Chapter Seven, Mobius! How Could Anyone Not Love Her!

This... isn't he still pretty much the same as a student at school?

Putting it in a more pretentious way, Xu Qi had long since passed the age when he needed others to validate him.

The clerk in charge of training and education had probably heard about what happened in the technical office that morning. She wisely didn't go looking for Xu Qi to make him handle anything, instead arranging the visit herself.

Not everyone needed to step on Xu Qi to curry favor with that Young Master Li.

Ten years ago, quite a lot of people might have been willing to do that, but the prevailing social attitude nowadays was—everyone just wanted to lie flat.

Inside the maintenance depot, watching the students' vibrant youthful colors, Xu Qi suddenly found himself missing Mei...

Damn it... Why didn't the company organize more activities like this with Huazheng?

Though the two things were barely related.

When he reached the outside of the depot, a train slowly approached from the distance, heading toward the test track.

Xu Qi saw it clearly—914.

Unspoken memories relentlessly battered his mind. From when every cable had been removed and the train was practically an empty shell, to its current ability to run smoothly like this.

He had been involved in the entire process.

And now that the train had entered the final brake-adjustment phase, they were telling him they were replacing him...

All the paperwork had gone through at lightning speed. If anyone checked who was now responsible for the cable rectification on Line 914, it had become Li Fucong. Xu Qi? Sorry, never heard of him.

······

"Brother Li, I heard you've been keeping an eye on the cable rectification for this 914 even during the holiday?"

Inside the carriage, besides Li Fucong, the so-called person in charge, there were also members of the project team and some of the technical staff, including Xin An from that morning.

At that moment, they were all gathered around Li Fucong, both flattering him and making their allegiance clear.

After all, they had previously been running around busy with Xu Qi.

What a joke... Why else would they follow a kid who had graduated only a little over a year ago? It was because he had Supervisor Xia behind him, wasn't it? Now that Supervisor Xia had given up on him, the name Xu Qi could go wherever it pleased.

This Young Master Li before them was the one who was truly young and promising!

"Yeah. Some people spend the Dragon Boat Festival holiday lying at home, but I'm different. I started preparing to take over on the first day of the holiday, then spent the next two days getting those suppliers to speed things up a little.

After all, we have to go to the test track for the final brake adjustment once the holiday ends."

Li Fucong made no attempt to hide his smugness as he said this.

He had long been dissatisfied with Xu Qi. Everyone knew it.

"Brother Li, you've really worked hard."

"It's nothing. It's all for this 914. I don't know where Xu Qi got the nerve to think we could go straight into brake adjustment after the holiday.

I checked all the circuits related to braking, and the rectification hadn't been done properly at all! I had to step in and keep an eye on things for that kid, making the necessary adjustments."

"Haha! Exactly! Brother Li's been with the company for over two years, while that kid's only been here how long? What does he amount to?"

"Enough, enough. We're about to begin testing on the test track. Everyone, remember to record the data properly."

"Don't worry, Brother Li!"

The computer connected to the train system, and data testing began.

Outside the maintenance depot, Xu Qi also saw that the train had stopped on the test-track rails. He naturally knew every detail of the brake tests.

The first test was the service-braking distance at 20 km/h under an AW0 load...

"Report the data."

"Actual speed: 19.85."

"Braking distance: 17.46."

"Average deceleration: 0.88."

"Train signal DR output normal."

"Train command display normal."

"Excellent! Next is 40 km/h."

Looks like there shouldn't be any major problems.

Xu Qi didn't even know what kind of mood he had been in just now. Had he hoped the test would fail? Perhaps... but he probably hoped it would succeed even more.

No matter what, 914 was a project he had followed from beginning to end. Even if someone else had snatched it away, if the final adjustment failed, wouldn't that prove he had failed too?

We could be angry with anyone, but we absolutely couldn't be angry with ourselves.

"TC1-end test normal. Brother Li, once the train reaches the end, we can conduct the brake test at the TC2 end."

"OK."

"20 normal."

"40 normal."

"Next, we'll conduct the 60 km/h brake test."

"Speed: 54.1."

"Speed: 56.5."

"Speed: 58.3!"

"Hold on tight! Prepare for braking!"

"Brake!..."

Everyone in the train gripped the handrails beside them, waiting for the inertia to hit. However...

Nothing happened. Nothing at all—the train was still moving!

Li Fucong suddenly panicked! He rushed into the driver's cab and shouted, "What's going on!? Why isn't it braking? The traction speed is already 61.2! This 60 km/h test is void!"

"No, this...!"

The driver also said in a panic, "Service braking cannot be applied!"

"What...?"

Li Fucong stood there in a daze—how... how could this happen? Hadn't everything been fine just now? How could the brakes suddenly become impossible to apply? Then... then what were they supposed to do?

