113: Chapter 113 Guardian Robots Successfully Delivered

Chen Fan started working intensely as soon as he returned.

This was the first batch of bottled water that Lin Hao had mobilized from surrounding supermarkets and warehouses at the fastest speed possible.

These were the raw materials that were about to undergo Amplification into "omega virus Special Disinfectant."

Chen Fan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After the battle in the Gobi Desert, his Mental Power had significantly increased after absorbing the energy from the star core. Batch Amplification posed no pressure, but because the quantity was so large, it took a full day to complete.

Chen Fan let out a long breath and looked at the clock on the wall—3:17 AM. Two days had already passed since the one-week deadline he had promised Lei Zhen.

And tomorrow, there would be an even more important task.

At 6:00 AM, in the underground Rock Laboratory, the newly built temporary production line was already operating at full capacity.

Lin Hao had dark circles under his eyes like a panda, but he was in high spirits: "Fan Zi, the first 'guardian-type i' production line has finished debugging! We can now produce two units per hour. If we work twenty-four hours non-stop, the first batch of fifty units can be delivered in three days!"

Chen Fan walked to the end of the assembly line. A fully assembled robot prototype stood there.

The "guardian-type i" was about 1.8 meters tall and used a tracked chassis for mobility in complex terrain. Its body was made of matte black alloy armor, equipped with multi-spectral sensors, high-precision robotic arms, and most importantly—a high-concentration oxygen sprayer and disinfectant tank located at the "chest" position.

The robot's "head" was a hemispherical observation window, with a combat data core provided by Xiao Zhi integrated inside. Most unique was its weapons system—instead of traditional firearms, it was equipped with high-frequency vibration cutting blades and strong electromagnetic pulse generators, specifically targeting the carapaces and energy nodes of the Aberrations.

"Has it been field-tested?" Chen Fan asked.

"We tested it for twelve hours using simulated Aberration targets," Lin Hao pulled up the test data. "The cutting blades can effectively break through bionic carapaces, and the electromagnetic pulse has an 87% success rate in interfering with energy nodes. The oxygen spraying system's inactivation efficiency in enclosed spaces... based on the Gobi Desert data provided by Xiao Zhi, it can reach 99.9%."

Chen Fan nodded. "Very good. But it's not enough."

He walked up to the robot, reached out, and pressed his hand against the armor surface.

Amplification.

[Detectable item for Amplification: "guardian-type i" Combat Robot Prototype]

[Perform random Amplification?]

[Amplification triggered: "Adaptive Learning" Combat Core + "Energy Sensing" Sensor Upgrade + "Self-Repairing" Nano-Coating]

Fine silver patterns suddenly appeared on the robot's armor surface, like a biological network of blood vessels. The optical sensor inside the observation window flickered, changing from a normal red indicator light to a ghostly blue. Most obvious were its "arms"—originally simple mechanical structures, they now had bionic muscle fibers added to the joints, increasing flexibility by at least three times.

"Fan Zi, this is..." Lin Hao was dumbfounded.

"Let's see it in action," Chen Fan said.

Lin Hao entered commands on the control tablet. The robot's "eyes" lit up, its tracks turned, and it maneuvered flexibly around the laboratory. The robotic arms performed several complex tactical movements—raising a shield, thrusting, and sweeping—the movements were as fluid as those of a real warrior.

Even more amazing was that when Lin Hao intentionally threw an obstacle in front of it, the robot didn't follow its preset program to bypass it. Instead, it paused for half a second and then chose a better path—it was learning and adapting.

"With this 'Adaptive Learning' core, these robots will get smarter as they fight in the Gobi Desert," Chen Fan explained. "They can record the attack patterns and weak points of every type of Aberration, and even predict enemy actions. Fifty such robots, working with the military, will be enough to clear the remaining threats in the Gobi Desert within two weeks."

Lin Hao's face flushed with excitement. "Too powerful! Fan Zi, then we..."

"Continue production," Chen Fan interrupted him. "Don't stop this production line; produce another hundred units. Fifty for the Northwest, and the rest... we'll keep for ourselves."

After everything was ready, Chen Fan contacted Lei Zhen and brought it all to the military apron at the airport.

Thirty military trucks drove in, loaded with five hundred crates of sealed disinfectant and fifty packaged "guardian-type i" robots. The handover officer sent by Lei Zhen carefully checked the manifest and gave Chen Fan a standard military salute.

"Mr. Chen, Captain Lei asked me to convey that the cleanup operation in the Northwest has fully commenced. The equipment you provided is a godsend. The first batch of meteorites has been loaded onto the plane and is expected to arrive in Shanghai tonight."

"Tell Captain Lei that this is just the beginning," Chen Fan returned the salute. "There will be another hundred robots and more disinfectant later. But most importantly, the infected areas must be strictly controlled; no infected entity must be allowed to escape the blockade."

"Understood!"

