373: Chapter 373 Ignoring Mo Yuan, Focusing on Development

Outside the Artifact Refining Workshop, the wind swirled iron filings and spiritual energy residue, tracing faint sparks in the air.

Chen Wuwang stood on a high platform, his gaze passing over a mecha calibrating its engines on the distant flight test track and landing on the busy crowd ahead.

Clan members carried material boxes and pushed rune engraving carts, their footsteps never stopping, yet their voices were kept extremely low, as if afraid of disturbing something.

A figure rushed out from the passage entrance; it was Xiao Wu from the messenger group, his forehead slick with sweat and his chest heaving.

"Head of the Family!" He lowered his voice and stepped closer. "News just came from our hidden agents—Mo Yuan is still active. No specifics were given, but the signal frequency is three times higher than usual."

Chen Wuwang didn't look back, his fingers tapping twice on the hilt of the dagger at his waist in a rhythm like some kind of code.

"Record it and file it away," he said, his tone as flat as if he were listening to the day's meal arrangements.

Xiao Wu was stunned, thinking he had misheard. "...Huh? No investigation? No defensive deployment?"

"Investigate what?" Chen Wuwang finally turned his face, his blue Mechanical Prosthetic Eye glowing slightly as it scanned the watchtowers on the perimeter of the Artifact Refining Workshop. "He wants to distract me, so I simply won't look."

Heavy footsteps sounded from behind as Chen Tiezhu walked up, leaning on his modified metal cane, his brow furrowed into a knot. "That madman nearly blew up three of our production lines last time. Now that he's showing his head again, do you really plan to act like you didn't hear?"

"I heard," Chen Wuwang turned to face him. "Which is why I can't afford to pay him any attention."

He raised a hand and pointed ahead—on the flight test track, a mecha was slowly ascending, its four wings unfolding as a faint cyan glow lit up its tail nozzles.

"Do you see that 'Falcon-III'? Wang Ergou and the other two Nascent Soul Cultivators start their adaptability training tonight.

In three days, a new batch of Mind-Concentrating Pill mass production lines will go live. Next week, the first group of non-combat technicians will start their practical operations."

He paused, his voice deepening. "Our time is meant for building things, not for playing guessing games with him underground."

Chen Tiezhu opened his mouth to say something but ultimately just sighed, thumping his cane on the ground. "You make it sound so simple. But if he really causes a disaster..."

"Then we fix it," Chen Wuwang interrupted him, a slight smile playing on his lips. "The thing our Artifact Refining Workshop fears least is fixing things. The more cracks we patch, the stronger the wall becomes."

He turned and walked toward the gate of the Artifact Refining Workshop with crisp, decisive steps.

Chen Tiezhu hurried to keep up, muttering, "You're certainly carefree, but I can't get any sleep. Last night, the furnace temperature control System jumped by 0.7 degrees, and I tossed and turned until dawn thinking about it."

"Jumped 0.7 degrees?" Chen Wuwang didn't stop. "Did it auto-calibrate?"

"It did."

"What about the yield rate?"

"Ninety-nine point eight percent. That point two difference was because the number three injection arm was delayed by ten seconds."

"Then it's fine." Chen Wuwang waved his hand. "Sync all the debugging logs into the Family shared database and have the group leaders review them during tomorrow's morning meeting. Also—"

He suddenly stopped and looked back. "Prioritize assigning the new technicians from next week's training camp to this line. Letting them learn from faults is more effective than any textbook."

Chen Tiezhu grinned. "You really are bold with your personnel."

"If I don't dare use them, how will they grow?" Chen Wuwang pushed open the heavy alloy door, and a roar of noise instantly rushed out. "Technology isn't some divine Spell; it's a path forged by people's footsteps."

The interior of the Artifact Refining Workshop was brightly lit. Overhead were crisscrossing energy rails, and on the floor were Engineering Mecha performing automated inspections. The air was thick with the scorched scent of heated metal and the characteristic ozone smell of activated runes.

The two walked along the main passage. When they passed Prototype No. 3, Chen Wuwang stopped.

The shell of this mecha, customized for a Nascent Soul Cultivator, was not yet fully sealed. Its internal skeleton was exposed, with dozens of spiritual energy conduits entwined like blood vessels. Several technicians were kneeling on supports, using miniature engraving knives to adjust the precision of the final set of rune embeddings.

"Old Li," Chen Wuwang called out.

An old master craftsman, his hair covered in oil stains, turned his head. "Ah, Head of the Family."

"What's the rune alignment?"

