Chapter 50: Unsealing, Section 7

As the manager uttered his final words, Black Hair’s muscles tensed instantly. The force was so great that it even twisted the tubes still attached to his body. With a hissing sound, streams of blood gushed from his wounds, instantly turning the surroundings blood-red.

Yet the manager remained utterly calm in the face of this scene.
“I’ve already said it. The excitement of transition isn’t good for your body. You just twisted seventy-six life-support lines. If you twist ten more, I’ll have no choice but to say goodbye to you.”
“I also said this isn’t your concern,” Black Hair replied fiercely, cutting off the manager’s words. He stood up, rummaged in his pocket, and only found a crushed cigarette pack. The cigarettes inside were torn to pieces. After some effort, he managed to pull out one and lit it.

The harsh smoke burned his lungs, giving him a fiery sensation and instantly invigorating him. After a while, Black Hair slowly spoke.
“There’s nothing on me… what you’re talking about.”
“I knew you’d say that,” the manager replied, his voice now carrying a hint of appreciation. “I don’t know where I heard it, but my database has this saying: Soldiers of Huaguo are stubborn. Once given a mission, they’ll carry it out no matter what, without changing their minds easily. In that regard, you’re no different from them.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” Black Hair said, taking another deep drag before falling silent again.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re doubting me.” Ignoring Black Hair’s defiance, the manager continued, “That’s not a problem. I think you’ll believe me soon enough. So let’s put this aside for now. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Something else? What do you mean?”
“Nothing special. Just a reminder. You’re my prisoner now. And as a prisoner, shouldn’t you be curious why I’m not killing you?”
“Prisoner…” Hearing this sensitive word, Black Hair frowned. He stood up and threw away his cigarette butt.
“Until I decide to surrender, you can’t get anything from me. There’s no such thing as a prisoner yet. Though you did defeat me with that mech, I still have the right to choose. I may not be able to choose to live, but I can choose to die.”

At these words, Hei Fa showed his teeth, revealing a sinister smile. “Of course, you can also question my views. Feel free to try. Let’s see if you can get what you want—or just a corpse.”
The temperature in the room dropped sharply as soon as Hei Fa spoke, becoming bitterly cold in an instant. Under the bright light, his position seemed extremely dark, out of place among the surroundings. Seeing this, the manager remained silent.
After a long while, he finally let out a deep sigh.
“I was wrong. It’s impossible to force a result from a soldier of Huaguo, even a lowly corporal. Perhaps I should try a different method.”
“Oh?” A look of disdain appeared at the corner of Hei Fa’s mouth. “Tactics of conciliation?”
“No,” the manager replied calmly. “Let facts speak.”
“Facts speak?” Hei Fa raised his eyebrows, about to speak, when suddenly the light in the room dimmed, and the wall in front of him vanished, revealing a pitch-black corridor.
“Come in. I planned to show it to you later, but since you don’t trust me, I’ll have to do it sooner. After all, you’re the first person from Huaguo I’ve seen in tens of thousands of years. You deserve it.”
As the manager spoke, the lights in the corridor lit up one after another, as if guiding the way. Seeing this, Hei Fa hesitated for a moment before slowly stepping forward. As he moved, the tubes connected to him seemed to come alive and detached automatically. At the same time, Hei Fa felt as if something had been injected into his body before they fell off.
“For your own safety, I injected you with vital hormones. They’ll allow you to move freely for an hour.” As if knowing what Hei Fa was thinking, the manager explained suddenly.
“Oh, thank you very much.” Hei Fa nodded and stepped into the corridor.
The corridor was long, a structure that spiraled downward endlessly. It was hard to tell what metal it was made of. Stairs stretched beneath Hei Fa’s feet, with no end in sight. The dust on the stairs was thick, indicating they hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. Hei Fa walked step by step, silently keeping track of the distance he had covered.
“3,175 steps. Six steps per meter. That means I’ve gone another 500 meters underground.” After walking silently for over ten minutes, Hei Fa finally stopped in front of a large valve. Sighing, in this unfamiliar base—

