Long Fei led Li Xiucheng to the hangar of the manufacturing factory. Li Xiucheng followed behind him with a serious expression.
Inside the hangar, besides Factory Director Simmons and the relevant staff, there were several mercenaries dressed in uniform black-and-white combat attire. Among them was an older man wearing a beret and sunglasses—the mercenary regiment commander, Li Jiaming.
"Boss," everyone greeted Long Fei.
Long Fei nodded, his eyes fixed on the completed RX-78 Gundam. Its armament included a beam rifle, a bazooka, a shield, and two beam sabers mounted on its backpack.
"Director, everything ready? I'm going to personally test this MS."
Long Fei changed into a spacesuit pilot suit, climbed into the cockpit, and began manually typing on the keyboard to run diagnostics and test the software. Then he started piloting the RX-78 Gundam.
The RX-78 Gundam equipped a live-ammunition rifle, stepped onto the catapult deck, and was launched forward at high speed, soaring out of the factory.
Long Fei piloted the RX-78 Gundam toward the designated testing area.
The area featured numerous special moving targets—some were mobile bullseyes, while others were drones armed with live-ammunition rifles.
Long Fei gripped the control sticks, pressed buttons, and stepped on the pedals to attack. While flying, he fired at the targets, hitting the bullseyes dead center each time. Cyan liquid splashed out, adhering to the exact center of the targets. Every shot struck either perfectly on target or very close to the center. The hit mobile targets then automatically returned to base.
The drones launched their own attacks. Long Fei evaded by stepping on the pedals and countered by pressing the firing buttons.
Drones that were hit became coated in the cyan liquid and automatically returned to the factory.
After one round of shooting and evasion testing, the RX-78 Gundam piloted by Long Fei had not been hit even once.
Next came the evasion maneuvers. He charged toward a denser asteroid field. Long Fei focused intently, pushing the Gundam to full throttle. Under his control, it flowed like clouds and water, effortlessly dodging the asteroids blocking its path.
In a control room back at the factory, numerous staff members sat at their stations monitoring the data from Long Fei's Gundam operation.
Each employee reported their respective data results.
On site, Li Jiaming, Li Xiucheng, and the other mercenaries listened to the reports in stunned silence.
"No way... The boss isn't just capable of developing all these astonishing things—he's this incredible at piloting an MS, too? This level of control is already ace pilot territory. If word got out about talent like the boss's, it'd make countless people green with envy," one mercenary remarked with deep admiration.
Li Xiucheng could hardly believe his best friend had developed such an advanced MS. If this machine could be mass-produced, it would absolutely upend the main military armaments of every nation in the world.
"Uncle, if my buddy's MS here gets released to the public, won't it cause a huge uproar?"
"It will."
"Can this MS be mass-produced?"
"Probably not easily. I've already reviewed the data and hardware for this MS—manufacturing it isn't that simple, and maintenance would require a massive amount of manpower."
"Do you all know how much the boss spent just to build this single MS? Do you have any idea?" Simmons suddenly interjected.
Everyone shook their heads—no one knew.
"It cost 5 billion to manufacture this MS alone, and that's not even counting the development expenses."
Everyone's jaws dropped wide enough to fit an egg.
After thinking it over, they all felt it made sense. With performance that far surpassed any known MS, the investment had to be enormous. Even if mass production were possible, probably only a handful of nations would be willing to purchase large quantities.
Li Jiaming watched the video feed of the Gundam's movements with a grave expression.
After several more rounds of testing, Long Fei finally piloted the RX-78 Gundam back to the factory.
Just then, two frigates arrived at the factory. The flag pattern on the frigates depicted a pair of black wings crossed with a sword.
Of course, this was the emblem of the Tianyi Mercenary Regiment. The trademark of Tianyi Arms Manufacturing Company, meanwhile, featured a pair of white wings crossed with a sword.
The two frigates had just returned after completing a contract and were docking at the company for repairs and resupply.
The mercenaries disembarking from the two frigates spotted the boss piloting the newly developed MS and curiously rushed over to surround it and observe.
"Wow, what a cool MS!"
"It looks a lot like the Jim MS the boss developed more than a year ago."
"Ever since developing the Jim MS, the boss decided to stop making fighters our standard equipment and switch entirely to MS for combat."
"At first, I thought the boss wanted us to die, but after piloting the Jim MS, I found its combat capabilities were excellent. We didn't need fighters at all. Sure, it's slower than a fighter, but it's far superior in close combat and evasion—especially in shooting accuracy."
"If I had to say, it's the OS operating system the boss developed that's outstanding. It's incredibly precise at intercepting incoming missiles during fixed-point defense, which has greatly improved our survival rate in battle."
The MS-piloting mercenaries turned to look at the Jim MS they usually piloted: a red-and-white mobile suit, right hand holding a gun, left hand a shield, with a beam sword mounted above the backpack thrusters on its back. The eye section of its head featured a cyan visor, as if it was wearing cyan sunglasses.
...
"Boss, what should we call this MS?" Simmons asked Long Fei.
"Gundam. The designation is RX-78, and its title is the Original."
Li Xiucheng asked, "Boss, by calling this MS the RX-78 Gundam and 'the Original,' do you mean you'll develop subsequent models?"
Long Fei nodded, which served as his answer to Li Xiucheng's question.
At that moment, a blonde career woman in a black business suit, with a graceful and alluring figure, arrived at the scene. She was Sakeqi, the person in charge of Tianyi Arms Manufacturing Company—and the company's president.
Sakeqi saluted Long Fei and said, "Boss, I have something to report to you."
"Go to my office and report there."
"Boss, I also have something to report," Li Jiaming quickly said, hurrying to follow behind Long Fei.
They arrived at Long Fei's office. The scanner at the door scanned them and automatically opened.
After entering the office, Long Fei sat down in his boss's chair. Sakeqi and Li Jiaming stood side by side in front of the large desk.
A robot brought over two chairs and placed them behind the pair.
"Sit."
The two sat down on the chairs.
"One lemon tea for me. What about you two?"
"One coffee."
"One black tea."
The machine immediately complied. Soon, the lemon tea was placed in front of Long Fei on the desk, the coffee in front of Li Jiaming, and the black tea in front of Sakeqi.
"Who wants to report first?"
The two looked at each other. Li Jiaming went first, handing a tablet to Long Fei.
Long Fei looked at the report file on the tablet.
"Do we really need to expand the scale to three times the current size?"
"Yes, Boss. We need to expand to that level to take on commissioned orders from various countries."
Although Long Fei's company was located within the sphere of influence of the Mikaang Kingdom, it was actually at the very edge. The location bordered many countries—or rather, it was in an overlapping, disputed area.
Among these nations was the influence extending from Long Fei's birth motherland, the Hanxia Empire. The most representative example was that several colonies in the area belonged to the Hanxia Empire.
That was why, years ago, Li Xiucheng and his troops had infiltrated the area to wipe out the pirate group that had been there at the time.
Moreover, the Hanxia Empire didn't just have a few space colonies—it had at least twenty or more scattered throughout space.
It just so happened that several colonies were in this region, so their territory extended here.
The Mikaang Kingdom, though independent, only has two colonies. It could be called a small and weak country.