278: Chapter 278: Six People Win Prizes in Hilarious Punishments; Home Port Makes a Stunning Debut!

Red light poured down from the top of the door panel, enveloping Lindbergh.

His nose began to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The bridge of his nose lengthened, the tip became bulbous, and within seconds, it turned into a garlic-shaped nose that almost hung down to his lips.

Lindbergh instinctively reached up to touch it, his fingertips meeting a patch of warm, fleshy substance.

"Damn it."

Someone in the hallway couldn't hold it in and snorted.

Su Che covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Next."

Number two, Shangguan Li.

A tenured professor in the Physics Department at Shuimu University, specializing in quantum field theory.

The phantom crossed its hands over its chest, spun on one leg for half a turn, and then spread its arms to the sides after landing.

When Shangguan Li reached the spinning step, his foot slipped and his body tilted.

The red light lit up again.

His left foot began to swell, splitting the shoe provided with his research uniform, and his foot and toes grew to twice their normal size, looking like a brick.

Shangguan Li lifted the giant foot and tried to wiggle his toes, his expression somewhat dazed.

"What the f..."

He wanted to take a step forward, but his left foot was too heavy, and he stumbled, almost falling over.

Number three, Owen White, a precision physics measurement expert at Lawrence National Laboratory.

With steady hands and a careful mind, he precisely replicated a complex set of finger-flipping movements, and a green light lit up.

Number four, Edward Clark, a professor of high-energy physics deduction at Princeton.

Facing a set of wave-like movements that required full-body coordination, he gritted his teeth and held on, passing narrowly.

Number five, Chu Yan, head of the Fusion Plasma Laboratory.

The phantom performed a set of movements requiring rapid arm crossing and flipping, but Chu Yan's right hand was half a beat slow.

Red light.

His chin began to protrude forward.

The sound of bones stretching was faintly audible, and his jawline became exceptionally prominent, forming an exaggerated arc that made him look like a character from a comic book.

Chu Yan touched his chin, which looked like it could plow a field, opened his mouth, and felt air leaking out when he spoke.

Someone next to him chimed in, "You won't need a hoe to plow the ground anymore."

Numbers six and seven passed in succession.

Number eight, Zhao Chaoyang.

When he stepped into the light circle, his footsteps still carried the lingering fear of being gender-swapped last time.

The phantom's movement was a twisting sequence requiring core abdominal strength, and when Zhao Chaoyang reached the third movement, his waist didn't twist into place.

Red light.

His chest began to bulge.

Two masses of muscle expanded outward from his pectoral area, stretching open the front of his uniform like two inverted bowls.

Zhao Chaoyang looked down at the two small hills that had appeared on his chest, his expression indescribable.

"Does this count as being gifted?"

Friedman rolled his eyes from behind.

Number nine, Energy Expert Xiao Zhenbang, an academician at the National Energy Strategy Research Institute.

The movement he drew wasn't actually difficult, just a sequence of upper limb stretches combined with knee bends.

But when Xiao Zhenbang reached the final step, he bent his left knee five degrees too much.

Red light.

This time, the red light enveloped him for a particularly long time.

Everyone's gaze was fixed on him, waiting to see which part of his body would be randomly affected this time.

The area around Xiao Zhenbang's pants began to undergo some indescribable changes.

The hallway was deathly silent.

Xiao Zhenbang looked down once, then again, then looked up, his mouth grinning from ear to ear.

"Holy crap! This is way too powerful!"

He even reached out to gesture the size, then turned to look at Su Che, "Chief Engineer Su, can we not revert this?"

A male reader opposite him compared it from afar, and then, there was no then...

Su Che was expressionless, "Are you sure?"

"Sure!" Xiao Zhenbang rubbed his hands excitedly, "I have to hurry back to find my wife, to see if she dares to say I'm not capable anymore. This time, I'll make her kneel and sing 'Conquer'!"

The hallway was silent for two seconds, then burst into laughter.

"Alright, alright." Su Che spread his hands, "Next."

