Chapter 140: Cover of the Era — Longguo's

In the underground briefing room of the Dragon Chant base, the large screen on the wall was divided into over a dozen windows, each playing news programs in different languages from different countries.

The sound was muted, but the bold headlines and the exaggerated expressions of the anchors said everything.

"The Age of Mechs Has Arrived! Border Conflict Reveals Revolutionary Form of Warfare in Longguo!"

On the Longguo National Television military channel, the anchor's background was a slightly blurry but still shocking screenshot of a "Jing'an" airdrop.

"Mysterious Mech Unit Crushes Three Reinforced Battalions in Twenty-Two Minutes; White Elephant Country Exercise Force Suffers Humiliating Defeat!"

On Europa News, the footage cut between a "Jing'an" flipping an armored vehicle and a T-90S tank being sliced open.

"Technological Overmatch or Strategic Deception? Results of Longguo's 'Dragon Chant' Project Revealed for the First Time!"

On the Eagle Country Global Defense Network, analysts were pointing and gesturing at several highly pixelated photos.

Wang Hao, holding a bucket of popcorn, leaned back in his chair and watched the screen happily:

"Hey, look at this Eagle Country expert. His face is green, yet he's still being stubborn, saying things like 'it could be special effects' or 'more evidence is needed'..."

"Hilarious. Their own satellites captured it clearer than anyone, right?"

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses, his fingers swiping across a tablet:

"According to global internet sentiment monitored by 'Torch Dragon', search volume for related topics has increased four-thousand-seven-hundred-fold in the past twenty-four hours."

"Military forum servers in seventeen countries have crashed due to excessive traffic."

"Four-thousand-seven-hundred-fold?" Li Yang had just come from the mech maintenance workshop, his hands still stained with a bit of machine oil.

"Good heavens, we've just secured the talking points for military enthusiasts worldwide for the next three years."

"Not just military enthusiasts." Zhao Kaiyuan walked in from the doorway, holding a stack of printed documents.

"I just came from the foreign affairs department. As of eight o'clock this morning, we have received technical exchange requests from forty-two countries."

"Joint exercise invitations from twenty-seven countries, and... well, protests from nine countries."

"Protests?" Wang Hao raised an eyebrow. "Who? White Elephant?"

"White Elephant is protesting, of course, claiming we 'used excessive force' and 'disrupted regional stability'." Zhao Kaiyuan placed the documents on the table.

"But interestingly, among the other eight protesting countries, six are traditional allies of Eagle Country. The wording is all 'expressing concern over the proliferation of new weapons' and 'calling for restraint'."

"Standard diplomatic jargon, which basically means, 'This thing is too scary, can you please stop using it?'"

Feng Yan sat in the main seat, watching the screen calmly. The footage happened to cut to a live broadcast of an emergency meeting of the International Military Technology Standards Committee.

It was an international organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, responsible for formulating and coordinating technical specifications for military equipment of various nations.

The committee chairman, a white-haired retired general from France, was speaking solemnly into the microphone:

"... In view of the recent technological breakthroughs, the committee deems it necessary to initiate emergency consultation procedures to re-evaluate the technical standard framework for existing land combat equipment..."

The camera cut to the audience.

One could clearly see the head of the Eagle Country delegation.

A three-star lieutenant general—sitting there with an ashen face, clutching a pen so hard his knuckles were white.

"He's panicked," Wang Hao pointed at the screen. "Look, he's panicked, he's panicked."

"How could he not be?" Li Yang also laughed.

"They've spent decades setting military technology standards, which, to put it bluntly, was just setting rules based on their own equipment levels. Now with this move of ours, the rules have to be rewritten."

Feng Yan finally spoke: "Rewriting the rules is not the goal. The goal is to make the rules... more reasonable."

He signaled for Chen Guang to pull up a new window.

It was a draft of a technical white paper that had just been finalized, with the cover reading: "Proposed Framework for New Generation Individual Exoskeleton and Heavy Mech Technical Standards — Sharing of Phase Results from Longguo's 'Dragon Chant' Project."

"The foreign affairs department has already sent this to all member states of the Standards Committee," Feng Yan said.

"It's not for soliciting opinions; it's a proposed framework. It contains the basic material parameters for 'Dragon Scale' armor, safety operation standards for 'Dragon Heart' micro-reactors, energy efficiency grading standards for energy shields..."

"Of course, these are all public versions; core data has been processed."

Wang Hao leaned over to look at the table of contents and whistled: "Good heavens, this isn't a suggestion; this is clearly an exam syllabus — 'Please have each member state evaluate their own level of technological development with reference to this standard'."

