Ark Journey

Seeing many mercenaries surrounding them, Xue Zhi took a step back and began to watch the interviewers' performance. The interviews here mainly depended on combat ability, so there was always a large area behind the booths for fighting.

After the bloody battle, Xue Zhi was mainly responsible for treating the injured, showing humanitarian care while demonstrating the superior personnel configuration of the mercenary group.

After the combat effectiveness is qualified, Hedley will ask the mercenaries a few questions individually. These days, he has read various documents given by Xue Zhi and has already made a preliminary plan. This time, when he came to recruit people, he also thought of a few questions overnight that this group of rough people could understand in order to screen the people he needed.

Chapter 47: Final Preparations (1)

At noon, W and Inès, who were in charge of looking after the house, finished their practice and started preparing lunch.

After putting away all the weapons, W asked breathlessly, "What are we having for dinner today?"

Inès wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "Go and roast some potatoes. I have some mushrooms and vegetables I picked and some scaly animals I caught in the lake."

W, who was building a bonfire, suddenly shuddered: "'Sarkaz foul language', I haven't eaten with you for a long time, and I forgot that you have the habit of picking mushrooms to eat. Are the mushrooms this time not poisonous?"

Inès rolled her eyes at W and said, "I ate something poisonous once, and you're going to keep complaining about it for the rest of your life?"

As a Caprini, Inès really likes to find all kinds of edible plants to eat, and her cooking skills are pretty good. Even the person who was poisoned by eating poisonous mushrooms that time had no objection to the taste. Or it could be said that it was precisely because of its delicious taste that so many mercenaries who came to get a piece of the pie were poisoned.

After burying the potatoes, setting up the pot and skewering the fish, the two began to wait by the fire.

"W, do you know what kind of books Xue Zhi gave to Hedley before? I see he reads them very late every day recently."

W moved the potatoes to make them heat better and shook his head: "I don't know. Do you feel something is wrong?"

"That's not the case, but I'm a little surprised at what kind of book Hedley is so fascinated by."

Even though he often has foul mouth, W trusts Inès very much: "Who knows? We don't understand the thoughts of those intellectuals. Anyway, as long as you feel normal, it's fine."

"Okay, I feel like Hedley is planning something big."

Inès's Originium skills allowed her to clearly understand Hedley's thoughts and emotions, and after so many years of getting along, she could feel it even without using Originium skills.

Talking about this, W suddenly remembered what Xue Zhi told her last time: "You are right, it could indeed be a big deal. Xue Zhi told me before that this could change the situation of the Sarkaz."

Now it was Ines' turn to be confused. As a cadre in charge of the mercenary group's intelligence, she was extremely sensitive to such major events: "So important?"

W just poked the potatoes in the fire: "Who knows? Anyway, the Sarkaz are already like this, there's no harm in giving it a try. If Her Highness Theresa knew that the Sarkaz are trying to save themselves, she would definitely be very happy."

"You are really open-minded."

......

On the other side, Hedley and his group, who had already recruited several good fighters, also found a place to eat.

While they were resting after dinner, Xue Zhi found a bookstore by herself. She didn't expect the mercenaries to find one for her. Since she was in Scar Mall, she might as well buy the books directly.

Not surprisingly, books here are very expensive.

Among a pile of books, Xue Zhi found a few junior high and high school chemistry textbooks that would allow W to understand the concepts of atoms, atomic bonds, functional groups, and spatial structures, and leave the rest to the Originium technique.

If all else fails, he will run again to buy the missing textbooks. Anyway, if he really runs at full speed, he is faster than a car.

After paying the bill and leaving, Xue Zhi quickly finished his shopping trip by asking for the location of the store that sold explosives and threatening a few mercenaries who had dirty looks in their eyes when they saw him take out the gold.

After working at Hedley's stall for another afternoon, Xue Zhi went alone to the store she had inquired about during the day in the evening.

At first glance, the shop looked more grand than the surrounding ones, and even the building materials were different.

After touching the wall, Xue Zhi straightened her clothes and walked in: "Explosion-proof? We've come to the right place."

Seeing that there were guests, the waiter quickly came over and said, "What can I do for you? We have shells of all calibers."

