Chapter 1340

He picked up his chopsticks, lifted the food, warmed it slightly with the heat from his spell flames, and began to eat heartily.

Taste didn't matter at all—Lin Cheng's mind was entirely occupied with speeding up the current progress, crunching the data, and improving and simplifying things.

But to be honest, once war machines had reached this stage, they could hardly be simplified any further; any more simplification would likely cost them their original effectiveness.

"Mm, the gunpowder ratio for the mixed stone shells still needs to be improved."

The original ratio didn't seem suited to this built-in compression type—the explosion would undergo a secondary detonation within the confined space—and one also had to factor in the number of catapults and the coverage range, in order to arrive at a suitable gunpowder ratio.

"This project is bigger than I imagined." Lin Cheng's head ached.

At this moment, he finally came to appreciate the limits of a single person's intellect. If he had a team, he wouldn't have to go through all this trouble, nor would he have to personally collect and compile every piece of data.

"Launching the heavy crossbow bolts and the spinning blades is ultimately not the same thing—I feel the pulling force still needs to be strengthened."

"Won't the blade chariot be too hard to operate? Maybe I should simplify it—one person for the engine, one for the blades, one for the steering wheel?"

But he also had to consider the possibility that the enemy might capture a chariot and turn it against them.

Lin Cheng's muttering ended along with his meal; he didn't even notice when Li Wuchang was woken by the noise.

Still full of vigor, he went on to busy himself with his own affairs.

Sensing the clothing draped over her, Li Wuchang's cheeks gradually flushed—warm on the body and warm in the heart. Tonight, I'll just keep you company.

Sloe-eyed, ah, my troublesome darling.

Lying sprawled on the table, before long, watching her, she gradually fell asleep again.

In his spare resting moments, Lin Cheng swept his gaze around and, seeing Li Wuchang sprawled on the table, suddenly had an illusion—it was as if… it were Qianhui lying there, keeping him company. But looking closely, he realized it was An'an, and a strange, indescribable sense of comfort welled up in his heart.

Is she keeping me company? Perhaps I'm just overthinking it—after all, An'an is a princess.

The night passed without a word.

The next day, when Li Wuchang woke, the surroundings had already changed dramatically. Lin Cheng and the three thousand soldiers who had toiled through the night each sported a pair of panda eyes, having worked overtime to turn out a batch of war machines.

The catapults alone had an astonishing output of thirty units, several dozen blade chariots, and there were also some samples of heavy crossbow bolts and spinning blades.

"You… didn't sleep all night?"

Coming up behind Lin Cheng, she patted his shoulder, and Li Wuchang asked with concern in her eyes.

"I'm fine—I'm young, what's there to fear about staying up late?" Lin Cheng waved his hand. Despite his panda eyes, his spirit was still plenty vigorous.

"Want some cocoa?" He winked at her.

"Chocolate? Sure." Li Wuchang was puzzled at first, thinking Lin Cheng was a bit overexcited, but then happily agreed.

Perhaps it was the aftereffect of staying up late—the more he pushed himself, the more exhilarated he became.

The two sat down, called for cups, milk, white sugar, and boiling water.

The canyon space had plenty of cocoa beans, and the blue foxes were the best gardeners. While ensuring their food, he also had some of the cocoa beans ground into powder by the blue foxes, for later use in making cocoa drinks.

For instance, right now, Lin Cheng took out the cocoa powder and poured it into their two cups. Without needing to be told, An'an had already skillfully prepared her own cocoa milk, stirring with a spoon, and the aroma of cocoa slowly spread from the cup. Unable to resist, she took a sip—the familiar taste, though the sweetness seemed a little lacking.

Being able to drink a cup of hot cocoa first thing in the morning was quite pleasant indeed.

"How did you find it?"

Li Changan asked about the reason. Back in the day, she had also tried sending people to look for something similar, but they simply couldn't find it—perhaps because of the geographical conditions, or perhaps her subordinates just weren't up to the task.

"．「My pet found it. I didn't expect it to be cocoa, so I collected some…"

Two nights later.

The arriving Holy Kingdom Coalition Army suddenly launched a surprise attack, but it was spotted by the night watch soldiers right away.

The alarm bells rang out in an instant, and all the imperial soldiers sprang into action, taking their positions. They had been prepared—even while sleeping, they didn't take off their armor.

As early as the day when the Holy Kingdom Coalition Army arrived, Lord Xuan Wuji and Lei Yi had ordered that defenses be kept up at night, just in case.

Now it had indeed come true.

The Holy Kingdom Coalition Army assumed that, without the shelter of Silven Nancheng, the Empire's two great armies would become fragile. On top of that, when the two great armies set out (money spent), they truly hadn't brought any large war machines with them, which gave the arriving Holy Kingdom Coalition Army a baffling confidence.

After resting for only an afternoon, they launched a surprise attack that very night.

But with the secret addition of Lin Cheng to the imperial army, the combat power they now possessed was something a weak coalition army could never have imagined.

"Start up the blade chariots—let them taste despair!" Lord Xuan Wuji's eyes were sharp as he decisively issued the counterattack order.

"Yan Liu's grudge can finally be avenged!"

"Yes!"

Ten blade chariots were quickly started up, and sixty soldiers swiftly climbed aboard. Apart from one driver, the rest were responsible for defense.

Under the drivers' control, the chariots sped toward the battlefield! L—