Chapter 42: Making Guns and Building Titanium Alloy Hailstorm Defense

Inside the boxes, there were three heavy black boxes, ones that neither Jing Lan nor Jing Zhe had ever seen before. They weren’t entirely black, as some parts protruded while others were recessed. There were even sharp blades, making the boxes look oddly shaped and somewhat menacing.

Another box was quite large, containing a tool almost as tall as a person. It looked heavy, and both Jing Lan and Jing Zhe were baffled at how Xie Zhizhi had carried it in so effortlessly.

The remaining tools were smaller but just as bizarre and unfamiliar to them.

“Is this the weapon you used this morning to instantly kill the middle-aged man?” Jing Lan asked, flustered and unsure, pointing to a handgun image on one of the designs.

“Yep,” Xie Zhizhi replied, pulling out all the machines and placing them on the empty floor space inside the house.

She started pointing at each tool, explaining, “This larger one is a mini lathe, that’s a diesel generator, there’s a grinding wheel, electric drill, vice, planer, and these are aluminum and steel, and these two are silver-plated and titanium alloys. Quite complex, right?”

The two nodded, “As long as you give us two days, we’ll have it all memorized.”

As dark guards, learning new things quickly was essential for them.

Xie Zhizhi smiled lightly, noting their eagerness to learn. “No rush, just get a rough idea of the purpose for now. We’ll go step by step.”

Jing Lan and Jing Zhe were observing intently as Xie Zhizhi continued to pull things from the boxes. The more she took out, the more things seemed to appear. It felt like the boxes couldn’t possibly hold that much!

“Could the boxes have some hidden mechanism?” they wondered.

What they didn’t realize was that Xie Zhizhi was using her space to smuggle the items in. The boxes didn’t actually hold that much. On her way back, she had already spent five hours in her space learning the process from videos and documents she had saved on her computer. She had managed to assemble a rough sleeve but didn’t take it out yet since it still needed refining.

She already had the Desert Eagle, but ideally, she wanted to make a sniper rifle as well for emergencies.

On the way, she had replicated some items, so now she had three Desert Eagles that she intended to have Jing Lan and Jing Zhe disassemble to better understand the mechanics.

With a clang, the handguns spilled out of the bag onto the floor.

Jing Lan and Jing Zhe stared wide-eyed.

“Let’s each take one and disassemble it, here are the blueprints,” Xie Zhizhi said.

The three of them spent two hours tinkering, taking apart the guns and reassembling them. By the time they were done, they had a solid understanding of how the Desert Eagle worked.

Xie Zhizhi explained the detailed production methods to them, teaching them how to use the machines and read the blueprints.

Jing Lan and Jing Zhe had both been trained in weaponry since childhood, and the military even taught them how to make gunpowder. So, they could understand the principles Xie Zhizhi was explaining with relative ease.

Their excitement grew as they immersed themselves in the task.

Whenever they felt hungry, they’d eat the meat pies, dried food, or fruit they had bought from the market. Xie Zhizhi, too, continued to learn as they worked. The three of them—though still novices—struggled through, and by evening, they hadn’t managed to create a finished piece yet.

What they had instead was a pile of odd-shaped steel blocks, incomplete aluminum parts, and rough, poorly-made components. There was much room for improvement.

“We’ll try again tomorrow. Our brains need time to process all this new information,” Xie Zhizhi said, looking at the clock—it was already 9 p.m.

Jing Lan was so engrossed in the gun designs, flipping through a book on gun schematics. Although she couldn’t read the characters, she was fascinated by the pictures.

Xie Zhizhi, sitting in a chair, watched her and smiled helplessly. It was a pity that the characters weren’t in traditional Chinese, so they couldn’t read them properly, and no matter how much they looked, they would only grasp part of the meaning.

She started cleaning up the scattered tools and cleared a path.

“You two keep going. I’m stepping outside for a bit. Don’t come out yet,” Xie Zhizhi instructed before leaving the house.

Jing Lan and Jing Zhe nodded and continued working diligently.

The sky outside had transitioned from the cloudy afternoon to a clear, starry night. The moon shone brightly, illuminating the dark sky.

The weather was unexpectedly nice tonight, with no rain in sight.

While in her space, Xie Zhizhi had already calculated the dimensions of the entire house. Regarding the hailstorm disaster she had discussed with them yesterday, she had come up with the best solution: building another house or reinforcing the existing one with the hardest steel plates.

Otherwise, the gold mine guarded by soldiers and the underground tunnel could be at risk of collapsing.

If they wanted to stay long-term, reinforcing the house was crucial.