Chapter 2952: A Soil Block

“Report! Communications briefly resumed just now. The Federation Parliament sent a message instructing us to remain patient and continue monitoring. They believe Fang Heng will soon come to a compromise, and we must not panic.”

Bullshit!

Vionne wanted to curse.

Panic, my ass!

A compromise? Fang Heng had already gone out and started building a base!

They were on the verge of being abandoned at the ship’s temporary base!

“Who gave that order? Tell that idiot that Fang Heng is already building a base outside!”

“Minister Anatory issued the directive. The military department also sent a message to Federation headquarters, alerting them that Fang Heng was setting up a base and requesting reinforcements.”

“During previous communications, the higher-ups repeatedly asked us to confirm whether we had personally seen Fang Heng’s underground base and to verify its size and scale.”

One of the accompanying experts remained calm and said, “The minister wants us to verify the accuracy of the information. He suspects that Fang Heng and the military might be setting a trap.”

A trap?

Vionne froze for a moment, then turned to look at the empty laboratory hall.

They were setting a trap?

Thinking carefully…

It was possible.

Otherwise, why had Fang Heng prevented them from entering the underground area?

Wouldn’t laying everything out in the open be more effective in breaking their psychological defenses?

That was close!

Looking back on everything, Fang Heng’s construction of an underground safe zone had been extremely sudden.

It really could be a ruse!

They had almost fallen into Fang Heng’s trap!

But…

Something didn’t add up.

What about the research personnel?

He had clearly seen them leaving the ship, and the materials from the research institute had also been transported out.

Where did everything go?

Unless…

The military and Fang Heng were colluding, hiding the research department personnel on the ship?

Wayne scratched his head.

The ship’s safe zones were actually quite small. It would be hard to hide everyone in there.

“I understand. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

Vionne nodded and ordered the previous surveillance footage to be pulled up to figure out what had really happened.

After checking it repeatedly, it was clear–Wayne and his group had led the researchers into the underground pit area, and after that, no one had seen the research personnel again.

Was this a deliberate misdirection, or was it real?

Vionne felt anxious and didn’t dare act rashly, so he stayed in the main control room watching the screen.

An entire night passed.

Vionne’s eyes were bleary.

Apart from Arkley’s team and a few mutant worm creatures, no one entered or exited the underground passage, and the ship’s safe zone had remained sealed all night.

Fang Heng had no idea that a pair of eyes had been watching him all night.

With cooperation from the engineers and the research team, the initial setup of the anti-gravity system in the underground passage had been completed.

Inside the underground passage, players could now move freely without protective suits.

The engineering team continued with more systematic construction, expanding and reinforcing the internal passage defenses.

“Fang Heng, the modified concrete blocks designed for corrosive sandstorm environments have been completed. We’ve added special metals to the mix to increase the block’s overall strength and resistance to erosion.”

Good stuff!

Fang Heng took the blueprint handed to him by Li Zixuan and nodded silently.

He had some knowledge in science and engineering, so he could roughly understand the blueprint.

Now that they had anti-corrosion stone blocks, the next step was mass production. They would embed anti-gravity devices inside and then lay the blocks throughout the transportation passages.

That would drastically improve ore transportation efficiency.

Li Zixuan looked worried and said, “According to your plan, the special anti-gravity stone blocks have very low output. One critical step still requires energy conduction through alchemy…”

“Let me give it a try. Got any test samples?”

“Yes.”

Li Zixuan waved at a nearby player.

Two researchers pushed a cart over with a large, deep gray stone block.

The block was cube-shaped and about 1.5 meters long.

“This one is still a semi-finished product. We need to inscribe an alchemy brand on it to enhance internal energy flow. Completing this step requires at least intermediate-level alchemy. We don’t have the talent for that in our team.”

“Not a problem. I’ve learned a bit of alchemy myself.”

Fang Heng placed his hand gently on the stone block.

“Whoosh!”

A faint light flickered across the stone, and a dim brand mark appeared.

That fast?

Was it really done?

The researchers looked at Fang Heng in surprise.

Fang Heng said casually, “It’s a good piece. How many can we produce?”

Produce?

The researchers exchanged glances, confused.

If they had to estimate… one every three hours?

Why did he need so many?

“Never mind,” Fang Heng could tell from their faces. “Figure out how to increase production. We need a lot of these anti-gravity blocks–as many as possible.”

Li Zixuan added, “To scale up production, we’ll need more raw materials and casting molds. We’ll have to obtain them through the spawns’ transition system.”

Li Zixuan and the researchers followed Fang Heng to the spawns’ mainframe exchange zone, where they watched him rapidly click through the exchange column.

Maxed out!

Everyone stared in astonishment.

Good lord…

So many materials? Was he setting up a production line?

What exactly was Fang Heng planning?

With a clear grind goal, Fang Heng no longer felt sleepy.

The underground base was split into two levels.

The researchers usually stayed on the upper floor for various projects.

The lower level was still a rough draft, which Fang Heng assigned to his zombie clones for ore refining and inscribing alchemy runes onto anti-gravity stones.

The spawns’ transition system ran 24/7, and every time the cooldown finished, new forging tools were transmitted.

Using special alloy metals, they added an energy conduction layer and anti-gravity modules, coated the outside with condensed concrete-metal mix, and finally applied an energy shield for defense.

Thirty-six hours later, the first batch of anti-gravity stone blocks was completed, and the experimental team immediately began conducting tests.

Outside the ship, Zaka and his team of players had been waiting.

Soon, Lickers dragged the stone blocks out of the cavern to the surface.

Though the stones looked heavy, the built-in anti-gravity devices kept them floating in midair, with settings adjustable via internal controls.

They had mobile, adjustable, and fixed modes.

In mobile mode, the blocks could be easily moved.

Zaka stepped forward and gave one a push.

It was far lighter than expected, like pushing a small wooden cabinet with wheels.

Zaka nodded silently, listening to the scientific team through his earpiece. He turned to the players behind him and called out, “Alright, brothers. Let’s go. Time to push boxes.”

The players’ job was to lay roads!

They moved each anti-gravity block one by one, laying them flat until they turned the whole area into level ground.

The anti-gravity blocks were linked through internal energy channels and controlled by the cavern’s main control room, where they could be switched to fixed mode.

As the ground was gradually covered, players started walking on the anti-gravity platform.

“This thing actually works!”

One player looked excited and even jumped a few times.

Solid as flat ground.

Finally, they could say goodbye to that squishy “stepping-in-poop” feeling.