Mechanical Skeleton

"..."

William's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily, as if he had been startled by what he saw.

The room had been tidied up neatly. There were no foreign objects among the bedding, desk, or clothes rack.

And Halsey?

She wore a white camisole and jeans that revealed the perfect shape of her buttocks, her long, slightly curled black hair framing her face, and...

And wheat-colored skin.

She looked completely different from before.

After all, Halsey had never cared about her appearance. She usually wore hoodies or sweatshirts, looking every bit like a sloppy female academic genius.

But now, having discarded her loose clothing, Halsey possessed an astonishing figure.

To William, she instantly outshone every celebrity and model.

"Do... do you think I look good?" Halsey asked, seemingly a little shy.

"Ah... um... how did you..."

Hearing the question, William hurriedly turned to face the wall. With his right hand on his hip and his left pinching the bridge of his nose, he hesitated for a moment before saying:

"You look great, but the way you dressed before was more like the Halsey I knew.

This... isn't you."

"Yeah..." Halsey looked a little dejected and muttered, "And yet you've been involved in a scandal with a supermodel."

?

"A scandal? What happened?" William hurriedly asked.

"Tsk."

Halsey rolled her eyes at him, reached up, and pulled off the wig, revealing her original short, light-blond hair.

Then she picked up the newspaper on the desk and forcefully shoved it against William, puffing out her cheeks as she said:

"See for yourself!"

"This?" William caught the newspaper before it could slip away.

He unfolded it and found that it was the Halifax City local daily.

On the most eye-catching section of the front page was a photograph of him at the filming site of Iron Man. Because of where they were standing, he and Megan appeared far too "intimate."

The headline read: The Playboy Has Finally Started Looking for Love. Is the Heir of Umbrella, Young Master or Young Lady, Not Far From Us?

Oh, come on...

William finally believed in the awesome power of his employees' gossip.

From now on, whenever he went out, he would have to make Hunk clear the "trash" around him. Otherwise, he would never be able to live a normal life.

Nearby, Halsey took off her white lab coat and said in an exaggerated tone, "When are you going to have children with her~?"

"No! Listen to me..."

William hurriedly explained everything that had happened on the night of the sixth, including how he had been mistaken for a homosexual.

He spoke rapidly, as if afraid Halsey might misunderstand something.

After hearing William's explanation, Halsey could not help laughing.

"Haha~ Was Andre a little too eager? How did he end up being even more anxious than you?"

"How should I know?" William shrugged.

"Alright~"

After changing her clothes, Halsey walked up to William. She lightly tapped the tip of his nose with her left index finger and said softly:

"I believe you. Don't forget who invented that chip."

"Uh..."

William felt as if he no longer had any privacy at all.

Still, he did not really mind. Instead, he hurriedly asked, "What about your skin... can it turn back?"

"This?" Halsey said indifferently. "I thought you might like this skin tone, so I deliberately went sunbathing. If I stop... it'll return to normal in a few months."

"Phew—"

William let out a sigh of relief. As he turned and walked outside, he said, "Alright, tell me what you've invented recently."

"No problem~"

The Hive, fourth floor.

Inside an observation room in one of the mezzanines;

William and Halsey stood there alone. Through the enormous bulletproof glass, they could overlook the spacious testing grounds below.

They were filled with countless zombies wearing orange D-Class personnel uniforms.

There were also quite a few Zombie Dogs that had severely decomposed and seemed to have been reduced to little more than skeletons.

There were even several Lickers without skin, their brains exposed and the fingers on their hands transformed into claws.

Seeing so many T-Virus by-products, even someone as tolerant as William could not help feeling his scalp go numb.

Just imagine...

Wouldn't you be dead meat if you fell down there?

Halsey, on the other hand, had no such concerns. She even gestured toward the area below with a smile and said:

"What do you think of these little cuties?"

"They're alright..." William tugged at his tie, making it easier for him to breathe.

At that moment, Halsey asked again, "Boss, if we sent UBCS or USS into this testing ground, how many people would it take to deal with everything?"

Hearing this, William pinched his chin with his right hand and thought it over.

Then he said in an estimating tone, "For UBCS, we'd need at least one platoon.

But with those Zombie Dogs and the skinless ones—the Lickers—they might suffer heavy casualties.

As for USS... Hunk is outside. Should we have him come in and analyze it?"

"No need. Look at this first."

Halsey operated the computer and turned on the screen suspended in the center of the observation room. An illustrated explanation appeared before them.

Advance Armor Exoskeleton System—UBCS Model;

Advanced Armored Exoskeleton System, UBCS model.

Black one-piece combat suit.

Combined with reinforced military boots and a helmet, it possessed excellent airtightness.

The suit's temperature and pressure regulation functions, along with its strong radiation resistance, allowed the wearer to fight in a vacuum for fifteen minutes.

Under normal atmospheric conditions, the filtration system protected the wearer from microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

The outer layer of the suit was made from titanium fiber developed by Dr. Halsey and could resist 7.62 mm rounds (AK series) at close range.

Note: The suit could only prevent rounds from penetrating the wearer; it could not completely mitigate their kinetic energy.

The wearer's limbs, back, and shoulders were equipped with a metal exoskeleton.

The exoskeleton allowed the wearer to carry a maximum load of two tons and perform super jumps.

The wearer's vital areas were fitted with a certain amount of light Titanium Alloy armor plating, which could effectively resist Armor-piercing Rounds (Barrett).

The wearer could customize the Titanium Alloy armor plate on the chest, such as adding a Tactical Belt or magazine slots.

This model was equipped with a Hydrogen Battery developed by Dr. Halsey, allowing thirty-six hours of continuous combat.

...

"This..."

After reading the long string of descriptions, William was left speechless.

"Hehe~" Halsey poked William in the back again, looking extremely proud as she said:

"What if we put this on those soldiers and had them deal with the little cuties below?"

"Gulp!"

William swallowed audibly and ungracefully. Looking at Halsey's smug expression, he asked expectantly, "Why don't we... give it a try?"

"I've been waiting for you to say that~" Halsey lifted her chin, then used the microphone beside the computer to issue a calm command:

"Team B, the boss is watching. Start the performance."

As her voice fell, the gates to the testing grounds opened.

Immediately afterward, six UBCS soldiers wearing AAES exoskeletons entered.

The commotion also drew the attention of hundreds of zombies, Zombie Dogs, and Lickers.

The "trial" began in an instant.

{The author also found a similar picture of the AAES exoskeleton. Everyone can make do with it and use their imagination~}