87: Fight against the Golden Bones.

Lu Jianchuan nodded to the Researcher to indicate he understood. Just as he was about to leave the lounge, a deep, metallic electronic voice came from the doorway.

"Wait a moment."

Lu Jianchuan looked back and saw the figure codenamed "Golden Bone" standing there at some unknown point. The matte black mechanical exoskeleton glinted with a cold, hard luster under the indoor lights.

"Basic strength and speed data have already been recorded," Golden Bone said, approaching with heavy steps, his Tactical Visor locking onto Lu Jianchuan.

"But data is static, while combat is dynamic. Before we officially carry out the mission, I need to personally gauge your actual combat capabilities. Spar with me; get ready. I want to see where your limit reactions and combat instincts truly lie."

Lu Jianchuan didn't hesitate and nodded directly. "Alright." He also wanted to gain a deeper understanding of this future "colleague's" strength.

The two arrived at a more spacious underground training field where the walls were covered with thick, energy-absorbing Materials. A standard circular fighting area was drawn in the center of the field.

Golden Bone stood at one end of the field and moved his mechanical joints, which emitted a slight hydraulic sound. "Transform," he said. "Even though I've swapped to standard hand components for this exoskeleton, unlike the special Shock Generators used in the last battle, its basic output power is still not something a body of flesh and blood can withstand. If you don't transform, you might be seriously injured."

Lu Jianchuan took a deep breath, concentrated, and touched the pearl on his left wrist. Silver-white biomass fluid instantly surged out, covering his entire body and constructing the sharp-lined "silver skeleton" armor. The azure visor lit up, locking onto his opponent.

"Begin."

Before Golden Bone's voice had even faded, his heavy mechanical body exploded with a rapid speed that belied its weight. With a short dash, a heavy steel fist whistled through the air, striking straight at Lu Jianchuan's center!

Lu Jianchuan reacted extremely quickly. The dynamic vision and neural reflexes granted by the armor allowed him to raise his arms in a cross-block. *Bang!* A muffled sound echoed as the massive force sent a violent tremor through his body, and he slid back half a step before stabilizing himself. Such powerful strength!

Without waiting for him to adjust, Golden Bone's offensive surged like a tide. A feint jab was followed by the real killing move: a silent, low side-kick aimed at the side of the knee joint. What looked like a heavy, powerful swing was a bait; the true intention was a joint lock after closing in.

Lu Jianchuan pushed the armor's strength and speed to their limits, either blocking or dodging, occasionally seizing gaps to counterattack. His fists and feet struck the other's mechanical exoskeleton with loud "clangs," proving that his attacks were also not to be underestimated.

However, he soon fell into a passive position. Golden Bone's combat experience was far beyond that of the monsters he had previously encountered, who relied on instinct and brute force. The opponent's attack routes were tricky and ruthless, combining feints and reality, with a mastery of distance and timing that was perfect, as if he could predict Lu Jianchuan's every move.

Lu Jianchuan threw a fierce straight punch, but Golden Bone easily avoided it with a subtle side-step. Simultaneously, the opponent's elbow slammed like a sledgehammer into the opening under his ribs exposed by the punch. Although the armor absorbed most of the impact, the concentrated force still made his breath hitch.

Immediately after, taking advantage of Lu Jianchuan's momentary stiffness, Golden Bone's mechanical soles slammed into the ground, and he threw his whole body into Lu Jianchuan's chest! This wasn't a clumsy ram, but a "Mountain Lean" technique infused with power-generating skill!

"Boom!" Lu Jianchuan only felt a surge of majestic force, and he flew backward uncontrollably, crashing heavily into the energy-absorbing wall, making it emit a low hum.

He knelt on one knee, breathing rapidly, his visor staring fixedly at the golden figure standing as steady as a rock ahead.

He realized that without using special abilities like electric currents and metal liquefaction, and relying only on basic combat, he was completely suppressed in terms of technique and experience.

The opponent was like an immovable fortress, every attack hitting him where it was most uncomfortable.

