113: Chapter 113 Technology Assists, Alliance Takes Flight

The morning light had just swept across the eaves of the Main Administration Hall. Chen Wuwang stood in the shadows of the side corridor, task receipts on his terminal screen constantly popping up with new messages: [Infrastructure Group One is in position], [Medicinal Field Patrol Team has completed the handover], and other notifications flashed one after another.

He didn't move, tapping the screen twice to move all requests into the pending queue.

In the square, figures hurried about, mechas roared, and Jade Slips rustled like a taut net being pulled tighter inch by inch.

He knew this momentum wouldn't last three days.

Enthusiasm would fade, resources would be thinned out, and sooner or later, the newcomers, the veterans, and those used to manual labor would start arguing—why should the research group get priority on Materials? Were Medicinal Pills refined by machines truly stronger than the spiritual furnaces passed down by the Old Ancestors?

He turned and pushed open the soundproof rune door on the top floor of the Main Administration Hall.

No one was inside; only the central control console glowed faintly. A map of the entire Eastern Wasteland hung on the wall, densely marked with progress nodes for various workshop districts.

He walked over, pulled up the background data for the "Contribution Rankings," and swiped his finger to filter for all personnel labeled as "Technical."

Thirty-seven names jumped out.

There was a youth from the Wen family who spent his days tinkering with spiritual energy conduits, a master craftsman from the He Clan who secretly modified transport mechas, and two distant relatives brought by a woman from the Liu Clan who understood rune programming.

They hadn't joined the main engineering teams, but last night, they had proactively submitted three automation improvement plans.

Chen Wuwang tapped to approve, directly assigning them to the "Scientific Research Sequence" and raising their authority Rank to the same level as an infrastructure group leader.

The next second, the communication Spirit Array buzzed and vibrated.

“Clan Head, the Weapon Forging Workshop is asking if they can first receive a batch of Micro-Array Cores? They want to test an automated furnace.”

“Rejected,” he replied crisply. “The array cores are prioritized for the East District Joint Laboratory. The dispatch order has been issued. If anyone is dissatisfied, tell them to come find me.”

As his voice fell, the terminal went quiet for a moment.

He knew these words had already caused a stir throughout the transmission network.

But he didn't care. No matter how grand the plan, without technology as the foundation, it was all a castle in the air.

The blood-boiling mobilization from last night had to be immediately pressed onto a track—a path paved with chips, rune boards, and spiritual energy circuits.

He walked out of the Main Administration Hall, his silver hair tossed by the wind, his translucent armor glinting coldly under the morning sun.

Three steps away, five Worker Ant mechas automatically lined up and followed silently.

He arrived at the East District Joint Laboratory.

As soon as the door opened, he heard an uproar inside.

“That is sacrilege!” Ling Zhenzi’s voice was shrill as he slammed the table and stood up. “A Spirit Gathering Array is a resonance between heaven and earth. How can you just stuff it into a piece of iron and say 'turn on' to start it?”

Chen Tiezhu squatted before the control console, not even having removed his gloves, and sneered, “Then you'll just guard the Formation Plate and manually activate it every day? When the enemy reaches our doorstep, will you still have time to perform hand seals?”

Between the two lay a palm-sized black chip, its surface etched with rune circuits as fine as hair—the prototype for the latest version of the “Formation Chip.”

Chen Wuwang said nothing, walking straight to the workstation to pull up yesterday's test data.

“Ling Zhenzi, the original Spirit Array you laid out had a fluctuation frequency of 3.7 Hertz, right?”

“...Correct.”

“Tiezhu, what is the simulated waveband of the chip you replicated?”

“3.698 Hertz, with an error of 0.002. It's enough.”

“Good.” Chen Wuwang looked up. “Then let's perform dual-mode verification—first, let him set up the Spirit Array, then use the chip to reproduce it. Neither of you should dismiss the other; let the results speak for themselves.”

Ling Zhenzi huffed, flicked his sleeves, and walked toward the array platform.

Ten breaths later, he formed hand seals, pouring spiritual power into the ground Formation Plate.

In an instant, a faint green halo lit up the laboratory dome, the air vibrated slightly, and a standard Spirit Gathering Array was formed.

“Record the current data,” Chen Wuwang said.

Chen Tiezhu nodded and pressed the start button.

The chip powered up, and the runes glowed faintly. A second later, an identical halo rose on the other side, the frequency curve almost completely overlapping.

“Do it three more times,” Chen Wuwang said.

After three more trials, the maximum deviation was no more than 0.005 Hertz, indistinguishable to the naked eye.

Ling Zhenzi stared at the screen, stubbornly insisting, “...A fluke.”

