After switching between several teleportation devices along the way, they finally arrived at the so-called armory.
Zhou Yan led the two of them to an underground factory. In a teleportation room on a high-altitude skybridge, he pointed down and said, “This is the place.”
Cheng Weilu stared in shock at the enormous building space below, which was at least fifty stories deep. The exterior walls were made entirely of transparent glass curtain walls, allowing her to see robots and mechanical arms carrying out assembly work on every floor, as well as some staff operating monitoring equipment.
Cheng Weilu looked at the projections playing across the exterior walls of the building. They displayed all kinds of scattered components, most of which she did not recognize. Some of them seemed to look like… turrets?
“What exactly do they make here?” Cheng Weilu asked.
“Weapons,” Li Xu answered.
Cheng Weilu stared at the two calm men in disbelief and asked softly, “This isn’t an armory. This is an arms factory, isn’t it?”
“Miss Cheng’s observation is absolutely correct.” Zhou Yan smiled proudly at her. “One of my side businesses is selling firearms and weapons and the like. This is just one of them. There are more than a hundred arms factories like this in Alto City, so the production capacity is pretty decent.”
“……”
Alto Star itself was a planet extremely lacking in resources. It just happened to be located at the entrance to the Star Banner Route, making it an excellent hub for the movement of supplies. Spaceships stopping here would transport resources from all over the place to the planet, where underground factories would manufacture and assemble them. Those who came here to select weapons would then purchase them and take them away.
Cheng Weilu finally understood why so much effort and money had been poured into transforming this barren and inconspicuous planet.
Zhou Yan eventually led the two of them into a very spacious warehouse. The ceiling was extremely high, and several fighter jets were parked inside. Compared to the factory, where they could at least see some workers, this place was exceptionally empty. The only things coming and going were a few robots with very low levels of exterior simulation, carrying out various assembly and testing tasks.
“Everything outside is standard-issue stuff. The things here are somewhat better.” Zhou Yan pointed at the various bizarrely shaped devices displayed inside the warehouse. “They basically all use cutting-edge technology, so their destructive power is considerably better.”
These things were completely outside Cheng Weilu’s field of knowledge. She followed Li Xu in a daze as she watched the two men pick through the equipment and discuss their choices.
The direction things were taking seemed to be getting further and further beyond her understanding. Cheng Weilu walked along in a daze when she suddenly caught the faint scent of mint smoke. She looked up and saw a woman standing on a raised maintenance platform beside a fighter jet. She was tall and athletic, with long legs and a slender waist. Holding a thin white cigarette in her hand, she ran a hand through her long, curly blond hair and waved at Cheng Weilu.
“Hello there, little sister.”
Cheng Weilu calmly smiled and waved back, but deep down, she was screaming.
A beauty! An absolute beauty! A gorgeous, mature woman!
By the interstellar era, all kinds of cigarettes no longer required an open flame. Instead, they contained various blended extracts. Cheng Weilu herself had no particular preference for cigarettes, but the sight of such a beautiful mature woman holding a cigarette left her completely mesmerized.
Li Xu eventually realized that Cheng Weilu had fallen behind and turned back to find her.
“Adela!” Zhou Yan called out cheerfully to the woman in work clothes.
The beauty woman was named Adela. Cheng Weilu watched as she climbed down from the platform, tossed aside her cigarette, lazily and casually wiped her hands, and came over to greet them.
“Adela, my chief engineer, and also my wife, hehe.” Zhou Yan gave a couple of foolish laughs as he moved closer, then took the opportunity to introduce Li Xu and Cheng Weilu as well.
“Girlfriend. Stop dreaming about having a wife all day.” Adela put a hand against his chest and pushed Zhou Yan away when he leaned in, then stepped forward and shook hands with the two of them.
She had little interest in the cold-faced Li Xu, but she was somewhat curious about Cheng Weilu. “You’re a salvager? I heard salvagers have slightly higher mental strength requirements. Little sister, what’s your mental strength value?”
In the interstellar era, piloting fighter jets, spaceships, and warships relied heavily on the mental ability required for human-machine connections. Even data systems could be linked directly to the brain. The higher the compatibility between a person and a machine, the higher the numerical value, and after establishing a connection, the machine’s responsiveness was something manual control could never match.
After coming here, Cheng Weilu had discovered that she seemed to have some talent in this area. It was just that her only data sample seemed to be Xiao Wei, and she had never tried connecting with any other equipment. That was, of course, excluding the unexpected incident with the defense system at the Gray Dove Base.
“Uh… I think it’s pretty good, but I’ve never actually tested it accurately,” Cheng Weilu said honestly.
“Oh?” Adela became interested and pointed at the fighter jet behind her. “I built a rather ferocious leopard. Its performance is three times stronger than what the military is currently using. In theory, it should be extremely fast and lightweight, with very high maneuverability. But it also has extremely high mental strength compatibility requirements, and I haven’t been able to find a pilot.”
“Ah! I think… Commander Li, would you like to give it a try?” Zhou Yan looked at Li Xu and explained, “This fighter jet is Adela’s latest creation, but its configuration seems to be a little too advanced. We’ve been tuning it for the past few years. If someone can successfully control it, it will be the best fighter jet currently available.”
Zhou Yan then turned to introduce Li Xu to Adela, his tone filled with pride. “Our Commander Li isn’t just good-looking and capable in a fight. His mental aptitude is also second to none. When it comes to mental strength for machine connections, there’s no one in the entire Alliance stronger than him!”
Adela looked at the unmoved Li Xu, thought for a moment, and said, “How about this? If Commander Li can successfully pilot it, complete the connection and startup, and help me provide sample data, I’ll give him the first one after I finish tuning it.”
