Chapter 44: Exoskeleton Warriors

"To the left."
"Got it, no problem."
"To the right."
"Raise your arm."
"Turn around."
"Dispatch Pylon Number 1, enter armed standby."
"Very good, trigger mechanism functioning normally."
"Pylon Number 2."
"No problem, visual aiming system is operating normally."
"Deploy Pylon Number 3."
"Excellent, hydraulic system is stable."
"Check light hardpoint Number 4."
...
Inside the living room, Lei Jie was directing Chen Jian through the initial test of the newly repaired mechanical exoskeleton.

After executing a few simple movements, everyone present was filled with unprecedented surprise.
Without a doubt, the functional integrity of this exoskeleton far exceeded their expectations.
It was not merely capable of simple weight-bearing and power assistance; even with the single remaining functional PDA loaded, its weapon pylons could interface with the "old-fashioned" smart eyepieces used by Chen Jian and his team. Utilizing AI recognition combined with eye-tracking, it autonomously synchronized with the exoskeleton's PDA and calculated the aiming trajectory via a LiDAR module, thereby operating the weapons on the pylons for over-the-shoulder targeting!

This technology was not particularly advanced—let alone the era Chen Jian and the others came from, even twenty years prior, it would have been entirely achievable.
However, seeing this contraption integrated into a compact mechanical exoskeleton while remaining compatible with smart systems from different eras truly astonished them.

Chen Jian continuously attempted to calibrate the aiming error on the pylons, and the more movements he made, the faster the exoskeleton's PDA responded.
The sensors located along the torso first recognized the contraction and relaxation of the core muscle groups, subsequently transmitting electrical signals to the corresponding motors at a speed surpassing neural reflexes.
The entire operation was exceptionally fluid. Coupled with the straightforward yet remarkably effective multi-joint design, Chen Jian could barely feel the existence of the exoskeleton at all.

"...This thing is an absolute beast. It's practically a different species of machinery compared to the exoskeletons from our time."
"The feedback force is also immense. I feel like my physical strength has more than doubled."
"It's just that the speed hasn't quite kept up; agility hasn't improved all that much..."
Chen Jian waved his arms and sighed in amazement, while Lei Jie shook his head and replied:
"Speed and agility are strongly correlated with neural reaction time. As far as I know, no class of exoskeleton is engineered to push in that direction."
"The reason is simple: even if the exoskeleton could move that fast, you couldn't."
"The moment you moved, you'd likely snap your own arm right off."

"...Understood."
Chen Jian nodded, bent down to grab the wooden dining table in the living room, and with a gentle exertion, lifted the table with a single hand.
Immediately afterward, he tentatively gripped a corner of the table. As he squeezed tight, the motors whirred and the hydraulic valves compressed. Half a second later, the corner of the table snapped with a sharp crack.

"Such incredible torque!"
Chen Jian drew in a sharp breath.
"That's right, the peak torque of this thing can reach 270 Nm, roughly equivalent to the total torque of a four-wheel electric vehicle."
"Converted into load-bearing capacity, it allows the user to move freely while carrying a 100-kg load."
"It's truly formidable... The only pity is that its human-machine integration isn't quite good enough; it only makes you stronger, but doesn't let you jump higher..."
"So it's still different from the real exoskeletons in sci-fi movies, right?"
Chen Jian asked again.

"Correct. Mainly because this isn't a high-mobility type of exoskeleton; I feel like this contraption is more like... a single-soldier arsenal-type exoskeleton."
"I can see that."
Chen Jian reached out to pick up his firearm, tried aiming a few times, and still felt no discomfort whatsoever.
It seemed he would be able to head into upcoming battles wearing this apparatus.
However, there remained one critical question.

"What's the battery life?"
"It can last for 20 hours in marching mode, and 6 hours in combat mode."
"But there's another option: you can power it down when not in use, utilize the passive self-bearing mode for marching, switch to marching mode when a fight starts, and kick it into combat mode if the fighting gets intense."
"You can try powering it down right now. Theoretically, all the load is transferred directly to the soles of your feet, so it shouldn't be too difficult."
Chen Jian promptly shut off the power and took a few experimental steps, discovering that it was indeed not as difficult as he had imagined.
It felt somewhat like the passive energy-saving exoskeletons he used to wear, but with a vastly superior design that reduced the sensation of heavy lifting even further.

"Intuitively speaking, wearing the exoskeleton and carrying all this gear feels roughly equivalent to hauling a standard 40-kg pack."
"That's already quite good. If we didn't wear the exoskeleton and only carried our own gear, the weight would still easily exceed 40 kilograms."
"True."
Lei Jie put down his wrench and signaled for Chen Jian to take off the exoskeleton.
Then, he spoke up:
"It's a pity that yours is the only one we could fully restore. With the remaining parts, we can barely piece together two more, but neither has a PDA. They can only function as assistive exoskeletons."
"Since there are four of us... Hexu will have to miss out and rely on his own two legs."
"Even if you gave me one, I wouldn't want it."

Hexu rolled his eyes and said:
"This thing doesn't fit my battlefield role anyway, you guys keep them."
"Well then, I won't stand on ceremony!"
Shen Yue chuckled, then added:
"It doesn't matter that I won't have a PDA, as long as it has enough hardpoints to haul my gear."
"Otherwise, just carrying the reserve ammunition would crush the life out of me..."
"Am I any different?"
Lei Jie pointed at the neatly sorted mortar shells and said:
"I've got two rocket tubes, plus a 60mm mortar and five shells, not to mention carrying my own rifle and sniper grenade launcher. My load easily crosses the 60kg mark."
"I don't think carrying on like this is a long-term solution. We need to figure out a way to cache the equipment we don't immediately need..."
"Let's get into the city first and discuss it then."
Chen Jian interrupted Lei Jie, then stated:
"At least for now, hiding things within Hanshui City isn't safe."
"Since we're heading into the urban area for reconnaissance anyway, we might as well carry the excess to the city's outskirts and cache it in some hidden spot to avoid getting looted by the Mechanicus."
"Makes sense."
Lei Jie nodded, then asked:
"When do we set out?"
Chen Jian pondered for a moment, operated Pylon Number 1 to retract the loaded sleeve-arrow single-soldier missile module, and answered:
"As soon as possible—how long will you need to repair the remaining two exoskeletons?"
"12 hours. But I need 8 hours of sleep first; I haven't slept enough these past few days and my condition is poor."
"Then we depart in 20 hours, which means 4:00 PM tomorrow."
"Take advantage of this time; I'll go talk with Xu Lie and the others to confirm their intentions and gather some useful intelligence along the way."
"The target we're hunting this time isn't just some Blood Skull terror-fiend... That's a Tier-3 monster, and it's likely going to be extremely tough to deal with."
"If our existing weapons still can't pierce its defenses..."
Chen Jian glanced toward the lead-lined box in the corner and continued:
"Then I'm afraid we'll have to resort to that thing."