446: Chapter 446 System Success, Research Results Finally Published

The morning light had just crested the cliffs of the Qiming Plain, and the shadows of the old locust trees outside the Artifact Refining Workshop still pressed against the entrance of the assembly area.

The alarm lights in the dispatch room suddenly went out, as if someone had choked them off.

"Steady now!" someone roared, their voice trembling.

Chen Tiezhu was crouching at the third-section interface of the furnace, his wrench clamped onto a bolt without letting go. A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead and splashed into the weld seam, letting out a puff of white smoke with a hiss.

He panted heavily, his fingers still shaking, but his lips curled into a grin: "Thirty years... I almost went down at the very last moment."

Beside him, a young artisan sat kneeling on the ground, his face pale. Just a moment ago, in a daze, he had accidentally touched the unlock button for the main power ring, coming within half an inch of triggering a chain spiritual explosion. Now, he held his head in his hands, his teeth chattering.

"Don't just sit there paralyzed!" Chen Tiezhu kicked him in the leg. "Go open the number three cooling valves all the way! And you—"

He pointed at another stunned apprentice, "Get the recording board, I need to sign off! This furnace output power is 3.8 times the norm; it must be recorded in the log today!"

Before he finished speaking, the sound of clashing metal came from the other side of the assembly hall.

Chen Xiaodao had already rushed to the main control console. Without even removing his scabbard, he slapped the emergency cooling button with one hand.

A layer of frost instantly formed on the conduits, spreading out like a snake along the lines and heading straight for the core chamber.

"Temperature is dropping!" the monitor shouted. "Fluctuations are converging! System core is uncontaminated! Repeat, core is uncontaminated!"

The air seemed to snap back suddenly.

Several researchers guarding the terminals looked at each other and suddenly burst into laughter, then fell silent again, hearing only each other's heavy breathing.

Footsteps approached from a distance.

When Chen Wuwang walked into the hall, the dust on his shoulders hadn't been brushed off yet. He habitually tapped the edge of his tactical belt—one, two, three times—the rhythm heavy, as if he were calculating something.

He didn't speak, walking straight to the central platform and looking up at the Navigation Core model suspended in mid-air.

The object was entirely silver-gray, with faint blue patterns flowing across its surface, rotating slowly like a living creature.

"Success?" he asked.

No one answered. Everyone was looking at him.

Three seconds later, Chen Tiezhu crawled out of the maintenance hatch and wiped his face, which was as dirty as soot from the bottom of a stove, yet he smiled like a young boy:

"Family Head, the Resonance Plates are embedded, and the phase calibration is complete. This thing... it’s truly alive."

Chen Wuwang nodded and stepped onto the high platform. His Mechanical Prosthetic Eye activated automatically, and a stream of data scrolled rapidly before his right eye.

He stared at it for ten breaths, then suddenly raised his hand and tapped several times in the Void Realm.

"Offset by 0.3 degrees," he said. "It's not an intrusion; it's signal distortion caused by a mismatch in the thermal expansion coefficients of the Resonance Plate and the base material."

"Holy crap, he can even see that?" a youth who looked like a programmer widened his eyes.

"Shut up." Chen Wuwang didn't look back. "Adjust the B7 protocol stack, compress the synchronization delay from 12 milliseconds to 8.5, and add a level three error correction buffer."

His fingers continued to swipe as if typing on a keyboard. Three seconds later, the holographic screen flashed, the jumping runes suddenly aligned, the blue light stabilized, and a line of text emerged:

[NWS-01 Type Psionic Navigation Core · Activation Successful]

"Whoa—!!!" No one knew who shouted first, but the entire hall exploded.

Some jumped up to pound the walls, some hugged their recording boards with silly grins, and two old technicians embraced directly, one with wet eyes.

A girl hid in a corner wiping her eyes frantically, only for her vision to get blurrier.

Chen Tiezhu stood still, but his grip on the wrench was so tight his knuckles turned white.

Chen Wuwang turned around, scanned the room, and suddenly smiled. It wasn't a manic laugh, but a rare, very light one.

"Did everyone hear that?" His voice wasn't loud, but the room went silent instantly.

