Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 223 Are you going to eliminate zombies by snapping your fingers?
"It's just a little gadget that the workers researched themselves; it has little to do with the production of power armor." Li Zhiwei coughed, looking somewhat embarrassed. The employees on the production line, however, realized what the leaders were looking at, and their faces turned green.

The items were placed under the production line, as if deliberately hidden there. An ordinary person would probably just glance at them and miss them, but as a fifth-order superhuman, Su Xun could not possibly miss such a thing.

Even if Su Xun saw what was hidden, he wouldn't point it out. He even took care of Li Zhiwei, the factory manager, so why would he make things difficult for an employee?
However, under the sensory lock, Su Xun discovered some rather novel structures on it.

Seeing that Su Xun insisted on seeing it, Li Zhiwei sighed: "Xiao Yu, bring your things over and let the commander-in-chief take a look!"

Despite his reluctance, the employee had no choice but to bite the bullet and take the item out.

"Wow, the Infinity Gauntlet!" The moment Zhang Wei saw it, he knew why it had been hidden. It was clearly the signature equipment of a certain purple potato man, and placing it in this inspection environment was obviously a bit unserious.

He smiled at the employee holding the gloves: "Young man, are you planning to snap your fingers and wipe out all the zombies on Earth?"

The young worker surnamed Yu chuckled awkwardly. He was usually quite outgoing, but in this situation, he really didn't know what to say.

Li Zhiwei was clearly worried for him and spoke up for him: "Director, Commander-in-Chief, I know that Xiao Yu is doing this. He bought the materials himself and spent his own time on it. At most, he borrowed some equipment from the factory. This is his own hobby. I think this is very beneficial for improving the workers' innovation ability and relaxing their minds, so..."

"Alright, alright." Su Xun had just taken the glove in his hand and hadn't had a chance to say anything more when he saw his anxious look. He said helplessly, "I only took a look. Is it really necessary to be so scared?"

The group felt a little more at ease, but the fact that Su Xun was holding the thing they had made made the worker surnamed Yu uneasy.

Su Xun didn't say much for a moment, but instead focused on studying the structure of the glove. Judging from its appearance alone, it was quite exquisite. It was clear that the person who made it had put a lot of thought into it and had carefully polished every detail.

After trying it on my hand, I didn't feel any awkwardness. Perhaps because I work in a field that specializes in producing similar protective gear, I have accumulated a lot of relevant experience.

Just like in the movie, this glove also has a place to inlay 'gems', but it is clear that what needs to be inlaid is not some Infinity Stone, but a spiritual crystal cut into a fixed shape.

"What's your name?" Su Xun asked the young man. Although he was young, the other man's appearance was not much different from Su Xun's; he looked to be in his early twenties.

"Yu Cheng, Commander-in-Chief... My name is Yu Cheng!" Seeing that Su Xun was indeed as easygoing as rumored and did not blame him, Yu Cheng's mood finally calmed down, and his speech gradually became clearer.

Su Xun asked curiously, "How did you come up with the idea to do this?"

"Well..." Yu Cheng became more confident when talking about things he was interested in. He said, "I just really like to think that in the current environment, it should be possible to make some props that have unique functions... so that they are not just good-looking."

"I think spiritual power is a really magical thing. There are many creations that existed only in fantasy in the past. It's not impossible to replicate them, even if it's just a replica of their appearance. That would be very interesting!"

Clearly, his creations extend beyond just this gauntlet. Speaking of the Infinity Gauntlet that Su Xun was holding, Yu Cheng revealed a hint of pride: "To be honest, Commander-in-Chief, I spent a long time in the library trying to achieve the gauntlet's current effect, but I couldn't find the right technology. In the end, I figured out some methods myself."

"You can equip it with crystals, they're quite interesting!"

Seeing that the young man was getting a little carried away, Li Zhiwei sighed helplessly, but the atmosphere at the moment finally put his mind at ease.

Su Xun nodded in response to Yu Cheng's expectations. He had already figured out the structure of the glove and knew roughly what the effect would be. He then embedded the spiritual crystals into the corresponding positions on the glove. These crystals did not have any elemental distinction, but after being installed, they displayed different colors and began to emit spiritual energy fluctuations of different elements.

