Fang Cheng had thought that after living two lives, his emotional journey was practically on par with a technician's. He'd reached the point where nothing could ruffle him, where even Mount Tai collapsing before him wouldn't change his expression.
That was, until he stepped out of the elevator and saw a robot flying toward him from the distance. "Holy shit!" slipped out before he could stop himself.
When the thing came closer, Fang Cheng took a good look and realized it wasn't a robot at all. It was a person wearing a powered exoskeleton, their face obscured by a helmet.
The other person suddenly raised a hand and aimed at Fang Cheng. A thick barrel on their arm glowed white.
"Shit!"
Fang Cheng's scalp prickled. There was no time to retreat into the elevator, so he immediately activated Short-Range Dash and darted to the side.
A ball of white light shot from the barrel and hit the ground in front of the elevator. It exploded with a bang, unleashing a rolling cloud of red dust like a sandstorm.
After missing her first shot, the attacker spun around in midair and quickly gave chase. A small rotary barrel on her left shoulder spat fire, and a dense stream of tracer rounds streaked toward him.
Fang Cheng activated Short-Range Dash again and again, turning into a blur as he dodged and fled in every direction down the corridor.
His pursuer stayed right on his heels, spraying bullets as if they were free and peppering the ground behind him.
Strangely, the gunfire wasn't very loud. Instead, it had a peculiar, muffled quality.
Fang Cheng noticed something was off, but he didn't dare stop.
Luckily, he'd been working out consistently. He hadn't missed a day of claiming his free point of stamina, which left him with enough energy to use Short-Range Dash extravagantly, over and over.
He raced down the long corridor and burst into a spacious training area. Grabbing a barbell lying nearby, he tensed his arm muscles, turned, and hurled it with all his might.
The barbell whooshed through the air, but his opponent easily dodged it. A red light flickered on her right shoulder.
In the next instant, a red laser shot out.
By the time Fang Cheng realized he'd been targeted, it was too late to dodge. Not unless he could move at the speed of light.
The laser struck Fang Cheng, but the pain he'd expected never came.
Fang Cheng paused, then realized it was just an ordinary beam of light, nothing like the laser that had cut Kuroishi Yuto in half a while back.
Fang Cheng glanced out into the corridor. Black rubber bullets littered the floor.
There was no doubt about it. He'd been had.
Fang Cheng glared at the person in the air with a deadpan expression. She slowly descended, removed her black helmet, and revealed a beautiful, smiling face.
As expected, it was Kanzaki Rin.
She was grinning widely. "Not bad. Your reaction was better than I expected."
Kanzaki Rin hardly ever smiled, unless she saw Fang Cheng getting the short end of the stick.
So she wasn't smiling because he'd reacted well. She was laughing at how desperately he'd scrambled to get away.
"Not bad at all, kid."
Takeda Masumi appeared too. She'd obviously been hiding nearby, waiting to watch the show.
She folded her arms and looked at Fang Cheng with amazement.
He'd been hit in the end, but the fact that he'd lasted so long against a surprise attack from this Individual Combat System had already shattered the record.
Fang Cheng had moved so fast while dodging that Takeda Masumi had almost lost sight of him. That was no ordinary feat.
She took it as a sign that Fang Cheng had some kind of special ability.
"Is that so? Then let's trade a few moves later."
Fang Cheng left Takeda Masumi with a remark that made her expression change, then composed himself and settled his emotions.
He was usually the one who tricked Kanzaki Rin. Getting played for once wasn't a big deal. He wasn't a sore loser.
There was always next time, and he'd have plenty of chances to get even.
At that moment, Fang Cheng's attention was entirely fixed on the equipment Kanzaki Rin was wearing. There probably wasn't a man alive who could resist something this cool, with all its mechanical appeal.
"Is that a powered exoskeleton? Where'd you get it?"
Fang Cheng rushed over, eyes shining. His hands were already itching to touch it.
"That's right. It's an Individual Combat System, including powered exoskeleton armor, a weapons platform, life support, communications, fire control, a computer..."
Kanzaki Rin gave him an extensive rundown, but halfway through, she suddenly let out a startled cry.
She spun around and punched Fang Cheng. "What are you groping me for?"
Fang Cheng raised his hand and caught her fist, but the blow still sent him stumbling back two steps. The exoskeleton armor had given Kanzaki Rin tremendous strength.
Surprised, he shook out his hand and grinned. "This thing doesn't protect your butt enough. You can't neglect it just because there's more padding there. What if some pervert likes spanking..."
"You're the pervert!"
Kanzaki Rin's face turned icy as she strode toward Fang Cheng. "You're dead!"
That bastard was getting more and more outrageous. Verbal harassment had been one thing, but now he was actually laying hands on her.
"Come on, come on..."
Takeda Masumi hurried to hold Kanzaki Rin back.
Given her personality, Takeda Masumi would have loved to see Kanzaki Rin beat the hell out of Fang Cheng and teach the brat a lesson.
But she had a feeling that if they actually fought, Kanzaki Rin might end up getting beaten to a pulp.
Kanzaki Rin was still wearing the Individual Combat System, so she shouldn't have lost. Still, Takeda Masumi had this strange, unreasonable intuition.
And if Kanzaki Rin got beaten up, would she, as a bystander, be able to escape unscathed?
If she stuck around to watch and ended up getting dragged into it, she'd be in trouble. To prevent that, Takeda Masumi decided it would be better to nip things in the bud.
While restraining Kanzaki Rin, Takeda Masumi also gave Fang Cheng a look, telling him to calm her down.
