Chapter Twenty-Nine: Destroying Mark One (Please Recommend!)

Carrying Qin Shi back onto the platform, Zhu Lan stepped out of Mark I to check on his injuries. To Zhu Lan’s relief, Qin Shi had only passed out from excessive blood loss.

By the light of Mark I, Zhu Lan stared in shock at Qin Shi. There wasn’t a single uninjured spot on his body. Counting them, Qin Shi had been shot at least thirteen times. Although none were fatal wounds, the sheer number was terrifying. Most alarming was the blood dripping from Qin Shi’s chin—he must have bitten through his lip from the pain when he was shot, leaving his chin covered in blood.

Zhu Lan was no expert and didn’t know if Qin Shi could hold out until help arrived. There was nothing he could do. Even if he could conjure up an operating table, he had no medical knowledge; trying something blindly might kill the man instead of saving him.

Unable to provide treatment, Zhu Lan felt utterly helpless.

At that moment, the phone rang.

Overjoyed, Zhu Lan went over and pulled the phone out from Zhai Bang’s pocket.

“Hello?”

“What’s your situation?” The voice on the other end didn’t care who answered and got straight to the point.

“Not good. Except for me, everyone else has passed out from blood loss. Has rescue arrived yet?”

“And you are?”

“My name is Zhu Lan.”

“Mr. Zhu? Hello, the rescue team is already approaching you. The satellite has locked onto your position. The helicopter is a hundred and thirty-seven kilometers away and will be there very soon!”

Hearing this, Zhu Lan breathed a sigh of relief.

“Got it, please hurry! The enemy has retreated, but I don’t know how much longer I can hold out—”

Before Zhu Lan could finish, the call was abruptly cut off—there was only an “uh—” sound.

The phone had run out of battery and shut itself off.

With no other option, Zhu Lan put the phone back in Zhai Bang’s pocket. Now that their position had been found by the authorities, it wouldn’t be long before rescue arrived. There was no need to worry too much.

Suddenly, Zhu Lan stopped, frowning as he looked at Mark I.

He circled the suit once, falling silent.

“Damn it, how am I supposed to hide this thing?”

This was a headache. The technology in Mark I might not seem cutting-edge, but for the country, it was invaluable. Not only because of the exoskeleton’s joint designs, but more importantly, the arc reactor—a piece of black technology that was purely the stuff of fantasy.

Everyone knew that the science in movies was just make-believe, non-existent in reality. But in fact, all technology begins as imagination. If the tech tree’s progression makes a certain technology seem unrealizable, it gets relegated to the realm of fantasy.

Wormholes, for example—even with another five hundred years of development, Earth might never create artificial wormholes. Such concepts are released to the public to learn from. The elite think: what if some genius like Einstein does manage to create it one day?

Many fantasy technologies have been published; some are widely known, others require some background to even hear about. Every fantasy technology is a scientist’s grand vision, just waiting for the right level of advancement to be realized.

When Iron Man premiered, people asked if the arc reactor was possible. Experts declared it impossible, that it didn’t exist; scientists from China, Russia, and Europe all agreed. But the arc reactor concept had already been proposed—just with no method to refine it. Later, practical nuclear reactors rendered the idea obsolete, much like cold fusion—technology couldn’t catch up, so it was filed away as fantasy.

Now, the arc reactor in Mark I, though merely a simple creation of Tony’s, could potentially light up a new branch on Earth’s technological tree if discovered by another nation.

And the only consequence Zhu Lan could imagine was being locked away—no other option.

Zhu Lan was patriotic, but that didn’t mean he was willing to give up his freedom.

Without freedom, there’s nothing. Zhu Lan had no intention of becoming a caged bird.

So the arc reactor absolutely couldn’t be exposed. Even if it was, it would only be when Zhu Lan was powerful enough to ensure his own safety.

“No choice, it has to be this way!” After ten minutes of consideration, Zhu Lan made up his mind. Checking the time, he saw the rescue team was getting close. Through his binoculars, he saw no sign of the enemy returning. Zhu Lan manipulated Mark I to head for the cave where he’d previously collected weapons.

Space warped continuously as one missile after another—each marked with a danger symbol—shifted from intangible to real.

The best option was to hide it, but Zhu Lan didn’t know this terrain and had no time to find a good hiding place. The only way was to destroy it.

There was only one nearby cave. Zhu Lan had used explosives to widen the entrance just enough for Mark I to fit inside.

He put Mark I inside and conjured a large number of high-yield explosives around it—enough to guarantee its complete destruction. He even conjured a few radioactive missiles.

