Rusty Sister's old armor had shattered completely during the final showdown against Puta'er at the South Pole.
It was also during that battle, while grievously wounded, that Han Qingyu had seen things he had never seen before—things he really shouldn't have been looking at. He had even touched... Who could have imagined that beneath that big iron bucket lay skin so fair, delicate, and silky smooth? Ah!
That was why, when Mother Han had suddenly asked "Yang Tieyu" whether she would marry him, he had hesitated and failed to stop it in time.
Right up until that shameless Yang Tieyu answered with a calm, shameless "I will."
And then, as luck would have it, the new suit of full armor arrived.
Ever since emerging from the armor, Rusty Sister had still felt uneasy and retained her fear of blades. To ease her mind before setting out for Mars, Han Qingyu had specifically asked Azure's research division to forge her a brand-new suit of full armor.
This new set was crafted by Jiang Chou, hailed as the "God of Blacksmiths of the Source Energy Era." Because it was also Jiang Chou who had modified Rusty Sister's previous armor, the two suits were remarkably similar in appearance.
In terms of performance, the new armor's source energy internal circulation system was neither as sophisticated nor as potent as the old one, but its materials, structural integrity, and defensive rating were several times superior. One could say that once Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu, the Ironclad of the Mortal Realm, donned that battle armor once more, she would essentially become the strongest tank in the human world.
At this moment, however, that "tank" stood there frozen with her head tilted back, looking as if her treads had snapped and her fuel had run dry.
Everyone else present was doing much the same, silently craning their necks as they watched the armor descend. It felt as though they were waiting for a public execution... though their mood was entirely different. To them, the whole spectacle seemed thoroughly amusing.
Only the two helicopters hovering just above the treetops continued their steady approach, descending lower and lower...
Finally, with a heavy *CLANG*, the massive dead iron full armor touched down in a standing posture, throwing up a spray of dirt and grass.
"Oh, my, look at that."
Her voice drifted through the flurry of churned earth and flying leaves. Liaison Officer Yang Tieyu took advantage of the commotion to adjust her position and compose herself, putting on an exaggerated, artificial tone.
"Goodness, doesn't this look an awful lot like Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu's battle armor? Wouldn't you say so, everyone?"
Not a single soul behind her answered.
When she turned around, she realized every pair of eyes was fixed right on her. Aside from Father and Mother Han, every gaze carried an unmistakable, ill-intentioned glint. Even Han Qingyu—the marriage partner his mother had just assigned to her—was wearing the exact same look.
They stared at her, then shifted their gazes toward the iron armor, slowly repeating the cycle. The message was so glaringly obvious that words weren't even necessary.
"Haha, you... you guys aren't thinking of having me wear that, are you?" Liaison Officer Yang began quietly taking small steps backward, but all her retreat paths were already cut off.
Putting on a pitiful act of struggling to the bitter end, she said, "B-but I've never worn full armor before! What if I'm not used to it..."
"Being unaccustomed to it is still better than having a super combat power who's terrified of blades," Little Prince said coldly.
"Yeah. This full armor was custom-made specifically for you. Good thing it got delivered before our departure today. Put it on and give it a try," Wen Jifei said, flashing her a blatantly provocative arch of his brows.
Things were already painfully clear. Liaison Officer Yang could no longer fool herself into believing her acting was flawless. Flustered and hesitant, she cast a resentful, helpless, and pleading look at Han Qingyu.
Her eyes seemed to say: *Han Qingchong, do you really have to make things this awkward? Do you think I'm the only one who's embarrassed? Are you really going to be this heartless and cruel? It was only three minutes ago that I swallowed my shame and agreed to marry you! You...*
"Yeah." Han Qingyu nodded in agreement with Wen Jifei, then added, "Put it on and give it a shot."
"Can I... not?"
"No." Han Qingyu sneered, tightening his grip on his blade.
Mother Han, finally snapping out of her daze, caught sight of this. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?! You little brat, why are you threatening Miss Yang?"
"For her own safety," Han Qingyu said with a wide, insincere grin.
"Oh, is that so?" Mother Han understood immediately. In a rare display of approval, she shot her son a praising look. "Not bad, you've finally grown sensible. Well then, Xiao Yang, hurry up and try it on."
"Ah... alright." Resigned, Liaison Officer Yang turned back. Step by step, she walked slowly toward the suit of dead iron full armor that felt both alien and intimately familiar.
To tell the truth, facing what had once been her lifelong cage stirred up a slight psychological barrier. But on second thought, it filled her with an even greater sense of security and gratitude.
Her hand reached out and touched it instinctively.
*Click! Clack, clack, clack, clack...*
With one crisp sound after another of dead iron connecting and latches snapping shut, the full armor gradually encased her body, locking over every limb.
Rusty Sister put on the armor somewhat awkwardly. This part wasn't an act. Even though she had lived inside armor for over a decade, she had never actually put it on or taken it off herself.
The guys standing nearby all watched her.
From the rascals Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei, to the rough-edged He Tangtang, the scoundrel Little Prince, and the wooden block Wu Xu... With each piece of iron that snapped into place, as that familiar big iron bucket took shape once more, the looks in their eyes softened, brimming with tender heartache.
