The backpack weighed heavily on Chen Hao's shoulders, making each step feel like walking on cotton. He looked down at his toes; his shoes were covered in dry mud, and he had to kick them every few steps to avoid tripping.
Nana followed beside her, her mechanical arm retracted behind her, her steps steady. Suddenly, she raised her hand and pointed forward: "Turn 15 degrees to the left, avoid the collapse zone."
"Why is this place full of potholes?" Chen Hao muttered as he turned a corner, casually bouncing his backpack up. "Besides, didn't we just walk this road? I've seen that crooked rock before; it has a crack in it, like a grinning idiot."
“You came back when you were distracted for the third time,” Nana said. “I suggest you focus.”
"How can I not get distracted? There are seventeen pieces of ore in this bag, weighing at least thirty pounds. If I were on Earth, I could be a gym class representative with that weight."
"You are working out right now."
"But nobody's giving me a rating."
They finally made it across the last stretch of scree slope. The base's metal frame stood in the distance, looking like a pile of iron frames carelessly tossed about by children. Chen Hao took a breath, pulling his coat tighter around himself to protect the outside of his backpack. "Don't let the kids bump into anything, you're going to become hammer dads."
Nana walked to the energy tank, unfolded her robotic arm, and began wiring. The connectors were somewhat blackened; she gently scraped them with her fingertip, and a spark flew.
“It’s oxidized,” she said. “It needs to be cleaned.”
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Chen Hao slumped down next to the pile of materials. "I thought we could start refining gold as soon as we arrived, but it turns out we have to clean up first."
"The fault location cannot be determined until the system completes its self-check."
"Alright, even robots can make mistakes." He picked up a thin piece of metal from the ground and handed it over. "Use this to scrape; it's more dexterous than your fingers."
Nana took it, skillfully pried open the outer casing, and cleaned the contacts bit by bit. A few minutes later, the furnace emitted a low hum, and blue light seeped out from the gaps.
"Energy stable, preheating begins." She brought up the holographic interface. "Temperature curve set, awaiting ore input."
Chen Hao unpacked his backpack and pulled out the ore piece by piece. The surface of the ore was still covered with the dust from the valley. He wiped it with his sleeve and examined it against the light. "The color is quite right, not like coal slag. If I had dug up this last time, I wouldn't have even thought of growing mushrooms."
"Mushrooms need humidity and organic matter to grow, but the current environment does not support this."
"I just said it offhand, and you actually remembered it in the database?"
"All survival-related proposals are recorded and analyzed."
He rolled his eyes and placed the last piece on the heat-resistant tray. "Alright, all set. Now, do I need to chant a spell to activate it?"
“No need.” Nana pushed the tray into the furnace. “But you need to maintain a safe distance; the high-temperature zone has a radius of 1.5 meters.”
The fire gradually flared up, and the metal inside emitted a faint crackling sound. Chen Hao squatted outside the cordon, staring at the red light as if it were meat stewing on his own stove.
"How much iron do you think this thing can produce?" he asked.
"It is estimated that about four kilograms of pure metal can be extracted, enough to make multiple connecting parts."
"Four kilograms? Does that mean I can make a whole bucket of Hammer KFC?"
"Prioritize completing the basic tools."
"Got it, can't be greedy." He scratched his head. "But speaking of which, wouldn't you say we're in the early stages of starting a business? Two people, one furnace, a pile of broken stones, dreaming of turning our lives around with our skills."
"We are currently in the resource accumulation stage."
"Then you're the technical director, and I'm... the workhorse and creative director."
Nana didn't reply. The optical lens flashed and continued monitoring the data stream.
After the first wave of smelting was completed, the furnace door slowly opened, and a wave of heat rushed out. Chen Hao shrank back and saw a silver-gray metal ingot lying on the tray, its surface still emitting wisps of smoke.
"It's done?" He leaned closer. "Can this thing be used right away?"
"It needs to be remelted and recast into shape." Nana took out the mold. "Prepare for pouring."
