199: Material Furnace and New Ways to Play with "Flowing Silver"

Establishing a stable connection with the "Peddler" gave "Bedrock Base" perception of the outside world and tentacles.

But Wen Youyi knew very well that to forge iron, one must be strong oneself; the development of the base was the foundation.

Just as intelligence exchanges were gradually getting on track, the "Material Decomposition and Recombination Furnace" project, led by Zhao Iron Pillar, finally reported a great success after experiencing several explosions, gas leaks, and inexplicable energy disturbances!

"Boss! It is a success! The furnace is lit!" Zhao Iron Pillar, with his hair curled from the explosions and his face covered in black and white streaks, rushed into the council hall shouting like a little kid.

Wen Youyi and the others immediately rushed to the newly opened "Industrial Zone" of the base.

They saw a furnace-like device about two people tall, pieced together from various metal pipes, rune boards, and energy conduits, emitting a low and steady humming sound.

Inside the observation window in the center of the furnace body, a soft white flame was burning steadily, radiating a comfortable heat.

"Quick! Test the effect!" Zhao Iron Pillar impatiently directed his subordinates to pour a pile of "garbage"—mixed with rocks, ordinary metals, and a small amount of discarded parts brought back from previous explorations—into the feed port.

The white flame inside the furnace fluctuated slightly, and the thrown-in debris decomposed and dissolved at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into a basic stream of "Materials".

Guided by the specific energy field within the furnace, they began to recombine.

A few minutes later, the discharge port opened, and a shiny, structurally dense, strip-shaped metal ingot slid out!

"It is 'star iron'! The purity is even higher than what we refined from the natural "Ore" we found before!" Wang Wu picked up the metal ingot, sensed it carefully, and exclaimed in surprise.

The crowd burst into cheers!

This meant that they finally had the ability to transform the ubiquitous wreckage "garbage" into high-value "Materials"!

This was undoubtedly a revolution in resource utilization!

"Great!" Wen Youyi patted Zhao Iron Pillar heavily on the shoulder. "Well done, Iron Pillar! Now we will never be short of basic "Materials" again!"

However, Zhao Iron Pillar scratched his curled hair and raised a new problem: "Boss, the furnace is done, but the work of feeding and moving waste is too labor-intensive, and the furnace operation also requires continuous addition of energy crystals. Our inventory is being consumed a bit too fast."

Wen Youyi looked at the efficiently operating furnace, then at the mountain of wreckage waiting to be processed nearby, and frowned slightly.

Indeed, the low degree of automation restricted the full potential of the furnace.

Just then, his gaze inadvertently swept across the corner of the Industrial Zone.

There, several "Flowing Silver" individuals were surrounding a piece of discarded metal pipe, "licking" it curiously, seemingly studying its composition.

A thought flashed through Wen Youyi's mind like lightning.

Since "Flowing Silver" can be miners, can not they... also be made to do this "Assembly Line" work?

He immediately summoned the technical team and proposed a concept of "Flowing Silver Automated Assembly Line":

Set up strong directional energy markers at the feed port and waste storage area of the furnace to guide "Flowing Silver" to transport designated "garbage" to the feed port;

Set up a special "reward station" at the energy replenishment port of the furnace. When "Flowing Silver" transports small, low-quality energy crystals (which can also be produced when the furnace decomposes wreckage) to the replenishment port, give them purer energy as a "reward";

Even, try to guide "Flowing Silver" to transport the cooled and formed metal ingots to the designated storage area near the discharge port!

This concept was more complex than the previous "mining workstation," requiring "Flowing Silver" to understand and execute a sequence of actions.

Everyone felt it was a bit risky.

But Wen Youyi decided to try.

He personally adjusted the energy markers and "reward station" settings at several key points in the Industrial Zone, and continuously emitted more complex command fluctuations.

At first, the "Flowing Silver" were indeed a bit confused.

Some carried waste to the discharge port, some tried to devour the newly formed metal ingots, and others circled around the energy replenishment port, not understanding how to get rewards.

Wen Youyi was extremely patient, constantly fine-tuning the instructions, and focused on rewarding and "praising" (stronger friendly fluctuations) the "Flowing Silver" individuals who made the correct behaviors through the "reward station."

A few days later, a miracle happened!

Some "smart" "Flowing Silver" individuals seemed to have finally understood this complex "workflow"!

They began to spontaneously transport scattered wreckage garbage to the feed port, transport the low-quality energy blocks produced by decomposition to the energy replenishment port in exchange for "rewards," and even collaborated to push heavy metal ingots from the discharge port to the storage area!

Although the whole process still looked a bit clumsy and chaotic, and from time to time "Flowing Silver" would get the steps wrong, a "production Assembly Line" composed of silver liquid, initially automated, had actually taken shape in the Industrial Zone!

"My goodness..." Zhao Iron Pillar looked at the busy silver figures and muttered, "These metal lumps... have they become sentient?"

Wang Wu also sighed: "Now we do not even need to hire workers..."

Wen Youyi looked at this unbelievable yet efficiently operating scene, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He discovered that as long as the right way of "communication" is found, the potential and plasticity of these seemingly chaotic "Flowing Silver" far exceed imagination!

"It seems that our 'good neighbors' can help us more than we imagined..."

(End of Chapter)