Chapter 101

Su Jing stood in the open space near the front door of the living room, with two piles of ore floating in mid-air in front of her—

The deep purple manganese crystals gleamed with a cold, hard luster, while the dark red hematite bore fine, metallic veins—both were high-purity ores she had specially sourced from her spatial "trading reserve area."

Manganese crystals have a hardness of 9, and hematite has good ductility. The combination of the two can create a defensive shield that balances hardness and toughness to resist laser attacks.

“The alien guards’ lasers in the previous dungeon could penetrate ordinary defenses, so we must be fully prepared this time.” Su Jing murmured to herself, her fingertips shimmering with a faint glow of her supernatural power. Since unlocking the “Ore Control Power,” she has practiced for an hour every day, and her proficiency has increased from 1% to 2%. Her control over ores is now smoother, and her mental energy consumption has decreased by 15%.

She focused her mind and slowly fused 5 kilograms of manganese crystal with 10 kilograms of hematite. The two ores approached each other under the pull of her supernatural power. The moment they came into contact, they emitted a pale blue light. The deep purple and dark red gradually merged, forming a silver-gray alloy with a cold light, as if it had been melted by an invisible flame, with no impurities at the edges.

Next came shaping. Su Jing considered the shield's core requirements—laser protection, easy fixation, and mobility. With a thought, the silver-gray alloy began to slowly expand: first forming a rectangular main body 1.5 meters high and 1 meter wide, with a thickness controlled at 5 centimeters to ensure defensive strength without being too heavy;

The surface of the main body is engraved with intersecting diamond patterns by intention, with a depth of 1 centimeter, like natural reinforcing ribs, which can disperse the energy of laser attacks;

In the center of the shield's front, she deliberately left a flat area of ​​30 centimeters square, and used the remaining manganese crystals to create a 1-centimeter-thick reflective layer. The reflective layer was engraved with fine serrated patterns. Referring to the reflective principle of the robot's alloy shield, it could reflect the laser to the upper diagonal to avoid rebounding and damaging itself.

"We also need to add handles and a fixing device." Su Jing's thoughts landed on the back of the shield. Two curved handles extended from the silver-gray alloy. The inside of the handles was engraved with anti-slip texture, which fit the palm perfectly and made it easy to move in an emergency.

Two 10-centimeter-long metal pins extend from the bottom of the shield, their ends tapering to insert into the concrete floor at the entrance to prevent it from being pushed away by external forces. The entire shaping process lasted 20 minutes. The silver-gray shield floated in mid-air, its diamond-shaped patterns gleaming coldly under the red light of the heater. The reflective layer, like an inlaid silver mirror, reflected Su Jing's focused expression. The system notification read: [Metal Shield (Laser-Proof Type) Initial shaping complete. Material: Manganese-Hematite Alloy (92% purity). Defense Strength: Resistant to Class A laser attacks (≤5 energy intensity). Weight: 18 kg. Testing recommended before use.]

“It’s time to test it.” Su Jing took out the enhanced laser gun from her space. This was a weapon she often used in the previous dungeon. She set the laser intensity to level 3 (close to the attack intensity of the alien guard).

She instructed the housekeeping robot "Xun1" to push the shield to the inside of the villa gate, insert the pin into the pre-drilled hole in the ground, and the shield stood steadily on the left side of the door, overlapping with the field of view of the surveillance camera to ensure that the front area of ​​the gate was covered.

Su Jing retreated 5 meters away, raised the laser gun, aimed the muzzle at the reflective layer on the front of the shield, and pulled the trigger—a pale red laser beam shot out, heading straight for the shield!

"Ding!" The laser was precisely reflected by the serrated pattern as soon as it touched the reflective layer, bouncing off at a 45° angle to the ceiling, leaving a small scorch mark on the ceiling. The shield itself was not damaged at all, and even the vibration was very slight.

Su Jing approached for inspection. The silver-gray alloy surface was as smooth as ever, the diamond pattern was not deformed, and the reflective layer was not worn. The system message read: [Test successful! The laser attack was completely reflected, the shield suffered no structural damage, and the defense strength met the standard.]

She adjusted the laser intensity to level 5 (the highest intensity) and fired again—this time the laser beam was thicker and darker in color, but it was still reflected by the reflective layer. The shield only vibrated slightly, and the pin at the bottom remained firmly fixed to the ground without shifting.

"Perfect." Su Jing breathed a sigh of relief, raised her hand and used her mind to adjust the position of the shield, moving it 20 centimeters to the right of the door, which blocked 90% of the door area. The remaining 10% could be supplemented by the blind spot of the monitoring system.

She also installed a small display screen inside the shield, connected to the villa's monitoring system, which could display the scene outside the door in real time, preventing potential dangers when opening the door to check.

The display screen lit up with a pale blue light, clearly showing the snow scene outside the villa: snowflakes fell densely on the black ice of the moat, the distant woods were covered with ice and snow, and there was no unusual movement. The outdoor temperature was -65℃, which was 3℃ lower than yesterday.

The housekeeping robot "Chef 1" walked over with a cup of hot ginger tea. The screen displayed: "Shield is fixed, monitoring connection is normal, infrared alarm has adjusted detection range to cover a 5-meter area around the shield, no abnormal energy fluctuations."

Su Jing took the ginger tea; the warmth of the cup seeped through her fingertips, dispelling the slight fatigue from controlling her superpowers. Leaning against the shield, feeling the cool touch of the alloy, she felt much more at ease—with this laser-proof shield, plus the previous surveillance, infrared alarms, and automatic heating, the villa's defenses were virtually flawless, capable of handling even attacks from alien guards or other mission participants.

Next, Su Jing checked the villa's other security features: the metal lock cylinder of the main gate was reinforced with manganese crystal, and an anti-pry device was installed at the keyhole.

The window glass was covered with double-layer explosion-proof film, with fine gold crystal fragments mixed in to enhance its hardness;

The patrol robot in the yard has been fully charged, extending its battery life to 24 hours and its detection range to 10 meters.

After completing all the checks, she walked to the window, raised her hand to wipe away the thin frost on the glass, and looked at the still dense snowflakes outside—the extreme cold had lasted for nearly a month, and the supplies in the space were enough to last for a long time, but she knew that staying in the villa was not a long-term solution. She needed to go out and explore, find more resources, and perhaps even meet other superhumans to learn about the current post-apocalyptic environment.

"Let's go out and take a look tomorrow."