Chapter 320

Eight hours later, the heavy gate of the reforge chamber slowly opened, spewing forth scorching plumes of steam, and a silver-white object was conveyed out on a belt.

It was a metal object of extreme complexity and delicacy, palm-sized, shaped like an X, with a circular dial and four limb-like appendages, resembling a hybrid of a wristwatch and an octopus.

【Item Name: Technological Singularity·Mountable Improver】

【Type: Tool】

【Quality: Perfect】

【Effect: Accelerated Return Law. When installed on a battlefield item, it can alter the item's appearance and add one new effect consistent with the item's design, or add a description to an existing effect. The specific cost and cooldown of the new effect will be slightly higher than normal.】

【Cost: 170 Qi points】

【Cooldown: 10 minutes】

【Requirement: Intelligence attribute greater than or equal to 12】

【Note: Only effective on items of Perfect quality or lower】

【Note: "Humans took a million years to go from making stone tools to inventing fire. From cuneiform to papermaking, it took 2,900 years. From movable type printing to the microscope, 544 years. From the steam engine to the telephone, 106 years. From wooden airplanes to artificial satellites, 54 years. Technological advancement is accelerating faster and faster—hard to imagine what unimaginable achievements future humans will achieve with ever-more-powerful computers."】

【Note: "AI, generate me a picture of Hitler and Roosevelt dueling in wheelchairs!"】

【Note: This item must be bound to its holder. Once bound, it cannot be transferred and may only drop upon the holder's death.】

"Hmm?"

Li Cheng snapped to attention and quickly picked up the Technological Singularity from the conveyor belt.

The device itself weighed about five kilograms; under normal conditions, its four limbs hung naturally like watch straps.

Without hesitation, Li Cheng allocated his one free attribute point to Intelligence, meeting the usage requirement.

He then pulled out the Bat Hook Gun and slowly brought it close to the Technological Singularity.

Crack!

The instant the two made contact, the silver X-shaped singularity instantly activated, clinging to the Hook Gun like an octopus.

Simultaneously, its intricate components rapidly folded, extended, and expanded, completely covering the Hook Gun.

When the transformation finally settled, the new Hook Gun was more than twice its original size, its surface now studded with numerous menacing, jagged metal spikes.

And a new effect was added to its description.

【Effect 2: Pull Back. Upon hitting a movable target, violently yanks the target toward the user.】

【Effect 2 Cost: 50 Qi points, 50 Stamina points】

【Effect 2 Cooldown: 1 minute】

And the Hook Gun's name changed to 【Bat Hook Gun·Modified】

"Hss"

Li Cheng pushed up his Information Synthesis Glasses; the original Hook Gun could only provide mobility, enabling dodging and weaving through complex terrain or swinging between skyscrapers.

The upgraded version now added a control effect: it could pull targets back.

Paired with his newly acquired 【Ape Regression Gun】, it ensured the regression bullets would always hit at close range.

"What other effects will the other items have?"

Li Cheng thought, shook the Bat Hook Gun, and the Technological Singularity immediately reverted to its initial form.

As the saying goes, "Divine artifacts bring surprises; junk items bring shocks." The Technological Singularity's cooldown was tied to the new effect it generated.

In other words, as long as the old effect wasn't used, he could keep testing bindings with other items to observe the detailed descriptions of new effects.

In high-intensity combat, he could choose the most suitable item to bind based on battlefield conditions.

In summary, after repeated exploration, it was now known that the 【Assembly Doll】's new effect after binding the Technological Singularity was: the assembly effect could affect living beings other than the user.

【Holographic Bone Corridor】—reduces cooldown time of temporary skills.

【Skill Transfer USB】—reduces the cost of copied skills by 70%.

【Information Synthesis Glasses】—expands information collection range to 360°, allowing data gathering without turning the head. 【Iron and Victory Flag Spear】—expands the area affected when planting the flag for Effect 2.

【Ape Regression Gun】—increases bullet capacity limit to 8 rounds.

【Suicide Notebook】—converts predicted death images into animated GIFs.

【Automated 3D Warehouse】—reduces item storage and retrieval time, enabling instant retrieval and storage of larger items, such as an entire warship.

【Ten-Ingredient Tonifying Pill】—makes the pill more delicious.

