When Nie Yun rendezvoused with the Sea Wolf and returned to his base, it was already the middle of the night.
No matter how much of a stir tonight's events caused out in the world, they had little to do with Nie Yun anymore.
As soon as they returned, the Mechanical Insects resumed devouring the Chengjiang. Countless new Mechanical Insects were born, then immediately joined in the feast, making the process more and more efficient, like a snowball gathering speed as it rolled downhill.
Nie Yun, meanwhile, took stock of tonight's haul.
No guns? No cannons? The enemy will make them for us!
Nie Yun had cleared the battlefield as soon as the fight was over, packing up and bringing back every valuable firearm and piece of equipment, along with the mercenaries' speedboat.
Although this group of Annamese mercenaries had suffered a miserable and inexplicable defeat, their weapons were quite sophisticated. They were one of the more elite teams in the mercenary world.
Unfortunately, they could only blame their bad luck.
Now that Nie Yun had processed all the weapons and equipment, he could say he'd traded in his old rifle for a cannon.
Silver light shimmered and flowed, gathering like grains of sand into a tower. Before Nie Yun's eyes appeared an array of military weapons: AK assault rifles, rocket launchers, grenades, and more.
"Tsk, tsk. If I went into the arms business, I'd make a fortune! Companies like Foxconn are nothing compared to the Mechanical Insects! I must be the most powerful contract manufacturer in the world now, right?"
Besides the weapons, there were also walkie-talkies, signal-jamming equipment, and a military laptop, further expanding Nie Yun's tactical options.
He also used the military-grade chips from the computer to upgrade the chips in his aquatic robots, giving them a military-grade overhaul that boosted their reaction speed by 10% and reduced energy consumption by 5%.
Even more valuable was the wealth of tactical data, detailed maps, and military knowledge on the laptop. It opened up Nie Yun's horizons and gave him a foundation in military technology.
At least he now knew what a trajectory was. Being someone who'd only finished elementary school really was rough!
His expanded knowledge also made him realize that the Mechanical Insects had far more potential than he'd seen so far!
He still hadn't done enough to develop the Mechanical Insects! He needed to think bigger!
And all of it depended on energy, raw materials, and countless samples!
For the next while, Nie Yun didn't go anywhere. He focused all his efforts on directing the Mechanical Insects to grow their numbers.
At the same time, he built hundreds of energy-collection systems across the island, covering nearly the entire place.
During the day, solar panels collected sunlight. At night, they transformed into wind turbines, completely solving his energy shortage.
The island had become his backyard, so Nie Yun had made sure to camouflage it thoroughly.
From the outside, the island looked completely ordinary apart from its unusually dense vegetation. No one would guess that beneath the camouflage lay row upon row of busy functional structures.
With ample raw materials and energy, it took Nie Yun just two days to devour the more than two thousand tons of the Chengjiang. This increased the Mechanical Insects' numbers by nearly ten times—a veritable population boom.
At the same time, to make it easier to keep track of the Mechanical Insects, Nie Yun established a new way to measure their numbers.
Since each Mechanical Insect was so tiny, counting them individually would produce an astronomical figure. Nie Yun simply decided to count them by weight.
One thousand tons! That was the approximate scale of the Mechanical Insects now.
With their current numbers, the Mechanical Insects were more than enough to convert the Sea Wolf completely.
Thanks to the abundant workforce, the project didn't take long. In just half a day, Nie Yun had himself a gleaming silver medieval sailing warship!
"Tsk, tsk! This style... All that flashy silver is just too ostentatious!"
Then Nie Yun began a sweeping renovation of the Sea Wolf.
First, he removed the masts!
The Sea Wolf officially left wind power behind and switched to a hybrid oil-and-electric system, driven by three large propellers.
What? Was the design practical? Nie Yun didn't think that mattered at all!
If it fit, it was practical!
That was the simple, blunt philosophy behind Nie Yun's ship designs!
Next, he sealed the Sea Wolf completely and converted its lower hold into a ballast tank!
When necessary, he could flood the tank with seawater to make the ship dive. In other words, the Sea Wolf had become a vessel capable of both surface travel and underwater navigation!
This was one of the ideas Nie Yun had come up with over the past two days!
The principle behind submarines was actually quite simple. The biggest technical challenge was ensuring the hull stayed sealed, and that posed absolutely no problem for the Mechanical Insects.
Then Nie Yun moved the aftcastle to the middle rear of the Sea Wolf to serve as the bridge, as well as the captain's quarters and his own living space.
Finally, Nie Yun filled the Sea Wolf's interior with a large quantity of modern weapons. The fifty-one cannon positions stayed where they were, while the deck gained a dense array of rockets.
As Nie Yun put it, it could double as a missile boat. Its range might be a little short, but at least it had plenty of firepower to go around!
As an aside, with the ammunition data on the military laptop and the explosive fillings he'd recovered by dismantling rockets, grenades, C4, and other munitions, Nie Yun could now make smokeless powder from sulfur, saltpeter, carbon powder, and other materials. It was even somewhat more powerful than the original.
It was no exaggeration to say that as long as he had enough raw materials, he could bury his enemies under a flood of ammunition—and it would cost him practically nothing.
Once the renovations were complete, the Sea Wolf had become almost unrecognizable: a medieval-style hull, a streamlined bridge, modern propeller propulsion, and an interior weapons system that looked like a museum, crammed with enough variety to dazzle the eye.
This abstractly styled warship made one marvel that it could even float on the sea at all.
"Uh, it might look a little shabby, but I'm a pragmatist. Don't sweat the little details like appearance. Yeah! That's it!" Nie Yun's forehead was beaded with sweat.
At least I don't have to worry about the ship sinking! he added to himself.
Mechanical Insect: "..."
Before you continue