The Serving Order Matters
Starting from the cotton fabric and leather goods market at Mimir Hot Spring Market, walk along Champagne North Road in the west of the city for seven kilometers until you see the substation of the industrial park.
The industrial park is the heart of the city. The power station draws heat energy from the root ridges of an active volcano and uses the strong winds generated by the hot and cold fronts of the large cavity to drive the fan blades and convert them into electricity—providing ample energy for the steel mill, the city's first vital organ.
At this moment, the coal, pulled by the belt of the rotary motor, is sent to the sintering unit. The crude ore undergoes two primary smelting processes in the drum to remove impurities, turning it into molten iron in the blast furnace.
The golden molten fluid enters the mold in the forging and casting workshop and becomes an iron billet.
On the workbench of the steel rolling mill, it is cooled and stacked time and time again, tempered and carburized, and finally transformed into steel of different grades.
These still-developing steel components will become the framework of various buildings, food utensils, water pipes and valves, railway tracks, and other things closely related to people's lives.
A motorcycle was parked in front of the CNC cutting workshop.
Wen Luo pulled out the key, turned off the engine, and said to Jiang Xueming behind him, "Here, you can find anything you want, and have weapons custom-made for me."
"Really?" Jiang Xueming was excited. He had no resistance to cold, steel creations. These engineering creations, these elegant, exquisite, stable, simple, and reliable mechanical bodies, were the sexiest things in the world to him.
"I can find you any materials and tools you want: draftsmen, mold makers, polymer-related materials engineers, forging masters, even carpenters." Wen Luo squinted, like a wicked uncle showing off an adult wardrobe to a child.
"Oh!" Jiang Xueming's eyes lit up when she heard these things. "Brother Wen Luo! You're really my brother! I don't know how to thank you enough. I've always wanted to be a worker! To make things!"
Wen Luo was momentarily at a loss for words to respond to such enthusiasm; he was taken aback—before this, the little guy with the cold yet bright name had always been cautious in his speech and actions.
After a long silence, Wen Luo finally asked, "Is this your dream, Xue Ming?"
"Yes!" Jiang Xueming frankly told him, "I believe that humanity's greatest quality is intellect, the ability to find patterns in a chaotic natural environment, the courage to face hardship, the will to overcome failure—it is curiosity and understanding, it is care and empathy. It is communicating with all things, mutually transforming and coexisting. These things, this knowledge, work together with the physical body, projecting products that resemble large-scale machine production, like successive industrial revolutions, all of which are the most powerful and greatest Soul's Glory of humanity itself."
Wen Luo seemed lost in thought, but after a long time, he couldn't utter a single word.
Finally Wen Luo said, "It's fine."
Jiang Xueming: "Yes, it's great!"
Then Mr. Wen said to Meteor, "Just stay here and watch, don't try to have any fun."
A Xing jumped out of the motorcycle's cargo bed, looking completely bewildered. "Huh? You don't need my help?"
"Factories are extremely dangerous places." Wen Luo crossed his arms and earnestly warned A Xing, "The molten iron and wastewater, dust and sludge, toxic gases, chemical raw materials, and the high-powered electrical systems here, like ball mills, water pumps, steel furnaces, and industrial high-voltage circuits of over 10,000 volts—these things can kill you if you're not careful. You've never been inside a factory before, right?"
"Oh yes, I haven't been to the factory." Meteor suddenly felt guilty.
Jiang Xueming came from a factory background, so he naturally knew what Wen Luo was talking about.
He took out three pairs of anti-static shoes and corresponding work safety equipment from his bag and said to A Xing, "You must protect yourself in a heavy industrial factory."
At that very moment--
Two workers ran out of the CNC cutting workshop.
One is the operations manager, and the other is the safety standards instructor.
The manager shouted, "Who are you people? What are you doing in the industrial park?"
"I am LOE!" Mr. Wen tossed two cigarettes over from a distance, his movements precise, and they landed in the hands of the two managers.
"LOE?" The young manager looked at the suspicious-looking Asian man with suspicion, then held up a cigarette in his hand. "There's a cleanroom here, smoking isn't allowed! If you don't have anything else, leave! We don't receive visitors!"
"Luo! I saw you on TV!" The older safety instructor beamed, his voice booming like thunder. "Well done! Beautifully executed! Need any help?!"
