54: Chapter 54: One shot wipes out all teammates!! The unmanned organization wants to fail.
"..."
The entire temporary research lab fell into silence once again.
All the arguing researchers fell into thought; Chen Jingyi's suggestion of "using drones" and the concept of being "three orders of magnitude higher" echoed repeatedly in their minds.
The next second—
*Slap!*
Engineer Zhao suddenly slapped his thigh:
"That's right! Swarm Drones! We can try this idea! Living organisms can't withstand Existence Erasure, but mechanical carriers can be seen as part of the rifle, included within the protective scope of the Void Engine's conceptual definition. As for teammate drones, we can strictly maintain a safe distance through formation programming."
He danced with excitement and grabbed Chen Jingyi's arm. "Student Chen! This line of thinking is spot on! We can try it!"
Chen Jingyi frowned slightly and calmly pulled her arm back.
Even Dr. Wang, who had previously insisted on "starting from zero," had no objections now; optimizing during use was better than scrapping everything and starting over.
Professor Reinhardt made a prompt decision: "Engineer Zhao! Student Chen! Prepare for a proof of concept immediately! We have the conditions; I need to see a real feasibility verification!"
"No problem, Professor!" Engineer Zhao's face was flushed with excitement as he looked at Chen Jingyi again. "Student Chen, it's up to you! Materials are plentiful! We need a demonstration cluster of sufficient scale!"
Chen Jingyi nodded without a word and turned to walk outside.
S-class talent—[Daoyan Military Nexus], deploy!!
Night had begun to fall, and the desert sky was dotted with stars. The temperature plummeted, but everyone's hearts were burning with fervor.
Chen Jingyi walked to the center of the clearing, where a large number of standard drone parts for testing and maintenance, as well as stockpiled nano-construction materials, were piled. She closed her eyes—
S-class talent—[Daoyan Military Nexus], deploy!
In the next moment, the metal parts and nano-materials on the ground seemed to be endowed with life, drawn by countless invisible threads to converge in front of Chen Jingyi.
They rapidly combined, transformed, nested, and connected in mid-air! The metal components collided with a crisp and pleasant "click-clack," energy circuits lit up, and complex structures were "printed" out!
One becomes two, two becomes four...
Chen Jingyi's robots had changed again, capable of shifting between drones and engineering robots. Self-replicating, their production efficiency increased exponentially!
Under everyone's bated breath, in less than 20 minutes, over a thousand drones were densely lined up in the sky above the clearing!
The one in the center had already been equipped with the calibrated mini-mega particle rifle.
They hovered silently, the micro-thrusters under their wings emitting specks of fluorescence. Their indicator lights merged into a single expanse in the night, radiating the charm of technology.
Engineer Zhao looked up at the drone cluster created single-handedly by Chen Jingyi, his excitement and nervousness for the upcoming experiment beyond words.
He tried to calm his racing heart and issued the demonstration command through the newly established temporary command link.
"Swarm array, combat mode, advance! Target: preset C-zone Abandoned Firing Range!"
Vroom—!
The roar of over a thousand drone engines suddenly intensified. Like a single entity, they flexibly adjusted their positions.
Before firing, they first attempted to maintain formation during high-speed maneuvers.
Chen Jingyi sat in a higher exercise command area, allowing her to observe the drones' flight postures in their entirety.
Simultaneously, her hands moved rapidly across the command terminal, correcting the AI's work instructions. Although her talent could endow mechanical creations with super AI, maintaining a flight array of this precision was a first even for her.
Many details had previously required real-time communication with the AI for setup.
Inside the temporary research lab, the atmosphere was tense yet filled with a hint of anticipation.
All the researchers stared intently at the data streams on their screens and the real-time footage being transmitted back. Professor Augustus Reinhardt stood before the main console, focused on the experiment's progress.
Li Yuan, Laya, and Elia stood to the side. A subtle thought flashed in Li Yuan's eyes, as if he were looking at a top-tier item in a game—like the Dragon Slayer in Legend, or Star's Fury in Warcraft.
After all, no matter what, this gun!! He could use it.
Final check complete!
All drones are stable.
Safe distance maintenance success rate: 100%.
Safety range test redundancy: 500%.
Command link redundancy: 300%.
Weapon charging complete!
A researcher reported loudly; everything was ready.
Engineer Zhao took a deep breath and looked at Professor Reinhardt, his eyes seeking permission.
Professor Reinhardt was silent for a moment before his aged voice broadcast across the entire test site: "Firepower test, begin! Target: Z-9 Area, simulated Zerg nest cluster targets!"
Command issued!
In an instant, the drone at the center of the array, equipped with the mini-mega particle rifle, saw its ventral muzzle light up with that heart-palpitating, distorted light!
A "Void Torrent" silently erupted once again, streaking across the dawn sky toward the target area dozens of kilometers away!
Its power remained impeccable.
The images transmitted back to the monitoring screens showed that the distant simulated target group—composed of special alloys, composite biological materials, and high-strength energy shields—was cleanly "erased" the moment it touched the "Void Torrent."
However, in the command center, there wasn't even time for a single cheer.
Because, at the very moment that "Void Torrent" left the muzzle—
Except for the drone in the center of the array carrying the mini-mega particle rifle, all the other drones fell one after another, landing on the barren Gobi, left to the mercy of the wind and sand.
It turned out that the radiation range of "Existence Erasure," previously thought to have a radius of only three hundred meters, seemed to have broken free from some invisible restraint in the air, expanding by more than ten times!
It covered all the drones!
Wiping out teammates in one shot! It was quite a spectacular sight.
"Why! Why is this..."
Engineer Zhao's eyes nearly split from anguish; the disappointment following hope was even more devastating. He lunged toward the console and issued further instructions.
"Measurement team, conduct manual supplementary tests as soon as possible. Measure energy, air, and ground. We must find out exactly what affected the range of the Existence Erasure effect."
The busy measurement work continued. There were no complaints or negativity; each scientific researcher performed their duties, carrying out measurements according to the protocol.
Some dug three feet into the ground to measure material changes.
Some rode on large floating platforms to measure the disturbance distance of the Existence Erasure.
Some deployed particle capture devices to check for changes in material particles.
Some accessed the mini-mega particle rifle's information module to analyze the firearm's firing logs.
Li Yuan continued to assist the researchers in their testing work.
But the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.