Two days later, China.
Thunder Horse Military Factory, underground laboratory.
Cautiously, Xia Lei started to put on the silver armour on himself. This entire process took him about thirty minutes to complete. Truthfully, he would only require a few minutes but the armour was in a pathetic state. He was afraid of breaking this armour of which even he did not know how to fix.
The last part that made it to his body was the helmet, which he replaced its gigantic hole with the silver metal he extracted from the underground maze. As expected, the material was a perfect match for the helmet. It wasn’t a part of some sword, it was actually a part of the helmet.
Following that, he secured the metal onto the hole with some transparent tape. It was crude but it was also all he had. Xia Lei brought himself to stand in front of a mirror that he had moved in earlier.
The reflection showed no part of his face, fingers and neck. The armour had completely engulfed him from the top to the bottom. The piece of equipment could be both considered as armour and a protective suit.
Weirdly, the style it was made in was nothing like that of the crusaders of the Middle Ages. In fact, it was more of a gothic style full body armour. There wasn’t anything fancy decorating the helmet. If the flawed part wasn’t put into consideration, the helmet would be as smooth as an egg. Purely judging on the helmet style, it radiated some science fiction vibes.
Xia Lei was fully aware that this was no gothic-styled full body armour nor was it from some ancient kingdom. Its material was something even modern-day mankind could replicate. The armour had covered him fully from the top to the bottom, but it was surprisingly lightweight!
After allowing himself to observe it in silence, Xia Lei moved to the front of his workbench.
On the workbench was the ancient alloy box that was missing an edge, the compass and the bronze book along with a Viper pistol.
Xia Lei picked up the pistol and pressed the muzzle against his thigh. He hesitated slightly before firing a bullet.
Bang! A gunshot echoed in the chamber.
The bullet collided with the leg armour, causing fiery sparks due to the violent friction. Before he knew it, the bullet ricocheted away to the side. The pistol was fired at such a dangerously close distance. Under normal circumstances, the impact would be sufficient to break a rib under a bulletproof vest but this armour had only allowed him to feel slight pressure. It was very negligible for the amount of damage that it would have originally caused!
What was even more surprising was that the leg armour had no dent or traces of bullets. The fire sparks that were caused just now was purely from the bullet too.
“Whoa, this is one scary armour. If I wore this to war, I’d essentially be invincible even if my opponents plan to take me out with gunfire. I dare say that Barrett’s Anti-materiel weapons would only be able to land small scratches on this armour at most. There’s no way it’d be able to penetrate this.” Xia Lei couldn’t suppress his shock.
However, the shock wasn’t sourced from the results of his bullet experiment but the concept that followed it. With such omnipotent armour, Zhu Xuanyue was capable of creating a hole in its helmet and leave behind countless cracks on the torso. How terrifying was her battle ability like during her peak?!
Xia Lei just couldn’t bear to imagine it.
A few minutes later, Xia Lei averted his attention onto the ancient alloy box. His emotions cooked into something more intense.
Xia Lei had successfully gotten his hands on the armour. The initial reason behind his resolute pursuit was to use it to permit himself entry into the world of the ancient alloy box. Now that the armour was fastened on him and the box was laid plainly before him, he was ready to enter it whenever he wished. However, as he was about to peek in, Xia Lei immediately lost all courage to do so.
This wasn’t a decision that was as simple as entering a bedroom with your pyjamas or entering the bathroom with a bathrobe. This was a significant decision to enter one realm from another realm. What if he got trapped inside and couldn’t get out? What if he lost his way as soon as he entered the uncharted realm? What if he died while exploring it?
Each plausible aftermath had him cower in fear.
It was true that he did run some experiments on the shards. But that was just a harmless experiment, not an entry of his entire being. The littlest amount of unknown factors could possibly trigger a horrific butterfly effect with his entry.
Inexplicable, while he continued to sort out his dilemma, a few feminine faces began to take form in his mind. He could make out the faces of Long Bing, Liang Siyao, Jiang Ruyi, Shentu Tianyin, Tang Yuyan and Fan Fan.
Back then, thinking about his relationship with these women had him breaking out into a headache. Now, they were the strongest forces that stopped him from adventures. He then thought of his father and Xia Xue. Lastly, he thought of his business. Thunder Horse Organization wasn’t just any regular enterprise, it was a ray of hope to the country’s military sector advancements!
“Never mind, I think I should wait this out until I learn more about it. When I have more information, I’ll consider if I should head in to explore. Its current state would probably affect its performance and properties…” He began to give excuses, choosing to give up on the attempt.
He exited the underground laboratory half an hour later.
Now was the transitional period between summer and autumn. The skies in the northern region were dark and moody, everything just felt depressing. The man took a glance into the sky and travelled towards his office. He began to ponder to himself. “Three years. If I’m only left with three years to live, I must shape Thunder Horse Military Factory into one of the world’s best military enterprises! That way, even if I die, I’d have no regrets. I’d like to have some children too.”
Thinking of children, the edge of his lips couldn’t suppress a smile. “Fan Fan seems to be confident that she’s pregnant. Now the only ones left are Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi. Within this time frame, I must impregnate them.”
