Chapter 4642 — The Automatic Forging Mechanism

This sort of thing only became popular on Cloudstep Island after the Central Merchant Guild appeared, but the objects before them now were clearly not to be found in any Central Merchant Guild shop—every single piece here was a unique invention.

"Jingjing, have you and Xuefei been busy with this sort of thing all along?" After a rough survey of the room, Wei Zhao, like Shangguan Lan'er, could not resist picking up one item after another to examine closely, hoping to deduce their specific uses through his own powers of observation. Of course, these were the whimsical creations of Han Jingyi and Ning Xuefei—some looked obvious at a glance but actually served purposes entirely opposite to what one imagined, while others were simply incomprehensible.

"Of course not! Everything you see here is just what Jingjing and I made in our spare time—it's hardly our main work!" Ning Xuefei shot Han Jingyi a meaningful glance as she spoke. "What you're about to see next is the most important research we've done in the past two years. It's still a work in progress, but once it's finished, it will shake the whole of Cloudstep Island!"

"What on earth is it? So mysterious—just tell us already, why keep us in suspense!" Shangguan Lan'er said impatiently. From their earlier correspondence she had vaguely gathered that the two women seemed to be researching something, but she had never known what. After all, unlike Ning Xuefei and Han Jingyi, she had no love for tinkering and research—in this field she was a complete layman.

"Then follow me—I guarantee it'll be an eye-opener!" Ning Xuefei smiled mysteriously and led the way inside. This vast research room actually had an inner chamber, and that was where she and Han Jingyi kept the core of their research.

"All this hocus-pocus!" Shangguan Lan'er muttered, though her feet moved without the slightest delay as she followed close behind Ning Xuefei, the little curly bear shuffling along at her heels.

"What exactly is it?" Wei Zhao's curiosity was thoroughly piqued as well.

"Hehe, Brother Wei Zhao will know once he sees it. This thing might actually be able to help you," Han Jingyi said with a mysterious smile, taking Wei Zhao by the hand and leading him inside.

"Help me?" Wei Zhao blinked, and when he stepped into the inner chamber of the research room, he froze and said nothing.

The inner chamber was not small, but it was at least half the size of the outer room. It was far less cluttered, though, and seemed much more spacious. There was only one thing in it: an enormous box.

"What's this? It's actually made of high-grade dark iron—where did you get so much high-grade dark iron?" Shangguan Lan'er and the little curly bear circled the box curiously.

She knew quality when she saw it. Dark iron was rare enough to begin with, let alone high-grade dark iron. Such fine material was normally used to forge divine weapons and sharp blades—using so much of it to make a great iron box was sheer, unparalleled extravagance!

"Could this be...?" Wei Zhao studied it thoughtfully. His attention was not on the material but on the box's internal structure. The various mechanisms inside were exquisitely intricate and complex, yet they looked somewhat familiar—he kept feeling he had seen this thing before.

Han Jingyi was about to explain when Ning Xuefei clapped a hand over her mouth and said mysteriously, "Guess! Let's see if you can figure it out! This is the fruit of Jingjing's and my hard work, and we made it specially for you. If you can't guess, then you're a heartless cad, and we won't give it to you—we'll just keep it for ourselves to play with!"

"A heartless cad? That's all very well coming from Jingjing, but you've never had anything to do with our little junior brother, Feifei—what gives you the right to call him a heartless cad?" Shangguan Lan'er said, slanting a sly look at Ning Xuefei. She was paying her back for that earlier jab.

"Huh? I... I was just saying it on Jingjing's behalf!" Ning Xuefei flushed crimson at once. She stole a glance at Wei Zhao, and seeing him studying the dark iron box thoughtfully, she let out an unconscious sigh of relief.

Han Jingyi stood by with a smile and said nothing, while Wei Zhao looked back and forth at the box's internal structure. After a moment's pondering he said, "Is this thing used for forging?"

After all, having run with Scrap King for so long, Wei Zhao counted as a half-trained forger at least, and his understanding of the forging craft ran far deeper than a layman's. Though the function of every component in the dark iron box was a mystery to him, he could roughly make out a few structures resembling a forging pool. He had seen such things in Scrap King's secret base, after all—only the shapes were somewhat different.

"Forging?" Shangguan Lan'er was stunned. She looked the dark iron box over again, still utterly baffled. She could not see what this thing had to do with forging. Every forger under heaven needed a uniquely endowed forging environment, along with a whole array of forging facilities—whoever heard of putting it all directly into a dark iron box?

"Hehe, Brother Wei Zhao is so clever—this is an automatic forging mechanism!" Han Jingyi admitted with a laugh.

"All right, so you do have some eye for it. Our pains weren't wasted after all," Ning Xuefei nodded in agreement.

"So it really is..." Even with a definite answer, Wei Zhao still found it somewhat incredible. Such a forging apparatus was absolutely unprecedented—even Scrap King would probably have his jaw drop at the sight. What Han Jingyi said next astonished him even more: "Wait—Jingjing, you're saying this is an automatic forging mechanism?"

"That's right! You just set the forging formula in advance, put in the corresponding materials, and then all anyone has to do is keep watch and make a few minor adjustments as needed. Everything else is precisely controlled by the machine itself—it's even simpler to operate than the Divine Farmer's Cauldron," Han Jingyi said with a giggle.

Wei Zhao's eyes lit up at these words. Thinking of Scrap King's current predicament, he quickly asked, "Can it precisely control the heat?"

"Of course it can—controlling heat is the bare minimum! Our automatic forging mechanism can precisely control a whole range of environmental factors, from air pressure to humidity. Only that way can we guarantee the forging process is foolproof. Well? Aren't we impressive?" Ning Xuefei tilted her head back smugly.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Now that problem can finally be solved!" Wei Zhao was both astonished and overjoyed.

That weapon of his had never been able to take shape, and Scrap King had spent nearly two years without finding a solution. Who would have thought Han Jingyi and Ning Xuefei had built an automatic forging mechanism like this—it was practically tailor-made for the task! No wonder they said it could help him!