Wen Luo smiled and asked, "Is this manager new?"
The manager looked unconvinced.
The instructor, an older man, immediately put his arm around Wen Luo's shoulder, intending to lead Wen Luo into the workshop. "Yes! He doesn't know you! He just likes to boss you around, ignore him!"
"Hey! How could you bring tourists into the workshop? I'm reporting this to the Masons! You'll be in big trouble then!" The young manager immediately shouted, "Listen to me! Safety first!"
Xue Ming walked past the manager, looking radiant, and followed him.
The meteor flew past the manager, grinning and making a silly face.
The instructor turned around and scolded, "Wen Luo is a great benefactor of our steel plant! Do you know who revised our factory's safety production standards? Do you know who started the custom of hunting wild beasts and catching rats in the mining area to roast and eat? It was this man in front of you! He has exceptional skills, yet he's been working diligently at the grassroots level of the steel plant for three years. The steel bars for four main buildings in the Nirvana New District where you live now were made by him."
The manager immediately fell silent, his mind blank for a moment.
The instructor cursed, "You dare to go against him? The Masons's tax inspectors will make you sleep on the streets within three days, provide you with a lighter, and send you back to the Nine Realms to perform your special skills for the BOSS every day."
"A Xing, give this manager a really tough job." Xue Ming felt the atmosphere was right, so he patted Liu Xing on the shoulder.
Meteor immediately did a backflip on the spot. When that 1.9-meter-tall man did the backflip, he was as agile as a giant ape.
Just as Wen Luo was about to enter the factory, he immediately turned around, pulled out a stack of purchasing lists from his leather jacket, and handed them to the manager in a mysterious manner.
"Get me something."
"Huh?" The manager looked at the strange, varied items on the purchase order. "What do you need all this for? Why are there even hides and bones from a sacred beast? Where am I supposed to get these for you?"
"If you watch the Redstone News at 8 PM every day, you'll see it on TV. We guys killed a Saint-level beast today. If nothing unexpected happens, you drive to the City Hall." Wen Luo explained, pulling Meteor and Xue Ming over.
The three friends took a group photo with the bewildered manager, Wen Luo continued.
"--If nothing unexpected happens, drive to the City Hall and find an old man named Zhao Donglai. Show him this photo, and he'll send someone to deliver the items. Understand? I need the shinbone and back skin, and a foot and a half of mane, tied up to the size of a fist. That's all I need."
"Zhao Donglai?" the manager stammered. "Is he the magistrate of the Masons?"
"Yes, make the most of it. If you do this well, you might get a bigger bonus this month." Wen Luo pushed the manager towards Xue Ming: "Kid! You write a list for him too! You're going to modify guns for me, you can't build them from scratch, right?"
Jiang Xueming immediately tore the list off the logbook; it was already prepared.
Six hours later--
The CNC machine tool workshop was piled high with materials.
Jiang Xueming wanted something simple, yet very expensive: a titanium alloy weighing a total of eighty-one kilograms.
Designated β21S aerospace titanium alloy, used as a nitrided dark gold coating for titanium plating and rust prevention.
BT-22 is a high-strength titanium alloy with tensile strength, used for firearm beaver tails, firearm safety parts, charging handles, and ejection hooks.
The TI-1720 flame-retardant titanium alloy, originally used in the F119 vector turbine engine, the main engine of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, is now used to construct the barrels and gas systems of firearms.
SP-700 cold-treated superplastic titanium alloy is used as a consumable part for layered rifling in gun barrels.
There are also trigger assembly, firing assembly, hammer assembly, obstacle clearance assembly, and many other parts.
These cold metals will serve as load-bearing and replacement parts for firearms, undergoing transformation on CNC machine tools with diamond-cutting cutters, repeatedly polished and adjusted in size, ultimately becoming hunting tools.
The prototype design drawings for the firearm, along with the molding materials, were also delivered.
The materials Wen Luo used to reforge Jiang Xueming's staff were a portion of the bones and fur of the Holy Beast—including Mingde's remains.
Jiang Xueming was puzzled at the time. What if he damaged the BOSS's claws during the enhancement process? How would he explain it to the BOSS if the enhancement failed?
Brother Wen Luo said nonchalantly, "Then let it grow another one!"
