Chapter 618.2: Unofficial Update

Chapter 618.2: Unofficial Update

Looking at his credited rewards, Lawless Madman smiled happily.

The mission was insane!

Not only could he preview the million silver coin armor, duel his buddy in thrilling combat, but also get silver coins and contribution points!

Indeed.

Licking the administrator’s boots and farming favor points paid off.

Meanwhile, in the observation wing, engineers and researchers compiled test data.

A few from Boulder Town Arms Industry whispered among themselves.

“This armor’s defense is excellent... It meets the baseline for powered suits.”

“Just a little lacking in mobility.”

“Maybe it’s because it lacks a battlefield guidance system... This puts higher demands on individual soldiers compared to wartime models like the Dragon Cavalry or Champion.”

“The user showed emotional reactions in combat... The equipment seems to cause excessive mental excitation.”

“That can go into the report, but it needs further observation... After all, those guys behave the same way when testing other weapons.”

“Incredible... the New Alliance actually has engineers who can design exoframe?”

“I heard the designer is a resident of Boulder Town.”

“Impossible! I’ve never heard of such a person! Boulder Town Arms Industry doesn’t even have an exoframe production line anymore, only one repair line left!”

“Whatever the case... it’s still impressive.”

Strictly speaking, Camp 101 had no real experts when it came to making exoframe. What it did have were pieces of technology. From holographic imaging, to carbon-based chips, to high-sensitivity motors, to composite armor materials... They had a bunch of other things.

Alone, each was just data on a hard drive. Put together, they became a new piece of equipment.

Xia Yan hadn’t invented new technology. She simply combined scattered knowledge like puzzle pieces, drawing on her grasp of weapons, her understanding of the wasteland battlefield, and her studies of new information.

She used both the records stored in Shelter 101 and technology salvaged by the survey teams from mutant remains recovered by players.

Boulder Town Arms Industry’ engineers marveled at the skill of New Alliance engineers. But this wasn’t the miracle of a single person, it was the product of a whole junk-collection system, spanning recovery, classification, and reuse of technology.

In such a system, individual ability was only needed to meet the lowest bar. Each person’s contribution was small, yet also indispensable.

Watching Xia Yan with her arms folded, pressing her fist to her lips and biting her nails nervously, Chu Guang smiled faintly and gently encouraged her. “Be confident. This is the fruit of your effort.”

Noticing his gaze, Xia Yan’s cheeks flushed. “I feel like its anti-explosion ability still needs work... in earlier tests too, even with spaced armor, it didn’t handle armor piercing rounds very well.”

Chu Guang teased with a smile, “Well, that was a Dove. Even tanks struggle against those. If you blocked it easily, Boulder Town Arms Industry can shut down tomorrow.”

“I know...” Xia Yan muttered, staring hard at the screen. “Maybe I’m greedy... I just don’t feel satisfied.”

Seeing her stubborn look, Chu Guang said nothing, but his heart ached for her.

She had poured so much into the exoframe that even the carefree spirit he had once seen wore rare hesitation.

But he wasn’t an expert. He couldn’t help on technical issues.

Then suddenly, inspiration struck, Mosquito’s recent Model 2 Unpowered exoframe and its explosive design.

Catching the idea, he blurted, “... What about adding an active defense mechanism? Like reactive armor?”

Xia Yan blinked. “Reactive armor?”

“Yeah!” Enthusiastically, Chu Guang sketched the concept with his finger. “Basically, it detonates the enemy warhead before it hits. For example... infrared or electromagnetic sensors detect an incoming rocket, then modules on the armor explode outward, releasing fragments to destroy it.”

That type of defense was common on modern tanks, second only to cheap armor, but rare in the Federation’s army.

The reason was simple. After the Prosperity Era began, the wars on the planet ended, and even space conflicts never started.

In that golden age, human creativity went into exploring a new life. Weapons would only improve through confrontation. Without demand, research stagnated.

From ground armor to starships, most were only completed in the short window before the Three Year War.

Colonial rebels relied on biotechnology. The Federation had no need for high defenses on its tanks or armor.

