Dust Crystal
"Dear gunsmith, the two prototype guns you sent have been polished and refined, and are ready for combat."
"Initially, you asked us old fogies to manufacture guns and weapons. When it came to making the Wenyu Wuhuan series of individual soldier equipment, this old man was worried—after all, I came from an aerospace complex, the Japanese at the steel mill were in the steel industry, and Eric knew nothing about guns."
"But when it comes to rocket launchers, that brings us back to our expertise."
"When we studied the design of these projectiles, we realized that you seemed to have conducted numerous aerodynamic experiments. The shape of the projectile and the twist rate of the launcher tubes no longer needed modification. What remained was the design of the combustion chamber and the launcher compartment, and how to turn it into a [recoilless gun]."
"It uses hibiscus bloodstone as solid fuel, and its warhead can hold about 75 grams of thermobaric agent. Your requirement is for rapidly producible ammunition—so the internal design should be as simple and reliable as possible, without any further layering."
This is a letter from the Dead Puppet Agency, Polechev.
In the mortal world, thermobaric bombs use ethylene oxide as the explosive. Compared to TNT, the king of explosives, the shock wave generated by this explosive is five times stronger than that of TNT, and the effective area is 40% larger.
However, Xue Ming had no intention of using ethylene oxide. This explosive requires extremely high precision in the preparation of the warhead. Its boiling point is only ten degrees Celsius. Fragrant Dream can perform precise operations in ramjet projectile production, but ethylene oxide has very strict requirements for the material of the warhead casing. Once vaporization leakage or other secondary detonation accidents occur, he will die earlier than the enemy.
Furthermore, there are two other types of explosives. Whether it is white crystal or rose quartz, these two types of pyroxene fuels are better choices. They only have one drawback: ordinary people cannot use them. Psionicists must use their spiritual bodies to activate the pyroxene's explosive combustion process.
These solid fuels can also be found in Shambhala; Mr. Plark's hometown was a mining pit. Chabang also used pyroxene as a spiritual stone, swallowing the stone in hopes of attaining immortality.
This strange trend of eating stones reminded Xue Ming of the children of Our Holy Mother. The followers of the [Afterlife] Church also attained enlightenment in this way. Their bodies were transformed by Canaan into stone beings with pyroxene bones and pyroxene nerves. They might even be able to connect to the Moffett Network and possess extremely outstanding psychic talents.
Returning to the two weapons, when the priest received them, he immediately went to the militia firing range in Tear City. After informing the local security department, he explained that this was a heavy firepower test, and the shooting targets had been converted into artillery targets.
What can you do with 75 grams of clear quartz?
When it reached Ling Weng's hands, after simple polishing and cutting, it could be transformed into a thousand-grain rough stone, enough to make a set of jewelry.
The retail price of raw materials is around 300 Hui Stone Currency. Wholesale is by the ton, and under the mineral resource commodity trading price calculation, it's still 75 Hui Stone Currency, or one yuan per gram.
This is only a preliminary calculation of mining costs; it does not include logistics, transportation, and retail distribution.
These seventy-five dollars were transformed into a gleaming silver steel bullet, which was then inserted into the chamber of the launcher.
Its explosive power is equivalent to four times that of TNT. To give a more intuitive psychological estimate, the power of this high-explosive warhead is equivalent to three F1 defensive grenades.
Before pulling the trigger, Xue Ming had mentally prepared himself. He inspected the weapon by looking at it. From the muzzle, he could see the ejection mechanism and the firing pin, as well as a large ceramic inner shell for the redstone to burn fully—this was the combustion chamber.
As the rocket leaves the muzzle, its exhaust plume is projected forward along the integrated barrel. A triple-buffered, six-channel inverted V-shape deflects the projectile's exhaust to the left and right. The previous CZ-75 design did not consider this, and the exhaust plume from the pressure relief ports could burn the shooter. This design is more like a suppressor—however, while a suppressor's inverted V-shaped multi-channel design slows the bullet's combustion gases, these pressure relief ports act like deflectors in a large rocket launch, diverting excess rocket exhaust to maintain a stable flight path.
