144: Chapter 144: The Military is Envious of the Development of "Individual Soldier Exoskeletons"

"Chen! You must reserve the first batch of goods for me!"

The roar of Colonel William on the other end of the phone made Chen Yuan's eardrums buzz.

This procurement officer, who was usually as steady as a rock at The Pentagon, was currently flustered, just like an auntie fighting for discounted eggs at a supermarket.

Chen Yuan unhurriedly held the phone a bit further away and picked his ear.

"Colonel, don't be so agitated. I was just having afternoon tea with The First Lady and happened to mention my new product."

Chen Yuan's tone carried an infuriating sense of innocence. "Who knew the generals at The Pentagon had such sharp noses?"

"You call that 'happening to mention it'? You practically dropped a nuclear bomb into the backyard of the White House!"

Colonel William gritted his teeth. Even across the Atlantic, one could feel his urge to crawl through the internet cable and strangle Chen Yuan.

"Listen, General Ross has already boarded a plane with the joint procurement team! He will be at your place in two hours at most!"

"That's great, I'll have someone prepare coffee right away."

Chen Yuan smiled and hung up the phone.

He tossed the phone onto the table and looked at the blinding sunlight outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, his eyes flashing with the sharp glint of a hunter spotting a fat sheep.

The fish had finally entered the net in shoals.

Two hours later. Elysium Manor, the third underground level, the comprehensive tactical training ground.

The heavy explosion-proof elevator doors slowly slid open to both sides.

A metallic scent mixed with coolant and gun oil rushed to meet them. The vast underground space, which could accommodate two Boeing airliners, instantly shocked the military delegation that had just stepped off the elevator.

Walking at the very front was a four-star general wearing a crisp military uniform, his chest covered in medals.

General Ross. A core figure of the hawkish faction at The Pentagon, and also the highest decision-maker of this joint procurement team.

His eyes, sharp as an eagle's, scanned the surroundings. Although he tried his best to hide it, the shock in his eyes still betrayed him.

"Mr. Chen, you dug such a huge hole underground; are you intending to build an underground kingdom?"

General Ross clamped an unlit cigar in his mouth, his tone carrying the arrogance of someone who had long held a high position.

"It's just an ordinary testing ground."

Chen Yuan was wearing a dark grey haute couture suit, hands in his pockets, waiting in the center of the field early on.

Beside him, apart from the chubby Victor, there stood only a "soldier" wearing full-coverage black tactical armor.

He didn't even make a gesture to shake hands and went straight to the point: "General, I know your time is precious, so I have skipped those boring PowerPoint presentations. Let's look at the actual product directly."

Chen Yuan snapped his fingers.

The "soldier" standing beside him took a step forward. The heavy metal combat boots stepped on the special alloy floor, emitting a heart-stopping dull thud.

This exoskeleton looked full of industrial punk aesthetic. Thick hydraulic rods were exposed on the outside of the limbs, and the chest and joints were covered with heavy bulletproof armor.

Although it was not as flashy as in science fiction movies, that raw, violent feeling truly stimulated the nerves of every soldier present.

"Is this the 'Bio-Assisted Exoskeleton' you developed?"

General Ross frowned and walked around the soldier. "It looks too bulky. How long can it keep a soldier alive on the battlefield?"

"That depends on what weapons your enemies are using."

Chen Yuan smiled, stepped back a few paces, and made a gesture of invitation. "General, since you're here, why not have your guards test its bulletproof performance themselves?"

General Ross raised an eyebrow. He sneered, pulled out the large-caliber M1911 pistol from his waist, and without any warning, fired a crisp shot at the soldier's chest.

"Bang!"

Sparks flew. The 11.43mm magnum pistol round was enough to penetrate an adult grizzly bear. But hitting the chest armor of the exoskeleton, it only left a shallow white mark, and the bullet head fell weakly to the ground.

And the soldier didn't even sway. It was as steady as Mount Tai.

