Elder brother's garrison

Page 1974

"I don't know either... Huh? According to the previous triggering method, the third research question should have appeared by now..." Xiaobai muttered to himself as he tapped on the research lock, but the research lock was as unresponsive as a rusty brick. Xiaobai turned the research lock around with a puzzled look and looked directly at the display screen on the back of the lock.

"……Um?"

Then, the group of novices who saw the screen were stunned again.

To everyone else, the display screen on the technological lock, which was supposed to be used to input answers to scientific research questions, had somehow been activated.

Right before everyone's eyes, a small string of identical numbers and symbols was flashing on the display screen of the third technological lock.

"00.00%"

"Huh? This is..."

"0.00%?"

"What does this mean?"

"Xiaobai, is this what you just typed?"

Xiao Bai and his two companions stared in surprise at the numbers on the smart lock screen. After a brief conversation, Xiao Bai tapped the screen with his finger.

“No… the screen on the third lock doesn’t seem to have an input function.” Xiaobai put down her hand and said to the person next to her, “The 0.00 percent here seems to be the value originally set in the research lock.”

"What's the use of this zero percent... uh...?" Nia asked curiously.

"I don't know..."

"This zero percent on the lock... could it refer to the progress of something?" Luo Lian thought for a moment and tentatively asked, "Could it be that the way to unlock this third research lock is not actually to solve the test questions, but some other way?"

"Other ways?!" Xiaobai and Nia exclaimed in surprise, speaking at the same time.

Chapter 2764 The Terrifying Progress Bar

Behind Xiaobai and her two companions, two teams of ship girls glanced at their surroundings while watching Xiaobai and her companions as they engaged in a lively discussion.

"It seems the Admiral is in trouble." Changchun clasped his hands, looking at Xiaobai's retreating figure with concern. "Hopefully, it can be resolved..."

"It's alright, it must be a technical adjustment!" The company gave Changchun a thumbs up.

"Thank you, Sister Enterprise... I feel relieved to have you here." Changchun looked at Enterprise and gave her a sweet smile. "With Sister Enterprise around, everything will turn out well!"

"Daifeng, how's the situation on the beach?" Nia's Veneto looked at Daifeng with concern. "I don't want the Commander and Admiral Lu Lin to be crammed together with too many other admirals."

"Hehe... The only one qualified to get close to the Commander is me, Taihou." Taihou covered her mouth and let out a string of silvery laughter. "Don't worry, no one from the beach has arrived yet."

"Huh? Such a huge beam of light appeared over the research and construction machine, and nobody's come to check it out?"

"It seems the admiral on the beach has a more pressing objective." Taihou said, narrowing her eyes and smiling at the ship girls. "It looks like someone has shielded our commanders from a lot of trouble."

"what……"

The ship girls stared blankly at Taihou, then seemed to realize something and nodded thoughtfully.

……

While the ship girls behind them were chatting away, in front of the research construction machine, Xiaobai and her two companions were also studying the research lock that was malfunctioning frequently.

"Sigh... If only we had a third set of research questions like before... With Luo Lian's abilities, no one could solve it faster than us." Nia sighed regretfully, slightly unhappy. "This research lock is acting strangely now, and we're not even sure if we'll be the first to solve it..."

“That’s not entirely true. In fact, with my abilities, I was already struggling to solve the second set of research locks.” Luo Lian shook her head and then said to Nia, “If the difficulty curve continues, the third set of research locks will probably be several times harder than the second set. At that point, even I might not be able to solve them. Perhaps a completely new way of unlocking them wouldn’t be a bad thing for us.”

"The 0.00 percent on this lock, according to you, Lianlian, does that refer to the progress?" Xiaobai bent down to examine the research lock, curiously turning her head to ask Luo Lian.

"Yes, generally speaking, it refers to progress, right?" Luo Lian tapped her chin. "Since there's zero percent, there must be one hundred percent. Logically speaking, we just need to find a way to increase the percentage value on this lock screen to one hundred percent, right?"

"Then how do I improve?"

"I don't know, there's no indication of that here."

"Hmm...could it be time?" Xiaobai guessed.

"I can only hope that it's not the timing..." Nia clasped her hands together.