Jiang Xueming didn't take those words to heart at the time, because he thought that Brother Wen Luo must be a VIP, and what a VIP says must be reliable.
Decades later, Xue Ming still feels a lingering fear when he recalls this incident.
"If we really break this bone, Meteor and I will both become canned human flesh, divided into thirty-two portions, and given to the BOSS as a side dish with goat milk."
Work begins--
--The instructor assigned workers from two production lines to assist the two steel artists.
The project had a four-day timeframe, and the two finished their work almost simultaneously.
On the last day, the meteor completed its transformation.
The unique environment of the industrial park made A Xing extremely excited while he slept.
He liked to sleep in the electrical room for twenty hours at a time, and he had touched and slept in the electrical cabinets of all fourteen districts.
That intense energy acts like a stimulant, maintaining the Rose Shining Stone's light source even during sleep, keeping its owner constantly excited and alert, ready for action.
The moment he transformed, Jiang Xueming could clearly feel that A Xing's Inspiration Pressure seemed different.
Originally, the boy's brilliance was like a flame, burning quietly only in his chest.
This passionate emotional energy seems to have spread to A Xing's limbs, transforming him into a complete human form, much like the process of an insect egg transforming into a nymph.
Xue Ming was genuinely happy for A Xing.
This companion is a treasure in his life; on this journey, they can rely on each other and help each other through difficulties.
In the workshop's tool shed, Jiang Xueming and Wen Luo carried two large boxes.
Their faces were covered in dust and grease, and they didn't bother to wipe it off. They had just finished their work and immediately came to show off their craftsmanship.
Jiang Xueming exclaimed excitedly, "It's time to inspect the products!"
"Unboxing time!" Wen Luo exclaimed even more excitedly, "Let me see! What treasures have you prepared for me! I'm going to use them to smash the head of the Skull and Bones Skull and Bones Society's big boss!"
Jiang Xueming opened the box, revealing the firearms inside.
He took out his main weapon, a submachine gun.
"Brother Wen Luo, this is an appetizer—the prototype is the TDI Victor SUPER [V] submachine gun—with a rate of fire of 1800 per minute and using .45 ACP ammunition."
He activated the safety mechanism and explained.
"It has single-shot, double-round burst, and fully automatic modes. It is well-designed, with recoil momentum shifting downwards and the muzzle not rising during continuous firing."
He handed the gun to Wen Luo, and Xue Ming then gave an explanation.
"Its weight remains at 4.4 kilograms, which is quite heavy, but I believe you can use it well—you can feel that all the parts have been replaced with more reliable titanium alloys."
Wen Luo stared at the submachine gun, noticing its cold black and red color scheme and the striking [V] on the receiver, and was momentarily lost in thought.
Xue Ming reached out and activated the red dot sight on the short sword, then pulled back the stock. "Brother Wen Luo, this gun is equipped with the same built-in buffer spring as the AA12 shotgun—it underwent 30,000 firing tests before you used it. It's reliable and deadly."
Immediately afterwards, Xue Ming took out a silencer from the weapon case. "This is its Osprey silencer, which can reduce the muzzle velocity of the bullet to subsonic speed, but it cannot completely eliminate the sound of the gun being fired. As an appetizer, I think it should be able to complete the task of infiltrating and killing the enemy."
"Very good." Wen Luo tested the fit between the stock and his shoulder, raised the gun to aim, and then assumed a ready-to-fire stance. "You put something on the stock, it fits very well."
"I specially tailored this <Alien> grip to fit your body shape, replacing the polymer padding with metal and layered cowhide." Jiang Xueming took out the KAC Knight's Grip and attached the short sword's rail. "You can install a gun light on the side, or replace the Knight's Grip with a more flesh-hugging anti-armor. These modifications are all based on personal preference."
"This can be considered an appetizer?" Wen Luo was very happy. "This is already a proper meal that will allow me to eat my fill and sleep well."
Having said that, he swung the hilt of his short sword to put it away, repeating this several times. It only took him a second to go from being completely unprepared to being in combat mode.
The gun is in excellent condition and has a faint smell of lubricant.
After the engineer Jiang Xueming finished debugging the coordination of all its components, during the process of casting, cutting, and polishing the alloy, he could feel his spiritual essence constantly strengthening, just one step away from transformation.
