Integrated Core Zone.
Andre looked at the production lines already set up beside the Protocol Core—lines that could produce crystal casings and buckwheat powder—and spoke in a serious, businesslike tone.
"Judging by the state of the Originium Byproduct Center's main gate, the equipment inside might have been damaged too. We need to prep some emergency patch materials—namely, crystal casings."
He pointed at the production lines, indicating there was a small problem.
"The machines are ready, but the warehouse has run out of materials. If we want to keep producing crystal casings, we'll need to mine another batch of source ore."
"No problem—leave it to me, OVO!"
Chen Qianyu pulled out her two dumb-looking swords and sprinted off to that same concentrated mining spot. With a loud clang-clang frenzy of wild slashes, she soon brought back a huge pile of source ore.
Hao Fan stood there expressionless, completely unmoved.
After witnessing the "sword style specifically for dealing with rocks," he had zero interest in swinging a pickaxe and doing thankless manual mining anymore.
Because half a day of his effort still wouldn't match one casual sword stroke from Chen Qianyu.
Honestly…
That was devastating.
As for what came next—
Under Andre's guidance, the Administrator stored all the source ore Chen Qianyu had brought into the Protocol Core's warehouse.
Then she opened the smelter's control panel, familiarized herself with the interface, and quickly grasped the flow of the production line.
So the line restarted, continuously transporting source ore, with the smelter automatically processing it into the needed industrial product: crystal casings.
Besides that—
The Administrator also restarted the other line, helping Hao Fan process the extra buckwheat he'd gathered into buckwheat powder using the pulverizer.
The entire process looked smooth as silk and barely took any time.
Chen Qianyu couldn't help sighing in amazement.
"Even seeing it a second time, it's still crazy fast… Even the Celestial Masters of Wuling City, if they go into the wilds, still have to prepare emergency medicine by hand."
She looked nostalgic, clicking her tongue in wonder.
"If we'd had an Integrated Industrial System back then, who would've needed to stay up all night boiling stuff?"
"The Civilized Ring already has mature industrial pharmaceutical production lines," Perlica said with a slight smile, "but large equipment is too bulky—it can't adapt to complex, ever-changing environments."
"This is the efficiency frontline development zones need… and it's the future we intend to bring to the entire frontier."
She believed she would live to see that future.
Watching the Administrator learn how to operate the Integrated Industrial System as if she'd known it from the start, Andre praised her sincerely.
"Administrator, you learn fast! These are just the basic operating procedures. Remember them—going forward, they'll be useful again and again."
That wasn't empty talk.
The Integrated Industrial System would absolutely be essential in the future.
But then Andre suddenly seemed like he wanted to say something—then stopped himself.
"N-no… I shouldn't say 'learn fast.' When you get down to it, back then it was the Administrator who… forget it."
He sighed and chose to skip the topic.
"Once we're ready, we can head out. With these materials, as long as the Originium equipment isn't completely scrapped, we can figure something out. We'd better—"
"Hey, Fat Big Bird—besides the batteries, is there something else in the Byproduct Center you're especially worried about?"
Hands on hips, Chen Qianyu had sharply sensed something was off.
Even though everyone called her dumb, she considered herself not dumb at all—most of the time she was clever as hell.
"Uh, haha… Little Qianyu, maybe don't use your instincts on this kind of thing so often," Andre laughed awkwardly.
After hesitating, he finally decided to come clean.
"Truth is, there's a batch of processed components and documents related to the prototype upgrade stored there. If anything gets lost, it'll be a nightmare to clean up later."
At that, even Perlica felt something didn't add up.
"If it's important documentation, Mr. Andre could've asked us while we were with Engineer Qin—ah…"
Thinking of Qin Jiangchi, the person Andre feared most, everyone instantly understood.
"I get it," Chen Qianyu said. "You started work without Supervisor Qin's approval, didn't you?"
"It's not that! At least not entirely… alright, fine."
Andre gave up arguing, looking exhausted—like he had his own struggles.
"The evaluation process is a huge pain. I paid out of pocket to commission 'special equipment' from outside—actually, modified parts for a wide-area casting unit. If she finds out, she'll nag me for ages…"
"But letting the prototype's progress get delayed like that is just too much of a waste!"
"Administrator, Supervisor Perlica—you can understand me, right?!"
Hao Fan also remembered the prototype machine they'd seen in the underground lab.
He didn't really understand what it was for, but judging from Andre's repeated reactions, he increasingly felt the prototype was extremely important.
After all, Andre was willing to spend his own money to push the schedule.
No wonder he hadn't found Andre's stash of private cash back in the underground lab.
Hao Fan snarked internally.
"Understood." Perlica nodded lightly, indicating they'd prioritize it.
But after everything that had happened, the Administrator was clearly exhausted.
So she decided they should return to the Hub Zone Base first, rest briefly, and then set out for the Originium Byproduct Center to look for Andre's prototype parts.
Besides, the Doctor seemed eager to deliver the freshly processed buckwheat powder to Doctor Miguel as soon as possible.
And as teammates on the crisis-response squad, they would naturally take his wishes into account.
All told—
They would head back to the Hub Zone Base first, recover their footing, and then move on to the next task.
"No problem. I'll have people set up some zip lines first—so it'll be easier for you to travel later," Andre said quickly, agreeing at once.
He also felt they'd already been imposing on the Administrator's group quite a bit, so some rest was necessary.
And in any case, they couldn't keep delaying replenishing medical supplies…
Just then, Qin Jiangchi's transmission came through again.
"Administrator, I received Andre's message."
"The Integrated Industrial System has been initially constructed and can now produce industrial products—which the Hub Zone Base happens to need."
"Scattered building wreckage is blocking the road to the Workers' Home. It can't be moved by manpower, and heavy machinery can't be redeployed over there yet."
"Based on Meme's suggestion, if we want to reopen the road, we'll need to use demolition."
"So please bring a sufficient amount of Originium powder and assemble at the Armory entrance."
Transmission ended.
Clearly, even with power restored, the Hub Zone Base still had a mountain of problems to solve.
As for Originium powder—it was an industrial product obtained by putting source ore into the pulverizer, the exact same process as producing buckwheat powder.
Side note:
Stable Originium powder could be used for synthesizing other materials.
So Endfield used protocol technology to apply a special stabilization treatment to Originium powder, further increasing its value.
"Originium powder, huh. No big deal—Fat Big Bird can handle it, right?" Chen Qianyu casually blurted out the nickname again; Perlica couldn't even be bothered to correct it anymore.
"Of course. Now it's the pulverizer's turn again!" Andre explained offhand.
"It can process almost any raw material—ore, herbs, anything you can name, it can grind into powder. This is Endfield's general-purpose solution by design!"
"Ooh, the Integrated Industrial System is really convenient—feels like every field could use it…" Chen Qianyu said, then noticed something weird and grew conflicted.
"But if the pulverizer processes both ore and medicinal herbs… isn't that kind of unsanitary?"
If she didn't get an answer to that, she'd probably be unable to sleep at night.
Fortunately, Perlica gave her an explanation she could accept.
"These universal devices were designed with that in mind. Their automatic cleaning function is completely safe—don't worry."
Her voice was gentle, her lips curling into a faint smile.
"Alright then—let's start preparing Originium powder."
....
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