Thinking of Jiang Ruyi, he swiftly took out his smartphone to call her. Before he could even press on her contact, a call reached him and it was shockingly Jiang Ruyi.
He grinned and accepted the call. “Ruyi, I was just about to call you. How are you doing lately?”
“Are you trying to trick me? You hadn’t called me in ages and you hadn’t bothered to visit me at all. Are you looking to die?!” Jiang Ruyi’s voice was still the same as before.
Xia Lei chuckled. The only woman left in this world that dared to speak to him in this fiery manner was Jiang Ruyi. It was the same when they were children, nothing had changed. Though so, Xia Lei didn’t mind. This was who Jiang Ruyi was. She wouldn’t be Jiang Ruyi if anything had changed.
“Where are you?”
“I’m in the office, of course.” Xia Lei answered.
“I’m at your company now.” Jiang Ruyi continued, Are you in the office block? I’m coming over to meet you.”
Xia Lei quickly stopped her. “Wait, I’m not in the office block now. I’ll come to you instead.” He ended the call and began to stride towards the parking lot. As soon as he went around the corner of the office block, he immediately caught sight of Jiang Ruyi, who was now walking towards him.
Dressed in her police uniform, her full breasts lifted the front of her coat proudly. Her perky behind even managed to make those slacks look amazing. Along with her pretty face, she gave off an indescribable freshness to the stereotypical girl next door look.
Catching sight of Xia Lei, Jiang Ruyi smiled wryly. He couldn’t tell if she was smiling or mocking him but her dark orbs told him something else. She missed him oh so dearly. There was a momentary burst of relief and excitement to finally meet the man that lingered about in her mind, there was also a hint of familial love sandwiched inside. Despite that, the two uttered no words, completely resorting to letting their eyes do the talking.
Xia Lei came closer to her.
Jiang Ruyi walked a few steps then broke into a run. Her chest jiggled and her hips swayed seductively with the movement. Soon enough, she was right in front of Xia Lei. Without another word, she opened her arms and enveloped him in a tight embrace. “Why hadn’t you called me or visited me? I… I really thought you had completely forgotten about me. I thought you had abandoned me.”
Xia Lei’s heart melted. His palms found its way onto Jiang Ruyi’s waist to pull her closer against his body. He whispered into her ear, “Don’t cry. You’re a policewoman, people will make fun of a crying policewoman.”
“I don’t care. I’m going to cry if that’s what I want.” Jiang Ruyi buried her face into his shoulder. She didn’t want to release him and was certainly adamant on not having anyone witness her swollen eyes.
Xia Lei felt a little helpless but continued to hold her tight, offering her some release to her pent up feelings.
He and Jiang Ruyi were childhood friends, the concept of romance was rather mild between them. Back then, it was her proactiveness that allowed their shared relationship history to take place. Xia Lei was a man who developed feelings over time. Jiang Ruyi had been with him for a long time, it was only natural for his love to deepen over the course of time.
The two shared an embrace in plain sight. In fact, they were just right under the office block where most employees spent their time. Caught up in the moment, they hadn’t realized that people were watching them from all floors of the building. Meanwhile, the office workers broke into rounds of discussion.
“Damn, Director Xia is such a man. Since when did he bag a policewoman?”
“Do you live under a rock or something? Don’t you know who she is? That’s Jiang Ruyi, the director’s childhood friend and long-time girlfriend.”
“Wasn’t Director Xia already engaged to that Fan Fan? How could he allow such a display in public? Wouldn’t this trigger a fierce fight with Fan Fan once she caught wind of this?”
“You can’t think of him from our perspectives. Do you know CEO Liang? CEO Liang is the real female boss of our Thunder Horse Organization.”
“What the fuck? That’s one shitstorm of a relationship…”
“Yeah, and it’s something you’ll never have.”
“Shh. That’s enough, CEO Liang is here.”
“Oh my god. Director Xia is going to be in so much trouble…”
Among the concerned gazes and heated gossiping, Liang Siyao had peeked her head out from the top floor to glance at the embracing couple. She yelled, “Old Xia, are you not going to have Ruyi take a seat now that she’s here? Save your hugging for later, I’ll have the kitchen prepare her.”
Old Xia? The nickname had provided them with some insights into their odd dynamics. Weirdly, ‘Old Liang’ had actually suggested that her Old Xia should continue their mushiness with Jiang Ruyi elsewhere. The way she handled it was admittedly rather cool.
It was only then that Jiang Ruyi jumped and released Xia Lei. She lifted her head to lock eyes with Liang Siyao and flashed a smile. “Siyao, hello! Long time no see.”
Liang Siyao returned her a sweet toothy smile. “Ruyi, come on up. We’ll talk more when you’re here.”
Liang Siyao understood what Jiang Ruyi was to Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi knew what Liang Siyao was to Xia Lei. The two women had acknowledged it, hence the lack of need for any conflict.
Xia Lei took a good look above. The curious office employees quickly snapped out of it and disappeared off to their cubicles.