Polechev gave this pistol-type launcher a very simple name, "Dust Crystal No. 1," while the rifle-type launcher was called "Dust Crystal No. 2." They both used the same type of ammunition: large 15x50mm bullets.
The instant the shot was fired, Xue Ming felt no recoil. He saw a straight meteor shoot out of the muzzle, followed by six golden-red sparks from the gun. Then, he saw a fireball, four or five meters in size, explode on the distant artillery target. More than 300 meters away, the side of a car was dented and deformed, all the windows were shattered, and the head of the dummy inside the car had been severed and flown into the field.
The F1 defensive grenade contains 65 grams of TNT and has a kill radius of 30 meters. The energy density of this projectile's explosive far exceeds that of TNT—aside from being expensive, it has no drawbacks.
The <Alien> Pistol Dust Crystal One has a magazine capacity of only eight rounds, making it a decisive weapon against large monster units. Because it is a rocket-propelled projectile, it does not require extraction and has no recoil. Apart from barrel overheating, its failure rate is much lower than that of ordinary firearms.
The Dust Crystal II rifle has a simpler design language, lacking a gas circulation system, which allows it to be smaller and more portable, looking more like a short assault rifle.
Xue Ming attached the magazine to the receiver, checked the number of rounds loaded, and then pulled the trigger, firing all twenty arrows.
Its rate of fire is astonishing.
The sparks continuously emanating from the ten pressure relief holes on the left and right sides were almost in a straight line, looking like a fairy wand burning fiercely from the firing window of the field range.
A continuous "SiuSiuSiu" whistling sound swept across the field. The bullets were almost in a straight line, hitting the same side of the car. After the magazine was emptied, the front half of the car had disappeared, blown to bits—its cast iron engine was shattered, and parts were flying everywhere.
Xue Ming then switched to a second magazine, gripped the foregrip tightly, and continued to unleash a barrage of fire. The flames spewing from the barrel's fishbone were about to burn through the wooden frames on either side of the firing port.
Unlike traditional rifles, the Dust Crystal II does not require much arm strength to control muzzle climb. The feedback from the receiver is not the vibration of the bullet and gunpowder exploding, but the continuous recoil force presented at the moment of rocket combustion.
He only needs to grip the forehand and aft handles, clearly see the target in the rail sight, and keep the target firmly locked in the center of the crosshair to complete a series of demolition operations.
After depleting all the stockpiles and firing the two hundred-plus arrows delivered by the Dead Puppet Agency, he slowly exhaled, feeling refreshed and comfortable.
As a light infantry weapon, this thing is almost a perfect score.
Powerful projectiles or rifle grenades don't have the range or accuracy of this.
A rifle with greater accuracy cannot instantly destroy a tough, heavily armored target.
It is more portable than rocket launchers, has a faster firing speed, is easier to deploy, and has good sustained firepower.
"SD!" Jiang Xueming called out with Soul Power.
The steel giant cat immediately revealed its true form and accepted the two copper and iron raw materials delivered by its main body.
Soul Might immediately began to conjure ammunition by hand. He used a slightly softer copper head as the warhead of the kinetic energy projectile, and his claws to press steel sheets as the propulsion part. Finally, he ground redstone into powder, cold-forged the projectile body, and used his sharp claws to cut out two tail flame holes to maintain its spin.
This simple projectile has an effective range of only about 100 meters, which is less than that of a finished product manufactured in an ironworks. However, when out of ammunition and supplies, it can penetrate 10 millimeters of homogeneous armor steel. It flies smoothly and steadily, increasing in speed after leaving the muzzle, reaching its maximum speed at around 30 meters.
Xue Ming stuffed the kinetic energy munition, which he had handcrafted on the spot, into Dust Crystal No. 1. Without an explosive warhead, it instantly turned into a violent vortex of air when it hit a concrete target eighty meters away.
The soft copper warhead shattered instantly upon contact with the concrete and sand, sending out a fine, scorching jet of copper particles that scattered in all directions, leaving three-centimeter-deep marks on the wall.
