Chapter 7

As night fell, Chu Jun Gui added more wood to the bonfire and then crawled into the survival pod to rest. As an experimental subject, he needed sleep, but his sleep quality was higher and the process more controllable. During sleep, a dedicated microchip monitored the surroundings and would immediately wake him if anything changed.

Nothing happened throughout the night.

At dawn, Chu Jun Gui woke from his deep sleep, stretched, and immediately felt refreshed.

He climbed out of the survival pod, and a cold wind greeted him, making him shiver.

The morning wind on this planet was quite cold.

He looked around and felt the need to build a shelter as soon as possible. The survival pod was uncomfortable to live in and too small, with no room for any equipment and no defensive capabilities.

The initial exploration on the first day proved that this planet was not very safe. The small animals he encountered, whether herbivores or carnivores, were all extremely aggressive. Additionally, he felt that the species on this planet seemed to have a low pain threshold. Even when stabbed with a dagger, they did not try to escape but struggled to continue attacking.

A low pain threshold had its pros and cons. The downside was a lack of alertness to danger, leading to short lifespans. Perhaps on this planet, with its high levels of toxic substances like arsenic and sulfur, they did not expect to live long.

Chu Jun Gui tightened his clothes, opened the printer, and printed a logging axe and a long saw. Although he had an arm shield, it was not as efficient as specialized tools.

Then he dug out a few pieces of charcoal from the bottom of the extinguished bonfire. He had intentionally buried them to carbonize. He placed the charcoal into the refining machine, and it quickly produced carbon rods. After preliminary processing, refining the materials into standard universal materials would consume much less energy.

He picked up a few stones, crushed and ground them, and threw them into the refining machine, obtaining a bit of basic metal and silicon. However, he was more interested in the small can of gas collected during the refining process. The gas had a high oxygen content, enough to support his activities for a few hours.

This refining method was inefficient, but small-scale production had different requirements from industrial production. Chu Jun Gui's priority was to obtain some basic materials first, and he would worry about energy consumption later.

After completing these tasks, he loaded industrial acid, carbon, and wood fibers into the printer, and after a moment, he obtained a small box of black powder. This was the most basic universal gunpowder. If he could find saltpeter, he could produce better gunpowder.

With gunpowder and a copper rod from the survival pod, he had the foundation to manufacture bullets.

The printer started working and soon began spitting out bullets. These standard 9mm bullets were already limited in power, and Chu Jun Gui used the simplest and most basic gunpowder, further reducing their effectiveness. They probably wouldn't be lethal beyond 50 meters. However, having a gun was better than having none.

Moreover, the "close combat" in his close combat gun fighting technique was not just a name. The essence of this technique was close-range or even point-blank combat. No matter how poor the gun, as long as it was fired point-blank, the damage would be significant.

With the bullets resolved, the handgun was easy to make. Soon, a dark silver P1911 appeared in front of Chu Jun Gui.

Chu Jun Gui picked up the gun, inserted the magazine, pulled the slide, and the crisp mechanical sound was pleasing to the ear. With a gun in hand, he suddenly felt much more at ease.

He aimed the gun, and his hand moved in a blur, instantly aiming at eight different targets, though he did not fire. After testing the gun, he felt the magazine capacity was still a bit small. Unfortunately, the printer did not have the necessary components or blueprints for a larger magazine.

Eight bullets were enough. If each was fired point-blank, the damage would still be considerable. Chu Jun Gui consoled himself with this thought.

When he set out for the forest again, his equipment was much different. On his backpack, he had a logging axe and a long saw, a handgun and a dagger on his waist, and an arm shield on his hand. In his backpack, he carried water and a small can of oxygen. His basic equipment was complete, no longer the bare essentials he had when he first landed.

This time, he explored deeper into the forest, advancing a few kilometers beyond his previous exploration. By then, his body was struggling, and he had to use the oxygen once.

During his deeper exploration, he unexpectedly discovered a valley. The valley was surrounded by mountains in the distance, with lush vegetation and even a small pond in the center.

However, although he saw a water source, Chu Jun Gui did not rush to it. In primitive areas, a water source often attracted dangerous creatures. The seemingly calm pond was actually fraught with danger.

He squinted and observed the valley from a distance. Long-range scans showed strong life field reactions in the valley, but the source was unknown.

After a moment's hesitation, Chu Jun Gui decided not to explore the valley immediately. The valley was full of unknown dangers, and his current equipment was very basic, with insufficient firepower. At least he needed a heavy machine gun to explore the valley confidently.

The portable printer, of course, did not have a blueprint for a heavy machine gun, not even an automatic rifle. However, this did not deter Chu Jun Gui. He had several heavy machine gun designs and principles stored in his memory, and he could print the components and assemble a heavy machine gun himself.

