Chapter 376: Chapter 374 Special Forces
Chen Xin’s upgrade ability indeed holds extraordinary significance for a nation, but it is not indispensable.
The country can develop without Chen Xin, and having Chen Xin merely accelerates the development process.
To make an analogy, it’s like playing Stellaris; at the start, you find a research hub that can provide you with a substantial amount of research points each turn, allowing you to shorten the time needed for technology breakthroughs from dozens of turns to just a few or even one turn.
This indeed allows you to gain advantages and lead quickly, but it does not bring significant short-term improvements, because converting technology into power requires time.
Regardless of colonizing other planets or building fleets, everything requires a large amount of resources, energy, and most importantly, time.
And these are not things that can undergo a qualitative leap merely by simply enhancing technology.
Moreover, the contribution Chen Xin can make doesn’t compare to a research hub affecting the entire situation; his abilities are limited by the things he can interact with.
Simply put, if you don’t bring the research to him, he can’t contribute to it.
Nonetheless, Chen Xin’s importance to Flame Country right now is undoubtedly significant, which is evident from the full special forces unit just re-equipped for the train heading to Lin City for his protection.
This is a fully organized special forces unit, roughly equivalent to an augmented company, with a total of over 150 members all fitted with the latest military exoskeleton, equipped with new individual heavy firepower, and various newly issued snow terrain vehicles.
In terms of firepower, mobility, and individual combat capabilities, this is an elite force sufficient to instill fear in the enemy.
In the past, such an elite special forces unit could, if used correctly, exert effects far beyond a regiment, even up to a brigade or a division.
But now they’ve been dispatched to Lin City just after being re-equipped, before having time to adapt to the new equipment, with the main task of protecting Chen Xin.
Given Chen Xin’s importance to the nation, enjoying the protection of a special forces unit is entirely appropriate, as his role fully justifies such treatment.
It’s just that Chen Xin had always resisted this kind of thing; on one hand, he felt uneasy about having people following and protecting him, much like Buddha who didn’t want 500 arhats constantly trailing behind. Chen Xin didn’t want a bunch of people following him whenever he went out, which felt very uncomfortable.
On the other hand, he felt he shouldn’t waste the nation’s resources like this. He considered himself just an ordinary person with no special talents, only having acquired abilities that regular people don’t have through the system, and he didn’t think he was significant enough to need personal protection.
So initially, after the nation reached a cooperation intention with him, they proposed sending people to protect Chen Xin, but he rejected the idea.
At the time, the official responsible for negotiating with Chen Xin, respecting his personal wishes, also considered that Chen Xin had been residing in his shelter, which wasn’t too much of a security threat, so they didn’t proceed with it.
However, this time, after Chen Xin completed the production line for the Isotope Thermoelectric Battery and the design and construction of the Exoskeleton Protective Suit, both of which hold significant meaning for the nation, his presence had reached the highest levels of Flame Country, and his importance had greatly increased.
The nation, considering the protection of valuable talents, decided to send a specially re-equipped special forces unit for Chen Xin’s protection.
Of course, the military played a substantial role in this; after all, usually a combat team of a dozen people is more than enough to protect one person. Before the disaster, even the Federation’s Grand Leader only had a unit on standby for him.
Of course, the military had no ill intent in doing this. What bad intentions could soldiers possibly have? They just wanted more "big boom-booms."
In fact, anyone would have some thoughts after understanding Chen Xin’s capabilities, and the emergence of new products exacerbated such speculation.
Given the exoskeleton, wouldn’t it be great to upgrade to Power Armor?
Wouldn’t it be nice to switch tanks to full electric propulsion?
Humanoid robots like Gundam aren’t very practical, but aren’t single-man combat mechas and humanoid tanks appealing?
Going further, isn’t building a land battleship like Rhode Island enticing?
Before, the military certainly wouldn’t have entertained such ideas; the high command knew these were not things that could be realized in a short time, no matter how appealing they are.
Power Armor or fully electric tanks might have some hope of realization, but lack short-term practicality, and other things were just sci-fi material.
But with Chen Xin’s appearance, all of this became possible.
Naturally, the military had some small plans, though without any ill intent.
They simply sent the latest equipment-retooled special forces unit to protect Chen Xin, and informed the unit’s officers to casually demonstrate the new equipment in front of Chen Xin, enticing him to help improve it.
If they could improve just a piece or two of equipment, allowing for mass production and deployment, for the military, that would be quite a lucrative deal.
After all, given the current situation, the likelihood of war breaking out is very low, so having such an elite special forces unit sit idle is pointless. Better to dispatch them for protection duties; they might as well get some new toys, which is really economical.
Thus, this elite special forces unit was sent over, yet their protection target, Chen Xin, was unaware of this matter.
The special train carrying the troops was authorized by the military, bringing not only the warriors and their personal equipment, but also their vehicles, ammunition, supplies, and mobile barracks capable of accommodating all of them, along with high-power communication facilities to contact higher command, and various potentially useful new equipment.
A significant portion of the supporting equipment was being equipped to troops for the first time, as the military wanted to test the effects of the new gear once equipped, while also hoping to let Chen Xin see it; maybe some fresh gadget catches his interest and gets casually improved.
Therefore, these new pieces of equipment, initially meant to be kept in storage and issued only when needed, were all packed and brought, filling a dozen train carriages.
The special military train, pulled by a nuclear-powered locomotive, has now entered Lin City.
However, the first sight presented to the special forces soldiers was a steaming, cauldron-like train station.