Tempest of the Battlefield

Syracuse had spent a lot of resources on helping Wang Tong with his research of the GN crystal gun. He had acquired samples of the gun and a talent who really understood the inner workings of the machine. Wang Tung was a sour and bitter scientist straight out of the Dexter’s Laboratory. He was paid handsomely for his work by Syracuse, yet, he constantly put the latter down because he believed that businessmen were useless parasites.

Although the project was a corporation between Maersa and Syracuse, Maersa’s contribution was very limited. Therefore, Syracuse ended up having to provide for Wang Tung’s more expensive and sophisticated needs

“Here, this is the Ph-Ah alloy. Why do you need it?” Syracuse stayed in the Maersa city in order to facilitate the research.

“It’s too complicated to explain it to you.” Wang Tung brushed his boss off and didn’t even spare him a glance. Syracuse felt hurt every time he talked to him. He was only curious, but Mr. big brain had shot him back as if he was a dimwit. However, from the light that shone inside Wang Tung’s eyes, he knew that he had found a breakthrough.

When Syracuse first started the project, he had employed over a hundred scientists, and had the best equipment in the world. However, the project was a failure in the end. He found it hard to believe that just one person with an improvised lab would have achieved more than a hundred persons and a state of the art facility.

“Syracuse, I need Wang Tong. Fetch him for me.” Syracuse heard an imperious command as he was about to take a sip of his afternoon coffee. He looked up and found it to be Wang Tung; then, he looked back at his hot steamy coffee, paused for a second, and then he put the cup down.

“Right away!” Syracuse shouted.

…

“What’s up?” Wang Tong asked.

“Dr. Frankenstein needs to see you. Not sure what it is though.”

Wang Tong arrived at the front of Wang Tung’s lab and then knocked on the door. The door cracked open, revealing a husk-like body, a dehydrated face, and a pair of glinting eyes. Despite being consumed by exhaustion, excitement and joy were written all over his face.

“Come in! I have a new idea. Come and see!”

Wang Tong was pleasantly surprised by Wang Tung’s words and his spirit. Although he had the soul scanning ability, he was not an expert. He could detect the problem, but lacked the necessary knowledge to fix it. However, with Wang Tung’s technical skills and the newfound understanding after viewing the soul scan diagram, he was very close to a breakthrough.

Wang Tong hurried into the room, and Syracuse followed him out of curiosity. After hovering over the project board for over a week, Syracuse had started to fancy himself as at least half an expert in the area.

“No amateurs allowed!”

Bang!

Wong Tung shut the door on Syracuse with discernible aversion.

“Come now, Wang Tong. It had suddenly occurred to me that the key to solving the problem is you! All force matrices have an energy imprint, and I think that if we can find a proper material that is able to copy these energy imprints onto other crystals, we might be able to reproduce these guns very easily.” Wang Tung announced with elation.

“Are you able to reproduce these imprints?”

“Like you had said, it is impossible in theory. However, after the crystal was touched by your soul energy, these imprints somehow surfaced. Let me put it this way…It is like walking along a railway track. What we are doing was to build a connection between the humans’ GN force with the energy inside the crystal. The end product might not reach the full damage output as the original copy, but it should suffice for now. ”

“What about the special material you were talking about?”

“Exactly! That is the last piece of the puzzle. I have been experimenting with over three hundred materials, and I have great confidence in this new material I have created using the Ph-Ah alloy. The final test is this afternoon. The results of that experiment will either make or break our project.” Wang Tung said in an overly excited tone. His eyes were fixed on the gun. Should he succeed, he would be forever remembered as the genius who brought new technology to the humans when it was most needed.

However powerful the human soldiers were, they were unable to catch up with the Zergs’ reproduction rate. Plus, only a certain percentage of the human population were fit for the battlefield, and every single one of the Zergs had only one purpose ever since they were born: to kill. That would be where the crystal gun came in to save the day. Once the guns were introduced to the battlefield, anyone with the even the least amount of soul energy would be able to shoot deadly energy bolts at enemies from afar.

