Is Nuclear Power Available?

"Uh, this distance is just too awkward..."

In truth, Nie Yun had vastly overestimated the range of ancient cannons. Compared with modern artillery, whose range was measured in kilometers, ancient cannons were more of a medium-range weapon for close combat.

He fired a few more shots. Once he saw there was no real danger, he even lit a fuse himself to experience it firsthand.

After his excitement wore off, Nie Yun began thinking about what to do with the cannonballs.

He'd never expected the firepower of an ancient warship like this to let him rule the seas, but he still needed some way to defend himself. What if he ran into pirates?

All right, even if pirates had basically disappeared by now, it'd still be pretty awesome to take the ship out and scare some kids!

An armed fishing boat!

Once the idea entered Nie Yun's mind, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

But if he carried these cannonballs around and got caught, he'd never be able to clear his name, not even if he jumped into the Yellow River. Gunpowder was tightly regulated in Rabbit Country.

Even if he only wanted to use it for fishing, he'd need to get a mountain of permits.

Mechanical Insects weren't all-powerful. At the very least, they couldn't assemble consumable items like gunpowder. Even the bullets for Nie Yun's pistol had to be carried on him.

Would he have to use solid shot from now on? It had some stopping power, sure, but without an explosion, it just wasn't artistic! The thrill of firing a cannon would be cut in half!

"Right, I wonder if they can eat it and hold off on reassembling it?" An idea came to Nie Yun.

"Whatever, let's give it a try. Little ones, eat this cannonball!" Then he took off like a shot.

The Mechanical Insects fearlessly carried out Nie Yun's order. The cannonball's iron casing soon vanished with a soft rasping sound, exposing the black powder inside. The Mechanical Insects kept eating, and before long, they'd devoured every last bit.

Nie Yun took a look from a distance. Nothing had happened, so he hurried back to check. He was delighted to find that the Mechanical Insects that had eaten the gunpowder were covered in black, like a lump of mud. They were a bit ugly, but at least they hadn't exploded.

Nie Yun tried setting fire to a small clump of Mechanical Insects. They didn't explode!

The flames simply burned quietly across their surface. The heat couldn't hurt the Mechanical Insects—in fact, it seemed to charge them.

Once the flames had burned out, the Mechanical Insects returned to their original, gleaming silver state.

"Reassemble!" Nie Yun ordered.

The Mechanical Insects quickly reassembled into a silvery-white cannonball. Aside from its color, it looked no different from the original.

Nie Yun loaded the cannonball and fired a test shot. Sure enough, it still worked perfectly.

But now a new problem had arisen. After the cannonball made of Mechanical Insects exploded, the Mechanical Insects that formed its casing were completely unharmed. They turned into tiny silver balls and rolled back to rejoin the main group.

That was fine here, but if he fired one somewhere else and the Mechanical Insects all returned like that, wouldn't he be telling everyone that there was a T-1000 around?

After thinking it over, he found a shell filled with shrapnel. This time, he didn't have the Mechanical Insects consume the iron casing. Instead, he had them break it down into iron filings.

He let the black-mud Mechanical Insects roll around in the iron filings, then had them swiftly change shape into a dark, shrapnel-filled shell. The black-mud Mechanical Insects that had done the work returned to their original state, their task complete.

After a test shot, the results were just as good as before—and Nie Yun had achieved the feat of making ammunition!

"Haha! My little ones really came through! Now I don't have to worry about carrying ammunition. As long as I have enough raw materials, I can turn into an armory anytime, anywhere! Haha!"

Nie Yun immediately turned all the cannonballs into iron filings and black-mud Mechanical Insects, then stored them in the Sea Wolf's lower hold.

With one major hidden danger resolved, and the Sea Wolf now ready to be upgraded into an armed fishing boat whenever he wanted, Nie Yun's tour continued without any more surprises or scares. Clearing the large number of skeletal remains from the ship's cabins took a bit of work, though.

Nie Yun cremated the skeletons and scattered their ashes into the sea.

"Dust to dust, earth to earth. May your souls rest in peace! Whether you did evil or good in life, may your souls find their way home!" Nie Yun's expression was solemn as he bowed deeply toward the sea.

"Most importantly, don't stick around. Hurry back to your own homes and find your own mothers. The mountains will stay green and the waters will flow on, but we'll never meet again!"

All right, the truth was that all those bones gave him the creeps, and he wanted the ghosts to hurry off to the Buddhist paradise in the west.

"Good thing I've got enough brothers. Otherwise, I'd be scared to death trying to sleep at night!" Nie Yun patted his chest.

Aside from the Mechanical Insects, whose status as living beings was hard to determine, Nie Yun was the only living person aboard the entire ship. It was empty as a ghost ship. Nie Yun wasn't exactly a coward, but he still felt a bit spooked!

"I need to find a way to make the ship feel a little more lively!" Nie Yun propped his chin on his hand and considered how to make himself, a captain with no crew, seem more imposing.

Two more days passed. During that time, Nie Yun threw himself into his base-building plans. Apart from sneaking out at night to gather some raw materials in the South Australia Sea Area, he spent all his time constructing the base.

The Mechanical Insects had already cleared a channel, so the Sea Wolf could come and go without any trouble.

Their numbers had doubled again, but the energy shortage had grown even more severe. The energy provided by burning wood was now a drop in the bucket compared with the enormous number of Mechanical Insects.

Just as Nie Yun was getting worried, Chu Xiaoxiao called.

"Hello, Nie Yun. I had the silver coins sold through the auction house. They went for 13.5 million. After the transaction fees and income tax, you'll end up with 11.53 million!"

Chu Xiaoxiao's first sentence made Nie Yun want to hug her and kiss her twice. He was a millionaire now? This happiness had come so suddenly that he hadn't even had time to reflect on his humble beginnings.

But the money had come too easily, and Nie Yun couldn't quite believe it was real.

"Also, I found you a ship. Our group is planning a major push into overseas trade, so we've acquired several companies and need to get rid of some ships. One of them happens to meet your requirements. I had our accountant run the numbers, and I can sell it to you for 9.85 million!"

Nie Yun froze, then his expression fell. At the rate Chu Xiaoxiao had just been talking, he'd only been a millionaire for five seconds...

"So you've got 1.68 million left. Give me a bank account number, and I'll transfer the rest to you," Chu Xiaoxiao continued, unaware of Nie Yun's emotional roller coaster.

"Oh..." Nie Yun answered listlessly, then an idea struck him.

"Xiaoxiao, you don't need to transfer the money. There are some things I need anyway. Could you buy them for me and have them installed on the ship? I'll come over and receive everything at the same time."

"Oh, sure. Just tell me what you need," Chu Xiaoxiao readily agreed.

"Well, I want a batch of energy supply equipment, preferably the clean, non-polluting kind. You know, I'm an environmentalist!"

"Mm. What kind of energy do you need?" Chu Xiaoxiao ignored the environmentalist remark.

"Do you have nuclear power?" Nie Yun asked tentatively.

The greatest fisherman in the world had to have a nuclear-powered fishing boat!

Chu Xiaoxiao: "..."