Chapter 189
Akai's glove was torn by the wire, and when his fingertips brushed against the rusty metal pipe, he felt a ticklish sensation.
He crouched in the ruins of the abandoned factory exposed by the retreating authorities, clutching a broken mechanical arm in both hands—
This is the first "hard item" found after the floodwaters receded this morning. It is made of manganese crystal alloy. Although the surface is covered with rust, the core components are not deformed. Maybe it can be repaired and installed on the protective netting of the outpost.
"Kai! Come quick! There's a tracking laser gun here!"
Not far away came the shouts of his companion, Amin. He was lying behind a pile of rubble, holding a dark object in his hand. The gun was covered in mud, but the barrel was not obviously bent.
Kai quickly ran over, carefully took the laser gun, and pressed the test button next to the trigger.
The screen didn't light up, the energy storage battery in the battery compartment was already bulging, and there were water stains on the circuit board, which was obviously damaged by flooding.
"Is it still usable?" Amin leaned closer, his eyes fixed on the muzzle of the laser gun. "There are only two usable ones left in the stronghold. If we can repair them, the defense will be much stronger."
Akai took out the screwdriver he carried with him, opened the battery compartment, and wiped the dirt off the circuit board with a cloth: "The core components are not broken, but the battery is ruined. We need a bottle of manganese crystal repair fluid to clean the rusty interfaces."
He paused, then, as if remembering something, pulled out his communicator from his pocket. "I need to order from 'I am the God of Wealth' online store. I bought the manganese crystal nails from there to repair the protective netting. They're reliable."
The communicator was turned on, and the icon for "Number One Store in the World" was prominently displayed on the homepage. Akai clicked on the "Defense and Repair Zone."
I quickly found "Manganese Crystal Repair Solution (100ml)", which was labeled "Suitable for rust removal and interface repair of metal instruments, 1 Tier 1 Demon Core/bottle". Below it was a line of small print: "Recommended to use with acid-resistant manganese crystal coating during acid rain warning period to improve the corrosion resistance of instruments".
"Acid rain?" Amin leaned closer to look, his brows furrowing. "I heard Xiao Li mention before that there might be acid rain after the flood. If there's no acid-resistant coating, won't the equipment we just repaired break down again?"
Akai nodded and added "Anti-acid Manganese Crystal Coating (500ml)" to his cart. The price was 2 Tier 1 Demon Cores. When he placed the order, the system popped up a prompt: "The current order requires 3 Tier 1 Demon Cores. Do you want to confirm payment? The payment will be sent through the system channel within 10 minutes after payment."
“Confirmed!” Akai didn’t hesitate—the stronghold had just extracted 5 first-tier demon cores from the water beast’s corpse yesterday. Keeping 2 as spares and exchanging 3 for repair materials was worthwhile.
The moment the payment was successful, a pale blue light appeared on the ground next to the communicator, and two bottles of transparent liquid appeared out of thin air. The repair liquid contained fine manganese crystal particles, while the acid-resistant coating shimmered with a faint silver glow.
The two immediately found a flat stone slab in the ruins to use as a workbench. Akai poured out a small amount of repair fluid and carefully wiped the circuit board interface of the laser gun with a cotton swab. The rust quickly dissolved when it came into contact with the repair fluid, revealing the metallic luster underneath.
Amin then took the acid-resistant coating and applied it to the manganese crystal robotic arm. The coating formed a thin film as soon as it touched the metal, making the originally rough rust surface smooth.
"Kai! There's a bunch of protective netting supports over here!" Another member of the outpost, Jie, ran over and pointed to a pile of metal frames not far away. "They're a bit deformed, can you bend them back?"
Akai put down his laser gun and went over to take a look—it was the manganese crystal support frame that was commonly used for the protective netting before. Although a few of them were bent, they could be used after being slightly straightened with his supernatural ability. He calculated in his mind that the stronghold's protective netting was still missing 10 support frames, and there were exactly 8 here. He only needed to find 2 more to make up the difference.
The three continued their search, scattered among the ruins. Hong Tui revealed more and more "treasures": Amin found two intact energy storage batteries, just right for the laser gun;
Ah Jie collected half a box of manganese crystal nails, enough to reinforce the edges of the protective netting;
Akai found a mining blade under the abandoned lathe. Although the edge was dull, it could still be used after being sharpened with a whetstone.
"Quickly! My communicator is alerting me!" Amin suddenly shouted. On his communicator screen, a pale red system notification stood out: [Acid Rain Warning Upgrade: Strong acid rain is expected within 48 hours. The pH value is expected to be below 3.0. Ordinary metal instruments will be severely corroded after being exposed to the outside for 2 hours. Please take acid-resistant protection measures as soon as possible.]
Akai's heart tightened, and he quickly packed the repaired laser gun and robotic arm into the sacks he had brought. Ajie, on the other hand, sped up the process of straightening the protective net support: "We have to get back to the base quickly and coat all the equipment with an acid-resistant coating, otherwise they'll all be ruined when the acid rain comes!"
The three men carried sacks and ran towards the stronghold. As they passed the ruins where other refugees were picking up weapons, they saw someone talking urgently into a communicator, obviously placing an order for acid-resistant materials with "Number One Store in the World".
Back at Chen Yang's base, the courtyard was already bustling with activity—some people were applying an acid-resistant coating to the protective netting, others were repairing the gate that had been damaged by the water beast, and Chen Yang was talking to Xiao Li at the Northern Base on a communicator: "Do you have enough acid-resistant coating? We bought two extra bottles. If it's not enough, we'll give you one bottle for every first-tier demon core you have."
Kai handed the repaired laser gun to his teammate in charge of defense. Watching him coat the gun with an acid-resistant coating, Kai felt much more at ease.
He opened his communicator again. In the order records of "Number One Store Under Heaven," the sales of "anti-acid manganese crystal coating" had increased from 20 bottles in the morning to 87 bottles. The comments section below was full of positive reviews: "The protective netting with the coating didn't rust after being rained on yesterday!" "The repair fluid is super useful; it fixed my broken laser gun!"
As the sun set, the stronghold's defenses were largely completed: the protective netting was coated with an acid-resistant layer, gleaming silver.
The three repaired tracking laser guns are mounted on either side of the gate, their batteries fully charged; the newly acquired robotic arm is installed at the corner of the protective netting, and its angle can be adjusted flexibly.
Akai sat in the courtyard, wiping the sharpened mining blade, when a new announcement from "Number One Store Under Heaven" suddenly popped up on his communicator: "During the acid rain period, a new 'anti-acid emergency kit' has been added, containing coating, repair fluid, waterproof sealant, and 3 Tier 1 demon cores per pack. Bulk orders are supported."
He quickly forwarded the announcement to Chen Yang, knowing full well that the equipment Hong Tui had collected was the foundation, but the repair materials he bought from "I am the God of Wealth" were the key. Only by strengthening the defenses could they withstand the upcoming acid rain.
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