The off-road vehicle sped along, soon entering the abandoned industrial park.
Hardly anyone came here after dark.
The Jeep raced up to a warehouse and braked hard, nearly sending Tong Yao flying through the windshield from the passenger seat.
Seeing Tong Yao's dark expression, Wang Yixue gave an embarrassed smile.
Elder Wang got out and glanced around.
He frowned.
No matter how he looked at it, this did not seem like a place for high-tech research and development.
Beside him, Elder Hua wore the same puzzled look.
This was a little outrageous.
A godforsaken place where even birds wouldn't shit, and you were telling him it could produce technology decades ahead of the world?
However he thought about it, it was truly absurd.
Seeing everyone stop in their tracks, Tong Yao smiled and explained,
"The warehouse up ahead is Xu Fan's research and manufacturing workshop. Shall we?"
Elder Wang and Elder Hua exchanged a glance, an inexplicable feeling that they had been played rising in their hearts.
Earlier, Xu Fan had presented everything without a single seam showing. They had even believed that he had developed and built the mecha all by himself.
Two of them, at that.
Now, seeing these dilapidated, abandoned surroundings, they began to suspect something else.
Could Xu Fan have arranged this place to fool them because he did not want to show them his real facility?
"Tong Yao, is this really his research workshop?"
"It certainly is. Xu Fan's smart mechanical workbench is inside. You'll know once you go in."
Tong Yao blinked as she spoke.
"Grandpa, maybe Xu Fan just keeps a low profile and doesn't care about his surroundings! Come on!" Wang Yixue urged too.
He did not mind the surroundings, though.
He was eager to go inside and have a look.
Xu Fan should be in there, right?
Elder Wang nodded.
Xu Fan had messaged them beforehand, saying the door was unlocked and they could just push it open when they arrived.
The door creaked and slowly opened.
Inside the pitch-black, disused warehouse, a desk lamp lit up an entire desk.
Xu Fan was bent over beneath the lamp, writing and sketching.
Wang Yixue and the other three froze when they entered.
The feeling of stepping into a horror movie washed over them.
It was so dark!
"Xu Fan, turn the lights on, will you!" Wang Yixue called from a distance.
Only then did Xu Fan, who had been writing, notice that someone had arrived.
He hurriedly took out a remote and switched on the old warehouse's lighting system.
Click!
Brilliant light illuminated the entire warehouse as brightly as day.
Elder Wang narrowed his eyes slightly and looked around.
His mind reeled.
His pupils contracted sharply.
Beside him, Elder Hua's eyes widened too.
The inside and outside were like two entirely different places!
An enormous integrated workbench over five meters tall stood silently inside the warehouse, its ten mechanical arms gleaming with a cold metallic luster.
"Xu Fan, what is this thing...?"
His breathing a little rapid, Elder Wang pointed at the Super God Technology Workbench and asked.
Even he could not put a name to this thing.
"This is an integrated multifunctional workbench. It's the core machine for manufacturing many technological products."
By then, Elder Hua had already hurried over to the workbench.
He examined it closely.
Every component on the workbench was labeled with its name, function, and precision.
Elder Hua read them aloud, his voice trembling slightly.
"Ultra-precision smart telescopic arm..."
"Each arm can support eighty tons!"
"Particle welder..."
"Precision of one nanometer??"
"Quantum central-control smart terminal..."
"Integrated computing capacity of one billion operations per second!!!"
"My heavens, Elder Wang, come take a look! These components are simply..."
Elder Hua's face flushed red, and he was so shocked he could hardly breathe.
Even his voice had grown hoarse.
Elder Wang jogged over to Elder Hua's side, and together they carefully examined the Super God Technology Workbench.
Their breathing grew more and more rapid.
Their bodies trembled with excitement.
The muscles in their faces twitched violently too.
"We can be certain that this integrated workbench Xu Fan built created those two monsters!"
Elder Wang stroked it as though it were his own wife, pressing so close to the workbench that he was practically kissing it.
His eyes were filled with obsession.
"This big fellow is the real monster!"
Elder Hua nodded emphatically.
Now they could be absolutely certain: the mecha could not have been created without this workbench.
Elder Wang turned his gaze toward Xu Fan.
"Xu Fan, don't tell me you developed and built this workbench all by yourself too?"
"Elder Wang, I really did make it myself," Xu Fan said truthfully.
Elder Wang nodded and said nothing more.
Xu Fan was someone who could create miracles to begin with.
If he kept dwelling on it, he would probably end up debating whether the chicken or the egg came first.
There was no point anymore.
In any case, Xu Fan really had made it. That was enough!
"Hmm?"
Elder Hua suddenly noticed a pile of alloy materials stacked in a corner and looked thoughtful.
"What alloy is that? Why does it look a little familiar?"
"You mean that pile in the corner? It's the unused carbyne alloy left over from building the mecha."
Xu Fan spoke casually.
"Oh, carbyne alloy... what??"
Elder Hua sucked in a sharp breath.
"Car... carbyne alloy!!"
His jaw trembled.
It almost made a chattering sound.
Fucking hell.
Carbyne alloy!
Wasn't that the same material as the alloy used to build the mecha?
The strongest alloy in the world, a material that could withstand a nuclear bomb head-on.
And he had fucking tossed it into a warehouse corner to gather dust?
What a sinful waste of a heavenly treasure!
Elder Hua wanted nothing more than to slap this wretch Xu Fan to death!
He did not treasure carbyne alloy at all!
Elder Wang's eyes turned red too, a fierce light showing in them.
His gaze toward Xu Fan was filled with resentment.
It was as though he were looking at a cheating wife.
If he did not strike this wretch dead with one blow today, he would be doing this formidable new material, carbyne alloy, an injustice.
"Elder Wang, what are you..."
Xu Fan noticed something off about Elder Wang's and Elder Hua's gazes.
Could these two old fellows want these scraps?
Fulfilling these two orders really wasn't easy!
These clients are so stingy!
No, I've got to make them pay.
Whatever else, I made everything here myself.
Besides!
These materials really do need to be cleared out soon, or they'll become dead stock.
At that thought, Xu Fan rubbed his hands together and said with a broad grin,
"Ahem, actually... those aren't all the scraps left over from the two mecha."
"Everything under that tarp over there is too!"
"We're all old acquaintances here. If you're interested, the price is entirely negotiable!"
With that said,
Xu Fan took out his phone and swiped a few times.
A mechanical arm extended from the workbench and lifted the tarp a short distance away.
All kinds of metal scraps were piled beneath it.
Most of them were gleaming silver carbyne alloy.
There were also some other new alloys.
Under the bright lights, they shimmered with a cold metallic luster.
A dazzling riot of colors!
The instant they appeared, Elder Wang's eyes stung, and he cried out,
"So shiny!"