Mobile Shelter

Chapter 136 Another Mutation

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Dong Qi neither accepted nor directly rejected Hu Jing's invitation.

"Brother Hu, my situation is a bit special, and I'm not suitable to join any team for the time being. Once I've sorted out those troubles, if you're still willing to accept me, I'll definitely contact you as soon as possible."

After hearing Dong Qi say this, Hu Jing understood that the other party was politely declining. Although he didn't know if what Dong Qi said was true or false, his invitation was just a matter of following the trend. Whether the other party agreed to join or not was actually irrelevant to him.

His main purpose in coming here was to find out whether Dong Qi's use of drones to monitor the battlefield would affect their hunting operation and buy them time to clean up the battlefield.

After confirming that Dong Qi would not pose a danger to them, Hu Jing exchanged a few words with Dong Qi and then took his leave.

After Hu Jing left, since the other party had already discovered him, using a drone to observe them again could not be explained away as a simple misunderstanding.

So Dong Qi didn't linger there. He turned the car around and continued harvesting seaweed along the outer edge of the seaweed bushes.

While Dong Qi was harvesting seaweed and trying to gain farm experience, the Kyoto Research Institute produced results that were unimaginable to ordinary people.

Since the emergence of EMP and the acquisition of superpowers by Awakened Ones, the entire society on Earth has become extremely polarized, and this division is very serious.

Because of EMP, with most electronic devices becoming unusable, ordinary people's lives seem to have been instantly thrown back to the primitive society.

Meanwhile, those high-precision research companies, due to the special supernatural effects of the awakened individuals, have been able to bypass research projects that were originally stuck for some reason.

This has led to some previously stalled research progressing significantly after receiving assistance from supernatural abilities.

Furthermore, due to the emergence of mutated marine life, especially research projects related to combat, they have received special attention.

Even though Peng Qi did not reveal his identity as an Awakened, it might be because Peng Qi joined the research institute directly after graduating from school and was a direct descendant of the sect.

So even though Peng Qi was still only a Level 2 Researcher at this time, he gradually began to get involved in some of the core research projects in the research institute after going through a complicated review process.

"Academician Li, this equipment has passed three consecutive tests and, according to the previous requirements, can now be installed."

Upon hearing Peng Qi's report, Academician Li reached out and took the test data from him. After carefully examining it, he spoke to Peng Qi:

"The data is fine. This project only has some finishing touches left. When we do the actual testing after installation, you can go and check it out."

I remember you're currently a Level 2 Researcher. Once this project is finished, your Researcher level should be able to be promoted to the next level.

I'll assign you more work during this time, and let you work on more projects. But don't worry, your teacher has already spoken to me and asked me to take good care of you.

Since the research institute has a lot of projects right now, you can work on a few more projects and gain some experience.

In the meantime, I'll first solidify your status as a Level 1 Researcher. After some time, once the projects you're working on have concluded, if a suitable opportunity arises, I'll help you advance to the next level, making you qualified to lead a research project.

But to be honest, this is all the help I can give you. If you want to improve further, you'll have to rely on your own hard work and abilities.

Upon hearing Academician Li's words, Peng Qi's eyes lit up, and he quickly thanked Academician Li.

Academician Li didn't pay much attention to Peng Qi's gratitude; he simply waved his hand and told him to leave.

His promotion of Peng Qi was actually paving the way for his own disciple.

Perhaps in other research institutes, the title of Level 1 Researcher is very high, and there may not be many people with it in the entire institute.

However, at the Kyoto Research Institute headquarters, a Level 2 researcher is just a lowly soldier doing odd jobs, and a Level 1 researcher can only be an assistant. Only when they are appointed as research supervisors can they be considered to lead a research project.

In fact, Peng Qi didn't have a deep understanding of the testing equipment he had just reported on, and he was just following the manual and doing the tests in a very conventional way.

But when Peng Qi delivered the testing equipment to the actual machine installation workshop, he discovered that the equipment he was responsible for testing would eventually be installed on a giant mecha beast.

If Peng Qi hadn't seen it with his own eyes this time, he would never have imagined that the giant machines that were originally just in science fiction movies had already been manufactured in Great Xia.

To be honest, aside from the convenience of using various weapons, the human form is not really suitable for combat, especially close combat.

The mechanical behemoth before us has six mechanical legs on its lower body, similar to those of a spider. In fact, four mechanical legs would have been enough to stabilize its body.

However, with the addition of an extra pair of mechanical legs, both its stability and passage capacity will be significantly improved.

The upper body is a cylindrical body with six mechanical arms installed.