"It is an exam syllabus," Feng Yan nodded.

"In the past, they set the questions to test us; now, we set the questions to test them. If you can answer, it means you've kept up with the times. If you can't..."

He paused, leaving the sentence unfinished.

But everyone understood.

If you can't answer, it means being left behind by a full step in future military technology competition.

It means losing the right to speak in the international arms market, and it means... in many matters, your voice will be much quieter.

Meanwhile, in an underground conference room at the Eagle Country Department of Defense, half a world away, the atmosphere was not so relaxed.

A huge screen was looping a video.

It was footage captured remotely by a high-altitude reconnaissance plane and processed with supercomputer enhancement.

Although still somewhat blurry, the movement details of the "Jing'an" mech could already be clearly seen.

Over twenty people sat in the conference room, from three-star generals to top technical experts, and everyone's expression was grim.

"Twenty-two minutes." The Army Chief of Staff sitting in the main seat tapped the table, his voice low.

"From airdrop to the end of combat, twenty-two minutes. Three reinforced battalions equipped with our latest exoskeletons didn't even have a chance to fight back."

A technical expert pushed up his glasses and spoke with difficulty: "General, according to video analysis, the opponent demonstrated at least four technologies we have not yet mastered:"

"First, the heavy mech's ultra-high-altitude direct airdrop capability, which requires extremely powerful structural strength and cushioning systems;"

"Second, a combat-ready energy shield; judging by the effects, it can at least withstand a direct hit from a 125mm armor-piercing shell;"

"Third, the battlefield application of high-power laser weapons;"

"Fourth... is that non-lethal weapon that causes soldiers to lose combat capability; the principle is unknown."

"Principle unknown?" An Air Force general nearby raised his volume. "With tens of billions in R&D funding every year, you're giving me a 'principle unknown'?"

"Because the opponent didn't leave a single sample!" The technical expert was also getting anxious.

"All destroyed equipment was taken away, all prisoners were taken away, and they even cleaned the battlefield thoroughly."

"The only thing we can analyze is this damn video and a few satellite photos!"

The conference room fell into silence.

Finally, the Chief of Staff spoke: "Any news from the intelligence department?"

A middle-aged man in a suit sitting in the corner stood up.

He was a senior official from the Defense Intelligence Agency; his codename was usually unimportant, but the news he brought was.

"A 'mole' we have embedded in Longguo's military-industrial system sent back an encrypted message six hours after the battle ended."

The man in the suit's voice was calm, but the content made everyone prick up their ears.

"The message is very short, with only a few keywords: 'Dragon Chant', 'Jing'an-Type 1 Mass Production', 'Iron Wolf Comprehensive Upgrade', 'Standard Setting'."

"'Standard Setting'..." The Chief of Staff chewed on the term, his face darkening further.

"Yes." The man in the suit nodded.

"According to news sent back by our personnel in Geneva, Longguo has already submitted a proposed technical standard framework to the International Military Technology Standards Committee. If this framework is adopted..."

He didn't finish, but everyone understood the consequences.

It would mean that for the next ten or twenty years, the whole world would have to use Longguo's technical indicators as the yardstick.

It would mean that the technological advantage and standard hegemony that Eagle Country spent trillions of dollars to establish would collapse overnight.

"We cannot let them succeed," the Air Force general gritted his teeth.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" The Army Chief of Staff looked at him.

"Send more troops to try? Or do you think our 'Mountain Hounds' can beat those mechs?"

Another silence followed.

The man in the suit spoke again: "Direct conflict is clearly unwise."

"But... the establishment of technological superiority requires time, resources, and talent. And these things can be... interfered with."

He paused, his voice dropping lower: "We suggest initiating the highest priority 'Technology Acquisition Plan'."

"Target: All core technical data of the Dragon Chant project. Means: All available 'moles', plus external forces that can be utilized when necessary."

The Chief of Staff was silent for a long time.

On the large screen, a "Jing'an" mech was using a laser blade to cut through a tank. The image froze on the frame where a drop of molten steel fell.

"Approved," he finally spoke. "At any cost."

In the Dragon Chant base briefing room, the live broadcast on the screen had switched to the scene of a press conference.

A spokesperson for the Longguo Ministry of Foreign Affairs stood at the podium, smiling as they answered reporters' questions.

"Regarding the recent military standoff in the border region, I would like to emphasize that Longguo consistently pursues a defensive national defense policy, and all actions were conducted within a legal and reasonable scope..."

"Regarding the technical issues the international community is concerned about, we are willing to carry out exchanges and cooperation with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit..."