This is the effect the other party mentioned: analyzing spiritual energy into different attributes. This is not a particularly advanced technique; every extraordinary person can do it. Related things have long been applied to many fields. The initial blueprint was provided by Su Xun.

But to condense such technology into such a small glove and to bring out its various functions in a categorized way, even if it is rather crude and simple, is still a novel invention that has never been seen before.

It must be said that this is indeed 'very interesting'. It's like shrinking the engine of a high-end sports car to the size of a palm and still making it work properly. The technology behind it may be more than just interesting.

Su Xun wiggled the gloves slightly, then turned to Yu Cheng and asked, "May I make some minor modifications to them?"

Upon hearing Su Xun's words, Yu Cheng hesitated subconsciously for a moment. Li Zhiwei, who was standing next to him, gave him a look of disappointment, and only then did he belatedly nod hastily.

"Commander-in-chief, I have some tools over there, I'll go get them for you!"

"No need." Su Xun smiled and lifted the glove. After thinking carefully for a moment, everyone saw that some of the outer plates of the glove had appeared with streaks of colored patterns. Many people present were a little confused, but the young man surnamed Yu suddenly widened his eyes. Those colored patterns were obviously channels for channeling spiritual energy. Su Xun in front of him did not use any tools, but made these channels appear automatically on the glove in his hand!
These patterns are connected with the original structure of the glove. The overall design is not complicated, but it is extremely ingenious. Yu Cheng was stunned for a moment, and he only came back to his senses when the light gradually went out.

At this moment, there was no change on the surface of the gloves. The most obvious difference was that the crystals that were originally radiating spiritual energy fluctuations slowly subsided, retaining only their basic color and luster.

Yu Cheng had roughly guessed the function of the gloves, but the people around him were still curious. Su Xun did not make them wait any longer. He snapped his fingers lightly, and with this action, a crystal on the glove immediately emitted a white light, and a soft and subtle gold element fluctuation slowly flowed out from it.

Then, Su Xun repeated the action, and different lights lit up one after another, and different elemental spiritual power appeared accordingly. In this short moment, Su Xun had added the function of switching attributes to the gloves and made them able to release spiritual power at a constant speed.

Yu Cheng was speechless. As the original designer of the glove, he could hardly comprehend how it was done. Transforming those crystals into different spiritual energies was the result of his painstaking efforts, and in such a short time, Su Xun had made it even simpler, more sophisticated, and more perfect. This feeling…

Outsiders might not feel anything, but Yu Cheng felt as if he had seen the Creator!
Regardless of their opinions, Su Xun himself was quite satisfied. He looked the glove up and down, adjusted it to fire element mode, and extended his hand to Zhang Wei. Zhang Wei was taken aback for a moment, then grasped it. "Guess what this thing is for?"

What is the use?

Yu Cheng was a little confused. Wasn't this just a prop? Li Zhiwei also didn't react for a moment.

As he felt the subtle yet warm fire element surrounding his palm, a particularly biting gust of cold wind suddenly swept into the workshop from somewhere. Zhang Wei's eyes widened suddenly, and his breathing became heavy. He opened his mouth and murmured, "If I'm not mistaken, most of the soldiers in the army will have to change to a new piece of... no, a complete set of standard equipment!"

"Yes... perhaps not just the military."

Using elemental spiritual energy directly as a means of temperature regulation is not exactly comfortable, at least not with current technology. But it is only uncomfortable, which is obviously no longer important compared to the increasingly deadly extreme environment we are in now.

Ultimately, comfort is relative; in the biting cold, the warmth of a fire won't feel dry and scorching.

"Commander-in-Chief, we'll start researching right away and strive to design a finished product suitable for the troops as soon as possible!" Li Zhiwei had also realized the importance of this matter. He stared at the gloves on Su Xun's hands and found them increasingly pleasing to the eye, to the point that he wanted to disassemble them into hundreds of pieces and examine each one carefully.

"No need for that. Let's return these gloves to Xiao Yu. After all, they represent his hard work."

Su Xun shook his head, took off his gloves and handed them back to Yu Cheng. Then, to everyone's astonishment, a blurry shadow began to appear on his hand.

