With Chen Mo's confirmation, Howard swallowed hard, his finger slowly tightening on the trigger.
He looked up to find Chen Mo still standing firmly in place, not a hint of hesitation in his eyes. When Chen Mo didn't call out to stop, Howard finally gritted his teeth — and pulled the trigger.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
A rapid burst of gunfire erupted. The heavy rounds roared out of the machine gun, flames flaring from the muzzle as a stream of 12.7mm bullets slammed into Chen Mo's chest.
Sparks burst across his armor in rapid flashes, but Chen Mo's body merely shuddered slightly under the impact. His stance didn't waver — not even a step back. The only sound filling the air was the metallic clatter of rounds striking the adamantium plates.
When the last shell casing hit the floor, the shooting stopped.
Chen Mo remained standing exactly where he'd been.
Around his feet lay a carpet of deformed bullets, and on his armor — aside from a few spots where the black coating had chipped away to reveal the gleaming silver metal beneath — there wasn't a single mark.
Howard stared in disbelief. Those same 12.7mm rounds could tear a man's body clean in half — yet Chen Mo stood there completely unharmed.
Even if adamantium could block bullets, the kinetic energy behind them should have been devastating. The force alone could kill a normal man.
But that was exactly what Chen Mo wanted to test — and the results were perfect.
When the bullets hit, the armor absorbed the impact and spread the kinetic energy evenly across the metal surface. That force was then transmitted to the perfectly fitted muscles beneath, which absorbed and dissipated it completely.
The armor had been engineered with Chen Mo's body data down to the millimeter. Every contour, every curve — calculated for maximum energy distribution.
And with bones and muscles six times stronger than an average man's, even the full impact of a heavy machine gun was nothing more than a tremor.
When the bullets struck, Chen Mo merely felt a faint jolt — a pulse of force that his body effortlessly absorbed. There wasn't even pain.
The result spoke for itself: a flawless fusion of engineering and invincible material.
The adamantium armor's defense was beyond anything Howard had imagined.
Bullets that could pierce a centimeter of steel — the same ammunition used in the famed Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle — were completely useless.
Even grenades and grenade launchers couldn't shake him. The explosions were louder, but the armor blocked both shrapnel and flame entirely. The resulting shockwave was nothing compared to the sheer energy of a machine-gun barrage.
With this armor, Chen Mo could practically ignore all modern small-arms fire.
Even artillery shells might not be able to kill him — at worst, the blast would knock him around a bit.
And honestly, hitting him in the first place would be the real challenge. With his superhuman perception, good luck trying to lock onto him.
"Unbelievable! You're basically a walking tank now!"
Howard's panda eyes sparkled with admiration — and envy.
"Want to give it a try?" Chen Mo asked, lifting his visor with a faint smirk.
Howard's eyes lit up — but before he could answer, Chen Mo added,
"We haven't tested the rocket launcher yet."
Howard instantly shook his head.
"No need! I'm a scientist, remember?" He coughed lightly, trying to sound dignified. "By the way, your armor's paint got scratched. Better take it off — I'll touch it up for you."
Leaving the underground lab, Chen Mo and Howard returned to the martial arts hall.
Chen Mo wore the adamantium combat suit under his tailored suit jacket — to anyone looking, he simply appeared broader, stronger. No one could've guessed that beneath his clothes was armor capable of shrugging off explosions and tank shells.
Aside from the combat armor, Chen Mo also brought along his adamantium shield, the replica of the King's Sword, ten vials of improved super-soldier serum prepared by Dr. Erskine — and, most importantly, two priceless sets of formulas.
The complete Super Soldier Serum formula — and the Adamantium Alloy synthesis formula.
That meant that even after returning to the real world, Chen Mo could reproduce both the serum and the alloy on his own.
For his future plans and power base, this was a monumental advantage — an ace he could play at any time.
The super-soldier serum would allow him to create enhanced warriors under his command.
The adamantium formula would let him forge weapons and armor indestructible by any conventional means.
Since adamantium couldn't be reforged or reshaped once hardened, having the complete chemical formula was the only way to create new equipment.
Dr. Erskine had come to trust Chen Mo completely.
As he once said — without Chen Mo, he would've died at the hands of HYDRA long ago, and the advanced and improved serums would never have been created.
So when he handed over ten vials of the improved serum, he also entrusted Chen Mo with the full formulas of all three variants — the original, the enhanced, and the improved super-soldier serum.
As for Dr. Myron MacLain, there was no need to even ask.
Chen Mo was technically his boss — the one who had recruited him, funded him, and provided the vast quantities of vibranium he could only dream of.
To MacLain, handing over his research was a matter of course.
(And besides, who would dare withhold results from a man who owned a legendary sword that could cut tanks in half?)
He didn't just give Chen Mo the adamantium formula — he also added the blueprint for the "Alpha Alloy" he had created earlier, a high-performance metal developed when he lacked vibranium.
For MacLain, the formulas were nothing compared to more vibranium to experiment with.
So, after passing everything to Chen Mo, he eagerly returned to his lab, inspired by the King's Sword to explore new directions in alloy research.
Chen Mo, however, wasn't done with him yet.
Before leaving, he handed MacLain two more blueprints —
One was for his custom throwing knives. Chen Mo believed that once forged from adamantium, they'd pierce tank armor like paper.
The second was for a full set of combat armor designed to Steve's exact measurements.
Chen Mo wanted to give his "Captain America" disciple a surprise — something truly worthy of the name.