Chapter 160: Just Asking if You're Scared

Gao Yuan was busy grinding the knife blank on the belt sander when Luo Xingyu silently appeared beside him.

He stopped what he was doing and looked towards Luo Xingyu.

Luo Xingyu seemed somewhat resentful, but Gao Yuan pretended not to notice. He smiled and said, "My hands are dirty. I was going to come find you later, but it looks like you beat me to it. Did your dad tell you?"

Luo Xingyu nodded, her gaze still fixed on Gao Yuan.

As a man, one must play dumb at crucial moments; one must learn to play dumb.

"Why are you looking at me like that, as if I've done something wrong?"

Gao Yuan said half-jokingly, but Luo Xingyu responded seriously, "So you know that you did something wrong?"

"I did something wrong? Did I really make a mistake? I don't think so. Tell me what I did wrong."

Luo Xingyu continued to stare at Gao Yuan and remained silent for a long time. Gao Yuan smiled, leaned in, and said, "A kiss will make it all better."

Luo Xingyu stepped back and then raised her voice, "I'm not happy. I'm very angry!"

"What are you angry about..."

Luo Xingyu took a deep breath and asked, "Did you get Yu Shunzhou and Nie Erlong into Da Hong Third Company?"

"Yeah, that's right. We could only ask those two, what's the issue?"

Luo Xingyu cocked her head, pointing to herself, and asked, "What about me?"

"You? What do you want to do? You want to join Da Hong Third Company too?"

Luo Xingyu said angrily, "Nonsense! Gao Yuan, what do you mean? Yu Shunzhou and Nie Erlong are in Da Hong Third Company now. Where am I lacking compared to them? Uncle Xiang said I'm a promising talent too."

Gao Yuan's face was a mix of helplessness and seriousness, "Stop it."

"How am I making a fuss!"

Gao Yuan said very seriously, "I'd never let you become a soldier. Stop joking around. I trained you before because it was necessary, so you could have the ability to protect yourself. But now that you're here, what's the point of training anymore?"

"As a survivalist, do you really think training is useless?"

Gao Yuan was at a loss for words because what he was saying now contradicted his usual philosophy.

"Er, but you can't join Da Hong Third Company. Don't even think about it. I'll never agree to it."

Luo Xingyu was really angry, and she raised her voice, "Great, are you trying to ditch me, so you can flirt with Xinghe?"

Gao Yuan was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Is this something to joke about?"

Gao Yuan looked very serious, and it seemed he was getting angry, so the furious Luo Xingyu was scared into silence. After several attempts to speak, she finally said softly, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, and don't say it again."

Tears were nearly falling as Luo Xingyu said with an aggrieved face, "But I want to see you every day and I can't. You're always with Xinghe, and I have to make an appointment and ask for leave if I want to see you. What's all this about? I just thought if you could get me into Da Hong Third Company, we could see each other every day."

In a low voice, Gao Yuan said, "You know everything, Xiaoyu. You're aware of the situation. You also know how Xinghe ended up here. We... can't be too selfish. Now is not the time to be lovey-dovey."

Luo Xingyu was still very upset, and Gao Yuan decided it didn't matter if his hands were dirty, so he took her in his arms and said softly, "Moreover, your dad would never agree to you joining the military. Right now, you should be studying. You're already excellent at it. I heard from your dad you can continue your education at the base, even study with the top scientists. You need to understand that right now, it's about serving the country through technology, saving humanity with science."

Luo Xingyu still looked sad and asked softly, "Are you going out soon?"

"Not at all."

"Don't lie to me, I know you must be leaving the base, and you're going to war. Otherwise, you wouldn't need to make knives."

Gao Yuan chuckled and said, "Someday I'll have to go out, sure. You know your boyfriend is Superman. There will always be places where I'm needed. What are you worried about? You always imagine the worst, and never the right things. Look at me now; what zombie could hurt me?"

Luo Xingyu took a deep sigh and said softly, "Alright, I won't bother you anymore. You work on the knife."

"You should wait outside; the noise here is pretty loud."

"No, I like watching you when you're so focused. It's very cool."

Gao Yuan smiled and then turned back to switch on the belt sander and continue sharpening the knife.

No use letting romance get in the way of important matters, especially since Shi Lei and the others were right there waiting.

Gao Yuan was making a traditional Shenzhou Yanling Knife, a battle-tested blade design with the right length, weight, and curvature. More importantly, Gao Yuan was familiar with it—he had played around and made one before, so he knew what he was doing this time.

The blade was cut out of an 8mm carbon steel plate, rather than being forged, which Gao Yuan was more familiar with. However, with modern steel technology and heat treatment processes, this modern sword is definitely much better than the ancient "hundred-refined" steel blades.

It was also far superior to the crudely made swords that Gao Yuan produced at Shimen Shelter No.2.

At the very least, the swords now had to be finely crafted, aesthetically pleasing, and very, very suitable for Gao Yuan's use.

The blade had a unified dragonbone design, but the handle wouldn't directly be a fitted piece due to the solidness causing vibrations in the hand. Thus, Gao Yuan would craft the handle using the conditions that the base could meet, which meant making the handle out of plastic.

