39: Advancement to Lv4! The Nuclear Core with Infinite Energy

The rain poured down heavily, and the world between heaven and earth was a vast expanse of gray.

The black iron ghost, like a weary giant beast returning with a full load, moved slowly through a strange stone forest on the water.

This place was already over two hundred kilometers away from the Hongwan Nuclear Power Plant.

This area used to be a famous Karst mountain region.

Now, only those towering and steep limestone peaks remained, thrusting out of the water like bamboo shoots, forming a natural labyrinth.

"Terrain scan complete."

zero's voice rang out in the cockpit, carrying a hint of mechanical precision:

"No biological activity detected within a ten-kilometer radius, no radar signals. This is a perfect safe harbor."

"This is the spot."

Jiang Ran looked at the natural inner lake ahead, surrounded by several massive stone peaks, and issued the command.

"Drop anchor."

"Clatter—"

The heavy anchor chain slid into the water, and the black iron ghost came to a steady halt in the center of this isolated body of water.

Jiang Ran did not rest; he immediately put on a raincoat and headed to the aft deck.

The aft deck at this moment looked practically like a crowded scrap yard.

Tons of lead-boron shielding walls violently dismantled from the Hongwan Nuclear Power Plant and bundles of silver-gray zirconium alloy cooling pipes were there.

There were also those pitch-black graphite control rod assemblies, stacked haphazardly together, pressing the stern's waterline significantly deeper.

Added to the thousands of tons of scrap steel scavenged along the way, these were all the sacrifices Jiang Ran had prepared for this 'ascension'.

"I've finally waited for this day."

Jiang Ran reached out and patted the cold, rough lead plate, his fingertips feeling a heavy texture.

Along this journey, from the initial rubber boat to the current black iron ghost, although his combat power had been soaring continuously...

There was one tightening curse always worn over his head—energy.

Every battle required calculating fuel consumption, and every acceleration meant staring at the fuel gauge.

That anxiety of watching the fuel redline drop bit by bit was like a thorn, preventing him from ever truly attaining freedom.

But today, this thorn would be completely removed.

"Dr. Su, where is the item?" Jiang Ran turned back.

Su Qingyu walked over holding a specially made radiation-proof lead box.

She carefully opened the lid, and the bio-fusion crystal core dug out from the body of the museum's guardian beast lay quietly inside.

A faint blue light flowed in the rainy night, like a beating heart, containing terrifying energy sufficient to destroy a city.

"This is the core."

Su Qingyu looked at the beautiful crystal, her eyes filled with both fascination and awe: "Using biological energy to drive nuclear fusion... this completely exceeds the realm of physics from the old era.

If it truly succeeds, this ship will no longer be a cold machine, but a... living steel lifeform."

"Whether it's alive or not doesn't matter."

Jiang Ran took the crystal core, feeling the slight warm pulsation coming from his palm.

He looked up at the pitch-black rain clouds overhead, a fanatical ambition burning in his eyes.

"I only know that as long as I install it, from now on, nothing in this world can stop me from going anywhere."

"zero, confirm the evolution plan."

Jiang Ran stood on the rain-lashed aft deck, looking at the mountain of special materials piled before him—

Silver-gray zirconium alloy pipes, black graphite components, heavy lead-boron shielding walls, and those thousands of tons of scrap steel.

He did not have the Mechanical Arm perform any crude welding.

As a warship possessing the traits of 'mechanical life', there was only one way to evolve, and that was—

Devouring.

"Place that heart on it."

Jiang Ran opened the lead box in his hand and took out the bio-fusion crystal core emitting a faint blue glow.

He didn't look for any slot; instead, he walked directly to the top of the pile of nuclear materials and gently placed the crystal core on it.

"Begin."

"Hum—"

As the command was issued, the black iron ghost let out a low, vibrating hum.

An eerie scene unfolded.

The originally hard and cold deck surface now actually softened and began to writhe like a living black swamp.

