Ten minutes later, Wang Yixue had driven Crimson Sky No. 1 into the indoor testing facility.
There was a professional material property analyzer here.
It was usually used to test fighter jet materials, and now it was just right for testing the mecha.
Elder Wang and Wang Yixue stood to one side, waiting for Dr. Chen to arrive.
"Young Yixue, Grandpa has a serious question for you. Tell me the truth."
"Mhm, ask whatever you like," Wang Yixue said obediently.
"Where exactly did this Crimson Sky No. 1 mecha come from?"
"I just hired a welder to make it as a birthday present for you, Grandpa."
Wang Yixue rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment before adding,
"His name is Xu Fan. He's a welder and a student at Zhonghai National University of Defense Technology."
"His name is Xu Fan? Not Xu Tiebang?"
As Elder Wang spoke, he glanced at Tong Yao beside him.
Tong Yao shrank back.
She gave a couple of sheepish chuckles, not daring to speak.
"No, his name is Xu Fan. I've read his profile. He's bright and handsome, but his temper is just a tiny bit fierce..."
Recalling Xu Fan's phone call that morning, Wang Yixue couldn't help grumbling inwardly.
Once things here settled down, she absolutely had to meet that fierce guy in person.
Elder Wang looked thoughtful as well.
A university student working part-time as a welder had hand-built a mecha.
That was rather hard to fathom.
"Then... Young Yixue, how many months in advance did you commission him to build the mecha?"
"It wasn't months. It was just the day before yesterday."
"???"
Elder Wang cleared his throat twice and said in feigned annoyance,
"Young Yixue, good children don't lie!"
"No, Grandpa, I really didn't lie to you. If you don't believe me, look at the chat history, or call him yourself. I'll send you his number."
Wang Yixue swore she really wasn't lying.
If she was lying, she was a puppy.
"No need to send me his number. That brat's phone... Ah, it's a long story!"
Elder Wang gave a bitter chuckle.
Seeing that Elder Wang hadn't managed to get to the bottom of things, Elder Hua
couldn't help moving closer and saying with a kindly expression,
"Yixue, aren't you closest to Grandpa Hua? Tell Grandpa Hua the truth. Where exactly did this mecha come from? As long as you tell the truth, you'll be its exclusive operator from now on. How does that sound?"
"You..."
Crystal tears welled in Wang Yixue's eyes, and an aggrieved look appeared on her face.
"Grandpa Hua, I really haven't lied to you. I wanted Master Xu to weld a 50 cm mecha, but who knew I'd accidentally type an extra zero? In the end, it became a 5 m mecha."
"Don't cry, Young Yixue. Whether anyone else believes you or not, Grandpa Hua believes you!"
Seeing that Wang Yixue was about to cry,
Elder Hua immediately offered a few words of comfort.
"What are you saying, old man Hua? Of course I believe my granddaughter too!"
Hearing the implication in Elder Hua's words, Elder Wang bristled his beard and glared.
Yet no sooner had the two declared their loyalty than they sidled together.
They began discussing in hushed voices.
"Do you think there's a possibility that Yixue actually has ties to certain secret departments higher up?" Elder Hua said thoughtfully.
"Oh? Now that you mention it, things seem to make sense."
Elder Wang's eyes lit up in realization.
"No wonder a child who never lies would tell a lie. She must have signed a confidentiality agreement!"
"If we think of it that way, was this mecha's appearance here an accident, or did the secret department want to use us to bring it into the public eye?"
"It's hard to guess what the higher-ups are thinking. Let's watch how things develop for now!"
After conspiring for quite a while, the two verbally settled on their next course of action.
Little did they know that Wang Yixue had already slipped over beside them.
The two elders looked up, and the air instantly froze.
Wang Yixue was staring at them with her brows tightly knitted and anger all over her face.
"Grandpa, since you don't believe me, I'll take you to Master Xu's house after the tests. Ask him to his face! Hmph!"
"Hehe... All right."
"Hehehe, sure!"
The two elders nodded in unison and exchanged a look, their eyes like those of old foxes.
Half an hour passed in a flash.
Finding it boring outside, Wang Yixue had long since climbed into the mecha's cockpit.
She wasn't dutifully wearing the holographic helmet and sitting in the pilot's seat.
Instead, she looked here and there around the cockpit, just like a cat brimming with curiosity.
The materials expert, Dr. Chen, still hadn't arrived.
Everyone was growing impatient with the wait.
Elder Wang frowned.
"Forget it. Let's start first. Isn't Dr. Chen's apprentice, Zhang Liang, here? Have him operate the material analyzer."
"That's our only option." Elder Hua nodded.
At Elder Wang's order, Zhang Liang took two assistants
and headed toward the control console to the side.
He nervously pressed buttons on the console, then worked the control stick.
A large mechanical arm immediately extended from the console.
It slowly came into contact with the mecha's arm.
After another series of fine adjustments,
a click rang out.
Zhang Liang pressed the final confirmation button.
Blue progress bars appeared on the large wall-mounted screen.
[Alloy composition testing progress: 79%] [Static load strength testing progress: 57%] [Rockwell hardness testing progress: 89%] [Fatigue resistance testing progress: 8%] [Impact toughness testing progress: 47%]
Aside from alloy composition, the other four properties were all key indicators of the strength of a metal or alloy's performance.
Seeing that the first indicator was about to finish testing, Zhang Liang's breathing grew somewhat rapid.
He clenched his hands until his fingertips turned white.
He had worked in the materials field for many years, but this was his first time testing a mecha's materials.
He had been deeply shaken the moment this behemoth was driven inside.
Now that he was working with it up close, claiming he wasn't nervous would have been an outright lie.
The other researchers were much the same.
Standing at the feet of the 5 m mecha, they seemed like ants.
As researchers, they all knew.
The primary material of this mecha was bound to have extraordinary properties.
Its hardness might even rival tungsten steel!
But if it was tungsten steel, its other properties would all be very weak.
Just what would the data show? Everyone held their breath, quietly waiting for the first progress bar to fill.
Even the eyes of the normally composed Elder Wang and Elder Hua flickered slightly. They were clearly somewhat excited too.
Ding-
A loud automated voice announcement rang through the hall.
"Rockwell hardness of tested material: unable to measure!"
"???"
At the sound, everyone's eyes widened in unison.
Their gazes were filled with confusion.
Had the machine malfunctioned?
What did "unable to measure" mean? Countless people stood dumbfounded. This was their first time encountering such a situation.
"Elder Hua, this material really is somewhat beyond expectations!"
A gleam flashed through Elder Wang's eyes, and his voice actually trembled slightly as he spoke.
"Yes. There's only one reason it can't be measured: its hardness exceeds that of any alloy on Earth!"
Hearing the two elders say this, Zhang Liang, who had come down from the testing console, abruptly froze.
A look of disbelief appeared on his face.
He asked shakily,
"Elder Hua, are you saying even tungsten steel isn't as hard as this?"
"Forget tungsten steel. Even diamond can't match its hardness!"
"Hiss-"
Sharp intakes of breath sounded all around.
Everyone knew what diamond was. This stuff was even harder than diamond. That was terrifying.
Didn't that mean ordinary shells couldn't damage this mecha at all?
If this thing were deployed in modern warfare, to hell with absolute defense-it could just clash head-on!
Who could overpower it?
You hit me with a shell, and I lose a little paint.
I hit you with a shell, and your home is gone!