Chapter 37: Mass Production

With waning enthusiasm, Li Wei felt a fleeting urge to give up.

Entering the bathroom, he turned on the shower, and hot water cascaded down. Standing naked under the water curtain, Li Wei let the scalding hot water redden his entire body.

Feelings of frustration brewed in his heart, and he began to question himself.

Am I really inferior to others?
Should I just give up like this?
Is everything over now?

Absolutely not!

"My talents may not compare to others', but so what? If I give up on the path of rune mastery, what about the even more challenging path of evolution in the future? If I encounter difficulties later, am I going to give up as well? Am I going to just settle for mediocrity for the rest of my life?"

"No way! Absolutely cannot give up! Not even in death!"

Li Wei raised his head, wet hair hanging on his face. He fiercely pounded the shower wall with his fist twice, turned off the water, dried himself, put on his clothes, and walked out. Once again, he sat at the workbench.

Gripping the engraving dagger, turning on the converter, he focused his mind and controlled the tendency of the energy to dissipate.

Taking out a prepared bullet and fixing it on the workbench, Li Wei activated his Sharingan. The extremely subtle metal patterns on the bullet were clearly visible under his keen insight.

The engraving dagger pressed onto the bullet, and Li Wei's hand holding the dagger was frighteningly steady. A line, following his engraving, spread continuously from the starting point.

As time passed, the energy melted from the white crystals by the converter was imprinted firmly on the bullet with every movement of the engraving dagger.

After who knows how long, a beautiful, almost artistic secondary piercing bullet appeared on the workbench.

Li Wei looked at the bullet and his hands in disbelief, murmuring, "Is it done? Did I actually do it?"

If his mind wasn't mature enough, he would have been dancing with joy at this moment.

Calm down. After careful consideration, Li Wei guessed the reason.

Indeed, this body he had crossed over to was extremely mediocre in terms of talent from all aspects. The physical potential was poor, and even during the learning process of rune engraving, he was stuck at the stage of energy convergence for so long, indicating his lack of potential.

However, everything was different because of Li Wei's crossing over.

The Sharingan granted him the ability to perceive beyond human limits, which was the key factor that allowed him to complete the rune engraving in one go. Besides, there was another decisive factor—his hands were really, really, really steady.

This had nothing to do with this body. Back when he was just starting to learn marksmanship, he discovered this talent. Even his instructor once joked, "Kid, with your hand still, even if a mosquito lands on it, it won't fly away when you shoot."

Although this statement was exaggerated, the fact was that his hands were indeed steady to the point where no one could compare. After crossing over, under the enhancement of several gene potions, this aspect was also greatly strengthened.

If this could be considered a talent, then Li Wei might not be completely useless.

Of course, maybe there were also some psychological factors involved in being able to complete the bullet engraving in one go. After all, the obsession he had just now was so intense that he found it terrifying.

Can't waste time, strike while the iron is hot!

...

The next day, Li Wei was awakened by a knock on the door.

"Li Wei, wake up! I'm going to introduce you to a few teammates. You can go on the next mission together!" It was Judith.

This female boss couldn't be offended. Li Wei got up, quickly tidied himself up, and then opened the door.

"Hurry up, let me introduce you... Wait! What's that?" Judith's words stopped abruptly halfway. She pointed to the scattered bullets on the table, astonished. "What is that? Am I seeing things?"

"As you can see," Li Wei said. He remembered the disappointed expression on Judith's face when she left yesterday, and now compared to her surprise, it was like night and day.

Judith looked at Li Wei. How many times had this kid surprised her already?

She leaned over to Li Wei's workbench and carefully examined the bullet heads, noticing something that surprised her even more.

"You've already mastered the production of secondary piercing bullets? What's the success rate?"

"I made twenty, two of them failed."

"What? A ninety percent success rate? Are you kidding me? Honestly, did you hide the failed bullets?"

Li Wei was speechless. "Why would I do something so boring?"

Judith stared at Li Wei and said, "Do you know what a ninety percent success rate represents?"

Li Wei shrugged and didn't say anything.

Of course, he knew what it represented.

Yesterday, after mastering the manufacturing technique of secondary piercing bullets, he had been immersed in work until his body could no longer bear the burden of using Sharingan. He stopped.

Of course, he wasn't a god. As a beginner, there were still cases of making mistakes and resulting in failed productions, material wastage. He had tried to make twenty bullets in total, and two had failed.

The success rate of making bullets was already terrifyingly high. A ninety percent success rate, even for low-level bullets, would require a master-level figure to achieve. A general technician might be considered exceptionally skilled if they could achieve sixty to seventy percent.

"Forget it, forget it. I shouldn't have doubted you the day before yesterday." Judith shook her head and continued, "Really, why pretend in front of me? Clearly, you can mass-produce rune bullets in three days, but at that time, you acted like you couldn't even get the energy to condense properly. Your sense of humor is really..."

Li Wei didn't plan to explain much about this. He smiled and looked at Judith without saying a word.

Judith, feeling a bit annoyed by being looked at like that, slapped him on the head.

"Ouch..." Li Wei's head was a little dizzy. This female boss really had quite a force.

Seeing Li Wei clutching his head in pain, Judith, feeling satisfied with her revenge, remembered her original intention. She said, "Almost forgot, I want to introduce you to a teammate. There's a commission suitable for you two to tackle together. Oh, you should have met her before, the girl who welcomed us together with Minister Mars that day."

"You mean the girl named Cai Yutong?"

"Yeah, hurry up, she's been waiting downstairs for a long time."

Following Judith downstairs, Li Wei saw the seventeen-year-old girl waiting for him in the hall.

Cai Yutong was completely different from the impression Li Wei had of the short-haired girl he met a few days ago.