Golden Bone did not continue the pursuit, but simply stood in place. His electronic voice sounded calmly: "Your basic qualities are excellent, surpassing the norm. But your combat awareness remains at the level of street brawls and police academy fighting—too direct, lacking variation and traps. You still have much to learn."

Golden Bone's calm electronic voice sounded again, breaking the brief silence: "Is this all? Let's get a bit more serious. In our observation records, you also have the ability to manipulate electric currents and melt and adsorb metal. Now, use them."

He slightly rotated his mechanical wrist. A clear hydraulic sound and the "click" of interlocking mechanisms came from the precision joints of his arm's exoskeleton. "Then, I will also increase the intensity accordingly. Be careful, it might hurt."

Before he finished speaking, that matte black mechanical body exploded with speed again, even faster than before! A heavy steel fist came straight at him.

"Getting serious? Then bring it on!" Lu Jianchuan growled, no longer holding back. Facing the heavy punch, he lunged forward. At the moment his arms crossed to block, dazzling blue-white electric arcs burst from the surface of his armor!

"Zzzt—!"

Violent bio-currents instantly crawled all over Golden Bone's mechanical arm. The strong electromagnetic interference caused a slight lag in the exoskeleton's hydraulic transmission.

However, Golden Bone's combat experience was far beyond imagination. He seemed to have anticipated Lu Jianchuan's interference; the true killing move was not this delayed first punch. Just as Lu Jianchuan's current erupted and his old strength was spent while new strength had yet to form, a warning red light suddenly lit up on a precision device on Golden Bone's forearm, which was entangled in electric arcs!

Boom—!!!

A highly condensed secondary shockwave, far exceeding the previous physical impacts, suddenly erupted from almost zero distance! This invisible heavy cannon slammed squarely into Lu Jianchuan's cross-blocking arms!

"Ugh!"

Lu Jianchuan felt an irresistible vibrational force penetrate his armor. It felt as if his internal organs had shifted. He was violently blown away again, crashing into the energy-absorbing wall even more wretchedly than before.

He knelt on one knee, his blood churning in his chest and abdomen. Even the armguards of his armor showed tiny cracks. This hard-to-defend secondary shock was far more powerful than a normal attack!

But this time, he didn't pause for a second. Enduring the sharp pain, he kicked off the wall the moment he hit it, pouncing forward again like a wounded beast. He wrapped even more current around his fists, trying to use offense as defense.

After several rounds like this, Lu Jianchuan's current interference and desperate counterattacks, though intense, still couldn't truly break through that elusive secondary shock. His heaviest attacks only left a few scratches on the other's exoskeleton.

Beneath the mask, Golden Bone seemed to shake his head slightly. His electronic voice remained steady: "Is this all? If your special abilities cannot deal with true killing moves, they are of little significance."

Just then, the two collided at high speed in the center of the field once more before separating.

Golden Bone habitually swung his right arm, preparing to launch that decisive secondary shock during the next contact. But as he swung his arm, he felt it was unusually light. The expected hydraulic feedback... seemed to have weakened?

He instinctively looked down, and his Tactical Visor instantly locked onto his right arm's mechanical exoskeleton—he saw that the part of the composite armor covering the secondary shock generator on the outside of his arm had actually vanished! It exposed the precision mechanical structure underneath, and the edges still bore dark red, rapidly cooling melting marks!

He suddenly looked up at Lu Jianchuan nearby.

He saw Lu Jianchuan holding his right arm level. On his originally silver-white biomass armguard, a layer of flowing, dark gold-flecked luster now covered it.

This liquid metal "stolen" from Golden Bone's arm quickly condensed, shaped, and cooled. It extended and solidified on the outside of his forearm, finally forming an Arm Blade with savage lines that shimmered with a metallic cold light.

Lu Jianchuan clenched his fist, feeling the weight and sharpness of the newly generated weapon. His azure visor looked sharply at Golden Bone, and his raspy metallic voice carried a hint of finally having caught his opponent's flaw:

"Now, is the significance great enough?"