Countless pitch-black, metallic-sheened liquid tentacles surged from beneath the deck, greedily pouncing on the pile of nuclear materials.

"Sizzle, sizzle—"

The incredibly hard zirconium alloy pipes, the moment they touched the black tentacles...

Were like sugar cubes dropped into hot coffee, instantly decomposing and melting, turning into streams of silver-gray metallic fluid that were sucked into the hull's interior.

Next were the tons of lead-boron shielding plates, which were also wrapped and devoured by the black fluid.

Finally, it was the crystal core.

The black fluid surged up carefully, as if holding a rare treasure, tenderly wrapping the blue-glowing crystal core within.

Then it was slowly pulled beneath the deck, sinking into the deepest part of the warship—the engine room.

[High-energy core material detected...]

[Special radiation-resistant components detected...]

[Removing old power module (diesel engine set)...]

[Reconstructing power heart...]

Through the holographic screen, Jiang Ran clearly saw everything happening in the hold.

Those two high-power diesel engines that had once performed great services...

Were now being ruthlessly dismantled and devoured by countless black metallic tentacles, turning into the most basic nutrients.

And in the original position of the engines, a brand-new organ was rapidly growing.

It wasn't the kind of reactor filled with pipelines manufactured by human industry.

It was a 'living' metallic heart.

It was reorganized from the devoured zirconium alloy and liquid lead, forming a perfect spherical structure with a surface covered in complex cooling circuits like blood vessels.

And that bio-fusion crystal core was sealed right in the center of this sphere.

"Thump!"

The first heartbeat sounded.

Dazzling blue light patterns instantly lit up across the originally pitch-black spherical surface.

No ignition was needed, no preheating was required.

The moment the crystal core completely fused with the warship's biological circuits, violent nuclear energy was instantly pumped through the body along those newborn vessels!

[Cold Fusion Reactor: Construction complete.]

[Energy Circuit: Connected.] [Output Power: Infinite.]

"Boom—!!!"

A visible wave of blue energy violently rippled outward from black iron as the center, towards the surrounding water!

Rainwater within a hundred-meter radius was instantly evaporated into white mist.

The originally dim lights inside the entire warship flashed brilliantly at this moment, their brightness increasing several times over.

Even from the gaps in the black armor on the hull's surface, overloaded blue particle streams erupted.

It had come to life.

It was no longer an oil-drinking machine, but a steel monster possessing a nuclear heart.

Jiang Ran felt the steady stream of surging power beneath his feet, seemingly inexhaustible, and his lips curled into a wild grin.

The heart was in place.

Next was the body.

He looked at the remaining thousands of tons of scrap steel on the deck that hadn't been eaten yet.

"zero, don't stop. Eat all the rest."

"Grow me a real body!"

"Hum—"

That newly born cold fusion heart was pumping violent energy to the entire warship at a frequency of thousands of times per second.

The energy was there, but the container wasn't large enough yet.

This massive energy urgently needed to be vented, urgently needing more matter to fill that crazily expanding blueprint.

[Warning: Hull structural strength is insufficient to support current energy levels!]

[Warning: Need to expand physical entity!]

[Devouring Mode: Fully open!]

Accompanied by zero's cold command, the black iron ghost completely transformed into a hungry beast of the abyss.

Jiang Ran stood at a high point in the stone forest, witnessing this visual spectacle that defied common sense.

The black warship, which was originally only twenty meters long, now had armor on its surface churning violently like boiling asphalt.

Countless thick, black liquid tentacles...

Like a group of out-of-control pythons, pounced frantically toward the aft deck and the three thousand tons of scrap steel piled on the shore.

"Creeeeak—Boom!"

Those rusty I-beams, car wrecks, and old steel plates, the moment they touched the black tentacles...

Didn't even last a second before being forcibly decomposed and liquefied, turning into black metallic torrents that were greedily sucked into the hull.

Then, the great change began.

"Crack! Crack!"

The sound of metal growing echoed through the rainy night.