Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World

Chapter 302: Chapter 172: The Silencer of the Stone-breaking Crossbow

In his past life, Gu Sheng enjoyed flipping through military magazines during his studies, and considered himself fairly knowledgeable about firearms and artillery.

The sound of gunfire is quite loud, so people invented something called a silencer. Once it’s attached, the gun’s sound diminishes significantly. He used to love using it in shooting games to sneak up on others, and it was very effective!

A thought came to his mind at this moment: to manually create a silencer for a crossbow arrow!

Gu Sheng had once come across the working principle of silencers while browsing through some magazines about military equipment in school. Although many years had passed and his memory was a bit hazy, he still remembered some key terms.

Baffle, vortex, and energy absorption.

Back then, Gu Sheng was still young and had only a superficial understanding of these concepts. Even now, he isn’t quite sure what a vortex actually is, but he clearly remembers a schematic cutaway of a silencer he once saw.

The illustration showed that the inside of the silencer had many stepped baffles.

Gu Sheng is a pragmatist. Although he doesn’t fully understand how a silencer is made, he decided to try based on his own idea!

Gu Sheng packed away the arrows and the Stone-breaking Crossbow and headed straight to Holy Pill City without returning to the Fire Bamboo Forest.

With yesterday’s experience, Gu Sheng did not waste time within the city and went directly to the Mushi Merchant Guild.

Coincidentally, Qingqing was still the one to receive him.

Seeing Gu Sheng again, Qingqing was surprised: ”Sir, are you here to craft something again today?”

Gu Sheng didn’t waste words and immediately handed over five hundred silver notes to Qingqing: ”Could you please arrange a casting room for me again, and get me fifty pounds of pig iron, five Purple Vines, and a piece of animal hide with fur?”

The items Gu Sheng requested weren’t particularly valuable. He gave so much mainly because he didn’t know how long it might take to create the silencer.

Qingqing quickly made the arrangements, and by the time Gu Sheng arrived at the casting room, the items he requested had already been delivered.

Gu Sheng closed the door and took out the Stone-breaking Crossbow.

A silencer is like a sleeve fitted over the gun barrel, so Gu Sheng intended to make a similar large iron sleeve to encase the crossbow. According to his preliminary plan, the body would be made of pig iron, baffles would be made using Purple Vines, and the animal fur would serve as an energy absorber.

Without further delay, Gu Sheng quickly sketched out his idea on paper and immediately placed the pig iron into the Forging Furnace for heating.

Gu Sheng is a perfectionist. Even though it was just an experiment, he still forged the pig iron into refined iron, and only then used small tools to shape the designed silencer.

The silencer designed by Gu Sheng consisted of two parts: the main portion could be entirely fitted over the Stone-breaking Crossbow, with a hinged cover above for easy loading of arrows!

Once the dimensions were confirmed to be correct, Gu Sheng immediately began to process the interior. First, he hammered out grooves to place the Purple Vine baffles, then he compressed the animal fur tightly before adhering it.

Once everything was completed, Gu Sheng eagerly fitted the first prototype silencer onto the crossbow.

With the silencer attached, the Stone-breaking Crossbow became bulkier, and holding it felt somewhat like a small grenade launcher from his previous life.

Gu Sheng opened the door with an excited expression and asked Qingqing: ”Does your merchant guild have a place to test crossbow arrows and such? I’d like to test its power.” As he spoke, he waved the modified Stone-breaking Crossbow in front of Qingqing.

Qingqing maintained her signature smile: ”Yes, we do, but the testing grounds require an additional fee.”

Gu Sheng understood, acknowledging that testing weapons could cause damage, so charging a maintenance fee seemed reasonable.

”No problem! Please take me there quickly!”

Led by Qingqing, they reached the end of a corridor, where she pressed a protruding button on the side, and the wall in front of them slid open to reveal a cabin that could accommodate people.

Seeing this scene, Gu Sheng was quite surprised: ”An elevator? Such sophistication?”

Qingqing was somewhat puzzled by Gu Sheng’s new terminology and explained: ”This is a lift, built from many complex mechanisms to move up and down in a straight line. It’s a result of our Mushi Merchant Guild’s casting masters’ years of hard work and innovation! And this isn’t even the most impressive; we have a lift at our headquarters that can transport both people and goods to dozens of meters high!”

Hearing this, Gu Sheng couldn’t help but give a thumbs up to the Mushi Merchant Guild’s casting masters, acknowledging that no matter where you are, there will always be extraordinary people!

He certainly hadn’t expected to see such an advanced device as a lift here.

After entering the lift, the doors closed, and the sound of clear mechanical operation could be heard, the descent speed wasn’t too slow, and it was quite smooth.

A dozen seconds later, the lift doors opened, revealing a brightly lit, spacious underground space.

All around were sturdy granite walls, with numerous wooden posts, grass posts, and iron plates in the central area. At this moment, there were also many people wielding various weapons targeting those grass and wooden posts.

”This is our weapon testing ground. The bow and crossbow testing area is over here, please follow me!”

Gu Sheng followed Qingqing to a more peripheral spot, where there were many thin iron plates resembling screens.

”This is the testing area for bows and crossbows. You can shoot at those iron plates, which are 0.5 centimeters thick. The power can be determined from the marks left or the number of plates penetrated. According to the data provided by our Mushi Merchant Guild, any bow or crossbow that can pierce through two plates is capable of making a fatal threat to someone in the Bronze Bone Realm!”