Qin Dynasty: They've all turned into zombies, what's there to fear about a rebellion?

"Get up, get up. How old are you? Aren't you afraid of shortening your lifespan?"

Su Ming yanked the tearful, excited Gongshu Chou up from the ground, and casually brushed the dust off his knees. "I don't care for these formalities. Since you're going to work for me, you have to follow my rules."

Gongshu Chou wiped his face haphazardly, his shrewd old eyes now filled with fervent stares, just like a brainless fan who had met his idol.

"Imperial Preceptor! What technique was that you just used? Could you teach me?"

He pointed in the direction Fusu had left, his hands trembling, "To embed an inanimate object into a living person's body, and for it to function perfectly, even powered by emotions... this is simply the ultimate dream of domineering mechanical arts! If those blockheads from the Mohist school, who talk about 'non-aggression' all day long, saw this, they'd probably die of anger on the spot!"

"Want to learn?"

Su Ming chuckled, turned around and walked to the experimental table, where a fresh "material" that had just been transported from the Shaofu was lying—the corpse of a ruthless bandit who had been executed for committing a capital crime.

"If you want to learn, then show us all your best skills."

Su Ming picked up a charcoal pencil and drew a circle on the severed arm of the corpse. "Fusu was a living person being modified. What we're going to do now is modify a dead person. It's less difficult, but there are... more variations."

"Please speak, Grand Preceptor!" Gongshu Chou immediately came over, like a studious primary school student.

"Look, our current Black Iron Warriors, although they have invincible defense and great strength, their attack methods are too limited."

Su Ming pointed at the corpse with a look of disgust. "All we do is chop and smash. If we encounter an agile master, like someone from your Yin Yang School who can fly around, we'll easily be made a fool of. This won't do. It's not violent enough, not aesthetically pleasing enough."

"Then... what is the Imperial Preceptor's opinion?"

"Add ingredients."

A crazed glint called "cyberpunk" flashed in Su Ming's eyes. "Strip away the useless rotten flesh and replace it with precise gears and levers. Hollow out the bones and install high-pressure jet pipes. Chop off those claws that can only scratch and replace them with..."

He scribbled a few strokes on the parchment and drew a grotesque disc-shaped object with sharp serrations along its edges.

"Change it to this."

Gongshu Chou leaned closer for a look, his brows furrowing deeply: "This is... a saw? But a saw requires two people to pull it, how can it be moved if it's attached to your hands?"

"You're a power source! You keep losing; your perspective isn't broad enough!"

Su Ming tapped Gongshu Chou on the head with exasperation, "We have corpse energy! What is corpse energy? It's natural bioelectricity! As long as we implant a 'corpse core conversion furnace' in the dantian of the corpse, we can transmit the energy to the limbs through the meridians (conduits), driving the gears to rotate at high speed..."

As Su Ming spoke, he frantically added details to the drawings:

"Add a clutch here."

"Install a linkage structure here."

"When this disc starts spinning at three thousand revolutions per minute, do you think there's any bone in the world it can't cut through?"

Gongshu Chou was dumbfounded.

Although he didn't understand what a "clutch" or "speed" meant, he understood the principle—using the energy of the corpse itself to drive the mechanical weapon to operate automatically!

This is the legendary...

"A self-propelled mechanical robot?!"

Gongshu Chou gasped sharply, his beard trembling with excitement. "Brilliant! Brilliant indeed! In the past, when our Gongshu family created mechanical beasts, we had to rely on people to operate them, or use expensive spirit stones to drive them. If we can use corpse energy... wouldn't that mean that as long as the corpse doesn't decompose, the mechanism will never stop?"

"That's right!"

Su Ming snapped his fingers. "This is what we call—the Cyberpunk Qin Dynasty version! Come on, don't just stand there, let's get started!"

The alchemy room instantly transformed into a heavy industrial workshop filled with the smells of blood and machine oil.

"Old loser, lend me your 'Broken Earth Seven' sword, this bone is too hard to saw through."

"Imperial Advisor, there seems to be a problem with the meshing of these gears; the transmission of corpse energy is causing some lag."

"Stuck? Add lubricant! No lubricant? Use corpse oil! That stuff has top-notch lubrication!"

"Imperial Advisor... your idea is too perverse, but I like it!"

Two madmen, one old and one young, gathered around the corpse and embarked on a technological revolution spanning two thousand years.

Su Ming was responsible for providing the ideas and system blueprints, while Gongshu Chou was responsible for bringing these advanced designs to life using the existing technology of the Qin Dynasty.

It must be said that Gongshu Chou truly deserves to be called the master of domineering mechanical arts; his skills are indeed superb.

He drilled and polished the bones in the corpse's arm, inlaid iron bearings, and inserted thin copper tubes into the corpse's meridians, connecting them to the core in the dantian.

