Chapter 16

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As they continued watching the latter part of the video, Lin Yu now understood how he was able to gain such an explosive amount of exposure and followers.

The comments from the final moments of the Exo suit video could be broken down into three groups. The first would be commenters who wanted to buy it or get the blueprints off him. The second group inquired about its combat practicality, and the third group were people who were curious about the possibility of having a better-upgraded version.

Amongst all three different groups of commenters, most of the comments stemmed from the second group since the entire screen was flooded with extremely heated discussions amongst the viewers about the combat practicality of the Exo suit.

The internet was a platform for plenty of people to express their true emotions without having to put on a facade. This meant that there would never be a lack of trolls or keyboard warriors; however, such a volatile and heated discussion was not purely caused by trolls alone.

Things that everyone held dearly and cared about were often personal experiences and everything they believed in.

There were plenty of news reports on a variety of incidents recently that it would be impossible for only the few people in his room to feel the growing sense of dread and anxiety.

The age of information allowed everyone access to a large array of information with little to no effort. This meant that a rapid yet subtle growth of one’s intellectual development would occur without considering one’s mental well-being into account. Hence in this day and age, the gullible and foolish were a rare find.

1When a person’s life was in danger or threatened, safety and searching for any possible solution of self-preservation would be the only priority in their mind. The only explanation for his sudden explosive gain in followers in a single night would be the unfortunate circumstances of the world around him; hence, he was only a superhero due to the circumstances of his era.

1“Third Brother, is that Exo suit of yours capable of punching someone?”

After watching the whole video, the commenters were not the only people interested in his Exo suit as even Xu Zhaoyang and his roommates were extremely interested in it.

“Come on, it’s obvious, right? It’s only good for saving up a bit of your arm strength when lifting things.”

Lin Yu rolled his eyes in response.

Of course, he held himself back from saying what was on his mind. The lack of combat practicality would only be temporary as there was uncertainty on what would happen after another upgrade.

Besides, this current upgrade came much earlier than he initially expected. When he handed Xu Zhaoyang and the others his Exo suit, he also gave it a good hard look as 360,000 total views would yield him more than 2,400 EXP points. There would be more than enough EXP points for him to get it upgraded to level two, so it seemed that it would not be long before he reached its third level based on the current state of things.

1Upon hearing Lin Yu’s reply, Xu Zhaoyang and the others had a sad, regretful look on their faces as they began losing interest after toying with it for a brief moment.

After finishing the takeout and a brief conversation with his roommates, Lin Yu excused himself while carrying his backpack containing the Exo suit out the door.

Lin Yu returned to the same dirt hill from yesterday and sat on the same rock as he excitedly took out his Exo suit to be upgraded.

At that moment, a burst of faint blue light brushed right past him as the entire appearance of the gauntlets transformed once again.

The front half of the gauntlet’s main body kept the same appearance of the Hextech Gauntlet as before, with only some subtle changes. However, there were two additional silver cylinders on each side of the gauntlet’s forearm.

The armor plates on the shoulders had also completely disappeared and were replaced by three pitch black steel bottles the size of regular coke bottles. A rubber tube as thick as a human thumb extended from the top of these bottles into the main body of the gauntlets.

“Air pistons?”

Fortunately for him, he had watched a similar video online a few days ago and was able to recognize the high-pressure cylinders on the shoulders and the tube that extended into the main body with a single look. It was not difficult for him to imagine the inner mechanics of these gauntlets.

___

[Piston Exo Gauntlets]

Rank (LV2): 1566/10000

Description: Piston Exo Gauntlets with a low budget build and simple structures. Easy to repair but with poor control. Low grip and lift strength in addition to poor endurance.

Evaluation: This crudely made equipment would be suitable as cannon fodder. Before you die, please allow your enemies to taste the full brunt of a steel glove.

4___

When skimming over its attributes, Lin Yu was not disappointed and actually surprised by what he saw.

So what if it was only cannon fodder or how it had been made? At the very least, he knew it was still capable of combat based on its attributes. Having cannon fodder was better than waiting for death without anything to defend himself with.

Besides, the most popular weapons in modern warfare were simple and low-budget weapons. The more well-made and intricate the build was, the easier it would damage. The simpler a build was, the easier it would be at adapting to a variety of harsh environments.

“Let’s test it out.”

Lin Yu was extremely excited and immediately put on the Piston Exo Gauntlets.

The Piston Exo Gauntlets felt weighted but were not too heavy; at least they were not as heavy as the backpack he had used in high school. As such, he had no problem moving his arms while wearing it.

The shoulder parts of the gauntlets were basically supported by compressed air cylinders held together by straps that made them seem slightly crude. On the other hand, the interior of the gauntlets was significantly more comfortable to wear than before. The inner gloves felt like silk and he felt as if he was wearing a silk glove padded by an outer shell.

Besides that, the depth of the gauntlets had also changed; upon wearing the gauntlets, he could also fit his entire forearm into it as even the metal rings that were used to control the finger joints disappeared.

However, as Lin Yu tried to move his fingers, the fingers of the Piston Exo Gauntlets began to move with him. This made his movements more natural and was no different to him flexing his fingers around in real life.

Thus, he attempted to clench his fists by pushing the button on his palm.

“Thud!”

A sound similar to an air-compressed nail gun could be heard as the cylinders on both sides of the forearms extended as the fists of the gauntlets also extended from the forearm, pushed forward by a small segment by the pistons.

These were the piston rods of a small compressed air cylinder.

Although no information had stuck with him from his library trip, he had seen a picture of this little tool.

With this attempt, the principles behind the mechanics of the Piston Exo Gauntlets were now simple and obvious to him. The cylinders on both sides of the gauntlets were actually air pistons.

In simpler terms, a piston worked by having a rod pushed outward with high pressure since the rods were connected to the fist. Based on its mechanical principle, the pistons contracted in its resting position and if a current was detected by the compressed air cylinders, high pressured gases would be delivered through the tubes into the pistons, which would move the fists.

“Smash!”

1There was no way to judge its actual strength by punching nothing. Due to this, Lin Yu set his sights on the rock that he was sitting on.

A single punch caused debris to ricochet everywhere with a cloud of dust. Hence, the lifespan of the rock as big as his head ended tragically as it was now reduced into rubble.

“Awesome!”

Upon seeing what he had done, Lin Yu excitedly clenched his fist.

That rock as big as his head was shattered by a single punch. If it had been an actual human head though… Well, this problem would require further testing. He decided to bring a watermelon to try out next time.

2After testing its strength, Lin Yu wanted to test the so-called ‘low endurance’ evaluation shown to him on the Attributes Menu. The final result had also proved how painfully low its endurance was as 90% of the stored compressed air had been depleted.

However, due to all of that, he had discovered something else completely by accident.