Fly There
The Huotang Square in Hefeng Town is already crowded with brothers from Kuai Dao's foreign affairs team. Fourteen sets of waterproof canvases have been set up to create independent partitions for each engineering machinery team - this is the logistics system that follows a series of armor equipment sent to Shambhala along with [материализм·Materialism].
"Where's the teacher?" Billy the Kid, clinging to a Big Frog -shaped shock-absorbing axle, asked Fuyanni, "I'm fucking asking you! Where's the teacher?!"
Foianini is still inspecting the sequential gearbox of the [материализм·Materialism] series diesel engine unit, working in front of the simple cast iron frame table.
"Do you have a nitrogen tank? There's too much mud here; we need to clean it first."
Billy yelled, "I'm asking you where the teacher is!"
"They're in a meeting!" Fuyanni replied casually without looking up. "Pay attention, brother! According to Keshua's battle plan, the Big Frog has to leave tonight."
"Tonight?! Tonight?" Billy stared in disbelief, lifting the cracked shock absorber. "Where am I supposed to find the components for this? The springs for this thing are made of SK7 hardened alloy steel! With this godforsaken place's iron ore—what am I supposed to use to make hot-rolled round bars? There isn't even a steelmaking furnace here, let alone that huge basket of belt conveyors and gantry cranes that the rolling mill needs!"
Fuyanni came out carrying a set of old gears from a sequential gearbox, and glanced at them sideways.
"The shaft is cracked, not the spring. Besides, the thermostatic damping device (the shock absorber fluid needs a suitable operating temperature; in some extreme environments, such as extremely cold or hot conditions, the temperature of the shock absorber fluid can be maintained by using chemicals such as nitrogen tanks) is not broken."
Billy slammed the cracked shaft onto the workbench, and a cloud of mud and sand gushed out of the pressure relief valve on the shaft, followed by a clear whistling sound—this indicated that the shock absorber's core and fluid were working normally, but its shaft itself was cracked.
Mud and sand splattered onto Billy the Kid's face, and he immediately blushed, his anger rising.
"Besides this, how many other things has he ruined?"
Fuyanni had already picked up his welding torch and taken out a new set of straight teeth. He didn't intend to throw away the old ones, but instead chose to use them as mold parts—he wanted to show his teacher something from the new era.
"The entire outer armor of the right arm is gone, the two ammunition feeders of the main gun are short-circuited, and the electronic control chips of the central control unit, mechanical console, oil pump, and broadcast tower are all rendered unusable. Apart from the purely mechanical cable-operated joint assemblies, the engine bay canopy, along with the entire multimedia forward-facing field of view, is also missing."
"Huh?" Billy exclaimed, "Huh?! Huh?!"
Fuyanni: "Two millimeter-wave radars, one main thermal imaging and one secondary thermal imaging, plus a full-view camera. Oh, and the secondary fuel tank exploded too."
Billy: "Huh?!"
Fuyanni: "According to the ground crew who guided us that day, this Materialist was hit by an EMP. Its electromechanical management center, which was responsible for scheduling and controlling the temperature, was completely destroyed. In fact, after the electronic control chips were all scrapped, the Big Frog' should have been grounded immediately. It couldn't have traveled this far."
At this point, Fuyanni used a nitrogen spray gun to sweep away a clump of mud and sand from the casing of the sequential gearbox.
"But it rained that night, and its auxiliary fuel tank firewall was almost burned through, yet it could still continue fighting—it's a miracle—it seems Lady Luck still favors the brave."
"Stop daydreaming, Billy!"
Fuyanni urged—
"--It's not like you're the only one fixing it, wake up!"
He lifted the curtain of the work area barracks and pointed to the bare armor skeleton in the fire pit, the various outer armors of the Big Frog, the scrapped electronic control unit, ammunition boxes, and main engine, including the mini nuclear reactor, which had also been removed. There were nearly two hundred people working on this machine.
