Chapter 179: Building a Cannon in the Dead of Night

The current upgraded firearms were not difficult for Lin Xian to manufacture, but the main problem was the ammunition.

Gunpowder preparation, material conversion—while bullets weren’t overly complex, Lin Xian’s manufacturing speed was limited. The problem was that they were consumed quickly, and he couldn’t multitask.

The 1130 hadn’t even been built yet. Once he got that thing done, it would be another major consumer of ammunition. Lin Xian had calculated that just to let it fire for 15 seconds, his preparation factory would have to work for an entire day. After the gunpowder and materials were ready, he would have to continuously manufacture them to turn them into bullets.

Besides that, he also had to devour machinery, create other things, and upgrade the research center. All of these required his time and energy.

Unfortunately, Lin Xian’s mechanical manufacturing was a single-threaded process; he couldn’t do everything at once. If he had to supply the firepower for the entire train, even working himself to the bone wouldn’t be enough. How would he have time to devour and upgrade then?

“Hee hee~ I’m still waiting for you to build the electromagnetic railgun.”

“After I get the 1130 done, that’s the next step.”

“By the way,” KIKI finished speaking and her toes left the ground. She floated lightly past Lin Xian, hovering in the air with her arms crossed, flying backward while looking at him. “Hey, I think we should make a trip to Star City. Since we’ve already fallen out with the Federation, we might as well get some more high-end technology from them.”

“Are you saying we should just drive into Star City and start a war with their Federation garrison?”

“Stupid!”

KIKI poked Lin Xian’s forehead with a finger. “Can’t we sneak in quietly? As long as you let me access their system terminals, I can steal some of the blueprints you want. Or you could just scan them secretly.”

Lin Xian smiled. “That makes sense. I forgot you can fly. It’s worth considering. We can give it a try.”

This was indeed a viable plan. The world’s high-end war equipment was either in the hands of the Starry Sky Army or the Federation. Instead of fleeing pathetically, proactively acquiring blueprints was a good method.

“Heh heh, you’re finally willing to see reason.”

“Alright, let’s get to work.” Lin Xian took a deep breath, lifted the car’s blackout curtain to look at the dark station outside, then sat down in the empty car, ready to start.

“Which one first?”

“The robot, of course.”

Lin Xian stretched out his hand, and a light appeared in his palm. Many rare materials began to fly out, and a black chip slowly took shape.

“The PX-05 engineering robot from the Sky-Lift can autonomously connect to system programs. Besides maintenance, welding, and transportation, it’s also quite fast and sturdy. With this, it can directly help me maintain the weapon station’s ammunition supply chain.”

KIKI’s eyes lit up when she heard this. “Wow, smart. Have you thought about modifying this robot into a combat mode to fight enemies?”

“I have,” Lin Xian said. “But my current Esper level isn’t high enough to mass-produce drones. It takes several hours to build just one.”

KIKI nodded. “Alright, then you build it first. I’ll help you overwrite the system, and then we’ll have this guy help you modify and maintain the train.”

“Right.”

Assembling the 1130 was a huge project. It wasn’t as simple as just building it and throwing it on the car. No one else could help, so Lin Xian planned to build this engineering robot first to handle some key tasks for him. Moreover, for this large piece of equipment, Lin Xian needed KIKI’s help with her psionic powers.

“Hee hee, with this thing, we’ll have another powerful mechanical helper.” Watching the materials continuously fly out of Lin Xian’s hand, KIKI said excitedly.

“Don’t get happy too early.”

Lin Xian’s expression was extremely serious. His Mechanical Heart was spinning wildly. Although his mechanical manufacturing had already reached level 3, he still felt immense pressure as he began to build.

Hiss, hiss, hiss~

The mechanical core, central control, frame, Hall-effect thruster with an anode layer, various sensors, small motors, energy pack…

Two hours passed, and the prototype of the engineering robot finally began to take shape.

KIKI watched nervously from the side. Seeing Lin Xian drenched in sweat, she ran over and fanned him with her hands. “No rush, no rush, you’re almost there.”

“Do you still think it’s so easy for me to make things now?” Lin Xian said.

“Alright, I know you’ve worked hard~” KIKI giggled. “How about I give you a shoulder massage?”

“No need, don’t disturb me.” Lin Xian was speechless. He was concentrating right now and didn’t need her fawning over him.

“Hmph~”

Click~

As the last piece of the mechanical outer shell was assembled, this small engineering robot was finally successfully built by Lin Xian.

“Wow, it’s done!”

Wisps of green smoke curled up. The yellow, two-armed robot lay quietly on the floor. Lin Xian was drenched in sweat and finally let out a long sigh. Looking at the small robot before him, he felt a wave of emotion.

He had once thought about creating an army of robots for combat, but this engineering robot had taught him a solid lesson. The path of a mechanic was long and arduous. There was still a long way to go before he could reach that stage.

“Let’s test it,” Lin Xian wiped his sweat and said to KIKI.

KIKI immediately pressed the engineering robot’s power button. Beep~ ‘Program starting.’

A voice sounded. The main control panel of the PX-05 engineering robot lit up with a fluorescent glow. A very low electric motor sound was heard, and the thrusters on the robot lit up with a pale blue light. It then slowly lifted off, floating in car number 12.

“Wow, so cool!” KIKI’s eyes shone. “Wait a minute.”

With that, she immediately took out her mobile computer, connected to the engineering robot’s program interface, and began to configure the system.

“Alright, you work on that. I’ll hurry up and get that cannon done.”

“Okay,” KIKI said cheerfully. The two of them had developed a good rapport since their journey from Jiang City.

After speaking, Lin Xian began to inspect the materials in his decomposition space. Then, without hesitation, while KIKI was debugging the robot, he directly began to manufacture.

Whoosh~

A light flashed in his hand, and a large number of metal materials began to fly out, condensing, shaping, forging, and assembling!

Gradually, a large 1130 close-in weapon system was created by Lin Xian. In car number 12, KIKI was also focused on helping with the work.

As this heavy weapon gradually took shape, Lin Xian’s eyes also began to light up with excitement.

“I’m finally going to have a super weapon!”

Clank, clank, clank!

The base, the lifting platform, the automatic roof hatch, the rear ammunition supply device—Lin Xian didn’t follow the original paint scheme but made some slight adjustments.

The photoelectric sight and phased array radar were assembled. A retractable mobile close-in weapon system appeared in car number 12. The behemoth, weighing more than ten tons, exuded a powerful, murderous aura.

Vroom~

At this moment, KIKI’s PX-05 engineering robot also completed its basic configuration. It flew over and began to help Lin Xian install the gun mount base.

“Done! But the ammunition supply configuration you want will take me some more time. Let it help with the odd jobs for now!” KIKI said with her hands on her hips, looking proud.

“Phew…” Lin Xian nodded and let out a long breath. “It’s finally done.”

It was already past midnight.

For Lin Xian, this was his first time manufacturing such a large device, and he was still lacking experience.

Previously, the firearms, armor, and internal accessories he had made, including the freezer in the dining car, were all relatively simple mechanical structures. The water purifier was considered a more precise item he had made. He had no experience with this engineering robot and the 1130 close-in weapon system, and it had taken him a lot of time.

Mechanical Manufacturing: 3 (260/1000)

Lin Xian opened the light screen of his Mechanical Heart and found that these two items had directly increased his manufacturing proficiency by more than two hundred points.

“It increased by so much, not bad…”

Mechanical Devouring and Mechanical Manufacturing were the basic skills Lin Xian was eager to improve, as they could greatly increase his upgrade efficiency. Although the materials in his decomposition space were now basically bottomed out, he had finally managed to build it.