The system handed me over to the state.

Chapter 205: Safety First

"I apologize, everyone. We were slightly delayed due to equipment debugging. Please follow me. Before we begin this training, you will need to watch some materials."

The firefighters present were very curious as they watched something. What they were watching must have been the so-called equipment debugging. Was it a new type of equipment being debugged?

In recent years, the development of new fire-fighting equipment has stagnated. They haven't replaced their equipment with brand new equipment for a long time. They basically replace old equipment with new equipment of the same model.

The curiosity of everyone present was immediately aroused. Led by the suddenly appearing three-person team, they passed through a somewhat dim corridor and first arrived at another hall, where dozens of tables were set up.

"Gentlemen, because what you are about to see involves state secrets, you must sign a confidentiality agreement to ensure that you will be kept in the dark until these devices are put into use."

The firefighters looked at each other and signed the confidentiality agreement in an orderly manner. After everyone had signed, the doors to the hall reopened, and a slight tremor occurred in the hall. Everyone tensed up instantly. The person in charge smiled and said, "Please relax, everyone. It's just a normal little tremor. Don't worry about safety."

The young men looked at each other for a moment, a slight tremor running through them... Let's hope so.

The person in charge glanced at the light blue watch on his wrist, which had a somewhat futuristic design, as if confirming something. After a few seconds, he looked up and said, "Alright! We've arrived. Open the door!"

The hall doors opened, and the group followed the person in charge out of the hall, arriving at an even larger and more spacious area. Here, countless mechs exuding power and beauty were parked on both sides of the hall, and the group of young men were immediately drawn to them.

Many people recalled the jokes they heard when they were young, like "Why does China have Gundam?"... Turns out, it really did exist!

They remained silent, without asking questions or expressing surprise, simply staring in astonishment at the dark blue-painted mechs around them. As they walked, they noticed that all the mechs seemed to be under construction, missing limbs, and the engineers didn't seem surprised by their arrival. They would glance at them and then immediately return to their work.

Filled with surprise and doubt, after touring the factory's interior, they left and came to the open space outside. Then, they heard heavy footsteps that made the ground tremble slightly.

A mech that wasn't particularly large, only about 4 meters tall, was moving quickly across the training field. This red and white painted mech looked slightly... asymmetrical, with various mechanical arms on one side and a huge iron box on the other, the contents of which were unknown.

It's quite puzzling how someone with such an uncoordinated body can maintain such balance and run so fast.

But then, things that mattered to them began to happen.

Suddenly, the sound of artillery fire came from afar, startling everyone. The next moment, the shell landed directly on several abandoned cars, and the explosion caused the fuel tanks inside the cars to burst into flames.

Most of the young men present instinctively turned and ran into the workshop, not out of fear, but out of instinct to find fire-fighting equipment. However, the person in charge pushed up his glasses and shouted, "Calm down! This is an experimental project, and everything is being carried out in a safe environment!"

Suddenly, the mechanical arm on the side of the tall red and white mecha began to deform. The next second, a jet of water mixed with foam shot out, and not just one. Then, a large number of mechanical arms on the left side simultaneously began to deform and spray foamy water at the car wreckage in front of them, which was still exploding.

The young men who hadn't heard anything earlier, but had found fire extinguishers and rushed over, stared blankly at the scene in the distance. In just one minute, the flames in front of them were quickly extinguished by the powerful impact of a large amount of foam water.

Immediately afterwards, the mechanical arm on the left transformed again, changing from a water cannon into a slender mechanical arm, turning over the wreckage covered in foamy water in front of it.

"This is the first generation of standard firefighting mechs developed by our country's scientific researchers. This mech comes in several models. What you are seeing now is the model for rescuing trapped people in major fires. We also have models with specialized internal strength and multi-functional assistance platform mechs with high-speed laser cutting and off-site assistance capabilities."

Just as the person in charge was giving their introduction, the car wreckage suddenly seemed to reignite, and a sudden explosion occurred. The flames and shockwaves instantly engulfed the front half of the mecha. However, the next second, the left side of the mecha quickly deformed, and a torrent of foam water gushed out again, suppressing the flames once more.

Finally, after the mechanical arm cooled the area completely and solved the fire problem, the mech turned around again to face the young men.

Even though the mecha had just suffered a strong impact on its front due to the explosion of flames, its front remained intact.

The mech quickly arrived beside them, and at that moment, the mech's hatch opened, and a girl with long gray hair emerged from inside, her voice tinged with helplessness, "Ugh...did I use the wrong water? How did it cause an explosion?"

