Chapter 144: Cryogenic Bullets

On the workbench, a small, thin metal box was picked up by Iced Coffee. After opening the box, Wuhua saw that it contained only five LAPUA bullets glowing with a white light.

"Why are there only five?" Wuhua asked, puzzled.

Iced Coffee slowly explained, "Regular bullets rely on gunpowder pushing the projectile to generate impact for damage, while your special bullets are filled with black powder and a binary alloy, which increases the damage capability significantly. However, this kind of bullet is vastly different; its power is beyond anything you can imagine."

"What makes it different?" Wuhua asked.

Iced Coffee replied, "The difference lies in the fact that it is filled with a new technological energy source—a high-strength, compressed, secondary-extracted crystal source. Once activated, it produces multiple effects such as explosion, expansion, high aggregation, and fission. You must know that high-purity crystals possess corresponding special effects."

Wuhua was no fool and immediately understood: "You mean it's part of a secondary-extracted crystal source and possesses immense power?"

Iced Coffee nodded. "Once this bullet hits the target, the crystal source releases its energy after three seconds, expanding rapidly to five times its volume before undergoing secondary fusion. This is somewhat similar to a nuclear reactor. According to our tests, if a human body takes this bullet without over 90% water-element resistance, they will instantly freeze into a block of ice, leading to breathing difficulties and eventually death by asphyxiation. Strictly speaking, even many monsters cannot endure the pain inflicted by this bullet."

Wuhua nodded. He knew about this setting in the mainframe system; the sensation of pain was something that could never be ignored. If a bullet blew you flying, how could you possibly fight back?

"Is this bullet a cryogenic round?" Wuhua asked.

Iced Coffee said, "You could understand it that way, but it goes far beyond mere freezing. Its base attribute damage exceeds 500 joules, and upon explosion, it generates around 3,000 joules of damage, coupled with a freezing effect."

Wuhua was shocked. "3,000 joules? That's twice the power of a G5 grenade! This is basically an artillery shell. No wonder there are only five."

Iced Coffee said with a smug look, "Speechless now, aren't you? Am I awesome or what?"

Wuhua thought for a moment, then shouted, "Miss Coffee is invincible across the world! I, your humble servant, offer my absolute loyalty and am willing to go through fire and water, facing death without a second thought!"

Iced Coffee was so stunned she almost tipped over.

Wuhua carefully put away the box. These bullets were indeed too precious. He certainly couldn't use them casually; only at the most critical moments would they reveal the true majesty of a heavy cannon.

"I do have one question though," Wuhua said. "Miss Coffee, these are white-tier items. Why weren't you able to produce purple-tier ones this time?"

Iced Coffee replied, "Actually, this is a puzzle that plagues all technologists across the world. From the information currently available to me, the highest grade for manually crafted bullets is purple-tier; it is impossible to manufacture green-tier ones."

"Why?"

Iced Coffee said, "Take the bullets in your hand right now. Do you think this white-tier cryogenic bullet is better, or the red-tier LAPUA bullet?"

Wuhua immediately understood: "Because they aren't the same series of bullets, right?"

Iced Coffee nodded. "Correct. It's much like comparing a handgun to an assault rifle—there is simply no comparison. Therefore, researching advanced series of ammunition has gradually become the mainstream. Strictly speaking, these five bullets are actually just semi-finished products. I made them according to the shape of a LAPUA bullet, but they actually belong to the chemical weapon series, merely propelled by gunpowder. First-generation gunpowder energy will likely be phased out in the future. I know that among German and Japanese players, some technologists are already researching optical weapons, and that will also be my future research direction. Of course, this is merely a hypothesis for now."

Wuhua was left gaping in astonishment. "Does that mean these guns of mine are useless?"

"No!" Brick Sis finally spoke up. "She's done showing off. Now it's time to look at my new weapon, isn't it?"

Wuhua was overjoyed. "Of course! One of you is an ammunition expert, and the other is a crafting expert. Where is the new weapon?"

