Battle with Mutant Cockroaches

Tom's height was 7.3 centimeters, and the full-body armor he crafted was 9.6 centimeters tall. According to Tom's previous height of about 1.7 meters, this armor would be about 2.1 meters.

Yes, armor. Tom initially intended to make a breastplate, but what he ended up with was full-body armor, so it was called armor. The planned design was only to protect vital areas, with no iron defense for other parts. However, the people in the camp were unaware of the difference between the two. They still thought it was armor.

The reason for making it so tall was because initially, Tom had no choice but to thicken his arms and legs a bit to place crystal pendants on them. So, for overall coordination and appearance considerations, Tom had to make this set of armor a bit taller; otherwise, he would look like a dwarf in RPG games with thick arms and legs but short stature.

The legs were strengthened for explosive power, allowing Tom to wear heavy iron armor without hindering his movement. Theoretically, this design was correct. However, during actual experimentation, Tom discovered a major problem.

That was, he could only activate one crystal at a time, meaning that at any given time, he either enhanced his arm strength to increase attack power or enhanced leg strength to move swiftly while wearing heavy armor.

Switching between these two modes took about 3 seconds, which was a bit risky in combat, but fortunately, the sturdy armor provided sufficient defense. This allowed him to withstand enemy attacks while switching between movement and attack modes.

He had considered using a combination defense mode with blue and red crystals, but this ability only increased the defense of his skin and couldn't act on the surface of the armor. Additionally, there was still a switching time from defense mode to arm strength mode or leg weight mode, which, although only about 2 seconds, was still impractical.

However, in subsequent improvements, Tom discovered the true purpose of large crystals.

From small gems to large gems, and then to diamond-shaped crystals, and finally to large crystals the size of a backpack, these energy stones had different amplification efficiencies.

For Tom, a large gem could provide him with a 3x arm strength enhancement effect, while a crystal could provide a 4.5x enhancement effect. But when it came to larger crystals, the effect was only 5x. Despite the volume difference between crystals and large crystals being much more than 5x, the enhancement effect only increased by 0.5, which Tom found rather disappointing.

So, when designing the armor, he used crystals as the standard for making the loading boxes, installing them separately on his right arm and right leg.

By chance, he thought about trying to hang a large red crystal on his back. So, he tried connecting the back armor with the arm's conductive material, transferring the load from the arm to the back.

This experiment was remarkable. He found that although the enhanced strength was still only 5x, even with some distance between the large red crystal and the arm, there was no loss, still providing a full 5x strength.

Originally, if the red crystal was placed on the back, the arm's enhancement effect would decrease from 4.5x to 4x, causing a loss. But whether the large red crystal was on the arm or on the back, the effect was 5x, without any loss.

Now Tom understood that although the volume of the crystal increased, the amplification effect might not be much greater, but the output power should be sufficient. So, even with some distance from the enhanced area, there was still no energy loss.

Thinking of this, Tom also tried connecting his legs and was surprised to find that a large red crystal was enough to switch between the enhancements of his arms and legs without the need for the previous two crystals: one on the arm and one on the leg. This undoubtedly relieved the burden on his legs and arms, allowing Tom to wield better weapons on his arms.

So, the flamethrower modified from a lighter and the electric shock iron fist could both be easily fitted on his hands.

A metal backpack was added to the back of the armor, which, in addition to holding large red crystals, could also hold several crystals or gems. If the energy of the large red crystal was depleted during battle, Tom could manually switch to a backup crystal.

Therefore, with all eyes in the camp on him, Tom, wearing the 9.6-centimeter-tall armor, appeared extremely fierce and towering.

It took him more than a month to make, and consumed a lot of energy, along with the armor made by the Iron Scraps Old Man. It consumed more than thirty small emeralds, sixteen large emeralds, and two crystals. Among them were also some defective products that required rework, wasting some energy. But the first armor was made from scratch, and no one had any experience, so it was normal to take some detours.

But now that he had the experience of making the first armor, making the second one would be more efficient.

During the production period, Bozi occasionally encountered mutant ants or cockroaches while exploring outside. Fortunately, Bozi had enhanced strength with red gems, and he managed to escape unscathed several times.

Now that the armor was complete, it was time to test its effectiveness in combat. After a month of recovery, Tom's rib injury was basically healed, and he could engage in various intense activities.

After consulting the opinions of Uncle Wei, Bozi, the Iron Scraps Old Man, and others, Tom named the armor "Old Street Zero" to commemorate the 113 survivors lured out and killed by Ceng Shisan.

The destination for this battle experiment was chosen on the third floor.

Based on Skinny's reconnaissance, there were 5 mutant cockroaches inside the landlord's house. Tom's task was to go to the third floor and eliminate these cockroaches, ensuring the safety of the landlord's house, as there were still many valuables yet to be moved out.

In addition to Tom, Bozi personally led a team of 5 people to prevent any accidents and help Tom escape if needed.