If viewed from a distance, this giant machine looks like two cylinders, one horizontal and one vertical, stuck together.

However, its lower body consists of six robust mechanical legs, while its upper body consists of six slender mechanical arms.

Perhaps due to the EMP, this prototype mechanical behemoth was not equipped with firearms or missiles.

Instead, based on the different characteristics of the mechanical arms of this mechanical behemoth, it was equipped with different giant melee weapons.

When the Great Xia was building this mechanical behemoth, they had already envisioned the scenarios they would face in future battles, so they specially created different mechanical arms to adapt to different scenarios.

For example, the mechanical arm specifically designed for shield defense is several levels stronger than other mechanical arms in terms of impact resistance and the strength of its metal material.

The other pair of robotic arms, each wielding a long sword, are far more agile than the other robotic arms.

There is also a robotic arm holding a long spear. Da Xia specially added an independent power propulsion system to this robotic arm, so that after piercing the target, the spear can increase the piercing effect a second time.

Of the two remaining robotic arms, one was equipped with a ranged weapon.

Although, due to the EMP, it is not easy to manufacture firearms that are compatible with this mechanical behemoth.

However, even if it is impossible to install firearms on it, it is very simple to install melee weapons on it.

Although it can only fire six bolts, the destructive power of each bolt should not be underestimated.

The remaining robotic arm is equipped with a weapon similar to a spiked club, and this robotic arm has more joints than the other robotic arms.

In theory, even if the mechanical behemoth's body remains still, the mechanical arm wielding the spiked club can still cause damage to all areas around the mechanical behemoth.

However, because too many steering joints are installed on this robotic arm, its attack power is far weaker than that of other robotic arms.

In other words, when this robotic arm was designed, its main target was simply to clear out the large number of enemies that approached it.

In fact, after the prototype combat machine was completed, no one was quite satisfied with it.

After all, humans are visual creatures, and the bizarre appearance of the Evangelion combat machine makes it difficult for people to be attracted to it at first glance.

However, after sacrificing appearance, its combat effectiveness should have been greatly enhanced.

Despite its massive size, this Evolutionary Combat Machine can be operated by as few as one person with basic skills, and even at its full capacity, it requires a maximum of ten people.

After the equipment sent by Peng Qi was installed, it took several more days to install some equipment and conduct some debugging. Finally, this war behemoth entered the actual combat testing phase.

This practical test was very simple; it involved directly engaging the creature in battle against a giant mutated marine life.

In order to avoid attracting attention, Da Xia deliberately chose a sparsely populated and relatively remote area.

Peng Qi was also fortunate enough to receive an invitation to watch the game.

As this war behemoth slowly stepped into the seaweed thicket, it attracted the attention of a giant mutated marine creature deep within the seaweed.

Although most mutated marine creatures have poor eyesight, they basically rely on scent to locate enemies.

Even if the giant mutated marine creature had poor eyesight, it could still detect the approaching war behemoth that was about the same size as it.

As the war behemoth drew closer, the giant mutated marine creature adopted a defensive posture when facing the monster not far away.

Because there is still some distance between us and the giant mutated marine creature, the first thing we will test will inevitably be long-range weapons.

The robotic arm that carries the long-range weapon actually has a multi-barrel launch port at its end, with six metal arrows installed in a launch port similar to a revolver magazine.

With a buzzing sound, a slender metal arrow pierced the giant mutated sea creature's body before it could react.

Moreover, when the metal arrow entered the body of the giant mutated marine creature, the shaft of the metal sword instantly shattered, causing severe secondary damage to the creature inside its body.

After the arrow shaft shattered upon piercing its body, the giant mutated marine creature not far away was unable to retaliate immediately. Instead, due to the pain, it uncontrollably rolled on the ground.

Upon seeing this, all the spectators couldn't help but smile.

Then, taking advantage of his illness, they tried to kill him.

The war behemoth, with its six legs, swiftly approached the giant mutated sea creature. As it drew near, it watched as the creature writhed in agony, showing no sign of retaliating.

The mechanical arm holding the giant spear suddenly thrust the spear into the body of the giant mutated sea creature.

As soon as the spear pierced the target's body, the independent power system installed on the robotic arm was activated.

The spear, which was originally just meant to pierce the opponent's body, was propelled by an independent power system and pierced directly through the body of the giant mutated marine creature, with the spear tip deeply embedded in the mud.

At that moment, the giant mutated marine creature, whose body was rolling around haphazardly, was instantly frozen in place by the spear.

However, precisely because of this, the giant mutated marine creature, which was originally unable to control its body due to internal pain, now seemed to have lost the sensation of pain after its body was immobilized by the spear, and actually regained control of its body and had the ability to fight back.

