If I'd Known You Were Bringing Mechs, Why the Hell Would I Have Bothered Playing Along?

Ding-]

[Super God Technology Workbench Lv2 activated]

[Mech production line concept read complete]

[Comprehensive enhancement and correction of information data...]

[Multifunction module calculations complete]

[Ultra-precision lathe load calculations complete]

[Material scan complete]

[This construction will consume 500 Technology Points. Estimated time: 8 hours. Beginning fabrication...]

In the silent night, Xu Fan's Ultra-Deep Technology Workbench rumbled away.

In front of other people, though, he always called it the Multifunction Workbench.

The name Super God Technology was a little too overblown.

This time, all it needed to produce were components.

Without any assembly required, the Technology Point cost was considerably lower.

By the next day.

When Elder Wang and Elder Hua arrived with their people, the entire workshop was already filled with components.

Xu Fan had even moved some of them outside with a forklift overnight.

With the more than five hundred researchers Elder Wang had brought, along with the relevant machine operators, everyone began assembling and installing all the components.

The following day.

A joyous atmosphere filled the headquarters of the Zhonghai Military Region's 8th Marine Armored Combined Arms Division.

Today was the military exercise commendation ceremony.

The Southern Military Region had already lost three consecutive exercises against the Eastern Military Region.

This time, they had finally held their heads high and let out their pent-up frustration.

Now, whenever soldiers from the Southern Military Region saw soldiers from the Eastern Military Region, every last one pointed his nostrils skyward, looking immensely pleased with himself.

What could you do? They had pulled off a heaven-defying comeback at the very end and won!

They had won. That made them the shit.

If you couldn't stomach it, go smash your head against something and die. They had won anyway!

Now, some Eastern Military Region personnel went to the Southeast Theater Command headquarters on business.

Every one of them looked shifty-eyed.

They were terrified of running into anyone from the Southern Theater Command.

There was nothing they could do about those bastards who wouldn't let up even after winning.

Whenever they met, a barrage of snide remarks followed, enough to give someone a heart attack.

Yet they couldn't say anything.

Because when they had won the previous exercises, they had done exactly the same thing.

Early that morning.

Three Dongfeng Mengshis swept into Li Guozhong's division headquarters, trailing a furious gust of wind.

Screeech-

The vehicles came to a stop.

Division Commander Kong climbed out, his face dark.

He looked absolutely furious.

As though he had come to wreck the place.

Having received word long ago, Li Guozhong came out to welcome him in high spirits.

He looked even happier than he would have welcoming a superior officer.

"Oh my!"

"Old Kong?"

"I heard that last exercise gave you a fright!"

"You're already back on your feet?"

"What a thing to happen! Your old brother's heart just ached for you!"

"Hahahaha..."

Li Guozhong grinned so hard his mouth went crooked.

With several guards in tow, he strode briskly forward to greet him, practically skipping with joy.

"When I heard what happened to you, my heart just ached... hahahaha..."

"Ahem, I was going to visit you in the hospital and offer my regards, but you fucking came here yourself!"

Division Commander Kong looked at Li Guozhong's eminently punchable face.

He practically ground his gums to pieces.

Having lost the exercise, he had already been in a foul mood.

Li Guozhong's taunts only covered his face in even more black lines.

How the fuck is this concern for me?

He clearly thinks I'm taking too long to die!

Look at that eager face. All he's missing is a funeral wreath!!

Division Commander Kong breathed heavily, a faintly hostile look in his eyes as he stared at Li Guozhong.

If looks could kill.

Grass would already have sprouted on Li Guozhong's grave.

He glared at Li Guozhong, showing faint signs of flying into a rage.

Where's my knife?

Watch me stab this shameless bastard to death!!

You fucking brought mechs to a military exercise! If I'd known, why the hell would I have bothered playing along!

If this were a nationwide exercise, you'd bring out an aerospace carrier!

The faces of Division Commander Kong's guards and accompanying officers were so dark they looked ready to drip water.

They were gritting their teeth too.

For no other reason than that their defeat had come out of nowhere.

"Old Kong!"

"Stop acting like a wronged little wife. Eastern Military Region, Southern Military Region-don't we all belong to the Southeast Theater Command?"

"Look at you. Can't you be a little more magnanimous?"

Division Commander Kong took offense the moment he heard that.

"Old Li, it's fucking easy to talk when your back isn't the one aching!"

"You weren't the one with twin 50-centimeter-caliber cannon barrels shoved in your face."

"Do you know how badly I embarrassed myself!"

At this point, Division Commander Kong pursed his lips, looking exactly like a wronged little woman.

"We're brothers who came up through the same squad."

"And we're all soldiers of the Southeast Theater Command. You've fucking got mechs in service, while I have nothing!"

"I don't care! Those mechs of yours, whatever you call them-you've got to get me at least two!"

"If I'm even one short, I'm not leaving!!"

"And you have to feed me!"

Li Guozhong was dumbfounded.

Old Kong was throwing away every last scrap of dignity!

The mighty commander of the Third Mechanized Infantry Division was throwing a tantrum and playing the rogue here?

First the dark face, then the wounded look.

After all that fuss.

He was after the mechs!

Li Guozhong finally understood. Old Kong hadn't come for the commendation ceremony, nor to demand an accounting. He had come to rob the rich and divide up their land.

Anything else might have been negotiable, but he actually dared set his sights on Li Guozhong's mechs.

Those two mechs were his precious babies.

Nobody's words would sway him.

Li Guozhong bristled too.

"Kong Erlengzi!"

"I never thought you had eight hundred little schemes in that head of yours."

"How did I never notice before?"

"After all that acting, you've finally shown your little chicken feet, haven't you?"

"You want my mechs? Not a chance!"

"No mechs for you, and you're not getting my life either!!"

Hearing this, Division Commander Kong immediately widened his eyes too.

He said furiously,

"And you call yourself an old brother from the same squad! You get something good and don't even think to share! Choke on your stinginess!"

Li Guozhong folded his arms and snorted.

"Our division has two mechs, just enough to form one joint combat cover team. Where would I find any spare ones for you?"

"My mech production line probably still needs a week before it can start mass production... ahahaha, no..."

At that, Li Guozhong abruptly stopped, gave an awkward laugh, and hurriedly changed the subject.

"By the way, Old Kong, that external-fracture armor of yours is really good. Fantastic!"

But Division Commander Kong wasn't so easily fooled.

He keenly caught the crucial information between the lines.

His eyes lit up.

As though changing masks, his face turned gentle in an instant.

Smiling, he said,

"Old Li, it'll be ready for mass production in another week? We're brothers from the same squad. Asking for fifty isn't too much, is it?"

"Ahem, ahem... fifty? It'll only produce twenty in a year!"

Li Guozhong hurriedly shook his head.

His own troops would need at least twenty just to be basically equipped.

"All right, we're old comrades. I can't be unreasonable."

Division Commander Kong's eyes shifted.

"How about this? Give me five this year, then three every year after that. That's not too much, is it?"

"If you still won't agree, don't blame me for running my mouth outside."

"Think carefully about how many theater commands will come asking you for them then!"

"The ground forces, the air force-if they catch even a whisper of this, your phone will absolutely ring off the hook!"