“Indeed.” Luo Lian nodded. She looked at the lock for a few seconds and said to Xiao Bai, “Hmm… I guess the percentage in this lock probably refers to energy.”

"energy?"

“It seems that even a research and construction machine can’t conjure up a ship girl out of thin air.” Luo Lian lowered her head and thought very seriously. “So this third lock is less of a test and more of a urging to collect enough resources to build this special research ship girl.”

"I see! We should have quite a bit of energy—" Xiaobai asked with sudden realization, "Then how do we put the energy into the lock?"

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be put into the lock. The lock is connected to the construction machine.” Luo Lian thought for a while, then tapped the research construction machine with her hand. She then looked thoughtfully at a groove on the research construction machine and rubbed it with her finger. “Hmm… this spot.”

"What's wrong with this location?" Xiaobai and Nia asked curiously.

“Xiaobai, you know me. I’ve tried disassembling and modifying construction machines before, so I’m fairly familiar with their structure. Generally speaking, if we analyze it using the structure of a regular construction machine, this location is usually where resources are placed.” Luo Lian gently poked at the groove on the construction machine with her finger, then she reached out to Xiaobai, “Xiaobai, do you have any ordinary deep-sea metal? Give me one.”

"Huh? Oh...yes, yes." Xiaobai was taken aback. She subconsciously reached into her pocket and took out a piece of snow-white deep-sea metal, handing it to Luo Lian.

“…Hmm?” Luo Lian looked at the snow-white deep-sea metal that Xiao Bai handed her with a strange expression. “…Isn’t this the Deep Sea Dean’s metal? It doesn’t need to be so precious. You can just give me a piece of ordinary deep-sea metal.”

"It's alright. I salvaged this during the Deep Sea Dean event in Chapter Six. It's not Deep Sea Dean Metal, but a mass-produced, disguised version. It's a bit expensive, but the quality is far inferior to the real Deep Sea Dean Metal. I have over a hundred pieces here." Xiao Bai smiled slightly at Luo Lian. "Actually, it's not that rare. You can take it and use it. Higher quality Deep Sea Metal would be beneficial to your research, wouldn't it?"

—Anyway, they're just snacks for beginners.

—Compared to ending up inside Xiaobai's stomach and being handed over to Luo Lian as research material, this is not a bad ending.

“…Alright.” Luo Lian accepted the mass-produced Deep-Sea Dean Metal. After thinking for a while, she handed the Deep-Sea Metal to the groove of the scientific research construction machine.

Click click click click click —

A surprising scene unfolded.

The moment the deep-sea metal approached the groove of the research and construction machine, the groove, which was originally only the size of a fist, expanded instantly, as if it had sensed its prey. It then extended a trumpet-shaped shell and swiftly reached out to grab Luo Lian's hand.

Luo Lian quickly dropped the deep-sea metal and withdrew her hand.

boom!

The grooves of the research and construction machine gripped the deep-sea metal as if they were alive, and then the entire research and construction machine began to slowly undulate.

"Lianlian!" Xiaobai exclaimed in alarm, grabbing Luo Lian's wrist. "Are you alright?!"

"It's alright, I dodged it." Luo Lian shook her head, but her gaze remained fixed on the scientific research construction machine in front of her. "I didn't expect this scientific research construction machine... to have a structure that can sense deep-sea metal. The way it absorbs deep-sea metal is more like a living beast than a construction machine. It seems I should be more careful when feeding it deep-sea metal next time, lest it also mistake it for deep-sea metal and swallow it."

"That scared me to death... I, I never imagined a construction machine would be like this..." Xiao Bai was so frightened that she quickly gripped Luo Lian's hand tightly, constantly blowing on the back of Luo Lian's hand as if afraid that the hand would disappear. "It's too dangerous, too dangerous..."

"I'm fine, I can react to something like this." Luo Lian smiled at Xiao Bai. "Go check the research lock. I just put in a piece of deep-sea metal, there should be a reaction over there."

"Research lock? Oh...right...right..." Xiaobai stared blankly at Luo Lian. After seeing the warmth in Luo Lian's eyes, she nervously released Luo Lian's wrist, then bent down to pick up the technology lock hanging on the research construction machine. "Let me see if the numbers on the display screen have changed..."

