Still, Qin Ziwen was curious what type of ore the Wailing Fortress actually produced.

Behind the Skeleton Miners sat a large bamboo basket, about half the height of a person.

A few scattered pieces of ore rested at the bottom of the basket. Their surfaces were covered in grayish-white spots, looking as if they had a layer of moss growing on them.

’This must be the specialty of the fortress,’ he thought.

He picked up the bamboo basket and stepped outside.

Once out of the dim fortress, he finally got a clear look at the true appearance of the ore piled at the bottom of the basket.

The surface of the dark brown ore was dotted with many murky white spots.

In the dim light of the fortress, he had mistaken them for moss.

Qin Ziwen picked up a piece, weighed it in his hand, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

It was much lighter than he had expected, roughly comparable to a piece of wood of the same size.

’If I used this metal to build a ship... would it be able to float on the sea?’ The thought flashed through his mind, but he immediately shook his head. ’The amount of material needed for a solid metal ship would probably be astronomical.’

Relying on just these twenty-odd Skeleton Miners, they could swing their pickaxes until sparks flew and it still wouldn’t be enough.

Still, he needed to give this metal a simple, easy-to-understand name.

"Since it’s mined by Skeleton Miners, let’s call it Ghost Gold." In the current environment, a metal with such unique properties was no less valuable than Gold. Calling it Ghost Gold was no exaggeration.

He immediately summoned Li Tieshan and Li Yue.

He told them about some of the new ore’s properties. "Go and test the other characteristics of this Ghost Gold. Prioritize trial-producing Crossbow Mechanisms and Armor to see how they perform in combat."

Li Tieshan nodded in agreement.

Li Yue stared at the ore in his hand, his face filled with shock. "President, it’s not that there aren’t metals lighter than wood in nature, but those metals are highly unstable. Take lithium, potassium, and sodium, for example—they explode on contact with water."

"Besides them, the only materials that can maintain strength at such a low weight are things like magnesium alloys. If this were on Earth, it would absolutely cause an earthquake in the field of materials science."

Qin Ziwen said, "I don’t understand all that. I only care about the finished product. You figure it out."

"Yes, sir!" Li Yue nodded emphatically, his mind already racing.

He thought of the One-Handed Crossbow.

’With this Ghost Gold, I can drastically reduce the weight of the One-Handed Crossbows... No, wait, I don’t have to control the weight. I can try to make the One-Handed Crossbows even bigger!’

’I can increase their lethality while keeping the original weight!’

And not just the One-Handed Crossbows, but the Car-Mounted Crossbows too. If he could scale them up even further, he could create a type of super-heavy Crossbow Cannon...

Li Yue’s eyes lit up, as if he could already see a Giant Crossbow roaring through the air and piercing a Giant Beast.

’Besides, those brutes in the Hunting Team are all incredibly strong anyway.’

Beyond the One-Handed Crossbows, there were the Car-Mounted Crossbows. Li Yue considered whether he could make the Car-Mounted Crossbows even larger, turning them into superweapons.

Ideally, a single shot would be enough to make those monsters understand the power of technology.

"Oh, right, President. You mentioned earlier that this Ghost Gold can also absorb blood to heal itself? Isn’t that like a shape-memory alloy?" Li Yue asked curiously. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"That’s right. But we still need to test how much blood it requires and how fast it heals. I’m leaving that to you as well."

Li Yue accepted excitedly.

Ever since joining the Military Equipment Supervisor and becoming the head of the Divine Machine Workshop, Li Yue had clearly felt the changes in his life.

Before, he was just an invisible nobody in the Gated Community. If he had died, probably no one besides his golden retriever would have even remembered him.

Later, after joining Brother Qin’s team, he had a group. He was no longer all alone.

Later still, as Brother Qin’s team grew stronger and the Qin Alliance was established, people would occasionally greet him when he walked through the Gated Community.

Now, after joining the Divine Machine Workshop and becoming its head, people in the Qin Alliance often greeted him, and some even secretly asked him for favors.

But he turned them all down. He understood who was the source of his current privileges.

This world was not lacking in talent.

He was just an ordinary university student.

There were many people in the Gated Community who understood similar technologies. For instance, some of the other craftsmen currently in the Divine Machine Workshop were more skilled than he was.

Yet he was still the head of the Divine Machine Workshop, and he understood the deeper reason why.

’Compared to ability, loyalty is more important.’

Privately, some people gossiped that he only got by because of his connections.

He paid them no mind. ’So what if I rely on connections? You have to have connections to rely on in the first place.’

Looking at the Ghost Gold in his hand, he thought about its ability to heal itself by absorbing blood...

A vague idea suddenly formed in Li Yue’s mind.

’It’s too audacious. I won’t say anything until I have a finished product or at least a prototype.’

"From now on, you can either come down to get the ore yourselves or send someone. For now, follow me and have a look." Qin Ziwen led them to the bottom of the mine pit.

Hearing that he could see the Skeleton Miners with his own eyes, Li Yue’s interest was piqued. He pulled Tao Fu along and followed close behind.

As they entered the depths of the fortress and saw the tirelessly working Skeleton Miners, the corner of Li Yue’s mouth twitched.

’These are probably a capitalist’s favorite kind of worker.’

’They don’t want money, don’t take breaks, and don’t complain.’

’There’s nothing left of them but a skeleton; they don’t even have vocal cords.’

’They couldn’t cry out even if they wanted to.’

Li Yue mustered his courage and moved closer.

The skeleton showed no reaction to the visitor, continuing to strike the ore as before.

The dim light from the wall lamps illuminated the tattered rags on their bodies, as well as the unusual structure of their lower limbs.

"President." A flicker of surprise and doubt crossed Li Yue’s eyes. "Something’s not right with these miners’ feet. They don’t look like human foot bones."

"What do you mean, not human?" Qin Ziwen walked over. He hadn’t noticed before.

Following the direction Li Yue was pointing, he saw that the toe bones of the skeletons were unusually long and separated. Between the toes were translucent, calcified traces of what looked like webbed membranes.

They didn’t look like human foot bones, but more like the webbed structures of some kind of aquatic creature.

"Could these Skeleton Miners live in water?" Qin Ziwen mused.

’Is it because the current map is an "Island" map?’

’So the resulting resource points are subtly connected to the ocean.’

He then recalled the notification screen he had seen at the start of the map.

’Could there really be a sunken aquatic civilization beneath this sea?’

’But who cares what civilization it was? As long as these resource points and buildings are usable, that’s all that matters.’

’It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.’

Leaving the ore vein, Qin Ziwen went to the seashore.

The island reef was limited in size. With so many people fishing and hunting, the surrounding wild seafood was quickly depleted.

It wasn’t that no one had thought of going into the sea, but the currents were turbulent and the hidden reefs were sharp.

Someone had once risked it, only to be slammed against the reefs by a wave in the blink of an eye, leaving them covered in bloody scrapes.

"Look! Over there!"

Someone nearby cried out in alarm.

In the distance, a massive Giant Beast of the sea suddenly breached, leaping out of the water.

Its enormous body crashed back onto the surface, sending up a thousand-ton tidal wave.

...

...