193: Chapter 193 Hey? Rich lady? Give me a Tier 9 combat suit!

The caller ID showed three characters:

Teacher Lin Qinyin!

Su Ming glanced at it.

A call from a rich lady—he definitely had to answer!

He raised an eyebrow slightly and swiped to answer.

"Hello, Su Ming."

On the other end of the line, Teacher Lin Qinyin's voice was colder than usual, carrying a hint of gravity.

"I suggest you go to the Jiangcheng City Defense Army headquarters immediately, or any military outpost."

Su Ming picked at his ear and leaned back against the sofa in a more comfortable position.

"What's wrong, Instructor Lin? Why the rush?"

"The Tongyuan Society's ten-billion bounty on you has completely exploded across the international dark web." Teacher Lin Qinyin spoke rapidly. "Just half an hour ago, at least three S-class assassin organizations entered the Jiangcheng area."

"And those are just the ones we can monitor. In the shadows, who knows how many hyenas have caught the scent of blood."

Su Ming listened to the warning coming from the phone.

Danger?

Right now, the thing he feared least was danger.

On the contrary, he smelled a business opportunity.

Su Ming cleared his throat, his voice instantly becoming a fraction weaker, carrying a trace of post-disaster exhaustion.

"Sigh, Teacher Lin, you're so right... Life is just too hard for me."

He leaned back on the sofa, his eyes gazing distantly at the shattered crystal chandelier on the ceiling.

"I'm just a high schooler who recently turned of age. Every day I'm either risking my life against Source Beasts or on the run from assassins. I can't live like this anymore."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.

Su Ming sighed and continued to play the victim.

"Especially my clothes. They get destroyed every few days, either vaporized by energy or blown to shreds by shockwaves."

"Instructor Lin, do you know how serious it is for an adult male to repeatedly run around naked in public? This isn't just a matter of my personal image; it concerns the overall reputation of the Six-School Joint Special Recruits."

"Instructor Lin, as a pillar enterprise of the Federation, shouldn't Star Dome Heavy Industry... provide a little humanitarian aid to a strategic talent like me?"

"Do you guys have any high-end protective product lines? I'm not asking for those custom-made family heirlooms encrusted with Source Crystals and engraved with gold patterns, but at the very least, a combat suit that can be reused, resists high temperatures and pressures, and isn't afraid of lightning or fire. How about getting me one?"

Teacher Lin Qinyin fell silent on the other end of the line.

Even through the terminal, she could imagine the punchable expression on the kid's face right now.

It was clearly a life-and-death warning, yet this guy's train of thought had taken a turn, and he was already trying to take advantage of the situation to extort her.

"Star Dome Heavy Industry's aid is only provided for items that students truly need." Teacher Lin Qinyin's voice regained its composure. "Such as cultivation resources, Cultivation Techniques, Secret Manuals, and standard-issue equipment. We are not an ATM for upstarts, and we do not provide meaningless custom luxury goods."

"How can you call it a luxury?" Su Ming immediately retorted. "Teacher Lin, your vision is too narrow! My current bounty is ten billion Federation Coins, plus a Law Fragment! That is a value officially certified by the Tongyuan Society!"

"Do you think it's too much for a target worth ten billion to wear slightly better clothes?"

Teacher Lin Qinyin was completely speechless.

Anyone else seeing this bounty would probably flee overnight in terror.

This kid, on the other hand, turned around and treated the bounty amount as his own valuation, starting to bargain with her.

Teacher Lin Qinyin massaged her temples, giving up on trying to reason with him.

"I can have the logistics department urgently allocate a Tier 7 special liquid metal body armor to you. It's full-coverage and can effectively resist pure physical penetration and energy impacts below Tier 7."

"Tier 7?"

Su Ming curled his lip, his tone full of disdain.

"Tier 7 is useless. What if I run into a Peak Tier 7, or some blind Tier 8 Source Beast? Won't it just shatter at the slightest touch? With my delicate skin, I'll have to run around the world naked again."

He paused, speaking tentatively.

"Do you have Tier 9?"

The other end of the line was silent for a full five seconds.

Then Teacher Lin Qinyin let out an extremely rare cold laugh.

"A Tier 9 combat suit? Student Su, do you even hear yourself?"