The research and construction machine slowly stopped crawling and returned to its harmless state.

Xiao Bai took the opportunity to flip over the tech lock and look at the screen.

The numbers on the smart lock screen did indeed change.

"Ah! It's changed!" Xiaobai stared blankly at the numbers on the screen, but his expression was very strange.

"Changed? That's a good thing." Luo Lian moved closer. "How much has the progress increased? Let me see... hmm?"

Luo Lian was stunned when she saw the progress on the technology lock, and then frowned.

The progress of technological locks has indeed changed.

But the frequency of these changes is hardly something to be happy about.

Because at this moment, the percentage in the smart lock had only slowly increased by one place.

"0.01%"

A mass-produced piece of deep-sea metal has only increased its progress by 0.01?

Chapter 2765 What a huge appetite!

The three of them stared at the numbers in the tech lock and fell into a brief silence.

"In short... let's sort out the information we just obtained." After a while, Luo Lian sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She said to Xiao Bai and Nia beside her, "In short, we can confirm for the time being that the way to unlock this third technological lock is not the same as the first two technological locks, but to supply energy to the research and construction machine."

"Yes, yes." Xiaobai and Nia nodded hurriedly, just like elementary school students listening to a teacher's lecture.

"Then, regarding the method of supplying energy to the research construction machine, based on our own experiments, one known method is to throw high-energy polymers like deep-sea metal into the construction device. We are currently unsure if there are other ways to supply energy." Luo Lian continued to speak to Xiao Bai and Nia, "Although we are unsure whether we can directly obtain research ship girls after the energy supply is completed, based on our previous simple guess, as long as the progress in the third research lock is fed from zero to one hundred, this construction machine will always undergo some changes."

“Yes, yes!” Xiaobai and Nia nodded again.

"Then... there's the question of how much energy this construction machine needs..." Luo Lian said, turning her head with a complicated expression to look at the research construction machine behind her. "After dropping a whole piece of mass-produced Deep-Sea Dean Metal, the progress of this construction machine only increased by 0.01%. Based on this progress, to fully power this construction machine with mass-produced Deep-Sea Dean Metal, it would need at least 10,000 pieces—Xiao Bai, how many pieces of mass-produced Deep-Sea Dean Metal do you have left in your naval base?"

"If we're talking about mass production... if we include what I have and what's in the naval base's warehouse, there should only be less than three or four thousand left," Xiaobai replied regretfully.

While mass-produced Deepsea Dean Metal is indeed available in the newbie naval bases, it is still a limited-edition prize from the once-in-five-hundred-years special event in Chapter Six. Obtaining even one of these metals means defeating an autonomous puppet with the strength of a Deepsea Dean. Even the world's number one naval base at the time, despite deploying its main fleet to salvage it at full capacity throughout the entire event, could only produce a few thousand metals. As for the other naval bases in Chapter Six at the time, those with some strength could only salvage two or three metals during the entire event.

Compared to those naval bases, the salvage efficiency of the newbie naval base is already ridiculously high.

Even so, there is still a heartbreaking gap between the current capacity and the "ten thousand" deep-sea dean metals needed to feed this scientific research and construction machine.

Xiao Bai thought he was already at the top level in terms of consuming Deep Sea Dean's metal, but he didn't expect that the scientific research construction machine in front of him was even more heavyweight than himself.

“Even if we throw in all the mass-produced Deep-Sea Dean Metal you have, Xiaobai, it will only increase the progress by about 30%…” Luo Lian frowned, looking at the research construction machine in deep thought, “The energy required by this research construction machine seems a bit ridiculously high…”

“Yes, yes…” Xiaobai chimed in from the side, her gaze incredibly complicated.

Ten thousand pieces of mass-produced deep-sea metal...

Putting aside the fact that the newbie naval base doesn't have many mass-produced Deepsea Dean Metals left, even if Xiaobai really had that many mass-produced Deepsea Dean Metals, she would never be willing to throw them all in.

With so much mass-produced Deepsea Dean Metal, what can't you do with it... Even if you eat one piece every day, it'll be enough for Xiaobai to live on for ten years or so. If you could just throw in one or two pieces, or a hundred or two hundred pieces and get the full amount for the research ship girls, Xiaobai would be happy to do that. But if you throw in ten thousand pieces at once, that's just too outrageous, and Xiaobai can't bear to do it.

