Chapter 114 Old Friend

The cold night wind blew in through the window, and the whirring of the lathe filled the air, making it somewhat noisy. Han Xiao casually chatted with Lü Qian.

"You've had this shop for quite a few years. How's business?"

Lü Qian had her long hair tied up at the moment, and she was wearing a protective mask as she welded metal. Hearing this, she didn't even look up and said, "The location is so remote, business is naturally bad."

"When I came in, you seemed pretty busy."

Lü Qian shook her head. "I'm the only one in the shop. There's a backlog of orders, so of course I'm always busy."

"Don't you hire any help?"

Lü Qian paused, then sighed softly and said, "I did, but they left."

"Probably because the salary was too low." Han Xiao clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"Is that the reason?" Lü Qian's tone was suspicious.

She was just an ordinary person and didn't know about those major events. Han Xiao had left without saying goodbye back then, disappearing without a trace, and Lü Qian had always held a grudge.

The apprentice she had finally managed to get was gone just like that.

Although they hadn't spent much time together, Han Xiao had left a deep impression on Lü Qian. Before, the shop had only her and Old Man Lü, but with another person, there was more life. The time they had spent together had been quite happy. But after waiting for a long time, Han Xiao never came back, and Lü Qian's mood was low for a long time.

"Since business is bad, have you ever thought about going somewhere else?"

Lü Qian shook her head. "This is my home."

Dense footsteps approached, and a team of field agents quickly arrived in the night.

At this moment, the knocked-out field agent slowly woke up, his face changing drastically. He immediately wanted to do a tactical roll to get up, but suddenly a fist as big as a sandbag rapidly enlarged in his vision.

Bang!

Right in front of the field team, Han Xiao knocked him down again with one punch.

"Don't move, hands up!" The field team members raised their guns one after another, aiming at Han Xiao. The team leader shouted, "We are the Xinglong National Land Strategic Defense Bureau. We now suspect you have identity issues. Come with us."

Clang—

Several flashes of cold light disappeared in a flash, and the barrels of the field team's pistols suddenly broke open, the cuts smooth.

The team leader's face changed drastically. "Request backup..."

Bang bang bang!

Lü Qian's vision blurred. The Han Xiao who had been sitting in the chair a second ago was now standing in the middle of the crowd. The menacing field team was instantly knocked to the ground. With his stats, it was no problem to instantly knock out these ordinary level ten or so field soldiers.

"The security forces are too weak. I hope this time will make Bureau 13 increase the guards here... Hmm, it's best to make it so that the players who come to do missions can't even get in the door."

Han Xiao shook his head, took out a thick stack of banknotes, placed it on the table, and turned to leave.

Lü Qian came back to her senses, stared at Han Xiao's back, and suddenly asked, "Have we met before?"

Han Xiao didn't turn his head and chuckled, "Never met."

As his figure disappeared into the night, Lü Qian put down her work, took off her protective mask, brushed a strand of hair that had fallen from her temples, and suddenly smiled, revealing a knowing smile.

...

Having smuggled himself out of Xidu and boarded the helicopter back to the shelter, Han Xiao finally took out the four blueprints he had obtained and carefully examined them.

[Blueprint - Magnetic Shield Chain Floating Shuttle]

[Blueprint - Sound Strike Ball Penetrate]

[Blueprint - Sound Strike Ball Vibrate]

[Blueprint - Sound Strike Ball Scan]

These four machines formed an independent combat system, combining offense and defense. The three different types of Sound Strike Balls were the core equipment, each with different functions that complemented each other. As the name suggested, the principle of the Sound Strike Balls was related to sonic attacks.

Ultrasonic and infrasonic waves were used for the Penetrate type, focusing on lethality. Noise waves and loud sound waves were used for the Vibrate type, emphasizing control. The Scan type focused on support and was related to sonar detection. It could also enhance the power of the other two types of Sound Strike Balls and convert and adjust the ambient sound in a certain area to form a special area that amplified sonic attacks... and also had MP3 functionality.

The learning requirements for these four blueprints were level 45 and an intelligence of 250 or more. The required knowledge was [Basic Acoustics Lv5], [Basic Mechanical Engineering Lv5], [Basic Energy Theory Lv5], [Basic Energy Conversion Lv5], [Basic Wide-Area Sensing Lv3], and [Basic Electromagnetic Principles Lv4]. Han Xiao now had 68 potential points, spending 12 points to upgrade his knowledge to meet the learning requirements.

A day later, Han Xiao returned to the shelter and immediately started manufacturing.

