Chapter 324 - 248: Thunderous Ladder to the Sky

Chapter 324: Chapter 248: Thunderous Ladder to the Sky

"You’re just finding a roundabout way to call me stupid, aren’t you!" Su Qing stopped what she was doing, huffing playfully and shooting him a glare.

"You go do your thing in a bit. I’ll stand guard by the road. We don’t want the noise from their work to attract any zombies."

"Okay."

As they spoke, the final SIZZLE of the welding faded. Wang Yuanhua walked over, single-handedly carrying a strange metal object that was still radiating intense heat.

The object was made entirely of rough rebar and steel pipes welded together. The seams were thick and wild, giving it a distinct post-apocalyptic vibe.

Behind him, a sweat-soaked Wu Haitao lifted his welding mask, revealing a flushed red face. "Brother Lin, what do you think?"

"The dimensions are perfect." Lin Fan took the "spear," held up the blueprint to compare it from different angles, then planted the rough shaft on the ground. He clapped Wu Haitao on the shoulder. "Not bad, Wu. You work fast."

Receiving the praise, Wu Haitao broke into a grin, his exhaustion seemingly melting away. "Heh, as long as you’re satisfied, I can rest easy."

Then, Lin Fan turned to the sweat-wiping Wang Yuanhua and the other survivors who had been helping, clasping his hands in a formal gesture of thanks.

"Thanks for all your hard work. You should all get some rest."

"It was nothing, it was nothing! Brother Lin, you’re being too formal..."

Wang Yuanhua waved his large hand good-naturedly, thumping his chest. THUMP, THUMP. "It’s our duty to help out!"

"Yeah, Brother Lin! If you have any more heavy lifting, just give us a shout!"

With simple smiles on their faces, the men exchanged a few more pleasantries. After confirming that Lin Fan really didn’t need any more help, they began gathering their tools in twos and threes, heading back toward the rest area, chatting and laughing.

Watching them leave, Lin Fan looked down at the ugly yet powerful "crude spear" in his hand. He hefted it, took a deep breath, and strode toward the lit terrace on the fourth floor.

...

Just a minute later, Lin Fan was back on the fourth floor, carrying the piece of "industrial garbage" that was still hot to the touch.

"You’re here."

Hearing his heavy footsteps, Ye Qingniao had already run to the top of the stairs to greet him.

"This..."

Her lips twitched uncontrollably as she looked at the ugly metal pole before her, with its jagged welds, rough shape, and even a few bits of welding spatter still clinging to it.

"It has a certain... post-apocalyptic aesthetic."

"Pragmatism, pure pragmatism."

Lin Fan wasn’t embarrassed at all. He just smiled and patted the rough steel pipe.

"We have the skeleton. Now it’s time for the ’plastic surgery’."

"Then let’s begin." Ye Qingzhou, who fully understood the limits of Lin Fan’s ability, picked up the blueprint. She walked over to the ugly spear, her gaze becoming focused. She studied its dimensions and basic structure, finally nodding. "Let’s do it."

As instructed, Lin Fan reached out, pressing the blue module in his palm against the rough metal surface.

HUMMM—

A ghostly blue "blueprint" halo instantly lit up. The once-solid steel rapidly vanished within the light, transforming into an energy blueprint.

"First, the internal structure."

Ye Qingzhou held a ruler, gesturing in the empty air.

"Increase the thickness of the combustion chamber walls. That’s where the pressure is highest. If it’s too thin, the chamber could rupture."

"Understood."

Lin Fan watched the thickness Ye Qingzhou indicated with her ruler, and materials from his inventory turned into streams of light, flowing into the spear.

The end of the steel pipe, which had been a simple welded cylinder, was quickly stained an inky black. The rough weld seams vanished in the blue light as metal atoms were replaced and reforged with new materials, instantly fusing the cobbled-together pipe into a single, seamless piece.

"Watch the nozzle throat!"

Ye Qingzhou suddenly leaned down, her face almost touching the still-morphing nozzle, and shouted a reminder.

"Contraction angle of 15 degrees, expansion angle of 12 degrees! The inner wall’s surface finish must be mirror-smooth! Even the slightest burr will create turbulence in the supersonic airflow, leading to a loss of thrust or even a chamber explosion!"

"A mirror finish..."

A fine layer of sweat beaded on Lin Fan’s forehead.

’In the past, a rough job was always good enough. The faces of my greatswords were all pitted and uneven. I figured, it’s not like I need to use them as a mirror, so why bother with such fine detail... I never thought I’d actually have to craft a literal mirror finish one day.’

This kind of microscopic, precision work was mentally exhausting. He closed his eyes, extending his perception into the metal itself. He was like a master carving a miniature sculpture, or perhaps he had become the metal itself, smoothing out tiny protrusions nearly invisible to the naked eye, one by one.

"Good... Hold it right there..."

Ye Qingzhou stared intently at the gradually forming nozzle, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"That’s it. This level of machining precision would have taken a five-axis CNC machine a full day of grinding back in the old days, yet you did it in a few seconds... What a cheat-like ability."

"Stop with the compliments, my brain’s going numb," Lin Fan said through gritted teeth. "What about the exterior?"