It's not that Xiaobai is greedy; it's just that I feel sorry for him.

After all, these days, there aren't many deep-sea metals with such a great taste and texture.

"That's outrageous... Using 10,000 mass-produced Deepsea Dean metal to exchange for a ship girl, even if this ship girl has extraordinary abilities, the cost of building her is just too outrageous." Luo Lian frowned and said slowly.

"Is it possible that ordinary deep-sea metal and deep-sea deity metal also have the same filling effect?" Nia asked cautiously from the side, "Like construction?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure." Luo Lian thought for a moment and looked at Nia. "Nia, do you have any ordinary Deep Sea Dean metal on you? Can you lend me some?"

Yes, yes, there are plenty!

Nia quickly called Cleveland over, and then Cleveland made a cupping motion with her arms, and dozens of ordinary deep-sea metals poured out of her ship's equipment space.

"Thanks." Luo Lian reached into Cleveland's arms and picked up a piece of deep-sea metal. She weighed it in her hand and said to the people around her, "Please step back a little."

Everyone quickly took two steps back.

After confirming everyone's location, Luo Lian threw the deep-sea metal toward the research and construction machine.

Ordinary deep-sea metal was thrown in an arc by Luo Lian, approaching the construction machine in everyone's sight. The next second, the scientific construction machine, like a hungry and ferocious dog, opened its mouth wide and swallowed the thrown deep-sea metal.

"The way the research and construction machine absorbs deep-sea metal... Even with preparation, it's still quite frightening to see it again..." Nia swallowed hard and approached Little White with some fear.

"As long as we keep a safe distance, there won't be any problems." Luo Lian silently watched the construction machine stop crawling, then looked down at the progress value on the research lock.

The value on the research lock remained unchanged at 0.01%, as if the deep-sea metal had never been injected.

"Throw some more in and see." Luo Lian stepped back and walked in front of Cleveland, picked up the deep-sea metal from Cleveland's arms, and began throwing it continuously into the construction machine.

Swish swish swish————

Sensing the presence of deep-sea metal, the research and construction machine once again transformed into a vicious dog, opening its enormous mechanical maw to precisely catch the deep-sea metal piece by piece.

Crunch, crunch, crunch——

After absorbing all the deep-sea metal, a crushing sound came from inside the research and construction machine. Then the entire machine slowly crawled and finally calmed down.

Everyone checked the progress of the technology lock once again.

The progress on the lock remains unchanged at 0.01%.

"What's going on... Does this research and construction machine not absorb ordinary deep-sea metals?" Xiaobai asked in confusion.

"No, it's probably because the energy provided by ordinary deep-sea metals is too little for it. Even if it eats dozens of them in one go, it's far from enough to increase its progress by even 0.01%." Luo Lian shook her head.

"Oh my god... can research ship girls really be built?" Nia sighed in disappointment. "I feel like this construction machine is just messing with our Deepsea Metal."

“At least we can be sure that the higher the quality of the deep-sea metal, the more it will suit its taste,” Luo Lian said to Nia.

"Deep-sea metal of even higher quality than mass-produced Deep-sea Dean's metal... Ah, could it be the deep-sea metal from the flagship boss in Chapter Eight?" Nia suddenly realized, and she quickly asked Xiaobai and Luo Lian, "Should we feed that to the research and construction machine?"

“Nia…it’s best not to,” Xiaobai said to Nia. “The deep-sea metal from the flagship boss is a reward you worked so hard to get. There should be a better way to use something that’s not easy to obtain repeatedly.”

“But… but…” Nia lowered her head and murmured, “As long as it can help Xiaobai, I think it’s good…”

"Alright, let's not think about that anymore." Xiaobai smiled at Nia, and after thinking for a while, she said to Nia and Luo Lian, "Speaking of which, I just remembered something."

"Huh? What is that?" Luo Lian and Nia looked up.

“That’s it.” Xiaobai pulled Saratoga next to him and whispered something in her ear. Then Saratoga took out a pink metal ball from her ship equipment space. Xiaobai took the pink metal ball and showed it to everyone. “Look, I want to try throwing this into the research and construction machine.”