Wang Tong gave Wang Tung a thumb up, and the latter was slightly uncomfortable by this intimate human interaction. “I… I was just lucky. I had been trying such experiments for many years, but failed. I think, it worked this time because the crystal had been handled by you. Without seeing the energy diagram, I would still be poking in the darkness.”

Despite Wang Tung’s humility, he had worked round the clock for this project. For three days, he ate only two pieces of toasts, and didn’t sleep at all, as if he was possessed by his work. He had been working on the subject for many years, and finally found the last element that he needed to piece the puzzle together.

He was very confident in the outcome of the final testing this afternoon.

Wang Tung drew a deep breath and gathered himself. The moment of truth this afternoon would tell him if the direction of his research was right or wrong. If it were the latter case, it meant that he had to ditch years of research efforts and start all over again. He could not wait that long, and neither could the human world.

In the afternoon, Wang Tung invited Wang Tong to come to the lab and witness the historical moment.

The timer started ticking as Wang Tung opened his eyes and turned the machine on. Robotic arms swayed around while the conveyor belt hummed. Through a clear glass panel, Wang Tong watched as a core of the GN gun started to take shape at the heart of the steel cocoon. A tiny robotic arm carrying a needle sized carving tool closed in and started to work the roughly shaped core into the exact copy of the original crystal.

Ting!

The machine peeped. Wang Tung took out the copy and studied it in his hand for a while before he placed it in a slot on the Gun.

“Activate.”

Suddenly, sparks shot out of the gun as it started to glow. However, the light didn’t last long as it dimmed down in just a few seconds. Wang Tung removed the crystal from the slot, his face streaked with tears.

Wang Tong was not sure if those were the tears of joy or sadness.

When Wang Tung first started this research topic, he had over a hundred colleges with all areas of expertise. However, over time, more and more of his companions died at the hands of the Zergs, and the team was eventually dismissed. He was able to pick up where his team had left off after he was hired by Syracuse’s family. Whatever he had achieved today, he didn’t do it alone.

These elites of the human society were highly sought after talents during the time of peace. However, as soon as the war broke out, their talent became useless. People were struggling to get by, and no one was willing to put in a huge amount of resources in researches that did not guarantee results. Even groups as powerful as Syracuse’s family only committed a very small amount of resources to pick up the research haphazardly.

However, even if he were working all by himself, Wang Tung never gave up. What he was holding was not just a crystal core, it was his entire life.

The future of the human race was packed nicely inside that crystal core held by Wang Tung’s trembling hand.

Wang Tung gritted his teeth; he knew that his task had not finished yet. Although he had crossed the most difficult hurdle, there were still much left to do done. Thinking that, he started to assemble the gun; by now, he could practically do it in his sleep since he had done it thousands of times.

When Wang Tung was done assembling the other parts, he dropped the safety and was ready to fire. It was the final test.

“May I have the honor?” Wang Tong asked. He was concerned for the mad scientist’s safety, since most new inventions were extremely unstable.

Wang Tung shook his head and politely refused the offer. “This is my test. If anything happens to me, you can find all of my papers in that safety.” Wang Tung said as he pointed at an iron box in a corner.

Wang Tung rounded his eyes as he focused on his soul energy. He had only a level three soul energy, weaker than even a sixteen-year-old boy. However, what he was about to achieve could change the course of human history.

Kom!

The blast startled Syracuse who was standing outside the lab. Fearing that the experiment had gone haywire, he stormed into the lab. The first thing he noticed was the large hole on the concrete wall. Wang Tong and Wang Tung stood at the other side of the room seeming like time had slowed down for them. However, both of their faces had betrayed their complicated feelings inside.

Wang Tung slowly handed the gun to Syracuse, the very first mass-production-ready crystal gun in the world. He said slowly, “Remember, it belongs to the human world.” As soon as he finished his words, he fainted out of exhaustion.

Wang Tong held onto the scientist and channeled his soul energy into his body to help him recuperate.

“We…did it?” Syracuse asked under his breath. When the reality finally set in, he couldn’t believe his eyes. This was supposed to be his side project, and he never had high hopes for it. But there and then, a world-changing invention was right in his arms.