110: Chapter 110 The Collapse of Level 5 Super-Strong Tungsten Steel

Everyone gathered around the tightly swaddled little one, their faces beaming with heartfelt smiles.

"Old Zhang, have you decided on a name for the baby yet? This is the 'eldest son' of our fortress, after all!"

Li Muzi leaned over the swaddling clothes, gazing at the infant before her.

Zhang Ming scratched his head and gave an honest, simple smile, but his eyes were firmer than ever: "I've decided. This little one was born in mid-air, right in the middle of these chaotic times. I hope that in the future, he can be like the Boss and have a vast sky of his own. So, let's call him—Zhang Kong."

"Zhang Kong... A good name!"

Zhou An nodded, a flash of approval in his eyes.

"Breaking through the sky, soaring above the clouds, free and unrestrained."

"Hehe, a big, chubby boy weighing six jin and two liang!"

The group walked into the delivery room.

Zhang Ming carefully handed the child to Lin Qing, who was already able to sit up.

Thanks to the nourishment of the legendary-grade potions in the fortress and the solid foundation built from eating epic-grade spirit wheat, everyone's physical fitness was no longer what it used to be.

Even Lin Qing, who never participated in combat, had reached Tier 3 in life level. Luo Ning was even at the Tier 4 Peak, only a step away from Tier 5.

Therefore, although the delivery process was perilous, Lin Qing recovered extremely quickly and was able to get out of bed and walk around that very afternoon.

To celebrate the birth of Zhang Kong, a lavish "birth celebration banquet" was held that evening in the central dining hall of the fortress's core living area.

Zhang Ming went all out, preparing a table full of dishes made from high-tier ingredients.

"Come, this first glass of wine is a toast to the Boss! Without the Boss, who knows which corner of the world we would have died in long ago, let alone having the good life we have today!"

Zhang Ming raised a glass of fruit wine brewed from spirit fruits.

"To the Boss!" everyone raised their glasses in unison.

The banquet was filled with laughter and joy.

Zhou An drank freely with everyone.

Luo Ning sat beside him, her cheeks flushed from drinking, a gentle glimmer in her eyes.

...

Late at night.

The fortress returned to tranquility, with only the faint hum of the engines remaining.

In Zhou An's master bedroom, outside the massive panoramic skylight lay the vast, boundless starry sky.

Zhou An leaned against the headboard, while Luo Ning, like a lazy cat, curled up in his arms, her head resting on his chest, her slender fingers tracing circles on his firm abdominal muscles.

"When I saw Old Zhang smiling foolishly while holding the baby today, I suddenly felt... in this godforsaken apocalypse, having a little life like that is actually quite nice."

Luo Ning's voice was somewhat languid, carrying a hint of intoxication.

Zhou An instinctively wrapped his arm around her slender waist, resting his chin on the top of her head, and chuckled softly: "What? Has our indomitable Scientist Luo started to overflow with maternal love?"

"Go to hell!"

Luo Ning lightly punched his chest, then looked up, her bright, intelligent eyes filled with a rare seriousness.

"I'm serious. Before, I felt that surviving in this world was the only goal. But today, seeing the way Sister Lin Qing looked at her baby, I suddenly realized that besides just living, a person needs to have something to look forward to, a legacy."

She paused, bit her lower lip, and her cheeks appeared even rosier under the starlight: "Zhou An, do you think... if we had one too, would it be a boy or a girl?"

Hearing this, Zhou An's heart skipped a beat.

He lowered his head and looked at the girl in his arms, who was usually fierce and unruly but was now somewhat shy, his eyes instantly becoming incredibly intense.

"Boy or girl, both are fine."

Zhou An's voice grew a bit hoarse as he turned over and pinned her beneath him, his fingers gently caressing her burning cheeks.

Luo Ning giggled, her arms naturally looping around Zhou An's neck, her eyes shimmering with a fatal allure: "Then... when do we start 'manufacturing'?"

"Right now."

"Zhou An! You big pervert—Mmph!"

...

Time, like a breeze drifting through a sea of clouds, quietly slipped away amidst steady sailing and the daily grind.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

In the master bedroom, the morning light was dim. Zhou An leaned against the headboard, watching Luo Ning, who was still fast asleep in his arms, his gaze subconsciously falling on her still-flat, toned stomach.

Over the past month, the two of them had been diligent and had given their all to the great project of "baby-making."

Whenever they were free, the door to the master bedroom was basically kept locked.

However, thirty full days had passed, and there was no movement in Luo Ning's belly.

"Stop looking, there's nothing there."

Luo Ning had woken up at some point; she stretched lazily, exposing a large expanse of snow-white skin to the air.