The second steel-core kinetic energy munition was fired at the armored vehicle. With the armor and the steel-core warhead making contact at a 90-degree angle, the materials with similar hardness collided and sparked violently. It was like a drill; unable to penetrate the armor steel, it could only self-destruct. The rocket body deformed, and the propellant leaked out prematurely. A pink dust crystal exploded first, followed by a huge fireball. The flames chased after the oxygen and burned rapidly, engulfing everything from the outer edge to the inside. Finally, the shockwave echoed inside and outside, creating a clean vacuum. If there were any survivors inside the armored vehicle, they would have suffered terribly, having to cope with overpressure of 2,500 meters per second, lack of oxygen, and instantaneous temperatures of over 1,000 degrees Celsius.
"Wow!~~~" Even Fragrant Dream had never seen such a novel thing before. "When we were dealing with the Flash Butterfly, what more could we ask for with something like this?"
"Yes." Jiang Xueming hugged the two treasures and stuffed them back into the weapon box. "The divine weapon I'm looking for is for dealing with the Flash Butterfly."
Miniaturization, portability, and miniaturization of individual heavy firepower --
--All of this is based on psionic explosives.
The two hundred-plus rockets Xue Ming just shot down, converted to market retail prices, would be worth approximately 50,000 Hui Stone Currency. The dozen or so targets at the field artillery site were all in ruins, with charred iron blocks and bricks scattered everywhere, along with crystalline red and white dust particles.
These crystals cannot degrade naturally; they become part of the underground atmosphere and continue to enter the food chain of the ecosystem. They will continuously alter the physical structure of wild animals, livestock, and humans. Places rich in dust crystals may even produce many psychic phenomena and attract strange spirits and ghosts.
The simultaneous release of energy by so many pyroxene stones constitutes a powerful spiritual ritual in itself.
This is another side effect of the Dust Crystal Rocket: if too much firepower is launched at an area, it will increase the concentration of Spirit Calamity there.
These mini rockets aren't much more expensive than heavy infantry weapons. The RPG-7 family pack, the king of infantry in the 20th century, cost $1,600 per rocket launcher in war-torn regions of the mortal world, enough to destroy a tank. In the black market of the underground arms dealers and itinerant merchants, they could sell for 2,500 Hui Stone Currency during the Expeditionary Era, but now, with fewer regional conflicts, they only cost $500 per rocket.
Dust Crystal Rocket of the same value can't deal with tank armor, but a single arrow can definitely kill a fully armed Bloodletter unit, and defeating a Giant's Spawn is no problem either.
The RPG-7 has only one chance; after firing the rocket, its propellant and warhead must be reassembled.
However, Dust Crystal II could aim at a target moving at extremely high speed, pull the trigger and not let go, until this moth-like freak angel turned into a puddle of minced meat.
It can shatter the bone armor of Apostle units, burn away the oxygen these large monsters need, and quickly paralyze them. A single magazine can create a vacuum of life; for at least fifteen seconds, there will be no living thing within a blast radius of about thirty meters.
"Isn't too much power a good thing?" Fragrant Dream pondered. "What if we encounter close combat? That 30-meter blast radius could also hurt us."
Jiang Xueming packed up the weapon box, preparing to return to Fang Feng Mingde's remains. Hearing Hunwei's question, he pulled out his old set of equipment from the weapon box.
"Wu Huan and Wen Yu can still manufacture them, and they've both reduced the type and size of the ammunition—they're now standard weaponry for Homo sapiens."
As Jiang Xueming's secondary weapon, the Jingguang has shrunk in size. It no longer uses 9x39mm VSS ammunition, but instead uses 10mm high-powered pistol rounds, which are easy to find in the underground world. The size has also been reduced from 6.5 inches to 5.1 inches, making it a standard full-size pistol. The ammunition used is the Daniel Desert Eagle, with a muzzle velocity of around 400 meters per second, making it very practical.
After being modified with smaller caliber rounds, Devana and Yinhe were designed by Xue Ming to be used against humanoid units. They were equipped with 5.56mm rounds, which improved their armor-piercing efficiency and increased their ammunition capacity.
