I am a hero of the former civilization.

"Shut your stinking mouth and eat!!"

"I'm praising you, and besides, how can you eat if you close your mouth?"

Ryan glanced at the noisy round table, where a dozen people were gathered around it, holding chopsticks or knives and forks, all looking at him.

"We're here, what's the rush?"

Without thinking, he rushed to the empty seat between Alicia and Hua, his 'throne'.

Chapter 325 Be a Hardcore Man

The beef offal hot pot was very enjoyable, but the Thousand Tribulations made me feel a bit twisted.

The taste is certainly very good, but if you speak in a sarcastic or insincere manner, it will immediately become angry; if you praise it excessively, it will become foul-mouthed and say something inappropriate.

"Get lost, I don't need your flattery."

"You need to praise someone for something so simple? Are you a good-for-nothing?"

"A lazy bum like you has the right to judge me? Get lost!"

Both are stubborn, but the hot-tempered guy often leaves you speechless, making you miss the slow and deliberate tone of Mebius.

Amidst laughter and conversation, dinner was quickly finished. Someone naturally took care of washing the dishes, and Qianjie dropped his chopsticks and went back to his room. He had been somewhat restless lately and didn't mention the duel again.

I heard that Mei has already analyzed it for him. If he can't achieve artificial collapse, even if he undergoes super transformation surgery, he will only suffer when facing Ryan. He has experienced similar suffering many times in simulated battles, so he really has no interest in it.

Fighting is for winning. If there's no hope of winning at all, it's better to play it safe and develop your strength. But the fire in his heart was burning so fiercely that he was almost suffering internal injuries. Seeing Ryan's lazy appearance only made him angrier.

"Hehe, Brother Jie, I'm much faster than you in terms of growth rate. Your confidence will be dampened again after just playing the simulator."

Ryan held his teacup, looking quite content. He had already heard that Qianjie had taken the first kill, which boosted his confidence. Then came the battle of Donggong, in which Ryan almost utterly destroyed everything in his path.

He wasn't in a hurry at all. As long as the agreement remained in place, Qianjie would be a little more obedient. He had also heard that Mei's suggestion to have him lead the team had been approved.

That woman is really cunning; Qianjie can't possibly outmaneuver her. But with Mei handling official business and Alicia handling personal matters, I can just be a hands-off manager.

Thinking of this, he turned his head and saw Eden writing and drawing on the table. He curiously leaned over and asked, "Eden, what are you doing?"

“I just got some inspiration for the job Alicia asked me to do.” The girl with long burgundy hair slid the notebook over and explained, “It’s about the team uniforms and team song, and, well, the badges count too.”

Ah, I should have known Alicia would get excited.

He glanced at it and covered his face. How to put it? Eden truly lived up to its reputation as a gem of civilization. Its artistic talent far surpassed that of Alicia. Those team uniforms were exquisite and practical, but Ryan still felt ashamed when he saw them.

Throughout his long battles, he always dressed very simply, usually in a suit or white coat, without much embellishment. To put it in terms of high emotional intelligence, it's casual; to put it in terms of low emotional intelligence, it's just a case of being poor and desperate.

"Such a beautiful dress must have cost a lot of money. It would be such a waste to ruin it."

"I plan to ask Vervier to develop a nanomaterial that shouldn't be so easily damaged, and if it breaks, we can just replace it. We should prepare a few spare sets."

Ryan glanced at the super-rich woman, thinking to himself that he hadn't even received his salary yet, and while the clothes were gorgeous, the tight-fitting clothes, skinny jeans, and excessive embellishments made this old man feel somewhat ashamed.

In terms of fashion sense, he's on par with Hua; not exactly ugly, but certainly very ordinary.

Just then, my phone beeped. I picked it up and saw that it was a message from Vilvi.

He clicked on the design sketch with a hint of excitement.

"I don't need it. I've already asked Velvi to make me a suit of armor."

