"Haixia border?" Gu Hui tapped the table and said in a deep voice, "We need to contact the Haixia Military Intelligence Department first to decide whether to send troops on an expedition."
"Then I'll wait for the good news."
Xiao Han nodded and left the meeting room.
Feng Jun had been waiting outside the door for a long time. As soon as they met, he complained, "You really got me into trouble this time. Why didn't you notify me when you encountered the assassin? I got scolded by my superiors."
"You couldn't help anyway, so why notify you?" Xiao Han looked puzzled.
Feng Jun felt as if he had eaten a bowl of worms and said angrily, "Even though we're familiar with each other, if you insult me, I will get angry!"
Xiao Han smiled faintly, "Maybe I should discuss with the director how my location was exposed."
Feng Jun: "Oh ho ho ho ho, you rascal, how could I be angry with you?"
"Ridiculous." Xiao Han rolled his eyes.
With Feng Jun nodding and bowing, Xiao Han left the headquarters and returned to the repair shop.
The idea of making a disguise mask had long been in Xiao Han's mind. With his understanding of the Sprout, he knew it was impossible to keep his identity hidden forever. Once his location was exposed, he would inevitably face severe consequences. The disguise mask was one of the backup plans he had prepared for himself.
The Star Dragon would most likely agree to this operation, so he needed to update his combat equipment. The light power arm and folding battle knife could not keep up with the strength of the enemies he was about to face. Moreover, this operation was outside the national borders, so Xiao Han felt he needed a dedicated vehicle, preferably one that could accommodate the entire team.
Speaking of the team, Zhang Wei's War Armor urgently needed improvement.
A big project indeed.
Xiao Han rubbed his temples and quickly found a stack of blueprints most suitable for the current situation from his vast memory, thinking, "It seems I have to learn a lot of things this time."
He knocked on Old Man Lu's door. Old Man Lu was happily eating spicy chicken feet and drinking. His hands were greasy. He glanced at Xiao Han and said, "What are you doing here, kid?"
"I want to borrow some mechanical knowledge books."
Xiao Han turned to look at the bookshelf that covered an entire wall.
He thought Old Man Lu would make excuses like last time, but unexpectedly, Old Man Lu agreed immediately and pointed to the bookshelf, "The key is in the drawer. Take whatever you want, but remember to return them after reading."
Xiao Han was surprised, "You actually agreed?"
Our relationship doesn't seem that good!
Old Man Lu put down the chicken feet and said, "Consider it my thanks."
Thanks? Xiao Han frowned and asked uncertainly, "Is this another one of your schemes to promote your granddaughter?"
Old Man Lu's face stiffened, feeling frustrated. What's wrong with my granddaughter? Why don't you like her?
However, Old Man Lu was not thanking Xiao Han for that reason. Old Man Gao had told him that Xiao Han had faced the assassin outside the repair shop and did not involve Lu Qian. This was the reason Old Man Lu was grateful. After this incident, Old Man Lu had a much better impression of Xiao Han.
"Kid, you're not bad."
Old Man Lu patted Xiao Han on the shoulder with a satisfied smile and walked out, leaving him in the room to read books, clearly showing his trust.
Xiao Han looked at the greasy handprint on his shoulder and twitched his mouth, "Old man."
He took out the key, opened the bookshelf, and a row of basic knowledge books came into view. Xiao Han took out the seven books he needed and returned to his room.
Taking a deep breath, he adjusted his state and chose to learn everything!
[Do you want to consume 1 potential point to learn the energy branch [Basic Energy Theory]?]
[…energy branch [Basic Biochemistry]?]
[…energy branch [Basic Optics]?]
"Yes!"
A huge amount of knowledge poured into his mind as if his brain were about to burst. Only after a while did he recover. Han Xiao gritted his teeth and picked up the remaining knowledge books.
[… Branch skill: Basic Electromagnetic Principles?]
[… Branch skill: Basic Mechanics Principles?]
[… Branch skill: Basic Virtual Electronics?]
[… Branch skill: Basic Wide-area Sensing?]
Seven types of foundational knowledge.
And that was not all.
Basic Energy Theory rose to level 3.
Basic Electromagnetic Principles rose to level 2.
Basic Virtual Electronics rose to level 2.
Basic Mechanics Principles rose to level 2.
Basic Mechanical Engineering, which he already had, rose from level 2 to level 4.
Basic Weaponry rose to level 3.
Basic Materials Compendium rose to level 3.
Basic Assembly rose to level 2.
Advanced Material Synthesis rose to level 2.
He spent potential points faster than running water. He originally had twenty‑one, and this round of intense studying consumed twenty.
Xiao was certain that everything he learned could merge into strong blueprints, with no waste at all. Even so, the cost in potential points was considerable.
[You have comprehended the skill: Primary Programming.]
[You have comprehended the skill: Force Electromagnetic Enhancement.]
Primary Programming came from [Basic Virtual Electronics]. It was a prerequisite for creating chips and programs. Like [Simple Assembly] and [Simple Reinforcement Modding], it belonged to a mechanic's core abilities.
[Force Electromagnetic Enhancement] appeared once a mechanic awakened the magnetic attribute and then studied the energy branch. It boosted the magnetic properties of force, improving both construction speed and mechanical power. Each level gave a 3 percent increase. Another passive skill.
[Qi Refinement] had been trained thirty‑four times in total. Compared to the earlier ten, it added seventy‑two points of Qi, still short of level 5 requirements.
His panel showed 380,000 experience, gained from mass producing high‑burn rounds. Each day brought in twenty to thirty thousand experience. Money was even more abundant. He had already accumulated 3.6 million Blue Planet coins. Plenty of working capital.
First, fuse the blueprint for disguise.
Xiao spent a few thousand experience to raise [Primary Programming] to level 3.
[Proceed with knowledge fusion: Basic Biochemistry lv1, Basic Optics lv1, Basic Materials Compendium lv3, Basic Virtual Electronics lv2. This fusion will consume 20,000 experience.]
Knowledge fusion was not limited to two. Each additional basic knowledge cost an extra five thousand experience. Repeating the same fusion later would double the total cost. For example, doing this combination again would cost forty thousand.
Most early‑stage mechanics only fused two knowledge types. Anything above that had low odds of producing a blueprint by chance.
Xiao had no such concerns. He knew the combinations and could target the exact blueprint he needed.
[Fusion successful. You have developed the blueprint: Intelligent Simulated Optical Mask.]
Xiao let out a breath. This item was genuinely excellent. It first appeared in version 3.0, when a player accidentally fused it. The reason it was so rare was that the four required knowledge types came from three different branches, all needing the levels he now possessed, plus prerequisites: Intermediate Mechanical Affinity, 55 Intelligence, Primary Programming level 3, and the mechanic class path.
The value matched the difficulty.