For a moment, the young men looked at each other in disbelief. They had imagined that the test pilot of this mecha would be an experienced firefighter, a middle-aged man such as an engineering designer, or a young firefighter like themselves, but they never expected that it would be a girl.

The girl was Bronya, who had rushed back to the Arahato Corporation after leaving Research Institute No. 1. She straightened her clothes slightly, as she had changed into a black and white dress for a formal event, which made her look more serious and conservative.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you. This is Ms. Bronya, the chairperson of Alahato Technology Research and Development Company. Also, the mech you see here, as well as the other fire-fighting mechs you will see soon, all owe a debt to her."

Bronya smiled and waved. "Hello, fellow warriors. I am very happy to stand before you today. As one of the leaders of this training program, I will now tell you in detail about the content of this training and the arduous challenges you will face in the future. The future of China and the safety of its people cannot be separated from you."

"We will do everything we can to help you, whether it's in your daily life, your work, or most importantly, your safety!"

Chapter 206: From today onwards, this is your lover.

"Hey Lao Li... why did the bureau chief send us here? With so many big cases on his hands, why are we suddenly being sent here for some training activity, and even signed confidentiality agreements? This doesn't make sense..."

Old Zhao looked at the confidentiality agreement he had kept in his hand. He had a feeling that they were planning something big, and that this training was definitely not as simple as it seemed...

The middle-aged man beside him, who appeared rather rugged and casual, waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, he just sees that we two have nothing better to do. Training... what a load of crap! We should use this time to save a few lives... those suspects haven't even been caught yet, aren't they afraid that if we leave, someone will get killed?"

Old Zhao was speechless for a moment. It was as if they couldn't complete the task without their replacements. It seemed that Old Li couldn't get rid of this arrogance. However, with his abilities, he certainly had reason to be proud.

It's a pity he's too impulsive; otherwise, he would have been the regional bureau chief long ago.

Continuing onward, after passing through a passageway for a few minutes, they arrived at a large hall again. But the next second after entering the hall, several familiar faces appeared before them.

"Holy crap! Old Wang, what are you guys doing here too?"

"Old Li? Old Zhao? You guys got dragged in too?"

"Holy crap, Lao Cai, what are you doing here? Wait... why are there so many familiar faces?"

Old Li and Old Zhao were completely bewildered. How come they were all acquaintances? Moreover, these acquaintances were all elite members of the local police force, having solved major cases or won awards in national-level skills competitions. They were all extremely capable people.

Now everyone has been gathered together, ranging in age from 25 to nearly 50. What's going on here?

"Old Cai, do you... have any clues?"

"I don't know. I was handling a case when the chief suddenly pulled me over here... But have you noticed that the people here are basically the most capable people in each bureau, or they've won awards? Look, that kid over there, he was 24 years old when he won first place in the National Police All-Around Competition."

"That bureau chief really cherishes him. He keeps applying to join the Major Crimes Unit, but he just won't approve it. It's really a waste of that kid's talent."

Old Zhao and Old Li exchanged a glance. "I heard that the fire department came here a while ago, but I didn't see them on the way here."

"Maybe somewhere else... Hmm? Look, someone's coming."

At this moment, Lao Zhao noticed the people approaching. They seemed to be from Alahato Company. It was strange, really. Why would they be conducting training in a tech company? It just felt odd.

At this moment, someone arrived at the front of the hall. The person in charge glanced at the people in the hall. Because there were too many people from the fire department last time, they couldn't train them all in one place. So this time, the police divided into several groups to carry out the training at the same time, which reduced the pressure a bit.

"Welcome everyone to this training session. Now, let's get straight to the point."

The person in charge glanced at his watch. "First of all, we want to tell you that our country is facing a crisis. The training you will undergo in the coming period will be a hundred times, a thousand times more arduous than what you have experienced before. Now, everyone here has the opportunity to choose to withdraw."

"But when you choose to stay instead of quitting, you will never have the chance to quit again."

"Now, gentlemen, make your choice."

"Do we still need to choose?"

As soon as the person in charge finished speaking, a man below said, "The reason we are here is because we are all prepared. No matter how difficult or outrageous this training is, we will persevere."

"Therefore, you don't need to confirm the determination and thoughts of each of us, because we will never back down."

For a moment, applause rang out from the other colleagues in the hall. Old Li clapped as he said, "I like this guy. Who is he?"

"I don't know him, I don't recognize him, but judging from his age, to be sent here, he must have been here for a long time and have achieved very good results. Old Li, you'd better not be outdone by him."

"Ha, pointless comparisons, why bother?"

