Reborn with Steve Stand

Chapter 699: Battery's will to Survive

The black particle mist gradually dissipated.

Fang Mo opened his eyes, and what greeted him was a familiar white world.

There was no sky, no ground, no day or night. In this quiet, almost deathly silent world, there seemed to be only this vast, ever-expanding platform before him.

Fang Mo gazed at the scene in front of him.

Once upon a time, the whiteness here was so cold and cruel.

But now, when Fang Mo looked again at this clear and pure white world, he felt a sense of warmth in his heart, like a wanderer returning home. Staring at these incredibly familiar sights, it seemed as if his entire heart had calmed down.

"Ah, home at last…"

Looking at the home he had built with his own hands, Fang Mo let out a long breath.

However, just as he was sighing, a small hand suddenly patted him, followed by the voice of his little partner: "I'm going back to the production line now, remember to send me back."

Fang Mo was stunned for a moment, then instinctively glanced down at her: "Send you back where?"

Yet, under Fang Mo's gaze, the sharp-featured Alex suddenly floated out of Xiao Yao's body like a soul departing, then she switched her tools and ran off with a new Thermal Expansion crescent hammer.

At the same time.

Xiao Yao's body slowly collapsed to the ground.

"Hey… hey, hey?!"

Seeing this, Fang Mo hurriedly called out, quickly picking up the little fellow with one hand: "What on earth are you doing?"

"Too lazy to walk back."

This time, her voice directly echoed in his consciousness.

She was using the server chat capability. Fang Mo glanced up at Alex, who was now entirely focused on something, fiddling with a large device that Fang Mo could hardly understand.

"…what's with this single-core operating system of yours?"

Fang Mo couldn't help but quip, but she ignored him completely this time.

With no choice, Fang Mo wiped his face and carried her back to the room. He needed to return anyway, mainly to clear out Steve's backpack for easier map exploration or mining later.

Though Fang Mo himself didn't understand why he could control both Steve and his own body simultaneously while Xiao Yao could only control one.

But he had to admit… being able to operate on two fronts was really convenient.

Take Fang Mo now, for example.

Steve, after changing his gear, quickly hopped off to mine, while Fang Mo could handle other tasks.

For instance, studying Xiao Yao in her 'offline' state.

Unfortunately, the specifics of the study were obviously classified, as such things couldn't be made public.

In any case, after several hours.

Fang Mo, feeling refreshed, opened the door and walked out.

Leaving behind a mess and Xiao Yao covered in sticky goo.

After leaving the room, Fang Mo didn't go to find Alex but instead began walking around the platform, with a rare serious expression on his face, as if observing the surroundings and layout.

"Hmm… it might be good to build it here."

After a brief consideration, Fang Mo quickly settled on a direction.

With a thought, Steve, who was exploring the map, instantly received the command to teleport home. He quickly ran to the warehouse area and filled his backpack with various building materials.

When Alex noticed what was happening from a distance.

She saw Fang Mo standing with his hands behind his back, while his avatar Steve was jumping around madly, constructing a strange small structure.

It looked like a pavilion of some sort.

But the floor was sunken in, filled with hot spring water from the terrain module.

"What are you doing?"

Out of curiosity, she couldn't help but ask.

"Nothing, just making a hot tub." Fang Mo explained simply when he heard her: "For washing cups."

"Oh, I see."

Alex nodded without giving it much thought and turned her attention back to tinkering with the resonant servomotor in her hands. But in the next second, she suddenly froze, seemingly realizing something. She whipped her head around sharply, "…Wait, that's not right!"

"Yes, it is," Fang Mo replied with a cheerful wave.

"No, it's not!" Alex, now aware of what was happening, demanded, "Explain yourself clearly. What do you mean by a cup?"

"Literally," Fang Mo shrugged. "You see, after eating, everyone washes their dishes. So what's wrong if I wash a cup after using it? Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to use it next time."

"You're definitely messing with me!" Realizing the situation, Alex shouted, "You..."

"Alright, alright," Fang Mo interrupted, raising his hand. "I was joking. I just thought about building a healing hot spring here so we can instantly recover after returning to the city. Oh, by the way, I just found a mineral vein at coordinates +4284-382. You should go set up a bucket wheel excavator."

"…"

Hearing this, Alex hesitated for a moment. However, the lure of the mineral vein eventually overcame her other concerns, and she quickly left the pure white world with a pile of mechanical parts.

After she left, Fang Mo looked around and took the opportunity to wash the cup, as a minor interlude.

Once those chores were done, both Fang Mo and his little demon companion got busy in earnest, each contributing to building their home in their own way.

Xiao Yao continued developing industrial modules as usual. Fang Mo took a look at the progress, though he didn't fully understand it. By checking the storage boxes at the end of the production line, he got a rough idea of their current progress.

