You should know that the crew chief has always been quite blunt.

The nickname Lin Xi gave him, "trickster," has spread widely throughout the base.

It seems that recent governmental affairs have worn down the hostility from his past life struggles for survival quite a bit.

Professor Ma naturally noticed the doubt on Su Huan's face and explained, "Currently, this is just a magnified experimental version. All the components are enlarged mainly for convenience in adjustments. Once it's put into production, it will be much smaller, and after several iterations, it will return to the size of a normal communication device."

"I see."

Su Huan breathed a sigh of relief.

Even if it's a bit large, he could accept that.

After all this effort, he finally had a piece of technology ahead of his previous employer in his past life.

The Steel Council didn't prioritize technological advances in communication back then.

He suspected Director Xu had something to do with it. That guy was fully invested in evolutionary research and wouldn't allow anyone to dismantle the Pan-energy Detector. It'd be a miracle if a communication device was developed.

Su Huan looked at the device that Professor Ma had pushed forward.

The external framework seemed to be made of titanium alloy, with pieces of black... gems? Obsidian? embedded inside the spherical frame.

Perhaps to better showcase the internal structure, the other half was cut open.

In the middle was a rhomboid polyhedron made of soft glass, embedded with Pan-energy Crystals of varying sizes, slowly rotating in an anti-gravity field.

"I discovered a sort of resonance on the Pan-energy Detector, so I changed my approach and used Pan-energy resonance for modification. As you can see, the three metallic rings outside the rhomboid, extracted from ironwood by the manufacturing team, are made of a newly-developed material rich in rare metals and zombie materials, forming these resonant rings. According to my estimates, one resonant ring can cover a communication range of one kilometer."

Professor Ma's voice remained calm and logical, but a flicker of excitement in his eyes was hard to conceal.

"So, these three rings can cover a communication range of three kilometers?"

Su Huan eagerly enveloped the device with "Pan-energy Perception."

But he only sensed the fluctuations of the Pan-energy Crystal itself on it, and curiously asked, "Is it not activated?"

"Xiaozhao, take the other one outside," Professor Ma said.

Xiaozhao pushed the part he was holding and walked outside.

Professor Ma estimated that the timing was about right and activated the device in his hand.

"Huh?"

Su Huan finally felt something different.

Pan-energy spread outward from the device in waves, like a pebble thrown into the water, causing ripples to spread across the surface.

Professor Ma held an extension from the device and called out, "Xiaozhao, can you hear me?"

The group looked on expectantly.

The rhomboid inside the sphere bobbed up and down.

Xiaozhao's clear voice transmitted from inside.

"Received, teacher. I'm downstairs; you should be able to see me from up there. I'm planning to go a bit further away."

It was clear and stable, without the sense of audio loss that electronic devices often have, as if he was standing right beside Professor Ma.

Su Huan changed angles, but the sound showed no signs of diminishing.

The device seemed to replicate Xiaozhao's voice, broadcasting from the sphere like an all-around speaker.

The effect was similar to Yu Yue's "Shared Acoustic Field."

"Not bad."

Su Huan affirmed Professor Ma's research.

The room erupted into cheers immediately, and although Professor Ma was not someone to lose composure over just one compliment, he also felt a sense of relief.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from within the sphere, cutting off the room's sound abruptly.

Everyone exchanged baffled looks.

"I think I heard two vibrations simultaneously!"

Little Box said, and walked to the window.

Su Huan frowned, walking toward the window and gently called out, "Yu Yue, what happened outside?"

Yu Yue's gentle voice and the sound of stir-frying in an iron pan simultaneously appeared in his ear.

"Three kilometers from the base, a mutant beast is chasing a few humans toward the base. I'll share the situation with you."

Soon after, the sound switched in his ear.

Su Huan heard heavy footsteps and the breathing of several men.

"Run faster! It's terrifying!"

"We should never have provoked that bear!"

"Run toward the forward base of the train, there are a lot of people, and a group known as the Armed Train is there as an external force."

"Will they be able to hold it off?"

"That's none of my damn business; I'm about to use up all my luck!"

Su Huan's face remained calm; he had used these tricks to divert trouble when he was weaker back then too.

Listening closely, a terrifying roar nearly ruptured his eardrums.

With all the auditory feedback, Su Huan's mind quickly pieced together a vivid scene.

A five-meter tall giant bear rampaged amidst skyscrapers, chasing three human figures ahead. Wherever it passed, the ground cracked, buildings toppled, and steel and cement flew wildly.

Tier Two Mutant Beast, Giant Bear.

"Where's He Jie?"

Su Huan asked.

"He led a team out this morning; only the combat group and my group are in the base, Xiaoba is here too."

"Lead the combat group and organize an interception."

"Got it."

Yu Yue replied decisively.

Su Huan turned around; everyone still had no clue what was happening, staring at him nervously.

His narrow eyes squinted gently into a line, and he smirked, "Someone has come to help us test our equipment; let Xiaozhao place the other one in the train body manufacturing center. Hu, you command the logistics group to enter battle readiness. The rest... forget it, carry on with what you're doing."

Then he pushed the window open and jumped down.

When everyone recovered, they only saw an empty window frame.

Warm sunlight poured in, and the white curtain fluttered in the wind.

Little Box's awe-struck voice lingered in everyone's ears.

"The crew chief is way too cool..."

Professor Ma couldn't help but twitch his brow upon hearing his student's fangirl comment.

Back then, when this girl first arrived, she used to say, "Senior Xiaozhao is so cool!"

It made the old man mistakenly think there was something between the young people and even tried to play matchmaker for a while.

Later, he realized the girl didn't have those kinds of feelings at all; she was just a starstruck fan.

A waste of his old heart's feelings.

"Don't just stand there, go check the surveillance and drones." Professor Ma cleared his throat, then stepped aside and turned to Hu, "The rest is up to you, Crew Chief Hu."

"You're kidding, there's no 'trouble' when it's the crew chief's instructions."

...

Sharp alarms echoed throughout the base, and trucks and cars hauling supplies flooded wildly into the underground garages. The armed carriages, previously leisurely patrolling the yard, linked up to establish a second line of defense on the open ground.

Workers quickly hid inside nearby defense structures following the training drill.

Su Huan's figure flickered like a phantom within the base. In no time, he dashed up onto the eight-meter-high concrete wall.

Standing on the edge, he looked out into the distance. The mountain-like giant bear had already breached within a one-kilometer range of the base.

Among the three people running ahead, only one remained, with half his body stained red with blood.

Su Huan sneered, thinking they tried to bring trouble upon themselves without the strength to handle it.

Fools.

Smelling the sudden appearance of something relaxing like sunshine nearby, he said faintly, "Take it down."

The newly arrived Yu Yue gave a light hum, raised Su Huan's electromagnetic sniper rifle, and after a 1.2-second charge, the projectile accelerated to Mach 5 through the superconductive rail, flying out from the muzzle.

The giant bear, chasing its prey, bristled all over and reared up on its hind legs.

It roared deafeningly toward the base's direction.

"Roar——"

Almost at the instant the roar left its throat, a bowl-sized hole appeared in its thick fur, and blood spurted from it like a high-pressure fountain.

The intimidating roar turned into a wail.

"This skin is really thick..."

Su Huan remarked with admiration.

He saw very clearly that Yu Yue had originally aimed for the giant bear's head, but it stood up, so the shot hit its belly.

A projectile capable of penetrating 150mm of homogeneous steel armor only left a bowl-sized scar.

It didn't even penetrate.

Compared to the giant bear's mountainous form, the bowl-sized scar was like a small puncture.

It hurt, but it wasn't lethal.

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