135: Chapter 135 [Soul Blade] is on YouTube.

Deputy Commander Ran only realized what was happening after listening to Li Gang's report, and he looked at Chu Ge with an incredulous gaze.

"You just tested a distance of 200 kilometers? In less than 20 seconds?"

"Yes, that's right. We originally wanted to test 300 km, but that distance was a bit too far and went outside the experimental base's range, so we changed it on the fly."

"All things considered, it's about Mach 30, which is standard."

Deputy Commander Ran looked at Chu Ge as if he were looking at a monster. When converted to the range of modern artillery, that was basically an instantaneous speed, yet to Chu Ge, it seemed to be nothing special.

"Li Gang, you guys continue."

"Yes, Academician Chu."

Li Gang and his team continued testing the data for the remaining Electromagnetic Railgun calibers.

Deputy Commander Ran, Chu Ge, and the others just stood there watching. The sharp whistling sound hadn't stopped all morning. Soon, Chu Ge felt like he was having auditory hallucinations; that strange sound kept ringing in his ears. He looked at Commander Leng and the others, and they all had liver-colored faces.

"Uh, next time we test this thing, we need to wear earplugs. No wonder artillerymen need them. Dealing with this sound every day, it's a wonder our cochleas can handle it."

Using lunch as an excuse, Chu Ge and the others fled the test site as if their lives depended on it. The people at the experimental base looked at those returning, who were desperately digging at their ears, with suspicious expressions on their faces.

At the cafeteria table,

"Um, Deputy Commander Ran, this afternoon will be even more impressive. It's the firing rate test for the Electromagnetic Railgun, like a machine gun. Do you want to continue observing?"

Chu Ge asked with ill intent, watching Deputy Commander Ran rubbing his ears even while eating.

"What did you say? Academician Chu, I thought I heard you say something, but then again, maybe I didn't."

"Never mind then. Li Gang, remember to bring earplugs this afternoon. I won't be going; I really can't stand that sound."

Chu Ge breathed a sigh of relief and turned to shout at Li Gang, but Li Gang was just shoveling food into his mouth, completely unresponsive.

"Damn it, System Big Brother, whatever else this Electromagnetic Railgun might be, it's really hard on the ears!"

[It's quite good! I need to add this secondary damage data to the database.]

"..."

Deputy Commander Ran finished his meal, patted Chu Ge on the shoulder, and slipped away without even leaving an excuse. Chu Ge didn't react for a long time, assuming he had just gone to the restroom.

Li Gang and his team went back and rummaged around. After outfitting themselves with full gear for their ears, they marched valiantly back to the test site.

Chu Ge wandered around for a while, then headed straight to the temporary camp in the back to chat with [Soul Blade].

At an Air Force base of the Southern Group of Forces in Russia,

Viktor found an excuse to take the day off today. He was anxious to upload his masterpiece. After connecting his phone to the computer, he opened the video and watched it again to appreciate it.

He couldn't remember how many times he had watched it. Then, Viktor logged into his YouTube account, edited it slightly, and decisively clicked upload.

Then he waited quietly in front of the computer. 10 minutes passed, and it didn't seem to have many views. 20 minutes passed, and it was still the same. He got a bit impatient, logged out of his account, and went to play games.

Before he had even finished one game, his phone on the table rang. He picked it up casually.

"Viktor, you brat, you didn't even tell me you posted a video. Wanting to hog all the glory, huh? Hurry up and look, your video has gone viral!"

Viktor didn't care about his teammates' insults anymore. He quit the game immediately and logged back into his YouTube account. The next second, he was stunned—he had gone viral, incredibly viral.

The video of [Soul Blade] taking a direct hit from an air-to-ground missile already had 1 million views and was still rising at an astonishing speed. A massive wave of comments flooded in; Viktor couldn't even keep up with them.

"Holy crap, I want to ask everyone, which movie is this from? It's pretty cool! Link please!"

"Same here!"

"+1"

"Let me tell you a terrifying fact: this is highly likely not a movie special effect."

"What do you mean, poster above? Could it be that Transformers actually exist?"

"I'm just analyzing it from my perspective. I just tried to recreate this video using all the technical means available to distinguish special effects—background, lighting, object contour reference, color, focus blur, etc.—but I failed. That leaves only two possibilities: one, this video was made by an internationally top-tier special effects team. Two, this video is real."

"That might be because your skills aren't sharp enough. With current human technology, this kind of Mecha Warrior might be able to have its general appearance made, but it would never look like what's presented in the video. This is simply too OP."

"Exactly, exactly!"

Viktor watched a bunch of international netizens agreeing below, and couldn't help but start typing a line.

"You guys are all frogs in a well. I am the creator of the video. This video is from an Air Force exercise organized by China and our country yesterday. This missile came from a fighter jet that lost control. If it weren't for its interception, I might have already gone to see God."

"It really is the creator. Bro, you must be an actor hired by China, right? A while back they came up with an aerospace carrier, and then nothing happened. Now they've come up with a Mecha Warrior. You really think highly of them. Our Republic of Korea is so advanced, and we don't go around bragging like that."

"Heh, believe it or not, you'll regret it. If you have the guts, get your country to provoke China. I'd like to see who ends up crying and calling for their daddy."

Viktor had now become a die-hard fan of China—no, a die-hard fan of [Soul Blade]—and couldn't stand others slandering it.

"Don't even talk about China, everyone here is a little brother. Don't you know that H country's military is very powerful? It's truly laughable."

"It is laughable. A country that doesn't even have wartime command authority is here bragging about being the boss. Not to mention the whole world, within East Asia, who can you beat? Haven't you been enslaved by our island country enough? The 'Universe Country' is indeed so bizarre. Can someone kick this annoying maggot out? It's disgusting to see him."

"Exactly, Asia also has our Curry Country. You are at best ranked second; Curry Country is number one."

"Number one in open defecation, right? Number one in raping women, right? Do you have any shame?"

A perfectly good "movie" discussion instantly devolved into international mudslinging. The netizens from H country and Curry Country were indeed boundless in their combat strength; one person could flame several others. Viktor watched, dumbfounded—this was not the result he wanted.

Just as he was thinking about how to steer the conversation back, his phone rang again.

"Viktor, hurry back to the base. The captain is looking for you everywhere."

Viktor didn't care about replying to those people anymore; he shut down the computer and rushed to the base.

In the office, the captain was frowning while looking at the comments online.

"Viktor, you're the one who posted this video about the exercise on YouTube, right?"

"Yes, Captain!"

"Who told you to secretly film videos? And you fucking posted it online—are you afraid that others won't know about it?"

Viktor's captain roared.

"Alright, pack up and go to Moscow. Someone wants to see you. Remember to bring your phone; they are very interested in the content of your video. Be sharp, and don't embarrass our base again."

"Yes, Captain!"

Viktor breathed a sigh of relief. The captain's subsequent attitude indicated that the matter wasn't that serious.