SFS Chapter 21: Developing Exoskeleton Armor, Just to Help My Gentle Neighbor Carry Rice
Chapter 21: Developing Exoskeleton Armor, Just to Help My Gentle Neighbor Carry Rice
The morning sunlight shines through the holographic glass onto the zero-gravity waterbed.
Lin Xian turned over, but a noisy commotion came from outside the door, making his head throb.
He walked out of the floating villa with messy hair, wearing floral shorts and a white shirt, and flip-flops.
As Lin Xian descended to the ground via the holographic light guide staircase, his brows instantly furrowed into a deep frown.
Outside the manor's tall and imposing alloy gate, seven or eight elderly men with gray hair were clinging tightly to the gateposts.
Zhou Bapi and his security guards were sweating profusely, unable to pull this one or drag that one.
"Mr. Lin, you've finally figured it out! These old men said they are academicians of the National Academy of Sciences."
"They insisted on seeing the weather controller in our yard. When I refused to let them in, they clung to a pillar and refused to come in."
Lin Xian yawned, looking at these academic giants who were usually aloof and high-ranking, now hanging on the pillars like old rascals.
"Let them hug us if they want; just treat them like stone lions at the gate."
Lin Xian was too lazy to pay attention to these old men. His stomach growled twice, and he decided to go to the village entrance to buy two steamers of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).
Walking on the newly paved asphalt road in the village, the morning breeze dispelled his last remaining sleepiness.
As I strolled to the village store, I saw a thin, frail figure struggling to move forward.
That was Chen Xiuniang, who lived next door to the old house. She was a widowed woman with a hard life, and she made a living by growing and selling vegetables.
Chen Xiuniang has a gentle and graceful face, reminiscent of a beautiful woman from Jiangnan, with a beauty mark at the corner of her eye that exudes an indescribable charm.
At this moment, she was biting her red lips, struggling to carry a 50-pound bag of rice, her slender waist bent into a bow.
Fine beads of sweat slid down her fair neck and into the faded floral collar, and even her breathing was somewhat heavy.
Several old men squatting at the village entrance, smoking their pipes, exchanged glances and secretly swallowed hard.
They usually find it troublesome even to borrow a hoe, let alone help a widow carry her things.
Lin Xian walked over and reached out to catch the bag of rice that was about to slip.
"Sister-in-law Xiu Niang, doing such heavy physical work so early in the morning, aren't you afraid your small body will be crushed?"
Chen Xiuniang was startled, and when she saw that it was Lin Xian, two blushes immediately rose on her cheeks.
"You lazybones, we're out of rice at home. I'm not strong enough to make you laugh."
Lin Xian looked at her shoulders, which were red from being rubbed raw by the rough burlap sacks, and tapped the system panel in mid-air.
What era are we living in? There's no reason to make a pretty woman carry rice herself.
Lin Xian turned around and walked to a pile of discarded farm machinery parts next to the convenience store, and casually kicked it with his foot.
He had a basic blueprint for a single-soldier exoskeleton armor in mind and casually pressed the synthesize button.
A pale blue nano-recombination light wave instantly enveloped the pile of scrap metal.
The clicking sound of metal meshing rang out in rapid succession, and sparks flew everywhere in the morning air.
In the pale blue light, the gears of the old tractor were stripped off, and the rusted iron sheet was purified into a high-strength shape memory alloy.
One after another, biomimetic mechanical transmission shafts grew wildly as if they were alive, intertwining to form a perfect skeleton.
The old men from the Academy of Sciences who had been clinging to the doorposts so stubbornly now looked as if someone had grabbed their necks.
The elderly academician leading the group stared wide-eyed, not even noticing his reading glasses fall into the mud.
"Reassemble metal molecules by hand? That violates the second law of thermodynamics!"
"My God, could this be controlled nanotechnology?"
Academician Li from the Chinese Academy of Sciences grabbed the collar of his colleague next to him, so excited that his dentures almost flew out.
They had spent their entire lives studying mechanical engineering, only to be relentlessly rubbed and crushed by this pile of scrap metal.
In less than ten seconds, a silver-gray exoskeleton armor with a futuristic metallic texture stood quietly on the ground.
The joints of the armor shimmered with a ghostly blue plasma glow, and a miniature anti-gravity stabilizer was mounted on its back.
Lin Xian picked up the exoskeleton armor that looks like something out of a science fiction movie.
He simply slipped the metal robotic arm over Chen Xiuniang's floral shirt.
The cold metal conformed to her soft curves, automatically shrinking and adjusting to the perfect fit.
The mechanical joint emitted a slight buzzing sound, automatically aligning with Chen Xiuniang's nerve ending reflex arc.