Numbers ten through fourteen passed in succession.

Number fifteen, Daisy Lawrence, a senior researcher at the American Optical Society, who had temporarily switched from group four to group three.

The phantom movement she faced required extreme body flexibility, a set of gymnastics-like backward bending and stretching movements.

When Daisy did the final backward bend, her waist didn't sink down.

Red light.

Her buttocks began to swell.

The muscles on both sides expanded outward and sagged downward, making the seams of her research pants creak.

Her originally well-proportioned figure instantly turned into an exaggerated hourglass shape, maxing out her waist-to-hip ratio.

Daisy reached back to touch her backside and froze for three seconds.

"Does this count as an upgrade or a punishment?"

Several male scientists nearby looked at each other and collectively averted their gazes.

Xu Zhaoning even muttered a sentence.

"This... counts as a blessing in disguise, right?"

Number sixteen, Geoffrey Hinton, a senior professor at the MIT AI Laboratory.

A set of movements involving alternating finger tapping combined with head swaying was precisely replicated by him, green light.

Number seventeen, Friedman.

The old professor stood in front of the phantom with slightly weak legs.

He had encountered the punishment twice in a row; he had been lucky enough to succeed during the gender-swap incident, and this time he just hoped not to get hit.

The phantom performed a set of extremely complex full-body movements.

Arms drawing circles, single-leg forward kicks, body side-turns, hands crossed behind the back.

Friedman gritted his back teeth and followed each movement one by one.

Arms drawing circles in place, single-leg forward kick in place, body side-turn in place, hands crossed behind the back...

His fingers touched.

The moment the green light lit up, Friedman's knees went weak, and he steadied himself against the wall.

"Good heavens."

Number eighteen, Sean Carter, a top cybersecurity consultant in Silicon Valley.

A set of directional change movements requiring quick reaction was completed cleanly and efficiently by him.

All twelve nodes lit up.

The light patterns on the door panel spread from the center to the surroundings, turning green, and the door slid open to both sides.

The six people who had been forcibly mutated with extra body parts stood in the hallway, looking extremely bizarre.

Lindbergh with a nose as big as a garlic, Shangguan Li with a left foot swollen like a brick, Chu Yan with a chin that could plow a field, and Zhao Chaoyang with two mountains on his chest.

Also Xiao Zhenbang with his ridiculously bulging pants, and Daisy with her exaggeratedly perky buttocks.

Standing in a row, they looked just like a freak show in a circus.

Su Che looked at them and waved his hand.

"Line up at the medical center, same old rules."

The six people walked toward the medical center in unison.

Xiao Zhenbang walked at the very back, his steps exceptionally brisk.

Su Che withdrew his gaze and walked into the sixty-sixth door.

The space behind the door left him stunned in place.

He took out his communicator and dialed five numbers.

"Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan, Li Chengwen, Zhang Zhiyue, Senior Colonel He Zhiqiang, Captain Li Jun, the five of you come to cabin sixty-six now."

In less than ten minutes, the five military generals came jogging over.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan walked in front, his military boots making dull thuds on the corridor floor.

"Chief Engineer Su, what's going on?"

Su Che gestured toward the inside with his chin, "Come in and see."

The five of them stepped over the threshold.

Then everyone stopped in their tracks.

The space behind the door was absurdly large.

This was not a cabin; it was a giant military port built inside the interstellar mothership.

The dome overhead was over a hundred meters high, and the armored walls on both sides extended into the distance, endless to the eye.

The entire space was illuminated by cold white industrial lights, and the ground was painted with different colored guide lines indicating berths, passageways, and supply areas.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan's Adam's apple bobbed.

"This is..."

Kaila walked in front of them and pulled up the function panel.

[Maintenance Mothership Exclusive to Carrier-Based Combat Fleets]

"Originally a standard berthing and maintenance base for combat fleets on flagships, located in the independent armored compartment cluster on the bottom level of the mothership, with a total volume accounting for fifteen percent of the mothership's internal space."