Chu Jun Gui, whether as an experimental subject or a data-stored youth, had a passionate fascination with heavy machine guns or similar powerful weapons.

This was not an isolated case. When humans first entered the era of interstellar exploration, an explorer summarized his years of survival experience with a famous saying:

"Firepower is justice, and caliber is truth."

Chu Jun Gui deeply agreed.

He marked the valley's location on the map and added a danger symbol. After some thought, he also added symbols for meat and water.

He returned the same way, choosing a tree of appropriate size at the edge of the forest, felled it, and sawed the trunk into planks, bundling them and carrying them back to the survival pod.

Near the survival pod was a small hill, about two to three meters higher than the surrounding area, with a flat top, making it a suitable place for construction.

Chu Jun Gui carved a wooden handle, inserted it into the arm shield, and turned it into a shovel. He cleared the top of the hill of weeds and rocks, leveling the ground. He then selected four corners and nailed a wooden stake at each.

In his field of vision, a virtual image of a wooden house appeared, perfectly aligned with the real environment, with the corners of the house matching the stakes he had nailed.

Chu Jun Gui was very satisfied. Using the four stakes as a base, he nailed more stakes and used wooden strips to reinforce them.

With ample iron, he could easily make metal fasteners. These fasteners, optimized over years of human design, were simple and practical. He cut the wood into uniform planks, added fasteners to the corners, and assembled them. In no time, he had a large reinforced wooden panel. He placed it on the supporting stakes and tightened the connectors, forming the floor.

With the foundation laid, the rest of the construction was straightforward. The basic structure of the wooden house required no deep thought; he just followed the blueprint in his field of vision. With the various lines in his field of vision, he did not have to worry about crooked walls or uneven floors.

Soon, he had built four walls, with the door facing the survival pod and a small window on each of the other three sides for observation. The only issue was the lack of materials, which forced him to make two trips to the forest to gather more wood.

As the sky darkened, a flat-roofed wooden house stood on the hill.

Chu Jun Gui used animal fat and plant fibers to print waterproof fiber cloth, covering the roof. This completed the basic living function of the wooden house.

He moved the useful items from the survival pod into the wooden house, nailed a work platform for the refining machine and printer. At night, he would bring the solar panels and charger inside to protect them from the rain.

Due to the excess sulfur in the air, the rain on this planet was highly acidic. Although the solar panels and charger were cheap and rough, they had metal parts that could not withstand acid rain for long.

The small house was only a few square meters, and with a few items inside, it felt a bit cramped.

Chu Jun Gui ate a simple meal, drank plenty of water, and lay down to rest.

He closed his eyes but did not sleep. He did not need to sleep yet.

In the center of his field of vision, a blueprint of a heavy machine gun appeared. The machine gun was then disassembled into individual parts. The other parts faded, leaving only the barrel. He zoomed in and out, rotated it, and after a series of complex calculations, he modified the dimensions.

The modification was simply increasing the caliber slightly, from 7.62mm to 12.7mm, just a few millimeters. Someone with poor eyesight might not even notice the difference from a distance.

After some hesitation, he finally decided to stop at this caliber. Although the youth had a passionate interest in weapons, the practical limitations did not allow for unlimited modifications.

Changing the barrel caliber meant that all other parts, except the tripod, needed to be modified. It was not just a matter of changing the size; with a larger caliber, the strength of the gun mechanism had to be reconsidered.

Although Chu Jun Gui could add carbon and nickel to iron in the refining machine to make steel, this basic refining machine could not precisely control the ratios, resulting in limited and unstable steel quality. Therefore, some parts of the machine gun had to be thickened to increase strength.

Even with a brain comparable to a computer, the workload for modifying the design was significant.

By the time the final design was complete, it was well past midnight.

The newly designed heavy machine gun was heavy and solid, weighing over 40 kilograms, with a rugged style reminiscent of the old industrial era.

In other words, it was bulky and crude.

Even so, the machine gun's lifespan was only about 2000 rounds. Chu Jun Gui was initially disappointed, as this was his first independently designed and modified work, and it seemed rather mediocre.

However, he then realized that printing 2000 rounds of ammunition would take over ten days. The machine gun's lifespan was short, but his ammunition was even more limited.

Additionally, the planet's mineral resources were relatively abundant, similar to his home planet. If he could capture the valley and find some colored or rare earth resources, he might be able to build a new generation of printers. At that time, he would likely be carrying a grenade launcher or a machine cannon, and a heavy machine gun would be relegated to the storage room.

While envisioning a bright future, Chu Jun Gui drifted off to sleep.