360: Chapter 359 Wang Shuo's Solution

Light Cavalry!

Wang Shuo was very familiar with this name. In ancient armies, the most expensive to field was the heavy armored cavalry, followed by the Light Cavalry.

Their characteristics were high speed, strong mobility, flexible combat, coming and going like the wind, and excelling at harassment and rapid raids.

These characteristics almost perfectly matched the Night Crow that Wang Shuo had envisioned.

At this moment, Wang Shuo had even figured out what Weapon and equipment to equip Night Crow with.

"A good name."

Wang Shuo nodded and said, "Let's go with this name."

Captain Li Liancai was so excited he couldn't contain himself, looking at the armor on Wang Shuo with burning eyes.

With a slight smile, Wang Shuo softly said, "Zero, disarm."

The next moment, the Exoskeleton armor on Wang Shuo tilted back slightly, and the binding rings, which were far more intricate than those of the engineering Exoskeleton, spread open along with the outer armor.

Wang Shuo, wearing his regular clothes, lightly stepped out of the Exoskeleton.

Coming to Captain Li Liancai, Wang Shuo smiled faintly and said, "Captain Li, would you like to try?"

"Me?"

Captain Li Liancai said in disbelief, "Can I?"

His tone was like a child who had encountered a beloved toy; just when he thought it was out of reach, the owner placed it in his hands to play with, filled with deep uncertainty.

"Of course."

Wang Shuo smiled and shook his head. "Didn't I say so? This equipment was originally meant for you, so of course you should try it. If you don't, how will I know in which direction to make improvements?"

Still needs improvements?

Captain Li Liancai was a bit dazed by this, but now was not the time to think about it. If he missed such a great opportunity, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

He nodded vigorously. "I want to try!"

"Okay."

Wang Shuo said, "Captain, you can just step in the way I did just now. Zero will control Night Crow to assist you with the donning."

Just that simple?

Captain Li Liancai was somewhat skeptical. He walked up to the stationary Exoskeleton armor, looking up at the armor which, even without the helmet, was as tall as he was, feeling a bit lost.

"Captain Li, you need to step onto it."

Wang Shuo reminded him, "Don't worry, Night Crow has an adjustment range of twenty Centimeter, which is enough to fit all personnel between 1.7 and 1.85 meters. The binding mechanism is also monitored by Zero, so it won't hurt you."

Captain Li Liancai did not hesitate any longer. Under the gazes of the others, which were practically overflowing with envy, he nimbly slipped into the Exoskeleton.

As the Exoskeleton closed, feeling the tightness on his arms and legs gradually disappear, Captain Li Liancai tried swinging his limbs, and then froze slightly.

There was no sense of obstruction at all; it was as smooth as if he weren't wearing any gear.

"Captain Li, put on the helmet. This will help you monitor the status of the Exoskeleton."

Wang Shuo reminded him again.

Only then did Captain Li Liancai remember the helmet. He picked up the helmet that Wang Shuo had set aside, placed it on his head, and turned it gently. With a soft click, Captain Li Liancai knew the helmet was fully secured.

Everything around him fell silent, and the ambient noise of the environment seemed to instantly drift away.

Is the soundproofing of this thing really this good?

Before he could think further, he noticed a glow lighting up on the glass visor in front of him. The screen dimmed rapidly, and a logo composed of three spherical patterns appeared, emitting a faint light.

After two or three seconds, the image disappeared, and a very clean and simple interface was displayed in front of him.

On the left side of the screen, a human figure was displayed in light blue, looking very similar in appearance to the armor he was wearing.

At each joint of the human figure, strings of tiny numbers were faintly marked. Captain Li Liancai didn't quite understand their meaning.

On the right side of the screen, lines of small text and icons displayed the basic status of the armor.

At the bottom, there was a status bar. Compared to the upper screen, the status bar at the bottom was actually clearer.

Captain Li Liancai raised his head and looked at the center of the screen. The figures of Wang Shuo and the others appeared clearly, enveloped in a faint red halo that was extremely obvious in the dark night.

This is...

Li Chengcai's eyes narrowed slightly.

A night vision system.

Combined with the images appearing on the glass, if the reflection hadn't let him know it was just a HUD system, he would have thought Wang Shuo had already created holographic imagery.

Taking a deep breath, Captain Li Liancai suppressed his excitement.

"Mr. Wang, can I try?"

"Sure, but I suggest you go slow. First get a feel for the Exoskeleton's performance. It might be a bit different from what you expect..."

Before Wang Shuo could finish his sentence, he saw Captain Li Liancai vanish from in front of him in an instant.

The next moment, the sound of a collision rang out.

Wang Shuo turned his head, watching another cloud of dust erupt from the test wall, feeling slightly speechless.

