The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

"That's right, a complete 'industrial revolution'!"

Hephaestus exclaimed excitedly, "We need automated and intelligent production lines, my lord! I request that you grant us Level 2 access to the 'Heart of God'!"

As he spoke, he projected a brand-new design blueprint, personally drawn by him, onto the center of the council chamber. The blueprint depicted a massive and sophisticated "exoskeleton powered armor."

Unlike the bulky exoskeletons of the "Gear Guard," it fits the human body perfectly, like a second skin.

Its power source is no longer outdated steam, but a miniature "bio-battery" made from fragments of a monstrous heart.

Its arms are equipped with foldable high-frequency cutting blades and small electromagnetic guns.

Hephaestus said seriously, "I call it the 'Raider' Generation. It can not only replace the Gear Guard's bulky exoskeleton, but also replace manpower in factory production."

"Look here, after setting the autopilot permission, the wearer can get out of the armor, and the armor will continue to perform the mechanized operation."

"If we want to 'mass produce' this equipment, we need to use the level 2 access to the 'Heart of God,' and right now, the last thing we lack is energy."

Shen Ge seemed to see the Special Operations Department creating the strange energy mechanical force. He had no reason to refuse and agreed to Hephaestus's application without hesitation.

The "Technology Department," led by Hephaestus and Ellie, was divided into more than a dozen task forces.

The "Smelting Group" is responsible for researching how to build an "electric arc furnace" that can reach higher temperatures to refine a purer "flesh-blood alloy".

The "Transmission Group" is responsible for designing and manufacturing "electromagnetic servo motors" that are more precise and efficient than steam pistons.

The "machine tool group" undertook the most crucial task: to develop "CNC machine tools" capable of precision cutting from those old steam machine tools that could only perform rough machining!
This was an incredibly difficult process, as they lacked both the most basic theoretical knowledge and high-precision sensors.

Often, even a circuit diagram that seemed extremely simple to Hephaestus required them to spend weeks to understand and digest.

But they possessed one thing that scientists of the old era lacked: the ability to utilize "strange energy." When the laws of physics failed to solve problems, they began to try to find alternative paths using "strange biology."

Since traditional sensors are not accurate enough, they use "compound eye" crystals extracted from a certain deep-sea exploration monster as optical locators.

Since high-strength alloy materials cannot be cut by conventional knives, the sharpest "biological blade" is made by using the "claws" of a bizarre creature with "cutting" characteristics.

Even when they were designing the first-generation "central processing unit," Hephaestus put forward a truly insane idea—

He carefully made a "neural link" between a highly developed "ganglion" taken from the brain of the "Abyss Stitcher" and a silicon wafer covered with tens of thousands of microcircuits!
He's actually trying to create... a "biological computer"!
From the very beginning, this industrial revolution embarked on a path of "magical modification" that was completely different from the Earth's technology in Shen Ge's memory, filled with the unique "madness" of this world.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of the smelting team, the enormous "electric arc furnace" was finally successfully built.

When the first blue electric arc, powered directly by the "Heart of God" and powerful enough to instantly melt the hardest alloys, lit up the furnace core, all the engineers watching erupted in a frenzied cheer.

From then on, they were freed from the predicament of relying solely on outdated coke ovens for rough processing. The purity of the "flesh and blood alloy" was directly improved by three levels, and its strength and toughness reached a whole new level.

A steady stream of high-quality alloys was sent to the downstream "machine tool group," which was the core of the entire industrial revolution.

The progress of CNC machine tools was extremely slow at first; they built the first prototype according to the drawings drawn by Hephaestus.

But when they input a simple "straight line cutting" program, the cutter head driven by the electromagnetic servo motor drew a crooked, wavy line on the alloy plate.

"The accuracy is insufficient; our sensors cannot provide sufficiently precise coordinate feedback. This thing is worse than an apprentice's!" The senior engineer in charge of testing slammed his fist on the control panel in frustration.

The shadow of failure loomed over the entire project team. Just when everyone was at a loss, Ellie, the usually taciturn "assistant" who only knew how to follow Hephaestus and learn from him, came up with a solution that no one had ever thought of.

She and her team disassembled the entire compound eye of a strange, deep-sea explorer they had previously hunted. That compound eye was composed of tens of thousands of individual tiny lenses, each capable of capturing different spectral and distance information.

“If we can’t locate it ‘actively’, then why…not let the machine ‘see for itself’?” Ellie said to all the engineers, standing in front of the enormous compound eye.

She boldly proposed using this compound eye as an "optical locator," installing it directly above the CNC machine tool so that it could "overlook" the entire machining platform like an eye.

Then Hephaestus personally wrote a completely new algorithm that allowed the position of the blade to no longer rely on rigid coordinate input, but to self-correct by capturing visual information fed back from the compound eyes in real time.

This plan is logically almost insane, but with the help of "weird biology," it has achieved miraculous success.

When they restarted the modified machine tool, everyone held their breath.

As the ferocious biological blade cut, it made extremely subtle "autonomous adjustments" based on minute deviations imperceptible to the naked eye, transmitted back from the compound eye.

Finally, when the process ended, a perfectly cut, mirror-smooth standard gear part was presented to everyone!
It worked!
The entire factory instantly erupted in a thunderous cheer!

They tackled the toughest challenge of "precision manufacturing" in a way that was uniquely "modified" in this world!

In this way, the development of the "biological computer" on which Hephaestus had placed high hopes finally achieved its final breakthrough.

……

……

While the technical departments were undergoing a vigorous revolution, the lives of the citizens of "Iron Heart" were also undergoing tremendous changes.

