Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 126: Sparks and Steel

Chapter 126: Sparks and Steel

March 19th — 7:20 AM

Zone 3A-Δ – Third Floor – Armoury / Mechanical Room

———

[Confidentiality Link: Old Zhou]

Accepting this link grants you access to system-based interface modules, crafting permissions, and tiered blueprints. In exchange, all system-related information will be bound to your memory via the Oath Protocol.

Speaking of it aloud without John Wang’s consent will result in memory lock or death.

[Accept?]

Zhou’s eyes skimmed it, and without flinching, he reached forward and tapped [ACCEPT].

The screen blinked.

Seal complete.

The crafting bench’s interface exploded with data only he and I could now see.

"...Goddamn," he muttered. "This thing’s better than any military-grade fab table I ever saw."

"Use it. I need ten comm units before noon. Can you craft them here?"

He cracked a grin — just a little.

"Give me an hour."

The difference between Old Zhou and me crafting using the system, he still needed to do some minor actions and build the frame, but in doing so, the cost and components became a fraction of what they were before.

"I’ll check on the others, don’t overwork yourself."

I patted the old man’s shoulder, his scent like old cigarettes and whiskey.

But the beaming smile on his face differed from the depressive and hopeless man I met a few days ago.

"Ah... you do that. What’s this design?! Oho... sneaky girl."

However, before I could leave, he suddenly changed.

"Wait Kid."

Old Zhou leaned over the Engineering Bench, tapping through the interface like he’d been using it for years. His fingers moved slow but deliberate — testing, memorising. He didn’t say anything for a long while.

Then:

"You got more than just comms in this thing."

I didn’t answer.

He kept scrolling.

"Blueprint queue’s got low-tier schematic slots. Mostly junk right now — cloth wraps, synthetic vests, rubber grips, some baton types... But with the right raw stock?"

He glanced at me over his shoulder.

"I could make basic combat wear. Light armour. For the kids."

"You mean the students?"

"Call ’em what you want, but most of ’em look like they’ve never punched a wall. They’ll break if you toss ’em into that world with nothing but shoes and optimism."

He wasn’t wrong.

Wen Qiming’s people had backbone, but backbone didn’t stop teeth.

"And weapons?"

Zhou clicked open another panel.

"Basic gear only — batons, stun rods, old-world pipe blunts. Stuff that won’t snap after three hits. Give me some hardened plastics and a few metal sheets, I’ll craft a dozen in a day."

"Wait... Old Zhou, what about this...?" I tapped through the system and noticed that the basic hunting bow that I bought and Zhou Xue’s upgraded one also appeared in the list.

"What if we aim to arm most of our group with these, though guns would be great. The sound might not help, at least for now. This is our limit."

Old Zhou leaned closer, inspecting the blueprint I highlighted — the upgraded hunting bow now marked with system annotations.

His eyes narrowed.

"That model..."

"Bought it for her," I said. "System let me upgrade it after a few fights. Balanced limbs. Reinforced draw. Not flashy, but it works."

He hummed low in his throat, expression unreadable.

"She used to shoot competition bows," he muttered. "Back before all this. I’d tune them for her — cut stabilisers down by hand, sand the grips smooth, test spine flex on every arrow we made."

He rubbed his jaw, the ghost of an old memory passing over his face.

"She’d string them herself. Never let me touch the nock once they were finished."

I stayed quiet.

Then he clicked his tongue and straightened.

"If you’re thinking of outfitting the rest with this design — smart call. Loud bangs are suicide in this city. But quiet string work?"

He gave me a rare nod of full approval.

"That’s a war of ghosts. And ghosts don’t bleed."

I scrolled through the material requirements: lightweight plastics, synthetic cord, tempered wood.

"I’ll get you what you need. Think you can make a dozen?"

"With what’s in stock?" Zhou barked a short laugh. "You’ll get fifteen."

He turned toward the far bench, muttering under his breath. "Gonna need to train some hands to prep the arrows, though. Nocks, heads, flight... takes finesse. Not just elbow grease."

"I’ll ask around. Maybe some of the students."

