A few hours later, the Iron Atom stopped accelerating.

Jiang Ling transformed into an awakened state, standing in the same position as two similar humanoid monsters beside her, her six limbs stretched out, grasping a circular metal frame suspended in mid-air, while a group of people wrapped in full-body hazmat suits provided her with "tuning services." Perhaps it was her first time appearing in public in this state—awakened state was not much different from running naked—when she felt someone accidentally touch her skin, even through several layers of organic polymer material, her blood pressure rose slightly.

In reality, a custom-made exoskeleton was slowly being assembled on her body. It was at least 90% new. Jiang Ling could even "smell" the anti-rust oil applied to the various modules, suggesting it was likely fresh from the factory. Of course, customization didn't align with the values ​​of the Contemporary Countermeasures Bureau; it was a choice made out of necessity—some machines require human adaptation, while others must adapt to humans. Even though the latest exoskeletons were indeed powerful, they still couldn't easily meet the needs of a very small number of exceptional individuals.

Waiting quietly was extremely difficult for Jiang Ling, who had entered monster form. Her mind was constantly racing in this state, like a computer running at a low temperature and overclocking. The less environmental stimulation she faced, the more likely she was to go mad. However, to reduce the workload for those around her, she could only remain as still as possible and find something to do for herself.

He turned his head slightly and released some of his spiritual power, and the vision of other people around him was immediately transmitted over.

On her left, Zheng's exoskeleton had already started the self-inspection program. Different modules were turned on one after another, and the cooling system released smooth air fluctuations.

Unlike Jiang Ling, Zheng possessed a more humanoid appearance, unlike the eyeless, mouthless, and earless "Faceless" creatures. Her appearance was striking, with a pair of enormous compound eyes reflecting a pale golden light, flanking her triangular head. Her angular, slightly greenish matte skin, coupled with her slender figure, made her resemble a three-meter-long, human-like mantis.

Zheng's genes must have undergone a lot of artificial editing, otherwise such a big morphological change would not have occurred. Jiang Ling was not quite sure what kind of "impurities" those people had mixed into her, but since she was able to stay here, it seemed that her gene expression was stable enough.

Jiang Ling left a blank space for Zheng in her memory, and then looked to the other side.

On the right, Gu was following the instructions of the person in front of her, putting the exoskeleton into various positions to test its structural flexibility. She was probably the first one to finish "showing off the suit," and therefore had the opportunity to start further debugging earlier.

Jiang Ling did not have the opportunity to witness the drum's awakened appearance with her own eyes, but she still found some clues from the memories of the staff around her.

It was obvious that Gu was the clone most similar to her—aside from lacking that crucial "crystal," her appearance was almost identical to Jiang Ling's. However, precisely because of that lack, she now had to be connected to transparent tubes like blood vessels, slowly flowing with carefully prepared solutions. At the end of those tubes was a cylindrical machine half a man's height, with percentage data projected above it.

The experience of having tubes inserted into the body was naturally very unpleasant. During the spiritual connection between the three people, Gu complained to them more than once - "It's too big!", "Too fast!", "Ah, I can't stand it." - and other confusing words.

However, those were actually just some nutrients, including but not limited to glucose, galactose, adenosine triphosphate, etc. If you must say, the luminous grass extract and adrenaline that had a special effect on psychic abilities might indeed put a strain on her body. . . .

Okay, that’s a bit too much to explain, and that’s just drum’s bad taste!

Jiang Ling always kept a place in her heart for interesting souls, so the drum became part of her packing. After adding her new friend to her memory, she turned back and realized that the people around her had been cleared out, and the empty space was occupied by a metal box with a QR code spray-painted on the surface.

A shoe box.

The box isn't very big, so if it could be opened, maybe I could fit two feet side by side?

Its appearance quickly aroused the curiosity of the girls - mainly Jiang Ling's two new friends.

Two opposing forces converged on it at the same time. In a flash, it began to fly up and down irregularly in the zero-gravity cabin like a seal treated as a toy by a whale. Sometimes it rotated and floated to Jiang Ling's left, and sometimes it crashed to the right at an extremely fast speed. At the same time, all the gaps on its surface made a teeth-grinding creaking sound.

"Wuwuwu! Help, help, help, help!" Under the torture of the two men, Box revealed his inner voice in less than two seconds.

Jiang Lingrao waited for a few more moments with interest, and when the two were about to explore the shoebox more deeply, she stopped them, then held it in front of her with both hands.

"Down." said the box.

Jiang Ling turned it 180 degrees. "Lin Yi, I should have guessed you would come," she said. To be more precise, she used her psychic power to vibrate the air around her to make a sound similar to speaking. Don't forget that she didn't have a mouth at this time.

"Well, would you believe me if I said some idiot left me behind during transport?" the box said.

"That depends on you." Jiang Ling shook it.

"Wow, Jiang Ling——" The box owner looked aggrieved.

“…”

After a moment of silence, it switched to an angry tone: "Jiang Ling! It's you who ruined the body I bought with such great difficulty and loan, and made me spend so much time to settle the debt. Otherwise, I could have arrived earlier than you!"

"Alright, alright, let me touch it for you..." Jiang Ling's other two hands gently brushed across the box, and the sharp vibration particle blades on her fingertips left several claw marks on its surface like a hot knife cutting butter, but they healed quickly.

Lin Yi was horrified: "Stop, stop touching me! Isn't it enough for me to forgive you?"

"Since you are so sincere, I will mercifully not pursue your mistake." Jiang Ling replied in a childish way.

"Hello, what exactly is this?" The two people on the side asked impatiently.

"Me?" Lin Yi easily realized that the "it" they were talking about was referring to herself. She apologized softly to Jiang Ling, moved away a little, and then spread her body from the smaller sides.

Under the gaze of the three people, the box became longer and longer, and finally turned into a strange thing covered with tentacles.

"I am Auxiliary Exploration Robot-Type 2." It said.