"Well," Billy the Kid chuckled wistfully, "At first I thought we were here to be outposts."
"It's not that simple." Fuyanni put on his goggles, stretched out his arm, and saw a spirit arm lifting up the parts of the sequential gearbox, then beginning the welding and polishing work. "We went to Sendai to follow Leslie in demonstrating the spirit's machining technology—we can use spirits to build a simple steam engine, improving the precision of pistons, valves, and pipes, and also increasing thermal efficiency, but the admiral doesn't care for this foreign trick and wants to continue working on psionic energy."
"It's not that simple. Getting Xiantai Prefecture to accept new things, adopt new tools, and get the product made is easy enough."
"But getting people to change their mindset, replacing all the master craftsmen in the workshops, and driving away the Yellow Dragon True Person who preaches in the temples—that's incredibly difficult."
"That's what I thought at first too. I felt that scientific progress should be a good thing, and anyone with eyes could see that this method would work—these machines could benefit mankind."
"But later, neither Keshua nor Mr. Plark said anything, and the admiral didn't want to talk about it anymore."
"At that moment, I knew that this path was a dead end."
Billy also summoned the spirits, began comparing the size and shape of the shaft crack, wrote invoices for materials, and decided to recast a shock-absorbing main shaft. He said to Fuyanni, "Simplify your speech! I don't understand!"
"Hey." Fuyanni opened his phone and used the Iron Craftsman app to measure macros and calculate dimensions. He casually explained, "We brought modern technology from the Nine Realms and new production methods, but this Xiantai Prefecture is huge and powerful. Everyone in this company relies on the Admiral and the Yellow Dragon Immortal for their livelihood."
"Their relatives, elders, children, and grandchildren all work in operations and maintenance at this company. Some of them are even department leaders. It's practically impossible to turn such a large ship around."
"It's like a primitive tribe where the elders often guide the young people, teaching them how to farm and hunt. But now that big machine has arrived, the elders' old tricks are no longer enough—how can they keep their positions in the ancestral hall?"
"This matter is definitely not negotiable. I just didn't expect Mr. Wood Plark to use the pretext of trade and investment to openly bring us in—and the first month's work, just like in the Expeditionary Era, involves dealing with this nameless weapon of mass destruction."
Billy laughed, "Back to the swing of things?"
"Of course! I dream of one day sitting in its cockpit myself." Fuyanni replied with a laugh, "I've test-driven it so many times, this thing isn't for the average person. There are just too many touch-sensitive gear levers and cable switches on the ergonomic panel—how the Soviets ever designed it?"
Billy yelled, "I can't even press the accelerator!"
"Have you finished setting up the shock absorbers?" Fuyanni asked, getting down to business.
"This is nothing! There aren't even any materials! Its shaft is made of high-carbon alloy steel of 0.6 or higher; it's a load-bearing component, it can't be welded." Billy craned his neck, having just finished writing down the material specifications, and peered directly at Fuyanni: "What are you doing? Adding materials first and then subtracting them? You're still planning to use the broken spur gear?"
"No, not yet." Fuyanni pulled out two rolls of PA66 raw material from the workshop. "I need to make some plastic—my teacher used to always complain about me, saying I was addicted to plastic toys, but there's a reason for that."
"Steel was the cornerstone that opened the door to the Industrial Revolution, while plastic is the king of materials in the atomic age."
"Adding 10% carbon fiber and 5% silicone oil to PA66 can create an ultra-high molecular weight material that simultaneously possesses wear resistance, hardness, and toughness. Besides this little magic trick, there's also PEKK polyetherketone and UPE polyethylene wear-resistant sheets."
"Compared to steel, which often requires high-temperature, large-scale machinery for production, adhesive manufacturing doesn't require heavy-duty components—it has more stringent requirements for operating temperature, but it can always hold up for a while in the event of a material shortage."
