Hold the Line!

Under Li Qingsong's control, the thousand-plus clones who had just completed firearms development, along with around 500 clones forcibly reassigned from elsewhere, a total of more than 1,500, were swiftly dispatched to various metal foundries and processing plants.

While continuing to fulfill their original production tasks, these processing plants began using the newly assigned 1,500-plus clones to manufacture various other pieces of custom-designed equipment.

After roughly two days of work, several hundred machines of all kinds had been completed.

Some resembled large square boxes, while others had numerous drill bits mounted on them. There were specialized stamping machines, forging equipment, conveyor systems, acid baths, and more.

Working together, the clones transported the equipment to an emptied factory building nearby. They installed and tested it methodically as they went.

Meanwhile, following Li Qingsong's earlier instructions, the smelting plants produced metal materials that met the required standards, including alloy steel, copper, and tin, and transported them here.

The Chemical Factory produced large quantities of gunpowder, which were delivered here under strict fire-safety measures.

The machinery was installed, the power lines connected, and the raw materials prepared.

This newly built Gun Factory immediately began production.

The clones assembled the many machines into a total of twenty-six production lines.

One of those lines was the Final Assembly Line, while the other twenty-five all produced firearm components.

There was a dedicated ammunition line. On this line, alloy steel, copper, tin, and other metals were processed and cast into standard bullet casings. They were then assembled with primers and filled with gunpowder, completing a bullet.

The finished rounds flowed out along the conveyor belts like a stream.

At the end of the conveyor belt, two clones used machinery to bundle every eighty bullets together, securing them with a special plastic material to form flat trays.

This meant that when the clones loaded magazines, they no longer had to press in bullets one by one. They could simply pick up a tray and press it in, finishing the job in a few seconds.

There was also a dedicated magazine production line.

Various metal materials were first processed into small components, then further assembled and welded. After several procedures, under the busy work of dozens of clones, standard magazines were produced one after another.

The dimensions of a standard magazine matched those of a bullet tray exactly, allowing it to hold one full tray. At the same time, it matched the firearm's magazine port, meaning any magazine could easily be fitted into any firearm.

Beyond that, there were barrel production lines, spring production lines, trigger production lines, and many more.

The dozens of production lines worked together in orderly coordination.

In the end, after passing through procedure after procedure—quenching, acid treatment, painting, stamping, casting, assembly, and final shaping—all the components converged on the last production line.

Different components were continuously delivered from the various conveyor belts, like tributaries flowing into a great river.

The clone at the first station completed the initial assembly, then placed the semi-finished product onto the conveyor belt to send it to the second clone.

Another tributary converged at the second clone's station. He took a component from it, assembled it onto the once-assembled gun body, then placed it back on the conveyor belt.

The third, fourth, and every clone after them did the same.

Thus, the scattered components were ultimately assembled into firearms. After inspection by the clone at the final checkpoint, they were placed into large boxes beside the line.

The first day of production passed amid installation, testing, and trial runs.

Yet even though it was only trial production, one hundred firearms, three hundred magazines, and eighty thousand bullets were still manufactured.

A small truck came roaring over and rapidly slowed down. Before it had even stopped, the large box filled with a day's production was directly loaded onto it by the clones.

Without any communication or even eye contact, as though two components of a precision machine had connected, the small truck made a sharp, graceful U-turn and accelerated toward the front line once more.

At the Frontline Reserve Base, one hundred clones had already risen and stood waiting.

By now, another hundred clones had died on the battlefield. Yet Li Qingsong had not immediately sent replacements.

He had been waiting for this very moment.

This time, the replacements would no longer be Cold Weapon Clones, but clones armed with firearms!

The large boxes arrived quickly. Once the packaging was opened, the hundred clones lined up and, with practiced ease, each took a firearm and three fully loaded magazines before stepping aside.

In only a few minutes, all one hundred clones had completed their re-equipment.

Holding their firearms with the muzzles angled toward the ground ahead, they ran in neat formation toward the front line.

They looked remarkably practiced and natural, like battlefield veterans trained hundreds or thousands of times. Yet in truth, this was the first time they had ever touched firearms.

But that was fine. The shooting experience gained from earlier firing-range tests had already been synchronized into their minds by Li Qingsong.

Under the massive searchlights, the brutal battle still raged on at the front line.

Enormous, savage monster birds; warriors clad head to toe in armor, wielding long blades and spears, fighting without regard for their lives.

Clones were constantly seized by the monster birds and crushed to pieces within a few bites. Great swathes of blood splashed down, freezing into a layer of bloody ice across the battlefield.

Yet even fighting without regard for their lives, the clones could only temporarily hold the monster birds back and keep them from advancing. Driving them away was simply impossible.

But that was fine. The guns had arrived!

The hundred clones rushed to the battlefield and held the line at the point where the defense was under the greatest strain and casualties were most severe.

The Cold Weapon Clones quickly withdrew.

Large flocks of monster birds sensed the gap in the defensive line and surged forward in a swarm.

But before they could rush close, one hundred clones and one hundred firearms opened fire simultaneously.

Silent flames bloomed over the dark, frigid land of Luoshen Star. As muzzle flashes spat forth, the hundred firearms fired an average of four hundred bullets per second.

The monster birds, whose skin the clones had to hack at desperately just to cut a small opening, whose defenses took several clones working together to pierce, rapidly developed gaps the size of cups across their bodies beneath the onslaught of that torrent of bullets.

The bullets pierced their defenses and burrowed deep into their bodies.

The first few monster birds to bear the brunt of the attack collapsed instantly.