Chapter 79 80

Chapter 79: The Wild Barrage

Everyone fell silent, except for Eugene Whitler, the bold guy who reached out and touched Wagner's face as if to confirm he wasn't a robot.

Wagner let him perform this odd gesture and just tilted his head slightly:

"Sir, I'm not gay, thanks."

The researchers snapped back to reality and burst out laughing, eager to ask questions. Most of them had previously tried the test, and even those who hadn't could barely follow the rhythm of the cubes on the screen with just their eyes. The terrifying sight of the cubes almost forming a continuous line made their heads spin, making it hard to imagine how this man named Wagner had managed it.

"Don't worry, folks. This is just part of the test. Let's finish the test first, and then we will have time for questions, okay?"

Gilbert Gordon gestured for calm with both hands, signaling for them to quiet down. Then he waved for everyone to follow him to the adjacent large testing room.

Faulkner and Eugene immediately recognized it as the room where a lot of tennis balls had fallen earlier, but it was now clearly cleaned up. The room spanned thousands of square meters, taking up at least half of the floor. It looked empty with no other facilities, and all the walls, including the ceiling, were made of some special material that emitted a silver-white luster, making it look futuristic but eerie due to its emptiness.

The researchers stood behind a large glass wall, while the test subject, Wagner, stripped off his shirt, shoes, and socks again. Barefoot and wearing only shorts, he entered the testing room in front of the glass wall.

"The human body, with many seemingly ordinary movements, often conceals mysterious mechanisms. In extreme cases, when faced with emergencies or crises, the human body can often unleash potential beyond reason. Why is that? The magical, complex, and amazing body, composed of muscles, bones, nerves, and organs, has evolved over millions of years to become what you and I are today. It contains a vast treasure trove waiting for us to discover. What Wagner just showed us was an impressive display of enhanced neural response speed, focus, and hand-eye coordination. Next, I want to show you more through several other tests to help you see more direct changes."

Gilbert Gordon stood at the forefront with his arms folded, pointing to Wagner behind the glass wall.

"The second test: dynamic vision, body coordination, muscle burst, and nerve perception. Inside the walls of this test room, there are about 120 high-speed launchers that can adjust the angle to fire tennis balls and other objects. Let's see if Wagner can dodge these flying objects exceeding 200 km/h."

As Gilbert gave the order, everyone saw metallic tubes slowly extend from the silver-white walls of the testing room. Then an electronically synthesized alarm sounded:

"The barrage test will begin in 10 seconds. This test has a danger rating of 3.5+. All non-test subjects, please leave the testing room immediately, as it may cause serious injury or death."

After three repeated warnings, only Wagner stood in the empty laboratory.

"Now the countdown begins, 10, 9, 8..."

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

At the end of the countdown, countless yellow tennis balls shot out from the metallic tubes like raindrops, showering down on Wagner standing in the center of the room.

The previously calm man suddenly erupted and began moving at an incredible speed, his body swaying with movements beyond imagination, showing remarkable agility and running ability.

To the observers behind the glass, it seemed like a massive yellow shadow was relentlessly pursuing a sprinting, frantically shifting strong figure. Tennis balls launched at high speed covered Wagner like a storm, with enough force and speed to make anyone's heart race, knowing that a direct hit would result in broken limbs.

The figure still running had already traced a large arc, sprinting to the end of the test room, then abruptly turning with almost no reduction in speed, making a sharp U-turn past the glass wall. More than a dozen tennis balls pursuing Wagner's back struck the glass wall heavily, causing a slight tremor.

"Wow!"

Several people closest to the glass wall gasped and instinctively took a few steps back.

"Don't worry, this high-strength tempered glass wall is specially made. Despite these tennis balls being as terrifying as cannonballs, they can't penetrate it, so rest assured."

A researcher from Solar Corona standing next to Gilbert spoke up to reassure them after seeing their reaction.

This nerve-wracking test only felt long but didn't actually last very long. The commotion in the room soon subsided, leaving thousands of tennis balls rolling around on the floor, looking messy, while Wagner, unscathed, stopped moving and jumped a few times as if reliving the experience before slowly walking back to his original position.

