Chapter 253: Ghost Gold |
However, Qin Ziwen was still quite curious about what type of ore this Mourning Fortress actually produced.
Behind these miners rested a large bamboo basket half a person's height.
Scattered at the bottom of the basket were some ores, their surfaces covered with a layer of grayish-white spots, like they had grown moss.
He figured this must be the special product of the fortress.
He picked up the bamboo basket and went outside.
Only after leaving the dimly lit fortress could he clearly see the true appearance of the ore piled at the bottom of the basket.
On the surface of the deep brown ore were distributed many turbid white spots.
In the dim light of the fortress, he had mistaken them for moss.
Qin Ziwen picked up a piece, weighed it in his hand, and raised an eyebrow.
"If we used this metal to build ships... could they float on the sea?" The thought flashed through his mind, but he immediately shook his head. The material consumption for a pure metal ship would likely be astronomical.
Relying solely on these twenty-some miners, even if they wore their pickaxes down to sparks, it probably wouldn't be enough.
But he still needed to give this metal a simple, easy-to-understand name.
"Since it was dug up by miners, let's call it Ghost Gold." In the current environment, a metal with such special properties was no less valuable than gold; calling it Ghost Gold was no exaggeration.
He immediately summoned Li Tieshan and Li Yue.
He told them about some of the new ore's properties. "You two go and thoroughly test the other properties of Ghost Gold. Prioritize trial production of crossbow mechanisms and armor, and see their combat effectiveness."
Li Tieshan nodded in agreement.
Li Yue stared at the ore in his hand, his face full of shock. "Guild Leader, actually, it's not that there are no metals in nature lighter than wood, but those metals are very unstable. For example, lithium, potassium, sodium—they explode when they encounter water.
Apart from them, the only materials that can maintain strength while being lightweight are things like magnesium alloys. If this were put on Earth, it would absolutely cause an earthquake in the field of materials science."
Qin Ziwen said, "I don't understand all that. I only look at the finished product. You figure it out."
"Yes!" Li Yue nodded heavily, his mind already racing.
He thought of the hand crossbow.
Since they had this Ghost Gold, the weight of a manufactured hand crossbow could be drastically reduced. Wait, no, they didn't necessarily have to control the weight; he could try to continue making the hand crossbow larger!
Maintaining the original weight while increasing the hand crossbow's killing power!
Not just the hand crossbow, the vehicle-mounted crossbow too. If it could be further enlarged, made into a kind of super-heavy ballista...
Li Yue's eyes lit up, as if he could already see the giant crossbow bolts whistling through the air and piercing through colossal beasts.
After all, those tough guys in the hunting teams all had immense strength.
Besides the hand crossbow, there was also the vehicle-mounted crossbow. Li Yue was considering whether they could further enlarge the vehicle-mounted crossbow's size, turning it into a super weapon after enlargement.
Ideally, one shot would make those monsters feel the power of technology.
"Oh, right, Guild Leader, you just said this Ghost Gold can also absorb blood to heal itself? Isn't that memory metal?" Li Yue asked curiously.
"Correct. But we still need to test how much blood is specifically required and how fast the healing speed is. I'll leave that to you as well."
Li Yue agreed excitedly.
Ever since joining the Armory Department and becoming the head of the Ingenious Devices Workshop, Li Yue had clearly felt the changes in his life.
Before, he was just a nobody in the residential complex. If he died, besides his big Golden Retriever, probably no one would remember him.
Later, after joining Brother Qin's team, he had a group. Here, he was no longer alone and helpless.
Later still, as Brother Qin's team grew larger and larger, until the Qin Alliance was established, when he walked through the complex, occasionally people would greet him.
Now, after joining the Ingenious Devices Workshop and becoming its head, within the Qin Alliance, people often greeted him, and some even secretly asked him for favors.
However, he declined them all. He understood who his current privileges came from.
In this world, talent was never in short supply.
He was just an ordinary student.
In the complex, there were quite a few people with similar technical skills. For example, among the other craftsmen currently in the Ingenious Devices Workshop, some were more capable than him.
But the head of the Ingenious Devices Workshop was still him. He understood the deeper reason behind it.
Compared to ability, loyalty was more important.
In private, some people gossiped that he only relied on connections.
He didn't care. So what if he relied on connections? You needed to have connections to rely on in the first place.
Looking at the Ghost Gold in his hand and thinking about its property of self-healing by absorbing blood...
Li Yue suddenly had a vague idea.
It was too bold. He decided not to mention it until there was a finished or semi-finished product.
"You can come down yourselves or send someone to get the ore later. First, follow me to take a look." Qin Ziwen led them into the bottom of the mine pit.
Hearing they could see the miners in person, Li Yue immediately became interested and pulled Tao Fu along to follow closely behind.
When they entered the depths of the fortress and saw these miners who seemed tireless, working continuously, the corner of Li Yue's mouth twitched.
These were probably the workers capitalists loved most.
No pay, no rest, no complaints.
Their entire bodies were just skeletons, not even vocal cords remained.
No sound of complaint could escape.
Li Yue mustered his courage and moved closer.
They showed no reaction to the newcomers, continuing to strike the ore on their own.
The dim light from the wall lamps illuminated the tattered cloth on their bodies and also revealed the abnormal structure of their lower limbs.
"Guild Leader." A flicker of suspicion passed through Li Yue's eyes. "These miners' feet... they're not right. They don't look like human foot bones."
"What do you mean, not human?" Qin Ziwen walked over. He hadn't noticed earlier.
Following the direction Li Yue pointed, he looked. The toe bones on the feet of these skeletons before him were abnormally long and separated from each other. Between the toes remained semi-transparent, calcified traces resembling webbing.
They didn't look like human foot bones, more like the webbed structure of some creature living in water.
"These skeleton miners... could they live in water?" Qin Ziwen pondered.
Was it because the current map was the "Island"?
So the derived resource points were subtly connected to the ocean.
Connecting this to the prompt image seen at the start of the map...
Could there really be a sunken aquatic civilization beneath this sea?
But whatever civilization it was, as long as these resource points and buildings were usable, that was fine.
It doesn't matter if it's a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat.
Leaving the ore vein, Qin Ziwen came to the seaside.
The island reef area was limited. Under the fishing and hunting of many people, the surrounding wild seafood was quickly gathered.
It wasn't that no one had thought of going into the sea, but the currents were swift and the hidden reefs sharp.
Someone had once risked going down and was immediately slammed against the reef by a wave, scraped all over and bleeding.
"Look, over there!"
Beside him, someone exclaimed.
On the distant sea surface, a huge Sea Colossus suddenly leaped out of the water.
Its massive body slammed onto the sea surface, splashing up a wave of tens of tons.