An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 277 Titan Machine
"Oh?"

Upon hearing the words "Titan Machine," Chu Xiu's eyes lit up slightly, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

His plan can only guarantee a minimum passing score; the actual evaluation he receives depends on others.

If all those left here are cowards who are afraid of death, then Chu Xiu will have no choice but to accept reality and leave with the lowest possible rating.

He doesn't have obsessive-compulsive disorder; the most important thing for him is to pass the trials safely. Other rewards can be accumulated over time.

Fortunately, the people here seem to have a strategy to deal with it.

"The Titan Machine is a project that our base has been working on for over a decade."

Aurora pointed to the mountain behind the base that rose up like a giant wall reaching to the sky.

"That's where we mine coal and iron ore."

"Years of mining have hollowed out part of the mountain's interior, leading us to develop the 'Titan Machine' project."

"That is, to build a huge artillery camp on the mountain, and use a special hydraulic transmission structure to let the weight of the mountain offset the recoil, and use its height to provide a commanding firepower."

"This will greatly increase the power and range of our base's artillery, and the towering mountains will serve as our natural defensive positions."

"Of course, it's much more than that."

Aurora's lips moved slightly, and a large amount of telepathic information entered Chu Xiu's mind, causing the latter to show a surprised expression.

In short, this Titan machine is a composite artillery regiment that integrates condensation devices, ammunition storage and transportation, aiming systems, and other functions into one unit by utilizing the characteristics of mechanics, thereby greatly improving the efficiency of various indicators.

According to Aurora, there are even awakened beings who have added extraordinary power to it. In short, this Titan machine is the base's strongest weapon. Its main structure is complete, and it integrates more than 800 cannons of different calibers. If it is fully unleashed, it can provide a terrifying amount of firepower.

This is enough to greatly hinder the Blood Demon Legion's attack.

But the only problem is
"ammunition."

Aurora looked helpless: "In recent years, the power of the Abyss has been constantly increasing, and the survival range of our base has been compressed smaller and smaller. Many of the transportation and collection systems that were established in the past have been destroyed and are no longer usable."

"Due to the lack of materials, the annual ammunition production is decreasing. Based on the current ammunition stockpile, even if it is fired at the standard rate, it can only last for 20 minutes at most, not to mention the need to maintain the ammunition supply to other positions."

Aurora's words made Chu Xiu stroke his chin; this was indeed a problem.

In reality, in the apocalypse, bullets are often more precious than guns.

"Since you've brought this up, you must have a solution, right?" Chu Xiu asked.

Aurora said, "I have maps of the locations of more than a dozen military bases in the vicinity. Although all of these bases have lost contact, there may still be ammunition and survivors left behind."

“In the past, due to the long distances and high risks of exploration, we only searched the six closest bases, and the more distant bases have not yet been explored.”

"Let me see," Chu Xiu said.

A projector hovering on Aurora's shoulder projected a 3D map, and Chu Xiu understood the situation after looking at it for a while.

Among the unexplored bases, the closest is 210km away, and the furthest is a full 650km away, which is indeed not something they can easily approach.

"I understand." Chu Xiu nodded, raised his hand and waved, and a blood-red figure appeared in the base, which was the Blood Demon incarnation!
But that wasn't all. With another wave of his hand, the corpses of Yaksha, Mahoraga, and Kinra, fused with legendary king-level equipment, reappeared on the spot.

"My summoned creature possesses power approaching that of a Heroic Spirit. It will guard this place in my place, and I will be able to receive any emergency information in a timely manner."

"Next, I need several Awakened Ones with large-scale [storage] abilities to accompany me."

After reaching the General rank and perfecting the Golden Embryo Forging Divine Skill, Chu Xiu's divine sense power increased immeasurably. He was now able to control the Blood Demon Avatar from an extremely long distance, no longer needing to worry as he had during the previous trials.

The three divine corpses can also unleash powerful forces through the control of the Blood Demon incarnation.

