Chapter 542: X-1

Once one becomes busy, time always passes by in a flash.

By the time Sun Cheng finally had a moment of leisure, he noticed that the clothes on his body had changed from short sleeves to a long trench coat.

"Winter is coming soon!"

He murmured to himself; it had already been four months since the Intelligent Machinery Laboratory officially began its research projects.

For Sun Cheng, the past four months truly felt like the sentiment: "In the midst of flowers, one knows not how short the days and months are; who would have expected that a thousand years have already passed in the world."

He could not stay in the real world forever; after all, everything he possessed today was, for the most part, obtained from the Transformers universe.

Therefore, in order not to let everything in the Transformers universe go down the drain, Sun Cheng had truly devoted himself heart and soul over the past few months.

The Cybertron Technology Group, which had originally expanded like an inflating bubble, continued to capture territory in the domestic cloud drive and storage markets over the past few months, while its products and services gradually increased from the original few to as many as twenty or thirty.

Its service targets ranged from teenage cloud drive users to film and television collection enthusiasts in their twenties and thirties; from online cloud services for small and medium-sized enterprises to advanced database construction for large groups and academic research institutions.

Under Sun Cheng's unsparing money-based poaching offensive, the Cybertron Technology Group had successfully poached over a thousand senior talents in domestic cloud drives, storage, enterprise cloud, and large-scale databases from dozens of domestic enterprises, research institutes, and scientific research organizations over the past four months.

To be called a senior talent by him, they naturally possessed real ability.

Among this group, some were technical backbones who had been in the industry for at least ten years and possessed rich product R&D experience; others were research-oriented experts who had graduated from relevant majors at major well-known domestic and foreign universities and had long been engaged in prospective theoretical R&D at scientific research institutions.

For such senior talents, if one relied solely on Cybertron Technology to cultivate them, even with a willingness to invest, it would take at least six or seven years to train them.

And time was exactly what Sun Cheng lacked most right now.

Therefore, being able to bring these senior talents under his wing for an average annual salary ranging from several hundred thousand to over a million Xia yuan, he felt he had made a good deal.

In a corner of the Ningjiang High-tech Park, inside a production workshop belonging to Future Machinery Technology Co., Ltd.

After dusk slowly descended that afternoon, Sun Cheng drove an inconspicuous domestic SUV and slowly drove into a corner of the Ningjiang High-tech Park.

There, a production base belonging to Future Machinery Technology Co., Ltd. was gradually expanding.

While still some distance from his destination, a checkpoint stopped Sun Cheng.

He skillfully took out his pass and entered the production base, which had reached the defense level of a top-tier domestic national defense military enterprise.

Parking the car in an empty spot in the newly built parking area within the production base, Sun Cheng took out a Bluetooth headset, put it on, and began walking toward a production workshop.

Today was a special day, not only for Future Machinery Technology Co., Ltd. but also for the country.

After nearly four months of repeated testing, several modifications, and one upgrade, the first product of Future Machinery Technology Co., Ltd. —the semi-covered mechanical exoskeleton armor, officially issued the military equipment serial code X-1 by the Equipment Department—would begin supplying the military starting today.

Because of the sensitivity of the mechanical exoskeleton armor, and also because Sun Cheng did not intend to expose Future Machinery Technology Co., Ltd. so quickly.

Therefore, the handover ceremony for the first batch of equipment was held simply in one of the company's production workshops.

Sun Cheng naturally needed to appear in person, and a Major General responsible for national defense military procurement also came from the Equipment Department.

The entire ceremony lasted less than twenty minutes, but its significance was extraordinary.

"Chairman Sun, thank you for the contribution your company has made to the national defense cause... The X-1 mechanical exoskeleton armor significantly improves the military operations of our soldiers, and the military is very satisfied after testing the several improved versions... Of course, if the price could be lowered a bit more, that would be even better!"

In four months, and with Sun Cheng, a pseudo-expert who had personally participated in the design of Decepticon bodies, the process from the initial Test Type 1 mechanical exoskeleton to the current X-1 mechanical exoskeleton armor.

The entire process of improvement and upgrading was as smooth as using a cheat code; any problems encountered or requirements from the military were quickly resolved.

The current X-1 mechanical exoskeleton armor, in its basic model, uses a 1.8-kilogram lithium-air battery to provide power, reducing the overall weight by 1.5 kilograms compared to the American HULC version.

In Normal Mode, with a full charge, it can ensure the wearer carries 80 kilograms of heavy objects and continues to march for six hours at a speed of no less than 4.5 kilometers per hour.

The reinforced model, with a full charge, allows the wearer to carry a maximum of 110 kilograms of equipment and weapons and march for four hours at a speed of no less than 4 kilometers per hour.

In addition, the X-1 mechanical exoskeleton armor has an auxiliary lifting device added to both arms, which can make it nearly 20% less strenuous than before when the arms are holding heavy weapons or carrying supplies.

The original Test Type 1 mechanical exoskeleton armor only provided the simplest protection; its chest and back were purchased directly from several civilian bulletproof vest defense companies in Xia Country, possessing a certain degree of bulletproof capability, but after all, it was only civilian-grade and difficult to block bullets from standard rifles of various countries.

After the X-1 was officially finalized, Future Machinery Technology Co., Ltd. also obtained authorization from the Equipment Department and ordered the latest products directly from a state-owned enterprise that produces military bulletproof vests, greatly improving the protective capability of this mechanical exoskeleton armor.

And these were not the reasons why the X-1 mechanical exoskeleton armor could be recognized by the Equipment Department and the military and officially begin procurement in such a short time.

What the military valued most was the large number of weapon and equipment mounts provided on the X-1 mechanical exoskeleton armor. After extensive testing by the Equipment Department and the military, they were pleasantly surprised to find that if this type of mechanical exoskeleton armor were purchased in large quantities, equipping only two per squad would allow the military's firepower and marching to produce an excellent chemical reaction.

The weapon and equipment mounts on the X-1 mechanical exoskeleton armor had been increased to eight, making it exceptionally convenient not only for carrying various marching backpacks and supplies but also for carrying light and heavy machine guns, squad-level grenade launchers, and even bulky ammunition boxes.

Even the heavy anti-tank rocket launchers that have been abandoned by many countries in recent years can be carried by the X-1 using the mounts on the back, allowing soldiers to march quickly while carrying these weapons weighing tens of kilograms, just like carrying a marching backpack.

For special forces conducting infiltration operations who often miss opportunities after airborne drops due to a lack of sufficient heavy weapons, it was simply a huge help.