Fang Cheng shrugged, then stuck out his butt. "If you feel like you're at a disadvantage, I'll reluctantly let you touch mine. It might feel even better than yours..."
Kanzaki Rin kicked at him, but he dodged. She missed.
"Masumi, don't hold me back! I'm going to beat this bastard to death today!"
Takeda Masumi slapped her forehead, exasperated.
That bastard wasn't trying to calm her down at all. He was deliberately provoking her.
Of course, they still didn't end up fighting. Only after Kanzaki Rin threatened to make him pay for the food if she lost did Fang Cheng reluctantly offer a completely insincere apology.
Kanzaki Rin accepted his apology and let it go. She couldn't wear the combat system forever.
"Why didn't you bring this thing out before?"
Fang Cheng fiddled with the Individual Combat System Kanzaki Rin had taken off and asked her.
If they'd had this thing earlier, wouldn't fighting those two Vampires have been like beating up elementary schoolers?
"I only got it approved recently, under Masumi's name."
Kanzaki Rin struggled to take off the exoskeleton armor as she answered. "Do you think an intern like me could get something like this approved?"
"Does the Countermeasure Department have a lot of these?"
Fang Cheng asked again. If the Countermeasure Department could give every member an Individual Combat System, that would be incredible.
It had powerful firepower and plenty of strength, and could fly, run, and jump. Wasn't this basically Monkey-Version Iron Man?
Kanzaki Rin shook her head. "There are quite a few, but not many people are authorized to use them. The SAT Mobile Team has one for every member, but they don't deploy easily."
"The SAT Mobile Team is that powerful?"
"Not really. They're only a second-rate unit internationally."
Takeda Masumi suddenly cut in, her tone full of scorn. Clearly, she had a story to tell.
Seeing Fang Cheng's surprised expression, Takeda Masumi scoffed. "Kid, do you think humanity can fight monsters because of ability users like you? You couldn't be more wrong."
She patted the exoskeleton armor, its mechanical design pleasing to the eye, and spoke with pride. "It's all thanks to the power of technology."
Fang Cheng had no interest in arguing over whether technology or abilities were better. What was the point? Why not combine them and make a superpowered Iron Man? That would be way cooler.
Fang Cheng turned to Kanzaki Rin. "Did you get this for me?"
Kanzaki Rin replied coolly, "Don't get ahead of yourself. This is a downgraded version for training. The Countermeasure Department will find out if you take it out of the training ground."
Fang Cheng was greatly displeased. "Then what was the point of getting it?"
"To give you some specialized training. From now on, Masumi and I will teach you firearms, Swordsmanship, Stealth, and Intelligence Gathering. You won't get far relying on your fists alone."
Hearing that he couldn't take it outside, Fang Cheng's interest immediately waned.
He sent Kanzaki Rin Ugou Mirai's social media account. "Look into her and find out what she's about."
Kanzaki Rin had already seen Fang Cheng talking with Ugou Mirai through the drone. Unlike Fang Cheng, she'd recognized the girl at a glance as one of the hostages they'd rescued that night.
That night, she'd used both threats and persuasion to ensure that none of the survivors could leak any information about Fang Cheng to the Countermeasure Department.
Yet the girl had found Fang Cheng in such a short time. That wasn't something an ordinary person could manage. She was definitely suspicious and worth investigating.
While Kanzaki Rin was deep in thought, Fang Cheng started fiddling with the exoskeleton armor again.
Although his interest had waned, Fang Cheng still liked the Individual Combat System a great deal.
After he pestered her relentlessly, Kanzaki Rin finally agreed to let him try it out.
Once he'd put on the exoskeleton armor, Fang Cheng followed Kanzaki Rin's instructions and switched on the flight system. He wobbled up into the air.
He flew around like a headless fly, occasionally losing control of his distance and crashing into the ceiling.
Kanzaki Rin and Takeda Masumi both wore mocking smiles at the sight of a rookie in over his head.
But when Fang Cheng flew above them and aimed his barrel at them, their smiles stiffened at once.
After a chaotic struggle, the exhausted Kanzaki Rin and Takeda Masumi went into the bathroom and washed away their fatigue with warm water.
Takeda Masumi suddenly spoke to Kanzaki Rin in the next shower stall. "Rin, you and Fang Cheng aren't dating, are you?"
She'd initially thought Fang Cheng and Kanzaki Rin were a couple, or at least that they liked each other.
But after watching them for a while, she'd realized there was nothing of the sort between them.
"Of course not."
Kanzaki Rin denied it outright. When she'd told Fang Cheng she didn't want to date, she hadn't been brushing him off.
She had neither the time nor the interest.
Takeda Masumi continued, "Really? If you're not interested, then I won't hold back."
Kanzaki Rin sounded surprised. "What? You're... serious?"
Takeda Masumi stuck out her tongue and licked her lips. "Don't you think that kid's exciting?"
Kanzaki Rin was silent for a while before she said, "I wouldn't mess with him if I were you."
Takeda Masumi laughed. "What, don't want to share?"
"No..."
Kanzaki Rin shook her head. "I'm worried you won't be able to handle him. Take my word for it, he's not an ordinary person."
But Takeda Masumi was raring to go. "If he were ordinary, I wouldn't be interested."
Kanzaki Rin stopped trying to dissuade her. "Suit yourself, then."
Thanks to my patron Right Hand Stay and reader 140508213521908 for the tips. Thank you for your support! (*^▽^*)
This chapter's a little longer.
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