Photon Barrier

There were still a few Russian gangsters on the dock who hadn't left. When they heard the screams and gunshots coming from the ship, they knew something had gone badly wrong. But the gangway had already been raised, and there was no way they could climb aboard the dozens-of-meters-high freighter anytime soon.

Luo Xia told Li Bai to keep watch, then paid no further attention to the people on shore. This was the most secluded corner of the dock, so the commotion here would never attract notice. The Russian gang had deliberately chosen this place for their illegal activities, which worked out perfectly for Luo Xia.

Following Violet's directions, Luo Xia made his way into the hold. Most of the containers stacked there were filled with people meant for sale. Only one contained nuclear waste, intended to fool inspectors.

He twisted off the container's lock and quickly found what he needed.

Yellow barrels were stacked neatly throughout the container. They were made from radiation-shielding materials, and the barrels alone were worth a fortune.

Nuclear waste generally referred to radioactive waste no longer needed after the production and processing of nuclear fuel, or after use in a nuclear reactor. Some useful plutonium could be extracted through recycling, while the rest had to undergo special treatment or it would pollute the environment.

What Luo Xia needed was precisely this highly radioactive nuclear waste.

The plates of his Sensor Glove automatically folded back one by one. Without hesitation, Luo Xia reached out and touched the yellow barrels filled with nuclear waste. Their special material could block radiation, but not the AllSpark's energy.

Luo Xia soon got the answer he wanted.

As the AllSpark's energy continued to drain, Luo Xia pulled a mass of blue light straight out of a barrel. It was like plucking a loose thread from a silkworm cocoon: each strand of blue represented all the radioactive energy inside that barrel.

Luo Xia patiently touched the barrels one by one. More and more blue strands clung to his hands, growing brighter until they condensed into a fist-sized blue gemstone.

It looked like the purest gemstone in the world, shining brilliantly even in the dim surroundings.

After he condensed one Energy Activation Device, the AllSpark's energy limit rose to five thousand. Luo Xia had no intention of stopping. He spent most of an hour extracting all the radioactive energy from the container, eventually condensing it into a total of seven Energy Activation Devices.

Added to the three he already had, they raised the AllSpark's limit by exactly ten thousand points.

The AllSpark's current data:

[AllSpark energy (Stage Two): 44/11000, energy recovery rate: 11/second.]

[AllSpark energy has reached Stage Two. Robot limit increased to 7; remaining slots: 4.]

[Capacity limit has exceeded 10000. New equipment unlocked: Photon Barrier.]

[Photon Barrier: Consumes 1000 AllSpark energy and is made by modifying an Energy Activation Device. When activated, it produces a Photon Barrier that can withstand some energy-based and physical attacks.]

"So the raw material is an Energy Activation Device. Good thing I just hit eleven thousand, or I wouldn't be able to use this new equipment." Luo Xia sighed.

After waiting a few more minutes for the AllSpark to recover some energy, Luo Xia used an Energy Activation Device to create the new Photon Barrier.

The fist-sized blue gemstone turned into a metal cross smaller than his palm. It looked like a slightly oversized pendant.

[Photon Barrier: Consumes 100 AllSpark energy to activate a photon energy shield. Maximum coverage: 16 square meters.]

"Defensive equipment. That's great." Luo Xia truly felt that this gear had come at just the right time.

In a world where practically everyone had a cheat of some kind, staying alive was the greatest skill of all. Luo Xia still had an ordinary human physique, and that left him feeling distinctly insecure.

Now he finally had something that could save his life. How could he not be happy?

One hundred points of AllSpark energy took only ten seconds to recover. Luo Xia tried channeling the energy into the cross, and in the blink of an eye a translucent blue barrier appeared before him.

It measured four meters by four meters, exactly sixteen square meters. It looked like a hazy projection of light. Wherever its edges touched the ground or other objects, they vanished without any sense of impact.

Luo Xia tried to control the translucent barrier and change its shape, but found it quite difficult. At most, he could curve the flat surface into a 120-degree arc, roughly matching the angle of a person's field of vision.

Even adjusting its size was no easy task. Sixteen square meters was its maximum coverage, but if Luo Xia wanted to shrink it so that it only blocked the space in front of him, he needed several seconds to make the adjustment.

"Looks like I'll have to practice. It'd be a pain if I had to put up a giant screen every time." Luo Xia wasn't entirely satisfied.

But for defensive equipment, the main question was how well it could protect him.

Using his mind, Luo Xia turned the Photon Barrier around so its defensive side faced him, then drew his Pulse Pistol and fired.

He emptied all forty Pulse Energy Blasts, each about the size of a miniature grenade. The Photon Barrier was covered in cracks, but it still hadn't shattered completely.

"Not bad. But can this thing only stop bullets?" Luo Xia cautiously reached out. His fingertip slowly passed through the barrier without meeting any resistance. The Alloy Dagger on his Sensor Glove seemed to pass through just as easily.

But when Luo Xia clenched his fist and punched the barrier hard, he clearly felt his fist strike a remarkably tough surface. More cracks appeared across the shield, showing that it had taken the impact.

After testing it several more times, Luo Xia understood how the Photon Barrier worked. It was a special form of energy with properties similar to a non-Newtonian fluid.

Luo Xia had seen experiments with non-Newtonian fluids. They looked like a mass of sticky flour paste. If you gently poked at them, you could sink your whole arm into them with ease. But if you punched them, you couldn't even break through the surface.

You could even run across the surface of the sticky liquid and support your entire weight. But the moment you stopped, you would sink into it.

Put simply, when the Photon Barrier was struck by a fast, powerful attack, the energy across its surface would instantly condense and create a strong resistance. But if an object moved slowly, as when Luo Xia gently touched it, it would pass through without obstruction.

It might not be much use in hand-to-hand combat, but against ranged attacks like gunfire, the Photon Barrier was extremely effective.

After putting away his new equipment, Luo Xia let the poor people inside the container out. He didn't explain anything to them. Instead, he brought water and food from the hold, along with clean clothes, bedding, and emergency medicine.

The actual supplies piled up before the women and children spoke more loudly than any words could.

He had just finished when he received a call from Matt. "Luo Xia, the vehicle I was following entered a military zone. I can't get in."