"Within thirty meters, Devana is faster and more accurate."
Fragrant Dream pressed on, "What if it's fifteen meters?"
Xue Ming rolled her eyes. "What's your firing range?"
"Oh, oh, oh, oh." Fragrant Dream slapped her forehead. "Then it's alright."
With the issue of obtaining free weapons resolved, Berloberg's reforging became much simpler.
After all, firearms design requires consideration of ergonomics, while it's much easier to create melee weapons for close combat.
Xue Ming spent four days first returning to Fang Feng, obtaining the freshly baked pork ribs from the BOSS to remove the curse of the Chang Ghost, chatting with the Holy Mother for a few minutes, glancing at the construction progress of the new station, and then immediately rushing back to the Dead Puppet Agency.
Back at the ironworks with Commander Nanami, the veterans, seeing this fresh talent, immediately began drawing up designs for the Iron Knight and Berloberg. In just a day or two, the entire set of melee weapons was produced.
Using Mingde's remains as the carburizing material, taking the Dragon Slayer Sword as the prototype, and integrating it with Berloberg's design, when the Blade of Light was reforged, its new steel shell radiated a dazzling light.
This greatsword is 170 centimeters long. From a distance, it looks like a thick nail. Up close, you can see its thick spine and the intricate forging patterns on its eight sides. It has no strange patterns or enchantments. Its only function is to generate heat and light, dissolve flesh and tendons, and cut through bones.
The newly forged Iron Knight is more elaborate. Commander Nanami crafted a katana-like bandage for it, and its light sword also possesses the spirit of Berloberg. Pulled from the end of the staff, this needle-like light sword is longer and heavier than before, perfectly suited to Meteor's height and physique—the previous Iron Knight looked like a child's toy in Meteor's hands.
Next came three pairs of short swords of different shapes: claw blades and daggers, survival knives and cleavers, and a chef's knife. This set of short swords was made from scraps left over from old Berloberg sword hilts. They didn't have a strong heat source, but they could be used as flint and steel. Their blades and spines could only emit a temperature of around 600 degrees Celsius. They could start a fire by scraping wood or stone, and they were very effective at cutting unarmored targets. They could also be used to cook food.
With everything in place, Xue Ming gave the Berloberg sword a final test of its balance. The blacksmiths' craftsmanship was still superb; the sword was easy to use. After only a few rounds, it felt like a newborn limb, capable of swiftly and decisively stabbing wherever the eye could see.
Grab the leather scabbard, pack up the short knife, and send this entire set of equipment back to the nameless man's club.
When they left the Dead Puppet Agency, Xue Ming and Nanami returned to the fast food restaurant next to the platform.
While waiting for the bus, Nanami started chatting.
"This battle must be the final journey, right?"
Jiang Xueming shook her head, pouting and resting her chin on her hand. "I don't know. But, older sister, what you said is a bit unlucky."
Nanami said with a serious expression, "Gunsmith! You've commissioned us to make so many powerful weapons, the enemy must be terrifying, right?"
"I don't know either." Jiang Xueming hadn't received any information, and he didn't know anything about the situation in Shambhala yet. He had to wait for the cabinet to send an order to the Organization Department and wait for their notification.
"What? You don't even know who the enemy is?" Nanami was very puzzled—unlike Jessica, Jessica often went out, Nanami preferred to stay in the dormitory and watch movies with her old friends at the ironworks.
The outside world is so wonderful, producing countless cultural and entertainment products every day. Even if the two sisters grew another head, they probably still couldn't see all of these things or hear all these stories. They had only heard about the gunsmith's expedition and had never actually learned about it.
"I always have to wait for the Organization Department and the BOSS to coordinate." Jiang Xueming rubbed and played with the claw blade; "Sometimes the brothers in the intelligence team really have no choice, and we have to bite the bullet and go for it. Quick Blade and Gate of Wonders can't get any useful information—but we still have to get it done, otherwise what will happen to the people in the disaster area? Do we have to keep waiting?"
"Shambhala is so far away, it's on the other side of the sea, a place that seems like it will never be reached by rail."
