Chapter 168: Trending Globally, Completion Of Bullets!
The wind was still blowing and the snow was still falling. Sitting idly, Su Mo could finally take the time to check out and observe things he had forgotten because of his rushed lifestyle over the past weeks.
For example, in the storage s.p.a.ce, there were three sets of brand new cotton clothes.
Another example, the snowflakes, clouds in the sky, as well as the strong wind, did not interfere with each other, forming a very strange climate cycle.
Of course, there were also the thoughts brought about by examining the other lone wolf shelters.
All the current “lone wolves”, including the number one shelter, were also built atop the terrain.
More and more people were choosing to abandon the houses created by the game panel and build their own shelters instead.
“Apart from chatting and trading secrets, most people have begun to figure out how to break free from the confines of the game panel.”
“This was also the right approach, because if human beings placed their entire hopes on the game panel, then they would always be stuck at its mercy!”
Abandoning the shelter built by the game panel did not only mean the loss of the “upgrade”, “transcendent blessings”, “extensibility”… and other in-game functions.
Some modular technologies that may be useful in the future would also be constrained. This would seriously affect the speed of development.
This was the reason why even large shelters had to maintain a few game houses.
The first update had removed the production system and added many restrictions, including the paid use of manufacturing.
Payment restrictions were introduced to private messaging chat.
It was precisely because of this update that most people lost their confidence in the game panel and chose to try to break away from the game’s control.
After all, if one day the upgraded shelters were recovered by the game panel, would it not mean direct death?
Even if Su Mo did not think much about this, in the mouth of some “conspiracy theorists”, it had evolved to become more and more exaggerated.
“Games, systems, individuals, races…”
Carefully relating the connection between these nouns, Su Mo tried to think about the points that might be involved. This lasted until midday when his stomach grumbled, reminding Su Mo that he had been sitting out there for a long time.
The “storm” during daytime was not strong, which also gave all the creatures living on this land a chance to breathe.
Seeing that Oreo was still asleep in his arms, Su Mo simply walked down the hill. He returned to the workbench, took out a few wooden boards, and built a small nest large enough to house Oreo and placed it at the entrance of the garage.
Big Spark and Little Spark cooed and followed Su Mo around. Seeing Oreo lying motionless on the ground, both of them trotted over anxiously, and laid down next to Oreo, and squealed.
“It’s okay. You two take care of Oreo. Just call me if anything happens!”
The temperature on the first floor of the shelter was already terrifyingly low, especially since the garage gate was open, allowing the cold wind to come in. Even though he had the combat uniform, Su Mo was still s.h.i.+vering from the cold.
It was not until he returned to the second floor that he took out the new cotton-padded clothes and trousers. Su Mo put on the clothes, and turned on the electric switch at his waist, immediately feeling much more comfortable.
Oreo needed the cold so, sitting in the shelter, Su Mo did not turn on the air conditioner’s heating function. He could only sit in front of the workbench and forcefully concentrate on studying the technology tree to develop weapons and ammunition.
The nitrocellulose made in the storage s.p.a.ce, also known as guncotton, was extremely safe.
After nearly a day of collection, the ethylene in the motor-pumped oil well was taken out, and Su Mo began to figure out a way to make the last two important items:
Ethanol and ether!
The production of ethanol was developed based on winemaking.
People had been fermenting grain to make wine since ancient times. In the 12th century, when wine was distilled, it was the first time that alcohol was separated from the wine.
Before the 20th century, fermentation was the only industrial production method for ethanol.
Then around 1930, the Union Carbide Corporation established the first industrial plant to produce ethanol using ethylene, a byproduct of thermal cracking of petroleum as the raw material, absorbed by sulfuric acid and then hydrolyzed.
This famous ethylene indirect hydration method was convenient and simple and had significant advantages. Once it appeared, it quickly became the best method for preparing ethanol.
There was a large amount of high-purity sulfuric acid in the shelter, and it was too snowy to go out anyway. With this being the case, after eating some pancakes to regain his strength, Su Mo began to concentrate on preparing it.
It did not take long for a large amount of ethanol to be prepared.
As for the production of ether, it was even simpler. According to the reaction formula, to prepare ether, one only needed to break the O-H bond and the C-O bond to complete the process.
With the large number of historical experiments and research projects undertaken by humanity’s predecessors, the biggest difficulty in creating smokeless gunpowder lay in finding the appropriate “cotton”.
As for the diphenylamine used to prepare the stabilizer, it only made up a small percentage of the final product.
After researching and discovering that its price in the system was not expensive, he spent 20 survival points and bought an amount sufficient to prepare 20000 bullets.
“Tabletting…cutting…drying…hardening…”
Step by step, Su Mo did everything patiently and completely followed the scientific preparation methodology. By the time evening came, all the guncotton had finally been made!
The smokeless gunpowder was cut into strips and neatly arranged on the workbench. No matter from which angle it was viewed from, it portrayed a different kind of beauty.
After working for many days, Su Mo’s hands had become a little rough.
Especially when touching smokeless gunpowder, this friction felt more intense.
“Smokeless gunpowder! Something that had not been researched for centuries, yet I only took one day from the beginning to the end!”
Standing on the shoulders of giants and looking at the world around him, at this moment, Su Mo was very grateful for the knowledge he has received consciously or unconsciously from the civilized era.