After observing the room, Xue Zhi found that the mercenaries here were more calm than those outside, whether in their gestures or in the tone and style of their speech.

It’s not surprising. People who come to buy explosives are not too impetuous, otherwise they would have died in an explosion long ago.

Retracting her thoughts, Xue Zhi directly stated her intention: "Do you have heavy artillery ammunition with a caliber of 100mm or above?"

Some customers who heard his voice turned around to see if the person who wanted to buy that kind of cannon was the big shot over there, but when they found out it was not someone they knew, they didn't pay any more attention to it.

The waiter nodded and said, "Yes, but the price is very expensive. I wonder if you have enough budget?"

Hearing that there was a play, Xue Zhi immediately took out a large piece of sharp-edged gold from the warehouse: "Money is not a problem."

Seeing Chi Jin, the waiter's eyes lit up: "Please come over here."

Following the waiter to a room with stronger protection measures, Xue Zhi saw the purpose of this trip. A large number of large-caliber, bright and beautiful artillery shells were placed on the shelves, and there were even some powerful ones that were estimated to be over 200mm.

"What do you think you need?"

"Do you have any recommendations? Power is the most important, but lower range and accuracy are fine."

Following Xue Zhi's request, the waiter began to recall the content of the entrance examination he had taken, and soon, he brought Xue Zhi to a shelf of 210mm artillery shells.

"What do you think of this? It's the most powerful shell we have right now."

"Very good, give me 5 of them, and..." After selecting the target, Xue Zhi walked to the shelf of other shells and picked out a few models: "Give me 5 of each of these."

After putting away the shells and completing the last goal of this trip, Xue Zhi returned to the hotel where she was staying contentedly.

As long as it's just the shells, it's still quite cheap. These didn't cost much. Xue Zhi also prepared a way to test the power and was just waiting to go back and start the experiment.

Chapter 48: Final Preparations (2)

The recruitment at Scar Emporium lasted until the next afternoon. There weren't many people who met Hedley's requirements, but in the end, 30 people were recruited. At this moment, they were sitting in the truck bed and heading to the mercenary group's base.

A little while after they drove out of Scar Mall, a dozen mercenaries who had set their sights on Hedley's head prepared to rob them. It was obvious that they had been preparing for a long time, and even set up barriers on the road to deal with vehicles.

After standing on the roof of the car, Xue Zhi left a message: "Hedley, just drive, I'll think of a solution, and let the newcomers behind stay calm."

The mercenaries on the truck had been eager to try the moment those people appeared. They were also good at it and were planning to show themselves in front of the team leader, but the interviewer in charge of driving asked them to remain calm after receiving the call and said that they should just watch Xue Zhi's performance.

The blocker covered with long spikes was right in front of them. Several mercenaries had already raised their crossbows and staffs. Xue Zhi on the roof was obviously a good target.

Then the newcomers saw the doctor who was treating them wave his hand, and a large crack appeared in the ground in front of them, swallowing the blocker in an instant, and then closed again. At the same time, a large number of huge ice spikes stretched out from the dry ground and pierced the brains of the mercenaries directly.

The arrows had lost their accuracy and flew in all directions. One of them was about to hit the tire but was blocked by the ice shield released by Xue Zhi.

Seeing a large number of headless corpses falling from the sky and blood spurting out for more than ten meters, many newcomers shuddered immediately. They could hardly see the speed at which the ice spikes shot out. They originally thought that Xue Zhi was a doctor who was not good at killing people, but he immediately showed them what cruelty was.

After finishing her work, Xue Zhi retreated back into the car: "Alright, scare those newcomers at the same time, so they won't cause you any trouble."

"Ah."

......

In the evening, the convoy returned to the base, and the cadres of each team who learned the news through drone relay communications were already waiting in advance.

These newcomers will first be assigned to Hedley and Inès, and if they find that someone fights crazily or aggressively, they will be transferred to W's team again.

After jumping out of the car, Xue Zhi stretched and said, "This trip was pretty quick. It's good to have a car."

Hedley, who was in charge of paying, sighed, "It's not cheap. Not to mention the fuel, the parking fee alone is painful."

"There will always be a chance to realize the freedom of driving and parking, Hedley. Industrialization is a good thing, but the premise is that it is stable and has a certain industrial population. Therefore, universal education is imminent."

