The ultimate sharp weapon in Zhou Yi's imagination had to be supremely sharp, impossibly heavy, and easily portable.
The newly forged Adamantium spearhead certainly checked the sharpness box. However, achieving the required weight was a pipe dream. Given his supernatural strength, a truly optimal long spear should weigh between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds—a quarter-million catties in ancient units.
At that mass, even a simple acceleration would grant the weapon the destructive force comparable to a cruise missile strike. The mythical Monkey King's Ruyi Jingu Bang, a sacred relic, only weighed 13,500 catties. Zhou Yi's weight requirement was clearly impossible with current technology.
Conversely, portability was entirely solved by his proprietary technology: Alpha Nanometal Six.
This version, which preceded the materials used in his advanced Dawn armor, was frustratingly dense but technologically sublime. Its drawback was its immense mass and its inability to fully cancel magnetic interference. Otherwise, in terms of energy conductivity, self-compression, heat and pressure resistance, metal memory repair, and secondary deformation, it was nearly flawless.
The density was the issue: each cubic centimeter weighed 144 grams—roughly six times heavier than osmium, the densest natural element. Making a twelve-foot spear shaft from this material would result in a weapon weighing nearly a ton.
A ton was still too light for Zhou Yi, but it was usable. The manufacturing was fully automated under Medusa's control; Zhou Yi merely had to input the specifications.
A qualified long spear needs a butt cap—a sharp, counterbalancing spike at the base. What Zhou Yi was creating wasn't a traditional long spear (which emerged in the Song and Ming Dynasties as a lighter, more flexible weapon for infantry) but a mao suo, an ancient Chinese pole weapon.
The suo was the true aristocrat of long-handled weapons. Used by the cavalry during the mighty Han and Tang Dynasties, it was roughly ten feet long, massively heavy, and designed with a heavy, sword-like spearhead capable of piercing the thickest armor. Such weapons were rare and required peerless generals like Luo Shixin or Yuwen Chengdu to wield.
Zhou Yi preferred the suo's concept. Its stringent requirements perfectly aligned with his power and skill. The manufacturing wasn't an issue, and his strength was limitless. He chose a length of twelve feet (using the older Han foot measurement, making it over two meters long), styling it after the suo while using the terminology of the more modern spear, acknowledging the lost nature of the ancient art.
The resulting weapon was majestic and fiercely dominant:
The Head: The Adamantium tip was a ferocious, sword-shaped short weapon.
The Shaft: Twelve feet long, as thick as a goose egg, covered in intricate, shimmering, scale-like carvings.
The Butt Cap: A foot-long, triangular pyramid containing a blood groove, making it a distinct killing edge.
The finished item seemed less like a mundane military weapon and more like a mythical relic. Zhou Yi reached out and lifted it. It felt light in his hand, but he knew its durability was absolute.
He twisted his waist and whipped the spear. With a whooshing sound, the massive Adamantium head darted out like a dragon's head emerging from shadow. The shaft followed, moving with draconic fluidity.
The tip became a chaotic blur of light and shadow, thunderous and inexplicable. To anyone watching, the attack would be impossible to block. Then, instantly, the chaos vanished, leaving Zhou Yi holding the spear steady, showing no strain.
This was the peak of martial power combined with absolute physics. Zhou Yi felt a profound sense of satisfaction. With this weapon, his combat effectiveness against troublesome opponents would soar.
He engaged a hidden mechanism: the nanometal shaft flowed like mercury, rapidly shortening until the twelve-foot spear compressed into a double-edged short sword—another distinct usage mode.
Long-Range Strike System
Zhou Yi, already planning the next upgrade, pondered a long-range strike capability. "Medusa, I need a long-range strike weapon based on this polearm. Do you have any suggestions?"
He expected suggestions for specialized compound bows, but Medusa, as usual, transcended cold weapon limitations.
"Sir, are you aware of the latest developments regarding electromagnetic railguns?"
"I only know General Atomics just finished a prototype test-firing," Zhou Yi replied. He focused on results, not the developmental process of non-essential military tech.
"The US Military's electromagnetic railgun is largely operational, equipped on main warships and powered by nuclear energy. A twenty-pound projectile can achieve five times the speed of sound, with a maximum range of approximately three hundred kilometers. Your Mercury Research has achieved significant breakthroughs in electromagnetic launch devices, capable of accelerating larger and heavier objects. Theoretically, with sufficient energy, Mercury Research's device could launch your weapon."
"How much energy is needed?" Zhou Yi asked, exercising caution. He knew Medusa's proposals, while sound, often had insane prerequisites.
"It requires the full output of the two nuclear reactors onboard a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier."
"I should have known," Zhou Yi sighed, though without actual worry. The full output of a giant aircraft carrier—enough energy to sustain its operation—just to fire a single shot, was an utterly insane proposal for anyone else. But for Zhou Yi, who was himself an oversized, self-sustaining nuclear fusion reactor, energy supply was simply a non-issue. He possessed the capital and the energy reserves to dismiss this monumental consumption.
"Contact Mercury Research, give them my specifications and the data for my requirements. I want to see a prototype as soon as possible. Tell them: the faster they solve this, the less of an issue next quarter's research funding will be. Otherwise, they can wait to find a new patron."
Zhou Yi governed his research institutions with maximum funding and maximum mental pressure. He needed tangible, value-creating results, not endless theoretical deliberation. He was a businessman, not a philanthropic patron of science.
Medusa conveyed the message. With the completion of his new, peerless weapon, Zhou Yi, carrying the compact short sword form, finally opened his laboratory door.
He had a guest to entertain.