374: Chapter 374 Mech Improvement and Enhanced Functionality

The morning light had just climbed onto the third steel beam of the Artifact Refining Workshop, and the composite substrate inspection sheet was still pressed under Chen Tiezhu's enamel mug, its heat long since dissipated.

He plopped down onto the folding chair in front of the main console, thumping his metal cane against the floor, which made the nearby toolbox rattle with a loud clang.

"Is everyone here?" Without looking up, he swiped his fingers across the control panel, and a holographic projection snapped into existence, showing the skeleton of a War Falcon Mecha suspended in mid-air, its joints shimmering with pale green energy lines.

"All here!" seven or eight craftsmen replied in unison. Some were still clutching half-eaten dry rations, while others had metal shavings from runic carving knives stuck to their sleeves.

"Good." Chen Tiezhu finally looked up and scanned the room. "The composite substrates passed inspection yesterday, so today we officially begin the modifications—triple reinforcement: weapons, defense, and flight. We won't miss a single one. The schedule is tight, so I won't waste words. Let's split into groups."

With a wave of his hand, the projection switched to a task list.

"Weapon group, Old Li is leading. Your main objective is the laser cannon's charging circuit. The goal is a twenty-three percent increase in single-shot output, with an error margin of no more than zero point five. Use interlaced rune stacking; don't give me any of that fancy fluff, just stack it up for real."

Old Li nodded, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Understood. We'll strip the cannon barrel first and clear the old arrays. We can start on the new inscriptions by the afternoon."

"Defense group, Engineer Wang, you're on it." Chen Tiezhu pointed to a middle-aged man wearing goggles. "Double-layer oscillation deflection structure, follow the blueprints. The focus is on the frequency resonance; don't let the shield shake like a sieve the moment it accelerates."

Engineer Wang pushed up his glasses. "The material's toughness is sufficient, but the problem is the slow response of the energy valve. I'm planning to add a buffer slot."

"That's fine, but don't go overweight." Chen Tiezhu tapped the table. "We are modifying a mecha, not building a fortress."

"Flight group." He turned to two young technicians in the corner. "Fine-tune the tail fin curvature and reprogram the nozzle pulse rhythm. What I want is a short-term burst, not long-distance travel. That 'Buzz Propulsion' idea of yours—we're testing it today."

The young technician rubbed his hands together. "We ran seven simulations last night. The maximum speed increase was forty-one percent, but the energy consumption is a bit fierce."

"It has to be done even if it's fierce." Chen Tiezhu grinned. "Being one second faster on the battlefield means one less person dying. We'll worry about the energy consumption later; for now, get that speed up."

Just as he finished speaking, a sizzling sound came from deep within the workshop, followed by several curses.

"Stuck again?" Chen Tiezhu frowned.

"Assembly Line 3, the mechanical arm is jamming the composite substrate," someone ran over to report. "The edge of the board is a bit warped, and it won't fit into the fixture."

"I'll go take a look." He stood up with his cane, the sound of it hitting the ground echoing through the spacious workshop.

When he arrived at the scene, he indeed saw the silver-gray substrate stuck at the guide rail entrance, with workers on both sides measuring it with rulers.

"Who handled this batch of Materials?"

"Old Zhao from the procurement group."

Chen Tiezhu snorted coldly. "Him again. Last time it was the star-fall iron purity fluctuations, and this time it's inaccurate substrate cutting—I'll settle the score with him later."

"Should we sand down the edges first?" someone suggested.

"No." Chen Tiezhu crouched down and felt along the warped edge with his finger. "The stress is uneven; it'll crack if you sand it. Change the fixture angle and widen the lead-in slope by five degrees."

"But the standard procedure doesn't allow..."

"Standard procedures are rigid, but people are flexible," he interrupted. "Now isn't the time to talk about rules. Change it! I'll take the responsibility if anything goes wrong."

The workers no longer hesitated and immediately began the adjustments. Ten minutes later, the substrate slid smoothly into the positioning slot.

"Continue," Chen Tiezhu said, clapping his hands. "Don't let a single board delay the entire day's progress."

Returning to the main control area, all groups were in full swing.

Over at the weapon group, Old Li and his team had disassembled the main cannon's casing, revealing the dense array of energy conduits inside. They were using miniature carving knives to etch new runes onto the inner walls, checking the feedback curves on the data screen with every stroke.

"Old Zhang! The third line on the left is too deep!" Old Li suddenly roared.

"Ah! Adjusting it now!"

"Is your vision blurred? How could you make such a rookie mistake?"

"I pulled an all-nighter writing the proposal, my brain just isn't clicking..."

"Cut the crap and fix it. If this thing explodes after we put it back, we're both going to the mines to dig rocks."

On the other side, Engineer Wang of the defense group was hunched over a half-disassembled shield generator, measuring frequencies with a probe.