"Industrialization and universal education...are so far away. Let's open a literacy class in Kazdel first so that there will be fewer illiterate people like W in the Sarkaz."

The two were chatting about the future, and W, who had come to pick up Xue Zhi, made an unintelligible sound when he heard this.

"what?"

Seeing W coming to pick up Xue Zhi, Hedley waved his hand and went to work directly: "I'm leaving first, they still need me over there, you guys chat."

W, who was offended but had no way to vent, waved her fist. She was not illiterate, she just couldn't recognize all the words.

Holding W's hand, Xue Zhi took something out of the warehouse: "Okay, I brought you a gift."

Hearing Xue Zhi's words, W became interested: "Gift, what?"

"A set of chemistry books. The knowledge in it should be enough for you to learn how to make those high-energy explosives."

It was hard to tell whether W was happy or sad when he received the book. He was called illiterate just a second ago, and the next second he received a book as a gift. But this was considered a match for his profession.

At dawn the next day, Xue Zhi ran to a place far away from the oasis to test the power of the shells, and W, who liked explosions, would definitely not be absent.

Because he only had artillery shells, Xue Zhi could only use other methods to directly detonate the explosion. Fortunately, he had a lot of various explosives, otherwise there would be no other way.

Although the power of a direct detonation is smaller than the power of hitting the ground after being launched, Xue Zhi feels that the power brought by this gravitational potential energy can be ignored by her own strength.

With the artillery shells as the center, many ice shields as high as a person were arranged to test the power. Xue Zhi constructed them according to the physical fitness of the big man with the axe, and strengthened them by 2, 3, 4 and 8 times respectively. These ice shields with different strengthening multiples were on the same ring, and there were several concentric circles at the back to test the damage radius and killing radius.

After arranging the shaped charge to detonate the shells, Xue Zhi took W out of the test area: "Preparation is complete, retreat."

About five hundred meters away, Xue Zhi and W stood behind a transparent ice shield that surrounded them. He even drained the nearby air to prevent damage from the shock wave.

"Detonate."

"receive."

At the same time Xue Zhi gave the order, W pressed the detonation button of the shaped charge. Instantly, a huge fireball exploded not far away. The huge shock wave reached their feet along the ground within a second, but due to the distance of 500m and the shield, the shock wave was not that strong.

After the explosion ended and the dust settled, the two men came closer and began to observe the power of the explosion.

The 2x enhanced ice shield had disappeared, leaving no water stains on the ground. They were instantly evaporated by the high heat of the shell explosion. A small part of the 3x ice shield remained, almost half of the 4x ice shield remained, and the 8x ice shield had almost no damage.

Putting his hand on the ice shield to repair it, Xue Zhi stroked his chin and muttered, "It looks like that."

It was not difficult for him to create an ice shield that was eight times stronger, and as long as it could withstand the power, in this era when hypersonic weapons had not yet been invented, Xue Zhi was confident that he could block most of the shells.

In the concentric circles behind, only the second layer of double ice shields was seriously damaged, but a large number of ice shields showed signs of being hit by fragments.

Wearing a gas mask and holding a test instrument, W stood at the fourth concentric circle and waved at Xue Zhi: "The dose of Originium radiation is very high, and the extension range is also very large."

Xue Zhi nodded to show that he understood. He was completely immune to Originium and could not feel anything, but the acute mineral sickness caused by this thing was fatal to the Terrans. Even the Sarkaz could not resist it for long: "Part of the explosives were replaced with Originium... It's a dirty bomb, an ugly weapon."

After restoring the test site, Xue Zhi changed another type of shell to experiment with. In fact, it was almost done after the first one, but W couldn't resist her preference. As it was her last leisure day before studying, she decided to set off as many firecrackers as possible.

After finishing the experiment, on the way back to the base, they also picked up a feathered beast that was frightened to death by a loud noise. It had been dead for a long time, and although it could be eaten, the blood would be very fishy when it entered the muscles. However, W picked it up in the spirit of not wasting it, and said that Hedley liked to eat feathered beast meat boiled in clear water, and would give this poor little thing to Ines to cook as a response to what he said last night.

Xue Zhi didn't even dare to imagine what this thing would taste like if it was cooked with just water.