A faint glint of moisture even appeared in the corners of their eyes.
Over the past two or three months, they had all been genuinely overjoyed that Rusty Sister could finally live free from that iron shell. They were happy for her from the bottom of their hearts.
Yet that was one thing; watching old memories resurface at the sight of that iron armor was another. The two emotions didn't conflict with each other in the slightest.
*Clack.* With a final snap, the visor slid down.
Their big iron bucket, their Iron Chick, was back.
"Oh my... Isn't this just our little Rusty Sister to a tee?" Mother Han felt her chest tighten with an emotion she couldn't quite put into words. She could only reach out and tightly grip Han Youshan's arm.
No one else spoke.
"What's wrong with you all?" The armor pivoted toward them with a mechanical squeak and whirr. "You're not thinking of... of you-know-who just because of this armor, are you? I'm not her, you know."
Liaison Officer Yang's tongue remained stubborn. But the moment she spoke, that muffled, resonant voice sounding from inside the metal made her resemble that person even more.
"Take these," Wu Xu said, tossing two objects into the air.
"What?" The armored figure snapped her head up. Gliding through the air one after the other were a large blue light column sword and a cross knight greatsword whose length, width, and thickness far exceeded ordinary standards.
Those were her former weapons.
*Don't! Don't catch them!* Rusty Sister warned herself frantically in her head. Yet her body proved utterly honest, and her arms moved with instinctual grace.
*Swish! Clatter!*
Two rapid metallic rings rang out in succession. First, the blue light column sword slotted securely onto her back, followed smoothly by the knight sword locking into its harness hooks.
The armor reached out twice, catching and stowing both blades in less than a second combined.
It was far too practiced—so effortless that it seemed she had performed the motion tens of thousands of times, knowing the exact positions of the mounting hooks on her back as intimately as her own skin.
"..."
As the armored figure stood there in her fully equipped, complete form, a bizarre silence descended over the clearing.
*So Rusty Sister wanted to marry Qingzi all along?!*
*Rusty Sister actually wanted to marry Qingzi?!*
*She's probably thought about it for ages. Who knows when it even started...*
*Man, you really couldn't tell at all!*
Though not a single person uttered a word aloud, it felt as though those exact thoughts were ringing out in chorus across the entire clearing.
"I..." Rusty Sister began hesitantly.
Before she could say more, Han Qingyu cut in, "Move around a bit and test it out. Try some twists, bends, and quick turns."
"Ah, okay... I'll try." The armored figure looked down and hesitated for a couple of seconds before taking a step... Her movement was slow and rigid, and as her foot hit the ground, she almost tripped over herself and tumbled over.
"It's kind of tough," Liaison Officer Yang said with abysmal acting, putting up one last desperate struggle.
"Then don't bother testing it for now. What's the rush?" Mother Han chimed in. "Xiao Yang, come out of there first. Let's make time to talk about the wedding arrangements. Like where your family lives, so Qingzi's dad and I can go propose formal marriage while we have the chance. Come on, Qingzi, you come over here too. Since the matter is settled, you should at least give her some peace of mind. You know, like those Westerners do—propose to her or something..."
"Uh." The armored figure froze midway through taking her second step, knee still bent, hovering awkwardly in midair.
*A-a-a-a-a... A proposal?! Isn't Auntie being a bit too modern and hasty about this?!*
If this had happened earlier, the fake Liaison Officer Yang Tieyu might have toughed it out just to see Han Qingyu make a fool of himself. But now, among old friends, could things be any more obvious to everyone except this big iron bucket still stubbornly refusing to admit it?
They knew. They had known all along. And now she knew that they knew.
It was practically an unspoken truth between them all.
For all practical purposes, Liaison Officer Yang had already reverted to being Rusty Sister... the comrade who had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Han Qingyu, supporting each other like brother and sister—or just plain brothers—transcending the boundaries of gender, accustomed to clobbering each other without a second thought.
There was no enduring this! Who could ever picture Han Qingyu proposing to Rusty Sister? Rusty Sister herself wouldn't believe it. After all, they were so close, so deeply familiar with each other, that sleeping right next to each other had long felt completely natural.
"Xiao Yang, Liaison Officer Yang, Xiao Yu... Daught-..." Mother Han stepped closer, coaxing her like an eager matchmaker, already half-forming the syllable for daughter-in-law.
"Ah?!" The armor let out a panicked squeak. With a loud *skrrt-CLANG*, her entire body spun outward.
"Auntie, I-I-I'll go get used to this first! And I'll grab my luggage and get ready to head out!"
With that final, flustered sentence, the heavy armor shot away like a streak of lightning. That massive, rigid body wove through the forest as nimbly and swiftly as a fish cutting through water.
Trailing churned mud and fluttering grass, she traced a graceful, weaving arc and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
She had fled.
"...Doesn't that count as being plenty used to it already? She ran off just like Rusty Sister," Mother Han murmured blankly, turning her head with a look of disappointment.
Then she added, "Oh my, when she was inside that suit, her voice sounded an awful lot like her too."
Tick.
Tock.
Two seconds later...
"Could, could she..." Mother Han grew increasingly animated, like a tractor finally rumbling to life. "Could she be Rusty Sister's younger sister?!"
Chapter 896