However, storage is a problem. Although the spirit flesh storage bag is miraculous, it is only good for storing flesh and blood and corpses. Similar to the soul banner, it can store such items in an unbelievably large capacity, but storing other things will cause the internal environment to become polluted.

For inanimate metal objects like artillery shells, Chu Xiu could only rely on his storage space, which couldn't hold much.

As soon as she finished speaking, Aurora immediately said, "Leave it to me. As a mechanic, I have a special space for storing materials."

Besides her, there were two other people with special storage skills, and Chu Xiu also brought them along.

Without further ado, everyone immediately got to work.

As Chu Xiu made another hand seal, the Flying Corpse appeared in the arena. After picking up the three people, it flapped its wings and flew towards the other bases.

Meanwhile, the Blood Demon incarnation stood unabashedly at the front line, leading three divine corpses to hunt down the attacking Blood Demon army.

The Blood Demon army will definitely continue to attack and deplete our resources, so we should conserve as much ammunition as possible.

"Wow!"

Amidst a sharp cry, a gigantic, mutated bird nearly fifty meters long swooped down toward Chu Xiu. Beside it were hundreds of subordinates who acted as guards. The feathers on these strange birds were as hard as alloy, densely packed together like a surging, thick black fog, blocking out the sunlight wherever they went.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

These strange birds crashed into the protective shield beside Chu Xiu at supersonic speed, instantly exploding into a large cloud of blood mist. Chu Xiu pointed forward, and a dark, swamp-like pool appeared behind him, from which flying swords rose up, condensing into thousands in the blink of an eye!

"Puff puff!"

These flying swords transformed into streaks of sword light, shooting towards the strange birds in the distance. In an instant, the space in front of Chu Xiu was covered by a rain of swords, as if it had become a killing field. One by one, the strange birds were pierced through their bodies and fell down with screams!

In just a few breaths, the entire flock of strange birds was slaughtered, with not a single one surviving.

However, there was no sign of relief in Chu Xiu's eyes; instead, a look of solemnity appeared.

He had only been out for ten minutes when this was already the third wave of attacks he had encountered.

"No wonder even with a King-level Awakened being present, these people dare not explore far. The monster density in this Corpse Demon World has indeed reached an unbelievable level. Even at this altitude of ten thousand meters, they will be attacked."

The three consecutive attacks we just encountered were all led by King-level monsters! And each one had a large number of subordinates! Combined with their well-trained combat tactics, an ordinary King-level Awakened would indeed be at risk of death if they were not careful!

"This is the Shiki world in its later stages! No wonder it's a dangerous world of level seven!"

Chu Xiu raised his hand and waved it, causing the demonic energy to dissipate. The remains and flesh of the strange bird that had been clinging to the area were scattered in all directions.

Unfortunately, this place is only a simulated trial, and these flesh and souls cannot be used as tools for refining soul banners and corpses. Otherwise, Chu Xiu would have liked to spend some time hunting down all the powerful creatures in the vicinity.

With a casual wave of his hand, Chu Xiu continued toward his goal.

This nonchalant action left the three awakened individuals beside him wide-eyed in shock.

Flying monsters are the most difficult type of abyssal monster to deal with. Their extremely fast flight speed allows them to retreat calmly after launching an attack, and each attack causes heavy losses to the base.

Unexpectedly, in front of this mysterious awakener, even the King-level flying monsters were as vulnerable as chickens and dogs.

This gave everyone a deeper understanding of Chu Xiu's strength, and reduced their despair towards the Blood Demon Army.

Unfortunately, the expressions on everyone's faces quickly turned serious again. "No, no, still no!"

"How could this be? It's only been three years since we lost contact, how come all our ammunition stockpile has disappeared? It's like someone deliberately took it all."

The fellow awakened individuals looked grim and muttered to themselves.

In the past three hours, they have searched five bases, but have not found any usable supplies!
Each base has been transformed into a nest of flesh and blood, with the mutated flesh and blood completely engulfing the steel base.

