On an uninhabited island nearly a hundred nautical miles south of the South Australia Sea Area.
The island lay far from the main trade routes and ports, so hardly any ships ever visited a godforsaken place like this.
There was a sunken area on the island, surrounded on both sides by steep cliffs. Unless a ship deliberately approached the island, it would never discover the hidden hollow. Nie Yun and the new Sea Wolf were hiding there now.
Nie Yun stood on a coral reef by the shore, holding his forehead as he looked at the new Sea Wolf, which had run aground in front of him.
That was right. Nie Yun's new ride, the Sea Wolf, had been above water for less than twenty-four hours. Before it had even had a chance to show off its imposing form to the world, it had gone and run aground...
The Mechanical Insects were clearing the reef that had pierced the Sea Wolf's hull and patching up the gaping hole so they could pump out the seawater.
"Honestly, you can't get cocky when you're sailing! You just had to try some nighttime march or whatever. Look what happened—you went and botched it!" Nie Yun glared at the Sea Wolf as if it were all its fault.
The Sea Wolf: "..." (I want to go back and lie down for a few hundred more years...)
Nie Yun boarded the new Sea Wolf. The debris on the hull had already been cleared away, and most of the vessel looked brand-new. The deck gleamed like a mirror.
In one corner lay a heap of old lumber and assorted trash collected by the Mechanical Insects. It was their stockpile of raw materials.
Nie Yun nodded with satisfaction. He planned to repair and reinforce the Sea Wolf from scratch, then gradually replace its components with Mechanical Insects until it had been fully converted.
After all, though there were already quite a lot of Mechanical Insects, they were still insignificant compared with the enormous new Sea Wolf. Even if he used every last one of them, they probably wouldn't be enough to replace the entire keel.
This approach would also avoid tying up too many Mechanical Insects in constructing materials, allowing them to work much more efficiently.
Mechanical Insects: "..." (Damn capitalists!)
Aside from the Mechanical Insects working nonstop aboard the ship, swarms of Mechanical Spider crawled all around the reefs, with the Sea Wolf at their center. They were clearing rocks from the seabed and collecting anything that could be put to use.
Ever since he came up with the Mechanical Spider as a new way to explore, Nie Yun had realized that raw materials were no longer the main factor limiting the growth of his Mechanical Insect population. The resources on the ocean floor far exceeded anyone's imagination.
After countless years of human development and overseas trade, the whole ocean was littered with man-made rubbish and discarded materials. To the Mechanical Insects, though, all that junk was a cheap and plentiful source of raw materials.
The real thing holding back the Mechanical Insects' development now was energy.
The Mechanical Insects weren't specialized energy collectors, after all. Even when absorbing solar energy, they couldn't keep working and reproducing around the clock. So for now, they had to stop now and then to recharge.
Nie Yun was a little frustrated. He felt like a factory owner whose factory could churn out profits every moment, yet he couldn't make the workers work in three shifts. The harsh reality left him deeply troubled.
Mechanical Insects: "..." (We demand insect rights!)
And that was only one of Nie Yun's troubles. Along with the energy issue, the question of keeping everything secret had also come up.
Given Nie Yun's unshakable faith in big things (ahem~), the Sea Wolf was bound to keep getting bigger. Back when it was just a little fishing boat, there was no need to worry. But at its current length of nearly a hundred meters, it was impossible to avoid drawing attention. Besides, this world was full of satellites.
If anyone spotted the new Sea Wolf in its current form, the next day's headlines would surely read: "Spanish Warship from the Age of Sail Reappears! Pirates Suspected; Several Nations Move to Wipe Them Out!"
The secrets aboard the Sea Wolf were far too shocking. Nie Yun had to tighten security. He didn't want to be captured and dissected.
Actually, the solution was simple: he just needed a base!
With a hidden base, the Mechanical Insects could work from a permanent location. They could shift from guerrilla warfare to a fixed position, greatly improving their efficiency.
Whenever he needed to show his face, he could have some of the Mechanical Insects assemble an old version of the Sea Wolf in the shape of a fishing boat and take it out. That way, he wouldn't have to be so timid about everything.
In short, establishing a base and expanding the Mechanical Insect swarm was an unstoppable trend—and the inevitable choice for discreetly building up strength!
Nie Yun had ordered the Mechanical Insects to clear the surrounding reefs not only to open a channel for the Sea Wolf, but also to try to build a secret base here.
"Just hearing 'secret base' gets me excited!" Nie Yun said, thrilled.
Uh, after all that, are you sure you're not just doing it for fun?!
"Grr~" Just then, Nie Yun's stomach "again" growled.
"Here we go again... Sigh! You lot are working hard, but I'm not having an easy time either. How many times has this happened today...?" Nie Yun said helplessly.
As the number of Mechanical Insects continued to rise, so did the physical energy he needed to control them. His solar energy was no longer enough to keep up.
Fortunately, he had just discovered a miraculous way to recharge. Otherwise, a food crisis might have become the biggest problem he faced!
He walked over to a roaring bonfire. Mechanical Insects kept bringing over gathered firewood to feed the flames. Silver-white Mechanical Insects now surrounded the area; it was one of their energy-replenishment sites. The method was a little primitive, but better than nothing.
When they saw their boss arrive, the Mechanical Insects parted to let him through. Without hesitation, Nie Yun reached out and thrust his hand straight into the flames.
A miraculous scene unfolded. The flames licked at Nie Yun's palm, but he seemed completely unaware of it, wearing an expression of blissful satisfaction. Silver light flickered across his hand in the fire as it converted all the heat into energy to replenish his strength.
This was a new ability Nie Yun had stumbled upon by chance. As for why a human like him could recharge with heat, Nie Yun—who hadn't even studied biology—figured that the odds of someone with an elementary-school education answering that question were infinitely close to zero...
"I'm really getting more and more like the Mechanical Insects. Usually, the son takes after the father, but in my case, the father's taking after the son. I wonder if drinking gasoline would have the same effect?" Nie Yun mused, rubbing his chin.
In the end, though, he shook his head and hurriedly pushed the idea of carrying out the "standard procedure for self-immolation" out of his mind.
Before you continue