The dust cleared.

The already damaged concrete brick wall had nearly collapsed from the violent impact.

Captain Li Liancai lay splayed out in a star shape in the ruins of the concrete wall, completely devoid of any dignity.

Instructor Duan Chengwu's lips twitched, and he turned his head away, unable to bear the sight.

The other soldiers stared blankly. Someone snorted, and then everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Captain Li Liancai lay there for a long while. Once the feeling of the shock subsided a bit, he scrambled up from the ruins. Looking at the crowd laughing hysterically a dozen meters away, he felt a lingering fear.

This was a distance of fifteen meters, yet he felt like it hadn't even taken him a single second. He had crashed before he could even react.

Even as a soldier with professional combat training, he couldn't react in time. Yet Mr. Wang could wear this thing to block Xiao Long's attacks, and even control it precisely during high-speed movement to punch through a concrete brick wall?

How on earth did he do it?

Standing back up, Captain Li Liancai checked the glass visor.

Fortunately, there were no signs of cracks; it was still sturdy.

However, in the human figure image displayed on the left side of the visor, several joints of the originally light blue figure were now marked in pale yellow, with a few small words next to them—Overloaded, power decreased by 4.6%.

Well... mystery solved, this thing wasn't invincible either.

A violent collision would still cause equipment overload and injure the personnel inside.

This was very realistic.

Shaking his head, Captain Li Liancai didn't dare to make any more large movements. He walked back to Wang Shuo step by step and said embarrassedly, "Mr. Wang, I'm sorry. I almost broke the equipment."

"It's fine."

Wang Shuo waved his hand. "It's just a prototype anyway, so there's no harm in testing it. But what about you, are you hurt?"

As the designer and manufacturer, there might be things Wang Shuo hadn't considered yet, but he knew the basic performance of Night Crow all too well.

He knew very well that the outer armor on Night Crow looked intimidating, but it was actually just a semi-finished product made of a new synthetic material. Aside from resisting pistol rounds and rifle bullets fired from a distance, it had almost no cushioning effect.

For an impact of the magnitude Captain Li Liancai just had, Wang Shuo couldn't even imagine how painful it must have been.

"No."

Captain Li Liancai shook his head.

"That's good."

Wang Shuo felt a bit more relieved, and his gaze toward Captain Li Liancai became somewhat appreciative.

A ninety percent power output. Although the distance was only fifteen meters with no room for further acceleration, even so, the speed upon hitting the wall had almost reached 80 kilometers per hour.

Under such circumstances, Captain Li Liancai had only lain down for a short while; his physical fitness was truly terrifying.

Of course, this was also thanks to Wang Shuo having already punched through the concrete brick wall, which added a cushioning effect during the impact.

Checking the time, it was already midnight.

Wang Shuo turned his gaze to Instructor Duan Chengwu, who had been observing from the side, and said, "Instructor Duan, let's leave this Exoskeleton at the base to use as training equipment for now. I'll have someone bring over the maintenance pod tomorrow."

Instructor Duan nodded gently. "I will have them adapt to the Exoskeleton's operation as soon as possible. What happened today won't happen again."

Everyone knew exactly what "what happened today" referred to, and they tacitly turned their gazes toward Captain Li Liancai.

Captain Li Liancai remained completely unfazed.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Wang Shuo nodded. "Do you have any suggestions regarding other supporting equipment for Night Crow, Instructor Duan?"

"Yes."

Instructor Duan did not stand on ceremony and nodded directly. "I already have a preliminary concept for the deployment of Night Crow. I will submit a detailed explanatory report."

"That would be wonderful."

Wang Shuo was very satisfied. Hiring this big shot had indeed been worth it; he really knew his stuff.

"In that case, I won't stay any longer. I'll leave Night Crow to your arrangements, Instructor Duan. I'll head back first."

Instructor Duan nodded slightly and said, "I'll see you out."

As Wang Shuo and Instructor Duan left, the training ground immediately erupted into a frenzy.

Except for the unconscious Xiao Long, all the other soldiers gathered around Captain Li Liancai, drooling with envy.

One soldier touched the Exoskeleton's armor and said in awe, "Company Commander Li, are we dreaming? Is this Iron Man-like gear really for us?"

The other soldiers chimed in, and some even touched the armor with obsessed expressions.

"This isn't Iron Man; this is real, tangible equipment,"

Captain Li Liancai said with a smile. "Step back a bit. I'll disengage the armor so you can get a good look!"

...

Outside the training ground, on the quiet and deserted road.

Wang Shuo pushed Instructor Duan along the sidewalk in silence.

After a long while, Instructor Duan, waking from his thoughts, sighed softly.

"What's wrong?"