Chapter 49: Final Preparations (Final) (Battle!)

The days that followed became regular. W practiced with Inès in the morning, studied chemistry with Xue Zhi in the afternoon, and did what he loved to do with Xue Zhi in the evening.

She learns very quickly, has a high degree of acceptance of various knowledge, and can even draw inferences from one instance. If Xue Zhi's brain had not been strengthened and she had recalled a large amount of knowledge, she might have been stumped by her questions.

The training of new recruits was also put on the agenda. Xue Zhi would sometimes go and treat those who were injured during practice. They were also new clients.

Xue Zhi currently has 486037 points. He has not yet decided what to buy next, but his current fighting power is sufficient.

The entire mercenary group is preparing for war, and the news coming in also shows the turbulence of the current situation. Troop deployments, assassinations, weapons purchases, and all kinds of news are coming one after another. Everyone knows that the Kazdel Civil War that has lasted for several years is about to end. The Sarkaz have shed enough blood, and how many young people have died meaninglessly and honorlessly on the battlefield. These people are the future of the Sarkaz.

Finally, one morning, W successfully produced RDX under Xue Zhi's protection. When these colorless crystals appeared in her hands, the girl felt sincerely happy.

This also made Xue Zhi more certain of the speculation about Originium skills that she had seen before.

Later, with successful experience and continuous attempts, W produced two more explosive explosives, Octoquinone and Octanitrocubane. Although accidents were inevitable in the process, with Xue Zhi's comprehensive protection, everything was always safe.

In order to make use of these two kinds of explosives that were made with great difficulty, W stopped studying and concentrated on studying the application end. The sensitivity and explosion conditions of these things made it extremely difficult to use them perfectly, but after discussing with several craftsmen and Xue Zhi, they still found a way to temporarily contain these explosives.

Moreover, the backpack Xue Zhi gave W has a built-in time-stop function, which allows her to store a large amount of explosives without worrying about accidents or failure of them.

For a period of time, there were constant explosions outside the oasis, causing many mercenaries to think that someone was attacking them.

After confirming that these two things could be used stably, W tried again to make all-nitrogen anion salt. To prepare this thing, Xue Zhi had to increase the protection strength again.

In addition, Xue Zhi felt that she was training a talent in the field of chemistry, and W might be of great use when Hedley's plan was implemented in the future.

However, W did not succeed in the end. The preparation of the target was extremely difficult, but she was not disappointed. The birth of the previous three high-energy explosives was enough.

Another small thing is that W's research on reloaded shotgun shells was successful. The manufacturing difficulty of shotgun shells is lower than that of .44 Magnum. She successfully manufactured the primer and charge according to the method Xue Zhi said.

Standing on the Blood Demon's Shoulders.JPG (Not far away, Korciel, who was still on Shurod Island, sneezed and felt that she was being taken advantage of for free. This was really bad)

As for the subsequent bullets for the Desert Eagle, Xue Zhi said that she just used it for fun and did not expect it to be of any use.

As a replacement, he directly used the panel to replace an Arcane Revolver for W, and at the same time enchanted the weapon. It was simple and crude, with Power V, Efficiency III, and Durability III. This thing cost him five thousand points, but it was worth it. This gun could penetrate the shield that the Desert Eagle could not penetrate with one shot.

Moreover, the ammunition for this gun is easy to find. After Xue Zhi's attempts, she found that as long as it can be stuffed into the magazine, no weapon source tank is needed, and source stone fragments can be used as its ammunition.

After finishing this period of study, W, whose strength had been greatly improved, finally had time to rest.

To celebrate her success and the arrival of some new people, Xue Zhi once again took out the oven that had not been used for a long time and planned to hold another banquet.

At night, the team, which had been restocked, gathered around the barbecue, eating meat and drinking wine. Xue Zhi hugged W and watched quietly. He suddenly remembered what W had told him at the last banquet, "Before the war, the soldiers drank heartily, and then died on the battlefield one after another." This was not very auspicious, and it was just like the old general on the stage with flags behind him.

Although she knew the ending, Xue Zhi, who had never experienced such a big event, couldn't help but think in that direction.

[This is really not right. I have to remain calm when things get serious... I still don't have enough self-cultivation.]