"Now you're talking about philosophy, huh?"

"What? Can't a roughneck talk about philosophy?"

At this point, the applause gradually subsided, and the person in charge laughed self-deprecatingly, "That's right, you're right. So let's get straight to the point."

"Gentlemen, please follow me. You are about to see one of the nation's top-secret engineering masterpieces, which will also be part of your training."

Following the person in charge, we arrived at a corridor. Looking at the dark rooms on both sides of the corridor, we couldn't see anything through the glass.

The person in charge looked at his watch and said, "We've arrived. You can turn on the lights now."

As soon as they finished speaking, the lights in the rooms on both sides of the corridor suddenly turned on. Under the lights, they saw one after another thick power armor suits that looked like something out of a science fiction novel, displayed on both sides of the room.

The power armor was still disassembled, but just by looking at it, the men present were able to use their imaginations to reassemble it into its complete form.

"Is this... an exoskeleton? Or powered armor?"

The young police officer couldn't help but ask, and the person in charge smiled and said, "This is a brand new power armor developed by our country's No. 1 Research Institute and manufactured by the Alahato Corporation's manufacturing department. This power armor was developed and equipped for your police department as soon as possible. The fire department was also equipped with it at the same time, but theirs is just a little bit larger."

"A little bit... I see... Then... what about the military? Doesn't the military have these in service? Would it really be good to give them to our police department first...?"

One of the police officers asked with some confusion, not quite understanding why the equipment was given to the police first instead of the military. Did the police really think that the equipment was more important than that of the military?

"I don't know about that. Maybe the military has better equipment. After all, you know the tradition in China: the military's equipment is first-class, the police's is second-class, and what the state keeps hidden is zero-class."

"It sounds like the government is deliberately sending us substandard goods to keep them for themselves..."

The person in charge waved his hand, "No, don't think like that, I was just joking. Now let's talk about the power armor. In the next few days, each of you will receive a set of power armor."

"You will learn everything from how to wear it, how to use it, how to master it, how to maintain it, and how to care for it. You could say... this armor is your wife, your lover, understand?"

Chapter 207: Dark Clouds

"The training for firefighters and police officers has begun and is all on track. This training is expected to last for half a month. After half a month, we will gather the second batch, and then the third batch after another half month. After two months of training, we will be able to deploy all the mechs and power armor to fire stations and police departments across the country."

Bronya nodded. "This matter must be kept secret two months ago, and there's one thing to be careful about: we absolutely cannot let anyone with ulterior motives use these things for other purposes."

“Some guys really like to take things from the police station and keep them for themselves; this kind of thing must be stopped.”

Bronya was somewhat worried. Although the domestic environment was relatively safe and stable, China was a major arms exporter, no less so than the United States. Although the recipients of its arms were not terrorists or arms dealers who used them for evil purposes, most of them were used for peaceful purposes.

However, it's hard to guarantee that some unscrupulous individuals won't smuggle these items out of the country.

Moreover, some cunning individuals might even prevent these things from being taken away without them even realizing it.

Therefore, this kind of thing must be absolutely prevented! We must never allow any mechs or powered armor to be leaked. If they are leaked overseas, it will be a real problem.

She didn't want other countries to cause any trouble by developing such powered armor and mechs domestically, as that would be a real headache. So it was better to be cautious.

"Chairman, I understand, but... our company doesn't have that much capacity... we probably... can't get involved in these things."

Indeed, no matter how much power Alahato wields, he is still just a technology research and development company. Even a state-owned enterprise has no right to interfere in state agencies such as police stations and fire departments.

Therefore, they probably don't really have any good ways to prevent smuggling.

Bronya pondered for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Forget it, let's leave this matter for now. I'll find someone to handle it myself later. Is there anything else going on? Don't keep calling me like crazy as soon as I leave."

Bronya sighed and rubbed her forehead. During her absence, her secretary had been calling her repeatedly, saying there was just too much to handle and she needed to go back and deal with it as soon as possible.

But when I'm at the company, I'm so idle I feel like I'm growing weeds, there's nothing to do at all. How come as soon as I leave, things suddenly pile up? I just can't understand it!

"It seems... everything is alright?"

"Who was it that called me a few days ago saying there were a bunch of things I needed to come back to handle?"

Bronya narrowed her eyes, staring at the person in charge in front of her. The person in charge had a bead of cold sweat on his forehead and said, "This... I'm not... very clear about it either... mainly because... I'm in charge of the factory and R&D. I don't usually manage the other part; your secretary handles that."

Bronya raised an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling you're trying to stir up trouble?"