She followed Zhou An's gaze and looked down. Instead of being discouraged, she flipped over nonchalantly and lay on Zhou An's chest.

"Xingyue checked for me two days ago and said it's because both of our life levels are too high."

Luo Ning twirled Zhou An's hair with her finger.

"You are at Tier 5 Peak, and I am at Tier 4 Peak. Biologically speaking, the more evolved a life form is and the more perfect its genes are, the probability of reproducing offspring decreases exponentially. This is what we call 'reproductive isolation of higher species'."

Zhou An smiled helplessly upon hearing this and reached out to pinch her cheek: "So, does that mean we don't even count as 'human' anymore?"

"At least not ordinary people anymore."

Luo Ning was an extremely carefree person; she planted a kiss on Zhou An's cheek, rolled out of bed, and began to put on her iconic white lab coat.

"If it didn't happen, it didn't happen. It's actually more relaxing for me, and it's fine to enjoy a few more years of just the two of us. I'm going to go check on Muzi and see if there's anything—"

Watching Luo Ning's hurried departure, Zhou An shook his head with a smile.

Indeed, neither of them were the type to dwell on such things and cause themselves inner turmoil. Since letting nature take its course didn't yield results, they would just pour all their energy into their work!

...

Zhou An got dressed and went to the central control room on the second floor.

"EVA, open inventory."

During this past month, he really hadn't stepped foot outside; apart from eating and sleeping, he had spent at least sixteen hours a day on synthesis.

[Cloud Top Fortress Total Assets] [Tier 5 Basic Material Units]: 2.145 Billion! [Tier 5 Extra-Strong Tungsten Steel]: Current inventory cleared, all sold off.

2.145 billion! This was solid, authentic Tier 5 material!

Zhou An had single-handedly used those few million in supplies as starting capital to complete an unprecedented snowballing of wealth!

However, behind such exorbitant profits, a market crash was inevitable.

Zhou An switched back to the real-time interface of the [Trading Hall].

Sure enough, the exchange rate for [Tier 5 Extra-Strong Tungsten Steel], which had once been hyped up to a lofty 5:1, now showed a disastrous, diving parabola.

Under Zhou An's "crazy dumping" over the past month and a half, the market was flooded with Tier 5 Extra-Strong Tungsten Steel. After all, not everyone could upgrade to LV5, so demand was always limited. Once the top players in each guild finished upgrading, the next wave of upgrades would have to wait for some time.

Moreover, once scarcity was broken, the price would suffer an avalanche.

4:1... 3:1... 2.5:1...

By this morning, the exchange rate for Tier 5 Extra-Strong Tungsten Steel had completely collapsed, hitting a hard floor at 2.2:1, with some orders even posted at the blood-spitting price of 2.1:1!

The entire market for Tier 5 Extra-Strong Tungsten Steel had been single-handedly crashed by Zhou An.

At this moment, the public chat channel regarding Tier 5 Extra-Strong Tungsten Steel had completely exploded. The messages were scrolling so fast that one couldn't even see the afterimages, and the screen was almost entirely filled with foul language from various races.

The ones cursing the most miserably and hysterically were the "heavy industry miners" of this airspace—a mixed alliance of Gnomes, Goblins, and Dwarves.

"I swear on my ancestors' beards! Which son of a bitch is frantically dumping Tier 5 Tungsten Steel?! 2.1 to 1?! The cost of the coal I burn in my smelter is more than that! This is fucking crashing the market to death!"

"It's crazy! It's all crazy! The market has been manipulated! We worked hard for a month mining Tier 4 raw ore, and with the loss during purification, our cost price is at 3.5:1! Now the finished product is selling for 2.1? We are losing money on every piece we sell! I'm bankrupt! Aaaaah!"

"Find that mastermind! Stuff him into a high-pressure boiler and blow him into mincemeat! My fleet upgrade budget has all gone to waste because of this damn crash!"

"You think 2.2 to 1 is a loss? I'm making a profit even at 2.1 to 1."

Zhou An blew a smoke ring, his eyes filled with mockery.

Meanwhile, in the chat channel, the other races that had once been strangled by this group of "profiteers" were having a field day, mocking them to their hearts' content.

"Hahaha! Satisfying! That'll teach you dwarves to hold us hostage with your prices! Thanks to that unknown dumping tycoon, our Tianqing Guild reinforced eighty LV5 starships this month at dirt-cheap prices! The tycoon is awesome!"

"The weak green-skinned runts can only hug their gold coins and cry! The Orcs' warships are now all plated with cheap Tungsten Steel, and tonight we're going to smash your mines to pieces! Thanks to the Sky Merchant for the gift!"

"The greedy will eventually be consumed by their own greed. Listening to the Gnomes' wailing is like hearing the most beautiful chord of nature. Serves them right."