"Ultimate pragmatism, huh? But I think as the commander-in-chief, you should still care about your appearance. A striking appearance can at least boost morale." Eden raised an eyebrow. She was an expert when it came to designing appearances. She leaned in somewhat unconvinced and then froze.

Ryan was also stunned, blinking repeatedly, and understood why 'Joy' said there was no 'magician's' whimsical idea.

It was a heavy exoskeleton over two meters tall, with a Honkai energy engine backpack on its back. It looked like an ordinary tin can, with a thick chest plate and cylindrical arm armor exuding an industrial aesthetic, and a helmet similar to Iron Man's. It looked...

Have you seen something supernatural lately? If you add a bomb gun and a chainsaw sword, isn't this just a mutated version of the Astartes Tau steel armor?

Loyal appearance, extreme pragmatism—Ryan closed his eyes again, simulating himself wearing this powered exoskeleton.

The monster, over two meters tall, charged into the enemy ranks, violently tearing apart everything in its path. He finally understood why 'Pleasure' Velvet had designed something so ordinary.

The most efficient killing, the blood-soaked, heavily armored monsters, the demonic charge, annihilating enemies with all kinds of weapons—this is the ultimate pleasure, the pleasure that can make one of the four peddlers laugh wildly.

It was truly delightful; even just thinking about it makes my heart race.

"This thing is so ordinary, and it's completely different from my design style. It's like an industrial product." Eden frowned, looking at the design in his hand and then at the artwork on his phone. They were from completely different dimensions.

Exquisite art and bulky, crude industrial products are clearly not on the same level.

“Extreme pragmatism is also an art. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a bit hardcore.” Ryan was very satisfied. He recalled the ‘weakening anthem’ he had heard in his previous life. Being a hardcore man is also cool, and it has higher practical value and can be mass-produced industrially.

"As for the art style, everyone can equip themselves with the same set. Besides, this is just a first draft, and the appearance can be further modified."

"Absolutely not!"

As soon as Ryan finished speaking, Alicia's head popped out from behind her, her face full of determination: "It's not pretty at all, it looks like a tin can."

Why would anyone want to become such a big, bulky thing? I've already gained weight recently, and this would just increase my size several times over. What's the point of me dieting then?

The girl who ate the most beef offal stew that night muttered to herself, no matter what Ryan said about the hardcore aesthetics of this industrial style, she shook her head vigorously, and the noise attracted the attention of others.

Handsome!

Kosmo was instantly captivated. The cold armor and terrifying blade ignited the boy's youthful chuunibyou spirit. It was clearly an efficient and ruthless killing weapon. He thought to himself, "No wonder he's Ryan; even his aesthetic sense is full of masculine energy."

Unfortunately, the reactions of the others made him afraid to speak, so he could only quietly give Ryan a thumbs up.

"This thing could fit three Padmas in one. Maybe I should just forget about it."

"Yes, I think Miss Eden is right. Looking better ultimately makes you feel better."

“Ryan, I’m an assassin. Isn’t that a bit too high-profile?”

"This looks like a robot from an animated film. Can Gretchen draw on it?"

......

Everyone was talking at once. There was no authority in this Golden Courtyard, and everyone spoke freely. When he heard that the majority of the voices were against it, Ryan curled his lip.

These women have no idea what hardcore beauty is. Oh well, they're just icing on the cake in terms of fighting ability anyway, so they don't really benefit me.

He suddenly realized that a pile of tin cans couldn't compare to the look of stockings and thighs, so he didn't force the promotion of them. He just said that they would be used to equip lower- and mid-level soldiers in the future, and no one objected after that.

The built-in Honkai energy engine can enhance combat power, which is of great benefit to ordinary fusion warriors who do not have enough Honkai energy.

The matter was settled happily. Ryan, being cautious by nature, felt that instead of looking cool, it was better to stack thicker armor, and besides, it looked pretty cool.

