Chapter 114

When Lucas got to the booth, he saw Isabella totally absorbed in the performance on stage.

"Isabella, we gotta go. Security's gonna check the invites soon. We need to bounce," Lucas said, grabbing her hand. But she yanked it back.

"Hold up, I wanna finish watching this. I don't care if we get kicked out," Isabella said, pointing at the stage, all excited.

Lucas glanced at the stage and was instantly hooked. "Whoa, that exoskeleton armor is sick!"

On stage, Michael looked like a futuristic soldier in black exoskeleton armor, with Jerry next to him holding a sharp military knife.

"This is our new lightweight exoskeleton armor for soldiers. It's got amazing protection. We made it for urban defense. Imagine our counter-terrorism units in this armor; it would seriously boost their safety," Jerry explained, then struck Michael's chest with the knife.

The knife hit the armor with a dull thud, but Michael didn't even flinch.

"Check it out! This is a sharp military knife. Our tests show it can even stop small-caliber bullets without hurting the wearer," Jerry told the crowd, all pumped up.

The audience was totally into the gear.

No one could resist the draw of exoskeleton armor.

Lucas yelled, "You didn't hit hard enough. How do we know you're not bluffing? Go all out!"

Jerry hesitated, then glanced at Michael.

Michael noticed Lucas and Isabella together and quickly figured out Lucas had brought her in.

Michael nodded, signaling Jerry to go harder.

Jerry took a deep breath, excitement flashing in his eyes, and started hacking at Michael with the knife.

'This is my one shot to hit Michael! And he even has to thank me for it!' Jerry thought, getting more excited with each strike, his mind going a bit wild.

The crowd was stunned, jaws dropping. Everyone could see Jerry was giving it his all.

Even though Jerry's face was partly covered by a mask, the exposed parts, like behind his ears, were red-clearly super excited.

Michael swayed a bit, staring at Jerry through his helmet visor. Even though Jerry couldn't really hurt him, it felt like Jerry was taking out his frustrations on him.

After over three minutes of nonstop striking, Jerry finally got tired. He clutched his waist, panting hard, and signaled to the staff by the stage.

"Come on, everyone. Let's beat our boss up!" Jerry joked, but the staff's eyes lit up with excitement.

Some grabbed chairs, others held pens, and a few even took off their high heels.

Just like Jerry thought, this was their one chance to beat up Michael without getting in trouble!

The staff took out all their overtime and work frustrations on Michael.

Michael swayed like a reed in the wind. He wasn't hurt, but he was super annoyed.

'Damn you, Jerry. Just wait!' Michael fumed.

"I wanna play too! I wanna play too!" Lucas's eyes lit up with excitement as he jumped on stage, grabbed the military knife from Jerry, and started striking at Michael.

"This armor is awesome! How much does it cost?" Lucas asked while hitting him.

With Lucas leading the way, the crowd rushed the stage, joining in on the attack.

Even Isabella got into it. She snuck in a couple of kicks at Michael when the crowd was thick, aiming for his groin.

"Oh my god, he's even got protection there. My foot hurts," Isabella said, her face lighting up with excitement.

Michael was beyond frustrated. If it weren't for the groin protection, he might never be able to have sex with Isabella again.

After his initial excitement, Jerry realized things were getting out of hand. He quickly worked with the staff and security to push the crowd back and restore order.

Michael finally managed to get up from the ground.

Seeing the security, Isabella thought they were coming to check invitations, so she quietly slipped away. Meanwhile, Lucas was still on stage, excitedly holding the military knife, wanting to strike a couple more times.

Michael noticed Isabella had left. As Lucas was about to strike him again, he grabbed the knife from Lucas's hand.

Michael then lifted his helmet's visor, revealing a stern face. "You enjoyed hacking at me, didn't you? You struck me 46 times, and I remember every single one!"

Lucas's face turned pale when he saw it was Michael behind the mask.

"Michael, it's you? You actually demonstrated the product yourself!" Lucas said, his legs trembling. He had just been striking the one person he never wanted to cross.

A sinister smile appeared on Michael's face as he signaled for the staff to bring up the second exoskeleton armor.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Let's give a round of applause to this gentleman for bravely stepping up as the second tester of our latest product! He will now don our protective gear and withstand everyone's assaults!" Michael announced to the crowd, then put the exoskeleton armor on Lucas as he watched in horror.

After Lucas was suited up, Michael patted his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "What you're wearing isn't the finished product like mine, but an early prototype! Enjoy!"

Lucas's legs shook with fear. He turned to run but was blocked by a group of excited people, all holding weapons.

"Stay away from me! Help! I need help!" Lucas screamed as he fell to the ground. Then, baseball bats, knives, rocks, and beer bottles rained down on him.