Chapter 123: Chapter 109: I’ve Swelled Up
Translator: 549690339
The horrific thing was, the music echoing in Nora Camp’s office was “Self-Combustion.”
Even more terrifying was the hologram in front of her.
The projection showed two standing figures, Harrison Clark and Carrie Thomas.
At this moment, they were standing shoulder to shoulder. Carrie Thomas held a notebook in her left hand, a pen in her right hand, the tip of the pen pointing to a certain line on the notebook.
Next to her, Harrison Clark was slightly bowing his head to scrutinize the notebook, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.
Nora Camp shifted her gaze from the hologram, looking at her actual companion, Harrison Clark, “Incredible.”
“What’s this?” Harrison Clark decided to play dumb.
“This is a statue in the front of the fountain at Saint Petersburg Conservatory. The legend has it that about a thousand years ago, right after Master Thomas finished writing “Self-Combustion,” she consulted with Master Clark. This is supposedly that very scene.”
Harrison Clark was stunned and speechless. Initially, he thought his cover was blown, but then he realized it was theoretically impossible, he didn’t know how to respond.
In truth, he wanted to say that when the two of them first talked about the song, Carrie Thomas had played it on her guitar right on the spot, they hadn’t been looking at sheet music together, people sure could exaggerate!
Also, why did he look so different in this image? With his long flowing hair, high nose bridge, sharp eyebrows, and bright eyes, he looked so handsome that he could hardly recognize himself. How strange was that?
Upon a second look, he realized that the features were indeed his. But put together, they gave an oddly exquisite and beautiful impression. But he was sure he wasn’t stratospherically handsome, was he?
People from later generations really liked to embellish things and raise the charm based on aura, didn’t they?
“Um, General Camp, I don’t really understand what you mean.”
“I’m just curious about how Master Thomas, who was from a thousand years ago and whose brain wouldn’t be as advanced as ours, could have composed a song like that. And how would she feel if she knew that her song would cause a war hundreds of years later that led to the death of nearly four billion people.” “Do you think she should be blamed for it?”
“No, of course not. I’m just wondering what kind of person could possess such power as to shake the will of a scientist from five hundred years into the future. I’ve listened to the song countless times and haven’t found the answer. I want to know what Dr. Sergey had discovered back then that drove him to despair.”
Harrison Clark walked to her office, casually picked up a chess piece from the box, “Who knows.”
Nora Camp didn’t seem to mind his casualness, “Private First Class Clark, I find it interesting that you bear a striking resemblance to Master Clark, and you share the same name.”
Harrison Clark nodded, “He was an absolute genius in the music industry, and I am a combat genius the likes of which you’ve never seen before. So history is always surprisingly similar, and geniuses manage to have a mutual understanding across a thousand years? Maybe being named Harrison Clark and looking like this means an extraordinary destiny.”
“But you aren’t as handsome as him.”
“Can you eat good looks?”
Nora Camp stood up, turned off the hologram, took a closer look at Harrison Clark, “Clark, I’ve read your physical assessment.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“You have two choices. You can leave the Black Bear Training Base and join the central special forces for advanced training. Or you can stay here at Black Bear Training Base and start your training with the Summit Armor.”
“Summit Armor?”
“Yes, it’s the same body armor worn by the new recruits you see every day.” “Why is it called that?”
“Allegedly, it’s named after a company that Master Clark established.”
“Why commemorate a music company with a weapon’s name?”
“Because Master Clark symbolizes the spirit of never giving up.”
“Nice.”
“Have you made your decision?”
“I’ll stay.” Harrison Clark made a decision. He pushed a chess piece forward, to the center of the board, “Care for a game?”
His decision was to charm Nora Camp.
To charm her, not merely to be a reproductive tool.
“Oh? You know how to play chess?”
Harrison Clark nodded, “I know a bit.”
“That’s nice. It’s hard to find a kindred spirit in this age.” Nora Camp crossed her legs, made a gesture for him to sit, “So, to celebrate the fact that I’ve successfully retained an elite soldier, shall we play a game?”
An hour later.
Nora Camp commented, “It seems you only know a bit indeed. However, I’m still very pleased. Thank you for giving your all in playing against me. Seeing you making a plethora of mistakes is much more enjoyable than the despair of playing against an Al opponent.”
On the chessboard, the white pieces held by Harrison Clark were in complete disarray.
If it wasn’t for Nora Camp’s reluctance to end this rare game against a living, breathing opponent too early consistently letting him off easy, the game would have ended long ago.
Harrison Clark wiped the sweat from his forehead, “You let me off easy.”
“Alright, Private First Class Clark, I have to attend a conference call. But before that, I have a command for you. Starting from tomorrow, in addition to your basic armor training, you have to play a game of chess with me every day.”
Nora Camp Issued the eviction order with a smile.
“No problem.”
Harrison Clark stood up to leave.
Just as he was about to leave, he was stopped by Nora Camp’s voice again. “Harrison Clark.”
Harrison Clark turned back, “General, any orders?”
“You share our goal, right? I can trust you, right?”
“General, if you mean becoming an excellent soldier and fighting for humanity, then our objectives will always align.”
“Good, you can leave.”
After a safe distance away, standing on a hovercraft, Harrison Clark looked back and shrugged.
His sharp senses, superiority, and coincidental proficiency in chess had aroused slight suspicion in Nora Camp. She found it hard to believe that there could be such coincidences.
She must be going through a spiritual struggle in her mind, or perhaps a meticulous logical analysis; in the end, she chose to trust.
Inside the training building for Summit Armor.
Professor Owen and Daniel Thompson were jointly demonstrating the astonishing abilities of the Summit Armor to Harrison Clark.