He scratched his ear. Before he could even instill hardcore art in Eden, the latter was dragged to the bathhouse by Alicia. And during the days he was away, everyone had clearly gotten used to it.

A group of women, making a ruckus, headed to the underground hot spring with their changes of clothes, instantly silencing the previously noisy room.

Ryan stared blankly at the wall clock, that vicious aura of 'salted fish' creeping back into him. Considering he had things to do recently, he slowly got up and looked at Su, who was quietly reading.

"Want to go for a walk?"

"At a time like this? Forget it, I still have some papers to revise."

"Information on the Honkai Impact 3rd?"

"Yes, even though I was brought here, I'm not going to give up."

Ryan took a deep breath, not intending to disturb his friend, and simply said that if there was any problem, he should go to Mebius, who was an expert in this field and knew that Sue was feeling uneasy.

Transformation surgery always makes people uneasy.

"By the way, I have relevant information on my computer. If you can't find it, ask Kosmo for help."

"You... these foreign language materials?"

"Nonsense, it's genetics, of course!"

.....

The Golden Courtyard is finally complete, and there shouldn't be any more guests from now on.

The streetlights were dim, casting long shadows. Ryan walked on the stone path. Because the residents of the underground city had undergone strict political vetting, and after the expulsion of the Herrscher-dominated entities, this was perhaps the safest place on Earth.

People have varying degrees of closeness, and he was closest to the people in the Golden Courtyard, followed by his work colleagues such as Coleman, Vinal, and Andevich, thus deliberately creating a wheel-like management structure.

This way, we can focus on the key points. Since our strength is insufficient, we must protect the person in the center, which is why we are not in a hurry at all.

He was quite comfortable living like this, and it didn't matter how long the Honkai lasted, but he knew that the next Herrscher would be terrifying, and he would make targeted adjustments to the extreme.

It doesn't matter. Let Him do His thing, I'll do mine. Let Sue and Eden finish their super-transformation surgery first, then we'll move forward with the Wandering Humans Project. Only when we're free of burdens can we fight the Honkai to the death.

"Your Excellency, Commander!"

The guards stood at attention and saluted. Only then did Ryan realize that he had inadvertently wandered into the headquarters, so he paused briefly at the main entrance.

Should we go and ask Mei about the formation?

He thought about it and figured that Mei must be taking care of Kevin at this time. It would be too self-torturing to stuff dog food into his mouth in the middle of the night. He licked his lips again and could still faintly taste the coffee.

What did that guy Mebius do while I was unconscious?

Chapter 326 Mebius's Kiss

Damn it, damn it!

Deep inside the gloomy laboratory, a computer screen was flashing light as a pale fist slammed into a roly-poly toy, hitting Ryan's face in the photo.

Huhu.

Mebius took a few deep breaths, looked at the face in the crumpled photo, and became angrier the more he looked. He threw another punch, but unfortunately he didn't use Honkai energy. His fist only made the roly-poly toy roll back and forth.

She was angry, partly at Ryan and partly at herself.

Why can't I take that step at the crucial moment? Am I really that afraid of rejection? Will I really be rejected?

Mebius didn't know either, because there were still competitors. If she were rejected, all her pride would vanish, her world would be completely turned upside down, and she would have no idea what she would do.

"Doctor, if you want to go back, you can go now. I'll take care of the finishing touches." Klein stood quietly at the door; only she was allowed to enter this classified laboratory.

Möbius didn't answer, but instead asked, "Klein, do you think I'm too cowardly? I never consider the consequences."

"Humans are more cautious about what they care about, and I think you are too gentle."

"Gentle? Why?"

Klein licked his lips, initially reluctant to speak, but finally gritted his teeth and said, "You value not only His Excellency the Commander, but also Miss Alicia, Miss Sakura, Miss Hua, and others. You don't want to ruin this anticipated life because of yourself."

“How could I possibly expect such a life of leisure?!” Mebius’s voice suddenly became sharp, and when he saw the silent Klein, his lips moved slightly.