"In the entire Federation, there are no more than five active Tier 9 combat suits in total! They belong to the Four Great Marshals and the Federation Chief! Tell me, what is your status that makes you think you can wear Tier 9?"

Her voice carried a mocking tone.

"Also, do you think Tier 7 and Tier 8 Source Beasts are pets raised at the city gates? You think you can just fight them whenever you want? Every single one of them is entrenched in the deepest parts of the Source Abyss, existences that even the military dares not provoke lightly. And you, a..."

"Oh, are Tier 7 and Tier 8 beasts that fierce?"

He stroked his chin and said casually.

"Well, just now in Source Abyss No. 7, I just took care of a Peak Tier 6 Thunder Horn Rhino..."

Teacher Lin Qinyin's voice stopped abruptly.

"Peak Tier 6?"

She didn't speak further, instead using her other hand to rapidly operate the virtual light screen in front of her.

Using the Lin family's S-class encrypted clearance, she directly connected to the internal database of the Jiangcheng City Defense Army.

The light screen refreshed.

A case report, freshly signed and uploaded by Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng, appeared clearly before her eyes.

[Case Number: NB-0628]

[Reason: City-wide large-scale power outage]

[Resolution: The offending Source Beast has been executed]

[Physical Evidence: One intact carcass of a Peak Tier 6 Thunder Horn Rhino (high-definition video attached), one Peak Tier 6 Thunder Horn (Source Energy test report attached)]

[Remarks: The offending Source Beast was killed barehanded and brought back from West Border Source Abyss No. 7 by active Captain Su Ming of the Eighth Independent Regiment of the Southern Military Region.]

Attached to the report was a high-definition surveillance video.

In the footage, in the center of the training ground, the slender youth stood before the terrifying carcass of the Thunder Horn Rhino.

The jagged, bloody torn wound at the base of the Thunder Horn was clearly visible.

Teacher Lin Qinyin stared at the screen, her finger hovering above the light screen for a long time without descending.

Killed barehanded. Horn ripped out.

Peak Tier 6.

She had been tracking this name ever since his F-class talent at the Awakening Ceremony. He had begun to show his brilliance in the Ash Belt and made a stunning debut in the Six-School Joint Examination... She had always thought that Su Ming's strength stemmed from some extreme physical talent.

But in the surveillance footage, there were no cutting marks at the base of that two-meter-long giant horn.

It was entirely torn flesh and severed nerve bundles.

What on earth was his body made of?

On the other end of the line, Su Ming waited for a long time without receiving a response.

"Hello? Teacher Lin? Is the signal bad?"

"...I'm here."

Teacher Lin Qinyin's tone changed.

It was no longer the condescending tone of an instructor, nor was it her routine coldness.

If anyone else had dared to make such an outrageous demand, she would have snapped back immediately. But these two interactions with Su Ming had left her with less and less of a temper.

His words were absurd, but his actions were even more absurd. He killed a Peak Tier 6 just like that; no matter how high an attitude she maintained, she couldn't withstand him repeatedly slapping her in the face with actual achievements.

"There really are no ready-made Tier 9 suits. Not only do I not have one, but there are also no idle ones in the entire Federation. No one would put such strategic-level equipment up for sale."

Su Ming was speechless for a moment and was about to say forget it.

Then he heard Teacher Lin Qinyin change the subject.

"But... perhaps there is another possibility."

"Last month, Star Dome Heavy Industry's exploration team mined a brand-new special mineral deep inside the interstellar ruins numbered 69. We named it 'Heavy Abyss Ore'."

"Through laboratory purification, a dark metal with extremely high density and toughness can be separated from it, called 'Sinking Gold'. Its theoretical defense limit even exceeds some of the core Materials used in active Tier 9 combat suits."

"The only drawback is..."

"It is too heavy."

"Conventional alchemy methods and high-energy Source Energy furnaces have a hard time shaping it. We've tried various methods, and equipment made from it, even if just a thin layer of armor plating, weighs over nine hundred kilograms."

"If an ordinary Tier 6 Awakened wore it, their spine would be instantly snapped by the weight of their own clothes."

Su Ming's eyes lit up.

"Nine hundred kilograms?"

"Isn't that just the weight of a few feathers?"

"With a Star Core Embryo weighing over one thousand one hundred tons,"

"Wearing a nine-hundred-kilogram suit of clothes!"

"What difference was there from a piece of paper?"

...