"Using polymer materials to make gearbox gears?" Billy thought Fuyanni had gone mad.
"The gunsmith master initially wanted to use titanium-plated steel wire to make bulletproof armor." Fuyanni tapped his head, a smug look on his face. "And nobody said he was crazy."
Billy: "This is different. The Flash Butterfly Armor has an inner armor in addition to the outer armor. Oh. Oh. I think..."
"Our spirits are very obedient. Achieving a precision of within ±3 microns for the workpiece is not a problem. We can also handle the sandwich casting method for plastic-coated steel." Fuyanni patiently explained, "The shifting logic of a sequential gearbox is very clear. Unlike civilian vehicles, its shifting process is purely mechanical impact, the meshing between gears—which places extremely high demands on the wear resistance of the gears."
"We've only ever seen this kind of transmission in rally cars. Quick Knife also has mechanics who specialize in engines, let's give it a try!"
At this moment, Shasha arrived at work group UC-05 carrying the Summoning Bell.
Carrying the corresponding bell, it led the service engineers to Billy. Quick Knife could use the Summoning Bell to organize and coordinate any difficulties he encountered while repairing and maintaining the Big Frog.
"Brother Billy! What's up?"
Billy handed over the documents, which listed the minimum production conditions and materials required for SK7-type quenched alloy steel, including the standards for equivalent steel.
"Received!" Shasha stuffed the document into its logbook and wrote it down on its laptop. There were about thirty messenger sergeants like it at the front-line outpost in Hefeng Town.
On the other hand, the sentries from Hefeng Territory heading towards Zhuzhou Prefecture and towards Taiye all have an intelligence system independent of the elixir.
Although they had no telephone lines, they had six mini radios that barely passed the inspection at Xiantai Prefecture port. Their transmission power could cover the entire Hefeng Town area, which was sufficient for sending messages and issuing orders to dispatch troops.
Inside the command post in Mujiazhuang, the clear sound of bells could be heard from time to time.
--A Summoning Bell is a very useful communication tool, even if it conveys very limited information.
The anonymous man brought over 1,460 Summoning Bell. It should be noted that the entire underground transportation department only has around 120,000 Summoning Bell available for passengers. Bringing this many bells represents the limit of the various transportation departments' budgets.
This medium tool can transcribe a set of coded messages using the simplest ringtone. It can use telegraphic codes or more efficient one-way communication codes, used by command to issue orders unilaterally without receiving any reply—for example, one ring means attack, two rings mean retreat. This is much faster than Morse code's alphabetical formatting. It can also be a combination of both, allowing for more complex communication once the soldiers find a temporary base.
This simple and easy-to-use radio system was almost a game-changer for the adversaries in the Shambhala region.
"The moment the Summoning Bell rings, the nature of the war changes." In the conference room, Keshua explained the encrypted code system, while distributing coded manuals to the soldiers of the Nameless Ones' various units, outlining the rules for using the system. "We have a radio, a complete service system, 4,400 men, over 800 combat personnel—and a Blood Jade Bodhisattva statue as a base for medical supplies and wounded personnel."
"I only have about 670 offensive units under my command; the rest are defensive forces that rotate shifts and duty locations."
Xue Ming immediately asked, "Isn't that too little?"
"I've never fought a battle with such limited resources in my life, commanding just over six hundred men? This job is too easy." Keshua remained calm and cheerful. "Don't worry about the rear; reinforcements from Xiantai Prefecture are coming in steadily."
"It may seem like we are isolated and helpless, but in reality, this is a positional war."
As he spoke, Keshua laid the map of the Great Southeast flat, put on his psionic glasses, took the wargame constructed by [Phoenix] in his hand, and laid out a bright red line along the Copper River basin and the surrounding mountains.
"This is a battlefront stretching 766 kilometers. The topography and hydrology from Taiye to Guanzhong have been thoroughly investigated. We are not unprepared or completely ignorant."
