18: Chapter 18 The Nation: Mr. Jiang

General Qin Weiguo ran in.

This iron-blooded general, who usually remained calm even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, now had his hat askew, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, and he was clutching the surveillance hard drive he had just confiscated from the shopping mall's underground parking lot.

Upon entering, he saw Jiang Chen sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, peeling an orange, and General Qin Weiguo nearly couldn't help but kneel on the spot.

"My little ancestor!"

General Qin Weiguo slammed the hard drive onto the coffee table, his voice trembling, "Can you just calm down for a while? Even for half a day?"

Jiang Chen tossed a slice of orange into his mouth, blinked, and looked innocent: "What's the matter, General Qin? I just got back; I haven't had a chance to do anything bad yet."

"You haven't done anything bad?"

General Qin Weiguo pointed at the hard drive, his hands shaking with anger, "What about that load-bearing pillar in the mall that was smashed through? And what about that 'yo-yo' that flew faster than a missile?"

"The foreign internet is exploding right now! Twitter and Facebook are full of that video! Although we have already blocked it across the entire network, we can't stop the fact that it was a live broadcast!"

"The Eagle's military satellites were changing orbits like crazy over Tianhai City just now, desperate to look down from right above our heads! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been bombarded with calls, asking if we are conducting some kind of secret weapon experiment in the city center!"

Jiang Chen said "Oh" and tossed the orange peel accurately into the trash can.

"That? That was an accident."

He sniffed, his tone as relaxed as if he were talking about accidentally breaking a bowl, "That was just a civilian version of a reconnaissance ball. I didn't expect the quality of the pillar to be so poor; it shattered at the slightest touch."

General Qin Weiguo felt his blood pressure hitting the roof.

Civilian version? Poor quality? That was reinforced concrete! It could withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake! You call that shattering at the slightest touch?

"Mr. Jiang, Grandpa Jiang."

General Qin Weiguo took a deep breath, plopped down on the sofa, and began to plead earnestly, "Can we please keep a low profile? It is the state's duty to protect you, but you're causing such a huge commotion that we can't cover it up. Next time, could you please play with this kind of black technology in the laboratory first?"

Jiang Chen looked at the old general who had worked for the country for half his life, and felt a little bit guilty.

"Fine, fine, I'll be careful next time."

He nodded, his attitude sincere, "I'll try my best not to play in the city center."

Just as General Qin Weiguo let out a sigh of relief and hadn't yet had time to drink water to calm his nerves, Jiang Chen's phone on the table suddenly vibrated.

The game interface that always brought "surprises" popped up a notification again.

[Ding!]

[Jiang Wanqiu (eyes full of stars): Father God! That kind of red divine meat (ham sausage) is simply too delicious! To express Wanqiu's gratitude, I have sent you a big guy that was just repaired in Dawn City!]

[Jiang Wanqiu: This is the pinnacle of single-soldier combat from the old era. Although it is somewhat damaged, the core power reactor is still intact. I hope it can help Father God clear away all the ants in the God Realm!]

[Received offering: T-600 "titan" type single-soldier exoskeleton heavy mecha (battle-damaged version) x1.]

[Extract?]

Jiang Chen looked at the screen, his eyebrows twitching violently.

A mecha? And a heavy one at that? If he extracted this and put it in the living room, it would probably crush the floor. But if he didn't extract it, this thing would keep flashing red in the temporary storage box, making his OCD flare up.

"Um... General Qin."

Jiang Chen suddenly spoke, his eyes glancing toward the ceiling, "How is the load-bearing capacity of the roof of our villa?"

General Qin Weiguo was stunned for a moment and answered subconsciously, "This is a special security villa; the roof is supposed to be able to park a helicopter... Why are you asking this?"

A sense of extreme foreboding instantly enveloped General Qin Weiguo's heart.

"It's nothing, just another delivery has arrived."

Jiang Chen stood up, tapped his finger lightly on the phone screen, and silently thought: Extraction location—the roof directly above!

"Boom—!!!"

A dull, thunderous roar erupted, as if a thunderclap had struck on flat ground. The entire villa shook violently; the water glass on the coffee table buzzed from the vibration, and the crystal chandelier overhead swayed precariously.

General Qin Weiguo, like a cat with its tail stepped on, instantly catapulted off the sofa, his hand already reaching for the handgun at his waist.

"Enemy attack?!"

"Don't get excited, don't get excited!"

Jiang Chen hurriedly held down General Qin Weiguo's hand, looking calm, "I told you it was a delivery. I guess the courier was a bit heavy-handed and made a lot of noise unloading it. Come on, let's go up and take a look."

General Qin Weiguo followed Jiang Chen up to the terrace, half-doubting.

The moment he pushed open the iron door to the roof, this iron-blooded general, who had seen his fair share of gunfire and rain, was completely petrified.

Under the afterglow of the setting sun, a steel giant over three meters tall stood quietly on the helipad on the roof.

It was a mecha full of violent aesthetics.

The dark alloy armor was covered in gruesome scratches and bullet holes, the medals left behind by the Wasteland wars. Huge mechanical arms hung at its sides, hydraulic lines bulging like blood vessels, and the nuclear reactor on its chest, though somewhat dim, still emitted a heart-stopping, ghostly blue light.

It was like a sleeping steel beast; even just standing there quietly, the overwhelming sense of oppression made it hard to breathe.

General Qin Weiguo's mouth was wide open, his jaw nearly dislocated. He reached out with a trembling hand, wanting to touch the cold metal leg armor, but was afraid this thing would suddenly come to life and punch him.

"This... this is..."

General Qin Weiguo's throat was dry, his voice hoarse, "Is this what you called... a delivery?"

"Yeah."

Jiang Chen walked over and patted the thick leg armor of the mecha, producing a crisp metallic "clank-clank" sound, "A local specialty from the Wasteland, a single-soldier exoskeleton. But it seems to be a bit broken; I don't know if it still works."

"A local specialty..."

General Qin Weiguo felt the string in his brain named "reason" snap with a "twang."

He turned his head sharply, looked at Jiang Chen, tears nearly falling, "Mr. Jiang! Ancestor Jiang! You call this a local specialty? If this mecha went to the battlefield, it would be the king of land warfare! It would be the grandfather of tanks!"

"And you just parked it on the roof so brazenly?!"

General Qin Weiguo pointed towards the nearby city center, stomping his feet in anxiety, "If the Eagle's satellites take a picture of this, or if a passing drone sees it, how are we supposed to explain it? Say it's a large anime figure?!"

"Why not?"

Jiang Chen shrugged, pointing at the steel beast with an expression of pure reasonableness, "Look at the workmanship, the paint job, how realistic it is."

He turned his head and gave the nearly collapsing General Qin a pure and harmless smile, "If anyone asks, we'll just stick to one story. Say it's an inflatable model I bought on Pinduoduo for an anime club promotion. As long as I don't open fire, who can prove it's real?"