162: Chapter 162 The Regret of the Dragon Scales: Teaching a Man to Fish

"This is only a single-burst power test," the Old Expert began.

"In actual combat, what is needed is sustained mobility, as well as load-bearing capacity."

Zhang Jianzhong nodded and looked at Chen Xu. "I want to see a more comprehensive test."

"Certainly." Chen Xu replied without hesitation.

A guard behind Zhang Jianzhong stepped forward. He was over 1.9 meters tall, robust, and had sharp eyes.

"You go." Zhang Jianzhong ordered.

"Yes." The guard took off his jacket and walked toward another spare "Dragon Scale" prototype.

Under Chen Shiyi's guidance, he began to put it on. The metal armor plates fitted onto his combat suit, emitting a faint locking sound.

When the last section of arm armor clicked into place, the guard moved his body. He looked down at his hands, opening and closing his fingers; the glove part of the armor synchronized perfectly without delay.

"How does it feel?" Zhang Jianzhong asked.

"Report, I can't feel any weight," the guard replied. "My body feels very light."

Chen San pushed over a metal box and opened it, revealing standard weight blocks. He loaded one hundred kilograms of weights into a specially made tactical backpack and then secured it to the guard's back.

The guard's body swayed for a moment before quickly steadying himself.

Chen Xu pointed to the end of the track. "Target, finish line, full-speed sprint."

The guard turned around, facing the 100-meter indoor track. He crouched down, assuming a starting stance. The black fiber bundles on the armor's legs were visibly taut.

"Start!" The order was given.

The special rubber track under the guard's feet made a tearing sound as two footprints sank deep into it. His body shot out like a cannonball from the chamber.

Everyone's gaze followed that black figure.

In almost a few breaths, he had already crossed the finish line. Inertia carried him forward for several dozen meters before he stopped.

A line of red numbers popped up on the large screen in the testing area: 6.02 seconds.

One hundred kilograms of load, one hundred meters in six seconds.

There was silence in the testing field.

Zhang Jianzhong watched that number, the muscles of his jaw tightening.

The guard, wearing the armor, stood outside the finish line, also looking at his results. He lifted his foot and put it down again, as if confirming that this power belonged to him.

"Continue the test," Chen Xu's voice rang out. "Continuous high-intensity shuttle runs, simulating battlefield evasive maneuvers."

The guard dropped the weighted backpack, which hit the ground with a dull thud.

He began to move across the open field.

His movements were no longer straight-line sprints. Sudden stops, turns, jumps. Every movement carried power; every time his feet hit the ground, it caused the floor to vibrate.

After completing a set of tactical evasive maneuvers, the guard stopped in the center of the field.

The Old Expert looked at the armor's joints; there was no hydraulic oil leakage, nor any signs of motor overheating.

"Third round, extreme torque test," Chen Xu issued a new command.

The guard crouched down and then leaped upward violently, completing a 180-degree turn in mid-air.

Just as he landed, "Creak—"

A harsh sound of metal fatigue emanated from his left knee joint.

The guard lost his balance and fell to one knee.

"Stop the test!" Chen Xu shouted immediately.

Chen San stepped forward, helped the guard stand up, and removed the armor from him.

Chen Shiyi walked quickly to the removed leg armor, picked up a tool, and quickly disassembled the joint that had made the strange noise. From the complex transmission structure, he took out a silver metal shaft only the thickness of a thumb.

He handed the metal shaft to the Old Expert.

The Old Expert took it, pulled a magnifying glass from his pocket, and leaned in to observe.

In the middle of the metal shaft, there was a circle of fine, spiderweb-like cracks.

"Material fatigue," the Old Expert put down the magnifying glass and handed the drive shaft to Zhang Jianzhong. "It cannot withstand the instantaneous burst torque; the structure has already suffered permanent damage."

Zhang Jianzhong held the small drive shaft, feeling the residual heat on it.

"The design is not the problem," Chen Shiyi said, walking up to him. "The problem is the material. We used the best aerospace-grade titanium alloy currently available."

"Its strength cannot keep up with the power output of the 'Dragon Scale'."

"This is the only bottleneck for the 'Dragon Scale' right now."

Zhang Jianzhong looked at the drive shaft in his hand, then at the black armor in the distance that looked like a work of art, and remained silent for a long time.

A weapon that could change the future of warfare was right before his eyes, yet it couldn't be mass-produced because of a small drive shaft.

It was like a race car with a light-speed engine, but only equipped with bicycle tires.

He returned the drive shaft to Chen Xu, unable to hide the disappointment on his face.

Chen Xu did not reply. He turned and walked toward a vertical safe in the corner of the testing area.

Fingerprint, iris, password. The safe door opened.

Chen Xu took out a silver hard drive from inside and walked back, handing it to Zhang Jianzhong.

Zhang Jianzhong looked at Chen Xu, not understanding what he meant.

"Inside this is the complete set of design blueprints for the 'Dragon Scale' individual armor," Chen Xu said.

"Including all structural designs, power system schemes, energy core data, and our test reports on various materials."

Zhang Jianzhong straightened his body.

The Old Expert beside him stepped forward and took the hard drive from Chen Xu's hand.

His hands were trembling. He held the hard drive to his chest as if cradling a peerless treasure.

"With these blueprints, gather the strength of all domestic material research institutes and steel mills to specifically develop a brand-new alloy for it," Chen Xu looked at Zhang Jianzhong.

"I believe that with the power of the nation, this material problem can definitely be solved."

The Old Expert, clutching the hard drive, bowed deeply to Chen Xu.

He didn't speak, but this action said everything.

Zhang Jianzhong looked at Chen Xu, wanting to say something, but found any words pale in comparison. The weight of this gift was immense.

Just as he was about to speak, Chen Xu said one sentence.

"General, the individual armor is just an appetizer."

"The real main course is yet to come."

Everyone returned to the previous chip testing area.

The computer testing the "Chongming" chip was still running. The data stream on the screen was still constantly refreshing.

Chen Xu walked to the console, picked up a sealed black chip with tweezers from a tray filled with coolant.

He wiped the liquid off the chip's surface with a clean-room cloth and then walked in front of Zhang Jianzhong, placing the chip into Zhang Jianzhong's palm.

The chip was very small and light.

"This is the brain we prepared for the next generation of computers," Chen Xu began.

"But I believe it is more suitable to be installed in missiles and fighter jets."

Zhang Jianzhong looked down at the small black square in his palm. He felt his feet were nailed to the spot.

Chen Xu added another sentence.

"Pure Chinese instruction set, autonomous architecture."

"Not a single line of code belongs to the United States, and not a single logic gate comes from the West."

"It is absolutely clean."