Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam

Chapter 1101 274: Ascending the Divine Stairway

"This is utterly absurd!"The Second Seat lay flat on the equipment, facing a barbell he had never encountered in his life. The researchers at the Origin Society had always relied on brainpower; he particularly disliked those who constantly worked up a sweat in the gym.

Yet now, he faced the most peculiar opponent.

To avoid being labeled as weak by Zhuang Xiao, he must adhere to her demands.

The Second Seat's mind raced, considering every possible way to break the impasse. Clearly, he couldn't pass the "Bench Press Assessment" proposed by the Third Seat, but doing so gained him valuable time for contemplation.

Through fragmented conversations, the Second Seat grasped Zhuang Xiao's personality.

Her thinking was straightforward, highly valuing a strong demeanor, utterly disdainful of using the pretense of testing his bench press score to secretly strike at him.

This was perhaps the reason for Zhuang Xiao's immense strength; precisely for this reason, any sign of weakness would immediately earn her the "weakling tag."

However, the dimensions of strength are varied.

The Second Seat had already devised a plan internally, having already branded "strong" in Zhuang Xiao's mind. Even if he couldn't pass Rowena's "Bench Press Assessment," the strong label wouldn't disappear instantly; in fact, this became his opportunity.

The Second Seat had silently created a data panel internally—for the Origin Society, to evaluate the combat capabilities of war machines, they often assessed overall abilities using six dimensions, most intuitively manifested through a six-dimensional data chart. In the process, it was common for one or two items on this chart to show shortcomings.

And those machines that scored poorly on one or two dimensions but achieved high overall evaluations often demonstrated astounding proficiency in one or two areas.

The Second Seat believed he was now similar.

If his strength rating wasn't high, then correspondingly there would be a value that surpassed all expectations.

Now, the only question was, which item had the value that reached sky-high levels?

This was a one-time chance; after the "Bench Press Assessment," he had but one opportunity for Zhuang Xiao to directly perceive his strength, even if merely blustering, for Zhuang Xiao's "belief" would turn false into reality.

An answer gradually formed in the Second Seat's mind—the method to break the deadlock lay within this exoskeleton armor. Every piece of exoskeleton armor was designed with a function to bring both sides to mutual destruction in a desperate situation, consuming all energy at once to perform a near-teleportation push, launching oneself into enemy territory like a cannonball.

All of this was to detonate the exoskeleton armor, the self-destruct mechanism equipped in officer-level exoskeleton armors could cause a miniature tactical nuke-level explosion.

Once the propulsion core was activated, death was inevitable for the user.

Even without subsequent detonation, the load brought by propulsion was sufficient to cause multifaceted bone fractures resulting in full-body fragmentation.

It was undoubtedly a high-stakes gamble.

But the Second Seat was confident that he would emerge victorious, Zhuang Xiao's mystical power would be wielded for him, aiding him to achieve this "rebirth."

"Is this all you can do?"

Zhuang Xiao's skeptical voice snapped the Second Seat back to reality, her gaze, akin to looking at a weakling, intensely shamed him. More insultingly, despite her disdain, Zhuang Xiao helped support the barbell to prevent him from injuring his muscles while exercising with the equipment.

This girl was remarkably principled.

"It's time for this farce to end." The Second Seat gathered himself, with a stern expression, confidently pointing to his head, "This is merely to help you and your tribe understand one thing—human victory has never relied on displays of raw strength; history has repeatedly demonstrated that 'Strongmen' like you are merely kicked aside as small stones on humanity's path to higher levels."

The next moment, Zhuang Xiao's pupils contracted, and when she regained her senses, the Second Seat had vanished from her view.

A stinging pain radiated from her cheek as she slowly placed the barbell back onto the equipment, reaching up to touch the source of pain, warm blood instantly stained her fingers.

This opponent, clad in stylish exoskeleton armor, was astonishingly fast, so swift that time seemed to have stopped; she hadn't even seen how he vanished.

Upon turning around, the Second Seat stood in place in a bizarre posture. Both the stylish exoskeleton armor and the odd posture that looked undeniably powerful subjected Zhuang Xiao to unprecedented pressure.

The Second Seat exhaled quietly, relieved.

He even somewhat fell in love with this mystical power—with results aligning with his calculations, the load from the exoskeleton propulsion device had not caused any adverse effects on his body, and even the energy that should have been depleted remained abundant.

A smile involuntarily spread across the Second Seat's face.

In this moment, he had undergone rebirth in Zhuang Xiao's witness, signifying that every subsequent action of his could reach "a speed as if time stood still."

He even grew fond of this feeling that defied scientific explanation but could freely distort reality.

Origin Society's researchers disdain combat; he once thought likewise, believing that frontline battles against the fallen should be left to lower primates, yet now, he had transcended humanity's level through his calculations, reaching a realm beyond explanation by knowledge and logic.