Just then, Xin An suddenly charged over from the side and shoved Li Fucong away! She slammed down on the red mushroom button in the driver's cab with all her strength!

However...

It was still... moving...

"Emergency braking ineffective!"

Xin An and the driver both went deathly pale! Emergency braking was the train's highest-level braking command. How could it possibly...

How could it be ineffective!?

Inside the maintenance depot, Xu Qi suddenly frowned. An ominous premonition spread through his heart. And that sound of the train moving in the distance... why hadn't it stopped yet?

That shouldn't be happening...

The train should have accelerated to 60 long ago.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang. Xu Qi glanced at it—Xin An...

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Qi answered the call!

"Engineer Xu! The train won't stop!"

His mind raced at lightning speed! Although that woman was a bitch, he had to admit that her abilities and brains were still working.

To make this call at a time like this, and in such an anxious tone...

That meant even slamming the mushroom button hadn't worked!?

"EB Valve! The EB Valve in the carriage! Send someone else to the electrical cabinet and manually lower the pantograph! Hurry!"

There was a burst of frantic activity from the other end of the call, while Xu Qi sprinted toward one of the storage rooms inside the maintenance depot!

"Huh? Engineer Xu, what's wrong?"

"Open the Exoskeleton Auxiliary Armor storage-room door!"

"Huh? Are you moving a train? But there shouldn't be any—"

"Quick!"

Xu Qi let out a furious roar, his face twisted with rage. It not only startled the person guarding the storage room, but also made the visiting students turn toward them one after another.

"But..."

"Didn't you hear me... Open it! The door!"

"Y-yes!"

Perhaps intimidated by the oppressive aura around Xu Qi, the veteran worker hurriedly took out his keys and opened the storage-room door.

Inside the storage room—two Exoskeleton Auxiliary Armors suddenly appeared before everyone.

GD-78, a dedicated exoskeletal mechanical auxiliary armor for rail vehicles.

The students who saw the armor all held their breath and stood frozen in place. Even the clerk in charge of training and education was stunned—was there a visit to the Exoskeleton Armor on today's itinerary?

Chapter Seven, Mobius! How Could Anyone Not Love Her!

Xu Qi took a single stride and twisted into the Exoskeleton Armor.

"Beginning biometric identification—serial number correct. Employee E02887, Xu Qi, please issue your command."

After identification was complete, the blue-and-white Exoskeleton Armor gradually closed and assembled, wrapping Xu Qi in thick armor. The joints began to lock mechanically, and the neural-signal sensor adhered to his scalp.

"Activate panoramic monitoring."

The faceplate covered him. Inside the pitch-black armor, the surrounding environment began to appear. At the same time, all status data for the Exoskeleton Armor appeared in the upper-right corner of his field of vision.

Preparation complete!

"GD-78-2! Deploy!"

The air pump vented, and the restraints released. Amid the students' startled cries, Xu Qi charged out of the maintenance depot toward the test track in the blue-and-white Exoskeleton Armor!

The back armor was fitted with a Micro Solar Furnace, and HK Particles drove it at high speed! Xu Qi's speed at that moment was no different from flight!

At the same time, the train's horn continued blaring in the distance. The pantograph connected to the high-voltage grid had already lowered. The train had lost its traction power, but the brake shoes still could not engage!

"Damn it! You can't even manually engage the carriage brakes!?"

As Xu Qi raced forward, he could already see the train speeding toward him in the distance—he could make it!

Inside the driver's cab, when Xin An saw a blue-and-white Exoskeleton Armor hurtling toward the track, she seemed to realize what the person inside intended to do.

She ignored the still-dazed Li Fucong, who remained where he was, muttering, "Impossible... How could this happen..."

She quickly rushed out of the driver's cab, lay down beside the equipment cabinet, and shouted, "Brace for impact!"

Impact?

"Bang!!!"

The violent collision came out of nowhere! Everyone inside the carriage was thrown forward by the tremendous inertia. Some crashed into the handrails, while others flew out of their seats along with the computers.

Li Fucong and the driver, who were still inside the driver's cab, slammed headfirst into the control panel. Bright-red blood sprayed out alongside their screams, forming a scene straight from hell.

But outside the train... whether it was the students who had come to visit, the workers carrying out maintenance, or employees who happened to be passing by.

Every one of them witnessed a scene that could only have happened in a movie...

That guy—the guy wearing the blue-and-white Exoskeleton Armor! He was actually standing on the track! And directly in front of him was a train traveling at high speed!

"Xu Qi! What are you doing with the Exoskeleton Armor!? Don't do anything reckless!"

In the communications panel at the lower right of his view, Xia Ya suddenly initiated a direct call.

"I'm going to stop 914!"