275: Chapter 275 Two prototype machines dare to block an A-level enemy.

Tiangong No. 1 outer test range.

Long Qiuyan swung her engineer shovel, the blade striking the chest armor of the titan no. 1.

Clang!

The sound carried through three layers of guardrails.

"Making the iron plating thicker is useless."

"The person inside will still vomit their breakfast after taking one shovel strike."

At the console, Tang Qiqi, sporting dark circles under her eyes, had half a piece of compressed biscuit in her mouth.

Twelve screens were arranged in front of her.

"Sister Long, let me remind you first."

"If you break it, it's coming out of your contribution points."

Long Qiuyan shouldered her engineer shovel.

"Take it from Tank."

In the cockpit, Tank turned his neck.

"Why?"

"I'm here testing with you, and I still have to pay for damages?"

"Then the extra meal tonight belongs to me."

"You can lick the plate."

The surrounding soldiers took a few steps back.

Tang Qiqi hit the start button.

[titan no. 1, all systems online.]

[Power spine output: seventy percent.]

[Joint restrictions lifted.]

The test light turned from red to green.

The concrete beneath Long Qiuyan's feet collapsed into a shallow pit.

She charged twenty meters with her shovel, her shoulder slamming into the titan no. 1's chest armor.

The metallic ringing drowned out the engine.

The titan no. 1 slid back six meters.

The foot anchors tore up the ground, leaving two grooves extending to the guardrails.

Tank closed his arms.

The mechanical hands locked onto the engineer shovel.

Long Qiuyan pulled outward, causing the shovel handle to warp.

The titan no. 1's waist motors accelerated, and the machine pushed her toward the center of the field.

The engineers stared at the load data.

"Chest armor pressure at sixty-two percent."

"Spine frame stable."

"Left arm temperature rising."

Tang Qiqi swallowed her biscuit.

"Open the cooling valves to level two."

White steam vented from behind the titan no. 1's shoulders.

Long Qiuyan's military boots scraped the ground, her soles kicking up gravel.

She retreated over ten steps, sinking her waist and back.

The muscles beneath her Tank top bulged out one by one.

A-Rank [Heavy Armor Queen].

The engineer shovel was wedged between the two mechanical arms.

Long Qiuyan let go, pressed her body against the titan no. 1, and slammed her right shoulder into the connection point beneath the cockpit.

Boom!

The titan no. 1 was pushed into the crash wall.

The wall dented inward by half a meter, and concrete chunks rolled down the sides of the machine.

Inside the cockpit, Tank's seatbelt tightened against his chest.

He spat out the blood in his mouth and pushed the power lever.

"Qiqi."

"If this woman slams people like this at home, can you add some insurance for me?"

Long Qiuyan raised her knee, striking the mech's waist armor.

"You still have time to talk?"

Tang Qiqi tapped in the authorization.

"Power spine, full power."

Blue light lit up segment by segment along the titan no. 1's back.

The machine pulled itself out of the wall.

The mechanical arms wrapped around Long Qiuyan's underarms, and the waist rotated, lifting her directly off the ground.

Long Qiuyan retracted her legs in mid-air, and the engineer shovel slipped from the mechanical hands, falling back into her palm.

The shovel blade pressed downward.

Click!

The mech's left knee transmission groove jammed.

An alarm appeared on the main screen.

[Left leg resistance overload.]

[Power imbalance.]

The watching soldiers moved closer to the guardrails.

Black smoke poured from the titan no. 1's left knee.

Tank shut down the left leg motor.

The machine's center of gravity shifted to the right leg and waist.

The mechanical arms grabbed Long Qiuyan's shoulders, and the waist armor drove the entire machine into a side spin.

The engineer shovel was flung out of the transmission groove.

Long Qiuyan landed and retreated five steps, bracing herself with the shovel blade to steady her body.

Tang Qiqi stared at the left knee curve.

"Record."

"After the joint jams, cut power to the damaged part individually."

"Redistribute remaining power, keep manual override for the pilot."

An engineer bowed his head and entered the plan.

The timer hit zero.

The two remained on the field.

Long Qiuyan brushed the concrete dust off her shoulder.

"Not bad, Tank."

"I'll give you an extra meal tonight."

Tank turned on the loudspeaker.

"Can you delete that part about licking the plate?"

"Depends on how you perform."

In the past, B-Ranks could only run when facing A-Ranks, and even three people attacking together couldn't guarantee taking one down.

Now, a B-Rank Tank wearing the titan no. 1 could go head-to-head for several minutes.

Several C-Rank veterans volunteered to be the next batch of pilots.

The second round of testing began immediately.

Iron Arm King climbed into the shadow protector no. 2.

The outer armor was thinner than the titan no. 1, retaining a short-range flight module on the back, with impact hammers installed on both arms.

Lu Yan walked into the test field, took off his coat, and handed it to a soldier.

"The boss said, fight like it's real combat."

Iron Arm King fastened his mask.

"Shadow-ge is watching."

"I can't lose."

Outside the guardrails, Shadow stood at the end of the line, only half his face visible.

Lu Yan glanced at him.

"Then don't get distracted."

The test light lit up.

Lu Yan pressed his hands to the ground.

Four stone pillars rose from the edge of the field.

Just as the flight module vented airflow, two stone slabs closed in from the left and right, sealing off the shadow protector no. 2's ascent path.