Chu Xiu wasn't too surprised, but he glanced at Aurora and the other two thoughtfully and said, "So, you guys have been able to hold on until now because of luck."

Aurora's expression changed slightly: "Mr. Chu, what do you mean by this?"

Chu Xiu said, "Judging from your reactions, you probably haven't fought against the Blood Demon before and don't know how terrifying such creatures are."

“The real Blood Demons are not those mindless, inferior creatures like zombies. Their intelligence is no less than that of humans, and they will naturally use any weapon that is advantageous to them.”

“I once saw a Blood Demon who used the power of a nuclear bomb to ambush several powerful Awakened Ones. Those weapons and ammunition were obviously taken away by the Blood Demon who broke through this place.”

"Therefore, it would not be surprising if the enemy pulled out a bomber and dropped tactical nuclear weapons when facing attacks in the future."

Chu Xiu's words made the three of them turn pale. They had thought that the army of billions of blood demons was enough to make them despair, but now they realized that this was just the tip of the iceberg of the enemy's strength. The experience of the base in fighting abyssal creatures over the past ten years might not be useful.

If a nuclear weapon were dropped, the entire base city would be wiped out. How could we possibly fight then?
"Then, what should we do now?" One person was already clearly panicking.

"Calm down!" Aurora snapped. "The Blood Demon is powerful, but our base's defenses built over the past decade are not just for show. If you believe that the base city is doomed, then you can leave with Mr. Chu."

"Right now, the priority is completing the mission!"

Aurora was clearly a formidable figure, and the other two said nothing more, continuing their search of the nearby military base.

However, the more they searched, the stronger the despair became, because every military base had already been overrun by the Blood Demon and turned into a den of flesh and blood!
After failing to reach the eighth base, as everyone prepared to head to the ninth base, Chu Xiu suddenly paused, frowning as he looked into the distance.

At the edge of the field of vision, a gray barrier appeared that seemed to connect with the sky, as if it had directly cut space in two. Behind the gray barrier was a chaotic void.

"This is..." Aurora and the other two were stunned; they had never seen such a sight before.

After glancing at it briefly, Chu Xiu decisively changed direction: "Perhaps the Blood Demon used special methods to prevent us from escaping, or it might be some kind of celestial phenomenon."

"A spectacular celestial phenomenon."

The other two accepted the explanation, but Aurora kept her head down, pondering those four words with a furrowed brow.

This was certainly not some extraordinary celestial phenomenon; Chu Xiu knew very well that he had encountered a "boundary."

The rewind mode is just a simulation, so it's impossible for it to show the entire Corpse Demon World to Chu Xiu. The world outside this gray wall is probably just an empty, chaotic void.

Chu Xiu silently estimated in his mind that the simulation limit was about 300 km in radius centered on the shelter. In other words, even if he had a safety net strategy of escaping with one-tenth of his strength, he might not be able to escape the enemy's pursuit for 30 days.

At that time, we will have no choice but to rely on the Heavenly Dragon Golden Pill in conjunction with the ghost army to wage a long war of attrition.

Even if they win in the end, the price will be extremely high, making it a decision Chu Xiu would only make out of desperation.

"This is bad."

He glanced at the map; now, only two bases remained within the border area.

Furthermore, Chu Xiu had already vaguely realized a fact.

"This base is probably humanity's last spark."

Although this idea had no basis, it was Chu Xiu's intuition. After all, this trial was to go back to a previous historical point, and the abyss also needed to conserve energy, so the possibility of matching it to the end of human civilization was extremely high!
He looked at Aurora beside him, who was also frowning and deep in thought, and asked, "What do you plan to do if the remaining two bases still don't have enough ammunition?"