At this point, most people hadn't even reacted.

The electronically synthesized voice spoke again:

"The barrage test is over, and the real-time video analysis has been uploaded."

"That's it?"

The researchers seemed dazed, looking at each other.

Gilbert Gordon gestured to the researcher to operate the computer, playing a video of the test that was slowed down multiple times.

In this video, they could clearly see that in an instant, more than fifty tennis balls were fired from the metallic tubes, flying toward Wagner from all directions and blocking almost all escape angles. But the tester, whose muscles were incredibly defined, always managed to dodge those balls. Even when there was no room to evade, he would accurately reach out to deflect the few stray targets.

All the researchers could clearly see that when Wagner was moving, the muscles on his seemingly slender body were trembling at an extremely high frequency, providing him with unimaginable explosive power and support. During the instant of a rapid sprint's direction change, certain tendons and muscles in his calves responsible for propulsion swelled up dramatically and then returned to normal when the turn ended, filled with a mysterious rhythm, cadence, and beauty that couldn't be put into words.

Among them were quite a few experts in kinesiology and human anatomy, who knew very well the explosive power needed for such sprints and direction changes and were amazed at Wagner's strength, which was far beyond his appearance. It's no exaggeration to say that he was beyond the limits of the human body.

**Chapter 80: Miracle**

The researchers collectively fell silent again, stunned and seemingly dazed by the 5x slow-motion replay on the screen and the average speed of 343 km/h displayed on the ball speed testing equipment. They genuinely began to doubt everything they had just seen.

Only Faulkner Hawsworth whispered repeatedly in Eugene's ear, "This is crazier than what I saw earlier... Tell me... Am I dreaming..."

Gilbert didn't give them much time to process and instead used the communicator to give the next command: "Next, Wagner, strength test."

Hearing the instruction, Wagner nodded and picked up a tennis ball from his feet.

Twenty meters in front of him, the floor rolled up, raising more than ten 1-meter-square glass panels in a row.

Wagner took a light breath, his body fully warmed up from the previous barrage test. His arm swung back, tight muscles suddenly releasing as he made a common baseball throwing motion.

Most of the observers had learned to watch the large screen, and through the slow-motion playback, they clearly saw the small tennis ball tumbling through the air, piercing the first glass panel, breaking only a small central area, and continuing on through the following panels, smashing through nine panels before finally losing momentum, bouncing off the last fixed glass panel and rolling onto the floor.

"Probably didn't perform his best. He usually can pierce all ten 10mm glass panels. In pure strength tests, Wagner's squat result is 972 kilograms, about 1.8 times the current world record. Those athletes are all over 135 kilograms. Wagner is 188 cm tall and weighs 93 kilograms," Gilbert explained.

He then glanced at the researchers, revealing a smile. "If that's not clear enough, I've arranged the simplest and most convincing test—a 100-meter sprint."

Small holes appeared on the walls on both sides, and two clear laser beams projected across the testing room. The screen showed the precise 100m mark, clearly the starting and finishing lines of a 100-meter track.

"Since this is a testing facility, the floor is not ideal for sprints like a standard 100-meter track. But that's okay. This will make Wagner's sprint speed even more convincing."

A staff member holding a starting pistol was already standing next to Wagner at the starting line. He looked at the observation room, counted down from three after receiving Gilbert's command.

The gunshot rang out.

The observation room was at the far end of the huge test room, and Wagner was running from the opposite end towards them. The researchers clearly saw this tall man growing in their vision at a speed that defied description. Within a few breaths, he had finished the entire course.

Fast! Very fast! Unimaginably fast!

Even without accurate speed tracking, they could feel the wind-like speed of Wagner's sprint.

But it wasn't enough for clarity. The researchers had to observe through a replay again.

High-definition cameras hidden around the room faithfully recorded Wagner's entire 100-meter sprint, which was then uploaded to the server.

In the footage, Wagner's head was held high, and his perfectly proportioned muscles and lines were fully visible. Every step he took was powerful, and each arm swing made his muscles vibrate visibly. The unparalleled power and beauty of his sprinting was indescribable.