“It’s not a fluke.” Chen Wuwang handed him a spare chip. “Take it. Next time you're not around, the Spirit Array can activate itself.”

The old man took the chip, his fingers rubbing the edge, then turned and left, his back as stubborn as a rock.

But no one noticed that he had casually tucked the chip into his robes.

That afternoon, three results were implemented simultaneously.

The first: The “Dynamic Warning Barrier” went online.

Covering a range of a hundred miles, it could detect high-altitude Spiritual Qi disturbances, providing a two-hour early warning for falling meteors or the approach of large flying entities.

The Medicinal Fields, mine tunnels, and the airspace above the main city were all covered, replacing the old-fashioned watchtowers.

The second: The “Automated Artifact Refining Assembly Line” was activated.

From raw material cutting to rune embedding, the entire process required no human intervention. The daily output of low-grade Magical Artifacts surged from forty-seven to three hundred and eighty-two, with a stable yield rate of over 91%.

The first batch of finished products had already been handed over to the patrol team to replace old equipment.

The third: “Intelligent Patrol Mechas” were put into operation.

Twenty miniaturized models were incorporated into daily patrols. Equipped with basic identification Systems, they could automatically drive away low-Rank Yao Beasts, detect Spiritual Vein abnormalities, and report faulty nodes.

When the young medicine disciples saw the iron lumps wandering on their own, they were initially scared and hid, but later, some bold children began chasing after them, shouting “Big Brother.”

Late at night, Chen Wuwang returned to the observation deck.

This was the highest point of the Alliance, with an unobstructed 360-degree view. He stood there, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye switching to panoramic mode as the wide-area monitoring projection slowly unfolded.

On the third basement level, groups of automated Pill Furnaces were breathing Spiritual Qi, their thermal pipes extending like blood vessels;

In the air, six unmanned transport vessels shuttled along fixed routes, delivering high-purity crystals;

Along the border, new radar-style spiritual energy watchtowers rose one by one, like silent night watchmen.

The entire Alliance no longer relied on stacked human labor.

Instead, it was like a precision instrument, with gears interlocking, a unified tempo, and self-circulation.

As he watched, footsteps sounded behind him.

Chen Tiezhu arrived, having removed his protective suit, the interface of his mechanical arm still slightly hot.

He sat down before the control console, pulling up the furnace pressure curves, a rare smile appearing on his face. “The third round of testing passed; it's very stable.”

“Where is Ling Zhenzi?”

“In the archives, flipping through your 'Spiritual Energy Coding Manual.'”

“Oh.” Chen Wuwang chuckled softly. “Cursing it as a heterodox path with his mouth, yet his hands remember it well.”

The two said no more, quietly watching the projection.

Suddenly, a commotion arose below.

A few clansmen who had just finished work gathered at the edge of the square, pointing at the sky and whispering.

Some looked up and noticed the construction site was quiet; they didn't see anyone carrying bricks or Materials, nor did they hear the sound of hammering, and thought work had stopped.

“Are we out of money?”

“Could the machines be broken?”

“Yesterday it was so loud it shook the sky, and today it's just dead?”

Voices of doubt began to surface bit by bit.

Chen Wuwang was in no hurry. He opened the public transmission System and ordered, “Activate the technology visualization channel.”

Three breaths later, all public Jade Slips automatically lit up, popping up a real-time monitoring interface—

You want to see Alchemy? Click in, and you can see nine automated Pill Furnaces in operation, with temperature, humidity, and pill Formation progress clearly displayed.

You want to see mechas? Pull up the production line, showing the assembly process from a 360-degree angle.

You want to see the warning System? Zoom in on the border, and the watchtower detection records and frequency of abnormal fluctuations are all made public.

Once information became transparent, suspicion vanished.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the square became lively again. Someone pointed at a Jade Slip and exclaimed, “Whoa! There are actually so many furnaces underground?”

“No wonder that mecha in the Medicinal Field was running around on its own this morning!”

“We really look like a proper 'city' now.”

Chen Wuwang turned off the System and looked into the distance.

There, the foundation for the first Spiritual Energy Academy had not yet been broken, but the blueprints had already been sitting in his terminal for three days.

He knew the next step was raw Materials.

Medicinal Pills needed mass production, mechas needed expansion, and array cores needed batch etching—all required Materials.

And Materials would not fall from the sky.

He looked down, and the terminal vibrated again.

[Artifact Refining Workshop submitted an application: Urgent need for High-density Spiritual Energy Crystal Plates; current inventory is only enough to maintain production for seven days.]

He stared at that line of text, neither clicking confirm nor rejecting it.

The wind blew across the high platform, ruffling the scar left by the insect race on his right cheek, which felt slightly warm.

In the distance, the lights of the East District Laboratory were still on.