Chapter 34: Ammunition Processing
The .
The first time saw it among his mission rewards, he’d wondered what on earth it actually was.
Now, he finally had his answer. Contrary to what he’d initially expected, it wasn’t a grand factory building, but an industrial miracle compressed to the extreme.
In his perception, within of the , a pitch-black rectangular block about fifty meters along its longest side materialized out of thin air inside a huge, reshaped space.
Its surface was made of an unknown material, smooth as obsidian and completely seamless. Only occasional streams of light flashed through its interior.
When ’s will touched it, a holographic interface unfolded before his “eyes,” displaying a series of production options.
[Option 1: Vehicle Manufacturing (Light)]
[Option 2: Precision Instrument Manufacturing]
[Option 3: ]
[Option 4: Standardized Building Materials Manufacturing]
[Option 5: General Components Manufacturing]
...
Each option contained a dense subdirectory.
Vehicle manufacturing, for example, could be broken down into motorcycles, off-road vehicles, and even small armored vehicles.
But noticed that the more complex the selected product, the worse the two indicators beneath it—“Projected Efficiency” and “Raw Material Requirement Complexity”—looked.
If he guessed correctly, the center’s logic was probably specialization over breadth.
Efficiency was likely closely tied to the production target. If the target was too complex, efficiency would drop significantly.
Different raw material choices would also affect efficiency.
That being the case, the superfactory had fantasized about wouldn’t be so easy to achieve. He’d probably need at least several more processing centers.
So, which type of industrial product should he choose next?
had his answer almost immediately. As far as food was concerned, the apocalypse hadn’t been going on long enough for scavenging to become too difficult.
Industrial goods were much the same—a trip to the store for some “zero-cost shopping” would take care of them.
As for weapons, ’s Security Units and UAVs should be sufficient for now, and the guns seized earlier from ’s convoy were quite numerous.
He didn’t know how they’d gotten hold of those guns, but at least they were usable, so firearms weren’t in short supply either.
The truly troublesome resource was ammunition: it was constantly being consumed and extremely difficult to replenish.
Whether it was the rifles in the ’s hands or the weapon systems of the Robots and UAVs, every shot fired drained their already meager reserves.
With that thought, no longer hesitated.
[Option 3: ]
[Confirm selection? This choice will determine the specialization direction of the . Subsequent changes will consume a large number of .]
[Confirmed.]
The instant the command was issued, the massive obsidian block in of the began a silent yet violent transformation.
Its smooth surface rippled like liquid metal, while dim blue pathways of light illuminated and interwove within it, tracing an incomparably complex structure.
Then the rectangular block rapidly contracted and reshaped itself inward.
Automated robotic arms, conveyor belts, precision stamping machines, heat-treatment furnaces... An entire, highly integrated assembly line grew out of thin air, from raw-material intake to finished-product output. Its compact, efficient layout resembled a meticulously crafted piece of industrial art.
Lines of new data unfolded in ’s consciousness.
[ (Weapon Ammunition)]
[Current production list:]
[1. 7.62mm standard rifle rounds (Raw materials: copper, lead, nitrocellulose...)]
[2. 9mm pistol rounds (...)]
[3. exclusive electromagnetic rifle rounds (Raw materials: iron, tungsten, magnetic materials...)]
[4. “ ” micro-missile (...)]
[5. QBZ-191 automatic rifle]
[6. QSZ-92G pistol]
[...]
[Note: This center can accept unprocessed basic raw materials, but processing raw materials will affect production efficiency and increase energy consumption. Please provide raw materials that meet conventional industrial requirements as much as possible.]
Done!
Looking at the complex production line that resembled a work of art, ’s anxiety over ammunition was finally eased—for now.
Once the raw-material problem was solved as well, he could finally carpet-bomb the ground with UAV micro-missiles every day without having to scrimp and save on lasers.
Sure, lasers looked cool, but missiles packed a real punch!
Having settled on the processing direction and confirmed that the processing center was functioning properly, turned his attention to another reward.
[ ]
’s will sank into it, and the vehicle’s three-dimensional structural diagrams and functional parameters flooded into his mind in an instant.
This was a six-wheeled beast about twelve meters long and four meters wide, its entire body covered in dark-gray composite armor.
Its silhouette was rugged and distinctly science-fictional, with an extremely high chassis and enormous tires more than capable of handling all kinds of complex terrain.
Mounted atop the vehicle was a 360-degree rotating, twin-barreled Gauss machine-gun turret, while pop-out point-defense melee blades were concealed on both sides of the body.
However, its core function wasn’t combat.
Integrated into the middle-rear section of the vehicle was a miniaturized “ ” and a “ .”
The former could easily bore through rock layers dozens of meters thick, while the latter could create three-dimensional models of geological structures, mineral distributions, and even cavities within several hundred meters underground.
Surveying, mining, transport, defense... It did everything.
Without a doubt, this was a tool perfectly suited for underground work!
’s attention turned to a long-dormant in the system’s mission list.
[ IV: .]
[Mission Description: Mission Description: A qualified shelter must never accept the unknown beneath the earth. must explore and clear underground areas and establish an .]
[Current progress: 25%.]
[Mission Reward: 5,000 , x1.]
This mission had remained there ever since the was killed.
The had “whaled” out with five thousand had only reached a quarter of the required progress.
It was, in other words, an extremely difficult mission to complete.
Of course, also understood that the mission probably didn’t actually demand very much of the .
As long as there were enough people and enough of the area had been built out, it could be completed. There was no need for a high level of technology.
If anything, ’s approach of directly dumping 5,000 into “whaling” it was the truly unorthodox path. Unfortunately, the shelter simply didn’t have enough people right now!
Let alone the twenty-odd people they’d had before—even the current hundred-plus people wouldn’t be able to complete this mission.
Carving through rock strata and laying pipelines both required massive amounts of manpower and time. With the current workforce of a hundred-plus people, completing the mission was nothing short of a pipe dream.
But with the Earth Vein Survey vehicle, could at least send people to begin excavating the underground structures.
He could even have the vehicle advance through cavities whose ends had never been detected, finding out where those caves actually led.
It seemed time to form a professional “geological survey team,” thought.
***
The next morning.
“What the... hell...”
stood at the entrance to the newly opened industrial center in of the , his mouth gaping wide enough to fit an egg.
Behind him, , , and the crowd of newly joined technical workers wore much the same expression. Shock and bewilderment were written across their faces.
The sight before them had completely overturned their understanding.