“On the surface, the Summit Armor is just like a skin-tight piece of clothing, isn’t it?”
Professor Owen pointed to Daniel Thompson on the side and asked Harrison Clark.
The Summit Armor on Daniel Thompson at the moment was fully softened.
Harrison Clark thought the description was inappropriate, “This is clearly an Fl racing suit and it would be identical with a helmet.”
“Hey, buddy. I can’t believe there’s a second person in this whole base who knows about Fl racing! Ever since the first mass-produced magnetic levitation car was invented eight hundred years ago, Fl has left the stage of history.”
At this point, a passing technician sprang in uninvited.
“Get lost, Scott! No one wants to discuss these ancient relics like Maicle with you, we’re busy!”
Professor Owen chased the technician away with fluent English, complete with a perfect Downing Street London accent.
Harrison Clark smiled at the man, “We’ll talk later, I prefer Hamilton.”
“Nice! Excellent!”
Scott left with a smile.
Harrison Clark recognised many faces at the Black Bear Training Base, but now the base was larger in scale and there were still many new faces.
Among these unfamiliar faces were white people, black people, Indians and so on, which should be the residual effects caused by Sergey’s coup.
“Corporal Harrison Clark, look this way. Aren’t you curious where the weapons of the Summit Armor are hidden?”
Dr. Owen drew Harrison Clark’s attention back to Daniel Thompson.
“Daniel Thompson, activate the extreme close combat mode.”
To keep his attention from wandering, Dr. Owen decided to go big from the start.
As a buzzing sound resounded, the black surface of the Summit Armor on Daniel Thompson quickly dispersed into countless thin threads which tangled in the air and eventually formed a fierce looking armor.
The shouldered spikes, a full body protective armor, looked like ancient warriors.
Daniel Thompson reached back and took out a black stick about two meters long.
From the rod emerged countless thin threads which finally formed a large blade over three meters long.
Harrison Clark was genuinely shocked, “What… what is this? Doesn’t it violate the law of conservation of mass?”
Dr. Owen shook his head, “No, the mass remains conserved. Coach Daniel Thompson’s full gear still weighs a total of fifty-seven kilograms. It seems to have increased in volume, but it’s actually a hollow structure. Look closer.”
Upon moving closer, Harrison Clark discovered that the seemingly solid, metallic armor and blade was indeed a piece of equipment woven out of countless black threads.
He asked, “Hollow? Then how does the strength of the Summit Armor compare to the Azure Dragon Armor?”
Dr. Owen was surprised, “I didn’t expect you to know about the Azure Dragon Armor, you really are a seasoned military enthusiast. The strength of the Summit Armor, once hardened, is three times that of the Azure Dragon Armor.”
“Incredible technology.” Harrison Clark sincerely exclaimed.
“Daniel Thompson, switch to remote sniping mode.” Dr. Owen continued to command.
The armor on Daniel Thompson changed again, with a large amount of black material surging from his racing suit.
The “racing suit” turned into a more skin-tight body suit, much thinner.
At the same time, the metal structure at Daniel Thompson’s belt moved up, entered his hand, continued to be wrapped in the black woven material and finally formed a large sniper rifle up to five meters long.
Dr. Owen introduced with pride, “The Neutron Rifle’s maximum range is 1,300 kilometers, and that’s when shooting into outer space, so never fire skyward during practice, or you may hit our space base. Although it won’t penetrate the base shield, it’s still not good.”
Harrison Clark shook his head, “No, that’s impossible. No matter how strong the launching speed, it’s impossible. Neutron? Does that mean the bullets fired are made of neutron material? What about bullets?”
“The bullet originates from the nuclear fusion energy chamber, which is located here, you need to take care to protect it. Furthermore, when the neutron bullet hits the target, it will convert into protons and electrons, releasing a large amount of energy, causing a violent physical explosion, then a series of chemical reactions, causing a chemical explosion. Although the bullet appears to be just a thin layer and its weight seems light enough to be nearly negligible, the exploding power is equal to that of the plasma high explosive grenade carried by the Azure Dragon Armor. The shape of the bullet is like this, not much different from bullets a thousand years ago. You need to look carefully at the end of the bullet, I can’t explain this part to you, and even if I did, you wouldn’t understand. You just need to know that there’s a miniature force field at the end that can continuously push the bullet forward.”
Harrison Clark gleaned much information from Dr. Owen’s words.
The technology mastered by people in this era was still beyond his comprehension; it could even extract neutrons directly from nuclear fusion and even let neutrons form a thin membrane bullet.
At the same time, he realized that what was stuffed under his crotch the last time he was wearing the Azure Dragon Armor was a plasma bomb.
“The power of technology, it’s truly amazing.”
Harrison Clark continued to exclaim.
“Very well, Daniel Thompson, now switch to the thruster form.”
Dozens of cylinders of various sizes were formed at the joints of the Summit Armor.
This, Harrison Clark understood, each cylinder was surely a micro thruster. This was too inconceivable.
A full day went by, he had grasped most of the details and then experienced it himself, “It doesn’t feel like a product of technology, it feels more like a biological entity.”
Dr. Owen nodded, “To some extent, it is indeed a product born out of biological theory, the ultimate creation of biology and quantum circuits, and also one of the most advanced equipment that humans have now.”
“One of?”
“Would you like to see our starship’s giant cannon? The kind that can blow up Mercury with a single shot.”
“I must see it with my own eyes if I get the chance.”
Harrison Clark suddenly felt.
Hope might be within reach this time.
He was swelling with confidence.
He was even thinking about slacking off.
But then he remembered Nora Camp’s chess game..