Li Xu glanced at Cheng Weilu, whose expression held a hint of anticipation, and agreed to Adela’s request. Under Zhou Yan’s expectant gaze, he walked into the cockpit.
The fighter jet’s control system was based on the military’s, with relatively few modifications. He studied the panel and familiarized himself with the system in little time. Then he put on the connection headset.
Adela began monitoring the fighter jet’s data. Cheng Weilu stood behind her, watching as the screen gradually lit up. After a while, percentage values appeared along with a fluctuating line that slowly began to rise.
“Whoa, the connection speed is really fast.” Adela exclaimed in surprise and glanced at Zhou Yan beside her. “Old Zhou, it took you several hours.”
“Wasn’t that because most people couldn’t establish a connection? At least I managed to connect successfully.”
The fluctuating line gradually climbed higher. Adela watched intently. A few minutes later, the line continued rising all the way, breaking through the 90% threshold. This threshold represented the standard for exceptionally powerful mental aptitude. In the entire Alliance, only a very small number of people could reach this level.
“Wow.” Adela stared in amazement as the final value displayed 92%. Of the nearly ten thousand pilots she had tested so far, this was the only one whose value had exceeded 70% and then surged past 90%.
“Your commander really is a heaven-gifted genius! He’s insanely strong!” Adela exclaimed as she patted Zhou Yan.
Li Xu climbed out of the cockpit, breathing slightly heavily. The fighter jet’s mental connection was extremely taxing. After taking a moment to steady himself, he looked at Cheng Weilu and said, “You try.”
His tone left no room for discussion. Cheng Weilu was a little bewildered. She wasn’t a fighter pilot, and to be honest, she wasn’t particularly interested in this kind of advanced weapon.
Cheng Weilu gave various excuses, such as never having piloted a fighter jet, being unfamiliar with such an advanced system, and not knowing how to operate it, but Li Xu rejected every one of them. He stared into her eyes and said, “I’ll teach you those things. Just go up and give it a try.”
Zhou Yan and Adela had already been thoroughly impressed by Li Xu, so they were also in good spirits as they gestured for her to give it a try.
“It’s fine even if you don’t know how to fly it,” Adela said.
Li Xu eventually succeeded in bringing her into the cockpit. Cheng Weilu did not know why he was being so insistent. He sat in the co-pilot’s seat, adjusted the angle and panel settings of the main pilot’s seat for Cheng Weilu, fastened all the safety restraints around her body, and then personally put the connection headset on her.
Watching his commander’s series of actions through the monitoring screen inside the cockpit, Zhou Yan clicked his tongue in amazement several times. A person could really change this much.
After confirming that everything was in order, Li Xu looked at Cheng Weilu. “Now try establishing a mental connection.”
Cheng Weilu nodded, closed her eyes, and began emptying her mind while concentrating her mental strength. Before long, she caught those extremely active fluctuations and attached her consciousness to them. The entire process was completely effortless.
Then her field of vision suddenly became the inside of the warehouse. In the distance were people coming and going among all kinds of military equipment. Cheng Weilu looked down, and the two people closest to her were Adela and Zhou Yan.
On the monitoring console below, there was a soft beep, and the data began to change. Adela said in shock, “Her connection speed is even faster than Commander Li’s! There’s practically no connection response time at all.”
“How is that possible?” Zhou Yan muttered as he moved closer, then stared dumbfoundedly at the rapidly climbing data values on the panel. The fluctuating line continued rising without pause, then suddenly reached the top, hitting the maximum value of 100%.
Adela excitedly patted Zhou Yan on the chest and laughed loudly. “Oh my god, is the instrument crazy or am I crazy? How can anyone be at 100%? Is this actually real? Where did these two immortals even come from?!”
Zhou Yan stared blankly at the instrument, not even noticing that Adela had slapped his chest muscles red. Then he noticed that the fighter jet, which was secured by safety locks, had begun to tremble slightly, as though a beast were awakening. The trembling grew louder and louder until the alarm on Adela’s monitoring console began to sound.
“Oh god, we have to stop. It looks like it wants to break free of the restraints and rush out.” Adela hurriedly began adjusting the controls while calling out to the two people inside the cockpit. “That’s enough, stop! She doesn’t seem to know how to operate it. It’s starting to lose control!”
The trembling gradually intensified. One side of the fighter jet’s safety restraints had already been torn apart by the machine trying to leave the ground, leaving only a few components still holding it in place, all dangerously close to giving way. Li Xu promptly operated the panel and shut down the fighter jet’s system. He immediately removed the headset from Cheng Weilu’s head.
Her expression remained normal. She turned to look at Li Xu and blinked. Her vision suddenly returned to her own body, leaving her somewhat dazed.
Then a trace of panic flashed through Li Xu’s eyes, and his pale fingers pressed against her face.
“Relax first.”
“What’s wrong?” Cheng Weilu asked in confusion. She felt a warm stream pass through her nasal cavity, followed by something flowing out. She raised a hand and wiped it, then brought it closer to look.
Her hand was covered in blood.
“Slow your breathing and relax your mind. I’ll take you down first.” Li Xu’s voice was tense. He undid the safety restraints around her and helped her down.
Adela hurriedly had a robotic assistant bring over a medical pod from the nearby workshop and had Cheng Weilu lie inside.
“People who aren’t accustomed to a fighter jet’s connection mode can experience temporary physical maladjustment symptoms like this when their brain is subjected to high-intensity mental exertion for the first time.” Adela watched Li Xu wipe Cheng Weilu’s face and explained, “This fighter jet is even more aggressive, so what happened to her is normal. She’ll be fine. She just needs a little more training. After all, both of you are heaven-chosen children with top-tier mental strength.”
Li Xu looked at Cheng Weilu, his words sounding half like a sigh and half like he was talking to himself.
“The only heaven-chosen child is you.”
…
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