Countless people in the middle of evacuating urgently stopped short and snapped their gazes overhead.
Their pupils trembled violently, their jaws dropping to the ground in shock.
"Holy shit, that thing really flew!"
"A Zhen, you're doing this for real?"
"I'm fucking losing it! Mechas actually exist!!"
People stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded, national treasures of profanity spilling endlessly from their mouths.
Even the usually steady and composed Elder Hua was speechless, his face filled with shock.
"Elder Wang, what do you make of this?"
"This is fucking beyond absurd!"
Elder Wang could not help swearing either.
This had gone beyond what either of the two elders could comprehend.
Elder Hua lowered his gaze and thought for a moment.
He ventured a guess,
"Do you think someone from another theater command brought it over to show off?"
"I'm afraid that's the only possibility!" Although Elder Wang thought it unlikely, he had no other line of speculation.
Any other guess would have been even more outrageous.
"I'll call Old Tian at the Eastern Theater Command right now. Thinking about it, this really could be that knucklehead's doing!"
Anger immediately surged across Elder Hua's face.
To think someone had used the nation's latest cutting-edge technology for a prank, just to give a couple of old bones like them a shock.
Unbelievable!
Elder Hua placed a call, and the other end soon picked up.
"Hello, Elder Hua. What wind blew your way today? Even an old fellow like you is calling me?"
The person on the other end seemed a little surprised, but his tone was relatively relaxed.
"Old Tian, I have just one question. Has your Eastern Theater Command developed a mecha?"
"Well... how should I put this..." The other party seemed a little hesitant.
"Damn it, so it really was you!"
Hearing his hesitation, Elder Hua could no longer hold back.
His beard bristled and his eyes bulged as he swore.
"Elder Hua, don't tell me your development failed and you're taking it out on me? We've developed exoskeleton armor, but it's still a long way from being a mecha!"
"You brat, still playing dumb! Don't forget, the Southern Theater Command is your old home. You were a soldier Elder Wang and I trained!"
"No, Elder Hua, I really am not lying. What exactly happened? What mecha? Why can't I understand what you're talking about?"
"It really wasn't you?"
"Absolutely not. I swear on the light!"
Hearing that, Elder Hua fell silent for a moment, then hung up without waiting for another word.
At the other end, Old Tian listened to the beeping in his ear, utterly bewildered.
He had inexplicably answered a call and gotten chewed out.
Anger welled up inside him.
After thinking for a moment, he suddenly understood.
"The Southern Theater Command must be trying to sound us out before the upcoming military exercise! That crafty old Hua!"
Old Tian stood by the window, holding a schematic of exoskeleton armor, a deeply confident smile on his lips.
"Sounding us out won't help. With this, there's no way the Eastern Theater Command can lose this exercise!"
Cloud Summit Manor.
After hanging up, Elder Hua's brow furrowed even more deeply.
Beside him, Elder Wang shook his head. "Judging by Old Tian's tone, it probably wasn't him."
The two exchanged a glance, their doubts only deepening. Just where had this mecha come from?
They would never believe that Yixue had hired a welder to weld it together.
A welder welding a mecha? What a joke!
But to get to the bottom of its origins, they still had to start with Wang Yixue.
Just then.
A violent sonic boom exploded in the sky above the manor.
It was deafening, its shock wave powerful enough to tear a hole in the sky.
Some guests who had not yet gotten far had their ears ringing from the savage blast.
The children cried without stopping.
"A sonic boom!"
Elder Wang's aged body jolted as the words escaped his lips.
Elder Hua's pupils also shook violently, and he jumped in fright.
After their brief surprise, both men thought of something at the same time.
Almost simultaneously.
Their aged eyes became incredibly sharp, staring straight into the sky.
Overhead.
The red mecha was climbing rapidly, shrinking at tremendous speed.
The air behind it formed a particularly conspicuous cone.
"Elder Hua, are my old eyes failing me? Why did I just see it break the sound barrier?" Elder Wang swallowed and asked uncertainly.
"Don't ask me. I... I might be going deaf and hearing things too!"
Elder Hua was so agitated that, despite having weathered great storms, he could barely get his words out.
It could cruise at supersonic speed even during a vertical climb?
Was this a joke?
They probably couldn't hold Newton's coffin lid down anymore!
Besides, the mecha's shape was far from aerodynamically optimal. How could it possibly go supersonic?!!
It simply shattered their entire worldview.
Utterly absurd!
After all, even something shaped like a fighter jet would have difficulty breaking the sound barrier and cruising at supersonic speed.
That was no easy feat.
Reaching supersonic speed perpendicular to gravity was even more unprecedented.
At that moment.
Elder Wang's life came crashing down.
His values lay shattered across the floor.
Elder Hua's brain short-circuited too, leaving him questioning his life.
In the sky, the mecha gradually became a tiny black dot.
The synchronized sound of rushing wind from the phone in Elder Wang's hand grew even fiercer.
Only then did Elder Wang notice that the mecha's real-time tracking data in the lower-right corner of the phone had long since begun jumping wildly.
[Current mode: novice] [Mecha attitude: antigravity vertical ascent] [Back engine 1 thrust: 110 kN+] [Back engine 2 thrust: 110 kN+] [Back engine 3 thrust: 105 kN+] [Back engine 4 thrust: 105 kN+] [Flank engine thrust: 109 kN+] [Frame attitude adjustment vector thrust: No. 1/20, No. 2/10, No. 3/15, No. 4/10, No. 5/21] [Frame temperature: 141] [Speed: Mach] [Assessment: everything normal!]
"Hiss-"
Was this for real? This could count as normal???
What kind of colossal joke was this!
Elder Wang and Elder Hua both sucked in a cold breath.
Their eyes bulged right out of their sockets.
Their foreheads were covered in question marks.
Those figures kept jumping upward.
In the blink of an eye, the temperature had risen to 195 degrees, and the speed had reached Mach!
It was almost twice the speed of sound.
Elder Wang's eyes were filled with worry, and even a little fear.
At such a high temperature, never mind the mecha's circuitry being unable to withstand it-the pilot would fare even worse.
"Young Yixue, how are you doing?"
"Grandpa, it's flying so high! I'm so sca..."
The signal cut out.
Her voice stopped abruptly, and the phone's picture froze.
Only the real-time tracking data in the lower-right corner remained fixed at the instant the signal had cut out.
Temperature: 209. Speed: Mach 2.