Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

Acrid white smoke filled the vault. Lu Jingyan, wearing a gas mask, stepped over the groans and coldly stared at the doorway: "Is this all you've got? You dare to rob a police station?"

The voice just fell.

The thick concrete ceiling above suddenly emitted a teeth-grinding creaking sound.

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a dull resonance in the empty underground vault. Several pieces of grayish-white plaster fell down with a rustling sound, landing right on Zhao Tiezhu's gleaming forehead.

Zhao Tiezhu reached up and wiped his bald head, then tilted his head back to look up.

"What's that noise? Did the water pipe upstairs burst?" he asked in a rough voice.

The vault on the third basement level of the police headquarters is topped with a shock-resistant layer three times thicker than usual. Inside, it's reinforced with thick, threaded steel bars, so thick that even a signal can't penetrate it under normal circumstances.

At that moment, a chilling cracking sound came from the seemingly indestructible soundproof floorboards.

"Crack—Boom!"

It was like a prehistoric behemoth tearing open its cage.

A precast concrete slab weighing two or three tons, along with its steel bars that had been violently torn and twisted into a pretzel shape, crashed down from the ceiling without warning.

A huge boulder, billowing with dust, crashed heavily next to the black safe in the very center of the vault.

The ground shook violently. The SWAT officers were thrown back half a step by the force of the shock and quickly raised their riot shields to protect themselves.

Immediately afterwards, a huge, black, metallic shadow plummeted straight down through the enormous hole.

"Clang!"

The steel lump, over two meters tall, landed on both feet.

The weight of the machine, weighing several hundred kilograms, combined with the acceleration of gravity during the fall, instantly shattered the marble floor tiles beneath its feet.

The hard tile shattered into pieces like a crisp biscuit. Spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly in all directions from the point of impact. Pebbles and dust flew more than half a meter high, hitting the SWAT officer's bulletproof vest with a series of thuds.

Lu Jingyan stood still. The ground beneath his military boots vibrated, making his calf muscles tense.

He looked at the monster that had fallen from the sky through the resin lenses of his gas mask.

This is a heavy exoskeleton armor set.

The signs of smuggling and assembly were obvious. The metallic paint on the left arm and right leg were different colors, and thick cables and hydraulic pipes were haphazardly wrapped around the back, exuding a barbaric and brutal wasteland industrial vibe.

The hydraulic rod at the armored knee joint emitted a piercing screech due to the intense compression.

"Sizzle—"

The cooling valve behind it suddenly spewed out a large plume of scalding white steam.

High-temperature steam swept through the vault like a whirlwind, directly dispersing most of the tear gas that had been filling the air.

The air was instantly filled with the burnt smell of cheap engine oil, mixed with the earthy smell of rusty metal, and the heat hit people's faces.

The thick bulletproof mask on the chest of the exoskeleton made a mechanical clicking sound as it slowly slid upwards.

Qiu Kun's face, which was covered in sweat, was revealed.

His hair was completely soaked, clinging to his forehead in strands. His eyes were bloodshot, and several twisted blue veins bulged at the corners of his eyes from extreme excitement.

Qiu Kun glanced down at his mercenary subordinates, who were rolling on the ground, unable to fight.

He ignored their lives. His gaze swept past the group of good-for-nothings and fixed firmly on Lu Jingyan.

"Lu Jingyan, do you really think you're some kind of emperor?"

Qiu Kun's voice came through the armor's built-in loudspeaker. It had the metallic, hoarse quality unique to voice changers, making people's eardrums tingle.

Zhao Tiezhu reacted the fastest.

He gritted his teeth, picked up his submachine gun, pressed the butt against his shoulder, and unleashed a barrage of fire at the exoskeleton's breastplate.

"Da da da da!"

The muzzle spewed out a dazzling tongue of fire. Brass bullets rained down on the thick composite armor.

Useless.

Aside from a burst of dense, orange-red sparks, the bullets, powerful enough to penetrate brick walls, were all deflected. The deformed bullets fell to the ground with a clattering sound.

Not even a scratch on the paint was rubbed off.

Qiu Kun sat in the cockpit without even a jolt. He turned his head and gave Zhao Tiezhu a disdainful look.

"Are you trying to tickle me with a fire poker?"

He manipulated the mechanical right arm to raise it. Thick, alloy fingers spread out.

A black metal launcher popped out of a slot inside the wrist.

"Buzz—"

A high-frequency motor sound that made your teeth ache rang out.

A high-frequency plasma blade, nearly a meter long, suddenly emerged from the transmitter.

The light blade was a ghostly blue color, and its core temperature was terrifyingly high. The moment it lit up, it distorted and warped the surrounding air.

Tiny blue arcs of electricity crackled around the blade, accompanied by a sizzling sound.

The oxygen in the air was rapidly ionized, making the pungent ozone smell even stronger.

Lu Jingyan reached out and grabbed the buckle on the edge of the gas mask. He pulled it outwards.

He casually tossed the mask into the sweltering steam at his feet. He looked up, revealing a cold, hard face devoid of any emotion.

Since tear gas is no longer available, wearing a mask is actually inconvenient.

He put his hands back into the pockets of his tactical vest, his dark eyes following the dark blue plasma blade upwards, finally meeting Qiu Kun's crazed eyes.

When Qiu Kun saw him take off his mask, his facial features were all crooked from laughing.

"What? Are you resigning yourself to your fate?"

Qiu Kun gripped the mecha's control sticks with both hands, causing the heavy mechanical arm to perform a clumsy knife-like flourish in mid-air.

The plasma blade sliced ​​through the metal evidence rack beside it. Just like a hot knife through butter, the two-inch-thick steel frame was instantly and cleanly cut in half, with molten iron still dripping from the cut.

"Without that sinister alien system, do you think your tattered vest can withstand my knife?"

Qiu Kun controlled the exoskeleton, which was more than two meters tall, and took a big step forward.

The mechanical foot slammed down, landing squarely on the fingers of the mouse lying on the ground, feigning death.

The rat let out a scream that sounded like a human's, and scrambled to pull its hand away, fainting from the pain.

Qiu Kun didn't even look down.

His mind was filled with the insane thought of slicing the arrogant police chief in front of him in two.

"This armor of mine was pieced together from six scrapped engines."

Qiu Kun opened his mouth wide, spitting saliva onto the glass of his mask.

"Each punch delivers five tons of force! This knife can slice through the side armor of a starship!"

Looking at Lu Jingyan's perpetually calm demeanor, his anger and rage surged to the top of his head.

He hated those uniformed cops the most. Why did they, standing in the light, have to erase someone's decades of hard work with just a single sentence?

Why can this man, having lost all his cards, still adopt such a condescending and judgmental stance?

The exhaust pipe on the back of the exoskeleton once again spewed out a plume of hot white mist.

Qiu Kun, controlling his two-meter-tall exoskeleton, took a step forward, the plasma blade leaving scorch marks in the air: "Without your system, what will you use to block my armor?"