Upon hearing Engineer Li's call, Pei Yan, who had long wanted to take a breather, immediately rushed over excitedly. He watched as Engineer Li directed the staff to dismantle large crates and move out various instruments, while he himself carefully took an object from a safe handed over by his assistant and solemnly placed it into Pei Yan's hands.
Seeing his serious demeanor, Pei Yan couldn't help but feel nervous. His hands treated the object, resembling a pilot's helmet, as though it were a sacred relic, cautiously cradling it in his palms.
"Try to integrate this and see how it goes. It's been manufactured based on pilot helmet technology."
"Is... is it made especially for me?" Pei Yan asked, somewhat flattered.
Engineer Li nodded and then shook his head, "The original purpose of its development wasn't because of you. Our research institute has been working on new generation single-soldier equipment, including mechanical exoskeletons and intelligent machinery, and this helmet is one of our research directions. The helmet borrows from flight helmet technology and includes features like an internal camera, AR visor, mini projection equipment, an ultra-wide angle high-definition display visor. The computer processes the data collected by the camera, overlays relevant parameters, and projects them onto the visor."
Engineer Li paused, regretfully touching the helmet in Pei Yan's hands before continuing, "We've made some improvements to its functions for the army, such as long-distance observation, thermal imaging systems, automatic targeting systems, and sniper parameter wind direction evaluation. However, due to certain core technical factors, high cost, and other reasons affecting practicality, this device has only stayed at the technology reserve stage. After learning about you, our institute started improving the helmet a month ago. So far, it looks decent. Absorb it and let me see how it will undergo a rebirth of sorts!"
Holding the crystallization of the researchers' hard work, Pei Yan was extremely excited and slowly put it on his head. The dazzling blue light again erupted, with countless iron streams rising from Pei Yan's shoulders toward the new helmet.
The previous scene of the iron stream encasing his entire head did not recur. At the moment the iron stream touched the helmet, its exterior began to soften and mutate, gradually aligning with Pei Yan's body material. The large glass visor decreased in size, ultimately leaving a perfectly sized viewing range around Pei Yan's eyes. His entire face, including his hair, was covered by a newly transformed steel helmet, with a steel mask below his eyes seamlessly integrating with the steel mechanical body beneath his neck.
Everyone present, including Gu Shenghui, was awed by Pei Yan's appearance, as a cold and highly technological mechanical warrior was now standing before them!
"How do you feel now? Is your breathing normal? Has your head also become mechanized? Are you still human?" Engineer Li, ignoring the worried looks of the other researchers, excitedly broke free from their grip, ran up to Pei Yan, reached up to touch the helmet on Pei Yan's face, and asked excitedly.
Without responding, Pei Yan was reaching out, bewildered, to touch his new helmet, still immersed in the new perspective and streams of data projected onto the glass visor.
It took him a long time to snap back to reality after Engineer Li's repeated calls. He gently tapped the helmet with his fingers, causing the metallic mask covering his mouth and nose to retract swiftly to the sides, revealing his chin. He bent down to allow Engineer Li to better touch his skin, smiling as he said, "Of course, I'm still human! Breathing is normal, though it feels a bit strange. I need to adjust."
"Yes, exactly! Good, good! You need to adjust a bit. Wait! Wait! There are also these!" With joyful excitement rendering him incoherent, Engineer Li turned and waved for the staff behind him to push over equipment cabinets. He then looked at Pei Yan and said, "Though these machines don't compare to the national supercomputers, their performance is certainly remarkable. Most importantly, they store the system programs we've developed for the future combat of intelligent machines, which will aid in your helmet's usage."
"Is this really okay? These are all the fruits of your labor, and they must be expensive!" Pei Yan, moved upon seeing this, choked with emotion as he asked.
"Rest assured, these are only backups. The original data is safely stored in the institute. Besides, let's not mention the cars you've absorbed; the helmet alone, excluding R&D costs, costs nearly three million yuan. These machines are priceless, and you shouldn't overthink it. Actually, our arrangement is mutually beneficial. The experiments on you provide insights into the future of technological growth, presenting a shortcut. We bypass the process and reach the endpoint, just to catch a glimpse of what kind of warrior our research standards could eventually create."
As he spoke, Engineer Li patted Pei Yan's mechanical arm, "So absorb them. I only hope you don't disappoint us, nor the country!"
"Okay!"
Fifteen minutes later, glancing at Pei Yan, who stood before him anew after absorbing the equipment, Xiaogu leapt up from the ground, wiped his greasy mouth from eating spicy strips, and teased, "Oh! Do you look cooler now? You kind of resemble a cold-blooded mechanical killer, but I wonder if your attack is still as weak as before. So, are you ready, mechanical killer? Can we start now?"
"Bring it on!" Pei Yan's face, shielded by the mechanical mask, emitted a muffled response.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
A series of sounds from the clash of machinery and flesh echoed within Jiezhi Space. This time, the fight made Gu Shenghui and others' eyes light up; that familiar feeling finally returned!
However, Pei Yan's perception was completely different from that of the outside world. The moment Xiaogu launched an attack, the data on his visor screen also changed dramatically. From predicting the opponent's attack angles and their next move to suggesting appropriate responses based on known data—whether to punch or kick—it swiftly transmitted suggestions to his brain. When he followed them, the precision of his actions and the tricky angles in his strikes were so evident that even he could tell the vast difference compared to before.
After exchanging over twenty moves with Xiaogu, Pei Yan finally managed to seize the initiative in the attack and effectively countered during the assault as he gradually adapted to the helmet's guidance.
"Xiaogu, what do you think?" Elder Lin lightly coughed, watching the two battling inside, and asked softly.
"It's not much different from that night, but there's still a bit of a difference. The change probably comes from using the information hints on the helmet for counterattacks—one directly controls his body, while the other requires a brief thought process. The gap is subtle and not easily noticed without careful observation," Gu Shenghui assessed as he smacked his lips thoughtfully.
"Hmm, but being able to do that already is impressive! We got lucky this time; it's like striking gold. But with the military investing so heavily, Xiaogu, you might end up with nothing again," Elder Lin teased, looking at Gu Shenghui, whose face was gradually darkening.
"I'm not letting go of this person. We can't just transfer talent the moment they show potential. Talented people need to endure to grow. Elder Lin, you have to communicate with those other seniors at the bureau about this. When the time comes, we should stand united, especially against that Old Man Zuo! Ever since his son-in-law was selected for the troops, he's been leaning outward! Last time, when the troops wanted to transfer Ye Ruozai, he opposed me at the bureau, preaching about supporting troop building. If I hadn't slammed the table and turned red-faced, they would've taken the person away! Support, support! That brigade has over four hundred people! Our bureau, with what, with even fewer numbers, has to support them! What are they planning, preparing for a superpower war or something?" Gu Shenghui's face grew more exasperated as he spoke, finally shouting indignantly, drawing attention from others, especially making Instructor Miao, standing not far away, feel awkward with his face turning red and white.
Elder Lin, amused and slightly exasperated by Gu Shenghui's rare childlike tantrum, patted him gently on the lower back, "Alright, this time we got your back!"