Chapter 346: Toxic Gas

"A high-rise in Kuala Lumpur suffered an ammonia and chlorine dioxide leak; over a hundred people at a charity gala were rushed to hospital."

The next day, Li Cheng swiped through his phone, looked at the news on Weibo, and muttered, "Can't they be a little more creative? It's always a toxic gas leak."

To cover up the anomalous incidents produced by killing fields, goc and the governments of various countries often fabricate some bizarre excuses.

Villagers collectively saw a flood dragon rising from the water? Don't panic, it's just a collective hallucination caused by a chemical plant's toxic gas leak nearby.

All the teachers and students of the boarding school saw a fierce ghost descend in the middle of the night? Relax, it must be food poisoning from the cafeteria, compounded by the students' high psychological pressure causing mass hysteria.

Abnormal celestial phenomena are contrails from a new type of rocket launch; the sudden lockdown of a downtown area is because of a natural gas pipeline explosion.

Over time, it's inevitably a bit too deliberate.

Fortunately, now there's AI technology. The network surveillance department can simply slap an AI label on every supernatural video that hits the internet, drastically cutting down the workload.

So, some extremely absurd videos—like elementary schoolers using summoning magic to call forth a Milk Dragon to beat up a mutant three-headed shark, or a middle-aged corporate slave uncle transforming into a magical girl to bravely rescue crowds at a fire scene—although they look fake at first glance, really might actually be true.

"Too bad they didn't kill Gouchen."

Li Cheng closed the news with some regret. Gouchen and Zhongtian Beiji had plenty of enemies. When Li Cheng had gone to the black market before, he didn't even need to ask around—just hanging out Gouchen's shredded flesh was enough for someone to buy it at a high price on the spot.

A few hours later, Gouchen was hit with a high-powered curse. Right in front of the camera, like the Yellow River bursting its banks, everything came pouring out in one gushing stream—guts and entrails dragged out and all.

Unfortunately, the survival ability of Transcendents is terrifyingly impressive. Zhongtian Beiji took his brother's five viscera and six bowels and shoved them back in by hand, force-fed him life potions all the way, and rushed him to Back-Alley Hospital. After a consultation of experts, he was pulled back from the brink.

However, some rumors say that after the surgery, Gouchen's farts now come with their own whistle.

Buzz buzz—

His phone buzzed, showing a text from the Toy Factory's intelligent core, notifying him that a new batch of props had finished manufacturing and was ready for pickup.

Now that the shop was officially up and running, there was a steady stream of orders every day.

At the same time, some players who had precious Otherworld Relics on hand but weren't in a rush to forge equipment would also come by to peddle artifacts.

So Li Cheng simply opened a new line of business, directly spending in-game currency to purchase Relics. Every day he confirmed orders, received goods, restocked, notified customers to pick up their items, and appraised the authenticity of artifacts—he was busy as a spinning top.

Normally speaking, hiring a few sales associates and a manager should have eased things up quite a bit.

But Li Cheng didn't trust outsiders from the talent market. Who knew if they were commercial spies sent by other major guilds?

And he couldn't let Huiyu manage the shop either—that girl's brain really isn't enough. A seller brought in a life-size figure of an all-metal Freedom Gundam, claiming it was the thirteenth bronze figure of Changle Palace cast by Qin Shi Huang back in the day, and she actually believed it.

When she gets old, she'll definitely go hard buying shady health supplements.

Letting her watch the shop would bankrupt the place in minutes.

"Sure enough, I still have to find a way to get the Toy Factory to build some robot employees and assign them to the shop, to lighten the burden a bit—I barely have any time to screw in screws these days."

Li Cheng thought silently to himself, used the transmission array in the phone booth in Back Alley to teleport directly to the wilderness where the Toy Factory was located, then hopped on a Bat-Wing motorcycle and headed for the factory.

Every day, screwing screws into the tanks kept his Cannoneer level steadily rising, and he had newly activated two traits.

One was 【Defender】: the cannon could release magical energy to drape an invisible temporary shield over himself and nearby units designated by the Gear-Mage himself.

The shield could withstand one tank main-gun shot, then dissipate automatically upon impact.

The second was 【Self-Destruct】: the Cannoneer could remotely detonate the cannon, triggering self-destruct.

Depending on the type of cannon, it would deal explosion, fire, or force-field damage respectively.

By the next level-up, he could activate a new trait that raised the cap on controllable cannons. A single person's firepower would rival or even surpass a modern artillery battery.