The shadow protector no. 2 did not retreat.

Iron Arm King protected the cockpit and slammed directly into the stone wall.

The first layer of stone slab shattered.

Debris pelted the machine.

The right arm impact hammer fell, punching through the second stone pillar.

The shadow protector no. 2 stepped over the rubble and advanced toward Lu Yan.

Tang Qiqi checked the machine's damage.

"Flight module disabled."

"Chest armor damaged by eleven percent."

"Right arm has three strikes left."

Lu Yan raised his five fingers.

The ground rolled upward.

Rock condensed into a palm, gripping the shadow protector no. 2's waist and pressing the machine into a pit.

An engineer raised his hand to terminate the test.

Tang Qiqi held down the switch.

"He hasn't admitted defeat yet."

A sound of metal breaking came from the pit.

Iron Arm King jettisoned the back armor.

The flight module, auxiliary batteries, and protective plates fell off together.

All remaining energy was poured into the right arm.

The impact hammer retracted.

The mechanical fist punched through three layers of rock.

Boom!

A large hole was blown through the center of the rock palm.

The shadow protector no. 2's right fist surged out of the hole, stopping two meters in front of Lu Yan.

The ground around Lu Yan's military boots sank.

More rock layers rose, pressing the entire mech back to the bottom of the pit.

The mechanical fist lost power.

Lu Yan walked to the edge of the pit.

"I can suppress it."

"But to dismantle it quickly on the battlefield, I'd have to take at least one punch."

He looked at Tang Qiqi.

"A machine like this can trade a life for an A-Rank."

Tang Qiqi took off her goggles.

"Their lives are worth more than an A-Rank."

"Add an escape pod to the next version."

The murmurs beside the guardrails grew louder.

Two prototypes made with one-tenth the materials of a Capital mech could hold off an A-Rank powerhouse.

That was enough.

Just then, the outer gate opened.

A convoy of transport trucks drove into the base.

The cargo beds were covered with tarps, and Capital emblems were stuck on the seals.

Armored vehicles with mounted machine guns led and followed, while fifty sets of energy components filled six heavy transport trucks.

Gu Beichen jumped down from the lead vehicle.

The Capital also had many healing-type Espers; his wounds had already healed, and he wore a metal chest guard over his combat suit.

He swept his gaze over the titan no. 1 inside the wall, then looked at the shadow protector no. 2 in the pit.

"Something like this deserves to be called a mech?"

The voices on the sidelines quieted down.

Tang Qiqi stepped down from the console.

"You can leave once you've delivered them."

"We didn't prepare lunch."

Gu Beichen raised a hand.

The Capital engineering team opened the cargo containers.

Energy ports, control motherboards, and power-supply lattices filled the containers.

The structure of each component set was different, and the lock-control protocols came in several specifications.

Several engineers recently recruited by Tang Qiqi didn't speak after flipping through the manifest.

The plan to begin mass production, which relied on the arrival of this equipment, would have to be delayed by at least half a month.

Tang Qiqi removed the first control board.

She clipped the authentication chip into a tray.

"You compensate us with items but still leave a lock on them."

"Are you afraid we'll use them too easily?"

Gu Beichen walked to the center of the test field.

"Capital technology has control standards."

"Just because you have the parts doesn't mean you've mastered the mechs."

He pointed at the titan no. 1 and the shadow protector no. 2.

"With this kind of junk you've built."

"I could take on two of them by myself without any problems."

"Want to make a bet? If you win, I'll give you the encryption keys."

Tang Qiqi put the chip back into the box.

"An S-Rank Esper wearing a Capital mech, fighting two prototypes that can only hold off an A-Rank."

"Do you have any shame?"

Gu Beichen lifted his chin.

"You can refuse."

"Let Lin Yuan publicly acknowledge that I also made a huge contribution during the last battle with the King of the Deep Sea."

Tang Qiqi pushed her goggles up to her forehead.

"I won't make decisions for the Great Demon King."

"Without the keys, we can still dismantle them given another half month."

Gu Beichen kicked away a piece of iron plating that had fallen off the shadow protector no. 2.

"Just say you're a coward."

A voice came from outside the guardrails.

"Sure."

Lin Yuan walked into the test field.

He raised his hand and collected the six truckloads of components, the cargo containers disappearing row by row.

"Then let's play."

Gu Beichen twitched the corner of his mouth.

"When?"

"Three days from now."

Lin Yuan walked past him.

"Now, you can get lost."

Gu Beichen wanted to lash out, but thinking of Lin Yuan's inscrutable punch, he chickened out again.

Thinking that his mech would also be completed in three days, he snorted coldly and got into the car.

The convoy exited the outer ring, and soon even their taillights were invisible.

Tang Qiqi stood before the empty cargo space, her palms still stained with machine oil.

Several engineers pulled up comparison charts.

Speed, firepower, energy output.

The titan project prototypes were lagging in every aspect.

Lin Yuan raised his hand and ruffled Tang Qiqi's hair.

He took two A-Rank crystal cores out of his space.

"I believe you can do it."

[Ding! Target Tang Qiqi (Beauty 86), Favorability +2%! Current Favorability: 37%!]

Tang Qiqi's nose felt tight.

She looked down, picked up a wrench, and tapped the workbench twice.

"Who said I had to use the titan no. 1 to fight him?"