Chapter 357

Chapter 357: Dual Progress

"Yes… it’s his."

The Young Man said weakly.

"What?"

A group of soldiers instinctively turned to look, and upon seeing another person’s lifeless body, their faces showed sorrow. However, a greater shock quickly washed over them:

"You managed to operate the heavy weapon entirely on your own? Even faster than two people?"

This was unbelievable. The heavy weapon’s control room was equipped with two seats because one person couldn’t complete all the calibration and firing steps alone.

But now, looking at the guy nailed to the chair, it was clear he had been dead for a while; the blood had already dried to a dark red color.

So… how long did this Young Man hold out by himself?

The somewhat weak Young Man forced a bitter smile and said,

"It had to be done, or else everyone would die."

The surrounding soldiers fell into silence.

Such a feat couldn’t be accomplished solely by personal initiative.

In other words, it was almost like, "He thought he could do it," and then he really did.

That was somewhat outrageous.

But considering he was a top student from the research institutes, and he wouldn’t have been called up to help operate the weapons if it weren’t for the massive scale of this beast tide, everyone soon felt relieved.

Perhaps they truly lacked the talent that allowed this newcomer to break records in terms of operation speed and duration.

"I haven’t asked yet, what’s your name, young man?"

"My name is Ji Yongxing, from the weapon development department of the research institutes."

The Young Man paused, looking at the heavily damaged railgun:

"I designed this thing."

"Oh~"

Some of the soldiers gasped in surprise.

The majority of the soldiers in the city defense army found it difficult to access this kind of knowledge; apart from a few technical troops, they only had a rudimentary understanding of things like blueprints.

Upon hearing the Young Man’s words, everyone felt a sudden clarity. Since he had personally designed the weapon, it was natural that he could operate it quickly without issue.

Eliminating any lingering doubts among the crowd, Ji Yongxing planned to take a good rest.

It was just too absurd to consider.

He had been working for nearly forty hours straight.

Since yesterday, he had been focused on his development tasks at the research institutes, occasionally checking the Analysis progress of the samples given by Lin Qingliu.

Unexpectedly, the [Skydome] silently hacked into the intranet, warning him that there might be unexpected changes to the plan.

Sure enough, by evening, the military requisition order came from the research institutes.

The fighting on the walls had become too intense, and many gunners had perished in the assaults of the extraordinary beasts.

The city defense army, led by the superpowered individuals, had reclaimed their position, but the fallen artillerymen could no longer rise to fight again.

Fortunately, the extraordinary beasts, with their limited intelligence, did not choose to completely destroy the weapons while killing, allowing most of the heavy weapons to be put back into service after some simple repairs.

But where would the personnel to operate these weapons come from?

Clearly, the research institutes served as a vast reservoir of talent.

As the drafter of the foundational blueprints and the designer of several subsequent improvements, Ji Yongxing naturally found his name on the transfer list.

Though it was uncommon to send these usually sedentary researchers to the battlefield, it was not without precedent.

Especially for members of the weapon development department, many had to undergo a period of practical training on the outer city walls to ensure that the equipment they developed was truly effective and not just floating in mid-air.

There had been instances where department members assisted in repelling beast tides, but this time was different; the transfer order was issued solely due to a critical shortage of soldiers on the walls.

One could only imagine the ferocity of the impending battle.

Despite this, Deputy Director Zhou Zhuo signed the order with a steady hand.

In such matters, the research institutes always stepped up without hesitation.

No life was deemed more valuable than another, so a simple lottery was swiftly conducted. Ji Yongxing, along with dozens from his department and hundreds from others, was selected and quickly boarded military vehicles bound for the outer city walls.

Soon, he arrived at the real battlefield.

Standing atop the wall and looking down at the endless sea of extraordinary beasts, Ji Yongxing suddenly understood why the outer city had appeared so desolate upon his first visit.

The residents near the walls, often less than a hundred meters away from the extraordinary beasts, must have lived in constant fear whenever the alarms sounded.

Though he had seen countless images, the firsthand experience was far more harrowing than anything before.

With these thoughts, Ji Yongxing joined the fray.

Two hours later, a shockwave from an explosion enraged a spike-covered extraordinary beast.

A spike over a meter long pierced the weakest point of the cannon control room at a sharp angle, killing Ji Yongxing’s temporary partner.

Under normal protective standards, that spike should not have been so deadly.

But it was a cruel twist of fate; the previous wave of beast tide had killed the last operators and damaged that very connection point.

And so, the long spike found its way through the gap, claiming the life of a researcher.

Ji Yongxing didn’t even know the name of his temporary partner. All he knew was that if the turret couldn’t continue firing, he would soon be the next casualty.

The shock of the beast tide, the grief over his partner’s death, his hatred for the extraordinary beasts, and his desperate will to survive all merged, allowing Ji Yongxing’s gaze to pierce through the viewing window. He saw the extraordinary beasts locked in combat with humans below, and the endless waves of them surging toward the walls.

The intense emotional turmoil shattered the faint constraints that had held him back. As half the creator of the turret he now operated, Ji Yongxing’s eyes seemed to perceive every intricate detail of its structure.

At that moment, his abilities ascended to a new level. The power of "Iteration" flooded his mind, revealing countless design optimizations in an instant.

Issues that would typically surface over time now shone like beacons in the dark, and Ji Yongxing’s task was to resolve them all.

However, as a gunner sent to the front lines, he had no access to computers for software optimization or tools for hardware adjustments.

But Ji Yongxing still had himself. Without better algorithms, he would calibrate manually; without a superior operating system, he would operate by instinct.

He became like an octopus from the Deep Sea, deftly manipulating everything within the unnoticed control room with his limbs.

Meanwhile, Lin Qingliu, amidst the scorching flames, awakened to a new ability—"Reproduction."