Chu Xiu's words seemed to interrupt Aurora's thoughts. She came back to her senses and said, "Then we can only try to bring back as many raw materials as possible. Among my King-rank class bonuses, there is a skill called [Mechanical Overload], which can greatly increase the working efficiency of any machine in a short period of time. We can probably rush to produce a batch of ammunition."

Chu Xiu said, "This skill seems to put a heavy burden on the body."

Aurora nodded: "Yes, in order to maintain the high-speed operation of the machinery, I need to transfer the heat of the [overloaded] machinery to myself, otherwise the temperature could even melt steel directly."

"In fact, I designed a special cooling chamber at the center of the Titan machine, which would allow me to overload the entire Titan machine when necessary. Unfortunately, the design is not yet perfect. The Titan machine is too huge. During the previous test, I could only overload it for seventeen seconds before I could no longer bear it."

Chu Xiu seemed to be deep in thought: "This is the domain you've been talking about?"

“Yes,” Aurora nodded. “The Titans have many offensive methods, such as flamethrowers, thermal guns, and electromagnetic cannons. These do not rely on conventional gunpowder, especially the electromagnetic cannons, which only require an electrical power supply. I have also set up solar power generation and geothermal power generation for them. If they can be fully completed, even if we run out of ammunition, it will be enough to withstand the Blood Demon’s attack.”

"Unfortunately, most of the core components of the Titan machine require extremely high physical strength, which is simply beyond the industrial capabilities of the base city. It must be forged by the mechanics themselves using causal points. That's why I borrowed causal points from others in the base."

Aurora seemed a little embarrassed by her behavior.

However, her words impressed Chu Xiu. The construction of the Titan machine had been underway for at least ten years. To be able to foresee the deterioration of the future exploration environment so early and to push forward such a massive project demonstrated her foresight and mobilization capabilities.

"If we could build enough electromagnetic cannons, we wouldn't have to worry about ammunition. Unfortunately, we only have about fourteen usable ones at the moment," Aurora sighed.

Electromagnetic guns can fire the most ordinary metal projectiles, but the materials that can withstand the ablation problem are extremely difficult to manufacture. This was also a major challenge in the research of electromagnetic guns in the previous life. It was already quite good that this woman could forge fourteen guns with her extraordinary abilities.

However, Chu Xiu's heart stirred.

I think I have a way to solve this problem.

Chu Xiu thought for a moment and said, "I do have some knowledge of weapon crafting, so perhaps I can help you strengthen it."

Upon hearing this, Aurora was taken aback at first, then said, "Really? Mr. Chu, you can actually forge? That's wonderful!"

Although she spoke with a tone of surprise, there wasn't much expectation in her eyes, indicating that she didn't take Chu Xiu's words to heart.

The differences between different professions are huge. Although Chu Xiu is a "Heroic Spirit", he is obviously a combat-type profession. At most, he can only increase the physical strength of steel. But the electromagnetic cannon requires much more than just physical strength. Conductivity, strong magnetization, and so on are all difficult points!

Chu Xiu didn't say much, but simply controlled the flying corpse to continue flying towards the ninth base.

Half an hour later, the four approached the location marked on the map.

Initially, no one had much hope, but as they got closer, they all showed expressions of surprise and delight!

The first thing that catches the eye is the air defense position on the mountaintop. More than a dozen air defense guns are neatly distributed around a mountain peak. Each one is well-maintained and has sufficient power, indicating that someone has been carrying out long-term maintenance.

Aurora breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes brightening again: "This base is the largest one in the vicinity, and it's no less impressive than ours. It seems it hasn't been breached yet, and the loss of contact must have been due to the destruction of the communication system."

"I know the person in charge of this base. If all goes well, we can not only obtain a large amount of ammunition, but we may even be able to replenish our manpower!"

Aurora said excitedly.

As the person in charge of the base, Aurora naturally understood the principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold," and she was confident that she could persuade the other party to do everything in their power to help her!

However, Chu Xiu frowned slightly as he looked at the base in the distance.

Something seems off about this base!
(End of this chapter)