Kaila had just finished reading.

Zhang Zhiyue's voice boomed in the empty military port.

"Fifteen percent? This ship is over ten kilometers long; how big is fifteen percent?"

Kaila didn't answer the question, but pointed to the front.

Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing.

Rows of neatly arranged warships sat quietly at their berths.

Thirty-six Star Blade-class escort ships, their streamlined hulls shimmering with a cold grey metallic luster, the particle beam cannons at the bows looking like spears pointed forward.

Twenty-four Star Meteor-class assault ships, wider and thicker in build, their side armor plates covered in missile launch ports.

Twelve Star Annihilation-class heavy artillery ships, each twice as large as the escort ships, the giant energy turrets on top of their hulls reflecting a faint blue light under the illumination.

Further away, five hundred unmanned combat drones were densely arranged in a dedicated parking area.

Senior Colonel He Zhiqiang's fists clenched.

He had led the best soldiers and flown the most advanced fighter jets in his life, but the things before him crushed the word "advanced" in his previous understanding into dust.

"Can these all be flown?"

"They can all be flown." Su Che added.

Li Chengwen walked to the nearest Star Blade-class escort ship and reached out to touch the hull.

The cold metal surface imparted a heavy texture beneath his palm.

"How many White Emperor can one of these take down?"

Kaila glanced at the parameters.

"The Star Blade-class escort ship is a mass-produced medium warship of a Level 3 Civilization, with a standard crew of fifty, and its firepower coverage is approximately one hundred times the total firepower of all your existing aerospace fighter jets."

Li Chengwen withdrew his hand from the hull.

Zhang Zhiyue had already walked to the foot of a Star Annihilation-class heavy artillery ship and was looking up at the giant turret.

"How far can this thing shoot with one shot?"

"The effective range is three billion kilometers." Kaila replied, "A single energy output can penetrate the quantum shields of countless Second Generation Luan Bird."

Zhang Zhiyue's lips moved several times, but no sound came out.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan walked around the military port, from the berths to the supply area, and from the supply area to the launch channels.

He saw independent antimatter fuel injection lines, with thick pipes extending from the walls to connect to the interfaces of each berth.

He saw energy weapon charging arrays, with rows of blue energy nodes neatly arranged.

He saw rapid ammunition loading systems, with fully automatic robotic arms folded on the cabin ceiling, capable of completing ammunition resupply for the entire warship within minutes upon receiving orders.

He saw hull nano-repair docks; once a warship returned and parked inside, damaged armor and pipelines would be automatically repaired.

There was also a pilot standby area, equipped with complete life support systems and emergency ejection devices.

Finally, he stood at the entrance of the twelve parallel rapid launch channels, each channel thirty meters wide and sloping upward, leading directly to the outer walls on both sides of the mothership.

"In wartime, the entire fleet can complete all launch preparations within fifteen minutes." Kaila added from the side, "After returning, resupply and battle damage repair can be completed within two hours, possessing continuous intergalactic combat capability."

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan turned to face Su Che, his eyes red.

"Chief Engineer Su." His voice was a bit hoarse, "With this, we truly have the capital to fight them."

Su Che pushed Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan on the chest.

"That's why I called you all here."

He scanned the five generals.

"Have over two thousand officers and pilots come in in batches, and I want you to practice the piloting, operation, and tactical coordination of every warship until you are proficient."

"From escort ships to heavy artillery ships, from manned ships to unmanned drones, someone must be able to pilot and fight in every type."

"Once proficient, conduct interstellar combat exercises immediately, forming real combat capability as quickly as possible."

Senior Colonel He Zhiqiang stepped forward, his military boots clicking together.

"Rest assured, Chief Engineer Su, none of the soldiers I, Senior Colonel He Zhiqiang, lead are cowards."

Captain Li Jun also stepped up, "Deputy Corps Commander Li Jun is ready at any time."

Su Che acknowledged and turned to walk out.

"Three months, I want to see initial results."