The merchandise and technologies in the system store were astonishing.
A flight pack for individual soldiers, with a flight duration of up to 37 hours and a maximum altitude of 10 kilometers… valued at 30,000 Tech Points!
A hovering laser tank capable of burrowing and becoming invisible, which in its flat-firing state, could penetrate nearly 4 meters of alloy steel plate from 16 kilometers away with a single shot… valued at 270,000 Tech Points!
A mother ship capable of housing 100 individual attack drones, able to conduct assaults on any global location or facility within 10 hours… valued at 610,000 Tech Points!
Orbital space carriers worth tens of millions of Tech Points, planet shuttles worth hundreds of millions, and star-system level star destroyers worth billions…
In short, to sum it all up.
Every finished product and technical blueprint in the store, without exception, was black technology that was hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years ahead of human technology.
Well, of course.
Even good things have their drawbacks.
For instance… the price!
Damn it, products easily costing hundreds of thousands, millions, or even billions of Tech Points made Meng Hao's mouth water.
Gazing at the pitiful 1,000 Tech Points in the bottom right corner of the system interface.
Meng Hao could only sigh and sort the items by price in descending order.
Heaven always leaves a way out.
This darn system hadn't completely sealed his fate, leaving Meng Hao a window of escape.
[High-Energy Composite Graphite-Silicon-Lithium Battery Technology… valued at 200 Tech Points.]
Excellent!
If the original uranium core couldn't be used to power the mechs, then electric power would be the best choice.
Carefully reviewing the brief description of this technology.
Meng Hao's heart, which had been hanging by a thread, finally settled.
The High-Energy Composite Graphite-Silicon-Lithium Battery Technology was indeed ahead of current human battery technology, but not by a vast margin, only about 10 years.
Moreover, with the technology and material science currently mastered by humanity, it was theoretically possible to research and manufacture high-energy composite graphite-silicon-lithium batteries.
The technology in the system store, compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries, had identical cathode materials. The main difference lay in their anodes.
The anode materials of traditional human lithium-ion batteries were primarily graphite and silicon. However, the lithium metal battery in the system store used a special process for its anode, catalyzing special electrolyte materials and solving the problem that the graphite and silicon phases were universally considered by human battery theorists to be incompatible and incapable of perfect fusion.
Meng Hao made his decision instantly and redeemed the lithium battery technology.
Fortunately.
There were still plenty of various metals and materials excavated, collected, and smelted during the previous mech development and manufacturing process.
As the eastern sky began to brighten, the Taklamakan Desert once again ushered in its dry and scorching weather.
After a night of effort, Meng Hao finally completed the prototype of the high-energy composite graphite-silicon-lithium battery.
After another two hours of testing, including needle penetration, overcharging, external short-circuiting, and thermal stability tests.
This new lithium battery, ten years ahead of human technology, officially rolled off the production line, ready for mass production.
Meng Hao named this lithium battery "Dragon Crystal!"
The energy density of the Dragon Crystal battery reached a terrifying 3722 Wh/kg, more than eight times that of the currently strongest known lithium battery, the Apollo lithium metal, which had an energy density of 417 Wh/kg.
Based on the current volume of the mech's embedded uranium core, the Dragon Crystal battery would weigh half a ton and could perfectly replace the mech's existing power core.
However.
It was still electric powered.
Without the uranium core, the mech's basic performance data was reduced to a meager less than 1/10.
The worst performing aspect was its battery life.
The theoretical endurance time with the uranium core was infinite, but after replacing it with Dragon Crystal batteries, the endurance time was only a mere 260 minutes, which was less than four and a half hours.
Looking helplessly at the initial Type I mech, whose performance had been almost completely stripped away.
Meng Hao sighed.
Forget it.
This was how it was for now.
Completing the system mission was the top priority.
…
Exhausted, Meng Hao could finally leave this godforsaken place, the Taklamakan Desert.
According to the system's settings.
The stealth transport mech, capable of Mach 5, cost 1 Tech Point per ton of load per use.
For a transport less than 10 tons, the fee was calculated as 10 tons.
After paying 10 Tech Points.
A disc-shaped aircraft, almost completely transparent, carried Meng Hao towards the Stone Forest, which he hadn't seen for over two months.
After the aircraft ascended, but before accelerating.
Meng Hao's gaze passed through the transparent hull, looking down.
In his vision, within a hundred-kilometer radius centered on the base, there was an enormous, semi-transparent shield of light.
No wonder he had been toiling in the heart of the desert for over two months and had not been discovered by countries worldwide.
It was estimated that in the lenses of low-orbit satellites and high-altitude aircraft, the area covered by the massive, semi-transparent shield created by the system appeared no different from ordinary desert sand dunes!
…
Several hours later.
Back in his dusty computer chair, Meng Hao was typing furiously on the keyboard.
He needed to find a way to sell the initial Type I mech equipped with the lithium battery core as soon as possible.
After all, the system had only given him 10 days.
To modify the mech and perfectly conceal the system's black technology, thereby avoiding being erased for leaking system information, Meng Hao had already spent a whole night working.
Now, he had nine and a half days left.
"Perhaps I should try listing it on Taowang?"
"After all, it's the largest online sales platform in the country!"
"Even multi-million dollar mansions and yachts can be sold on Taowang, so selling a mech worth millions should be fine, right!"
He didn't hesitate.
As Meng Hao typed his personal information, registered a store, and listed the item on Taowang, he also grabbed a metal dough bowl, as big as half a washbasin, and frantically stuffed food into his stomach.
For the past two months, it had been canned pork, purified water, and bland rice every day, making him almost sick of it.
No time to order takeout.
Meng Hao directly threw all the food he could find in the refrigerator that hadn't spoiled into the rice cooker, added oil, salt, and chicken essence, and made a big stew.
As for whether it tasted strange?
To hell with it.
Would someone whose taste buds were so dull they were about to grow dirt care about strange tastes?
As long as there was meat and vegetables, and all five flavors were present, it was a delicacy of the human world, a feast fit for the gods.
After over an hour of work.
Meng Hao's Taowang store was set up, and the half-basin of food had also been emptied into his stomach.
Then, he picked up a bottle of "Fat House Happy Water," which had been opened over two months ago and had long since lost its fizz, and chugged it down to the last drop.
"So refreshing."
"Full."
"Home is still the best."
Muttering a few words, Meng Hao.
Too lazy to shut down the computer, he stumbled into his room and collapsed onto the long-lost, dusty bed.
"Ah… so refreshing!"
Several minutes later.
His snores were already thunderous.