Preparing to Unlock a New Tech Tree—Please Support with Monthly Tickets, Recommendation Tickets, and Follow-Ups

Preparing to Unlock a New Tech Tree

Only then did Tang Xiao turn his attention to Qu Xuewen.

Compared with Guan Yan and the others, Qu Xuewen was far more striking. She had short hair and wore black-rimmed glasses, her features delicate and charming. Beneath her roomy white lab coat were a turtleneck sweater, a pencil skirt, and tight stockings. That outfit could easily be mistaken for cosplay or a uniform seduction, yet she was an Elite Class materials science expert.

She was the classic example of someone who could have relied on her looks but insisted on relying on her talent.

Knowing that Tang Xiao was coming, Qu Xuewen seemed to have dressed up specially, and a faint scent of perfume drifted from her. Tang Xiao gradually became interested in this beautiful scientist he had barely noticed before. Though her profile said she was already thirty-two, she had taken excellent care of herself. Her skin was tender and firm, making her look like a fresh university graduate, yet she was also full of the charm of a mature woman.

Tang Xiao's previous impression of Qu Xuewen was that she was Feng Yongwang's follower. She had always worked with Dr. Feng on the Wraith fighter project, possessed solid professional skills, was much more socially adept than the other bookworms, and looked better than average. Beyond that, he knew little else about her.

Qu Xuewen seemed to intentionally or unintentionally edge closer to Tang Xiao, but he quietly stepped away again.

It was not that he was some saint. He simply had not figured out how to handle this kind of superior-subordinate relationship. Perhaps sensing the subtle distance he kept, Qu Xuewen did not press the matter. She cleared her throat, led Tang Xiao around a corner, and arrived at the frigate's refitting area. "Here we are. Professor Chi is leading the team in refitting the Turbolaser Turrets. Since this doesn't match my specialty, I've been relatively free lately."

A bead of cold sweat slid down Tang Xiao's temple. So this woman had been leading him in circles just now?

Over there, the hull plating on one side of the Hammer-class frigate had been completely removed, exposing dense wiring and instruments that made Tang Xiao's skin crawl.

Chi Jianjun pointed at several wires and said, "This is the energy compression area. We need to add a partition compartment here, but the discharge lines from two diverters have to pass through it. So after drilling holes in the compartment, we need to perform two rounds of insulation treatment. Only then can we ensure the integrity and safety of the energy compression process. For now, we won't consider reverse-engineering these Turbolasers. What we need is to build up sufficient Combat Power as quickly as possible."

In front of him, Feng Yongwang and two other Elite Class experts looked like students, frantically taking notes while nodding repeatedly.

Noticing Tang Xiao's arrival, Chi Jianjun turned around and nodded. "Administrator, Dr. Qu informed me that you would be coming. I happen to have a few matters to report to you."

"I mainly came to inspect our newest frigate in service," Tang Xiao said with a smile.

"Although the Hammer-class frigate cannot be called outstanding, it is still an extremely crude frigate overall. But as a weapons platform, it performs far better than the Blade-class fighter. At the very least, it operates on a much higher energy level. If we had had several Hammer-class frigates during the pirate attack last time, the battle would have gone much better," Chi Jianjun said frankly.

"Tell me about this frigate."

Chi Jianjun projected a display screen beside them and pointed at a cross-sectional diagram of the Hammer-class frigate. "This type of frigate is 31.4 meters long. Its original design used two medium twin-mounted electromagnetic cannon turrets, each with a 40mm caliber, and it was fitted with heavy armor to improve survivability. The result was that the armor and ammunition magazines took up enormous amounts of space, making the ship's interior like a packed canned luncheon meat tin."

Then he tapped the display, and the diagram began to change. "During our research, we optimized the design without overturning its original structure. We replaced the twin-mounted electromagnetic cannon turrets with twin-mounted infrared laser turrets. This preserves its heavy armor while saving considerable ammunition storage space for larger fusion engines and energy shield generators. But this still cannot conceal the frigate's terrible handling and mobility. The fire coverage of its two turrets is also inadequate, so it requires many frigates working together to be effective."

He paused before continuing, "This can increase the Hammer-class light frigate's combat efficiency by around thirty percent, basically bringing it up to a usable standard. But... there is still much room for improvement!"

"What areas are still lacking?" Tang Xiao asked humbly.

"Avionics, fire control, and flight control!" Chi Jianjun raised his hand and swept it through the air, wiping the Hammer-class frigate diagram from the interface. "I'll put it bluntly: this frigate is still just an Iron Box fitted with turrets and engines. I checked the mothership's technology list. Ships classified under the Kushan Civilization category may be the easiest to analyze, but their efficiency is generally not high."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"My suggestion is this." Chi Jianjun opened another technology list and pointed to a long row of ships and technologies. "Technology from the Emergency Traders Alliance."

Tang Xiao knew that the Kushan Civilization came from Homeworld, but the Emergency Traders Alliance? He was taken aback upon hearing the name. It was only when he opened his own exclusive technology interface that he understood what it was.

It seemed that in the Mainframe's database, everyone could only see the faction a technology belonged to. For example, the Wraith fighter was listed in the technology list as originating from the Terran Empire (Terran). As for its origin in the game StarCraft, that was Tang Xiao's own conclusion.

In that case, everyone else would see this technology database as a collection from countless civilizations and would not make any other connections. This matched the false history he had created for the Fourth Civilization. After all, the Fourth Civilization had carried the seeds of their entire Milky Way Galaxy in the end, so it was hardly surprising that it contained technologies from other civilizations.

Tang Xiao was unfamiliar with this Trader Emergency Coalition, but as he continued browsing through the entry, he discovered that it contained technology from Sins of a Solar Empire!

Sins of a Solar Empire was also an immensely grand interstellar war game, and its major factions were all extraordinarily powerful. From light frigates with various functions to incomparably massive Titan warships, they could build them all.

The Trader Emergency Coalition was one of the factions in the game, and it was a civilization highly similar to humanity. Professor Chi had likely chosen this tech tree for that reason.

Bonus Chapter Illustration 1: Sins of a Solar Empire

Bonus Chapter Illustration 2: Hammer-class frigate

Thanks to Sakura Dance Charm for the 300 Qidian Coin reward!!