Chapter 485: Mechanical Upgrade Plan

【Success: Mechanical Origin Point +1100, Tunshi Proficiency +230】

Whoosh!

Under the night sky, the Wahoo Island airport saw a large wide-body airliner, its broken wing severed, turn to ash; all organic residues—including human corpses—rained down with a clatter, startling nearby zombies, whose rusted joints creaked as they lurched through the dark, their guttural roars rising and falling, only to lose their target once near, green-tinged, decaying eyes scanning wildly.

Lin Xian stood calmly atop a drone hovering in midair, his gaze fixed on the holographic screen, visibly energized.

“This is the first time I’ve devoured an airliner. Though the airframe is damaged, the engines and avionics are intact—still managed to convert over a thousand Mechanical Origin Points…”

【Current Mechanical Heart Level: lv.6 (40900/50000)】

【Mechanical Awakening】: Mechanical Lord

Mechanical Devour: 6 (3130/5000) — Increase Devour Efficiency

Mechanical Fabrication: 6 (1560/5000) — Increase Construction Efficiency

Looking at the Mechanical Heart interface, Lin Xian took a deep breath: “If I scour everything tonight, it should be enough. If not, I’ll rest tomorrow…”

Rarely did a crisis loom overhead—this was an opportunity Lin Xian intended to seize fully. The newly acquired 【Energy Leap】 and the Legendary Skill 【Supercritical Diffraction Blade】 gained from devouring the Fearless-Class had proven decisive on Haiyan Island. As humanity’s situation grew more desperate, focusing on unlocking the potential of his Mechanical Ability was a rational choice.

Lin Xian made up his mind and immediately began devouring two additional narrow-body airliners and the transport ship, leaving no crashed aircraft behind.

He needed not only Mechanical Origin Points but also more high-grade materials to fuel the Black Star Forge’s sequence construction.

Currently, all six construction sequences were running nonstop unless under threat or in combat—he needed more functional drones to assist in construction, repair, transport, maintenance, and he was preparing to build a mechanized army.

This army wouldn’t just be attack drones for swarm strikes—it would be true combat mechs like Qian Suxun’s. He’d already built four ‘Steelbone’ series mechs for Luo Yang to test; results were excellent.

This time, he unexpectedly acquired a Federal Interstellar Military 974 Defense Regiment military train, whose mech combat unit gave him a fresh idea.

Former human Interstellar Military combat mechs centered on the human operator; exoskeletons and mechs were merely tools serving humans. Aside from service robots, only drones possessed swarm-strike capability.

But current human tech faced a critical flaw: even the Lei Sun 2000 drones were too weak against large Strange Entities. Though swarming improved effectiveness, the evolved Strange Entities in the dark now possessed biological fields and energy attacks, compounded by the Dark Infiltration’s information suppression—these pre-Apocalypse attack drones had little potential for further growth.

Lin Xian’s current drones were half his own manufacture, half seized from Qin Feng in Shuguang City. Though they’d proven useful across land, sea, and sky, none met his goal: a vast horde capable of directly dismantling and eradicating Strange Entities.

So he planned to redesign a specialized mech-drone for fighting Strange Entities: no human pilot needed, with formidable defense, soft and hard kill capabilities, a distributed communication architecture, and anti-jamming tech integrating Dark Energy resonance—this way, he could mass-produce them like an army, gradually forming a steel legion capable of threatening Special-Class and even S-Class entities.

His current blueprints were limited to Qian Suxun’s ‘Steelbone’ and ‘ACS’; the only other was the ‘Dancer-1’ blueprint from the Crimson World. The Interstellar Military’s Vulcan, Guardian, and other series were all human-piloted—even remote-control add-ons were temporary fixes, unsustainable long-term.

Lin Xian had discussed this with Wang Yue Zhen, and briefly consulted Yu Yuheng from the Emperor Project. The Emperor Project had two development paths: the colossal human weapon ‘Pangu,’ and the ‘Steel Swarm.’

But Yu Yuheng knew nothing of the Steel Swarm project—it had never been physically built. Thus, Lin Xian could only rely on his own ideas to design one.

【Success: Mechanical Origin Point +260, Tunshi Proficiency +40】

Lin Xian had fully devoured a narrow-body airliner split into two segments; he looked at the screen and contacted Viola.

“Viola.”

【I’m here.】

“If I combine the flight control systems of Steelbone and Iron Hunter power suits with the fire control units of Dancer-1 and Phantom Wolf power suits, wouldn’t that create an upgraded Steelbone and Reaper?”

Viola projected a holographic interface via Lin Xian’s power suit, displaying a fusion of the two power suits and Dancer-1’s streamlined body, then spoke into his ear:

【This is a crude proposal. It will waste 5.3%–17% of preset functional units and construction materials, and suffer from incomplete frame compatibility, reducing overall defense compared to the unified Steelbone. However, Dancer-1’s artificial torso perfectly matches the power suit’s cockpit, effectively upgrading Dancer-1 via symbiosis: retaining high agility and intelligence while gaining the power suit’s defense, weaponization, and power component upgrades—overall performance will surpass both Steelbone and ACS.】

Lin Xian’s lips curled slightly: “That’s exactly what I want. Can we avoid the material waste?”

Hum~

The holographic blueprint shifted as Viola began calculating his proposal; a series of internal systems were removed.

【I’ve removed the power suit’s life support, oxygen supply, heating, biological rescue, and overheating protection. Added a distributed communication self-networking system—but this requires redrawing the blueprint and integration. Also, Dancer-1’s external flexible defense skin can be removed to reduce ultra-solid carbon condensed alloy usage, or upgraded to an inner layer of the power suit’s defense, forming a composite structure.】

“Nice!”

Lin Xian’s eyes brightened, his enthusiasm rising: “It’s rough, but combining them creates a new intelligent mech. Solutions always outnumber problems.”

【If you split into Steelbone and Reaper designs, I suggest adding the ‘Iron Curtain’ drone’s shield array, the ‘Thunder Yu ’ magnetic storm system, and electrostatic field system to Steelbone to boost defense and impact force; integrate the VK electric blade with high-energy plasma cutting beams into the Reaper series. Size may increase, but first, it leverages existing blueprints; second, it enhances mechanized unit synergy. With this energy output, just 100 units could easily crush A-Class and Special-Class entities; 1000 units could slice off one-third of yesterday’s atmospheric mica cap for internal research and human rations.】

“….”

Lin Xian frowned: “Wait—did you just come up with this?”

Viola paused. 【It may be somewhat cruel. Also, consider the power requirements of each mech unit…】

“Cruel?”

Lin Xian’s eyes lit up; he smacked his thigh hard: “Overthinking! That’s exactly what I want—I love it!”