"Very good." Golden Bone's electronic voice seemed to carry an extremely faint ripple of something like praise. As he spoke, his movements didn't pause at all. His right hand pressed and twisted on the crippled left arm component. With a "crack," he cleanly detached and discarded the part whose key components had been melted and was now sparking with electricity.

Almost the instant the part hit the ground, the side magazine of his Tactical Backpack opened again. Two brand-new shock generators, shimmering with a cold light, were precisely handed out by a mechanical arm.

"Click! Click!" Two crisp locking sounds echoed. The weapon Systems on both arms had completed their replacement in an instant, restoring his full combat power as if the loss just now was insignificant.

"Then," Golden Bone slightly lowered his center of gravity, and the brand-new shock generators emitted a low-frequency energy charging hum, "it's time to get a bit more serious."

His offensive became more oppressive. Lu Jianchuan tried to repeat his previous tactic, activating high heat the moment they blocked to melt the other's exoskeleton again. However, Golden Bone's experience far exceeded his imagination!

Whenever Lu Jianchuan's palm or armguard just made contact with the mechanical exoskeleton and the metal surface began to glow dark red, Golden Bone acted as if he had foreknowledge. He would either suddenly exert force to shake off the contact or use exquisite footwork to instantly pull away, giving Lu Jianchuan no chance to continuously heat and extract metal.

In one clash, Lu Jianchuan's metal Arm Blade collided fiercely with Golden Bone's mechanical fist!

Amidst the splashing sparks of the collision, Lu Jianchuan's mind raced as he fully activated magnetic force! A powerful suction suddenly erupted from his Arm Blade, attempting to firmly lock onto the other's metal fist to create an opportunity for the subsequent high-temperature melting.

However, Golden Bone's reaction was startlingly fast. Almost at the same instant the magnetic force took effect, a faint light flashed on the surface of his arm's exoskeleton—it seemed some kind of anti-magnetic interference measure was instantly activated. Simultaneously, his mechanical soles vented air, and using a clever force, he suddenly retreated, forcibly breaking free from the magnetic restraint and making Lu Jianchuan's attempt fail again.

After repeated failed attempts, Lu Jianchuan changed his offensive strategy. No longer obsessed with melting, he began to use the newly formed Arm Blade! He closed in, the metal Arm Blade letting out a scream as it tore through the air, launching a storm of slashes—hacking, chopping, and flicking.

The sharp edge left clear slash marks on Golden Bone's mechanical exoskeleton, sending sparks flying!

Once, twice, thrice... All of Lu Jianchuan's attempts were easily neutralized by the opponent in this "zero-loss" manner.

Golden Bone was like a precision combat machine that never made mistakes. The spare parts in his backpack seemed endless, always maintaining his equipment's integrity and Peak combat power.

In this battle where he was completely crushed in experience, technique, and tactics, although Lu Jianchuan struggled to hold on with the armor's excellent performance, his new weapon, and his gradually improving combat instincts—even occasionally making brilliant counterattacks with sudden bursts and current interference—he was still thoroughly suppressed overall. He could only struggle to cope, and the energy in his body was being consumed rapidly.

Just as Lu Jianchuan was sent staggering back after a forceful block, his breath slightly ragged, Golden Bone did not press the advantage. Instead, he took a step back, and the sharp Aura around him instantly retracted.

"That's enough," the cold electronic voice said. "Let's stop here."

Lu Jianchuan was slightly stunned. Maintaining a defensive posture, his azure visor filled with confusion and exhaustion as he stared intently at the opponent.

Golden Bone looked at him, the light of his Tactical Visor flickering slightly, seemingly performing a final assessment.

"Your learning speed is very fast, and your ability to adapt on the fly improved during the battle. Your basic qualities are impeccable, and you've started to find your way with the use of your special abilities."

He stated calmly, "As you are now, you indeed cannot yet engage in a true 'full-power' confrontation with me. However..."

He paused, his tone carrying a kind of affirmation based on facts: "Maintain this momentum, continue to hone your techniques, and dig deeper into your abilities. As long as you work hard and keep going, you will definitely have the chance to reach a higher level."

This wasn't comfort, but a conclusion from a powerful warrior based on actual combat observation.

The battle officially ended here.