The action of the Wen Luo engine's receiver handle in loading, idling, and disengaging the safety is as smooth as swallowing a sweet and soft glutinous rice ball.
"This can be called an appetizer? I'm getting more and more excited for the main course."
Immediately afterwards--
--Xue Ming took out [a main meal] from the weapons case.
"The prototype is the Smith & Wesson M500 hunting revolver."
Its overall dark gold matte finish, combined with the titanium plating, gives it a sophisticated and mature feel.
"Using 12.7mm,.50 Magnum pistol cartridges, with a muzzle velocity exceeding 600 kilojoules and kinetic energy exceeding 4,000 joules, comparable to high-powered rifle cartridges, it is a modern version of the M29—it can kill, and it is extremely lethal."
Jiang Xueming turned the magazine, and the magazine axle of the gun made a crisp and pleasant rustling sound.
"Like the dagger, its barrel and cylinder, almost every stress-bearing and firing component, have been replaced with titanium alloy. I added a beaver tail to it, and it retains the design of a double-action trigger without a safety. It's heavy, the whole gun weighs 3.8 kilograms—but as long as you hold it, you can fire it anytime, anywhere."
Wen Luo's mouth was watering. "Holy crap!"
He carefully examined the M500's magazine. Originally, it was a five-cell concave design, but Xue Ming changed it into a honeycomb-shaped hexagon with six holes. To make room for the magazine, the entire receiver was completely altered, changing from a rounded arc to a cold, hard polygon.
Its grip stem is integrated with the gun assembly, without any separate parts, and is wrapped in a thick layer of cowhide.
The trigger is more responsive, and ejecting from the cylinder is more accurate and faster.
"Finally, dessert." Jiang Xueming took out a series of chamber components. "The revolver is a very old and very special industrial design. Its chamber and cylinder are integrated, separate from the barrel. The first half of the firing action is completed in the chamber. After the bullet enters the barrel, the chamber, as the chamber, is in a semi-open state, which makes it impossible to maximize the bullet's kinetic energy."
Xue Ming threw twelve missile chambers over.
"Brother Wen, look closely. These magazines aren't available on the market. I've modified them with quick-release mechanisms. If your hand speed is fast enough, you can replace all six bullets at once and fire continuously, just like loading and unloading a magazine, without having to load each bullet one by one with the Soul Weapon. It also makes it easier for you to retrieve the magazines and reload them all at once."
Wen Luo saw the round hole on the bottom plate of the cylinder. Its opening shape fits tightly with the hammer. The exhaust gas from the combustion chamber will flow back through this ingenious channel, and the hammer will push back to the ready-to-fire state, turning this revolver into an automatic pistol. The relatively closed chamber also makes the kinetic energy of the.50 magnum even more terrifying.
Wen Luo stared at the M500's orange fiber optic sight, the dark red trigger, and the square muzzle brake nose that resembled a fierce muscle car, and almost fainted.
Jiang Xueming pulled out another M500: "Actually, I made two. The other one is designed for left-handed use, so you can hold both."
Wen Luo gasped, "Wow—"
Meteor rushed to help.
Xue Ming, "This is all the work I've done in these four days. If I had more time, I could have done better. I'm sorry, Brother Wen Luo, I only know a little bit. If only..."
"Stop talking, stop talking." Wen Luo picked up the box and ran towards the workshop, leaving behind a trail of dust. "I'll go tinker with it some more! These dishes of yours are too expensive, too damn hard, I'm embarrassed to show my clumsy creations and embarrass myself!"
Today I'm working on the official written story collection for my new project, "The Wife Cut into Sixteen Pieces," as well as character background cards. I'm a bit busy.
There's also a comic book script for "A Chronicle of Encounters with Unusual Creatures".
Last time on May 20th, I was supposed to attend a friend's wedding, but I didn't go, only gave the wedding gift money, which made me very angry! So tonight I'm going to this couple's house for a sweet dinner!
I spent the afternoon reading and researching at the museum in Wanjiali, which was a very enjoyable experience.
I'm not sure if I'll have enough time tonight, so I'll write a leave request first. I'll update when I get back if I do have enough time.
If there's not enough time, I'll make up for it with a second update tomorrow, mwah!
PS: Updated at 23:59, this is fucking exciting, a hat trick!