Jiang Xueming glanced at his watch, just as the BOSS sent a new message, also a notification from the Transportation Department's Organization Department—Eureka's ship was ready, and a rehearsal of troop deployment was needed, requiring Zhang Congfeng's attendance.
Capturing Judas was like finding a needle in a haystack. The situation in Shambhala was extremely complicated. There wasn't even radio in that place, and only a very few major cities had telephone communication. Therefore, when the Immortals Alliance obtained the Chaos Egg, a medium, they immediately transformed it into a communication tool using pheromones as the medium.
In terms of exchanging information, Judas had the home-field advantage.
In terms of mobilizing fresh troops, the Immortals Alliance can utilize local resources by trading elixirs with various warlords in Xiabang and assigning these native armies to their service.
In the decisive battle against elite units, the population of villages, towns, and counties is like currency in Judas's hands, which can be spent at any time to create large-scale Spirit Calamity and summon the Original Seed. Coastal cities, especially those close to the Original Seed, are paradises for Flash Butterfly.
"The car is here!"
Jiang Xueming set off immediately, no longer thinking about how perilous the road ahead might be.
Nanami suddenly stood up. "Gunsmith, you can definitely win!"
"Keep your voice down," Jiang Xueming replied, both amused and exasperated.
Although the platform was deserted, the employees in the fast food restaurant were also dozing off.
Nanami pursed her lips, her eyes watery.
"I helped, didn't I! I helped! Didn't I!"
What can Xue Ming do?
He's not a shooting star, and he can't just shout about courage, friendship, or bonds and suddenly have power surge up.
He held out his hand and gave Nanami Thumb.
"--Yes! I give you a thumbs up!"
But the Dagda's Cauldron is still in Shambhala, the omnipotent yet ethereal legendary artifact is still in Shambhala. It is the omnipotent wishing cup in the mouths of alchemists, and the great cauldron for achieving immortality in the eyes of alchemists.
We must never let Judas get it, and we must never let those bastards from the Immortals Alliance make any strange wishes.
At the small station of the Dead Puppet Agency, Xue Ming discovered for the first time that she seemed to be quite capable in combat.
--It seems like I have some ability, like I can do something.
This is the moment in a fairy tale when a warrior first wields his sword, and from this comes a sense of mission.
Jiang Xueming climbed the iron ladder, excitedly sat back down, and waved goodbye to Nanami in front of the platform.
"They're gone!"
Nanami shouted, "Go for it! Give it your all!"
Jiang Xueming: "Okay!"
Nanami: "I'll lend you my power! I'll lend you Jessica's power too! And to the people of the steel mill! All of our power, all of our power! We're giving it all to you!"
Jiang Xueming laughed heartily and replied!
"I feel it! I feel it!"
Nanami raised her hands and clenched them into small fists--
"--The power of miracles has gathered together! It's all being sent to you!"
This strange ritual doesn't bring any spiritual blessing. It looks and sounds like childish nonsense, like the slogans shouted by kindergarteners and first-graders when performing superhero moves from cartoons.
Jiang Xueming felt his heart follow these simple movements back to ten years ago.
"Great! I've become stronger! I've become stronger! I'll show you right away how strong I am!"
Nanami was crying and laughing at the same time.
"Yay!~"
Here's a little anecdote--
--In front of the pet restaurant in the City of Tears.
A traveler stopped in front of the restaurant and retrieved his clothes and hat.
"Sir, these clothes and hats are from a newsboy. This little girl stole them while you were eating."
"Please don't blame her, and don't take it out on your family or friends—we're all just trying to make a living, trying to eat."
"I've brought them back, cleaned up the cat and dog hair, and returned them to you. You have a severe skin condition, and there's a lot of dandruff on your clothes and hat. I think this chronic condition is related to your habits."
"You can't afford White Lady products. You love these little animals, but you're allergic to their fur. Perhaps this is the only winter outfit you own. It looks like it hasn't been washed in over two months, and you can even find fruit peels in the pockets."
"I hope you can cheer up. Life won't always be painful; miracles will happen to you."