The viewers in front of their screens were momentarily speechless, and even the bullet comments went blank for a second.
“Flowing gold? That much?”
Although flowing gold had excellent ductility as a metal, you’d need at least twenty kilograms to shield a person from head to toe with airtight coverage.
And Wang Tianwei had even wrapped the oxygen tank and breathing mask inside it…
For a moment, no one knew whether to call her extravagantly wealthy or bursting with creativity. After all, nobody had ever seen someone just wrap raw mech material around their own body!
Lin Youfu, watching what was happening with the Qilin Squad, also felt a twinge of concern.
Normally, flowing gold was embedded into mechs or used as the outermost layer of armor—secured in place and only mobilized in the face of danger, shifting into another form for attacks or defense.
Wang Tianwei’s mental strength hadn’t even been upgraded yet. Was it too much of a stretch to force that much flowing gold into motion for such a long time?
Even Shen Jie couldn’t help but ask,
“Has Classmate Wang Tianwei’s mental strength still not been upgraded?”
Chao Hao and Fu Manli shook their heads.
“No signs so far.”
So she was still A-rank. Shen Jie opened his mouth, then closed it again, and in the end didn’t ask anything else.
You say she’s just an A-rank… yet she can mobilize more than twenty kilograms of flowing gold to protect her body, and still have surplus mental strength to modify mechs.
You say she’s exceptionally gifted… but she’s only A-rank.
So should they worry and stop her right now, or not?
He wasn’t the only one with this dilemma. Raymond and Yu Qian felt exactly the same.
With all their years of experience, they had no strategy for dealing with Wang Tianwei either! There were people in the military who had upgraded, but they had never seen anyone like her.
After answering the questions, Chao Hao and Fu Manli turned back to keep staring at their own student.
Would this kid just collapse from mental exhaustion later? This wasn’t even the first time she’d done something like this.
Or maybe she’d upgrade right here? But honestly, upgrading wouldn’t be bad either…
Over at the camp infirmary, Dr. Lin saw the scene and went “Huh?” while scratching his head and flipping through his files.
“Weird, that doesn’t add up… She still hasn’t upgraded? What’s she stuck on?”
Under the live broadcast of the “Little Bee” drone, Wang Tianwei, draped in flowing gold, handled the mechs of all four team members by herself.
She installed new components, cleared away the ice and snow, and swapped out the observation scopes.
It took a total of two hours, with three breaks in between, and she refused help from her teammates every time.
There was only so much flowing gold to go around—Sir Huang had just taken a suppressor, so his mental strength had to be conserved, and the other two teammates were the main damage dealers for later!
As for herself, worst case she could just lie flat on the ground. The rest of the battle was riding entirely on them.
Some netizens initially had no idea what flowing gold even was. How could it “flow” all over her body on its own?
Only after others explained it did they learn that this was a super S-rank mech material!
“…I seriously can’t believe she’s A-rank, building super S-rank mechs, and wearing super S-rank material like it’s clothing!?”
“Hey, Sister Zebra sure uses materials in a one-of-a-kind way.”
“I hereby declare this the most successful power move I’ve seen this year! Valk can take a step back.”
“So now everyone’s clear: flowing gold is just a metal, and it’s entirely driven by mental strength.
Then the question is—just now, the way it ‘flowed’ all over her body like a movie special effect was Sister Zebra doing that with her own mental power… She’s straight-up showing off! Why not just put it on normally? Why does it have to be so villain-style!?”
"Sister Zebra can do whatever she wants, she's got the right!"
The bullet comments were going back and forth over Wang Tianwei's shady moves and show-off behavior, but she herself had already returned to the tent and downed a pouch of nutrient fluid.
Outside, the blizzard still showed no signs of letting up—if anything, it was getting worse.
"Good thing we fixed the mech, otherwise who knows how long we'd have to wait."
The four of them geared back up inside the tent, and Jian Jingyu reluctantly killed the heater.
After more than three hours of rest, everyone was looking sharp except for Wang Tianwei, who hadn't stopped working and seemed a bit worn out.
The tent was transferred into Huang Yan's space pendant.
"Alright, time to move."
If they didn't leave now, the day would be over—and who knew when dark would fall on Blizza? Actually, from the look of things, day and night didn't make much difference anyway. Either way, they couldn't see the road...
Jian Jingyu restarted the mech and noticed that although the viewport was still in dark anti-glare mode, the imaging was now crystal clear. The infrared scope had been recalibrated to cut through the scattering from the ice and snow, letting him see the road up ahead.
Pulse thrusters had been fitted at the head and knees, which could blow away the snow blocking his view and underfoot.
"Whoa!"
"I've only got two ultrasonic detectors—I installed one on Goldfish, and I'll keep the second as backup in case something breaks later. Best if we all fall in single file. Safer that way."
"You got it!"
Once all team members had familiarized themselves with the mech's new features, the Qilin Squad hit the road again.
"Sister Zebra, you keep the third position. Anything happens, just holler."
"Pull back your mental power, I'll handle early warning."
"Say it if you're tired. Don't push through."
At the same time, Valk and First Military Academy's team were still racked with worry.
"Captain, there's no way I can fix the mech in this kind of blizzard!"
Wu Fangyu had twice tried to charge out and sort out her team's mech, only to be forced back by the gale both times. She was frantic.
No matter whether they could leave today, at least they'd need to get the mech repaired before they could make emergency preparations. Blizza was a real threat—if a star beast showed up, they couldn't afford to be in this condition!
Hiranuma Yusho glanced at the time, then at the blizzard outside that showed no sign of stopping.
"Get your full protection on. I'll help you."
"Captain? No, this really needs to be me. It's the snow and wind outside..."
"Trust me. Just go."
Wu Fangyu was confused. How was the captain going to help? Those heat-conductive parts were pretty intricate—there was no way the captain knew how to install them.
Then she climbed onto the mech and understood.
The blizzard around her suddenly calmed. A barrier seemed to appear in the air around her, and her body wasn't as cold anymore!
Wu Fangyu couldn't help but glance over at Hiranuma Yusho.
"Captain? That's insane!?"
Mental power barrier made solid? You kept this from us too?
"I only just pulled it off recently. Take your time, I'll have you covered."
Hiranuma Yusho said calmly.
Hell yeah! Whatever, their captain was the coolest!
Wu Fangyu thought to herself as she slotted the heat-conducting pipe into the mech.
Once his mental strength was trained up to the captain's level, could he show off like that too? The training courseware and methods were already in hand—once he got back, he'd hit the drills hard!
