At the very least, he had been fiddling with the Synthesis Platform for a while now and was able to craft a fully functional handgun.
But that wasn’t all.
He had taken it a step further, infusing an unused Water Arrow Skill Rune into it and successfully forging a water gun with a fantastical flair.
“The Rune has been completely infused. It doesn’t need to be consciously activated.”
Gong Jun showed it off to the group. A highly compressed liquid bullet whistled out and shattered a derelict car frame a hundred meters outside the camp.
“There’s something to this,” Yan Ziqian noted, realizing something was unusual.
First of all, Gong Jun himself had no affinity for the Water Element.
Second, the guy hadn’t even loaded it.
This was far more powerful than simple Enchantment techniques. Or rather, the so-called Enchantments of the past were far too crude; they would just pop out when the item was destroyed.
But this perfect fusion not only caused an ordinary handgun to undergo an extraordinary transformation, but it also created a passive effect.
“You should go to the weapon forge in the city center and compare the results,” Su Chen suggested to the tech geek.
From his own brief experience, the forge was undoubtedly superior when it came to forging and upgrading weapons.
But it also had its limitations.
For one, you couldn’t just freely DIY things as you pleased.
But the Synthesis Platform, with its core structure intact, was even more impressive—it could even perform Life Refining. He wondered if the forge could unlock this feature after it was upgraded.
“You could try making some explosives,” Su Chen reminded Yan Ziqian as well.
The Synthesis Platform’s Element refining feature could transform input materials into items. Its effects weren’t just limited to weapons; theoretically, Potions or flammable explosives were also within its synthesis capabilities.
“Alright, I’ll take a look.” Yan Ziqian’s interest was piqued.
The combat corps’ quartermasters could already produce large, specially-made Rune Bombs, designed specifically for demolishing fortifications.
Su Chen didn’t know the principles of their internal construction, but he could tell what they were about just by the Demon Patterns inscribed on the outside—they all pointed to the Fire Element’s Burning Explosion Skill.
The effect of that Rune was to create a high-temperature burning shockwave in an area.
It seemed a bit like an extravagant use of numerous Lv7 Runes, treating them as one-time-use explosives.
After sharing this information, Yan Ziqian offered his own perspective.
“The general principle isn’t scientific manufacturing.”
He specifically mentioned the starter explosives in the Rune Store, which had been among the first batch of items available when the store first appeared.
You could exchange a single Fire Element essence for one.
However, according to later intel, their power was rather mediocre. They could definitely kill a person, but their yield was insufficient to even blast down a nearby ancient tree.
As a result, some unconventional people tried buying several starter explosives and bundling them together to blow up trees or breach fortifications.
Two days ago, the Rune Store stocked a new explosive, the “Blast Bomb.” Priced at 12 essences, it was undoubtedly expensive for a one-time consumable.
Top-tier Spellcasters, who were basically walking human cannons, didn’t lack for that kind of firepower and looked down on the new explosive completely.
Even Su Chen had only given it a glance without paying much mind, merely buying a batch of Demon-Breaking Arrows for Ruoruo.
“The chemistry department at Dongfu University extracted the explosive powder, condensed it through precision refining, and then used that as the core to build a reinforced shell with a multi-safe detonation system. They then Enchanted the outer layer with a Burning Explosion Skill. That’s the origin of the super-large Rune Bombs.”
He knew this because his friend Du Rui, who had left the team, had already joined Dongfu University’s agricultural R&D team.
As a Gold Medal winner in the chemistry olympiad, he was naturally a target for recruitment as well.
“I see.”
After understanding all this, Su Chen immediately thought about the issue with his nominal brother-in-law.
Speaking of which, it was a waste of Yan Ziqian’s talents to have him stay in this small place. If it weren’t for his sister, it was hard to say whether he would have stayed or left that day.
But...
One thing was certain.
He would definitely leave soon.
This was no joke.
Driven by simple familial duty, he couldn’t possibly abandon his uncle’s family, whose fate was unknown. The fractured remains of Dongfu City were likely in a neighboring region, probably not too far away.
Besides, that place was too close to the Broken Star Ring, which was always a source of unease.