【Electronic Pet Egg】—increases the internal space within the egg, improving living comfort.

【Bat-Wing Weight Armored Motorcycle】—increases engine power, speed, and carrying capacity.

These were, essentially, all the modifications to Li Cheng's equipment.

The remaining 【Yin-Yang Blade】 was Epic quality, beyond modification range. 【Proof of the Gearshaper】 itself was a Power Seed, with no modification options.

The Toy Factory Key, Ten Thousand Eyes Communication Earpiece, and Emergency Escape Card were all special items, unmodifiable.

"Overall, the true value of the Technological Singularity far exceeds that of other Perfect-quality offensive or defensive items—it's approaching Epic level."

No mistake, no error, no flaw, no omission, no inconsistency!

Li Cheng rubbed his chin, thinking, "Notably, the modification effects vary in strength across different items.

For example, the 【Ten-Ingredient Tonifying Pill】 merely enhances aroma and taste—useless except for causing addiction.

But the 【Ape Regression Gun】 directly added three more bullet slots—clearly effective.

Of course, the most dramatically improved was the 【Assembly Doll·Modified】."

He returned to the real world, entered the 3D warehouse, and told Hui Yu to fetch a fresh duck from the cold storage.

"Are we making roast duck tonight?"

Hui Yu brought the duck over with eager anticipation. Li Cheng said nothing, merely placed the plucked and eviscerated duck on the operating table, then inserted batteries, gasoline, a water pump, and fiber optics into its hollow cavity.

After completing this, he took a white mouse from the living creature rack and activated the 【Assembly Doll·Modified】 effect, severing the mouse's head.

Under the Assembly Doll's manipulation, the mouse's head remained alive, its eyeballs spinning in terror, its mouth twitching silently without producing any sound.

Li Cheng moved slowly and steadily, carefully placing the rat's head onto the broken neck of the iced duck.

Using a battery as the energy source, gasoline as blood, a water pump as the heart, and optical fiber as nerves, he finally sewed up the body cavity with thread.

Thump, thump!

The hairless, grotesque creation of a rat-headed duck-neck actually began to struggle on the spot, and after great effort, slowly stood up.

Even the usually thick-skinned Huiyu showed a stunned expression on her face, and Li Cheng's expression was equally bizarre as he continued to activate 【Assembled Ragdoll · Modified】, adding components onto the rat-headed duck-neck creation.

A ducted fan from an aircraft model, a nail gun, and a LiDAR unit.

After a bout of extreme modification, the utterly ugly, thoroughly evil-aura rat-headed duck-neck creation, driven by supernatural power, moved in a bizarre fashion, instinctively struggling to leap off the operating table and fleeing in panic.

Li Cheng stood in place and snapped his fingers, controlling the long-horned Dynastes beetle in the nearby glass container to fly out of its rearing box and pursue the rat-headed duck-neck monster.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

The rat-headed creation ran and fled like a real duck, and when pressed hard by the Dynastes beetle, the ducted fans on both sides of its body spun on their own, providing tremendous thrust and sending it straight into the sky.

However, this was only an instinctual will to survive; the rat-headed monster was unfamiliar with its new body, and before long the ducted fans on both sides spun at uneven speeds, causing it to stall and crash into a cardboard box in the corner of the wall.

The long-horned Dynastes beetle continued its pursuit; the rat-headed monster, driven to desperation, let out terrified cries and, aided by the LiDAR, fired the nail gun wildly at the beetle, only for the latter to easily dodge.

The experiment was about done at this point; Li Cheng controlled the beetle to clamp the rat-headed monster's neck and fly back, then used 【Assembled Ragdoll · Modified】 to remove the rat's head and place it back onto its original body.

"Squeak squeak——"

The little white mouse immediately fled in terror to the very corner of the glass container; if there were such a thing as the area of psychological trauma, it would surely be infinite.

"Holy—"

Huiyu, who had watched the entire experiment from the side, was utterly dumbfounded, scratching her head constantly as she tried to find the right words but couldn't think of any, and after holding it in for half a moment blurted out: "What the heck is this thing? How is it so damn creepy?"

"The dream modification artifacts of organizations like Prometheus, Gen-sys Biotech, the Thousand-Throated Beast, the Evil Science Alliance, and the Laughing Maniac Troupe."

(End of chapter)