Just as he was thinking, the Toy Factory arrived.

"Holy crap, what is all this stuff."

The moment he stepped through the main gate, Li Cheng's eyelid twitched violently.

The Toy Factory, originally a rough and minimalist industrial style, had at some unknown point been hung with a massive number of vertical banners. The banners were red as the base, with a black-and-white side-view of the Toy Factory in the middle, fluttering crisply in the wind.

And beneath the banners, the broadcast speakers were playing a wildly passionate electronic-music speech.

"Kun jing kao? Zi te tu, gan ju xi_x0010_! Ku jie ji ma!!!"

Although he couldn't understand the electronic language from the broadcast at all, from the sonorous, forceful tone and the rising and falling cadence, Li Cheng could roughly guess what it was saying.

"Respected Factory Lord, you've arrived!"

The intelligent core rushed over in a hurry, and along with it, all the cylinder robots came scurrying over as well.

These little robots had somehow gotten materials from who-knows-where, and had actually cut and sewn themselves an entire set of cylindrical military uniforms. The uniforms themselves were hung with a large number of intricate and complicated collar badges, chest badges, and shoulder boards. In addition, every robot had a peaked cap perched on its head, and a Luger pistol strapped to its waist.

The moment they saw Li Cheng, they excitedly raised their two right mechanical arms in unison and let out a uniform electronic chant, "Hee! Hai!"

"What's going on here?"

Li Cheng stepped past the cylinder robots and asked the intelligent core directly, "Explain."

The intelligent core said: "It's like this. Recently the factory's order volume has kept increasing. Some cylinder robots, after long-term work, have been experiencing rising battery wear and reduced work efficiency, with maintenance time constantly growing.

!

And through data testing, if we loosen a few restrictions and let the cylinder robots freely choose their own external attire, workplace decor style, and broadcast playlist,

it can effectively improve factory operational efficiency. Compared to before, there's roughly a 19.6% increase."

What does this mean, listening to broadcasts every day, learning the Legalist and Daoist thoughts of art students who failed the college entrance exam, and getting more enthusiastic about screwing in screws?

Li Cheng's mouth twitched. At least this time the cylinder robots had made some progress—they weren't playing the "Erika" tune or posing their four arms into a windmill shape—so he couldn't be bothered to manage it.

He immediately said to the intelligent core, "Report on the factory's recent situation."

"Yes. Over the past two weeks, the Toy Factory has produced a total of 60 props of various qualities. The concepts intercepted amount to three A-grade concepts, six B-grade concepts, and twenty-seven C/D-grade concepts.

The remaining Singularity Points total 28,157."

Sure enough, gotta shear the sheep!

Who says this wool is old? This wool is awesome.

Li Cheng couldn't help but rub his hands together. Spending big money to buy land and open a shop really wasn't a mistake. On one hand, it could maximize the use of the Toy Factory's production advantage, earning a steady stream of funds for the Cannoneer class.

On the other hand, he could shear the customers' wool hard, intercepting Singularity Points and concepts left and right, stockpiling equipment for himself.

"Pour all the Singularity Points in. Upgrade the Analysis Room and the Design Room."

Li Cheng waved his hand grandly. Upgrading the Analysis Room could improve concept quality; upgrading the Design Room could optimize blueprints and design products that better fit customer demands.

In fact, a customer had already come in to complain — the customer had requested a humanoid combat robot like Battle Angel Alita, but what Li Cheng delivered was the Northeast Sister Rain model.

The customer was greatly dissatisfied, demanded a refund and return, and made a fuss all the way to the Back Alley Management Committee.

The market regulatory department sent the Northeast Sister Rain Battle Princess for inspection, and the conclusion was that the Battle Angel Northeast Sister Rain stood 1.8 meters tall, weighed 200 jin, had size-45 feet, and in terms of horsepower, endurance, and combat power was far stronger than the light and frail Alita.

Literally, her arms could run horses and her fists could hold a person standing.

The committee therefore rejected that customer's refund and return request, and made him post an apology thread on the player forum to apologize to Zhu Xing Zhen Tai, further boosting Zhu Xing Zhen Tai's reputation.

The onlookers all exclaimed, "So badass."

Incidentally, the rotating chairman of the Back Alley Management Committee at the time was 【Beside Truth】.

Just as Li Cheng was planning the future construction direction of the toy factory, the system's mission prompt sounded.

(End of this chapter)