Chen Fan went to Old Master Qin's residence; he hadn't visited Old Master Qin in a long time.

The courtyard gate was slightly ajar. Chen Fan pushed it open and saw Old Master Qin sitting at a stone table in the courtyard, with a pile of blueprints and documents spread out before him, his brows furrowed.

"Old Master Qin," Chen Fan said softly.

Old Master Qin looked up and saw it was Chen Fan, a smile appearing on his face. "Little Chen is here? Sit, sit, sit." But the smile quickly faded as he pointed to the documents on the table. "You've come at the right time; take a look at this."

Chen Fan sat opposite him and picked up a document. It was in English, titled "White Paper on the Construction of a Global Low-Earth Orbit Satellite Communication Network," published by a space technology company from the United States.

"Starlink Project Phase II?" Chen Fan quickly scanned the contents. "They plan to launch another 12,000 low-earth orbit satellites in the next three years to build a real-time communication network covering the globe. They claim download speeds of up to 1Gbps and latency below 20 milliseconds..."

"It's more than that," Old Master Qin's voice was heavy. "Look at the technical details section."

Chen Fan flipped to the back. The document detailed the technical parameters of the new generation of satellites: quantum encrypted communication, AI autonomous networking, in-orbit power replenishment, and even... miniaturized high-precision remote sensing monitoring.

"This isn't a simple communication network," Chen Fan put down the document, his expression grave. "This is a collection of space-based internet, navigation, remote sensing, and monitoring. Once completed, communication, positioning, and even ground activities in any corner of the globe will be under their surveillance."

"And their progress is faster than ours," Old Master Qin sighed. "Our 'Flying Goose' constellation project has only just completed the first phase of launching sixty-eight satellites. The communication bandwidth is only a third of theirs, and the latency is high. More importantly, the gap in satellite lifespan and autonomous capability is too large—our satellites have an average lifespan of five years, while theirs can reach over eight years and can be repaired and upgraded in orbit."

He looked at Chen Fan. "Little Chen, do you know what this means? Future wars are wars of information. Whoever controls the sky controls the right to information. If our communication, navigation, and reconnaissance depend on someone else's system, then we are handing our lifeline over to them."

Chen Fan fell silent for a moment.

He thought of the battle in the Gobi Desert. Lei Zhen's troops had become almost deaf and blind in the communication interference zone, forced to rely on the most primitive methods of contact. If there had been a more advanced satellite communication system then, the casualties might have been much lower.

He then thought of the omega virus and of the dangerous experiments Long Zaitian might be hiding in some corner of Shanghai. To monitor the entire city and discover abnormalities in time, high-precision remote sensing technology and a ubiquitous communication network were also needed.

"Old Master Qin, what exactly are we lacking?" Chen Fan asked.

"We lack many things," Old Master Qin smiled bitterly. "High-performance satellite platforms, long-life energy systems, high-throughput communication payloads, low-cost rapid launch capabilities... every single one is a tough nut to crack. More importantly, we lack a leader who can integrate all of these and achieve leapfrog development."

He stared at Chen Fan, his gaze suddenly turning sharp. "Little Chen, your Fanxing Technology has made breakthroughs in materials, artificial intelligence, and energy. Have you ever thought about... entering aerospace?"

Chen Fan didn't answer immediately. He stood up, walked into the courtyard, and looked up at the sky shrouded by urban light pollution.

Aerospace. Satellites. Communication networks.

This was indeed a field he hadn't delved into before. But Old Master Qin was right—future competition is in the sky, in space. If Fanxing Technology was satisfied with achievements on the ground, it would eventually be left behind by a grander layout.

If the Amplification system were used on satellites, it should be able to play a huge role.

"Old Master Qin," Chen Fan turned around, his eyes firm. "If I'm going to do it, I won't play around. What I want to build is a next-generation satellite network that surpasses Starlink—higher bandwidth, lower latency, longer lifespan, and more powerful functions. Moreover, it must be completely autonomous and controllable, from chips to software, from launch to operation—everything must be in our own hands."

Old Master Qin's eyes lit up. "Are you sure?"

"Give me three months," Chen Fan said. "Within three months, I will produce the technical proposal and prototype for the first satellite. If it's feasible, within a year, I want to put the first batch of 20,000 satellites into space."

"Good!" Old Master Qin slapped the table. "I can still help with the technical side. I'll coordinate the policies, qualifications, and launch permits. Little Chen, if this can be done, the merit will be in the present, and the benefit will last for generations!"

The two discussed in detail for another two hours. When Chen Fan left Old Master Qin's house, it was already dark.

On his way back,

in his mind, three things intertwined like three lines:

The threat of the omega virus, which required vaccines, robots, and disinfectants to deal with.

The competition in satellite communications, which required technical breakthroughs and rapid deployment.

None of the three lines could be neglected.

But Chen Fan didn't feel tired; instead, he felt a long-lost excitement!