158: Chapter 158 Science Fiction Enters Reality: Mark 45 Makes a Shocking Arrival

The No. 18 artificial humanoid Robot now already possessed a valid driver's license.

As early as last year, Lu Li had the traffic management department handle all of its identification documents.

In terms of traffic regulations, it was a legal and extremely reliable human driver.

The black bulletproof sedan drove steadily out of Hongshi Villa District.

Lu Li leaned back in the rear seat.

With a tablet propped on his lap, he was reviewing the underlying data for Beining City's intelligent transformation.

His demeanor was as lazy and laid-back as always.

Su Qingxue sat beside him, looking down to check today's meeting agenda.

She would occasionally lift her eyes to look at her husband.

Other CEOs in the morning would be looking at financial reports and stock market trends in their cars.

Her husband, however, was looking at infrastructure parameters, AI model corrections, and would occasionally switch out to browse silly comments from netizens.

The style was absurd to the extreme.

Yet, this man, who was too lazy even to go to work, had become the anchor of China's entire technology sector.

The car drove onto the main road.

The No. 18's steady voice came from the front row.

"Master, there is a vehicle continuously following us from behind."

Lu Li didn't even lift his eyelids.

"People from the military?"

"Cannot confirm 100%."

No. 18 kept its eyes on the road ahead, its hands gripping the steering wheel without the slightest deviation.

"The other party's tracking technique is professional, the distance control is excellent, and they have repeatedly used the traffic flow as cover. Conventional surveillance logic would classify it as a vehicle traveling in the same direction."

Only then did Lu Li lift his eyelids and glance at the rearview mirror.

The traffic was dense.

A silver-gray SUV was mixed in among them.

Extremely ordinary.

But No. 18's visual and memory core had long since performed real-time 3D modeling of the trajectories, speeds, and license plates of all vehicles along the way, identifying the only abnormal variable.

"Interesting."

Lu Li leaned back against the seat.

He thought this was the covert security arranged by Elder Wu's side.

After all, given his current status, it was normal for the higher-ups to send a few more teams to keep an eye on him.

It was just that this time, the tracking technique was a bit too covert.

"Keep driving."

Lu Li instructed, "Don't pay them any mind."

"Understood."

The sedan drove at a constant speed, without any abnormality.

Inside the silver-gray SUV behind them, the air pressure was extremely low.

The two killers stared fixedly at the black sedan in front.

They had scouted the perimeter of the villa district last night.

The results were despair-inducing.

Once a drone approached the core area, the signal was instantly and forcibly cut off and fried.

There were even traces of high-magnification lens reflections at distant commanding heights.

This was simply not the security level of an ordinary entrepreneur.

This was national treasure-level strategic protection.

"Normal assassination won't work."

The man in the passenger seat said in a tight voice.

A fierce glint flashed in the eyes of the man in the driver's seat.

"The higher-ups gave a death order."

"If we don't do it, it's our whole family that will disappear."

They had no way out.

They could only use the most brutal method to forcibly tear open a gap.

...

Morning rush hour.

The sky was gloomy, and the road was congested.

The black sedan drove onto a relatively remote bridge crossing a river.

The area ahead suddenly fell into chaos.

A small truck and two private cars collided, parts scattered everywhere, blocking the road completely.

Horns blared one after another.

Many drivers poked their heads out to curse.

No. 18 stepped on the brakes steadily.

"The road ahead is blocked, I suggest making a U-turn."

Lu Li put away his tablet.

His gaze swept over the car accident scene ahead.

Without any warning, the side door of a dilapidated van on the side of the bridge was suddenly pulled open.

Two figures rushed out.

Holding black American-made M16 automatic rifles in their hands.

The muzzles were pointed straight at the back seat of the black sedan.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—!"

The ear-piercing gunfire instantly tore through the morning clamor.

The crowd on the bridge froze for half a second.

Then, extremely terrified screams erupted.

The crowd scattered and fled; some scrambled to hide under cars, others clutched their ears tightly and lay on their steering wheels.

The killers didn't even look at the passersby.

They held the triggers down tightly, tongues of fire spitting madly.

Bullets poured onto the windows and doors of the black sedan.

Exploding with a dense sound of metal impacts.

But the next second, the two killers' movements froze.

The windows didn't shatter.

The surface of the high-strength bulletproof glass only left a layer of fine, white spiderweb cracks.

The bullet heads were squeezed and deformed by the immense resistance, falling to the ground one after another.

It had forcibly withstood all the close-range strafing.

"Keep shooting! Get the explosives!"

The killers roared frantically.

Inside the car.

Su Qingxue's face turned pale.

This was not the cutthroat competition of the business world.

This was a deadly assassination attempt.

She instinctively looked at the man beside her.

The laziness in Lu Li's eyes vanished completely.

He hated trouble the most.

And he hated it even more when someone brought trouble to Su Qingxue.

"No. 18, protect Qingxue."

Lu Li's command was extremely calm.

"Yes!"

No. 18 moved instantly.

The liquid metal skeleton rapidly reorganized under the bio-mimetic skin; it crossed over the seat in a twisted posture that completely defied the limits of human joints, instantly pressing Su Qingxue down.

Using its own body to construct an absolute physical defensive blind spot.

Lu Li pressed the black briefcase beside him.

Battle Armor activated.

"Click, click, click—!"

Silver and red metal armor ejected from the briefcase.

Rapidly spreading, interlocking, and locking along his arms, shoulders, neck, chest, and abdomen.

The friction sounds of the mechanical assembly were dense and crisp.

Two seconds.

Only two seconds.

A highly oppressive Mark 45 Battle Armor completed its full-coverage suit-up inside the cramped vehicle cabin.

Su Qingxue was protected under No. 18.

She lifted her head.

Looking at that tall figure completely wrapped in steel.

At this moment, fear was completely dispelled by an indescribable sense of security.

This was her husband.

A man who could turn sci-fi movies into reality, a man with the power to overturn the world.

What else did she have to fear?

Lu Li lifted his head.

The faceplate closed silently.

The photosensitive elements in the eyes lit up with a highly penetrating blue glow.

The gunfire outside the car continued, and the killers were pulling directional blasting explosives from their bags.

Lu Li pushed open the door covered in bullet holes.

The Battle Armor's amplification system transmitted his voice out.

No emotion.

Only the indifference of a superior being.

"You have chosen the wrong target."