It was a combat glove that looked rather plain and ordinary on the surface, not much different from the current standard equipment. The fabric, plastic and metal wires were layered and interwoven, growing rapidly as if they had a life of their own.

Compared to the somewhat flashy 'Infinity Gauntlet', this one is much simpler, and its internal structure is fully revealed to everyone as it 'grows'. Obviously, all its related conversion functions are hidden inside the gauntlet, and the number of element conversions is no longer as many, leaving only ice for cooling and fire for heating. The part where crystals are embedded has also been adjusted, no longer as wasteful as the 'Infinity Gauntlet' made by Yu Cheng, or rather, it doesn't look like a place to put crystals at all, but rather a small cloth bag.

"The research institute is already experimenting with a secondary spiritual energy storage device, which aims to 'dilute' spiritual energy crystals so that more devices can be directly driven by spiritual energy," Su Xun said to them. "This thing consumes very little spiritual energy, and using spiritual energy crystals directly would be too wasteful and not suitable for large-scale promotion."

"Therefore, we don't need to consider the version with inlaid crystals. It would be unusable even if it were produced. We should just produce this version ahead of schedule. I will go to the research institute to urge them on this project. Actually, their progress is very fast, so it shouldn't delay the deployment of this set of armor."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhiwei nodded repeatedly, his mouth agape as he looked at the glove. Yu Cheng was speechless; he was also a superhuman, but he never dared to imagine using his abilities to this extent.

Is this just a glimpse into the legendary ninth-tier extraordinary ability?

When the gap becomes too large, there is no room for imagination. Yu Cheng felt that this was a level he could never reach in his lifetime.

Su Xun was not surprised by the reactions of the crowd. They had not yet witnessed those more extraordinary creations. Extraordinary abilities were not really mysterious. At this moment in Europe, there might already be people using so-called 'magic', and there was a unique logic behind it.

The most profound magic is like technology, and the most cutting-edge technology is like magic. It is a well-established conclusion that advanced superhumans will become the most advanced scientific research equipment of a civilization.

What these people don't know yet is that Su Xun's so-called 'secondary spiritual energy storage device' is actually the batch of plant fruits that Xu Huan cultivated on the battlefield, mainly potatoes. What they will eventually receive will most likely be a bunch of mashed potatoes packed in small bags with special alloy rods inserted.

Su Xun took off the glove and handed it to Li Zhiwei.

"So, now it's your turn. The finished product has been given to you, and the detailed blueprints will be sent later. The corresponding boots, bulletproof vests, and even combat backpacks can all use this structure. The production difficulty will not be very high. I have tried to simplify it as much as possible. There may still be some things that need to be improved. You can ask Xiao Yu for advice and work on it as soon as possible. You are professionals in this area."

"I...me? I might..."

Upon hearing this, Yu Cheng was even a little incoherent. At this moment, he had no pride left. When Su Xun asked him to help him figure it out, all he could see was fear.

"Don't underestimate yourself." Su Xun patted his shoulder: "Everything is new in the new era. Everyone is on the same starting line. I've just walked a little further than you, but that doesn't mean I can already see everything along the way. In this respect, you are an undeniable genius."

Su Xun's words came from the bottom of his heart. As a superhuman with affinity for all elements, he would never bother to study how to convert spiritual power through these things. For him, it was as simple as breathing and drinking water. If it weren't for the inspiration brought by Yu Cheng, he probably wouldn't have thought about it in this way.

"In short, you've really done a great job this time. The Corps will commend you according to the regulations. My personal suggestion is that you take some time to study at the Spiritual Power Research Institute in your spare time. There are many engineers in the General Armaments Department who are also very knowledgeable in this area. If you don't know who to ask, you can ask Tao Yue to introduce you... Remember to bring her some snacks."

Yu Cheng was a little confused by Su Xun's words, and after Su Xun finished speaking, he turned to Li Zhiwei.

"Once the technology is successfully developed, we will simultaneously direct all factories in the Corps with production capacity to produce it at the same speed as we produce work gloves. I hope it can be distributed to the entire army before the end of winter. Is that possible?"

Li Zhiwei had nothing more to say. He put his legs together and gave a proper military salute.

"Rest assured, we will complete the mission!"

(End of this chapter)