" In Xiantai Prefecture, a major port city, the bandits led by Huanglong Zhenjun have been brought to justice and executed. However, General Liu Zhen, who holds military power, has not given in and intends to wage a protracted war."
"--This is not an armed conflict that a few VIPs can resolve; it requires powerful ships and cannons to solve this problem. After that, starting from Sendai and Suju, and departing from Eureka Volcano City, a steady stream of good brothers will come to this land to fight."
"The first phase of the battle, in fact, follows the same core principles as at the beginning: we need to spend a month and a half traveling a thousand kilometers to reach the Wuling Mountain area, destroy all the immortal pill caves we can find along the way, and establish contact with Wuling Mountain."
"According to reliable intelligence, Judas needs at least thirty elixirs to awaken the Dagda's Cauldron."
One of the field affairs team leaders from Quick Knife asked, "Keshua, why thirty?"
"The psychic configuration shaped by the Dagda's Cauldron is like this: it has twelve radiant stone slots. According to the research of psychic scientists in the Arcane Library, these radiant stones will construct a Merkaba (Chariot of God /Holy Cube) field within the Holy Grail. It requires thirty psychic nodes."
"Judas betrayed Jesus with thirty pieces of silver. These thirty pills were the necessary tools for this man to redeem himself, atone for his sins, and ascend to heaven."
So--
--Coach Keshua pushed out a stack of yellow pages from the large table under the sand table. Each number represented a group and a task. The documents were taken by clerks from different groups to their respective teams.
"Your phased tasks are all in this document, including the necessary armor and ammunition, assault plans, intelligence gathering and personnel deployment, wounded care and evacuation routes, emergency procedures for adverse psionic reactions—and most importantly, you must carefully read and memorize the Summoning Bell bells for the squad leaders and commanders."
"In this combat environment, we have a mature radio system, the ability to communicate with each other, and firearms that are two or three hundred years ahead of this era. Although the saltpeter and metallurgical workshops in Hefeng Town have not yet been built, and the supply line may encounter some problems in the early stages, we have the best mechanics in the Nameless Gang and the most powerful light weapons team in the entire underground world."
"As long as we establish a foothold here, even without trains, I still have a way to send you to a war zone 200 kilometers away."
"When facing the enemy, you are like stars in the sky, like gods descended to earth."
"A god descending to earth?"
Ideals are beautiful, but reality is harsh.
Just as Wood Plark and Mr. Luo Ping'an were engrossed in studying the Chaos Immortal, they were discussing their life ideals with Kunwu at the command post.
Billy the Kid was already drenched in sweat. He had finished repairing the two shock absorbers of the Big Frog, fixed the outer armor and engine, and repaired the cabin valves. Everyone knew that the materials produced by Billy's workshop were decent, so they immediately occupied his workshop and took away the forging furnace that the two brothers had built.
Another task awaits Billy and Fuyanni.
When the two received the yellow pages file bag, it was already midnight. The various work groups were nearing the end of their emergency repairs on the Big Frog. The machine was still missing the important electronic control unit, but it had been reassembled. The right arm, which was originally bare steel muscle driven by a diesel engine, was now covered with a bright yellow tin-copper alloy armor. It wasn't as sturdy as armor steel, but it was better than nothing.
Without resting, the two immediately followed the engineering unit to climb the rocky highlands of Hefengling, and then climbed the more than 380-meter-high mountain to the edge of a cliff.
The gunsmith and 9527, having rested and recuperated, were ready to return to Taiye City.
Keshua and his staff team were well prepared for this difficult task. The gunsmith's mission was to enter the core area of Taiye City, paralyze the city's regional armed forces, and obtain the governor's elixir. According to Kunwu's intelligence, the Yin Yang Qiankun Sect was the leader, and there were more than 300 blood donation units in the city, including at least 16 psionicists who had reached the pupal stage.
