114: Chapter 114 Submitting the Blueprints

The leaderboard refreshed.

On the massive electronic screen, the red numbers stung everyone's eyes.

Lin Fan: 5,000 points.

The student in second place had fought tooth and nail only to get 800 points.

A gap, an absolute chasm.

There was a dead silence in the square.

The students were in rags, some even in casts, looking like a bunch of beggars who had just escaped from a refugee camp.

Lin Fan alone wore a crisp, brand-new combat uniform, with not a single hair out of place.

He stood at the very front of the crowd, holding a bottle of chilled cola that was fizzing with cold vapor.

“This isn't scientific!” someone cried out, clutching their head in a breakdown.

“We're eating dirt while he's eating hotpot, and yet the points are still his?”

Lei Zhan stood on the high platform, looking at the cola-drinking youth with a complex gaze.

Only he knew how much of those 5,000 points was inflated and how much was a result of actual bloody combat.

That Tang Si, whose body was never found, had likely become part of those 5,000 points.

“Silence.”

Lei Zhan's voice suppressed all the commotion.

“The points are valid.”

“Dismissed.”

Those four simple words brought this absurd trial to a close.

Lin Fan tossed the empty can into the trash bin with pinpoint accuracy.

“My thanks.”

He cupped his hands toward the red-eyed “customers” around him.

He turned and headed back to camp.

His departing figure was so dashing it made people want to throw a sack over his head and beat him up.

Early the next morning, just as dawn was breaking.

The door to Lin Fan's dormitory was pounded so hard it shook the heavens.

“Open up! Lin Fan, open the door!”

“I know you're in there! Stop sleeping!”

“I have money! I want to open a box!”

Lin Fan pulled open the door, eyes bleary with sleep.

Outside, a dense crowd of people blocked the way.

The line stretched from the corridor all the way down to the playground, with no end in sight.

After seven days of trials, everyone had come to understand one truth.

In this godforsaken place, strength might not always work, but Lin Fan's blind box definitely did.

Those were things that could save your life in a desperate situation.

“Don't rush, one at a time.”

Lin Fan instantly switched to business mode, the sleepiness on his face vanishing.

He held out his payment QR code.

“500 points each, or high-level ores of equal value.”

The first to rush up was a thin, small boy.

He came from an ordinary martial arts family in Jiangnan Province; he was a genius locally, but in the Tianjiao Camp, his talent was mediocre—a fifth-stage Martial Master.

He had nearly had his neck snapped by a C-rank exotic beast during this trial, and he was fed up with that feeling of powerlessness.

“I'll open one!”

The boy tremblingly swiped away all his points.

He had risked his life to save them up.

A black metal box landed in his hands.

It was heavy.

The boy took a deep breath and suddenly flipped open the lid.

Click.

A crisp sound of mechanical gears engaging.

A silver-gray stream of light shot out from the box, instantly enveloping the boy's entire body.

“Holy crap!”

Exclamations erupted from the crowd.

It wasn't some pill or a weapon.

It was a set of exoskeleton armor filled with violent aesthetics.

Silver-gray alloy plates covered his limbs, chest, and abdomen, while hydraulic transmissions hummed lowly at the joints.

On the back was a miniature turbine engine, emitting a faint blue glow.

【Individual Exoskeleton Mecha: Ranger Type I】

【Rank: B-Rank (Growth-capable)】

【Effect: 300% increase to all attributes; includes an energy shield capable of withstanding a full-strength strike from a Half-step Grandmaster.】

【Note: A man's romance is steel and gunpowder.】

The boy stared blankly at his hands.

The mechanical knuckles gleamed with a cold metallic luster.

He tried clenching his fist.

Boom!

The air was crushed.

An unprecedented sense of power flooded his body.

“I... I've become stronger?”

The boy looked up, red light flickering in his electronic prosthetic eyes.

He suddenly threw a punch at the nearby testing stone tablet.

Bang!

The tablet shattered, stone fragments flying everywhere.

The whole place went into an uproar.

A fifth-stage Martial Master shattered a testing tablet meant to withstand attacks from a Martial Master Peak with a single punch?

This is simply cheating!

“God-tier gear! This is god-tier gear!”

“I want to buy! Lin Fan, give me ten!”

“Don't push! I was here first!”

The crowd went wild.

Every boy's eyes turned red with envy.

Mecha.

How many men's ultimate dream was this?

Not to mention, this thing allowed one to fight above their level.

Lin Fan sat behind the counter, listening to the pleasant system notification in his ear.

【Ding! Customer opened a B-rank mecha; triggering 100x Critical Hit Rebate.】

【Congratulations, Host! You have obtained: S-Rank Individual Exoskeleton Mecha Blueprints (Full Set).】

Lin Fan's fingers lightly tapped the tabletop.

Blueprints.

This was the real jackpot.

It's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.

With the blueprints, mass production was possible.

He could build a steel legion.

