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Once the hose was out, the on-site technical crew carried the hose coupling, nimbly climbed up the mech, and installed it onto the interface on the mech's back.
This interface could change size to accommodate hoses of various dimensions, though they generally used the largest setting.
"Go ahead and open the valve," Ryan reminded the three firefighters. The mech was already walking toward the test site with the hose, under Marsh's direction.
"Got it." One of the young firefighters had just opened the discharge valve when he turned and froze. "You're Ryan Mercer."
He looked at the mech walking off in the distance, then back at Ryan in front of him, and pinched himself in secret. Was he dreaming right now?
Not only had he seen a mech in real life, a new mech at that, he'd even seen Ryan Mercer in person. He was only twenty this year, and he nearly went over to ask for an autograph.
Ryan was friendly, greeting them with a smile.
"Are we allowed to watch this mech from up close?" the young firefighter suddenly asked, remembering the matter of confidentiality and growing a little worried.
Ryan shook his head. "It's fine. This counts as a public project, and it was designed for you in the first place. This is just a test."
"Designed for us?" The firefighters looked at the mech walking away, all of them surprised.
"That's right. That's a firefighting mech." Kyle popped up from somewhere and explained to the three of them with a grin.
He pointed at the hose, now swollen round from the water being fed through it. "All the water being sent into the mech through this hose is for putting out fires."
"This mech's main purpose is suppressing wildfires. It has a fireproof layer and a life-support system, so even walking directly into a fire zone is no concern."
The three firefighters looked at the enormous mech and all understood Kyle's meaning at once.
"Hey, if that's the case, then hiding inside this big metal shell, you wouldn't have to worry about getting burned while fighting a fire?"
"This thing is great. Wildfires kill more people than just about anything every year."
The three of them were moved by the thought. In some places, a single wildfire could easily cost the lives of several or even more than a dozen people fighting it. If this mech could build a protective wall in front of those people in the face of a wildfire, it would be an immeasurable good.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Under everyone's watch, the firefighting mech walked to the edge of the test site at a slow, steady pace.
Ahead of it was a small hill near forty-five degrees, already treated to harden the surface.
The pilot inside the mech took a deep breath, observing the hill through the window in front of him and the cameras on the mech's exterior. He was going to pilot the mech up it.
Everyone now put all their focus on the mech. Whether it was Ryan or the people watching from Dome Base, where some had even dug up binoculars from somewhere, everyone watched the mech intently.
Only one person was the exception. Kyle was operating a drone, filming from the air. Unlike last time, this was a formal test that needed to be filmed start to finish, and he'd volunteered to take the job.
Crack.
After a brief observation, the mech lifted its right foot and took its first step.
The enormous all-terrain foot landed on the forty-five-degree slope and immediately sank into the soil.
Clearly, even with the hardening treatment, asking a pile of soil to bear a load of several or even dozens of tons was too much.
"Don't fall over."
Seeing this, everyone gasped with concern.
The mech slowly tilted to the right. The pilot didn't panic. Following his earlier training, he calmly pressed two buttons on the control panel in front of him.
In an instant, a ring of load plates extended from the mech's left and right ankles, using the plates to increase the mech's bearing surface area and halting the right foot's sinking.
Only then did Marsh, following behind the mech, breathe a sigh of relief.
Then the mech's engines started at full power, pulled the right foot out of the soil, and continued forward up the slope.
The whole process looked alarming but ended safely. The mech soon reached the top.
The firefighting mech switched to its four-legged configuration and continued forward, crossing several more small slopes. The pace slowed on these, but it felt steadier and more relaxed. On gradients above forty degrees, the mech walked as casually as if it were on a leisurely spring outing.
Soon a simulated fire scene appeared in front of the mech.
The field ahead, a thousand square meters, was piled with all kinds of flammable material, leaves and discarded clothing. Seeing the mech arrive, the technical crew immediately threw a flame onto it.
Whoom.
Under the bright sun, the fire blazed, the temperature climbing higher and higher, quickly spreading across the entire field.
The scene looked like a mountain of flame.
This was the fire test, and everyone present held their breath. It was the highest-risk segment of the entire test.
By this point, the people back at the base could no longer see clearly. The mounds of soil blocked the view too severely.
At that moment, the water in the three medium fire trucks had been delivered in succession, twenty-four tons in total.
On the cockpit's display screen, a prompt popped up indicating the water source input had stopped.
Following the planned procedure, the pilot pressed a button.
Intake hose ejected.
The corresponding prompt tone sounded in the cockpit.
Outside, the intake hose on the mech's back was instantly ejected and dropped to the ground.
Temperature detected: 370°C.
The display showed the data detected by the temperature sensor.
"How does it feel?" Marsh's voice came through into the mech.
"Feels good. No changes in the mech," the eldest Sullivan said calmly.
The flames in front of him were nowhere near the mech's designed performance limit. He piloted the mech a few steps into the fire, and without activating the surface cooling spray system, the flames couldn't do the mech any damage. All instruments were operating normally.
When Marsh received this report, he relaxed. The others present hadn't spoken with the pilot, but seeing the mech stay in the flames this long and still move normally, they knew it was fine. The last bit of worry in their hearts was set down.
This test was, without question, a success.
"Try starting the firefighting system," Marsh continued issuing instructions.
"Got it." The eldest Sullivan pressed a mechanical button.
Outside, the mech let out a creak.
In the flames, the external spray nozzles began discharging water, extinguishing the fire around the mech's body. The mech's two hands each extended a water cannon, and on its back, a piece of armor flipped over, revealing a hidden water cannon that extended out behind it.
"Fire."
The next second, the mech's arms automatically sensed and sprayed enormous streams of water from the cannons, like water dragons sweeping across the land, shifting through various angles based on the detected fire data, extinguishing all the surrounding flames.
The two cannons mounted on the hands didn't require pilot operation. Their automatic sensing devices could detect the flames in front of them and automatically adjust the angle to spray at the fire points. During this, the mech only needed to raise its arms and face the fire.
What actually required operation was the cannon on the back. This was a long-range cannon with a range of up to eighty-five meters. Relying on rails on the mech's exterior to change position, it could fire not only from the back but also relocate to the shoulder and other positions.
If the mech malfunctioned and got stranded in a fire zone, unable to move, this cannon alone meant the mech's suppression range could still cover a full 360 degrees out to eighty-five meters.
The three cannons fired together, and the fire scene was like a sudden downpour. The flames, originally surging, were rapidly beaten down under the impact of the water streams. The mech chased the fire points, walking through the scene, and wherever it went, the downpour went too.
In under three minutes, not a single flame remained on the field.
Drifting steam spread out from the fire scene, bringing a welcome coolness to the spectators beside it.
"This water-output capability is incredible."
The three firefighters were astonished at the mech's abilities. After this round of water streams, the simulated fire scene was left as nothing but a stretch of mud.
The scene looked like a flooded land.
Ryan smiled, gratified, off to the side. This was the firefighting mech's power.
Equipment that human labor couldn't carry to a fire scene could now be transported up by the mech. Equipment that human bodies couldn't withstand could now be operated by the mech.
The recoil of equipment like a water cannon was completely unbearable for a human, but for a mech it was child's play.
Switch to a bigger water cannon, and you could extinguish a bigger fire.
Caliber is justice.
No matter where you were, that was the truth.