"For the exterior, we subtract!"

Ye Qingzhou straightened up and waved her hand.

"Shave off all the excess edges, make it streamlined. Etch high-friction, anti-slip patterns onto the shaft’s surface. It would be best to wrap it with that leather material of yours to increase friction, and you could even use it to tie your hand to it if needed... Uh, leave some guide vanes near the tail. Also, the spear tip..."

She pointed to the top of the spear.

"No blood groove, no barbs. Make it a pure cone and max out the hardness. This thing isn’t just for piercing the air; it has to be able to plunge into reinforced concrete without bending."

Following Ye Qingzhou’s string of supervisory commands, the "industrial scrap" in Lin Fan’s hands underwent a complete transformation.

The bulky structure was compressed and elongated. The rough surface became smooth and fine, exuding a matte texture. All traces of its piecemeal origins vanished, replaced by fluid, seamless lines.

Finally, strips of leather were wrapped around the shaft, not only increasing grip friction but also serving as bindings.

Finally.

After the last batch of weighting material was added.

A total of 42 Scrap Metal, 54 Rare Metal, 12 Blades, and 4 Leather were consumed. The blueprint’s glow faded. Lin Fan let out a long breath and released his slightly numb hand.

A two-point-two-meter-long, entirely black spear with a fierce design stood silently on the ground.

It looked like both a heavy weapon from an ancient battlefield and a miniature rocket with a punk aesthetic.

The massive combustion chamber nozzle at the spear’s tail now emitted a faint, cold light, like a dormant beast with its mouth agape.

"Perfect. I could watch this process a hundred times and never get tired of it..."

Ye Qingzhou circled the spear twice. She even reached out to gently tap the edge of the nozzle—as thin as a cicada’s wing yet incredibly hard—and listened to the crisp echo. With a deadpan expression, she remarked,

"This is a work of art born to launch people into the sky."

She turned to Lin Fan, her eyes holding the pure curiosity and anticipation one has after seeing a new toy fully assembled.

"Aren’t you going to try out this ’stairway to heaven’?"

Lin Fan picked up the spear. Although it also weighed a hundred kilograms, its center of gravity had been perfectly calibrated. The torque was far less than that of his absurd greatsword, making it feel surprisingly light in his hand, like an extension of his own arm.

He hefted it, feeling the coiled power within, and a smile spread across his lips.

"Let’s go..."

...

Cheng Qi, who was usually the driver, was on night watch duty with the old crew on the perimeter of the construction site, so the heavy responsibility of driving fell to Lin Fan himself.

A modified black SUV drove out of the site, carrying Ye Qingzhou, her sister Ye Qingniao, and Su Qing, who had been sitting on an RV roof by the road fiddling with her spear. They arrived once again at the empty, silent bridgehead.

The view here was wide and open, with no tall buildings to obstruct it, making it the perfect place to test the "skyrocket."

SCREECH—

Lin Fan parked the car several dozen meters away from the core area of the bridgehead, a distance that was both safe and allowed them to use the headlights for illumination.

"We had to come all the way out here?"

Lin Fan got out of the car, looking back the way they came. He’d thought when Ye Qingzhou suggested testing it, they’d just go to the roof or somewhere similar. He hadn’t expected to drive so far out.

"It might get a little loud. To be safe, it’s better to be far away."

Ye Qingzhou said faintly, standing in the sidelight of the car’s headlights.

Ye Qingniao, meanwhile, excitedly eyed the spear in Lin Fan’s hands, wearing the expression of someone who loves watching a spectacle and doesn’t care how chaotic it gets.

Su Qing stood with Ye Qingzhou, ready to fend off any zombies that might attack from the darkness. With the spear Lin Fan had just retired and given her in one hand and a shield in the other, she looked like a valkyrie holding down the fort.

And Lin Fan stood in the light of the car’s headlights, holding the spear vertically, but upside down—the tip was planted on the ground and the tail pointed toward the sky.

Just by resting on the ground, the sharp, diamond-shaped tip had already punched a centimeter-deep hole in the concrete from its own weight.

With a thought, he installed the [Impact Crystal (30%)] that he had previously removed from a spear into the slot...

"Input energy, low to high. We’ll test the thrust first," Ye Qingzhou called out from behind him, holding a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other.

The results of this experiment would provide her with auxiliary data for calculating the thrust level of that "power axe."

’One point...’ Lin Fan recited mentally.

PFFT. A wisp of ghostly blue plasma puffed from the nozzle at the spear’s tail and dissipated in the wind. The thrust lasted only for an instant. Lin Fan’s hand went numb, and the spear tip made a grinding sound against the concrete that set his teeth on edge.

"Not enough thrust to form a supersonic jet," Ye Qingzhou shouted again. "Increase it—"

’Two points...’

BANG!

The sound was much louder this time.

A cluster of blue flames, like the inner flame of an alcohol lamp, erupted from the nozzle and scattered in the wind. A jolt ran through Lin Fan’s hand as the spear tip slammed into the concrete, burrowing nearly ten centimeters deep and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Thrust is increasing linearly, which is normal. Continue increasing—"

’Four points...’

CRACK!

A deafening blast!