Chapter Eighty-Six: Electromagnetic Cannon!

“Exactly! It’s too unreliable! If we use real weapons and real ammunition, it’ll be far more dependable!”

“Far too unreliable!”

“We’d better think of something else!”

…

After that, many more people voiced different opinions, yet without exception every one of them met with opposition.

Chu Xiao said nothing throughout. He simply wrote everything down, studying it bit by bit.

Rather than studying it, it would be more accurate to say that Chu Xiao was quietly integrating everyone’s suggestions, selecting the strengths from each.

“Lieutenant General Chu, what are you doing there?” Seeing Chu Xiao constantly scribbling away, Ren Boyuan could not help leaning over.

At a glance, the page was packed with dense writing, with notes in different colors filling the margins.

“What do you think?” Chu Xiao turned his gaze toward Ren Boyuan beside him.

Ren Boyuan pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses. “I think all of them have merits, but none is perfect.”

“I have a better idea. We can summarize these proposals, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, then combine them. That would be an excellent approach. It also carries forward everyone’s thinking.”

“Of course, we also have to consider practicality and compatibility.”

“That’s all I have to say.” After speaking, Ren Boyuan sat down at once, without a single superfluous word.

Chu Xiao’s thoughts were much the same as Ren Boyuan’s. But what he wanted even more now was to find a source of energy with immense power—one that, if possible, could corrode and contaminate Pluto’s machines, so that the moment it touched them, they would be ruined beyond use and no longer obey Pluto’s control.

If that could be achieved, then for a certain stretch of time they would surely gain the upper hand.

At the thought, Chu Xiao was already eager to try, and he quickly voiced the idea in his heart.

“What we need now is an energy source of tremendous power, but also one with strong contaminating properties. And this energy must corrode only machines, without causing serious harm to the human body.”

“Of course, I know that may sound difficult. But I believe all of you can do it. Earth has ten thousand kinds of resources—surely such a thing is not beyond reach.”

Hearing Chu Xiao’s words, everyone was astonished.

“How is that possible? Stop joking.”

“Don’t indulge in fantasy. Face reality.”

“Exactly! At a time like this, are we still supposed to fool around?”

…

Ren Boyuan fell into thought. The energy Chu Xiao described had to be highly destructive, harmless to humans, and capable of contaminating machines. It was indeed hard to find—but that did not mean it did not exist.

The meeting broke up there.

Everyone was told to go off and think of possible solutions on their own.

Chu Xiao went out to inspect the condition of the fortress and happened to run into Ji Kaicheng.

“Lieutenant General Chu!”

“Hello. What happened here?” Seeing the chaos before him, Chu Xiao asked at once.

Ji Kaicheng glanced behind him and scratched his head awkwardly. “Ha! There was a Fire-Spitting Bird, looked like it got separated from the rest. No idea why, but it flew down through our electric grid and got burned to ashes.”

“Burned to ashes?” Chu Xiao repeated.

“Well, that’s an exaggeration. Not ashes—just lost all ability to move and turned into a pile of scrap metal,” Ji Kaicheng hurriedly explained.

Chu Xiao lifted his head and stared fixedly at the electric grid.

Wasn’t this exactly the energy source he had been looking for?

The power of electricity was limitless, and it could damage the interior of machines.

Now that they also had a perpetual-motion engine, electricity was essentially inexhaustible. Where could they possibly find a better energy source?

Chu Xiao turned and strode straight toward the armory.

Seeing him come in a rush and leave in a rush, Ji Kaicheng was utterly baffled. What on earth was going on?

Chu Xiao went directly to find Ren Boyuan.

“Professor Ren! I’ve thought of a solution! I know what we should use!” Chu Xiao was visibly excited.

Ren Boyuan was still deep in painful contemplation when Chu Xiao burst in, leaving him somewhat dazed.

“What should we use?” Ren Boyuan asked slowly.

“Electricity! Use electricity! As long as the voltage is high enough, we can completely destroy the internal structure of those machines, sever their connection to Pluto, and reduce them to useless heaps of scrap metal! Just like the top of our fortress—when a Fire-Spitting Bird flies in and passes through the electric grid, it gets scorched black and its interior suffers devastating damage!”

“How do we use electricity?” Ren Boyuan understood its power, but he was still curious about how electricity could be turned into a weapon.

“An electromagnetic cannon! Inside it, we condense electricity into a sphere of light—a compressed sphere with immense voltage—then fire it out. It can fry those machines into heaps of broken metal!”

“Of course, all of that will require calculations and experiments.” Chu Xiao understood the complexities involved.

Ren Boyuan lowered his head in thought for a moment. “It should be possible. I’ll do my best.” He suddenly lifted his head to look at Chu Xiao, his resolve plain in his eyes.

Chu Xiao understood what he meant: he was willing to take on this mess. But Chu Xiao had no wish to let Ren Boyuan bear the burden alone.

“Call a joint meeting. Let’s discuss it.”

The joint meeting was formally convened.

Scientists from every nation gathered there once more.

Chu Xiao gave no opening remarks. Instead, he picked up a piece of chalk and drew his concept directly on the blackboard.

The image itself was simple: an electromagnetic cannon, gathering a sphere of light and then firing it outward, destroying the machine from within and knocking it to the ground in an instant.

Though it was only a sketch, it conveyed every one of Chu Xiao’s ideas.

“I trust everyone can understand this, so I won’t waste time explaining too much.”

“I’m sure all of you know about the electric grid above the fortress. Just now, a Fire-Spitting Bird passed through it and was destroyed on the spot. Earlier on the battlefield, Pluto’s machines also tried to attack Pearl City from above, but all of them were blasted into heaps of scrap by the grid. Even missiles, when they encountered it, were rendered useless. That proves that the power of electricity is beyond prediction—far stronger than we imagined.”

“Right now, we can absolutely build an electromagnetic cannon and use electricity to wipe out the enemy. As long as the voltage is high enough, anything is possible!”

A pair of hawk-like eyes swept over the crowd, observing their reactions.

The response was fairly good—mixed, but favorable overall. Fortunately, most approved, though now and then a few dissenting voices could still be heard.

“It’s a good proposal! I saw that Fire-Spitting Bird just now myself.”

“But what if something goes wrong? We still need to think it through.”

“I don’t think we need to think any further! Let’s do it! This is completely feasible!”

…

“Quiet! Listen to me!” Chu Xiao cut through all the discussion. “Those who disagree, raise your hands!”

The moment the words fell, more than a dozen people raised their hands in quick succession. To Chu Xiao’s surprise, the one leading them was Walker.

He was startled, but soon regained his calm. “Very well, Professor Walker—may I ask why you oppose it?”