After completing the modification of the Sea Wolf, Nie Yun dispersed all the mechanical bugs again, swiftly beginning the next phase of development—upgrading the base.
Beyond further disguising and refining the surface of the island, Nie Yun turned his attention beneath the waves. Establishing a base underwater offers far greater concealment than on the surface, allowing the mechanical bugs to operate and expand without restraint. Moreover, the seabed harbors an abundance of resources, including shipwrecks, man-made debris, and virtually endless mineral deposits—exactly what Nie Yun needs.
The ocean floor is a treasure trove of various metallic and non-metallic minerals. The continental shelf harbors glauconite, phosphorite, and other resources, along with building materials. In deeper waters, vast amounts of ferromanganese nodules and polymetallic mud await, while the rock layers conceal iron, coal, sulfur, and other minerals. Currently, dozens of these minerals are extractable, though the cost and difficulty of underwater mining have kept them beyond human reach. But for Nie Yun, with his mechanical bugs, these obstacles are non-existent.
To him, the ocean's resources are an inexhaustible bounty, naturally drawing his focus.
Now, several dozen meters below the island, a massive cavern with a thirty-meter diameter is taking shape. Countless Little Wolf robots and mechanical spider bugs tirelessly transport soil, level the ground, and construct various facilities. The cavern already boasts nearly 300 square meters of flattened land and several makeshift warehouses to store different types of raw materials.
Further afield, thousands of Little Wolf robots radiate outward from the island, collecting raw materials and minerals from the seabed to stockpile in the cavern's resource warehouses. Inside these warehouses, numerous mechanical bugs are sorting and processing the minerals. Iron-rich materials are used to expand the mechanical bug population and produce new Little Wolf robots and mechanical spiders, continually replenishing the mining and transportation teams.
Other materials are categorized and stored or utilized in base construction, with the remainder kept as reserve resources. To improve the Little Wolf robots' efficiency in underwater operations, Nie Yun enhanced their limbs with claw-like structures and reinforced their waterproofing. He even developed a simple program allowing them to carry out basic underwater tasks like cleaning, transporting, and exploring without requiring his constant control. This freed Nie Yun from the increasingly overwhelming control workload.
With the underwater version of the Little Wolf robots and the mechanical spider bugs complementing each other, work efficiency reached its peak. Given the enormous role the Little Wolf robots played, Nie Yun made optimizing their internal programs a key focus. Whenever a robot encountered a logic error or a work failure, Nie Yun would immediately refine their intelligent programs and synchronize the upgrades across all units.
The sheer number of robots generated a wealth of experimental data, providing Nie Yun with ample samples and improvement criteria. While this may sound simple, even the most advanced software companies on Earth could hardly achieve such real-time, on-the-fly modifications. For Nie Yun, however, this "instant discovery and correction" process was as easy as a thought.
This created a perfect optimization loop, with the robots' intelligence upgrading nearly every hour and their work efficiency improving at an astonishing rate. With the help of these robots, the underwater base rapidly expanded, with changes visible daily.
Finally, as the base construction stabilized, requiring less of Nie Yun's constant attention, he exhaled a long breath of relief. Though his endurance had increasingly become superhuman since merging with the mechanical bugs, several days of intense operations had still left him utterly exhausted.
Yawning, he headed towards his luxurious presidential suite aboard the Sea Wolf. As soon as he hit the bed, sleep overtook him.
…
Meanwhile, not far from the secret base, a makeshift raft drifted aimlessly on the sea. Its sail, clearly made from a tent, hung in tatters from a rough wooden mast, offering only minimal propulsion.
"Big... Big Brother! Are we going to die?" A burly man, pale and weak, leaned against the mast, barely able to muster the strength to speak.
Behind him, another rugged man, equally weary, gathered the last of his energy to shout, "Stop talking nonsense! We'll see land soon—just hold on!"
These two unfortunates were none other than the leader and third brother of the "Desperate Trio" who had once kidnapped Chu Xiaoxiao.
Their tale was a tragic one. Despite the island's remote location, it wasn't too far from shipping lanes. Yet, luck had abandoned them. After waiting for seven or eight days, the two unlucky brothers hadn't seen a single ship. To make matters worse, they were running out of food and water…
Unlike Bear Grylls, these two hadn't learned any wilderness survival skills. They couldn't just grab a snake, bite its head off, and savor it like chicken. So, they quickly built a simple raft, packed the remaining water and a few wild fruits, and set out to survive at sea.
However, with no navigation skills, they soon became lost in the vast ocean, unaware that they were drifting further and further from land.
Another two days passed, and their water supply was exhausted—they were at the end of their rope.
The leader took a bite of the last wild fruit, chewing the dry pulp with difficulty before swallowing and handing it to the third brother.
"This is the last one, eat it."
The third brother didn't take it. With a bitter smile, he said, "Big Brother, you eat it. I have a bigger appetite, and this won't help much. You need to keep your strength—you might still survive."
Hearing this, the leader's eyes grew misty, but he cursed, "Eat it, damn you! Less talking, or do you want a beating?"
Reluctantly, the third brother took the fruit. He stared listlessly at the distant sea when suddenly, something caught his eye. The fruit slipped from his fingers and rolled into the ocean with a small splash.
"You idiot! What the hell are you doing? That was our last piece of food!" The leader froze for a moment, then let out a despairing howl.
He angrily grabbed the third brother by the collar, ready to give him a beating, but the third brother, eyes wide with excitement, pointed toward the distance and shouted, "Big Brother! An island! There's an island!"
The leader followed his gaze, and sure enough, there it was—a verdant island, representing the hope of survival.