"Ninety-eight point six. Just a bit more and we'll be within the threshold range." He wiped away sweat. "The purity of this batch of star-fall iron fluctuated a bit, so it's not taking the runes as well as expected."

Chen Wuwang nodded and didn't say much else, only adding, "Record the data well; don't miss any parameters. I'll deal with the Procurement Group later regarding the issues with this batch of Materials."

Having said that, he continued forward.

Chen Tiezhu trailed half a step behind, whispering, "You're leaving just like that? Not going to keep a closer eye? This is the first Nascent Soul-adapted mecha, after all."

"Is watching helpful?" Chen Wuwang countered. "They know their work better than either of us. My standing here would only make them nervous."

"Then why did you ask for such detail just now?"

"That was respect," he said calmly. "I need to see the sweat they've shed."

Arriving at the command console at the end of the work area, Chen Wuwang pulled up a panel and called up the Holographic Heat Map.

The screen flickered, and the activity tracks of the clan members in the Chen Family Main City appeared. The red dots were dense in the Artifact Refining Workshop, the flow in the Medicinal Field area was stable, and the Martial Arts Arena... was somewhat sparse.

He narrowed his eyes.

"The night attendance rate for the Martial Arts Arena has dropped by three points compared to last week," he said.

Chen Tiezhu leaned in to look and scratched his head. "Oh, I know about that. The R&D Group has been working a lot of overtime lately. Many of the youngsters just go back to their rooms and lie down after work, skipping even their meditation."

"They can't skip it." Chen Wuwang swiped his finger, switching to the resource scheduling interface. "Have the Mind-Concentrating Pill supplies arrived?"

"They were put into storage this morning, three hundred bottles."

"Starting tonight, any clan member participating in night-shift R&D can exchange their work hour card for one Mind-Concentrating Pill, plus a two-hour reservation for a private cultivation session at the Martial Arts Arena."

He tapped the confirmation key. "Tell them their minds need rest, but their bodies must not be neglected. We aren't competing with a momentary burst of ferocity, but with long-term endurance."

Chen Tiezhu whistled. "That's a ruthless move. It's basically forcing people to train."

"It's not forcing," Chen Wuwang closed the panel. "It's giving them a path—one where they can both build and increase their cultivation. Only by walking on two legs will they avoid limping."

As they spoke, a technician ran over. "Head of the Family, the new Composite Substrates for the Furnace Area need your signature for acceptance."

"Bring them here."

The technician handed over a palm-sized metal plate, its surface etched with fine circuit patterns.

Chen Wuwang took it and lightly scraped the edge with his fingertip, producing a faint metallic ring.

"The material is fine." He nodded. "Inform Chen Tiezhu to take some people and perform three cold and heat shock tests tomorrow morning. If there are no issues, put them on the production line."

"Me?" Chen Tiezhu's eyes widened. "I'm not the Quality Control Lead!"

"You are the Chief Artisan," Chen Wuwang stuffed the plate into his hand. "If you don't do it, who will? If something goes wrong, can anyone else take the responsibility?"

Chen Tiezhu cursed under his breath but took it anyway.

The two continued their inspection of the work area, passing the assembly line, the energy pod, and the control hub. People were busy everywhere; no one looked up to greet them, but everyone subconsciously straightened their backs as they passed.

Chen Wuwang saw it all but said nothing.

It wasn't until they returned to the command console that he finally sat down and pulled up the day's R&D progress chart, scrolling down line by line.

"Sealing of the No. 3 mecha shell expected to be completed by noon tomorrow."

"Spiritual energy engine load test postponed by half an hour due to routine cooling System maintenance."

"Rune array compatibility optimization plan submitted, awaiting review."

They were all small matters.

No earth-shattering Breakthroughs, no imminent crises.

Just the daily routine.

Chen Tiezhu stood beside him, watching him flip through the data page by page, and suddenly spoke up. "Do you think... if Mo Yuan knew what we were doing right now, would he go crazy with rage?"

Chen Wuwang's hand paused, and he looked up at him.

"He's underground plotting conspiracies, while we're on the surface building mecha." Chen Tiezhu grinned. "He's calculating how to stab us in the back, while we're calculating how to make an engine last fifteen minutes longer. Tell me, who's living a more satisfying life?"

Chen Wuwang smiled as well.

He lowered his head to continue looking at the data, but slowly let out a sentence. "He can plot however he likes. As long as our mecha can still take flight, as long as the clan's cultivation continues to rise, and as long as the lights of this Artifact Refining Workshop stay on—"

He tapped his fingertip heavily on the table with a "thud."

"He will always be a joke."