Ye Fan searched around. Since the small wood wouldn't do, he needed a big tree!
Ye Fan then set his sights on a tree over twenty meters tall. The tree had a diameter of fifty centimeters.
"This is the one."
Ye Fan raised his engineer's shovel and began to chop.
"Duoduo..."
Just as he was getting into his rhythm.
"Bang!" A gunshot rang out.
It was Zhou Xiaoyue who had fired.
Ye Fan immediately raised his shovel, scanning the surroundings.
Dozens of green goblins were charging from the depths of the forest.
"Tuttuttut!"
Another burst of gunfire. This time, Zihan and Zhou Xiaoyue fired together.
The goblins fell one by one.
Su Han glanced over, also grabbing a submachine gun and firing a few bursts into the distance.
In less than a minute, all the goblins within sight were eliminated.
"These goblins still showed up."
"Don't worry about the goblins. Continue logging."
"Alright!"
Ye Fan had no choice but to continue felling trees.
After the wood fell, Chu Shi examined it and shook his head. "It's not suitable!"
Ye Fan said, "Not suitable again? We have to find other wood."
Chu Shi went to cut down another tree, but was stopped.
"Wait, Ye Le, repair this tree."
Ye Fan stopped, a look of confusion on his face. "Isn't this tree unsuitable?"
"That's right, it's unsuitable for assembling vehicles. But it can be used for other things."
"Other things? What other things?"
"Wooden carts and other items."
...
Ye Fan had no choice but to return to felling trees.
From then on, any tree Ye Fan felled, Chu Shi deemed suitable for "other things."
When Ye Fan was cutting down the fifth tree, Xiao Yan also arrived.
Xiao Yan hadn't brought any wild oxen.
He was riding the same horse as before, which was still laden with the submachine gun and ammunition. Xiao Yan himself looked disheveled.
Su Han looked at him and asked, "Xiao Yan, where are the wild oxen? Didn't you manage to rope any?"
"Vice Minister Su Han, I think it's time for those wild oxen to become food. Let's have wild beef today." Xiao Yan said.
Su Han immediately understood what had happened. "Xiao Yan, it seems you didn't manage to rope any wild oxen, but you did kill them. How many did you kill?"
Xiao Yan said sheepishly, "Those wild oxen just wouldn't listen. I couldn't rope them, and they attacked me. In self-defense, I had to kill three wild oxen. I think this is great! We can just use the magical wild beef as food. That way, we won't have to bring food tomorrow."
Su Han didn't blame Xiao Yan. "Since that's the case, let's use that magical wild beef for food."
...
An hour later, a considerable amount of timber had been felled.
The group first used the smaller logs to construct a wooden cart. Then, they loaded the larger logs onto the cart.
The wheels of the wooden cart were the ones they had brought, previously used for assembling cars. Now, they were used to make a wooden cart.
The timber loaded onto the cart weighed less than a ton.
The quality of the timber was completely unsuitable for assembling an engine. Chu Shi had said it was for "other things," but refused to reveal what those things were, citing secrecy.
Su Han and the other five used horses to pull the wooden cart, taking two hours to return to a spot one kilometer away from the missile deployment area, which was five kilometers from the portal.
"Not by the portal? Why are we here?" Su Han asked.
Chu Shi said, "This is where we need to use the wood."
"Here?" Su Han was puzzled.
"Exactly, here. Let's begin. Ye Fan, Xiao Yan, go and transport another cart of wood. This isn't enough."
Ye Fan and Xiao Yan left to fetch more wood.
The remaining people, under Chu Shi's direction, began processing the wood.
Su Han also joined in to help.
By the time Ye Le and Xiao Yan returned, a semi-finished wooden framework had already been erected.
The second cart of wood was also sufficient. Xiao Yan and Ye Fan joined the construction.
After a long period of work, a three-meter-tall framework stood there.
At this point, everyone understood what the wooden framework was.
Su Han said, "It's a missile launcher! But Chu Shi, this missile launcher is too big. The missile is less than two meters tall. Such a large frame is completely unnecessary. And why didn't you build it directly next to the missile? That way, we wouldn't have to move the missile."
Chu Shi said, "No, this isn't a missile launcher. This is a rocket launcher. Since vehicles can be assembled, why can't missiles be assembled? After reasonable calculations, I've devised a plan for assembling a rocket. And this framework is being assembled in advance for the rocket to be assembled in a few days."
Su Han's heart pounded with excitement. "Rocket? Are we going to launch a satellite?"
Chu Shi nodded. "Our Dragon Country has small rockets and small satellites. We had originally planned to transport them in after completing the first phase of the main mission. But the mobility and defense of that black dragon far exceeded our expectations. Transporting a satellite in to launch would be ideal. The think tank was discussing this last night. In the proposed plan, the materials for the rocket launcher were also planned to be transported from the alternate world development department. And by finding this wood today, we've saved even more materials."
Su Han asked, "Oh, so preparations were already underway. Why don't I know about this?"
Su Han was the vice minister of the Alternate World Development Department. How could he not know about such a thing?
"Vice Minister Su Han, please don't mind. Similar plans, one hundred and thirty-two in total, have been discussed. They weren't finalized, so they weren't officially reported. Of course, Vice Minister Su Han, if you wish to participate in the think tank meetings, you are welcome to."
Su Han thought about the scene of a large group of think tank members in a vast conference room speaking various scientific terms that he couldn't understand. He said, "I'd better not go. It's better for you all to handle such professional matters. By the way, this plan to launch a satellite is excellent! Why has it taken so long to finalize?"
"The main bottleneck is the rocket launch. Aerospace experts have calculated that there is a favorable launch window at the portal on the third day, at 13:28. If we miss this window, we will have to wait another three months.
"The combined volume of the rocket and satellite is 5.4 cubic meters. The volume of materials for the rocket launcher is 7 cubic meters. Together, they require a theoretical space volume of 12.4 cubic meters. Theoretically, it would take seven days to transport everything. By then, the rocket launch window will have passed. So the plan was not finalized."
Xiao Yan asked, "If the window is missed, can the rocket not be launched?"
Chu Shi said, "It's possible, but there are too many uncertainties, and a larger rocket would be needed. Some parts of a larger rocket cannot be cut and would not pass through the 2m x 4m portal."
Su Han said, "So, with this wood, we can launch the rocket without transporting the rocket launcher! Will this wood withstand the high temperatures of the rocket launch?"
Chu Shi said, "It's a small rocket being launched, and this framework built with wood can support one small rocket launch. Of course, it can only support one. We can call it a single-use launcher for small rockets."