"As for the issue of technical standards, we believe that any standard should keep pace with the times and reflect the reasonable concerns and development needs of the vast majority of countries..."

The spokesperson's wording was watertight, but every word exuded confidence.

Wang Hao watched, then suddenly burst into a laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Li Yang looked at him.

"I'm just thinking," Wang Hao grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Right now, there are probably tens of thousands of engineers and analysts worldwide studying those few clips of ours frame by frame, trying to figure out how we actually did it."

He chewed the popcorn and continued vaguely: "They must be thinking — what material is this armor?"

"What's the principle of this energy? How is this laser cooled? How is this shield maintained? They'll break their brains and still won't figure it out."

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses: "According to global academic databases monitored by 'Torch Dragon', in the past twenty-four hours,"

"downloads of papers related to 'high-density energy', 'composite armor', and 'directed energy weapons' have increased by eight hundred percent."

"Seventeen well-known laboratories have adjusted their research directions and started following our technical route."

"Following?" Wang Hao was amused. "They haven't even found where the starting line is yet!"

Feng Yan did not join in their banter.

He stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window was the base's internal simulation training ground, where several reserve pilots of the Dragon Cavalry unit were conducting basic operation training for the "Iron Wolf" exoskeleton under the guidance of the "Torch Dragon" AI.

Their movements were still a bit stiff, but the prototype was already there.

"In the next month," Feng Yan said, with his back to the team,

"we will be very busy."

Everyone quieted down and looked at him.

"First, based on this combat data, complete the comprehensive upgrade plans for all 'Jing'an' and 'Iron Wolf' units."

"Old Li, you are responsible for the mech parts; Guangzi, the laser and AI systems; Haozi, the non-lethal weapon module; Kaiyuan, energy and shields; Zhao Gong is responsible for coordinating logistics support to provide the necessary process support."

"Second," he turned around, "'Torch Dragon' needs an upgrade."

"This battle exposed some problems — the response to signal interference in extreme environments is not fast enough, and the efficiency of cracking new encryption methods can still be improved."

"Guangzi, I'll give you two weeks to come up with an optimization plan."

"Third..." he paused, "the base's security level is raised to the highest. Especially for the technical database and core laboratories."

Wang Hao blinked: "Brother Feng, do you think... someone will come to steal?"

"It's not a matter of thinking." Feng Yan looked at the large screen, where the footage of the "Jing'an" airdrop was replaying. "It's that someone has already started acting."

He pulled up an encrypted interface showing several abnormal communication records intercepted by "Torch Dragon" in the past twelve hours.

The signal sources were varied, and the encryption methods were different, but they all pointed clearly — to the Dragon Chant base.

"Less than six hours after the battle ended, electronic reconnaissance activities targeting us increased fifteen-fold."

"Among them, seven signal sources used at least three different dedicated encryption protocols from national-level intelligence agencies." Feng Yan's voice was calm, but his words carried great weight.

"If they can't get the wreckage from the battlefield, they will find a way to get the originals from our hands."

The briefing room was silent for a few seconds.

Then Wang Hao grinned: "Good, let them come! I was just worried that our new 'little toys' didn't have a place to be tested."

"Mechanical spiders, dragonflies, and that 'lurker' that can camouflage... just right for practice!"

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses, the light from the screen reflecting off his lenses: "'Torch Dragon's' automated defense network has completed seventy percent of its deployment."

"If anyone really wants to break in... they will find it even more desperate than facing 'Jing'an' on the front line."

Li Yang rubbed his hands: "I also think our base's security system should be upgraded. As it happens, I have a few ideas for optimizing mech patrol routes..."

Zhao Kaiyuan nodded steadily: "I will personally check the energy supply and shielding systems. I guarantee not even a suspicious mosquito will be able to fly in."

Feng Yan looked at his team, a faint smile appearing on his face.

This was his confidence.

Not those mechs, not those advanced weapons, but these people — this group of partners who never knew how to write the word "impossible".

"Then that's it," he said finally. "Upgrade what needs upgrading, optimize what needs optimizing, and prepare what needs preparing."

He looked out the window.

On the training ground, an "Iron Wolf" exoskeleton used for training just completed a beautiful tactical roll, and the sunlight simulated inside the base reflected off the young pilot's visor.

"A new era has begun."

Feng Yan said softly, as if stating a simple fact.

"And we are the ones defining this era."

Outside the briefing room, on the electronic bulletin board in the corridor, the latest global military magazine covers were being displayed in a slideshow.

Every cover featured that "Jing'an" mech.

Every headline told the same fact:

The Age of Mechs has arrived.