With Meng Hao's cry of "Watch closely, everyone."
All eyes were fixed on the extremely cool mecha.
One second passed.
Five seconds passed.
Half a minute passed.
The mecha, which Meng Hao had built up everyone's anticipation for, showed no sign of movement.
Huh?
Did it freeze?
Did it embarrass itself?
Did this powered mecha, which Hao Ge claimed to possess "core technology," finally break down?
Just as everyone was utterly stunned.
The truck head that had previously transported and loaded the powered mecha began to move.
Having shed its trailer, the truck head spewed black smoke from its exhaust pipe with a chug-chug sound.
This truck, without any pretense, drove directly towards the powered mecha.
"Holy crap."
"Hao Ge is playing wild."
"He's actually letting a multi-ton truck head perform a collision test with his powered mecha."
"Even if the durability of this powered exoskeleton is no less than the previous large mecha, the Huazong Type I, under such a violent collision, if the shock absorption module has the slightest flaw, Hao Ge will be shaken into meat paste by the intense impact wave!"
"Have you seen a sardine can... If the test fails, Hao Ge will be a large sardine can, shaken into meat paste, packed inside the powered mecha!"
"..."
As the powered mecha collided with the truck head, spewing black smoke and advancing at full speed.
A loud sound was heard.
"Bang..."
Meng Hao, piloting the powered exoskeleton, flew!
...
In an instant.
The live stream went completely dark.
"Huh?"
"What happened?"
"Could it be that Hao Ge was actually smashed into meat paste and eggplant?"
"That scene was too bloody, it couldn't be broadcasted?"
"..."
As the netizens watching the live stream were frantically babbling.
The momentarily black screen, which had stopped for seven or eight seconds, resumed.
The picture, clearly clearer than before, appeared before millions of viewers.
However—
In the picture, there was no longer any sign of the powered mecha.
"Holy crap."
"Did something go wrong?"
"Why can't we see Hao Ge?"
"Could he have been blasted away?"
"Streamer, give us a shot of Hao Ge... Whether he's alive or dead, whether it's a horse or a donkey, you've piqued our appetite for so long, you must give us an answer!"
Strangely.
No one responded.
It wasn't until a sharp-eyed, thoughtful viewer in the live stream discovered the problem.
"Everyone."
"Am I the only one who noticed something is wrong!"
"The current live broadcast seems to be an overhead view."
"Could it be that the streamer was blasted away?!"
Uh!
The streamer was blasted away?
This suggestion was quite novel.
The key point was.
If Qin Muyan, holding the recording device, or the Mecha Ji were blasted away, the picture displayed in mid-air should be disorienting!
Such a stable picture.
It was more like a shot from a drone hovering in mid-air... However, the streamer's Mecha Ji had previously held the camera and filmed the surrounding environment extensively.
A drone that large couldn't have failed to be captured in the shot.
Wait!
Finally, a viewer watching the live stream realized something was amiss—
"In the previous shots, there was no drone at all..."
"Instead, on the powered exoskeleton, there was a reflected turbine jet engine module similar to the Huazong Type I, but with a much smaller caliber..."
"Earlier, when I asked Hao Ge, he calmly played coy and didn't explain why a powered exoskeleton that could move completely autonomously, without the need for additional power from turbine jet engines, was equipped with reflected turbine engines..."
"Could it be..."
"Could it be..."
"It can't be..."
Everyone guessed that impossible, yet only plausible answer.
The current live broadcast footage was captured by the mecha's image capture module.
And the mecha... was flying!
The true function of the twelve main and auxiliary reflected turbine jet engines was not to provide additional ground propulsion for the powered mecha... but to enable this mecha to fly!
This, was truly earth-shattering!
Powered mecha.
Eight tons.
In terms of volume and weight, it was comparable to a light fighter jet, but this mecha did not conform to, nor possess, any of the aerodynamic characteristics necessary for an aircraft.
In other words.
The power required to send this mecha into the sky was even greater than that of an ordinary light fighter jet.
This felt like sending a commonly seen excavator or crane into the sky.
Although there was a popular internet saying... As long as there's enough power, even a brick can fly.
However, to send an eight-ton alloy warframe into the sky.
And the turbine jet engines providing the power had to be miniaturized.
Then, the power that the turbine jet engines had to provide per unit volume must be terrifying.
"I think it's possible, it's real..."
"Everyone still remembers the videos from Mao Xiong Country before..."
"Those ten modified F-35 fighter jets were apparently modified and manufactured by Hao Ge from the scrapped outer shells of fighter jets bought from the US..."
"Even the outer shell of an F-35 could be modified into a 'Mecha Remote Insertion Flying Vehicle Module' with more than three times the power of the original aircraft, so it's not impossible for Hao Ge to modify F-35 engines into miniaturized jet engines..."
Faced with the viewpoint of this veteran military enthusiast, the live stream fell silent.
The F-35, a world-class fifth-generation fighter jet, and Meng Hao could modify a scrapped fighter jet shell into a "Mecha Remote Insertion Flying Vehicle Module" with several times the power of the original.
Then, miniaturizing the F-35's engines shouldn't be a difficult task.
However!
This still doesn't count as military equipment?
This is practically a top-tier military research and development enterprise!
But if Meng Hao refused to admit it was military equipment, there was nothing anyone could do.
Even a large mecha that could withstand being blown up into two ten-thousand-ton destroyers and replace Western countries' multi-billion dollar military robots without carrying combat modules, Meng Hao could call it a large toy, a collectible mecha!
Then, it was also reasonable for the modified F-35 engines, which Meng Hao claimed to be ordinary civilian turbine engines.
This is like...
In a fantasy novel, eating an ancient great demon that had lived for tens of thousands of years on the World Tree, and then telling the world that one was just a harmless, non-fighting herbivorous dragon!
This situation, although rare to the point of rivers flowing backward and sows climbing trees, with a probability lower than 99.999999...%.
But.
Even if there was only a one in a trillion, or one in a hundred trillion theoretical possibility,
Then, it could not be ruled out.
"Remember, if one day Hao Ge researches an aerospace aircraft carrier... it'll just be a high-altitude hovering sightseeing airship!"
"Agreed, when Hao Ge researches a galactic jump battleship... it'll just be a deep space manned exploration and sightseeing cabin!"
"Yes, what everyone here has said makes a lot of sense, the near-Earth orbital tungsten steel cannon platform Hao Ge will build on an isolated island in the future... will also be an Earth resource scanning satellite!"
"..."
The veteran military enthusiasts, utterly speechless, had already begun to concoct all sorts of bizarre and misleading excuses and justifications for Meng Hao.