As the opponent swung its giant pincers at the war behemoth, the mechanical arm holding the shield easily blocked the attack with its shield raised in hand.

At the same time, two mechanical arms wielding long swords slashed directly at the weak points of the giant mutated marine creature's joints.

Perhaps it was the force of the double swords being swung, or perhaps the point of attack by the double swords was indeed a weak point at the joints.

The mechanical arm, wielding two swords, cleanly and decisively severed the joint of the giant mutated marine creature with a single attack.

As the giant mutated sea creature's pincers fell to the ground, two long blades were plunged into its body without hesitation.

As the robotic arm exerted its force, two long blades performed an abdominal surgery on the giant mutated marine creature in front of them.

Before the giant mutated marine creature could even struggle, the giant shield that was originally used for defense descended from the sky, smashing the giant mutated marine creature's head deep into the soil beneath it.

Although the described battle process is rather long, the entire battle actually only lasted a few minutes.

And after the mechanical arm that was originally holding the spear pulled the spear out of the giant mutated marine creature's body.

The two mechanical arms, each wielding a long sword, began to dissect the already dead giant mutated sea creature in front of them.

Compared to the previously tedious dissection process, the war behemoth wielding two swords was disassembled with less precision.

But in just a few minutes, it cut that enormous body into small pieces of flesh.

The subsequent detailed work is certainly beyond the capabilities of this war behemoth, and will be taken over by others.

Although the war behemoth swiftly and decisively dealt with a giant mutated sea creature.

However, such practical tests can only collect a very small amount of real-world data.

Peng Qi then followed other observers to move the battlefield with the war behemoth and continue hunting other giant mutated marine creatures.

After two or three days of real-world testing, and after eliminating energy consumption, this war behemoth is capable of handling skirmishes.

The six metal arrows it comes with are enough to render two giant mutated sea creatures incapable of fighting, even in the worst-case scenario.

In close combat, this behemoth can withstand the combined attack of up to four giant mutated marine creatures.

Even when facing six giant mutated marine creatures, a hard-won victory can be achieved after paying a heavy price.

However, if faced with even more giant, mutated marine creatures, a strategic retreat would be the only option.

Fortunately, after numerous tests, only a very small number of special species of giant mutated marine creatures were found to be able to move faster than the war behemoths.

The movement speed of most other giant mutated marine creatures is such that if the war behemoth wants to escape, those giant mutated marine creatures simply cannot intercept it.

However, although the combat test of the war behemoth went very smoothly, during the test, the Great Xia also discovered that some of the giant mutated marine creatures had undergone secondary mutations.

Although those giant mutated marine creatures have landed on land, their bodies still resemble those of ordinary marine creatures. Even though they have left the sea, they are not suitable for long-term survival on land.

However, during this combat test of the war behemoths, many observers noticed that the appearance of some giant mutated marine creatures had changed.

After consulting with professional biologists and engaging in discussions with multiple people, the final conclusion was terrifying for everyone.

The changes in the bodies of those giant mutated marine creatures at this moment seem to indicate that they have begun to gradually adapt to life on land.

Upon discovering this situation, the Great Xia side immediately became vigilant.

When the hunting party brought over some newly captured small, mutated marine creatures, the biologists, through careful observation and research, discovered that these little things also exhibited the same changes.

The reason why the frontline combat personnel did not discover this situation was primarily because they were fighting mutated marine creatures every day, so they did not pay much attention to the subtle changes in those creatures each day.

More importantly, they are not professional combatants; after each battle, they immediately dissect the bodies of the mutated marine creatures.

They only keep the edible parts of the body, and throw the unusable parts into the seaweed patch as garbage. When they come back the next day, all the flesh and blood they discarded will have mysteriously disappeared.

As a member of the observation team, Peng Qi naturally knew about the changes in those mutated marine creatures.

His initial excitement upon seeing the mechanical behemoth turned into a moment of dejection upon learning of this.

It's important to know that the area they chose for the practical test, although usually deserted and remote, is actually frequented by hunting teams because of its proximity to Kyoto.

The mutated marine creatures in this area have already shown these subtle changes, so the changes in the mutated marine creatures in the uninhabited areas abandoned by the imperial court must be even more severe.

It should be noted that the reason the Great Xia Dynasty previously abandoned those areas was because it believed that those mutated marine creatures could only move around in seaweed beds.

Although the seagrass thickets will continue to expand their coverage inland, it is clear to everyone that as long as the Great Xia can return to its state before the EMP appeared, those mutated marine creatures with mortal bodies will be unable to withstand the onslaught of the steel torrent.