The most noticeable change came from the dining table. Thanks to the continued bountiful harvests of "Eden" and the increased efficiency of the fishing and hunting teams, food was no longer a "luxury" in this doomsday fortress for the first time.

The menu at the central canteen has become much more diverse, changing from the previous monotonous and strangely smelly "roasted sea monster meat" and "nutritional paste".

"Ragnar's Special Roasted Potatoes," with their crispy exterior and soft interior, sprinkled with salt crystals extracted from seaweed, are a favorite "hearty dish" for all manual laborers. "Alai's Heartwarming Mushroom Soup," made with over a dozen different types of mushrooms cultivated in a vertical farm, simmered in a flavorful fish bone broth, is a slow cooker. Every sip is bursting with delicious flavor, soothing even the most weary soul.

Even with Ellie's "friendly sponsorship," some discarded small steam presses were transformed into "juicers."

The sweet and sour berries brought from "Paradise Island" were squeezed into fresh juice, becoming the children's most anticipated "limited edition" drink.

The sallow complexion caused by long-term malnutrition in people's faces has gradually faded, replaced by a healthy rosy glow.

The friction and conflict that once arose over food distribution have also vanished.

With people having enough to eat, they began to have more "pursuits," and Alai's "Ministry of Civil Affairs" took the opportunity to launch "night schools" and "interest groups."

After a long day of hard work, the workers can choose to learn basic literacy and arithmetic in the evening, or join the "Mechanical Repair Interest Group" organized by Ellie to learn how to maintain their aging prosthetics.

The survivors from "Paradise Island" formed a "singing team" and a "craft team," bringing a touch of art to this cold steel city with their melodious songs.

They also use their skillful hands to weave discarded metal parts and the shells of strange creatures into exquisite decorations to adorn their monotonous metal rooms.

Children's laughter began to be heard more and more often in every corner of the city.

Moya also made her first group of friends of the same age, and they would water the glowing mushrooms together in the Garden of Eden.

They would sit together in the classroom of "Iron Heart Academy" and listen to Alai tell those distant and beautiful legends about the old era.

One day, when Shen Ge finished "instructing" Hephaestus and walked out of the command center, he saw Kyle solemnly teaching a group of teenagers how to use wooden sticks for basic combat training on the edge of the deck.

Meanwhile, Alai and Moya sat to the side with a group of women and children, mending clothes with eerie, glowing tendons while laughing and cheering them on.

The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the gray clouds, casting a warm glow and gilding this vibrant scene with a golden outline.

Even Shen Ge couldn't help but stop in his tracks at that moment.

Shen Ge never expected that his accidental arrival in this world would lead to such a significant change for this post-apocalyptic world.

In any case, it's always good that humanity can continue.

Having developed to its current state, "Iron Heart" can continue operating once Ark Zero is salvaged or more dream fragments are found in the far north and he returns to "reality".

A few days later, Hephaestus pushed open the door to the control room. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was a mess like a bird's nest, but his face was filled with a manic joy as he rushed to Shen Ge!
He held in his hands a piece of material no bigger than the palm of his hand, half of which was a silicon crystal plate that shimmered with a faint light, and the other half was a clump of pink "living brain nerve tissue" that was pulsating slightly!
The two are perfectly connected by countless golden veins, finer than a hair!
"grown ups!"

Hephaestus's voice cracked with excitement.

"I did it!!!"

"'First Sequence Hermes,' our 'biological computer,' it's come to life!"

Shen Ge's gaze fell on the palm-sized "monster" in Hephaestus's hand. On the crystal-clear silicon plate, blood vessels were closely connected to a small cluster of brain nerve tissue, and the bioelectric current inside it flowed with red light representing life and technology.

Two completely different things, through those golden veins finer than spider silk, intertwine and permeate each other, eventually converging into a central processor made up of "Abyss Stitcher" ganglia.

Shen Ge could even sense a faint "consciousness" within it. It was still very ignorant and immature, like a newborn baby curiously observing this brand new world.

"You...you actually built it?" Shen Ge's tone couldn't help but carry a hint of genuine surprise. This was a real...man-made monster!
The young man before them was indeed a monstrous genius, no less than Li Xiang.

"Yes, sir! Yes!"

Hephaestus was so excited he was almost incoherent. He presented the "biological computer" to Shen Ge like a precious treasure: "It...it's still very unstable, and its computing speed is only one percent of the most outdated quantum computers of the old era. But...but its potential is limitless! Because it is...'learning'!"

He pointed to the inside of the processor, to the biological neurons that were building new connections on their own.

"It can think! It can grow! It can evolve! It's not just a machine anymore, adults! It's a... completely new 'life'!"

Oh, life.

It's man-made weirdness.

Shen Ge was actually quite helpless. His worst fears had come true. Once the strange creatures of this world were bound to "science," artificial strange things were bound to appear.

You should know that the Zodiacs are man-made monsters, and it was their messes and chaos that led the world to its doom.

Of course, given the current state of the world, the emergence of man-made anomalies is a foregone conclusion, and the inhabitants of "Iron Heart" may very well become "weirdos".

"What can it do for us now?" he asked the most practical question.

"Anything!"

Hephaestus answered without hesitation, his face filled with powerful confidence: "With it, our clumsy CNC machine tool that is still using compound eyes for positioning will gain a true soul. Its machining accuracy will be increased by tens or even hundreds of times in an instant, and the error can be controlled to an extremely precise level!"

"And our Ministry of Energy, once 'Hermes' is connected to the 'Heart of God's' central control system, it can allocate every bit of energy with perfect efficiency, increasing the city's energy utilization rate by at least 30%!"

"And..." He looked at Shen Ge, his eyes burning with the most intense flame: "We... can begin to create the 'Raiders'!" (End of Chapter)