The road to Bodhisattva Valley is no longer passable. After Kunwu was captured, this pass occupied the two high and strategically important locations of Taiyin Mountain and Yanghe Pass, as well as a moat.
As for the claim of a god descending to earth—
--From the female orderly of the Raven Squad to the Nameless Quick-Knife Squad, she personally tied two "lifelines" to Billy. These lifelines were the ropes of the powered paraglider.
"Fly over there?!" Billy wasn't afraid of fighting; he was already prepared. As a gunsmith's apprentice, he had always been influenced by the Morpho Butterfly while following his master. Now he had reached the late stage of the Cocoon Transformation and would soon have complete spirit limbs.
The route from the northern foot of Hefeng Ridge to Taiye is a complex valley and forest area with a complicated and dangerous environment, but it is less than 50 li away from Taiye as the crow flies.
The southeasterly winds of summer can carry paragliders into the city. There is no moon or observation balloons in this area, and Taiye Prefecture has no concept of air defense.
"Hey! Brother! Are you scared?" The young lady asked as she adjusted Billy's load, stuffing his water bottle and rations into the appropriate weights.
Billy glanced furtively at the teacher. "Me! Of course I'm not afraid!"
As a psionicist, Fuyanni was also going to participate in this airborne operation. He memorized the map, got the Summoning Bell for his combat group, and watched as the soldiers ran quickly out of the rock platform and disappeared into the dark night. He felt a little scared.
"I'm afraid of heights."
The raging mountain wind stung his eyes. A moment later, the young woman finished packing Billy's belongings and came to Fuyanni's side. "How about we go together?"
Fuyanni: "Can we still be together?"
"I am the warrior of the swift blade." The young woman, who looked to be no more than twenty years old, tied her hair back. "This time, the parachute decapitation mission requires me to work with the gunsmith. I even had to go to great lengths to get this job from the organization! I want to live in the same moment as the legend! What? You don't want to do it?"
Fuyanni looked at his teacher, who remained silent, intently memorizing the signals.
"That."
"Girl! You want to skydive with him?" Billy immediately became unhappy.
"It's not skydiving, it's gliding!" the young woman laughed, nudging Fuyanni's arm. "He looks quite thin, doesn't he? This paraglider was built by our group under Instructor Wood's guidance. Its maximum load capacity is over 400 kilograms. Instructor Wood said it's best to fly in pairs—the heavier the pair, the more stable the flight."
Fuyanni: "That's great! What's your name, miss?"
Before he finished speaking, Billy put his arm around Fuyanni.
--He stuffed his good brother into the plastic straps of the paraglider and hung it around his neck, like he was carrying a baby.
Then, he pulled hard on the cable, ran quickly, and the entire takeoff process was completed in one go.
Then the dark umbrella fabric swelled and expanded, and another pair of soldiers took to the sky.
The gunsmith asked, "Did they bring Summoning Bell?"
The young woman, seeing Fuyanni run away, looked helpless and casually replied, "I took him!"
Xiao Qi muttered under her breath, "That Billy kid is really despicable. He doesn't want his brothers to have an easy time either, even if he's not having one himself."
Xue Ming did a final check of his equipment, taking out a full set from the weapon case. This time, he wouldn't have to suffer when he returned to Taiye.
Devana and Jingguang have 120 rounds of ammunition and 16 dust crystal arrows.
Dust Crystal No. 1 was fastened to his lower back, while Jing Guang, his secondary weapon, was attached to MOLLE's chest strap.
He removed the mask from the Flash Butterfly Armor Suit and saw the white clown steel stamp that Ghost had made for him.
Radio functionality was disabled, but night vision and thermal imaging allowed them to clearly see their comrades in the air.
"--Walk."
Xiao Qi was also fully armed. With the help of the service team, the two VIP units, clad in butterfly armor, flew back to back, with Xue Ming carrying his wife on his back.
I heard a strange "beep beep beep--" sound.
"It's flown less than a hundred meters, "Xiao Qi asked.
