In the apocalypse, I hoarded goods and handed over my storage space to the government.

(Some keywords failed the review process again, so I modified them all.)

The man walked with a steady gait, followed by Li Guodong and several high-ranking generals.

The supreme leader of the Great Xia Dynasty.

The entire venue was completely silent for a full two seconds.

Everyone's brains briefly went blank at that moment.

Upon recognizing the newcomer in the cockpit, Jinlong immediately took control of his mecha and gave a standard military salute.

Ye Xiao also suppressed his arrogance, lowered the tip of his knife to the ground, and stood up straight.

"Guardian."

Su Ran quickly went to meet her.

The old man nodded slightly, his gaze passing over Su Ran and landing on the person and machine facing off in the center of the arena.

A complex emotion flashed in the old man's eyes.

There is a sense of awe at the industrial miracle of the Great Xia Dynasty, expectations for the warriors of the new era, and a touch of worry about the uncertain future.

"Don't be nervous, I'm just here to take a look."

The old man waved his hand, signaling everyone to relax.

He turned his head and looked at Su Ran, who was walking quickly towards him.

"Advisor Su, did I disturb your plans?"

The garrison commander smiled gently.

Su Ran looked at the old man in front of her and felt a slight chill in her heart.

The guard who came out of the pass this time gave him a different feeling.

If the last time he emerged from seclusion, Shouchang was like an ancient sword radiating murderous intent.

Now, he seemed to have transformed back into that peerless commander who remained unfazed even when Mount Tai collapsed before him.

Everything is under control.

"Commander, why did you come in person?"

Su Ran stepped forward, her tone tinged with surprise and seriousness.

The security of the highest central authority has always been at the highest level of protection.

Logically speaking, it should never have happened at such a potentially dangerous testing site.

"Guodong showed me the various parameters of 'Chengying'."

The guard patted the cold metal railing beside him.

"Humans created the ultimate weapon that can fight mythical monsters head-on with their own hands."

How could I possibly sit still in my office during such a historic moment?

The old man turned around and faced the entire audience.

He reached out and pressed his hand against the cold glass surface, gazing at the mecha that represented the pinnacle of the Great Xia's industry.

"Fifteen days. From blueprints to finished product. DaXia speed never disappoints."

Upon hearing this, Wei Jianguo's eyes reddened with emotion, and his voice trembled:

"This is all thanks to the engineers who worked day and night, risking their lives!"

The actual test data for "Cheng Ying" has far exceeded our expectations!

The garrison commander did not turn around; his gaze slowly moved until it finally landed on the young man holding two swords at the other end of the field.

"The mechs are inanimate, but the people are alive."

He turned around, his sharp, knife-like gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"I know there have been some private discussions about this recently, both within the military and even the Academy of Sciences."

The garrison commander's voice gradually rose, carrying a hint of sternness.

Some people say that with crystal core weapons and tactical mechs, we can wipe out the apocalypse.

They felt that the existence of awakened beings no longer had strategic significance.

They believe that resources should be prioritized and unconditionally allocated to the development of more lethal weapons.

The Awakened Ones all clenched their fists silently, their expressions cold and stern.

He walked to the front of the table and placed his hands heavily on the tabletop.

"wrong!"

A sharp shout, like a thunderclap from a clear sky.

"The Great Xia is facing a great change unseen in three thousand years. We hold the sword of technology in our hands, and we are also nurturing the spark of evolution."

The Great Xia's strategy has never been to put all its eggs in one basket!

The garrison commander's eyes were sharp, and his voice was firm and resolute:

"Technology represents the bottom line; it ensures that the 1.4 billion people of Great Xia have the power to fight back."

But evolution represents the upper limit.

It determines how far the Great Xia Dynasty can ultimately go in this apocalyptic catastrophe!

The old man stretched out his right hand and slammed it heavily on the red start button.

"Today's test is not about determining who is better or worse, nor is it about proving who can replace whom."