This was the Middle East, and Zhu Lan hadn’t seen any signs of habitation nearby. Using such forbidden weapons, with radiation and evidence of an explosion, would make any future investigators assume a radiological bomb had gone off here, burying the remains of Mark I under the rubble. Finding it again would be nearly impossible.

Boom—

Boom, boom, boom, boom—

The first blast was followed by a series of deafening explosions. The mountain itself seemed to tremble.

Flames from the explosion shot hundreds of meters into the air. The ground shook as though from an earthquake.

On the platform, Zhu Lan stared, eyes wide, at the distant explosion. Fortunately, the area had already been cleared. Occasionally, rocks tumbled down, but the three unconscious men were shielded by a massive boulder.

“That was too much,” Zhu Lan muttered, realizing he’d used far too many explosives.

To ensure the utter destruction of Mark I, Zhu Lan had conjured so many explosives that he was mentally exhausted.

His mental strength was far greater than before. After months of practice, he could now conjure up ten cars in a single day. If Mark I hadn’t already drained most of his energy, the explosion would have been even bigger—he might’ve blown half the mountain away.

Initially, Zhu Lan had considered destroying the weapons too, but Qin Shi and the others already knew about them. Hiding them would only raise more suspicion from the authorities—unless he killed the three men, which he wasn’t willing to do.

As Zhu Lan pondered, a buzzing sound reached his ears.

Immediately, he grabbed a weapon and watched the sky warily.

Two helicopters appeared in the distance. The one leading was clearly an attack helicopter, the larger one behind was likely an armed transport.

Zhu Lan was about to conjure anti-aircraft weapons when he saw the insignia on the helicopters and was overjoyed. He raised his weapon and waved it vigorously.

A long blue stripe was clear on the side of the helicopter, and the red stars could be seen from afar.

Perhaps seeing Zhu Lan’s signals, the helicopters began to descend, but they didn’t land on the platform—instead, they circled above it.

After a few turns, the helicopters flew off in the distance, and the transport started to land.

As soon as it touched down, several soldiers leapt out, weapons at the ready, running over.

“Are you Mr. Zhu?” one of them asked.

Zhu Lan nodded. “It’s good to see you.”

The soldier nodded back; his face was smeared with camouflage paint, making his features hard to make out.

“Mr. Zhu, you’re safe now. Please hand me your weapon.”

Zhu Lan didn’t hesitate. If the enemies hunting him had managed to get their hands on China’s most advanced attack helicopters, then the ones after him had to be from the government. After all, China’s most advanced attack helicopters had only been in service for less than five years; even the major military regions didn’t have many.

Outsiders couldn’t possibly acquire such hardware—it was a pinnacle of Chinese aviation technology. Only those with the highest clearance could mobilize one, so Zhu Lan handed over the weapon without worry.

“They need medical attention,” Zhu Lan said, handing over the weapon and gesturing to the three unconscious men behind him.

The soldier nodded and signaled to the others. Five of them stepped forward to check on the wounded.

“Captain, they need immediate surgery!”

“Quick, get them on the chopper! Mr. Zhu, please board as well,” the leader said, coming over to help Zhu Lan toward the helicopter.

Zhu Lan nodded, his foot badly inflamed, and let himself be helped into the aircraft.

The helicopter was spacious enough to carry twenty people with ease, and with Zhu Lan’s group, there were only twelve.

“Take off, full speed! We have seriously wounded aboard!” the leader ordered once the three men were carried aboard.

The pilot nodded and began the takeoff procedure.

As the helicopter rose, Zhu Lan looked out and noticed not all the soldiers had boarded. Only three had joined them; the other five were heading toward the site of the explosion.

Not only that, but the attack helicopter remained on station.

Zhu Lan understood—the explosion had been enormous, and no matter what, it would have to be investigated.

He thought of warning them about the radiation, but couldn’t explain it. All he could do was hope that these soldiers had sufficient equipment to detect it. Thankfully, the radioactive missiles weren’t very powerful—the radiation was concentrated inside the cave. Outside, there was little to worry about unless they dug right into the center of the blast. If that happened, there was nothing Zhu Lan could do—he’d brought it on himself.

PS: Sigh, just back from a follow-up appointment. The doctor says my condition hasn’t improved and recommends hospitalization. But with the New Year coming, I can only take medicine and go home. I’ll try to update as much as I can. If I can’t, at least I’ll keep up with one chapter a day. I’m ill now, so please bear with me.