his face, Guo Yi slowly walked over with his hands raised, muttering under his breath the entire way.

The tense expressions on He Zhijun and Section Chief Zhou's faces relaxed when they saw Guo Yi like this, and they could not help but laugh. "Enough clowning around. Hurry up."

"Hehehe~" Hearing He Zhijun and the others, Guo Yi grinned and lowered his hands.

In the end, Guo Yi finally stood face-to-face with everyone in the flesh.

The two elders could not help stepping forward, firing off a string of questions. "How did you solve the energy problem? How was the software control configured?

"The materials—right, you have E-carbon steel, and perhaps other materials too. Bring them out and let us see..."

"Hehehe, no rush." Under the watchful guard of the assault team members, Guo Yi took the initiative to support the two elders. "Come on, I'll show you around."

"No need to hold us up."

The two elders directly shook off Guo Yi's support and strode over to the exoskeleton.

Then, they circled around it, looking here and touching there, exclaiming in amazement without pause.

"External energy backpack, nuclear battery.

"The blade and outer shell are entirely E-carbon steel, while the inner armor is made of E-carbon fiber Type 2.

"There's also a layer of mechanical shock-absorption equipment inside..."

Seeing the obvious excitement on the two elders' faces, Guo Yi happily joined in and began proactively explaining some details about the exoskeleton.

"Am I dreaming?" Ostrich slung his rifle over his shoulder and nudged Shi Dafan. "Do you think we'll ever get a chance to use that thing?"

"Heh, what do you think?" Shi Dafan smiled as he looked at the trio, who clearly seemed to belong to a different world from them. "We're Wolf Fang. What do you think?"

"Hehehe, are you pretending Cobra doesn't exist?"

One of Cat Head's members joined their conversation as well, and soon they began chatting quietly among themselves.

Meanwhile, He Zhijun and Section Chief Zhou watched the trio talking animatedly and spoke in low voices as well. "Old Zhou, I think there may really come a day when you'll have to ask him for help.

"Feeling weak?"

"Heh." Section Chief Zhou smiled indifferently. "Don't worry, you won't live to see it.

"His stuff is obviously more geared toward your side.

"You should be thinking about how to get ahead of the others first. Your military district is going to get interesting after this!"

After a pause, Section Chief Zhou said with a bitter smile, "Still, that kid's got some nerve.

"He's playing around with nothing but prohibited items. There'll be plenty to write in the report."