The core principle of the Sound Strike Balls was acoustics. The most important part was the emitter of the sonic attacks, which required electromagnetic chips to form a channel for condensing sound frequencies. Depending on the type of sonic attack, fine adjustments had to be made, and connecting these channels to form a three-dimensional spherical framework was technically difficult. It took him a lot of time to finally create the finished product.

Three metal balls lay quietly on the lathe, about two-thirds the size of a human head. The shape was not perfectly round, but had some edges. The outside was cold armor, protecting the inner core. The gaps in the armor concealed the nozzles that released the sonic attacks.

The original method of control was gestures + whistles. Han Xiao changed it to neural link control, wearing a special headset generator that converted neuron signals within a radius of sixty meters, which were recognized by the receiver inside the Sound Strike Ball, achieving the purpose of control.

"Rise." Han Xiao thought.

The bottom armor of the three Sound Strike Balls opened, revealing dark holes, spewing white tail flames, and floated up, suspended in mid-air. The Sound Strike Balls had the ability to fly and could move flexibly in the air, belonging to a medium-range combat method. Han Xiao familiarized himself with the operating method and flashed his mind.

Then, he tested the power of the Sound Strike Balls. He observed that the attack range of the Sound Strike Ball Penetrate was about 20 meters. The Penetrate type was mainly used to kill targets. Ultrasonic and infrasonic pulses could cause significant armor penetration damage, attacking targets through obstacles. The attack range was a directional linear and inverted cone shape.

The basic attack power of the Sound Strike Ball Penetrate was 81~130, which seemed not high, but in fact, it was not. The characteristic of sonic attacks was high armor penetration, and the damage reduction was very light. With Han Xiao's attribute bonus and skill bonus, one shot could cause 350~400 damage. If you add critical hits and Willpower Burning, it's simply merciless, with the same burst damage as a Ghost Gauss sniper rifle with a basic attack power of 250 or more. Moreover, the output of the Sound Strike Ball Penetrate was more stable than the Ghost Gauss sniper rifle and could be used as a regular main combat method.

The Sound Strike Ball Vibrate was a range control. When the ball vibrated, it emitted high-frequency blasts, noise, and strong vibrations, causing negative states such as dizziness, shock, paralysis, and coma. The attack area was a circle with a diameter of ten meters. The Sound Strike Ball Scan deployed a sonic amplification field with a diameter of one hundred meters, enhancing damage and effects.

Boom!!

The Sound Strike Ball Penetrate suddenly accelerated and knocked a dent in the steel wall, making a loud noise.

The Sound Strike Ball structure was precise. The reason for using it for impact was not because it was tough, but to test the internal impact resistance. This impact reduced its durability by 17 points, while the durability of the Sound Strike Ball was 1600 points.

"It lost 1% of its durability with one hit. If it's attacked, it seems a little fragile," Han Xiao thought.

The three sets of Sound Strike Balls combined offense, control, and support, complementing each other, while the defense was completed by the Magnetic Shield Chain Floating Shuttle, which was similar in principle to the Magnetic Chain Split Blades. However, this type of floating shuttle was used for defense and was essentially a "shield generator". The floating shuttles formed a shape in the air as endpoints, electromagnetically linking each other, automatically interlocking and unfolding, and the framed shape became an electromagnetic shield.

Shield technology was a common technology in the universe, but there was basically no mature shield technology on Aquamarine. By the standards of the universe, this shield-shaped shield that could only defend on one side was a rudimentary technology, but it was considered a very rare machine in version 1.0.

He could control up to four Sound Strike Balls. Any more than that would be distracting, and the operation would not be so precise. For a mechanic, it was not that they could immediately exert the full function of powerful machines as soon as they got them. Many sophisticated machines needed to be used skillfully before they could be used flexibly. The level of mechanic players was also reflected in the way they used their mobile phones, which was considered micro-management.

However, for the experienced Technician Han, not to mention micro-management, what... cough, anything was fine.

"Adding the Sound Strike Ball system, my regular tactics already have four types. The core system is the Teng Snake mech, and with the other three, I have ranged, melee, and mid-range options. It can cope with various situations, which is enough. I don't need a new tactical system in the short term."

Han Xiao suddenly thought that he had intercepted Lü Cheng's things, and he wondered what Lü Cheng's reaction would be when he got the replacement blueprints. Old Man Lü might come to complain.

That's fine too. He hadn't seen Old Man Lü for a while and missed the magnificent sight of the snow.