The chief's voice resounded throughout the entire underground dome via full-frequency broadcast.

"I want you to prove to everyone that when the steel backbone of Great Xia meets the sharpest blade of Great Xia."

"Can we cut through this despair of the apocalypse?"

"Test, continue!"

boom!

He had barely finished speaking.

The crystal energy engine on the back of the tactical mech "Cheng Ying" instantly erupted with dazzling blue flames.

The eighteen-ton steel structure rose from the ground, and the metallic earth collapsed instantly.

It was like a heavy cannonball fired from a gun, carrying the kinetic energy to destroy everything, and crashed straight into Ye Xiao.

The wind howled and the air currents tore through the air.

Ye Xiao advanced instead of retreating.

"kill!"

A roar echoed throughout the hangar.

Facing the moving steel mountain, Ye Xiao fiercely swung his twin blades.

Although he had received repeated reminders from Su Ran before the war began.

This test must prioritize the safety of both parties; only under this premise can we proceed with full force.

However, when that suffocating sense of oppression came crashing down on him, Ye Xiao's innate intuition, as a warrior honed on the edge of life and death, was frantically alarming him.

If he doesn't give it his all and treat this as a life-or-death battle, he will undoubtedly lose.

Following Ye Xiao's swing of his twin swords.

The eighteen-ton Chengying mech shattered the air.

Ye Xiao crossed his twin swords and slashed at the mecha's thick mechanical right leg.

"clang!"

A deafening metallic explosion echoed through the dome.

Ye Xiao felt his arms go numb, and his tiger's mouth split open instantly.

The full-force blow, powerful enough to cleave the shell of a second-tier mutated beast, left only two white marks less than half a centimeter deep on the mecha armor.

In contrast, Cheng Ying, this steel monster, under the control of Jin Long, completely ignored Ye Xiao's slashes.

Using the momentum of the charge, the mech's left arm suddenly rose, and a steel fist the size of a washbasin slammed down on its head.

The air was violently compressed, producing a sharp popping sound.

Ye Xiao's pupils suddenly contracted.

retreat!

He used his feet to push off, forcibly moving his body three meters backward.

"boom!"

The powerful punch landed, sending him flying through the air.

Ye Xiao tumbled in mid-air, and after landing, he took ten steps back before barely managing to dissipate the force of the impact.

"What a hard turtle shell!"

Ye Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood, but the fanaticism in his eyes only intensified.

On the control panel, Wei Jianguo clenched his fists, his face filled with excitement.

"Composite armor plus an energy coating—this is the mech's absolute defense! Neither mutated beasts nor awakened beings can break through its defenses!"

Lu Yuan stared intently at the data stream on the screen.

"Captain Jinlong withstood the recoil force within the safe threshold, and the mech's condition was perfectly preserved."

Su Ran stood beside the guard, her eyes focused.

The pinnacle of physical defense is enough to give the Great Xia army an overwhelming survival rate when facing massive zombie hordes.

But this doesn't mean that mechs are invincible.

"Again!"

Ye Xiao roared, and his entire body transformed into a black lightning bolt, rushing towards Cheng Ying once again.

Jinlong sat in the cockpit, the holographic screen in front of him flashing red light wildly.

[Target's movement speed exceeds critical threshold! Radar lock failed!]

"Wow, that's fast!"

Jinlong's heart skipped a beat. "I can't let him get any closer!"

The mecha slammed its legs into the ground and slid backward.

At the same time, the chest armor slid open to the sides.

Two rows of dark launch tubes emerged, locking onto Ye Xiao.

"Gel bombs, fire!"

Whoosh whoosh!

Ten specially made gel bullets, trailing white smoke, sealed off all of Ye Xiao's hiding places.

Once hit, this high-strength gel will instantly expand and harden, trapping the person tightly.

"A great opportunity!"

Ye Xiao's eyes flashed with a sharp light.