The mold was a simple U-shaped channel. Chen Hao helped secure it and checked the sealing strip again. Nana opened the valve, and the liquid metal slowly flowed into the channel, like a shimmering little river.
After it cooled down, Chen Hao couldn't wait to knock open the mold—the shaft inside was crooked, and there was a small bulge in the middle.
“It’s ruined,” he said. “It’s uglier than the clay figurines I made when I was a kid.”
“Residual air bubbles, rapid cooling.” Nana scanned the sample. “Insufficient structural strength, prone to breakage.”
"Then what do we do? Start over?"
"Adjust the heat preservation time and extend it by three minutes."
Before the second pour, Chen Hao deliberately placed the mold in the residual heat zone to dry for a while. This time, he personally controlled the flow rate valve, muttering as he turned it, "Slow down, don't rush, this isn't a market to sell vegetables."
The metal is poured in smoothly, solidifies, and is then demolded, leaving the shaft intact and undamaged with smooth edges.
"Ouch!" He held it up to the sunlight and twirled it around. "Now it looks like a proper part!"
Nana's scan confirmed: "Structural integrity is 91%, meeting assembly standards."
"Ninety-one? What about the remaining nine?"
"Microscopic pores and surface microcracks do not affect use."
“Okay, I’m not picky.” He grinned and casually put it on the workbench. “Next goal—to give my hammer a biological father.”
Things went much more smoothly after that. Chen Hao used a scrap metal sheet to grind a simple file and carefully smoothed the rough edges, following the angle of Nana's projection. He no longer swung and smashed it wildly as before; instead, he learned finesse, stopping every few strokes to blow on it and check the effect.
"If I had taken exams this seriously before, I might have gotten into a junior college by now," he said as he rubbed the ground.
What you're doing now is more important than the exam.
"If you fail an exam, you can just retake it. But if this thing is broken, the hammer could fly out and smash your head open."
After finishing the third shaft, he took out the long-abandoned semi-finished hammer. The wooden handle had already been whittled, and all that was left was the metal joint. He inserted the newly made shaft, gently tapped it in place, and then swung it around a couple of times.
"Stable." He nodded. "It's not as volatile as before."
Nana recorded the data: "Tool production completion rate: 60%".
"Only 60% complete?" He frowned. "I thought it was almost finished."
"Spare parts still need to be mass-produced to prevent losses."
So, am I going to become a self-employed welder?
"Efficiency improvements will help with subsequent construction."
He sighed and sat back down at his workbench. "Alright, there's no game to watch tonight anyway." He picked up another metal ingot. "One more, and I'll try to break my personal record."
Night slowly descended, and the faint glow of a furnace fire still lingered in one corner of the base. Chen Hao's hands were covered in metal shavings and grease, and his forehead was soaked with sweat, clinging to his face. He paid no attention to these things, focusing only on polishing.
Nana stood by the stove, continuously monitoring various parameters. Her camera lens flickered rhythmically, like some kind of silent metronome.
Just as Chen Hao was about to begin the fifth pour, he suddenly stopped.
“Wait,” he said.
Nana looked up: "Did you notice anything unusual?"
“No.” He pointed to the edge of the workbench. “A small piece of dirt fell off where I just brushed against it. The color is wrong; it’s a bit brownish, not the grayish-yellow color outside.”
He reached out and scratched at the crack in the corner of the table, picked up a little powder, and rubbed it between his fingers.
"Not sticky, but a bit slippery." He grabbed another handful and threw it from his palm. The soil particles made a dull sound when they hit the ground, unlike the crisp sound of sand.
"Where did this soil come from?" he asked, looking up.
Nana pulled up the base's building materials distribution map, her gaze falling on the exposed ground area on the east side.
“Recent construction vibrations may have exposed deep soil layers,” she said. “No such soil type has been recorded in the area.”
Chen Hao stared at the clump of dark brown soil in his hand and suddenly smiled.
"Do you think... this thing could be fired into a bowl?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com