Chapter 68: The Heartless Gacha Machine
June 8, 2025, 23:54:15 | Author: Shili Pai Daxing
"It is meaningless, but it is part of the plan."
David answered in a calm tone, admitting the point without any hint of surprise.
"If you put it that way..."
Dr. Igor McKinney, the young American mathematical prodigy, hesitated for a moment, looking as if he were making a difficult decision.
"Please allow me to use my shallow knowledge to perform further optimizations and modifications to this plan to the best of my ability."
McKinney's words couldn't have been more sincere. As one of the most outstanding geniuses in mathematics and aerospace in the 21st century, his talent granted him privileges and the power to choose research fields that ordinary researchers could hardly imagine, even within the American scientific community.
Igor spoke with total confidence. In his view, although the Mars Fleet blueprints provided by David were nearly perfect in terms of maximizing Earth's existing industrial capacity, they were far too conservative. Even with human civilization currently blockaded by Trisolaris, numerous new technologies were being discovered every moment in specific application fields.
The American expert was quite certain that David would be persuaded to experimentally incorporate these new technologies into the fleet. It seemed like a win-win solution: he could fulfill the mission given to him by the US government to test new technology applications, while the combat effectiveness of the UN Mars Fleet would be significantly enhanced.
However, to the scientist's disappointment, David shook his head.
"I'm afraid the Chief Engineer and General Designer of the fleet have already been chosen."
David rejected the active offer from this American aerospace giant. He gestured toward Yang Dong and Ding Yi. Ding Yi and Yang Dong nodded politely to Igor McKinney.
"Furthermore, I have made up my mind not to make a single change to these blueprints."
Hearing this, Igor McKinney couldn't help but speak up. "I must ask—which one of them actually drew these blueprints?"
Igor had heard of Ding Yi and Yang Dong's reputations in the physics world. They were two very talented scientists, but as a senior in the field, Igor believed he had the ability to steer them away from such "immature" ideas. The threat of the Trisolarans wouldn't arrive for at least several centuries; right now was the most precious starting phase. One couldn't ignore the future just for a moment of temporary peace of mind, right?
"Neither," David shook his head. He rested his chin on his folded hands, looking at the American aerospace scientist with a sharp glint in his eyes. "I designed these blueprints personally."
"And not a single thing can be changed?"
"It is part of the plan!"
"Then what did you have the UN summon us here for?!"
Igor McKinney felt cheated. The UN had told him he was coming here to provide valuable input for humanity's first expeditionary fleet. Upon hearing that news, Igor hadn't slept well for a week, thinking every night about how to integrate the latest discoveries into David's Mars Fleet. Such intense mental labor had even turned several strands of his hair white. He began to shout indignantly.
"While the main hull of the ships cannot be altered, I hope you all will voice your opinions and use your imagination for the bold design of the carrier-based aircraft," David said, producing another set of blueprints. These were for the hangars of the "Heavy Cruisers" that Yang Dong had wanted to postpone.
Igor McKinney took the blueprints and flipped through a few pages.
"Wait... the shape of this hangar... it can only house the smallest type of fighters... this can't be... Is this also part of the plan?"
Seeing David nod, Igor let out a groan of agony.
"Oh! Damn it! My God! Regardless of whether your plan poses a threat to those damned Trisolarans, you have certainly hurt me!"
"Alright. The main purpose of today's meeting was to introduce our new General Designer, Ding Yi, and Chief Engineer, Yang Dong."
David stood up. He looked at the officials from China, the US, and the UN sitting before him in three elliptical sections. Having settled these matters, he turned his gaze toward the sky. Now that time had fermented sufficiently, it was time for the long-range rockets carrying the Astartes to launch from the Moon.
"If there's nothing else, everyone please return to the base dormitories. In one week, once the peacekeeping forces are in place, we will officially begin work."
Returning to his office at the South African base, David hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on his door. He sat in his office chair and closed his eyes; his spirit traveled to the lunar base.
[Name: David | Race: Human]
[Class: Psyker]
[Psionic Level: Manifest Grade 4 (1/40)]
[Skills: Psionic Precognition / Astral Projection / Electronic Demon (Scrap Code)]
[Equipment: Abominable Intelligence (Destroyed) / Polymorphine]
[Remaining Warp Salvage Attempts: 67] (The salvage system has been upgraded; the probability of Red-quality items appearing has significantly increased.)
Looking at his now abundant Warp points, David felt reassured. Even if he didn't pull a Red item, pulling a few Gold-quality artifacts or technologies should be easy with this many attempts.
Moreover, whether it was a deliberate temptation or because his level had increased along with his psionic grade, he actually saw a blue figure held in a stasis field among the unlocked Red rewards.
Holy crap! Papa Smurf Guilliman! You can even pull him?!
"Good, good! That's how we're playing, huh? Give me a ten-pull first!"
As David's excitement rose, the fishing boat on the system panel—which now had gold-tinted decks and a hull reflecting his higher psionic level, despite some old equipment—started moving again. Compared to the previous tattered net, the golden fishing net cast this time showed no visible signs of damage.
[Imperial Truth] [Lectitio Divinitatus] [Imperial Truth] [Lectitio Divinitatus] [Codex Astartes] [Codex: Revised] [Imperial Truth]...
Damn it! Where did the Warp find all this toilet paper? But it's fine, I still have the pity mechanic.
As a purple light flashed, a book appeared in David's hand... and it was still the Lectitio Divinitatus.
David expressionlessly flipped to the first page to see what made this Purple-quality toilet paper different from the White and Blue ones.
"A personal signed edition from the Primarch, is it? Can this thing dry-rub a psyker all the way to the Trisolaran home planet or what?!"
"Damn it! I don't believe this! Ten-pull! Another ten-pull!"