So models like the Champion or Dragon Cavalry focused on resisting light weapons, toxins from mutated creatures, stingers, swarms, fangs, and nukes, not outdated shaped charges.

Such armor offered excellent protection, but weren’t adapted to chaos where even marauders might whip out a tactical nuke.

The Enterprise knew it well.

The Army’s mass-produced Armor Fist Bazookas weren’t powerful, but they still threatened their armor. Combined with cheap clones, they nearly overturned even the elite Pioneer defense forces.

That was because exoframes had never been designed to counter obsolete armor-piercing rounds.

To survive wasteland warfare, the New Alliance needed to inject new doctrine into old designs.

Of course, Chu Guang’s idea of reactive armor was just a brainstorm, meant to substitute for portable directional shields. Whether it worked required serious tests.

But seeing Xia Yan lost in thought, he felt that his idea had value.

“Hmm... might be worth a try. But with no precedent, I can’t be sure it’ll work.” Xia Yan mumbled softly.

Watching her hesitate, Chu Guang smiled gently. “Be bold. The problems we face today weren’t imagined two centuries ago. You won’t find all the answers in books.”

“We need to recover old wisdom from ruins, but it shouldn’t be our only option. Maybe drop by Goblin Technology sometime. Mosquito’s ideas are wild, but he is seeing a lot of problems and thinking about solutions.”

“...Fine, fine, I’ll try later.” Lowering her arms, Xia Yan stretched her neck as her fervor returned.

Suddenly, she muttered sulkily, “By the way, can you stop... talking to me like a parent? You’re not my dad.”

She didn’t dislike his gentle encouragement, in fact, she liked it a little. But every time, she felt treated like a child.

She didn’t know why. She just didn’t like it.

Realizing he’d spoken too earnestly, Chu Guang thought maybe mixing too much formality into his everyday life was a bad habit.

Still, seeing Boss Xia pout was rare, and he couldn’t help teasing. “Didn’t expect you to see me that way.”

“W-What dumb crap are you saying?! Nobody sees you like that!” Her face flushed scarlet, glaring. She bared her teeth as thought she would lunge over and bite him the next moment.

Chu Guang hadn’t expected one teasing remark to make her explode so easily.

In chat, he and his brothers often pretended to be each other’s father. Usually it was just laughs, sometimes people even spam called him their father until he was embarrassed to speak.

Normally, jokes stayed jokes, unless there was a little truth.

Could she... actually...?

He coughed to change the subject. “... Anyway, what about the armor’s name? Have you decided?”

Realizing her reaction was odd, Xia Yan coughed too and shifted topics. “Doesn’t it already have a number? DLZJ-1.”

Chu Guang chuckled, “That’s just a serial number. In the Federation Era, exoframes always had codenames that rolled off the tongue. Give your masterpiece a proper one.”

He had opened a forum poll, but if the designer had a better idea, her choice came first.

Xia Yan scratched her head. Naming was not her talent either. After thinking long, she snapped impatiently, “That’s so annoying! Let’s just call it ‘Daddy’.”

“...”

“Ahem, I was joking.” Pursing her lips, Xia Yan thought hard. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she looked at Chu Guang with a smile. “Got it!”

Seeing her grin, Chu Guang grew uneasy. “Don’t tell me it’s Mommy or Grandpa or something. Let’s keep it normal... It doesn’t have to be scary, but at least don’t let it be taken as a joke.”

Names like that would kill enemies with laughter.

“What are you saying? I was serious. I’d never pick a joke name.” Rolling her eyes, Xia Yan cleared her throat with mock gravity, but her smiling lips betrayed her delight.

It didn’t need to scare enemies. Its meaning could be to bring hope and strength to allies.

That too was a path to victory.

And as the exoframe’s mother, that was what she expected it to do.

“Let’s call it Ethereal!”[1]

1. Pinyin of the words 霞光 - 霞 = Xia, 光 = Guang. 霞光 = Xiaguang. CALL IT WHATEVER YOU LIKE. Technically, it refers to the rays of sunset. I’m gonna call it this because it's easier to call it a single word that describes the rays of sunset. ☜