"If you’re trusting your life to a bow, trust Xue’er to teach them right. She still remembers my technique — whether she admits it or not."

I gave a slow nod.

This wasn’t just forging gear anymore.

It was the start of a style. A doctrine.

The formation of his silent strike force that didn’t need bullets to win a war.

Although he knew guns would be important against other humans, if their shooting skill increased from archery, which seemed to rise alongside the Shooting skill. It made sense to practise and grow archery, then wait for the system to make guns that no human outside could forge or use.

Bullets were finite in the current world, but not for me!

’Shooting a gun just increases shooting... but a bow, upgrades Archery and Shooting.’

Such a strange interaction made him wonder if other types of weapons or skills interacted in such a fashion.

"Good," I said. "We’ll make archers out of them."

Zhou chuckled as he loaded the blueprint into the station’s queue.

"Let’s just make sure they don’t shoot their damn feet off first."

——

I took the stairs down.

Eighteen comm units filled the pouch slung over my shoulder — light, silent, already synced to the base-wide channel I’d set through the system. They pulsed faintly with a soft blue ring on the side, idle but ready.

No one else knew what they were yet.

Roulan and Tang Wei waited near the second-floor logistics hub, the desk already strewn with patrol sketches, meal breakdowns, and handwritten rosters. Tang Wei had ditched her jacket and stood over the map like a field captain. Roulan was seated, pen in hand, her long coat folded neatly over the back of the chair.

They both looked up as I walked in.

"You’re early," Tang said, eyes flicking to the pouch.

"You’re both getting gifts."

That got Roulan’s attention. She set her pen down.

I reached into the pouch and placed the first two comm units on the table.

"Long-range, encrypted, silent-pair link. Group chat or private line. Lightweight. Durable. Auto-adjusts to interference."

Roulan raised an eyebrow. "And where did you find these?"

"Does it matter?" I said. "They work."

Tang Wei picked one up, tested the weight. "Military-grade?"

"Better."

"How many?"

"Eighteen total. We assign one to every patrol lead and command post. One to you," I nodded at Tang, "one to Roulan, and the rest to key members — Qinglan, Yifei, Xue’er, the students’ lead, our medics, and so on."

I then pointed to my earpiece, barely visible because once they fit to your skin, it changed colour from raven black.

Of course, you could customise them with the small digital screen they had.

"Old Zhou is working on crafting more, so we can build a full communication network, they charge from electric, solar or body heat, so power isn’t an issue. I can also encrypt them to only work with certain people."

Tang Wei whistled, but her eyes narrowed, looking at the device in her hand, "I can’t believe how amazing they are... let’s see." She tapped once, and it connected to the area chat as she rushed out of the room, and a clear, deep voice echoed.

"This is Tang Wei, test. Can you hear me, Over!"

"Huh...? Who?" Mu Qinglan’s voice followed, sleepy and a little irritated from the tone.

’Oh... it can contact the tenth floor?’

"Wow It really works!?"

"H-Hey!?"

Tang Wei sounded excited as she rushed back into the room, her eyes beaming as she tapped it again, and her voice stopped repeating in my ears.

But I couldn’t leave Mu Qinglan hanging...

Then—

A soft double click. "Connect to Lan’er"

[Connected to Lan’er.]

To set private calls, you needed to call the assigned name to each device.

"Qinglan, sorry, it’s the headset I gave some to Tang Wei and Jiang Roulan to test. You can opt out of the group chat using the gesture command I told you before."

I could feel the glance of Jiang Roulan and Tang Wei looking at me with a smile.

[Tsk... I see, sorry you are busy, and I’m here relaxing.]

"Well, last night was a bit intense so just rest for now, okay?"

[Mmmm... but don’t take too long. I miss you.]

"Sure, I’ll be back soon."

Another soft double tap, before the called ended.

[Disconnected from Lan’er.]

Both women looked at me with a smile.

It was embarrassing to think I just spoke with Qinglan, but sadly, the earpiece didn’t have the power to read my mind.

I could contact her using the system, but this was better.

I needed to build my power outside of the system in case it vanished or broke one day.