Wearing the armor was a bit troublesome, especially when taking it off. If no one helped, there was a clasp that Tom couldn't reach, making it impossible to remove the armor. If the armor malfunctioned during battle and Tom had no help, he would become a sitting duck, either lying there waiting for the cockroaches to peel off the armor and eat him or being trapped inside and starving to death.

Due to the ability of metal deformation, the young and strong people in the camp had all received some metal armor to protect critical parts of their bodies. In addition to firearms that were quickly running out of bullets, each person was equipped with a long and short knife, enough to deal with ordinary battles.

This time, they mainly carried weapons, and there were few vehicles or boxes for transporting supplies. Led by Tom, they successfully climbed to the third floor step by step.

Although the armor was cumbersome, Tom, whose leg strength was enhanced by 3.5 times, could still jump up the stairs while wearing heavy armor.

Since one of the rooms on the third floor had been occupied by black ants, it was not a wise choice to pass through the ant nest without knowing the number of mutant soldier ants in the ant colony and without the armor being tested in actual combat. So, they had to continue climbing to the fourth floor, then pass through the north side and descend to the third floor from the other side to reach the landlord's room.

This detour was a bit long, but it was necessary for safety.

Interestingly, the camp had unearthed six awakened individuals, and Skinny was among them.

His ability was similar to Tom's, relying on sapphires to conceal his form. However, unlike Tom's ability, which only worked when he stayed still and was exposed as soon as he moved, Skinny could maintain invisibility even when moving slowly.

However, his invisibility was easily noticeable to the human eye in well-lit conditions, but it was different in front of those insects.

Skinny had tried to approach the ant nest for reconnaissance, and two soldier ants walked right beside him without noticing him.

So, Tom speculated that Skinny's invisibility was more like reducing the reflection of light on his body and suppressing his breath and some heat. For creatures like ants and cockroaches with poor eyesight that relied on antennae to receive smells and heat to make comprehensive judgments, it had a good concealment effect.

Skinny, who enjoyed playing World of Warcraft, joyfully referred to this ability as "sneak," because even in the dark of night, it was difficult for human eyes to detect his presence.

Bozi's assigned task for Skinny was to patrol the surroundings at night and ascertain the approximate positions of nearby threatening creatures to avoid encountering them when going out.

So, relying on this excellent scout, Tom and the others were able to take this route to bypass the ant nest. As for the inside of the ant nest, Skinny followed Tom's advice and did not venture deep inside, as there were too many ants inside, and it was easy to step on some small ants, causing exposure, which would be dangerous.

Finally, they arrived at the door of the landlord's room. Skinny slipped in through the window and, with Bozi's assistance, unlocked the door and opened it.

However, their unfamiliar scent quickly attracted the mutant cockroaches in the room, and they hastily ducked behind Tom as they descended to the ground.

At this point, wearing the Old Street Zero armor, Tom took a deep breath and walked towards the cockroaches crawling out of the walls, cabinets, and floor of the room.

There were a total of five mutant cockroaches. Tom grabbed the solid iron rod hanging behind him and smashed the cockroach charging at the front.

With a "clang," the iron rod was raised, and the struggling cockroach bit Tom's thigh a few times. Fortunately, he was wearing full-body iron armor, and the cockroach's mandibles only left a few shallow scratches on it, unable to harm Tom at all.

Tom smashed the cockroach with a punch, raised the iron rod high again, took two steps back, and then exerted force to smash it down. This time, the cockroach was flattened, and its foul-smelling bodily fluids spread all over the floor. Tom clicked his tongue and smashed the second cockroach that rushed forward.

These mutant cockroaches' carapaces were tougher than he had anticipated. The iron rod had to be swung with all his might, and it took five times the arm strength enhancement to kill them.

After pushing away the second cockroach, the remaining three immediately climbed forward. Two of them sprung up with their front legs and pounced on Tom. The sharp mandibles bit and nibbled at the Old Street Zero armor.

Tom struggled to push the three cockroaches away, and the solid iron rod slipped from his hand, leaving him with only the iron fist powered by enhanced strength to fight back.

His right arm happened to be equipped with an electric shock iron fist. With a punch, the voltage ceramic ignited high-voltage electric sparks, touching the cockroach's carapace.

The cockroach's carapace was not insulated, and the instant surge of electricity paralyzed it.

With one paralyzed, there were still three more. Tom immediately engaged them in hand-to-hand combat: breaking free when entangled, then punching to paralyze, and then getting entangled by another one.

Repeatedly, all four cockroaches were paralyzed by electricity.

Tom picked up the solid rod and, amidst Skinny and the others' loud cheers, smashed each one flat.

"Awesome, Tom!" Skinny clapped and cheered.

Tom shook his head, breathing heavily with one hand propped on the iron rod.

Although he had five times the strength, the iron rod itself was heavy, and combined with the weight of the armor, activating the strength of his hands made it very difficult and slow to move even one step, which was very exhausting.

"Watch out!" Bozi shouted, and Tom turned his head to see a huge shadow rushing towards him from the air.