Material Problems

"While I hoped every suit of armor could use the best materials, materials really were a major problem."

Chen Mu smiled faintly. He looked at the parts coming off the production line, then turned to Xu Jia.

"But suits of armor didn't necessarily have to use titanium-gold alloy. Other materials could be substituted as well."

Just like the Mark 2, its material was not titanium-gold alloy. In fact, any sufficiently strong steel would do.

"Really, we only need to change the materials. We could use refined steel instead, though its strength would be somewhat lower by comparison."

Of course, the difference was actually limited. A steel suit of armor would still be countless times stronger than all conventional weapons in the modern world!

"Steel works too?"

Xu Jia was startled. It might be relatively weaker, but the cost would drop enormously. More importantly, they would no longer be constrained by materials—they could produce as many as they wanted!

"Of course. Steel is only a temporary measure. We'll make do with it for now."

Chen Mu turned back toward the production line and spoke softly.

To him, producing "low-spec" products felt somewhat uncomfortable. In his view, anything he produced ought to be of exceptional quality.

He truly could not bring himself to approve of an "Iron Man" made from actual "iron."

In his view, armor made for the Chinese military should use the finest materials. It should be like his vibranium armor and use vibranium!

Naturally, vibranium would be best if they could use it, but they could not force the issue if they could not. In any case, he did not want "Huaqiangbei" to become synonymous with "low-end products," "knockoffs," or "cheap imitations" in this world.

He wanted "Huaqiangbei" to become the world's most high-end and advanced production base!

Surpassing Stark was merely Chen Mu's first step!

And that step would not actually be difficult. All he needed was for the Kirin Armor he made for the military to become known to the outside world.

That single "product" alone would be enough to surpass Stark's former weapons and become the world's most powerful "armament"!

That was right—this was Chen Mu's definition of the Iron Armor. It was armament!

Naturally, it was most suitable for the military to use it!

Individual strength was limited in the end. Fighting alone was certainly not Chen Mu's style.

"Since steel works too, then our production line doesn't need to stop. Keep manufacturing with steel!"

Xu Jia, on the other hand, was especially excited about this. Being able to make them from steel was already the best news possible for her—or for the military!

"That's right. We can resume production after adjusting a few parameters. I'll leave the parameters in the Hongmeng System, and then all we'll need to do is press a switch."

"I'll report this upward. Since ordinary materials can also be used for production, we need to expand our production scale and build out the industrial zone!"

Xu Jia had already begun rapidly considering how they could develop as quickly as possible.

"I personally don't like using ordinary metals. If possible, I'd still prefer to use the best materials."

Chen Mu sighed. Ordinary metals might offer the best value for money, but he did not like them very much. He truly hoped that the Huaqiangbei he had built with his own hands in this world would not produce low-end products!

"But the better the material, the harder it is to obtain. Besides, our military is also the largest in the world. If we want to equip everyone with it, I'm afraid..."

Xu Jia gave a bitter smile. How could she not want every soldier to carry the finest equipment?

"It's fine. Earth is vast. One day, there will be enough materials to arm our military."

Did China have many soldiers? It certainly did. At its peak, it had a force of eight million. Even on Earth, that was indeed an unimaginably large scale.

But that number was simply not worth mentioning in cosmic-scale interstellar warfare!

Look at Thanos. His soldiers could conquer planet after planet, defeat them, and wipe out half their populations. To reach that level, it would be impossible without an army numbering in the billions or tens of billions.

In cosmic warfare, an army of less than several hundred million was not even worth mentioning. It would not even be enough to spread across the battlefield, so how could they talk about fighting a war?

Don't be fooled by how Thanos only brought such a small force to Earth in "Avengers 3" and "Avengers 4," only to be defeated by the Earth Allied Forces—or rather, the "Hero Allied Forces." That was practically giving Earth an absurdly overpowered advantage.

Thanos could occupy planet after planet. Did he really have only that few people, and were they all weaker than Earthlings?

What a joke!

In any case, Chen Mu had never believed movie plots. He absolutely would not believe that Thanos had only such a small number of subordinates!

Moreover, Chen Mu believed that China would definitely head into the cosmos in the future. The universe was so vast—given the military's current numbers, it would be difficult for China to secure a place in it.

Therefore, an army of eight million was nowhere near enough!

Besides, China did not even have eight million active-duty soldiers!

However, Chen Mu knew that the amount of vibranium available could easily support all the suits of armor the Chinese military needed.

In Wakanda, there was an entire mountain range of vibranium!

The Wakandans had even used vibranium to build a city!

To Chen Mu, that was simply a waste!

"Besides, even if Earth doesn't have enough resources, we can set our sights farther away—for example, the universe..."

Compared to the boundless expanse of space, Earth was merely an insignificant drop in the ocean. Earth's resources were limited, but in the universe there would naturally be endless resources to use as they pleased. By then, would they still need to make do with ordinary steel?

Not at all!

"The universe..."

Xu Jia's face darkened. Shenzhou 7 had not even launched yet, and he was talking about obtaining resources from space?

What was wishful thinking? This was it!

Not only China—no country on Earth yet had the ability to mine resources in outer space. Chen Mu was not being farsighted by setting his sights on the universe; he simply did not know his own limits. By the time China could mine resources in space, who knew how many years would have passed, and he still expected those resources to make Kirin Armor?

What a joke!

"Fine, we'll use ordinary steel for now..."

Seeing the contempt in Xu Jia's eyes, Chen Mu sighed. He had forgotten that the Chitauri had not yet invaded Earth. Earthlings did not even know aliens existed, so naturally they would not think of using resources from space...

So talking about "mining cosmic resources" now really would make him a laughingstock.

But I have to analyze alien spacecraft technology and build one myself!

By the time other countries on Earth were still studying planes and cannons, China would be flying spacecraft into the universe. That scene would surely be quite entertaining!