Wang Shuo asked in surprise. Sighing was not something that should come from Instructor Duan.

"Mr. Wang, you took a bit of a risk this time."

A rare trace of helplessness leaked into Instructor Duan's voice.

"A risk?"

Wang Shuo was somewhat surprised. "What do you mean?"

"You shouldn't have shown Night Crow directly to these soldiers."

Instructor Duan said with a bitter smile, "These soldiers have been at the training base for too short a time. In just two days, I've barely managed to get them to focus, and I can't guarantee that we can fully trust them yet."

"If you gave me another two months, I could make them fully obedient to commands without any other repercussions, but not right now."

Wang Shuo caught his drift.

"Instructor Duan, are you worried about... the military?"

Instructor Duan nodded slightly. "The appearance of Night Crow is simply too sudden. I can't determine the military's attitude right now, but I imagine it won't be very peaceful."

"Even with Zheng Yi in the middle?"

Wang Shuo frowned.

"No."

Instructor Duan shook his head and asked, "Mr. Wang, if I'm not mistaken, the outer armor of Night Crow is bulletproof material, right?"

"Yes, it's made from the company's latest polymer materials and some alloy materials, which can protect against most pistols and rifle bullets fired from a distance."

There was no need to hide anything from Instructor Duan, so Wang Shuo admitted it directly and generously.

"Exactly."

Instructor Duan asked softly, "Mr. Wang, you think, according to the current Armed Police Weapon configurations, how many people would it take to defeat a Xiao Long or Captain Li Liancai wearing Night Crow?"

Wang Shuo murmured, "Ten?"

Instructor Duan said softly, "According to our country's current configurations, the heavy firepower deployed by the Armed Police forces includes mortars, recoilless rifles, vehicle-mounted rapid-fire cannons, rocket launchers, large-caliber grenade launchers, and so on. Some Armed Police forces are even equipped with various types of helicopters, tracked, and wheeled infantry fighting vehicles."

Wang Shuo smacked his lips and changed his answer, "Then, five?"

Instructor Duan shook his head. "These Weapon sound powerful, but they have one drawback: they are affected by terrain. What if the battlefield were set in a street block of some domestic city or county?"

"They would hesitate to strike for fear of collateral damage, constantly worrying about one thing or another."

Instructor Duan said calmly, "Aside from heavy firepower, the light Weapon equipment configurations of the Armed Police soldiers themselves are not high. They only have a few simple categories to choose from, like light rifles, high-precision sniper rifles, and throwing Weapon. Under these circumstances, I'm afraid even twenty people couldn't guarantee they could completely defeat Xiao Long wearing Night Crow."

Wang Shuo was speechless. "Is Xiao Long really that strong?"

Instructor Duan paused, then said helplessly, "On the battlefield, if a single advantage can be fully exploited, it can basically secure victory, let alone multiple advantages."

"Night Crow is faster, stronger, and has more prominent sensory capabilities than a regular soldier. Combined with a better-trained, more experienced Xiao Long, he would simply become an invincible presence in urban warfare."

"Mr. Wang, do you know what this means?"

Instructor Duan said calmly, "This will break the balance and multiply the cost of maintaining public order. It is an existence akin to nuclear Weapon. The military will not allow such an uncertain factor to remain at large without regulation."

Wang Shuo understood a bit now.

"You mean... the military will use strong-arm tactics?"

Wang Shuo narrowed his eyes slightly.

"That option cannot be ruled out."

Instructor Duan replied.

As a former member of the military, he couldn't be sure of the military's current stance either.

The scene fell silent.

The two continued walking for a short distance. Just as Instructor Duan was thinking of how to put things in a less heavy manner, Wang Shuo's voice came from behind him.

"Instructor Duan, I've thought about it, and it's actually not that complicated."

"At the end of the day, it's nothing more than worrying about security issues. That's very easy to solve."

Wang Shuo smiled faintly. "Whatever terrorists might have, we'll let the military have too, and make theirs even better and more advanced. Won't that solve the problem?"

Instructor Duan froze slightly.

"If that's still not enough, we can let the Armed Police have them too. And if that's still not enough, the police aren't out of the question either."

"As long as enough people have them, won't the balance be restored?"

Wang Shuo rubbed his chin. "If they aren't satisfied with the designs, I can provide multiple options. The military gets the military version, the Armed Police gets the Armed Police version, and the police gets the police version. Different designs, different performances, different specialties."

"Hmm... In that case, should I have Sister Liu draft the contract details in advance? I'll also have to get Zhou Ping to build a few more factories, otherwise we might not be able to keep up..."

On the road, Instructor Duan, who had looked so solemn just moments ago, was dumbfounded. He opened his mouth, but not a single word of complaint came out.

Can things really be handled this way?