Be careful. Though that manager hasn’t shown any malice yet, it would be careless to be careless.
“Click…” The valve opened.
What caught his eye first was utter darkness. Before Black Hair could even move, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared before his eyes.
At first, one light, then two, three.
The lights came on one after another, quickly forming a vast expanse—like stars appearing above Black Hair’s head. Under their illumination, a huge space unfolded before him.
“This is…” Despite being prepared, Black Hair still gasped when he saw what was there.
Large iron balls…
What lay before him were none other than those large iron balls he had seen before, thousands of them. They were neatly arranged, like a disciplined army, quietly resting in the vast space before him. Looking around, Black Hair realized this was actually an enormous warehouse!
And the only cargo in this warehouse were those large iron balls marked with the Ya Zi symbol!!
It was then that the manager’s voice sounded again.
“Surprised? Seeing so many Primitive Power Armor. If I’m not mistaken, you’ve always called them Ya Zi. Do you still think so?”
“Primitive Power Armor?” Black Hair chewed on this new term, feeling bitterness in his heart.
As the manager said, he had always thought it was the Ya Zi that had defeated him. So he had comforted himself by thinking that losing to China’s strongest guardian wasn’t a big deal. After all, Ya Zi was a legendary being, synonymous with strength and ferocity. But now, the last veil covering him had been cruelly torn away by the manager. It turned out these things were indeed what he said—they weren’t Ya Zi at all, but something called Primitive Power Armor.
It was a perfect irony. So he had been defeated by mass-produced items? Then what was the use of the technology he had always taken pride in?
For a moment, Black Hair felt as if all emotions had mixed together inside him—bitterness, sourness, bitterness, and astringency—except for sweetness. He opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything.
But the manager’s next words made Black Hair suddenly lift his head.

“That’s right, this is the Primal Power Armor. It’s the thing that defeated you. But you don’t need to be disheartened. Though the Primal Power Armor isn’t particularly powerful, it’s still part of the Super Mecha Project. It’s not something you can match. And I brought you down not to show you those.”
After a pause, the manager’s voice took on a hint of pride.
“Haven’t you been talking about Ya Zi? Well, it’s right in front of you now!”
“What!?” The black-haired man’s eyes widened instantly as he looked forward. But where could he see any other figure? The entire warehouse was filled with those large iron balls known as Primal Power Armor. He couldn’t see the Ya Zi the manager mentioned at all. And as he failed to spot it after a long time, the manager suddenly laughed.
“Still haven’t found it? Very well. I’ll make it more noticeable.”
“Whoosh…” With the manager’s words, the lights in the warehouse suddenly brightened. Three focused beams shone down from the ceiling. After swaying slightly, they converged sharply at one point—right in the middle of the array of large iron balls!!
“Ya Zi!!”
Following those three beams closely, the black-haired man finally saw a large iron ball that seemed slightly different from the others. It was slightly smaller in size compared to the surrounding balls, and its markings weren’t ordinary pale gold but a deep golden dragon head with red edges! Located at the center of the entire warehouse, its presence acted like a focal point, with thousands of large iron balls around it seemingly serving as its guards.
Was that… the most ferocious dragon, Ya Zi?
Although that large iron ball seemed quite ordinary, at that moment, the black-haired man couldn’t take his eyes off it. At the same time, his warrior’s intuition told him how extraordinary it was. A quick glance might not reveal much, but the longer he looked, the more he sensed a ripple of power. The ripple was so subtle, almost like a gentle breeze, indetectable to the eye. But the black-haired man believed this was likely just a disguise. Once Ya Zi revealed its fierce true form, that gentle breeze would instantly turn into a deadly dragon tornado too fierce to gaze upon.
“Return to simplicity. People always think that the more powerful a mecha is, the more special it should be. But they don’t realize that only power hidden in simplicity is the truest power. Black-haired, haven’t you always doubted me? Well now, watch with your own eyes my achievement. This is the last power from Huaguo—let’s see if you’re worthy of it.”