"It's not just pistols." Chen Yuan's voice echoed in the empty training ground. "The core armor of this exoskeleton uses a special biological chitin synthetic material. Even if a 5.56mm rifle bullet is fired continuously within ten meters, it cannot penetrate it."

A stifled gasp came from the military delegation.

Colonel William widened his eyes, staring fixedly at the chest armor that didn't even have a dent, his breathing becoming heavy.

If this kind of armor could be deployed on a large scale, the casualty rate of the US military in urban warfare would drop in a straight line!

"The bulletproof capability is indeed good, but modern warfare is not about being a living target."

General Ross suppressed the heat in his heart and maintained a critical posture. "What about its mobility and strength amplification? If wearing it makes one like a slow turtle, then it would be better to buy two armored vehicles."

"I knew you would ask that."

Chen Yuan nodded at the fully armed "soldier."

That was a T-103 Mass-Produced Tyrant specially selected by Umbrella Corporation.

To cover up the truth, Dr. Zola not only put heavy armor on it but also installed a mechanical sound generator on the exoskeleton to simulate the operation of hydraulic rods.

After all, he couldn't let the military know that the reason this exoskeleton was so ferocious was 90% because it contained a monster inside.

"Boom!"

Accompanied by a very realistic "hydraulic mechanical sound," the soldier suddenly bent its knees, and the whole person shot up from the ground like a cannonball.

The heavy body drew a perfect parabola in mid-air and landed steadily on the five-meter-high observation deck.

The whole movement was smooth and flowing, without the slightest sense of sluggishness.

Immediately after, it jumped down directly from the five-meter-high platform.

"Thud!"

The ground trembled violently. The soldier walked to the corner, grabbed a standard counterweight concrete block marked "One Ton" with one hand, and accompanied by the humming of mechanical transmission, it lifted it high above its head without any effort.

The whole place was dead silent.

Those high-ranking generals following General Ross had their jaws almost hitting the floor.

Jumping five meters high? Lifting a one-ton weight with one hand?

Is this f*cking human? This is clearly Captain America reborn!

"General, these are just its basic data."

Chen Yuan looked at this group of Pentagon high-level officials who were already too shocked to speak, and decided to serve them the final main course.

"To demonstrate its destructive power in extreme close-quarters combat conditions, I have prepared a small interactive session."

A retired US military jeep was slowly dragged into the center of the field by a tracked vehicle.

"Tear it apart." Chen Yuan gave the instruction calmly.

The soldier wearing the exoskeleton strode toward the jeep.

It didn't use any tools but directly shoved its mechanical hands, covered in alloy armor, crudely into the gap of the jeep's hood.

"Screech—"

The teeth-grinding sound of metal twisting echoed throughout the venue.

In the horrified eyes of everyone, that sturdy military jeep was actually torn apart by force!

The hood was torn off like a thin piece of paper, followed by the doors, the roll cage, and finally, even the heavy engine block was smashed to pieces by its bare hands.

Sparks flew, and engine oil flowed everywhere.

In just one minute, a complete jeep turned into a pile of scrap metal emitting black smoke.

And the soldier, like an invincible demon god, stood quietly in the center of the ruins.

Shocking.

Unparalleled technological shock.

The cigar in General Ross's mouth had long since fallen to the ground.

He stared fixedly at the figure standing in the steel ruins, his murky old eyes now crazily shooting out a green, eerie light.

That was the fire of extreme desire and extreme greedy ambition.

With this kind of individual equipment, the US Army will be invincible!

What kind of terrorists, what kind of hostile regimes, in front of this steel monster, they are all just scum to be crushed!

"Perfect... This is simply a miracle in the history of warfare!"

General Ross turned around abruptly and rushed to Chen Yuan in a few steps.

He no longer had the arrogance from just before; he grabbed Chen Yuan's shoulders tightly, trembling with excitement.

"We want this equipment! It must be put into service immediately!"

He stared at Chen Yuan, his eyes red like a wild wolf that had been hungry for three days, his heavy breathing spraying onto Chen Yuan's suit.

"Chen Yuan, name your price!"

"How much money exactly will it take to buy out this technology?!"