Instead of retreating, he advanced.

Facing the hail of bullets, Ye Xiao suddenly lowered his body.

Two gel pellets grazed his shoulders and hit him behind him, instantly expanding into huge white clumps of gel.

Ye Xiao did not slow down and instantly closed in on the mecha.

Jinlong was shocked and hurriedly controlled the mecha to retreat. Chengying's back engine spewed blue flames, and its right arm extended a high-frequency vibration blade that was three meters long.

"Buzz!"

The blade vibrated at a high frequency as the mech swung its blade, drawing a deadly crescent-shaped arc of light.

This is pure firepower and area suppression!

Ye Xiao was extremely flexible. At the moment the blade was about to strike him, he bent his knees and slid almost flat on the ground.

The high-frequency oscillating blade grazed his head, shaving off a few strands of hair.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, Ye Xiao moved close to the lower body of the mecha.

The twin blades struck the mech's knee joint drive shaft like a storm.

The clanging and clattering sounds blended together.

"Useless!" Jinlong sneered.

The mech's knee joints are also covered with high-strength armor.

Cheng Ying raised his leg and delivered a powerful knee strike straight for Ye Xiao's chest.

The two engaged in an extremely dangerous close-quarters combat in a confined space.

On one side is a massive steel behemoth weighing eighteen tons, heavily fortified.

On one side are top-tier awakened individuals whose neural reactions have reached the limits of human capabilities, whose movements are unpredictable, and whose swordsmanship is fierce.

In the stands, everyone held their breath.

Bai Lu gripped the railing tightly with both hands; she could clearly sense the terrifying kinetic energy contained within the mecha.

If Ye Xiao were to take a direct hit, he would instantly lose his ability to fight.

"Brother Ye, this fight is so frustrating."

Zhu Jingye swallowed hard and muttered to himself.

"Old Ye isn't a reckless man; he's looking for weaknesses."

Mo Yun pushed up his reflective glasses, hitting the nail on the head.

"Mechs are large and have great inertia, so there are bound to be physical blind spots in micro-management."

In the center of the arena, the battle reached its climax.

Ye Xiao was panting heavily, his combat uniform soaked with sweat.

The sustained high-intensity bursts of energy took a heavy toll on his physical strength.

In contrast, Chengying, relying on its crystal core engine, maintains a stable peak energy output.

"That's great!" Ye Xiao laughed.

He gripped the knife hilt tightly with both hands, his eyes fixed on the armor connection at the neck of the mech.

That's where the visual sensor circuitry intersects with the cockpit's neural interaction module.

It is also the weakest point of the armor covering the entire mech, in order to ensure that the head can rotate flexibly.

"Captain Kim, take this one last hit!"

Ye Xiao roared, unleashing his full power at the peak of the second tier.

"boom!"

Ye Xiao did not retreat, but instead charged head-on into the high-frequency vibration blades swung by the mecha.

Inside the cockpit, Jinlong's eyes darkened.

"Not dodge?"

The vibrating blade, carrying the aura of death, slashed down.

Just as the blade was about to touch Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao swiftly raised his left hand with his Tang sword, parrying the side of the vibrating blade with unparalleled precision.

"clang!"

He felt a sweet taste in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood.

But he didn't back down!

Using this terrifying recoil force, Ye Xiao's body twisted strangely in mid-air, sliding upwards along the huge vibrating blade.

"What?!" Jinlong was shocked.

The radar alarms went off in unison.

[WARNING! Enemy target has entered melee blind spot!]

Ye Xiao stepped onto the mecha's thick arm and, with a few leaps, jumped onto Cheng Ying's shoulder.

"Break it!"

Ye Xiao's eyes were bloodshot, and he gripped the Tang sword in his right hand, aiming it at the fatal gap in the mecha's neck, and plunged it in fiercely.

"Sizzle!"

It was accompanied by a tooth-grinding metallic tearing sound.

