Chapter 49: Preparing to Unlock a New Tech Tree [Requesting Monthly Tickets and Recommendations]

48. Preparing to Unlock a New Tech Tree

Only then did Tang Xiao turn his gaze toward Qu Xuewen.

Compared to Guan Yan and the others, Qu Xuewen was far more striking. With short hair and black-rimmed glasses, her features were delicate and charming. Beneath her spacious white lab coat, she wore a high-necked sweater, a pencil skirt, and tight stockings—an outfit that could easily be mistaken for cosplay or "uniform temptation," yet she was, in fact, an elite materials science expert.

She was a classic example of someone who could have relied on her looks but chose to rely on her talent instead.

Knowing that Tang Xiao was coming, Qu Xuewen seemed to have dressed up; a faint scent of perfume drifted from her. This caused Tang Xiao to gradually develop an interest in this beautiful scientist, whom he hadn't had much of an impression of before. Although her files indicated she was 32, she was well-maintained, with skin so smooth and firm she looked like a recent university graduate, yet she possessed the mature charm of a woman.

His previous impression of Qu Xuewen was simply that she was Feng Yongwang's follower, working alongside Dr. Feng on the Ghost Fighter research. She was professionally competent and far more tactful than the other nerds, with looks that were above average, but nothing more.

Qu Xuewen seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally leaning closer to Tang Xiao, but he nonetheless retreated slightly without making it obvious.

He wasn't a saint, but he truly hadn't decided how to handle such a superior-subordinate relationship. Perhaps sensing Tang Xiao's subtle distance, Qu Xuewen did not persist. She gave a light cough and led Tang Xiao around a corner to the frigate's modification area. "It's right here. Professor Chi is leading a team in modifying the turbine laser turrets. Since this doesn't align with my specialty, I've been relatively free lately."

A bead of cold sweat rolled down Tang Xiao's temple. So, this woman had been leading him in circles just now?

Over there, one side of the Hammer-class frigate's hull had been completely opened, revealing a dense, chaotic mess of wiring and instruments that gave Tang Xiao goosebumps.

Chi Jianjun was pointing at several lines of wiring. "This is the energy compression zone. We need to add a bulkhead here, but two diverter release lines must pass through this area. Therefore, we need to drill holes in the bulkhead and then perform two rounds of insulation treatment. Only then can we ensure the integrity and safety of the energy compression process. We aren't considering the reverse engineering of this turbine laser for now; what we need is to establish sufficient combat capability as quickly as possible."

In front of him, Feng Yongwang and two other elite experts were nodding incessantly while frantically taking notes like students.

Noticing Tang Xiao's arrival, Chi Jianjun turned around and nodded. "Administrator, Dr. Qu has already notified me of your arrival. It just so happens that I have some matters to report to you."

"I'm mainly here to tour our latest commissioned frigate," Tang Xiao said with a smile.

"While the Hammer-class frigate can't be called excellent—it is, overall, a very crude vessel—it performs much better as a weapons platform than a Blade-style fighter. At the very least, its energy tier is much higher. If we had a few Hammer-class frigates during the last pirate raid, the battle would have gone much better," Chi Jianjun said frankly.

"Let's talk about this frigate."

Chi Jianjun unfolded a display projection beside him, pointing to a cross-sectional diagram of the Hammer-class frigate. "This frigate is 31.4 meters long. The original design featured two medium-sized twin electromagnetic railgun turrets with a 40mm caliber, and heavy armor was added to increase survivability. The result was that the armor and ammunition magazines crowded out a massive amount of space, making the interior of the ship feel like it was stuffed full of canned luncheon meat."

He tapped the screen, and the diagram began to change. "During our research, we optimized it without overturning the original design. We replaced the twin electromagnetic railgun turrets with twin infrared laser turrets. This allows us to maintain the heavy armor characteristic while saving significant ammunition space to install larger nuclear fusion engines and energy shield generators. However, this still cannot mask the frigate's poor handling and maneuverability. The firepower coverage of the two turrets is also insufficient; it requires a large number of frigates working in coordination to be effective."

He paused before continuing, "This can increase the combat efficiency of the Hammer-class light frigate by about 30%, bringing it to a basic usable standard. But... there is still more room for improvement!"

"Where are the deficiencies?" Tang Xiao asked humbly.

"Avionics, fire control, and flight control!" Chi Jianjun raised his hand and swiped through the air, crossing out the diagram of the Hammer-class frigate on the interface. "I'll be blunt: this frigate is still just an iron box with turrets and an engine installed. I checked the mothership's technology list; ships categorized under the 'Kushan Civilization' have the lowest analysis difficulty, but their overall efficiency is generally low."

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"My suggestion is this." Chi Jianjun opened another technology list page and pointed to a long string of ships and technologies. "This technology from the 'Trader Emergency Coalition'."

Tang Xiao knew the Kushan Civilization was from *Homeworld*, but the Trader Emergency Coalition? He was momentarily stunned by the name, but he understood what it was once he opened his own exclusive technology interface.

It seemed that in the Mainframe's database, everyone could only see which faction a technology belonged to—for example, the source of the Ghost Fighter in the tech list was the Terran Empire. As for the fact that this came from the game *StarCraft*, that was Tang Xiao's own deduction.

In this way, to others, this technology library would appear to be a collection from countless civilizations without them making any outside connections. This aligned perfectly with the false history he had created regarding the Fourth Civilization; since the Fourth Civilization ultimately carried the seeds of their entire galaxy, it wouldn't be surprising at all if it contained the technologies of other civilizations.

The "Trader Emergency Coalition" was unfamiliar to Tang Xiao, but as he continued to scroll through the entry, he realized it was technology from *Sins of a Solar Empire*!

*Sins of a Solar Empire* was also a grand interstellar warfare game, featuring several incredibly powerful factions. From various functional light frigates to massive Titan-class warships, they could all be built.

The Trader Emergency Coalition was one of the factions in the game, and it was a civilization highly similar to humanity. Professor Chi's choice of this tech tree was likely based on this consideration.

[Easter Egg Image 1: Sins of a Solar Empire]

[Easter Egg Image 2: Hammer-class Frigate]

Thanks to Sakura Mai Mei for the 300 Qidian coins!!

(End of Chapter)