"Something's not right," he muttered. "The theoretical value is met, but the actual oscillation is offset by zero point eight hertz."

An assistant leaned in. "Could the substrate material be affecting the energy conduction?"

"It's possible." Engineer Wang took off his goggles. "Pull up yesterday's material analysis report; I want to check the dielectric constant."

On the flight group's test platform, two young technicians were huddled around a small thruster, debugging parameters. Numbers jumped frantically on the screen.

"Once more!" one of them shouted. "Set the pulse rhythm to three point seven!"

With a boom, the thruster suddenly erupted with a blue flame, making the platform hum and vibrate.

"It worked!" The two high-fived. "Peak thrust has reached the target!"

"Don't celebrate too early." Chen Tiezhu had appeared behind them at some point. "Did you test the shield synchronization? Don't let the mecha take flight only for the protection to fail."

The technician was stunned. "Not yet..."

"Test it now." He pointed to the central test platform. "Connect the modified flight module and the shield System and run a simulation. I want to see the overall compatibility."

"You got it!"

Lunch was eaten while crouching next to the equipment with lunch boxes. No one chatted; they just took a few bites with their chopsticks before looking back at their screens.

At 3:00 PM, the first round of integration testing began.

The modified War Falcon Mecha stood on the central platform. Its surface armor was not yet fully sealed, and dozens of sensor lines were wrapped around its exposed skeleton.

"Initiate power," Chen Tiezhu ordered.

Buzz—

The mecha's eyes glowed red, and the engine let out a low hum.

"Weapon System self-check."

"Passed."

"Defense System loading."

"Shield generation normal, frequency stable."

"Flight module activated, executing acceleration command."

The mecha's wings unfolded, and a blinding blue flame suddenly erupted from the tail nozzles. The entire platform shook violently, and a sharp sound of wind rushing through filled the air.

"Speed reached expectations!" the flight group technician shouted, staring at the gauges. "One hundred percent achievement!"

But just then, an alarm flashed on the monitoring screen—

[Shield Energy Fluctuation: -17%]

"Damn!" Engineer Wang jumped up. "Here we go again!"

Chen Tiezhu narrowed his eyes at the data stream. "When did it start?"

"The moment acceleration started, lasting for zero point three seconds."

"It's an issue with the energy distribution valve," he immediately judged. "The flight module is hogging resources."

"Should we lower the speed?" someone asked.

"No." Chen Tiezhu shook his head. "The speed cannot be lowered; we can only adjust the priority. Enable the backup algorithm and set shield maintenance as a level-one response."

"But this will affect the power supply to other Systems..."

"We can't worry about that now." He stared at the fluctuation curve on the screen. "On the battlefield, you either fly out alive or die fast—choose the former."

Reprogramming, reconnecting, third test.

The mecha started up again, the nozzles roared, and its form shot forward like an arrow, leaving a blurred afterimage on the test track.

This time, the shield fluctuation was only 0.2%, which was practically negligible.

"It worked!" A cheer erupted in the workshop.

Good news also came from the weapon group: "Main cannon charging complete, output increased by 23.4%, exceeding the target!"

The defense group followed with their report: "Double-layer oscillation structure running stably, impact resistance increased by nearly forty percent!"

Chen Tiezhu stood on the high platform, looking at the mecha glowing with a cold light, and inspected it from head to toe.

The armor gaps were perfectly aligned, the energy lines flowed without interruption, the residual heat of the nozzles had not yet dissipated, and the shield's halo was as steady as a bell.

He nodded slowly.

He didn't smile, nor did he speak.

He simply raised his hand and clapped twice.

Clap, clap.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the now-quiet workshop.

The workers gradually gathered around, their faces showing exhaustion, but their eyes held a certain light.

"Good." Chen Tiezhu finally spoke. "This mecha is ready for the battlefield."

Leaning on his cane, he walked down from the high platform step by step, passing each group, stopping to look at their notebooks, flipping through their debugging logs, and asking a few questions about the details.

When he reached the weapon group, he picked up Old Li's worn-out carving knife and looked at it. "This thing can still be used?"

"It's an heirloom," Old Li said with a chuckle. "It cuts through iron like butter."

"Keep it," Chen Tiezhu said, putting the knife back. "We'll put it in the hall of fame later."

Everyone laughed.

The sky grew dark, and the lights in the Artifact Refining Workshop were turned on one by one.

The mecha stood silently in the center, like a warrior clad in armor and ready to depart.

Chen Tiezhu stood before it, looking up at the pair of mechanical pupils that glinted with a cold light.

"A little stronger," he whispered. "Still not strong enough."

He turned toward the console, preparing to pull up the next stage of the improvement plan.

Just then, a young technician from the flight group whispered:

"The Family Head is right; as long as the lights are still on..."

Before he could finish, Chen Tiezhu waved his hand.

He didn't look back, only leaving behind a sentence:

"Back to work."