122: Chapter 122 [Soul Blade] Appears Again

Chu Ge walked at the very front of the group, leading the way. The layout of the buildings in this base seemed to be etched into his mind, and he navigated the area with ease. Yu Yiyang, Captain Gong, and the others followed closely behind him.

"Xiao Yu, how old are you this year?"

Chu Ge suddenly turned his head and looked at Yu Yiyang as he asked.

"Twenty-two. I was specially recruited into the military. I was supposed to be studying for my master's degree, but when I saw the special recruitment post, I signed up eagerly. I didn't expect to actually be accepted."

Yu Yiyang spoke in a low voice, his eyes not daring to meet Chu Ge's, looking a bit shy.

"Then your professional knowledge must be excellent. The military's requirements have always been quite high."

Yu Yiyang didn't confirm or deny it, only looking at Chu Ge with a smile. He wouldn't dare show off his professional knowledge in front of Chu Ge. He studied Artificial Intelligence and Mechanical Automation, and after being exceptionally recruited and brought to this base, he was instantly captivated by Soul Blade's tall and handsome appearance the moment he saw it.

When he learned that Academician Chu was the creator of this Mecha Warrior, his admiration for Chu Ge grew even stronger. However, being in the military now, confidentiality was the top priority; otherwise, he would have definitely bragged to his classmates.

Academician Chu was his colleague.

As the group talked, they walked into Soul Blade's temporary station. Seeing Soul Blade's tall, straight posture and the faint purple luster over its body, Chu Ge's breathing grew heavy with excitement.

"Academician Chu, besides daily data testing in this hall, we also opened a window in the roof for it, making it convenient for it to take off directly for missions."

As Yu Yiyang spoke, he pressed a button nearby. The sound of mechanical movement echoed from the roof, and the white clouds outside soon came into view.

"There are sensors up there. When Soul Blade starts flight mode, it will open."

Chu Ge watched the window slowly close and nodded. This indeed saved time when heading out on missions.

Chu Ge and the others stepped onto the elevator. The elevator rose slowly with a clanking sound, and Soul Blade's familiar face appeared in everyone's vision. Its faint red gaze suddenly turned blue.

"Hello, Academician Chu. Long time no see!"

Soul Blade's unique mechanical voice echoed through the hall. Upon hearing the voice, the staff in the hall all looked up at Soul Blade high above, their eyes filled with surprise.

In their memory, this was the first time Soul Blade had actively activated and spoken.

"Soul Blade, long time no see. How do you feel? Your parts haven't rusted, have they?"

Chu Ge greeted Soul Blade with a smile, feeling as if he had returned to the days of fighting alongside it.

"I feel very good. I just performed a self-check; I am ready for combat at any time!"

Soul Blade even moved its limbs as if performing a demonstration, though the movements were slightly comical, causing Chu Ge and the others to chuckle softly.

"Of course there's no problem. Yu Yiyang and the other maintenance personnel perform tests and maintenance on you every day. Your 'nanny squad' is super luxurious, okay?"

"Thank you to all the staff for their hard work."

"You're welcome."

Yu Yiyang replied excitedly. Although he knew Soul Blade had a voice intelligence system during daily testing, the main system was rarely activated for routine checks, let alone this.

He had even once thought the voice system didn't exist. Hearing Soul Blade's reasonably pleasant mechanical voice today felt like discovering a new continent.

"Haha, alright then. Endure it for a few more months, and I'll give you a surprise then. At that time, you might—just might—not have to sleep all day like this."

Chu Ge originally wanted to say he'd get it a few 'partners,' but on second thought, it was more appropriate for those mechas to be Soul Blade's little brothers.

The mecha project and the kunpeng were both quite expensive projects. Chu Ge understood the military's helplessness in reducing the configuration parameters of the Mecha Warriors. This must have undergone a long period of evaluation, and through the subsequent mecha soldier plan, it was clear that the leaders had not abandoned the technology derived from Mecha Warriors.

They had simply chosen a more cost-effective development model, which both preserved the continuity of the mecha project and provided maximum support for Chu Ge's current Starry Sea Project.

Chu Ge thought about many things in an instant. When he snapped back to his senses, he realized Soul Blade's eyes had turned red, indicating standby mode.

"Heh, this guy is quite energy-efficient, huh? Xiao Yu, let's go."

Yu Yiyang nodded rapidly. He probably hadn't heard enough of Soul Blade's voice, but now he had no choice but to follow Chu Ge and the others off the elevator.

"Academician Chu, what level can Soul Blade's language intelligence system reach?"

Yu Yiyang seemed to still want more.

"Normal communication is no problem. This set of programs has been restricted. Even so, it's estimated to be a limited edition in the future. Subsequent Mecha Warriors will not have interactive functions; we value their performance in other areas more."

Chu Ge spoke the truth.

"Oh, I saw its high-level programming language during daily testing before, but we don't have access rights, and I've never seen that kind of program design before."

"That's its Energy Core, the most central device of a Mecha Warrior. Its firewall level is also the highest; almost no one in this world can crack it. You don't need to worry about it. The Energy Core usually doesn't have problems, and if it does, it can only be sent back to the Research Institute for processing."

Chu Ge was holding back some information. Even if you let the world's most powerful hacker try to crack that set of programming languages from the Military-Industrial System openly, they would have a headache. Because it was a completely new design, to crack it, you'd probably have to start learning from its base numbering system.

That was the killer part—even the most fundamental binary had been changed for you. So in front of this program, anyone could joke with those programming masters: 'Our levels are the same.'

"Let's go, let's head to the new Mecha Warriors' station to take a look."

"Alright, Academician Chu, this way please."

Yu Yiyang led the way in front, and the group walked toward another tall factory building where five other Mecha Warriors were located.

After passing several cordons, Chu Ge and the others stepped into this newly built temporary factory station. The space inside was very large. Five mountain-like Mecha Warriors stood in the very center of the hall. Beneath each Mecha Warrior, five or six staff members were busy, likely doing the final data debugging.

"Academician Chu, their debugging is basically finished. All that's left is the final Energy Cores to activate them. The Energy Cores should currently be in production at the Yanjing Weapons Research Institute. The higher-ups' intention is to wait until all the Mecha Warriors are in place by the end of the year and then install them uniformly at the new base."

Yu Yiyang explained to Chu Ge while accompanying him on the tour.

"Well, the leaders definitely think of more than we do. We just need to execute."

Chu Ge looked up at the spectacular scene before him.

The primary color of this batch of Mecha Warriors was dark gray, a low-visibility coating similar to that of fighter jets. However, from the forearms to the fists, the recessed area of the chest Energy Core, and from the ankles to the toes, they were mixed with red, silver, blue, yellow, and orange respectively.

This gave each Mecha Warrior a different visual effect. Chu Ge thought it looked very cool.