Anyone who witnessed it would immediately think of a cheetah sprinting across the African savannah.

Like an arrow!

Like a shooting star!

Like lightning!

It was a sight so grand that just watching it could make anyone's adrenaline skyrocket!

This simple, direct video without any sound surpassed any image's capacity to shock.

Because in front of everyone, demonstrating this extreme speed, was a bipedal human!

The laser speed test accurately recorded Wagner's time from start to finish, which was then displayed on the screen:

4.73 seconds!

A researcher stared blankly at the number, seemingly trying to decipher its secrets. After a long while, he finally uttered, "All athletes will lose their jobs..."

"Quite the contrary, gentlemen."

A distinct voice full of magnetism came from behind, startling the stunned crowd. They all turned to see Bruce standing at the door.

"I don't know if you usually watch races? I watch a lot, especially the 100-meter sprints. It's the shortest and quickest track event, often taking less than 10 seconds, yet it's the most sacred number in all of sports."

"The number itself isn't important; the meaning behind it is. Each breakthrough represents another leap in human limits! It's the most primitive challenge to our own limits and the bravest exploration!"

"The human body's muscles, joints, ligaments, and bones grant us unparalleled flexibility, excellent coordination, and unimaginable explosiveness. Many people like to shackle this record, saying the human limit is what? 9.48 seconds? 9.52 seconds?"

"I don't agree, especially not with putting limits on imagination and humanity's future, telling ourselves that everything is over before it's even begun. As researchers, we, like countless predecessors, are constantly seeking new breakthroughs. And it's this relentless pursuit that has taught us to operate tools, build machines, and harness energy, becoming the best species on Earth, allowing us to rule over nature."

"Now, all of you are witnesses to this new miracle, witnessing our breakthrough on the journey of exploring human mysteries! Imagine pairing this powerful body with our implantable power armor or other more powerful machines—what would that look like?"

"Maybe it would be enough for us to transcend the limits of this land, break free from constraints, and challenge the vast outer space. You might say I'm too optimistic. Yes, I don't know when this will happen, but there's one thing I firmly believe—this will happen! Does anyone want to bet? This won't be humanity's first breakthrough, nor will it be the last. So I ask you all, will you continue to wait and see?"

Bruce walked slowly, expression firm, his eyes gleaming. He walked past each person step by step, his tone not high but each word clearly heard, like a hurricane sweeping through their hearts, stirring waves that grew higher and higher, the sky overturning and stones cracking!

As his gaze swept over them like a fiery blaze, even the calmest researchers couldn't contain their excitement, clenching their fists and gritting their teeth. They didn't know why, but they couldn't control their heartbeat, as if something unnamed was struggling, throbbing, almost leaping out of their chests, making them lose control.

"You guys are fucking amazing!"

Eugene Whitler's face was flushed with blood, his eyes wide as he cursed, breaking the brief silence. Then, seeing the looks from those around him, he realized what he'd done but still panted heavily, not caring.

But no one argued with him because seven or eight researchers had already rushed to Bruce's side, clamoring to join the GIPA implantable power armor project.

"What do you say, Dr. Hoson?"

Bruce signaled Gilbert Gordon to calm down the researchers, then tilted his head towards Carmen Hoson.

"You gentlemen have created a new era. Please, let me contribute to it!"

Carmen Hoson had stood silently in the back of the crowd. When Bruce asked him, he stiffly turned his neck, slowly shaking his head, shaking it continuously. After being embraced tightly by an excited researcher beside him, he finally uttered this sentence with difficulty.

-------------------------------------------------------

I've already updated nearly 200 chapters of the novel, which has consumed a lot of time and energy, but without any benefit.

So from now on, I will update 2 chapters every two days on Patreon.

On this website, there will be updates twice a week, which means 4 chapters.

For only $3 a month, you can get the latest chapters the fastest! Enjoy smooth and regular reading!

Your support means a lot to me! Thank you very much!

The Patreon link is:

patreon.com/CulturalDisseminator8987