The second-tier awakened one's reckless explosive power, combined with the sharpness of the specially made alloy Tang sword, finally tore through the mech's weakest defensive perimeter.

The blade pierced through the outer armor, shredded several sensor lines, and plunged into the aerospace-grade gel buffer layer of the cockpit.

"stop!"

Su Ran's icy voice echoed throughout the venue through the microphone.

The mecha's high-frequency vibrating blades stopped in mid-air.

Ye Xiao crouched on the mecha's shoulder, his chest heaving violently, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

His right hand's Tang sword was embedded all the way into the mech's neck.

Inside the control room, Lu Yuan quickly brought up the internal video feed of the cockpit.

When Wei Jianguo and the other senior academicians saw the image on the screen, they all gasped in shock.

On the screen.

The sharp tip of the Tang sword pierced through multiple layers of protection and came to a steady stop in front of the golden dragon's throat.

It was only a few centimeters away from the major artery.

Dead silence.

The entire underground testing ground was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The researchers looked at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Ye Xiao drew his Tang sword, leaped off the mecha's shoulder, and landed steadily.

"Captain Kim, you flatter me."

Ye Xiao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, grinned, and revealed a set of white teeth.

"laugh!"

The mech's chest armor opens.

Jinlong stepped out of the cockpit, his face pale and his body drenched in cold sweat.

He took a deep breath and gave Ye Xiao a standard military salute:

"Brother Ye, you've won. In a real fight, I'd be dead by now."

Ye Xiao waved his hand and sheathed his sword.

"Don't be modest. If I hadn't dodged those attacks a little slower, I wouldn't even be able to put the puzzle together now. This metal shell is really fierce."

"Slap. Slap. Slap."

A burst of applause rang out from the deathly silent observation deck.

The garrison commander stood at the very front, smiling, and clapping his hands vigorously.

Then, as if struck by lightning from a clear sky, Su Ran, Li Guodong, Wei Jianguo, Lu Yuan…

Everyone in the room, from military leaders to researchers, spontaneously burst into applause.

Thunderous applause erupted, a chorus of praise for Ye Xiao's unconventional approach and his demonstration of individual strength.

It also serves as a demonstration of humanity's confidence in resisting advanced mutants.

He raised his hand and pressed it down.

The applause gradually subsided.

"Excellent. A truly excellent match."

The commander surveyed the entire area, his voice booming.

"Old Wei, Engineer Wu, Engineer Lu, did you understand?"

Why did this mech, representing the pinnacle of Great Xia's current industry, lose today?

"Guardian,"

After a brief pause, Wei Jianguo, as the representative of the research team, spoke.

"The mech's physical defense is undeniably strong, and its fire control system is undeniably formidable."

But... the real weakness lies with the drivers inside.

A bitter look flashed in the old academician's eyes.

"Jinlong is already a top-tier soldier, one in ten thousand, but ordinary people have limits to their nerve reaction speed and physical resilience."

In actual combat, once a high-level mutant or a top-tier awakened individual like Ye Xiao gets close and finds a blind spot in their micro-management, it's a one-hit kill.

At this point, Wei Jianguo glanced at the gruesome gash on the mecha's neck, pierced by a Tang sword, and his lips twitched with heartache.

"That's right."

The garrison commander looked around and spoke in a loud voice.

"During this period, there has been a lot of debate about the future direction of Great Xia."

Some say that with the advent of mechs, the Awakened have become relics of the past, their individual strength insignificant before the overwhelming tide of steel.

The old man's piercing gaze slowly swept over every senior general and scientist present.

"Some people say that technological creations are ultimately inanimate objects, soulless metal shells, and cannot possibly fight against the high-level monsters that will destroy the world in the future."

Both sides have their own version of events, and are even trying to gain the upper hand in resource allocation!

He suddenly raised his voice, his words ringing out firmly.

"Today, I'm here to use this practical test to set the tone for Great Xia's future strategy!"