The whole process was bloody and cruel, yet it was also full of a strange industrial aesthetic.

Three hours later.

The sky is bright.

On the alchemy table, the once unremarkable corpse had been completely transformed.

Its left arm had been completely severed, replaced by a huge, black metal disc that gleamed with a chilling light. The edge of the disc was covered with densely packed serrations, arranged like the teeth of a shark; just looking at it made one's skin ache.

Its chest, back, and legs are also inlaid with various unknown metal pipes and gears, and through the breaks in its skin, you can even see the mechanical structure inside that is trembling slightly.

"call……"

Gongshu Chou wiped the oil and blood from his face, staring at the masterpiece before him with fascination. "Grand Preceptor, this...this is finished?"

"Why don't you try and see?"

Su Ming took out a small [Primary Corpse Core] from his pocket, the size of a fingernail. This was the power source he had redeemed from the system shop.

He walked to the corpse, used a scalpel to cut open the skin at the dantian (lower abdomen) of the corpse, revealing a metal slot that had been pre-drilled.

"Click".

Embedded cadaver nucleus.

next second.

"Buzz—"

A low, buzzing sound, like the flapping of bees' wings, emanated from the corpse.

That was the sound of corpse energy surging through the pipes.

Then, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes!

Those originally gray-white eyeballs were now replaced by two red crystals, gleaming with a cold and dangerous light.

It slowly sat up from the table, its movements no longer stiff like those of an ordinary zombie, but accompanied by a subtle grinding sound, precise and powerful.

"Activate the weapon system," Su Ming ordered.

The corpse—or rather, the "mechanical corpse puppet"—suddenly raised its left arm.

"Sizzle sizzle—"

A sickening crackling sound of electricity rang out, followed by the huge metal disc beginning to slowly rotate.

The speed is getting faster and faster!

In the blink of an eye, the disc had turned into a blurry black shadow, and the strong wind it generated made Su Ming's cheeks sting. A burnt smell filled the air.

"Waaaaahh ...

The high-speed spinning chainsaw emitted a piercing whistle, like the howl of a demon.

"Let's test its power!"

Su Ming casually tossed over a bluestone slab that he had been using as a stepping stone.

"Whoosh!"

There was no sense of obstruction.

The three-inch-thick bluestone slab was sliced ​​in half like tofu the moment it came into contact with the chainsaw! The cut was as smooth as a mirror, and even turned slightly red due to the high temperature.

Stone dust flew everywhere.

"Oh My God……"

Gongshu Chou's eyes widened, his mouth agape enough to fit an egg. He staggered back two steps, staring intently at the chainsaw that was still spinning at high speed, his whole body trembling.

As a master mechanic, he knew all too well what this scene meant.

No need to build up power, no need for skills, and not even need for internal energy.

Once this thing starts spinning, even a martial arts master clad in heavy armor would have their arms and legs broken if hit by it! It's practically a meat grinder on the battlefield!

If the Qin Dynasty's million-strong army were all equipped with this thing...

Just imagining that scene made Gongshu Qiu's bladder tighten and his blood boil.

"Imperial Advisor! What is this thing called?"

Gongshu Chou knelt down with a thud, hugging the mechanical corpse puppet's leg as if it were his own father. "This is absolutely a miracle of mechanical arts! A miracle!"

"Well..."

Su Ming stroked his chin, looking at the menacing chainsaw, a wicked thought suddenly forming in his mind. "Let's call it—'Jack the Ripper No. 1'."

"The Ripper... What a great name! Simple! Brutal! Domineering!"

Gongshu Chou got up from the ground, his eyes burning with fanaticism like a madman.

He turned around and faced east—the direction where the Mo Family's mechanical city was located.

"Those self-righteous hypocrites from the Mohist school! They cling to that tattered wooden bird of 'universal love and non-aggression' like it's a precious treasure!"

Gongshu Chou gritted his teeth, his old face filled with the satisfaction of impending revenge:

"Grand Preceptor, with this technology, those blockheads of the Mohist school are doomed to lose!"

"What Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise? In front of our 'Ripper,' they're just a pile of rotten wood waiting to be chopped up!"

"This is the ultimate form of mechanical arts! This is—the truth!"

Looking at Gongshu Chou, who had fallen into a frenzy, Su Ming nodded in satisfaction.

Very good, the core technical staff have been completely brainwashed.

"Don't get excited."

Su Ming patted Gongshu Chou on the shoulder and pointed to the mountain of materials piled up in the corner of the alchemy room. "This is just its left hand. We still need to equip its right hand with a 'Gatling crossbow,' its mouth with a 'corpse poison spray nozzle,' and its legs with a 'hydraulic bouncy device'..."

"No sleeping tonight, let's try to build the Terminator!"