Chapter 25: The Age of Steam

After a night had passed, the two squads, totaling eight men, broke camp and departed Xiamatown once they had ensured the residents no longer had the capacity to resist.

All the gear in the treasury, including everything confiscated from the residents, had been fully inventoried. Chen Jian took the items his squad needed, while the remaining miscellaneous goods—including the useless improvised firearms—were handed over to Xu Lie’s "Blood Saint" squad, with the plan that they would sell them off and split the proceeds equally.

It had to be said that although the quality of the gear held by the miners of Xiamatown was poor, the sheer quantity was impressive. After sorting through it, Chen Jian still managed to find quite a few gems.

There were several sets of firearm accessories, four modified, strange-looking 5.8mm single-shot rifled guns, four Grade 5 ballistic plates, one Q3 paratrooper shovel, six DSY151 48mm thermobaric grenades produced in 2020, over a hundred usable 5.8mm rounds, and a vehicle-mounted 220-1 125W shortwave radio.

Chen Jian was intimately familiar with this radio; back in his own time, it was the exact model installed in his Mengshi vehicle. Its functionality was originally quite powerful; when paired with a tuner, it had a communication range of nearly two thousand kilometers and featured automatic networking, frequency hopping, and digital encryption.

Unfortunately, this unit was worn beyond repair, its electronic components completely destroyed, rendering it entirely non-functional. Consequently, Chen Jian simply dismantled it, salvaged the usable parts, and left the rest behind. The radio’s storage battery, however, was still functional. Chen Jian tried using it to charge the battery for his own gun’s sight, and it worked. Even so, he didn't dare use it to charge other electronic devices; the voltage stability was unreliable, and if he fried something, it would be sheer stupidity.

Beyond the hundred-plus rounds of ammunition that solved the squad’s immediate crisis, the most important discovery of the mission was, of course, the disassembled mechanical exoskeleton.

Judging by the model, this exoskeleton appeared to be an improved version of the L90 produced by Factory 202 in Chen Jian’s era. Compared to the L90 he had tested himself, this version was clearly superior in functionality at a glance. It featured smaller hydraulic components and motors, a more compact energy module, a frame composed entirely of titanium alloy, a dizzying number of weapon hardpoints, and a multi-joint design that would obviously provide the user with much greater agility.

Most importantly, the exoskeleton came with a PDA of an unknown model, clearly intended for real-time force-feedback calculation. Although Chen Jian hadn't tried it and was unlikely to use it in the near future, he could easily imagine the combat capabilities of a soldier who was already highly skilled once equipped with this suit.

He packed it away without hesitation. What if it could be repaired? As the team’s professional technician, Lei Jie was quite confident about fixing it.

As they followed the squad westward along the vegetation-covered highway, Lei Jie spoke up: "...This thing is easier to fix than those sleeve-arrows we found earlier. The infrared modules on the sleeve-arrows were too difficult to handle; this thing relies on force-feedback logic, and the sensors are relatively simple."

"Whether this PDA can boot up isn't actually important. If it does, it’s just for AI calculations to make the feedback more predictive. Even if we strip the PDA, the force-feedback sensors alone can ensure functionality."

"It has to be Factory 202—look at how stress-resistant this design is. Those things Factory 206 built, on the other hand..."

"Enough," Chen Jian interrupted Lei Jie. "Factory 206 is gone; you dare speak ill of them now? Back when they came to us for testing, weren't you the one having the most fun?"

"Playing around is one thing, but whether it’s good or not is another." Lei Jie laughed sheepishly before continuing, "I really don't know what the people here were thinking. They had the most valuable item and just left it lying around."

"This exoskeleton was actually in pretty good condition; it might have been usable as is. And yet, they insisted on taking it apart—it's just absurd."

"It’s not absurd," Chen Jian chuckled. "Don't you get it? The level of technology here is like a jigsaw puzzle—some pieces are shattered, others remain intact. As long as it involves electricity, they are extremely backward. Being able to use batteries and radios is already their limit; you expect them to understand an exoskeleton?"

"Perhaps, to them, it was nothing more than a piece of art..."

"Exactly," Xu Lie, walking in front, turned around to chime in. "There is a similar... sculpture in Jinling City, even larger than the one you found."

"Everyone just treats it as an antique from the old world, but looking at it now, it might be able to move..."

"A larger exoskeleton? What’s different about it?" Chen Jian asked sharply.

"That... exoskeleton? Is that what it's called? That exoskeleton has armor."

"Hiss..." The four members of the squad gasped. An armored exoskeleton, and even larger? Is this still an exoskeleton? That's a combat mech! What was going on? In the mere twenty or thirty years between his own time and the so-called "Great Cataclysm," had the country’s military technology developed to this extent?

Wait—come to think of it, it made sense. In 2000, there were only a few small boats in the South China Sea. By 2020, the Type 055 destroyer with electromagnetic railguns had already been secretly launched for testing. So, twenty years to evolve from an exoskeleton to a combat mech actually seemed quite reasonable.

Chen Jian could hardly wait. He was eager to reach Jinling—not just to collect the bounty, and not just to see the largest human settlement in this apocalyptic wasteland. More importantly, he wanted to see to what extent his compatriots had developed technology after they had crossed over. And how much the survivors had utilized that technology.

Chen Jian was truly curious.

The squad marched westward, and after three days and two nights of trekking, they arrived at the banks of the Yangtze River. Chen Jian immediately recognized the Dongting Lake Bridge, which, though dilapidated, still stood over the river. He had assumed they would cross the bridge to continue west, but Xu Lie led the squad northward toward a pier.

"This is the Dongting Lake Pier."

"According to the schedule, a transport ship from the Church of the Mechanical God should pass by today. We can hitch a ride and head north to the Hanshui River to rest."

"You’d best hide that gear to avoid unnecessary trouble..."

"A transport ship?" Chen Jian frowned. A ship capable of navigating the Yangtze? That was definitely not something the natives of this wasteland could operate. The electronic control systems alone would take them a lifetime to figure out. Or perhaps, was it just a coincidence that there happened to be ships that were perfectly preserved and ready to start?

Chen Jian’s mind was full of questions. He instructed his team to camouflage all their equipment and stood quietly on the shore with the four Blood Saints, waiting for the "transport ship" Xu Lie had mentioned.

Nearly an hour later, the ship finally arrived.

A plume of black smoke appeared on the horizon where the water met the sky. Soon after, a large wooden ship with sails, accompanied by the distinct "chug-chug" sound of a steam engine, slowly drifted into view.

"Holy shit." Chen Jian let out a long breath.

"What the hell... we’ve regressed straight back to the Steam Age?"