In the world of handmade swords, plastic was considered the lowest-end material. But performance-wise, plastic was actually the best material, even better than any kind of wood or animal horn.

There could be no stress points on the blade's tongue; otherwise, a strong chop could cause the blade to break at those points. In short, Gao Yuan was truly crafting this sword.

To be exact, it would be more accurate to say he was meticulously grinding it.

While grinding the blade, he swung it a few times to test the feel until he felt that the sword blank was ready for heat treatment.

As Gao Yuan was grinding the blade, the steel whip and steel mace were also finished, and so was the war hammer; they were just waiting to be heat-treated.

Setting the sword blank aside, Gao Yuan picked up a bamboo joint whip that had just been precision manufactured.

"The weight is right, and the handle feels comfortable, but..."

Gao Yuan frowned slightly. After swinging the steel whip a couple of times, he shook his head and said, "Forget it, no need for the steel whip."

Zhang Delin was puzzled and asked, "Why, was there something wrong with it?"

"It's not that it was made incorrectly, but that while a steel whip is easy to carry, it's not quick to draw."

The so-called bamboo joint whip was not a nine-section whip, which was a flexible weapon. The bamboo joint whip was a type of steel whip—essentially, it was an iron rod with a handle and protruding joints at intervals.

In ancient times, these whips, maces, and hammers were meant to combat heavy armor. Swords might not do much damage against an armored enemy, but a blow from a hammer or whip, even if the armor stayed intact, could still be devastating to the person inside.

Gao Yuan had never used such heavy weapons before, but Xiang Weiguo had taught him the Thirteen Techniques, so using a steel whip or mace was no issue for him. Plus, when he used an iron rod in one hand and a blade in the other to fight zombies, he found the rod more effective than the knife, which is why he thought about crafting a steel whip or mace for himself.

But in actual use, Gao Yuan discovered that the specially made joints on the bamboo joint whip, designed to increase impact, were not suitable for him. The ancient users of steel whips were generals who, during battles, had a special place to hang heavy weapons and didn't wear them like swords in daily life.

The most straightforward way to understand the use of a steel whip or mace is to look at the guardian deities on temple doors; one can grasp the look of such heavy weapons and how they are held.

According to the carrying method Gao Yuan envisioned, the heavier steel whip suited him better, but it wasn't convenient to carry.

Therefore, the mace, which was uniform in thickness, was the best choice for Gao Yuan.

Simplifying it, Gao Yuan could use a simple iron rod, but the mace had a handle and hand guard, which made it much more manageable than an iron rod. Most importantly, the mace had four ridges, like reinforcement ribs, making it unlikely to bend with the impact like an iron rod would.

Gao Yuan lifted the steel mace and swung it a few times. The mace weighed a full eighteen pounds, which wouldn't be too heavy for others to lift, but swinging it would require caution to avoid injuring the wrist or hitting one's own legs. However, in Gao Yuan's hands, the eighteen-pound mace was as light as a willow branch.

"Alright, heat-treat both of them."

The heat treatment master, in his fifties, spoke solemnly, "If you're sure you're only going to use the mace, I can heat treat this one separately for a better result."

In the past, carbon furnaces were used for heat treatments; nowadays, electric furnaces are the norm. The advantage of an electric furnace is precision temperature control, which in the past only experienced individuals could manage well, but now it's just a matter of setting a number.

Even so, not everyone can perform heat treatment successfully.

A skilled heat treatment master is treated with respect at any machining factory.

The sword was ready, and so were the whip and mace, only the war hammer wasn't finished yet, but at that moment a worker with a shining hammer approached.

To call it a war hammer might be a bit of an overstatement as Gao Yuan's hammer looked nothing like the exaggerated, oversized hammers seen in video games.

Indeed, Gao Yuan had wanted to make a Gold Melon Hammer, but he ended up choosing an extremely trite shape—a pointed end on one side, a square on the other, essentially just a geological hammer...

But Gao Yuan didn't simply use a geological hammer because its handle was too short and too light. The one he specially made was fifty centimeters long with a slightly larger head; other than that, there wasn't much difference.

Or maybe, the biggest difference was quality.

For the same hammer, what Gao Yuan intended to create was the combination of the best materials from Shenzhou, the best heat treatment, and the finest craftsmanship to forge a... geological hammer.

Holding the hammer and weighing it in his hand, Gao Yuan smiled contentedly and said, "Good, no need for changes. Go ahead with the heat treatment."

Shi Lei had been waiting for Gao Yuan. Eventually, he couldn't hold back anymore and said in a low voice, "Are you really going to use these things?"

"Yes, why?"

Shi Lei hesitated and said, "It's just that... all these items combined must weigh about twenty pounds, right? Then imagine having a hammer on your left, a sword on your right, and a mace too, well, just thinking about the scene makes it seem quite... impressive."

Gao Yuan laughed and said, "There's also an axe. But I don't need to make one; I'll use the one I have. So, I'll have a war hammer and an axe at my waist, a long sword in hand, and a steel mace close to my chest. Now, tell me if you're scared?"