Although she had no emotions, she still showed some signs of change in unexpected situations.

Clearly, it was beyond her expectations that Ren Zhong's fourth level exoskeleton suit could also reach a power of fifty thousand kilowatts.

But in the next moment, Ren Zhong continued to increase his output power.

Sixty thousand kilowatts!

Ma Xiaoling's pupils contracted again.

Ren Zhong, however, did not hesitate and rushed up.

He wanted to test if Ma Xiaoling in her heartless state would fall for a sneak attack.

But as soon as he took a step, his feet slightly shook, and in the next moment, a violent explosion occurred.

It turned out that she had somehow already fired a high explosive ground penetrating bomb into the ground using a ground-penetrating bomb launcher installed at her heel.

Her earlier daze was merely a tactical deception.

Fortunately, Ren Zhong's Sixth Sense kicked in just in time, instinctively sensing danger, and without thinking, he retreated to the rear left.

The next second, eight high explosive bombs around Ren Zhong exploded almost simultaneously, with only the one to the rear left being slightly delayed.

He narrowly escaped the disaster.

After pulling back to a safe distance, Ren Zhong glanced at the battle panel, his eyes skimming over the previous information.

It included a line stating that Ma Xiaoling's leg armor shook slightly eight times in quick succession.

Simultaneously, the vibration detector picked up shocks from underground.

The metal detector didn't work, likely because Ma Xiaoling's ground-penetrating bomb had a shielding layer, quite a sneaky move with the style of the Liao Yuan Warrior Academy.

But the ground vibrations still exposed the direction of her bomb, and Ren Zhong instinctively caught the latest vibration from his lower left and dodged in that direction.

On the other side, Ma Xiaoling was already advancing with her weapon raised.

Ren Zhong brandished his blade to meet her.

...

About an hour and a half later, the gasping Ma Xiaoling lay flat on the ground, unable to move.

She stared wide-eyed at Ren Zhong, confusion filling her mind.

Similarly exhausted, Ren Zhong looked at her with some apology, "Your armor is quite heavily damaged. You're not expecting me to cover the repair costs, are you?"

Ma Xiaoling shook her head, "You don't need to worry about that, I have a repair subsidy. But that's not the point! The point is why after such a long fight, there's not a scratch on your equipment?"

Before Ren Zhong could respond, she realized the issue herself, "Did you integrate Demon Infant Metal into it?"

Ren Zhong spread his hands, "Yes."

He didn't fully tell the truth; aside from the Demon Infant Metal, there was also Alien Ore.

"Goodness. You really spared no expense. I lost because... wait, why did you get stronger the longer we fought? That's the real reason I lost to you! Were you holding back?"

Ren Zhong spread his hands, "You have only recently switched to a fifth level exoskeleton, whereas this is my first time wearing this equipment. It takes time to adapt, so getting stronger as the fight goes on is only natural, isn't it?"

Ma Xiaoling was startled, "What!"

Ren Zhong still didn't tell the truth.

He had worn this type of equipment at least dozens of times before.

Although there were material improvements now, which depicted Sid Meier's ultimate doctrine of "equipment decides everything" to perfection, the overall design logic and module function configuration were the optimal solutions he devised through countless refinements, with little change.

The reason Ma Xiaoling perceived his "progress" was that Ren Zhong had activated the amplifier with this war armor, triggering the effects of the evolutionary metal within the energy transmission system over time.

His mind began resonating with the 50% core components and outer armor that had been modified, causing the delay induced by the amplifier to continue decreasing.

Especially in the last five minutes of their duel, the delay was reduced to only 10% more than when no amplifier was used at all.

In a sense, without considering personal parameters, he was a genuine fifth level Mechanical Warrior.

He used a five-billion armored laboratory, an eight-billion biological laboratory, three billion in basic expenses, and consumed Demon Infant Metal with real value of billions as well as invaluable rare resources of alien ore, to achieve what even Sid Meier couldn't accomplish—an ultimate dream.

This was undoubtedly the ultimate fourth level equipment ever seen on Source Star.

Apart from him, no one would spend so much on a mere fourth level armor.

Perhaps many have his wealth, but they would choose more rational ways to spend their money, not squandering it on a mere town-level survey like he did.

But it was all worth it.

This, was the power of pay-to-win.

Defeating Ma Xiaoling was only the beginning.

With the fully refurbished Corrosive Blade, his ability to restrain the Cold-blooded Butcher could be maximized.

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