Do You Have Nuclear Energy

"Ugh, this distance... it's a bit awkward, isn't it?"

In truth, Nie Yun had vastly overestimated the effective range of ancient cannons. Compared to modern artillery that measures range in kilometers, ancient cannons were still largely mid-range melee weapons.

He fired a few more shells, and seeing there was no real danger, he even lit the fuse himself once just to experience it.

Once the excitement wore off, Nie Yun began to ponder how to handle these shells.

Although he never intended to dominate the seven seas with the firepower of a single ancient warship, he still needed a necessary means of self-defense. What if he ran into pirates?

Well, even if pirates had basically vanished nowadays, it would still be pretty cool to take it out and scare some kids!

An armed fishing boat!

Once this idea entered Nie Yun's mind, it wouldn't stop.

But carrying these shells around—if he were discovered, he wouldn't be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River; the Rabbit Country had extremely strict regulations on gunpowder.

Even if he wanted to use them for fishing, he would need to provide a mountain of paperwork.

Mechanical Insects weren't omnipotent; at the very least, they couldn't combine into consumable items like gunpowder. Even the bullets for Nie Yun's pistol had to be carried on his person.

Could it be that he was destined to only use solid shot in the future? While it had a certain amount of power, without an explosion, there was absolutely no artistic flair! The excitement of firing cannons would be cut in half!

"Wait, I wonder if they can stay separated after eating it?" A thought popped into Nie Yun's mind.

"Whatever, let's give it a try. Boys, eat this shell for me!" Then he scurried away, disappearing in a flash.

The Mechanical Insects executed Nie Yun's order without fear of death. The outer iron shell quickly vanished amidst the "rustling" sound of gnawing, revealing the black powder inside. The Mechanical Insects kept eating, and in no time, it was all gone.

Nie Yun took a look from afar, and since nothing happened, he quickly ran back to check. He was immediately delighted; the Mechanical Insects that had consumed the gunpowder were covered in black gunk, looking like a lump of black mud. Although they were a bit ugly, they hadn't exploded.

Nie Yun tried lighting a small pinch of the Mechanical Insects, but they didn't explode!

The flame simply burned quietly on the surface of the Mechanical Insects. This level of heat, let alone harming the insects, was clearly just recharging them.

After burning completely, the Mechanical Insects returned to their shimmering silver form.

"Recombine!" Nie Yun ordered next.

The Mechanical Insects quickly recombined into a silver-white shell, which, aside from the color, looked no different from the previous one.

Nie Yun took this shell and test-fired it, and sure enough, it could still be used normally.

However, a new problem arose: after the shell formed by the Mechanical Insects exploded, the insects acting as the shell were perfectly fine despite the blast, turning back into little silver balls to roll back and join the main group.

This method was fine here, but if he fired them out in the real world and the Mechanical Insects all returned this way, wouldn't that be clearly telling everyone that there was a T-1000 here?

After thinking about it, he found another explosive shell. This time, he didn't let the Mechanical Insects digest the iron shell directly, but instead decomposed it into iron filings.

He had the black-mud Mechanical Insects roll in the iron filings, then they shifted rapidly, transforming back into a black explosive shell. The original black-mud Mechanical Insects then retired, reverting to their original, pristine state.

After a test fire, the effect was indeed improved. Nie Yun had accomplished the feat of building a cannon!

"Haha! You guys are amazing! Now I don't have to worry about ammunition storage. As long as I have enough raw materials, I can become a mobile arsenal anytime, anywhere! Haha!"

Nie Yun immediately turned all the shells into iron filings and black-mud Mechanical Insects, storing them in the bottom hold of the Sea Wolf.

With a major hidden danger resolved, and the ability to upgrade the Sea Wolf into an armed fishing boat at any time, the rest of Nie Yun's tour didn't bring any surprises or shocks, though clearing the large number of skeletal remains in the cabin did take him some effort.

Nie Yun cremated the skeletons and scattered them into the sea.

"Dust to dust, earth to earth. May your souls find rest! Regardless of whether you did evil or good in your lives, may your souls find their way home!" Nie Yun said with a solemn face, bowing deeply toward the sea.

"The important thing is, don't linger. Hurry back to your own homes and find your own mothers. Let's keep the green hills and clear waters as they are, and never meet again!"

Alright, this guy was actually just creeped out by seeing so many bones and wanted these ghosts to hurry off to the Western Paradise.

"It's a good thing I have so many brothers, otherwise I'd be scared to death sleeping at night!" Nie Yun patted his chest.

Aside from the Mechanical Insects, which couldn't be defined as living, he was the only living person on the entire ship. It was as empty as a ghost ship. Although Nie Yun wasn't a coward, he still felt a bit uneasy!

"I need to find a way to add some life to this ship!" Nie Yun rested his chin on his hand, considering how to make himself look more like a dignified captain.

-----I am an evil divider line--------

Two more days passed. During this time, Nie Yun buried himself in the base construction plan. Aside from sneaking out to the South Australia Sea Area at night to collect raw materials, he spent all his time on the base construction.

The Mechanical Insects had already cleared a shipping lane, so the entry and exit of the Sea Wolf were no longer an issue.

Additionally, the number of Mechanical Insects had doubled again, but the energy problem was becoming increasingly severe. Burning wood now provided energy that was a drop in the bucket compared to the massive number of Mechanical Insects.

Just as Nie Yun was worrying, a call came from Chu Xiaoxiao.

"Hey, Nie Yun, I've entrusted the auction house to sell your silver coins. The auction price was 13.5 million. After deducting transaction fees and income tax, you'll receive 11.53 million!"

Chu Xiaoxiao's first sentence made Nie Yun want to hug her and kiss her twice. He was a multi-millionaire just like that? Happiness came so fast and so suddenly that he hadn't even had time to reflect on his past hardships.

However, because the money came so easily, Nie Yun felt a bit of unreality.

"Also, I've found the ship you wanted. Our group is planning to make a major push into the ocean trade industry, so we've acquired several companies and need to dispose of a batch of sea vessels. One of them happens to meet your requirements. I had the accountant calculate it, and we'll sell it to you for 9.85 million!"

Nie Yun was stunned, and then his face fell. According to the speed at which Chu Xiaoxiao had just spoken, he seemed to have only been a multi-millionaire for five seconds...

"So, for the remaining 1.68 million, give me a bank account number, and I'll wire the rest of the money to you," Chu Xiaoxiao said, unaware of the emotional rollercoaster Nie Yun was experiencing.

"Oh..." Nie Yun replied listlessly, then a thought struck him.

"Xiaoxiao, you don't need to wire me the money. I happen to need some things. Could you help me buy them and load them onto the ship? I'll come over to receive everything together then."

"Oh, sure, go ahead, what do you need?" Chu Xiaoxiao agreed readily.

"It's like this, I want a batch of power supply equipment, preferably the clean, non-polluting kind. You know, I'm an environmentalist!"

"Hmm, what kind of energy do you need?" Chu Xiaoxiao automatically ignored the part about him being an environmentalist.

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

The greatest fisherman must have a nuclear-powered fishing boat!

Chu Xiaoxiao: "..."