Chapter 1072

General Ji Xia was not interested in this; the only thought she cared about was one thing.

"Does it have combat power?"

"Uh, no, it doesn't." Lin Cheng choked back, speechless.

"Do people nowadays really care this much about combat power? Have you never heard the saying about convenient transportation?"

Once this kind of mechanical wolf spread throughout the entire empire, countless commoners could enjoy the convenience brought by transportation. And convenient transportation would intensify exchanges between the empire's regions, thereby driving economic growth between cities, and the empire would become even more prosperous and thriving as a result.

"And what's that good for?" General Ji Xia scoffed.

"It doesn't even have basic combat ability, so how can it be used to protect others?"

"Uh, although the mechanical wolf has no combat ability, that's because I didn't add combat ability to it. If I wanted to, I could also turn it into a combat wolf." Lin Cheng explained once more: "Fine… let's just say you have the ability."

General Ji Xia was still somewhat unwilling to believe the words Lin Cheng had spoken.

"Come with me. If you can repair the catapult, I'll set you free…"

"Alright, it's a deal!" Lin Cheng didn't need any other guarantees; as long as they could be released and leave, that was enough.

"Come with me."

General Ji Xia crooked her finger at Lin Cheng, then turned and led him toward the most important armory in the camp.

The Heavenly Kingdom was the same as the ancient nation Lin Cheng lived in in his previous life: any woman over twenty who remained unmarried was already an old maid. However, women with cultivation talent had their lifespans extended through cultivation, so they would not be troubled by marriage.

"Hahaha!"

"Old maid, hehe."

"If only General Ji Xia could be just a little gentler, she wouldn't still be without a partner now." The moment these words were spoken, they drew even more frequent agreement from the crowd.

"Right, right."

"Wrong! What does that have to do with you lot?"

A cold, familiar voice suddenly came from the doorway.

The faces of several craftsmen instantly changed. When they turned their gazes to look, they were so frightened their faces went pale. They quickly shut their mouths, stood up, and pretended they were going to repair the catapult.

Of course, there were still a few fellows who couldn't react in time.

"Haha, of course it does, otherwise why would we be here eating melons?"

"You agree, right?"

"Hahaha?"

The originally lively voices fell deathly silent, and one person's laughter became especially awkward, suddenly standing out.

The few people who couldn't react in time were, for a moment, at a loss as to what was happening. It wasn't until they turned their heads that they saw General Ji Xia's fierce expression, her right hand resting on the hilt of her blade. If they hadn't been her own people, she would probably have already drawn her weapon against them by now.

"Very well, all of you—run ten laps around the camp right now! Immediately!"

"Ah, no—"

Although the craftsmen's physical fitness, honed through years of labor, was better than that of ordinary people, no matter how tough they were, they still couldn't compare to soldiers.

Protesting against General Ji Xia was clearly useless.

"Someone come! Help these craftsmen run ten laps around the camp. If they don't finish, don't even think about eating!"

"Yes!"

The summoned soldiers immediately took the craftsmen off to run laps. Even though the craftsmen were unwilling in every possible way, they ultimately couldn't resist soldiers armed with weapons.

As for Lin Cheng and Miss Qianhui, they were led by Ji Xia to over a dozen giant catapults. Ji Xia pointed at the catapults before them.

Lin Cheng raised his head to look.

In the era of cold weapons, the catapult could be called the strongest heavy siege weapon.

"Repair these catapults, and you can leave."

"Fine, but where's the problem?"

Lin Cheng nodded and agreed to it.

But the elastic-powered catapult before him didn't appear to have any problem. The triangular vertical balance and the launcher aspects looked fine, no issues at all. Could it be that the key component relying on twisted ropes to generate force for launching had malfunctioned?

"Don't you understand alchemy? Look for yourself." Ji Xia didn't understand the principles or repair of catapults; she only knew how to use them.

"What does this have to do with alchemy? Even if there's a problem, it should be the key core—the part relying on twisted ropes to generate force—that has malfunctioned."

"Seems like it. From what those craftsmen said, it really was a key spot in the twisted ropes that had malfunctioned, but they didn't dare to rashly disassemble it."