Brick Sis asked, "Where are the natural synthetic crystals I asked you to find in Blue Moon Mountain last time?"

Wuhua hurriedly unbuckled his backpack and poured all the crystals inside clattering onto the table, forming a small pile.

"Wow, so many," Brick Sis said, lowering her head to adjust her glasses. "I just need to extract the samples, and I can start manufacturing."

Wuhua couldn't help asking, "What about the weapon?"

Brick Sis replied, "What's with the rush? I've already reached Level 36; forging your Finnish Star is an absolute piece of cake."

Wuhua was ecstatic. "Where on earth is the weapon?"

Brick Sis walked over to the workbench, opened the laptop on it, and blueprints appeared on the screen. "Recognize this gun?"

Wuhua looked at it and said, "To be honest, I really don't understand all-English stuff."

Brick Sis said, "The alloy that Little Snow and Dirt Tuber brought back last time is already enough for manufacturing. Now, with your energy crystals added, I only need one day to finish this gun."

Wuhua let out a sigh. "You mean you want me to wait a day?"

Brick Sis asked, "You don't have much else to do right now anyway, do you?"

Wuhua looked at the screen again. The gun's exaggerated design made his heart itch with anticipation. If he waited, it would waste another whole day; if he didn't wait, it would constantly occupy his thoughts, and he wouldn't even be able to sleep peacefully.

"Fine, a day it is. At worst, I'll just go out for a stroll," Wuhua said through gritted teeth. "By the way, according to our agreement, we provided the raw materials, so we don't need to pay for the new product anymore, right?"

Iced Coffee interjected from the side, "Of course you don't have to pay for the product, but you still have to pay for the bullets."

"How much?" Wuhua asked.

Iced Coffee said, "If we include the standard allotment of cryogenic LAPUA bullets along with this assault rifle, it comes to a total of 50,000 credit points."

"So expensive?" Wuhua was startled.

Iced Coffee explained, "However, the money you invested in the equipment last time has already been recouped. The weapons from our factory provided to the shopping mall have completely sold out, including all five products: the AK, M4, MP5, USP, and G36. Coincidentally, this month's settlement time has arrived, and your 30% share yields a dividend of 60,000 points. Therefore, you won't need to spend any money this time; instead, you'll be reimbursed with an extra 10,000 credit points. Furthermore, you still have 200,000 credit points stored in your account. If you want to cash them out, you can. Here is the statement, you can check it—it's 210,000 points in total."

Wuhua waved his hand dismissively. "Forget it, just let it sit there as savings."

Iced Coffee nodded. "Very well, you can go out and play now."

"What do you mean?"

Iced Coffee stated with a righteous air, "The structure of this new assault rifle is not that simple. Brick Sis and I need to conduct the final shooting tests. Come back here precisely at 11:00 AM tomorrow to pick it up. Now we have work to do, so don't disturb us."

Wuhua nodded vigorously. "Won't disturb you, won't disturb you at all. You're both the bosses now, I have to listen to you."

Stepping out of the boutique factory, Wuhua checked his crystal card. It currently held a total of 1,130,000 credit points. In his backpack, he still had several valuable pieces of equipment—two purple-tier items and one red-tier item. Taking these to the Divine Light Auction House and the black market would fetch a tidy sum. Additionally, there was a vial of fifth-generation technological energy, which he still needed to reserve for Night Fragrance. Combined with his shares in the boutique factory, he currently had no financial pressure for the time being. This was hard-earned money he had busted his gut for over two months to make.

Wuhua thought to himself that it was about time to cash out his first pot of gold in the game, and he also needed to treat Ah Jie to a meal. The person he truly needed to thank was him; had Ah Jie not provided material support in real life, he would never have been able to throw himself heart and soul into the world of Star Wars.

Having made up his mind, Wuhua strode toward the Financial Trading Center of Dream Star City.