Chen Xiuniang didn't dare to move, staring blankly at the mechanical skeleton wrapped around her arm.
"Hey kid, what's this lump of iron? I can't even walk if I wear it."
Lin Xian helped her fasten the energy lock on her chest and patted the mechanical arm of the armor.
"Sister-in-law, try lifting that bag of rice with one hand now. Don't use any force, just lift it easily."
With a mixture of disbelief and skepticism, Chen Xiuniang reached out her metal mechanical arm, grabbed the fifty-pound bag of rice, and lifted it up.
The heavy rice was like a light wad of cotton, which she lifted effortlessly over her head with one hand.
Her rosy lips gaped open, her eyes filled with disbelief and shock.
"My God, is there a cow hidden inside this metal frame? I can't feel any weight at all!"
The old men from the Academy of Sciences outside the door went completely mad, rushing over in a flurry of activity.
They surrounded Chen Xiuniang, their hands trembling as they wanted to touch the exoskeleton, yet they were afraid of offending the beauty.
The old academician was so anxious that he slapped his thigh repeatedly, spitting saliva all over the ground.
"Perfect miniature servo motor drive! Zero-latency nerve ending capture system!"
"If this equipment were equipped by the military, our country's army could sweep across the globe!"
Another researcher with a full head of white hair hugged Lin Xian's leg, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Young friend, sell me this suit of armor, and I'll give you all three of my courtyard houses in Shanghai!"
"I'd die happy if I could just study the chip structure inside!"
The old men were so anxious they were jumping up and down, wishing they could kneel down and kowtow to Lin Xian on the spot.
The villagers who were buying breakfast nearby were dumbfounded. Who would have thought that a pile of scrap metal in the village could perform magic tricks?
Lin Xian picked at his ear, took a bite of the hot fried dough stick he had just bought, and his mouth was full of crispiness.
"You think you can trade a few dilapidated houses for my brick-moving machine? Are you trying to fob me off like a beggar?"
"I already said this thing is for my sister-in-law to carry rice, it's not for sale."
Chen Xiuniang's eyes instantly reddened when she saw Lin Xian's nonchalant and lazy demeanor.
Everyone in Qingshui County regarded this magical treasure as their lifeline, but Lin Xian casually made it just to help her carry rice.
Lin Xian threw the rest of the rice into a handcart and pointed to the sky gardens.
"Sister-in-law, there are several beautiful women in my manor, and no one takes care of their food and drink every day."
"Why don't you just move in here? I'll give you this metal frame for work as a work uniform."
Chen Xiuniang blushed and lowered her head, her fingers nervously clutching the hem of her clothes, her heart pounding like a drum.
"As long as you don't mind that I'm clumsy, I'll cook you hot meals every day from now on."
Upon hearing that Lin Xian was casually giving away such a revolutionary mecha as a transport tool, the senior academicians nearly had a heart attack.
The old man leading the group gritted his teeth and threw his cane into the ditch by the roadside.
"Young friend, we're not leaving. We'll work as gatekeepers for your manor from now on!"
"We'd be happy to sweep the floor and clean the toilet just to see these amazing technologies every day!"
Lin Xian yawned, thinking that having a few more free, highly educated intellectuals guarding the gate wouldn't be a bad deal.
"Alright, you guys go find Zhou the Skinflint and get two sets of security guard uniforms. You'll be responsible for registering visitors every day."
The old men were overjoyed, running off to collect their clothes like a group of children.
Lin Xian led Chen Xiuniang through the manor gate, preparing to put the bag of rice into the constant temperature warehouse.
Sunlight shone on the light-guided staircase, gilding everything with a golden edge.
Just as Lin Xian pushed the rice into the warehouse door...
Suddenly, Zhou Bapi, who was outside the door, let out a scream as if he had seen a ghost, and dropped the stun gun in his hand to the ground.
A thin figure stumbled and ran into the asphalt road at the village entrance.
The girl was wearing an oversized black mask, and her white dress was stained with large, glaring bloodstains.
The girl was petite, and the skin exposed outside her mask was as white as a bloodless sheet of paper.
There was even a bloodied, broken arrow stuck in her left shoulder, a shocking sight.
As soon as she stepped across the large threshold of the manor, her legs lost all strength, and she fell straight forward.
Lin Xian subconsciously stretched out his hands and took a step forward.
The girl, carrying a faint smell of blood and herbs, crashed solidly into his arms.
The girl's muddy hands gripped Lin Xian's shirt collar tightly, her voice so weak she seemed about to die at any moment.
"Help...help me, they're going to rip my heart out..."