What was that sound?
Xue Ming was at the helm, patiently explaining things to his wife.
"Powered paragliders can not only glide, but also climb. This sound is a signal to find updrafts during gliding. The more rapid the frequency, the greater the pressure on the parachute lines, and we are blown into the sky with the wind—we can gain altitude, but we have to go around it."
Xiao Qi lifted her helmet, unable to see her husband's face. She only knew she was drifting in the sky, and apart from the lights of Hefeng Town, there seemed to be nothing else. "How long are we going to fly?"
Xue Ming stared intently at Taiye ahead, which was only thirty kilometers away.
"At this speed, it should take a little over an hour to get there."
Xiao Qi: "So slow?"
"Powered paragliders can only fly this fast. If there's a tailwind," Jiang Xueming thought for a moment, "It should take us about forty minutes to fly over Bodhisattva Valley and reach the Prefect's Mansion's residence."
Xiao Qi: "Is there any support?"
Jiang Xueming: "According to the mission briefing, if the other task force can complete the mission ahead of schedule, a Materialist will come to help us."
Xiao Qi: "Big Frog?!"
Jiang Xueming: "No, they came from the river. They should be Red Salamander, from another crew."
"Shasha! The battle in Eureka Volcano City was truly captivating! It's an honor to fight alongside you again!"
Liu Weiqiang opened the hatch of the Red Salamander and wrote his blood type next to the air valve in the compartment, so that medical staff could carry out rescue operations in the absence of White Lady's products.
This man, nearing fifty, has returned to the front lines once again.
--He and the small shark, familiar with the underwater sound and light environment, once again dived into the steel.
"Can you even drive this thing?!" Shasha finished her final moisturizing routine, smeared oil on her head, and put on her diving helmet. "The world's best vehicle commander!"
"Hahahaha!" Liu Weiqiang laughed loudly, "At Galahad! In the Knight Combat Skills Training Center! I drove thirty times a day! Sixty-three thousand simulated test drives! All for this moment!"
Shasha activated the artillery system on the mechanical console and sat side-by-side with Strong Bro Qiang in the spacious cabin.
Two close brothers, one older and one younger, greeted each other with a fist bump. The crimson steel monster stepped into the waterway step by step, and under the watchful eyes of the service team, it entered the beach of the Taiyin Mountain Canal and slowly headed towards the canal waterway of Taiye Prefecture.
"Brother Billy once told me something, Captain!"
"Um?"
The most beautiful sound in the world is the click-clack of high heels!
"Hahahaha! He must be blinded by a woman! I can understand! I feel the same way!"
"You think so too?! Maybe I'm too young to understand!"
"Yes! You're still young!"
"Commander! Listen to this! Listen to this!"
A low-frequency hum emanated from the Red Salamander's nuclear reactor. Its power engine slowly increased its speed, and the sudden push-back feeling when the gearbox shifted gears and accelerated, along with the rapidly spinning propellers of its armored legs—the clear metallic meshing sound carried far underwater, scaring away the fish.
Shasha squinted, revealing a set of sharp teeth inside its diving helmet.
"That's the most fucking sound in the world!"
In mid-air, Fuyanni hung on Billy, feeling utterly hopeless.
"I almost got their phone number, Billy!"
Billy: "Concentrate, don't move, I'm going to speed up."
Fuyanni: "Do you know where to fly?! Why?! Why? I didn't even ask their names!"
Billy: "The wind is too strong! I can't hear you!"
Fuyanni: "You can't do this to me! You've at least had a relationship before! You had Fay Foroisin in your heart! Mine's relationship is over before it even started?!"
"You don't understand your brother's wisdom. He's been through this before, and this is for your own good," Billy explained. "You really want to fly with this girl born in the 2010s? And you'll still be thinking about combat? Aren't you afraid of dying?"
Fuyanni thought for a long time--
"--I think so."
I'm almost out of the disease!