"So what you're saying is… you're planning to build me a wheelchair?"
Glaxia blinked as she looked at Jiang Qi.
Jiang Qi had always felt that, from a purely functional standpoint, she probably didn't actually need to blink. He had no idea whether it was some necessary design feature or just an extra bit of biomimetic detail.
"A wheelchair…" Jiang Qi rubbed his chin. "I mean, it's not an inaccurate description. But for the sake of disguise, I'll probably also need you to drive this 'wheelchair' and help me fight a few mech matches."
"That's easy. Other than one-on-one duels, what I'm best at is acting as a heavy pilot in 3v3 heavy equipment matches. Fighting in your wasteland competitions should be effortless."
Although Glaxia's replies only appeared as text, Jiang Qi could somehow still sense the pride in her tone.
Before he could say anything, she added another line.
"Of course, that's assuming the wheelchair you build for me isn't complete junk."
"I'll do my best, but with the conditions here, don't get your hopes up too high," Jiang Qi said helplessly. "And that's why I'm asking for your opinion. Out of these designs, do you have a favorite?"
He spread the design sketches out again in front of her.
"So these are the design drafts for the wheelchair you're making me? I thought they were some antique hand-drawn relics you dug up from somewhere."
Jiang Qi: "..."
"Oh, don't give me that wounded look. I was joking. I know your conditions here are limited."
"Thanks for your understanding," Jiang Qi said dryly. "So, out of these antiques, is there one you like?"
"Hmm… I think the third one in the first row is pretty good."
Jiang Qi looked down at the design she had chosen and nodded.
He was fairly satisfied with that one as well.
It was a majestic mech modeled after a heavily armored centaur knight.
To ensure stability, Jiang Qi had designed the lower body to be quite large, with six-wheel drive and thick bulletproof plating that hung like a metal war skirt.
The upper body was closer to a humanoid form, though he hadn't given it a head. It had only a heavily armored torso and two sturdy mechanical arms connected by spherical joints.
Naturally, those mechanical arms didn't have hands or any other flashy but impractical attachments. Instead, Jiang Qi had gone with the most brutally straightforward option possible—
Two heavy autocannons.
"However…"
After a short pause, text began flickering across the tablet again.
"The current design still has rather limited room for optimization. If you have better lightweight metal, I have a superior revision in mind."
"Lightweight metal…" Jiang Qi rubbed his chin. "Forget Yunting Special Alloys at that level. The best lightweight metal I can currently produce is… hold on."
With that, Jiang Qi left the room.
He went to the material rack, counted out twenty-five metal scraps, and began synthesizing them.
By the final stage, he felt he still had some mental energy left, so he synthesized four more identical metal blocks.
Then he tried to combine those five into one—
And found it extremely difficult.
So he settled for a three-in-one synthesis instead, which succeeded smoothly.
Looking at the gleaming silver alloy block in his hand, the Appraisal ability provided its information.
Alpha-282 Lightweight Alloy
Overall Material Rating: C
Overall Material Strength: D+
Tensile Strength: …
"D+, huh? For a lightweight alloy, that should count as pretty decent, right…" Jiang Qi thought to himself.
He glanced over at Rider Five, parked nearby.
As Old Homa's mech fighter, it represented the highest level the Flying Crows Gang could currently build under their present conditions.
And yet even the armor on Rider Five was only rated D in overall material strength.
If this still wasn't good enough, then Jiang Qi really had nothing better to offer.
Weighing the metal in his hand, Jiang Qi returned to the room and held it up for Glaxia to see.
"What about this? This is the best lightweight alloy I can get my hands on," he said.
"Alpha-282? There's actually still somewhere producing this model of alloy? How ancient would that production line have to be? That's incredible…"
Once again, Glaxia responded as though she had just been shown some kind of historical artifact.
"Don't worry about that. These are the conditions we've got. Just tell me whether it's usable or not. If it isn't, I don't have anything better," Jiang Qi said irritably.
"No, it's not that I'm complaining about the conditions… it's just that this alloy was phased out ages ago. It shouldn't still be showing up in…"
"Oh, wait."
"Another data gap? Having no network connection is such a pain…"
Looking at Glaxia's muttering on the tablet, Jiang Qi paused for a moment before suddenly understanding what she was getting at.
From the perspective of a metallurgical factory, there would obviously be a reason to produce any given alloy in the first place.
The most basic metals went without saying. Certain high cost-performance alloys would also naturally be worth mass production.
Those were exactly the two types of metal most commonly found on the garbage mountain.
And alloys with unique advantages would probably also see enough demand to remain in circulation. Those showed up in the garbage mountain now and then too.
As for top-tier alloys, materials like that would obviously be treated as treasures in the Celestial Palaces. Naturally, they wouldn't be dumped into the wasteland.
By contrast, he had heard that Ba Feng City occasionally got access to metals that weren't quite top-tier alloys but were still high-end materials with relatively large production volumes due to favorable cost-performance ratios.
And of course, besides all that, there would also be materials that had once possessed one of those advantages, but had since been overtaken by newer technology. Their production lines might not have been shut down immediately, but they would already be on their way out.
The alloys Jiang Qi created directly through synthesis, however, didn't follow market logic at all.
Judging from Glaxia's reaction, the alloy in his hand was probably some outdated material that had been rendered obsolete long ago.
Maybe it had once enjoyed its own era of glory when it was first developed. But that was likely so long ago no one even remembered anymore.
And now, while its performance might not actually be inferior to many widely circulated alloys, it had likely long since lost any real advantage in the marketplace and quietly disappeared.
After thinking that through, Jiang Qi said, "This is the wasteland. It's not that strange for weird stuff to turn up in junk. Don't overthink it."
"My stored data says that even in the wasteland, this alloy shouldn't exist—but the relevant files are missing…"
"Forget it. It doesn't matter. This alloy is barely usable. But the amount required won't be small. How much can you get?"
"Enough for you, no matter what. It's just a question of how long it'll take," Jiang Qi replied.
"Understood. Then give me a moment."
The tablet screen instantly went black.
About a minute later, a complete design file appeared on the screen.
Jiang Qi took one look at it, and his pupils contracted.
This was clearly not a conceptual draft.
It was a full, detailed engineering design—something that could be used immediately to start building the mech.
Even from a quick read-through, delight had already started to show on Jiang Qi's face.
He had never felt very confident about the design of the second mech to begin with. And since he needed to leave space inside it to hide Glaxia, it wasn't something he could conveniently discuss with Old Homa. The whole thing had been giving him a headache.
He had assumed from the start that it would be a troublesome, labor-intensive project.
But Glaxia had simply… finished the design for him.
A top-tier AI really was ridiculously versatile.
But…
As Jiang Qi looked at the materials required by the design, along with the precision standards…
Well.
Thank goodness for Synthesis.
But even then, just thinking about how little material he had on hand—
Even if he added his entire "savings" to it, it still wouldn't be anywhere near enough.
"I'm going to have to find a way to make money…" Jiang Qi muttered. "Looks like tomorrow, I'll have to go have a chat with my old buddies."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter95)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 55
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 45
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 32
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 31
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 31
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