"This is what everyone fought for," he said. "It wasn't me, it wasn't some Genius, it was each of your bloodshot eyes, your unfinished meals, and the thirty-six hours you spent without sleep."

He paused, his voice deepening: "Thirty years ago, when the Zerg invaded, we didn't even have a gun that could fire. Now—"

He raised his hand, pointing at the Navigation Core floating quietly.

"Now, we have a brain."

The hall was so quiet one could hear the hum of electricity.

A few seconds later, Chen Tiezhu let out a low roar: "Let's get 'em!"

This shout was like lighting a fuse; everyone started roaring along, fists pounding on tables, feet stomping on the floor, shaking the ceiling so that dust came fluttering down.

"Install it!" Chen Wuwang waved his hand. "Seventh-generation Prototype, prepare for docking!"

The crowd immediately dispersed, heading to their posts.

The transport team pushed over a maglev platform to carefully move the Navigation Core; the wiring team began dismantling the neural interface on the back of the mecha; the debugging station lit up with red and blue lights, waiting for the data handshake.

Chen Xiaodao was already standing by the mecha, looking down to inspect the connection slot.

"Is there a problem?" Chen Wuwang walked over.

"Interface alarm." Chen Xiaodao pointed at the control screen. "It says 'Biological Signal Recognition Failed'. The System is too new; it's rejecting the pilot's consciousness link."

"Nonsense." Chen Tiezhu squeezed in and slapped the mecha's leg. "There's no way the slot I welded is wrong! It must be you software people setting up some threshold!"

"It's not a threshold," the programmer said anxiously. "It's a compatibility issue! This System has requirements for consciousness waveforms that are too high; ordinary operators simply can't connect!"

"Then swap in someone who can," Chen Xiaodao said suddenly.

He raised his left arm and pressed a joint on his Mechanical prosthetic limb. With a click, the entire arm detached from the elbow, revealing an embedded metal skeleton and a faintly glowing chip.

"Sword Intent Conduction Core," he said calmly. "Use this as a bridging medium; it's pure enough."

"Are you crazy?" Chen Tiezhu's eyes widened. "That thing is connected to your Divine Sense! If the System backlashes, your brain will fry!"

"So we have to be fast." Chen Xiaodao plugged the severed arm into the debugging port. "Give me three minutes, enough for me to pour the Sword Soul frequency in."

Chen Wuwang stared at him for two seconds and nodded: "Approved. But if an alarm sounds, disconnect immediately."

"Understood." Chen Xiaodao closed his eyes.

In an instant, a chill spread from him, and the air seemed to congeal. The chip began to glow, and a very thin silver line was injected into the mecha core through the conduit.

Meanwhile, Chen Tiezhu led the artisan group in a charge, welding torches spitting out blue-purple flames as they remolded the armor connection slot around the interface. Amidst the flying sparks, runes and circuits fused under the high heat, emitting slight crackling sounds.

"Last one!" Chen Tiezhu roared. "Seal it!"

The welding torches were withdrawn, the metal cooled, and a ring of dark gold patterns appeared at the interface.

"Main System docking complete," a prompt sounded from the monitoring station. "Awaiting instruction to start."

Chen Xiaodao pulled out his severed arm, and the mechanical hand automatically closed, returning to its original state. He opened his eyes and smiled: "Connected."

Chen Wuwang didn't speak, walking to the command console with his right hand hovering over the red start button.

The hall went completely quiet.

All the research personnel stopped what they were doing and looked over. Some clenched their fists, others held their breath.

Chen Tiezhu crouched by the mecha's right leg, still clutching his wrench, sweat trickling down his sideburns, but his face wore the most settled smile he'd had in thirty years.

Chen Xiaodao had already entered the cockpit, his visor closed, hands resting on the control sticks, his eyes bright as stars.

Chen Wuwang looked down at his palm.

A glimmer of light flashed, and the System interface appeared:

[heavenly secret instruction · Today's First Entry: Within seven days, a spatial rift will appear in the Northern Realm; it is advisable to deploy a new type of early warning array.]

He closed his palm and looked up, his voice falling steadily:

"All units, attention."