At present, energy was a critical resource, as various technological modules consumed significant amounts, including the UU machine, molecular reconstructor, resource production arrays, and the bucket wheel excavator. To address this, Xiao Yao planned to mass-produce advanced solar panels. While high-pressure wind turbines and high-temperature nuclear reactors also provided substantial output, one took up too much space and the other was too difficult to maintain. Thus, they opted for the straightforward approach of stacking quantum solar panels.

Fang Mo didn't fully understand this, but according to Xiao Yao, the most needed material for advanced solar panels was something called sunstone uranium ingots, which required enormous quantities of uranium ore and fluorite.

How much material did this consume? According to Xiao Yao, the demand was astronomical, beyond what Fang Mo could possibly gather.

So, Xiao Yao turned to using arrays for production, believing in the industrial charm of large-scale automated manufacturing. Uranium ingots could be mined with the bucket wheel or produced using the UU machine. Despite the high power consumption of these machines, there was no other choice.

Fluorite was even harder to gather due to its vast quantity requirement. Although beekeeping could produce fluorite powder, it was notoriously stressful. Consequently, Xiao Yao created a fully automated production line. Starting with a multifunctional forestry farm, she set up a highly efficient modern cotton field. The cotton was processed into string using an automatic synthesizer from the Thermal Expansion module, then into wool, dyed yellow in bulk, and finally converted into fluorite through a molecular machine.

When Xiao Yao proudly explained all this to Fang Mo, he could only scratch his head in partial comprehension.

"That's impressive," he said.

"…"

After this exchange, Xiao Yao, annoyed, ignored him.

Fang Mo, enjoying the peace and quiet, used the time to study Tinkers' Construct rings. Unlike his companion, an industrial fanatic, Fang Mo's expertise lay in Tinkers' Construct. The mention of "rings" piqued his interest, and he immediately began testing by the smeltery.

After a brief contemplation, he quickly controlled Steve to create the first ring.

That is a ring forged from Nether Soulstone and Nether Poison Crystal Ingots, and finally imprinted with the properties of an Ender Ingot.

The first two materials are added by the Metallurgy 4 mod.

The characteristic of Nether Soulstone is strength, while Nether Poison Crystal Ingot provides resistance. The names of these characteristics alone are very straightforward and direct.

Fang Mo's previous armor also had the characteristics of these two materials, so he is very familiar with the actual effects of these characteristics. They can increase the wearer's strength and enhance their resistance to attacks.

Even an ordinary person wearing this ring could fight Captain America to a standstill.

In Fang Mo's view, this is the true power of the Tinker's Construct ring: as long as he wishes, he can grant anyone power comparable to that of the gods.

Furthermore, he can combine these powers as he pleases.

This allows him to perform various feats at will.

Take the ring Fang Mo just made as an example. Earlier, we only mentioned the characteristics of the two materials used to make the ring, but let's not forget he also imprinted it with the properties of an Ender Ingot.

This property, called "Portly Gentleman," allows the ring to seal any creature inside it.

Be it a Tailed Beast from the Naruto world, a devil from Chainsaw Man, or even a Devil Fruit user from One Piece...

Although Devil Fruit users fear seawater, if sealed inside the ring, they can use their abilities without being affected by seawater.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the "use the ability after sealing" characteristic, there are many possibilities in various worlds. For instance, why not try sealing an Apostle from Arad or EVA?

In theory, if Fang Mo wanted, he could mass-produce rings that seal powerful beings inside.

However, whether the beings sealed inside are reliable is another matter.

After all, gold fingers are just an aid; the protagonist's inherent traits are often crucial. For example, even if the same ring were picked up by another protagonist, the outcome might be vastly different.

In short, back to the main point.

Since items cannot be materialized in the Minecraft world, Fang Mo decided to return to his own dimension, a materialized pure white space.

After returning there, Fang Mo found a spacious, empty place.

He then drew out Laevatein and thrust it into the ground. Accompanied by a burst of flames, the fire, ashes, and magma gradually gathered into a humanoid form, revealing Surtur, the fire giant sealed within Laevatein.

Seeing Surtur appear, Fang Mo said nothing. He simply put the ring on his finger, intending to use the "Portly Gentleman" characteristic to seal Surtur again.

But just at that moment, Surtur hurriedly raised his hand and shouted, "Wait... wait!"

"Hmm?"

Fang Mo raised an eyebrow.

"I have no grievance against you. Why do you keep sealing me?" Surtur, having been sealed for so long, had softened significantly compared to his initial arrogance. "Can you let me go?"

"Oh, no."

Fang Mo responded without much thought, not intending to negotiate with this "battery." He reached out again.

"Wait! I'll... I'll give up the Eternal Flame, is that not enough?"

Seeing Fang Mo unmoved, Surtur hastily begged for mercy and, seemingly inspired, quickly added, "Are you doing this for the gods of Asgard? There's no need for that!"

"Ragnarök will come even without me!"

Truly terrified of being sealed again, Surtur desperately explained, "Ragnarök is a predetermined fate. Even without me, it will still happen. In fact, it might have already begun. You can see for yourself!"