With the Time Hourglass and the Teleportation Skill, he could come and go as he pleased. Traveling back and forth was far easier than he had imagined.
But there were some limitations.
For starters, the Space-Time state anchored by the Time Hourglass was limited to a twenty-four-hour window. As for the Teleportation Skill, its Rune Energy consumption was based on distance, so it wouldn’t work if the destination was so far away that it exceeded his Energy Bar.
And that’s where stably constructed Teleportation Gates came in.
In a previous conversation, Su Chen had already told Captain Zhang of the Ghost Assault Team about the city discovered in the snowy plains of the Northern Territory.
Once he unlocked more Teleportation Gates, he would be able to explore deeper into the forest with greater ease.
Of course, one major precondition before leaving was that he had to deal with the four united ruling powers of Oran City. At the very least, he had to destroy the Soul Artifact controlled by the Lorentz Conglomerate.
When Su Chen mentioned the night raid to Ruoruo, she nodded in agreement without any objection.
...
「Seven o’clock that night.」
In a forested area outside Oran City.
On a hidden mountainside, numerous cards had been played to form a camp. Several Magic Guide Hub Crystal Pillars stood outside, supporting a barrier.
An additional layer of the Optical Camouflage Skill served as concealment.
Su Chen and Ruoruo were already inside. Although it was a secret operation, some meddlers from the city who didn’t know what was going on couldn’t help but teleport over.
This was the downside of public Teleportation Gates. Even after broadcasting an advance warning, the officials had no way to ensure complete coverage and inform everyone. They could only use the clumsy method of posting notices at each teleportation node telling outsiders not to teleport here.
Of course, to prevent hidden spies in the city from reporting on them, they had to act quickly.
“Target: The army’s military base.”
This time, the strike force consisted of fifty people, significantly more than the daytime raid on Lorentz Manor.
According to Captain Zhang, nearly all of the top one hundred people on Dongfu City’s contribution leaderboard were gathered here.
This mission could not be allowed to fail.
And then came a stroke of good luck. As the group watched from the mountainside, they could see thick smoke billowing from Oran City in the distance. The crimson glow of fire flared up from time to time; the city-wide riots had yet to cease.
“Holy shit, don’t tell me they’re still looting.” This made many people chuckle with schadenfreude.
Regardless, this was fantastic news.
The ruling powers had suffered a major defeat in the battle of the Twin Cities. The long-suppressed internal conflicts could no longer be deflected by external threats, naturally creating a huge problem for Oran City.
“If their own looting had succeeded, they could have prolonged their rule. Now, they’re just waiting to die.” Captain Zhang knew even more than the others. At the very least, there were already collaborators inside the city waiting to rise up with them the next day.
The Security Committee had also secretly contacted certain individuals during the day.
“Everything depends on tonight’s results.”
...
Everything went even more smoothly than imagined.
「Half an hour later.」
An army base in the western suburbs of Oran City—a massive military base that had once been responsible for training the National Guard and reserve forces—was rapidly engulfed in a sea of fire.
Three main ammunition depots detonated one after another in sympathetic explosions. Pillars of fire shot into the sky, dyeing the night a blood-orange.
On the tarmac, more than a dozen Magic Guide armed helicopters exploded in a chain reaction like fireworks before they could even take off.
The outer watchtowers had long since collapsed, proving to be as fragile as paper.
High in the night sky.
BZZZZZZ!
A vortex descended like a giant maw, madly sucking in all tangible objects in the vicinity—rubble, defense towers, armor fragments, and even human figures.
Several officers had just scrambled out of a collapsed underground bunker, but before they could run even a meter, an irresistible gravitational force pulled them into blurry silhouettes. They were completely unable to use any movement Skills. After struggling for two or three seconds, they were all swallowed by the depths of the vortex.
Multiple Vector Force Fields, coordinated with storm-like blades, shredded them in an instant. Forget flesh and blood; even the wreckage of a helicopter was twisted apart and disintegrated.
That night, the Oran City army base, which was already short-staffed from sending men to suppress the riots, was brutally wiped out.
Still not satisfied, the group arranged for more action. This time, even the normally cautious Captain Zhang didn’t object, and they went on to destroy several border outposts overnight.

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