36: Chapter 36 Equipment Upgrade

After inspecting Li Muzi's logistics base, Zhou An turned and walked to the weapons modification area on the other side of the hall.

This was Luo Ning's exclusive territory.

At this moment, this Mad Scientist was sporting a messy head of hair, holding a plasma welding gun in her hand, and chuckling at a mass of liquid metal swirling with a dark red halo on the workbench; that smile, set against the backdrop of dim sparks, appeared both manic and excited.

"Boss, you came just in time! My ultimate masterpiece from this seclusion is perfectly finished!"

Seeing Zhou An, Luo Ning excitedly dropped the welding gun and pushed the two items on the workbench toward Zhou An like she was presenting a treasure.

On the workbench, a set of dark red liquid metal was pulsing rhythmically like a heart; they seemed to possess life, constantly changing forms on the magnetic constraint rack, refracting a deep and cold metallic luster.

Beside it, that originally somewhat short and stocky assault rifle had been completely reconstructed; the gun body was slender and full of streamlined industrial aesthetics, with translucent energy conduits revealing the energy flowing inside.

The originally silver [micro-nuclear battle armor] and purple [storm assault rifle] had now undergone a complete transformation, both surfaces shrouded in a layer of heart-stopping legendary-grade radiance!

Zhou An reached out to touch them, and the system panel immediately popped up an extremely gorgeous attribute box.

[Titan Nuclear Liquid Armor (Gold Legendary)]

Tier: Tier 3

Core Upgrade: Built-in dual micro-fusion reactors. High-order nano self-healing units have been integrated into the liquid memory metal.

Effect: Defense power jumps across tiers, capable of ignoring most physical and energy attacks at Tier 3 and below. After activating overload mode, power increases by 300%! And after the armor is damaged, it can automatically consume energy to reorganize within ten seconds.

[High-Frequency Pulse Ripper (Gold Legendary)]

Tier: Tier 3

Core Upgrade: Gun barrel reconstructed, bullets replaced with highly concentrated void plasma.

Effect: Fire rate increased by 50%, with added "Absolute Penetration" and "Cell Necrosis" effects. Hitting the weak point of a Tier 3 monster has a high probability of causing a one-hit kill.

"Legendary grade! And both have crossed the threshold of Tier 3!"

Zhou An stroked the red patterns on the armor that faintly exuded a brutal aura, his eyes filled with undisguised amazement.

Over the past month, Luo Ning had been researching day and night, pushing her SAN value close to the berserk red line several times, finally forcing these two core pieces of equipment up to legendary grade!

Combined with the [Titan Blood Strengthening Reagent] he had just injected, his current solo combat capability was such that even a conventional LV3 warship might not necessarily be able to defeat him.

"Well done, Luo Ning. You've made a great contribution these past two months." Zhou An patted Luo Ning's shoulder with extreme satisfaction.

Luo Ning took the opportunity to tuck the welding gun into her waist, leaned her small, ash-stained face over, and looked at Zhou An expectantly: "Then Boss, since it's a great contribution, shouldn't there be some substantial reward? For example... could you increase my experimental funding for next time?"

Zhou An laughed dismissively: "The funding is yours to use. Any other requests?"

Luo Ning tilted her head and thought for a moment, then suddenly chuckled, revealing two little fangs: "Then... could you reward me by cooking a good meal yourself? Also, considering I've been losing hair from staying up late this month, Boss, you have to be responsible for massaging my shoulders and combing my hair; after all, my brain cells are the top asset of our fortress!"

"You have quite the comprehensive list of demands."

Zhou An shook his head with a smile.

"Fine, today, for the sake of the legendary equipment, it's approved!"

...

As time passed, the power of the "polar night" began to truly manifest.

The world outside the window was swallowed by absolute darkness, not even a glimmer of starlight could be seen. The number on the thermometer had been stuck firmly at minus 55°C, and the clouds outside were even frozen into extremely hard ice crystal particles, hitting the fortress's energy shield with a dense rustling sound.

But inside the Cloud Top Fortress, it remained as warm as spring.

Sounds of "gurgling" came from the kitchen, and a rich meat aroma wafted from a huge stainless steel pot.

That was meat soup boiled with the ribs of a Tier 2 mutant "Cloud Sea Beast"; the milky white soup rolled as it boiled, large chunks of chewy beast meat had long been stewed until tender, and a few slices of lingzhi just picked from Li Muzi's greenhouse floated on the surface of the soup, emitting bursts of refreshing fragrance.

"Stop working, everyone, come eat."

Zhou An called out to the two of them.

"During the polar night, light is obstructed, and the mutant monsters outside will become even more bloodthirsty and crazy; the fault tolerance of autopilot is too low."

In the main control room, Zhou An looked at the thick darkness outside the window and set the following rules: "We don't need the trouble of three shifts. Now that everyone's physique has improved, staying up late is nothing. Starting today, I will take the night shift of the polar night alone, and you two girls will be responsible for the day shift."

With Zhou An's current Tier 3 physique, let alone staying up late, even if he didn't close his eyes for three days and three nights, he would be full of vigor as long as he drank some spiritual spring water.

Hearing this, Li Muzi took a bite of the soft and glutinous beast meat and said with a grin: "Then we won't stand on ceremony with you, Boss! In this kind of weather, hiding under the covers is absolute heaven, but don't worry, Boss, I will get all the reagent samples you need organized during the day!"

Luo Ning, while slurping noodles, chimed in vaguely: "Exactly, exactly. Then I'll go rest first, good night, my beloved overseer!"

The two of them finished eating while laughing, helped clean up, and then returned to their respective rooms, not forgetting to remind Zhou An not to work too hard before leaving.

Late at night, in the early hours of the morning.

Everything was silent; this frozen high altitude seemed to have become a huge black tomb.

Zhou An leaned back in the spacious and comfortable captain's chair, holding a cup of warm spiritual sweet spring water in his hand. He had adjusted the main control room's lights to the dimmest dark blue, with only the radar screen in front blinking with green light rhythmically.

The entire fortress cruised steadily through the endless darkness at a speed of 100 km/h. In his ears, there was only the low, extremely rhythmic roar from the four heavy ducted fans, which seemed particularly reassuring in this dead silent polar night.

"Buzz —"

Occasionally, a few red dots representing abyss blind monsters would suddenly flash on the radar. Before those monsters could even get close to the armor, the main console would respond automatically.

"Whoosh — Splat!"

The [high-frequency tracking cutting ray] drew an extremely dazzling blue death beam in the darkness, instantly and precisely slicing the frozen monster a thousand meters away into two halves. Immediately following was the extremely pleasant treasure chest drop notification sound of [War Treasure III].

Zhou An watched the red dots that disappeared instantly on the screen, stretched comfortably, and his bones let out a series of satisfying cracks.

"It's freezing and snowy outside..."

"It seems that for the next month, every day can only be spent in such a simple and boring way."