"Holy—why didn't you say so earlier?!"
The moment Hao Fan heard the word bomb, he nearly jumped out of his skin. He hurriedly put the metal canister back into the supply crate, terrified the little thing might decide to explode in his hands.
"To be precise, it's an industrial explosive."
Andre casually adjusted his glasses and added,
"It's an explosive assembled from violet-crystal components and pulverized copperized shrub. The yield is pretty decent… but the detonation risk is high. Carry and use it with care."
Hearing that, Hao Fan looked at the industrial explosive in the crate, then at the supposedly crucial prototype on the workbench, and his expression turned into pure deadpan disbelief.
"Fat Bird… I don't even know what to say about you anymore. You keep bombs in a lab? Aren't you afraid of an accident?"
"Relax, brat. As long as you don't mess with it, it's fine… though I honestly don't remember when I put it there."
Andre lowered his head, thinking.
If he remembered correctly, this batch of industrial explosives was likely made by the same friend who had left behind the prototype.
That person loved using bomb-carrying drones for remote-controlled airstrikes—and maybe one had been left behind by mistake.
"Anyway, do what you want. Just take it with you."
Andre waved it off, unconcerned.
Meanwhile, Chen Qianyu had already sidled up beside Hao Fan, studying the crate with curiosity—
and she recognized the deep-blue one-handed sword.
"That's Tide."
She sounded utterly certain, like someone who knew swords inside and out.
With her explanation, Hao Fan finally learned what the weapon was:
Tide.
A mid-tier product from Meshko Industries.
Its trendy, cutting-edge design and shockingly good value had made it a new fashion favorite among the ring-tower merchants.
And it also had a special effect: Pursuit · Everflowing Vitality—temporarily boosting the wielder's attack power when supporting teammates and pursuing enemies.
To be honest, it wasn't cheap. A typical Endfield operator would have to save up for quite a while to afford it.
Which raised an obvious question:
Why did Andre's lab have something like this?
"Chen, if you want it, take it."
Hao Fan picked up Tide and offered it to her.
A weapon that good was wasted on a true "combat zero." Better to hand it to the lifesaver who actually excelled at swordplay.
But Chen Qianyu waved him off.
"No need. I've got something better. Keep it for self-defense."
As she spoke, she patted the cyan-green longsword at her waist.
Yangzhi.
A high-grade weapon produced by her hometown's Hongshan Sword Selection Bureau—much better than Tide. The difference was basically like purple gear versus gold gear.
Seeing that, Hao Fan stopped being polite and accepted the cool-looking one-handed sword.
Even though he couldn't use a sword at all.
Then—
Radio chatter echoed through the underground lab.
"Attention all channels. Attention all channels."
"All armed personnel of the Defense Department, assemble at the base entrance immediately."
"Repeat: assemble at the base entrance immediately."
"Over."
There was some static, but it was unmistakably Qin Jiangchi's voice.
Hao Fan rubbed his chin, thinking something else must have happened.
Perlica came to the same conclusion.
"Looks like Engineer Qin needs support too."
"…You go link up first."
Andre seemed to steel himself, deciding to stay in the lab and do what looked like "necessary work."
He walked up to the prototype and began inspecting it carefully.
"Hard to evaluate the exterior damage… I need to check internal structures. No rush to go see Director Qin yet."
"What's wrong? Did you get hurt somewhere?"
Oblivious as ever, Chen Qianyu asked with sincere concern—completely missing that he was just terrified of facing Qin Jiangchi.
"Ahem. I twisted my ankle when I blacked out… getting old, really."
Andre looked extremely guilty, like he was conning an innocent—
and the key problem was: Chen Qianyu totally believed him.
"Administrator, you go on ahead. I'll look after—Fat—Mr. Andre."
She almost let "Fat Bird" slip again, but her concern was genuine.
Perlica—who understood Chen Qianyu very well—basically responded with sure, whatever makes you happy.
"Let Chen Qianyu handle Mr. Andre. We'll go support Engineer Qin first."
She tugged lightly on the Administrator, who looked like she wanted to stay and watch the drama.
As for Hao Fan, he fell into thought.
"Base entrance assembly… I remember there's an armory near there."
"Since I'm passing by, I might as well see if I can get a handgun."
He looked down at the one-handed sword he'd just acquired. Compared to cold steel, firearms just felt safer.
And speaking of "hot weapons"…
There was still that industrial explosive in the supply crate.
"…Fine. I'll bring it too."
After hesitating, Hao Fan decided to take the dangerous thing along.
It might come in handy.
Armory
The armory was managed by Endfield's armory engineer—a true expert who was proficient with all kinds of weapons and equipment.
Hao Fan had met the man once before: a Ursus with a small mustache.
And, by the way—
Qin Jiangchi was a Feline (with a snake-based archetype).
The various Terra races almost always had obvious traits—basically demi-humans, like catgirls and the like.
If someone had no clear racial traits, they were most likely an Aegir.
So in the eyes of the Hub Base operators, the human Hao Fan might be Aegir—
but since no Aegir could possibly be this physically weak, they discarded that theory too.
Which left them with a single conclusion:
They had no idea what race this suspicious hooded man was.
Hao Fan himself always answered the same way:
"I'm human."
Which only made him look even more like a weirdo.
"Here we are."
Near the base entrance, using his game-map ability, Hao Fan precisely located the armory's underground entrance amid the wreckage.
But there was a problem.
Collapsed debris had completely blocked the entrance.
It wasn't something you could shift with manpower—only heavy machinery could clear it, or…
you used explosives.
"…So it really did come in handy."
Hao Fan stared at the industrial explosive in his hand, briefly speechless.
Then he threw it without hesitation.
"Blow up already!"
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (123 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (72 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (92 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (93 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (75 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (115 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (105 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (105 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (42 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty…then Who Am I? (56 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (59 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (54Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (76 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (63 Chapter)
Lord Shadow Descends on DanMachi (60 Chapter)
Fuse with Me, Exusiai! (41 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail — After I Die, I Forge Their Madness (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Last Zeus Familia (30 Chapter)
Endfield: Arknights Heroic Spirit Summoning (30 Chapter)
Toyokawa Family Finances (80 Chapter)
Starting From DanMachi to Become Stronger (50 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it