“Everyone.”

Lin Fan stood up and clapped his hands.

The noisy crowd instantly fell silent.

Everyone looked at him expectantly, like pigeons waiting to be fed.

“This kind of mecha is currently in short supply.”

“However, I can take pre-orders.”

“Each unit costs 100 million, or an exchange of rare metals of equal value.”

100 million.

An astronomical figure.

But many present were children from influential families.

100 million to buy a life, to buy a chance to challenge those above your rank.

Was it worth it?

It was more than worth it!

“I'll buy it! My family owns mines!”

“Brother Lin, can I pay in installments? I'll steal my dad's secret stash.”

“Can I trade my family's heirloom profound iron for it?”

The scene turned into an auction.

These geniuses, who were usually so high and mighty, were now arguing until they were red in the face for a pre-order slot.

In a corner.

A boy wearing glasses was staring intently at the lucky fellow wearing the mecha.

He came from a military-industrial family and had a natural sensitivity to mechanical structures.

“Something's not right.”

The boy muttered to himself.

“This structure doesn't follow the principles of dynamics.”

“The power core is so small; how could it possibly drive such heavy armor?”

He didn't believe it.

He spent a large sum to borrow the mecha from the lucky boy, attempting to dismantle and study it.

However.

Just as his spiritual power entered the mecha's core formation.

Hum!

A red light flashed.

【Warning: Illegal intrusion detected. Self-destruct sequence countdown initiated.】

The boy's face turned pale with fright, and he quickly withdrew his spiritual power.

“It's encrypted?”

“And it's... encryption at the level of rules?”

The boy was drenched in sweat.

This kind of technology was simply not something current Blue Star technology could achieve.

Just who was this Lin Fan?

Could there be an unknown god-level civilization standing behind him?

Lin Fan watched the deflated military-industrial student, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

Products from the system are guaranteed to be of the highest quality.

Want to crack it?

Maybe in your next life.

However...

Lin Fan felt the USB drive in his pocket.

Those were the S-rank blueprints generated by the system.

Keeping this in his hands was a hot potato and a massive waste.

Only by handing it over to the country could its maximum value be realized.

It would also earn him a true protective talisman.

“Instructor Lei.”

Lin Fan dialed Lei Zhan's communicator.

“I have something I want to hand over.”

“What is it?”

“A set of blueprints that can change the landscape of Dragon Country's warfare.”

Half an hour later.

An armed helicopter roared as it landed on the training camp's helipad.

The gale whipped up by the propellers made it impossible to keep one's eyes open.

Before the cabin door could even fully open.

A white-haired old man jumped straight down.

Completely disregarding his status as a General Ye Canglan, he ran faster than a rabbit.

General Ye Canglan.

A titan of Hua Country's martial arts technology.

That crazy old man who had dedicated his entire life to the country.

“Where is it? Where's the item?”

General Ye Canglan rushed into Lin Fan's dorm, his beard trembling.

He had received Lei Zhan's emergency report.

He had originally thought it was an exaggeration.

But when he saw the S-rank mecha model manifested by Lin Fan.

The old man froze.

Like he had seen a peerless beauty, he lunged forward.

His withered fingers trembled as they stroked the cold surface of the mecha.

“Perfect...”

“This alloy ratio... these energy circuits...”

“Genius! No, this is a miracle!”

General Ye Canglan suddenly turned his head, staring fixedly at Lin Fan.

That look in his eyes seemed like he wanted to dissect Lin Fan.

“These blueprints—are you truly willing to hand them over?”

“This is a priceless treasure! If you were to auction it, you could buy half of Jianghai!”

Lin Fan shrugged.

He gently placed the USB drive on the table.

“Elder Ye, I am a businessman.”

“A businessman values investment above all else.”

“Handing it to the state in exchange for a stable business environment.”

“I'm not losing out on this deal.”

“And...”

Lin Fan paused, the grin on his face fading.

His gaze drifted through the window toward the gray sky in the distance, in the direction of the Ten Thousand Races Battlefield.

“I also hope that in the future, fewer of our soldiers will have to die.”

General Ye Canglan was stunned.

He gave Lin Fan a long, deep look.

Then he stood up straight and solemnly gave the youth, who was not even twenty, a military salute.

“On behalf of the Hua Country Military Department, I thank you.”

“From this day forward.”

“Your Myriad Treasures Pavilion is a strategic partner of the Military Department.”

“Anyone who dares to touch you touches the very foundation of Hua Country!”

General Ye Canglan gripped the USB drive tightly.

He knew that the contents within would completely rewrite the individual combat system of Dragon Country.

Perhaps in the near future.

Hua Country's army will no longer use flesh and blood to fill the trenches.

Instead, they will wear suits of steel to crush those damn alien races.

Lin Fan smiled.

He smiled brilliantly.

An S-rank blueprint in exchange for a national-level protective talisman.

This deal was a massive win.