Be it a novel, or a Zhihu answer, or even a marketing account with a lot of useless information.
These information streams formed a huge knowledge bank that contained the wisdom of modern humans. After coming to the apocalyptic wasteland, it could be quickly transformed into a form of “strength”!
With modular technology, there was no need to wait for all smokeless gunpowder to dry and harden.
3000 rounds of bullets required 18 blocks of copper and 2 blocks of lead.
There was a large number of copper blocks in the base, which were all meant to be used to prepare the ammunition, so Su Mo did not feel reluctant at all. He picked up and carried the requisite number of copper blocks and placed them next to the laser manufacturing machine.
After putting all the smokeless gunpowder, and copper and lead blocks, into the storage s.p.a.ce of the laser manufacturing machine, Su Mo nervously clicked on the b.u.t.ton to begin the preparation of ammunition.
The current stored power of the machine was 50kWh. After a day of charging, it had reached its peak value once again.
It took 23kWh to prepare 3000 rounds of bullets. There was not too much preparation work. When the green light lit up, Su Mo carefully used both hands to press on the manufacturing b.u.t.ton, and the familiar round iron cover emerged again!
Clank, clank, clank…
There were bursts of abnormal noises and, at the same time, the chain inside the machine began to rotate.
Within two minutes, the harvest time finally came when a circular incision the size of a fist appeared on the iron cover!
Boom!
Clang!
A bra.s.s-colored bullet was spat out by the machine, flying into the adjacent steel collection bucket in front of the machine, and making a “delicious” crisp sound.
Then, as if corn kernels had entered a popcorn machine, more and more bullets were spat out, piling into the bucket. They were automatically arranged into a neat shape by the steel belt inside.
Sitting in front of the machine’s collection bucket, Su Mo propped his head up and quietly watched the neat 5.56mm bullets inside. The happiness in his heart surged as each bullet was collected one after another.
Poor people relied on tactics, while the rich relied on firepower!
With 3000 rounds of bullets, Su Mo was confident in stopping thousands of cavalry, let alone the kobolds, lion people, or even the taurens who were given the t.i.tle of “fierce tigers” by everyone.
Technology would give an individual a level of strength that would terrify these foreign mythical races.
Although he did not know which human traitor would be the first to reveal the human-technology weapons to the mythical races, at this moment, Su Mo believed…
That he had walked ahead of everyone in the world!
“These groups of buffoons! How can the honor of world’s first be secured by these n.o.bodies?”
While waiting, he opened the live broadcast channel again and looked at the t.i.tles of the live broadcast rooms above. Su Mo grinned and chuckled.
In the afternoon, of the 20 live broadcast rooms, six of the live broadcast rooms had the word “Su Mo” hanging in them and had various mocking t.i.tles attached to them.
In the evening, this number had intensified. Fourteen of these live broadcast rooms had changed their names to increase their popularity ratings and viewers.h.i.+p.
Compared with the large-scale shelters, these newly-listed lone wolves were like upstarts who had suddenly won the lottery, trying their best to get the most attention within the shortest time.
“Fame is like poison covered with honey. If you accidentally eat it, you would only poison yourself!”
Su Mo shook his head. Just as he was about to close the channel, he saw that the live broadcast room ranked fourth seemed a bit familiar.
“Feng Mengyue? Why is this name so familiar?”
After browsing through his private message panel, Su Mo finally remembered that when he first came to this wasteland, both of them had made a deal.
The rare-quality gla.s.s had been bought from Feng Mengyue.
Seeing an old acquaintance, Su Mo did not think much about it. Seeing that the room’s t.i.tle was “The Only Game Shelter”, he clicked into it with great interest.
As the only game shelter in the top 20, Feng Mengyue’s live broadcast room naturally caught the attention of many people.
Also, in the attribute panel in the upper right corner, there were 23 people in her shelter. With most of the live broadcast rooms featuring 3 to 6 people, it definitely stood out.
“It’s a neat house, with windbreakers on all sides. No wonder the average temperature is 9 degrees!”
The angle of view changed, showing the six neatly arranged houses on the ground and the hole in the middle. Su Mo nodded, affirming the strength of his old acquaintance.
The construction of the windbreaker wall took no effort. It was mixed with mud and weeds, and various large stones were buried in the ground. The gaps in the wall were smeared with mud. Overall, the windbreaker wall looked very strong and resistant.
The angle of view changed again, arriving at the house in the periphery, where Su Mo finally saw Feng Mengyue’s face for the first time.
“It’s a bit weird, it feels like there is a big gap between the actual person and the photo!”
Feng Mengyue’s photo was the kind that seemed very heroic at first glance, but the woman sitting in the house had the gentle vibe of a Jiangnan woman.
“I have seen a lot of comments mentioning Su Mo. About this, I believe that strength is strength, and ranking is ranking. To have lived in the wasteland for a long time and acc.u.mulated abundant supplies; that alone is already a symbol of strength. Don’t be misled by those streamers!”
No matter which live broadcast room he was in, everyone would never get tired of the word “Su Mo”. After watching for a while, Su Mo shook his head helplessly and exited the live broadcast room.
“Materials, I have; weapons, I also have them; as for the temperature…”
“Sorry, I have that too!”
Watching the last bullet bounce into the collection bucket and be arranged neatly by the steel belt, Su Mo looked at the air conditioner and smiled.