Chapter 172 - 73: Friendship-Ender Divine Artifact_2
The opportunity for cutting once every half month must not be wasted.
Thinking of this, he pulled out a dagger and cut open the black package.
Inside the package was another layer of thick transparent plastic, which contained a brown leather case and four silver, finger-shaped metal objects, not clearly visible from above.
Chen Zhou felt it was something like a medieval knight's gauntlet, but upon closer inspection, he thought otherwise—no knight has just four fingers, and two of those wouldn't be middle fingers, unless it was some alien knight.
"Why does it feel so familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before, but I can't recall it at the moment.
Never mind, let's take it out first and see what this thing is…"
He pulled out the transparent plastic bag, tore open the sealed edges, and first took out the brown leather case.
The case was wide but thin, relatively short, with buckle straps on both sides like watch straps, which could be fastened together, making it look like a bracer.
As for those four finger-shaped metal objects, as soon as he saw them in full, Chen Zhou remembered.
These were once a sensation on the internet, called the "Brain Flick Divine Artifact," also jokingly referred to by netizens as "Friendship-Ender Divine Artifact."
The inventor's original intention was to help women with weak fingers gain an advantage in the finger-flicking game among friends, so they could impress others with painful flicks like men.
This seemed like a good idea, but the power of what the inventor created far exceeded his expectations, or exactly met his expectations.
The Brain Flick Divine Artifact was made of four sections of stainless steel and three springs, two short and one long, with a simple force-storing device, similar to a crossbow.
When the spring was fully drawn, the fingertip wrapped in a stainless steel finger sleeve flicked someone's head, and the force was not just painfully simple.
In demonstration videos, an adult man wearing the Brain Flick Divine Artifact could easily flick a hole into a beer can, or even shatter a glass cup.
Due to its excessive lethality and no practical use in real life, it was also called a useless invention and became one of the internet's renowned quirky items.
During the craze for useless inventions, discussions about it could be found on major short video platforms.
As a surfing enthusiast, Chen Zhou naturally didn't miss this information and even searched for the cost of buying a Brain Flick Divine Artifact out of curiosity.
Finally, seeing the custom fee of 200 yuan and the scarce sales below, he calmed down.
Who would have thought, the thing he didn't buy back then, would now be given for free, such is the unpredictability of life!
He took out the Brain Flick Divine Artifact from the packaging and put it on his fingers, bending them, feeling the power of the spring.
Chen Zhou frowned, thinking this might not be the "weakened" versions sold online, but rather a one-to-one model based on the inventor's demonstration data.
The two short extension springs almost required all his finger strength to straighten, and when flicked, the finger was completely uncontrollable, the force absurdly strong.
According to laws, a toy gun exceeding 1.8 joules per square centimeter could be considered an illegal firearm.
Chen Zhou estimated simply that the kinetic energy of this Brain Flick Divine Artifact on his hand could reach 16 joules per square centimeter.
If flicked up close, forget about a thinly packaged beer can, even shattering a rabbit's skull wouldn't be a problem.
Of course, due to the restrictions on attack distance, the Brain Flick Divine Artifact could never serve as a weapon.
However, unlike other rewards, the Brain Flick Divine Artifact seemed useless yet was actually full of treasure.
The springs removed could play an important role in improving firearms.
Although the flintlock gun's spring was completely different from this extension spring, in principle, they were the same, and using springs with modern craftsmanship might have better results.
Moreover, these four Brain Flick Divine Artifacts could provide a total of 12 high-quality springs.
Chen Zhou could not only use them to improve the flintlock gun but also make compound bows, repeating crossbows, or even magazines.
Due to the limitations of craftsmanship and materials on the isolated island, many important components of modern industry could not be made, and springs were among them.
Even if the springs were removed, the remaining stainless steel finger sleeves would still be useful.
Sewing them onto metal-inlaid fur could make a stainless steel hand guard with just four fingers, enough to tilt the scale of victory in a battle with beasts or natives by having a hand that wasn't afraid of being chopped.
Chen Zhou feared the backward Cannibal Tribes partly because of their beast-like, savage nature.
Another reason was the fear of their bow and arrow and wooden spears.
With no armor, the defense was equal, and relying solely on a slow-firing matchlock gun and a sharp long-handled axe, his firepower and range indeed far exceeded that of the natives, but the margin for error was the same.
If unlucky, and shot by a poison arrow from afar, not even a Gurkha Khukuri would save his life.
If he had a full body of Iron Armor, even if it wasn't the airtight full-body heavy armor like the European iron shell, just Tang Scale Armor or Chain Armor, the situation would vastly differ.
Cannibal Tribes, with no armor, couldn't withstand the cleaving of a sharp axe or the power of a lead bullet propelled by gunpowder.
With a full body Iron Armor, one could ignore their wooden arrows and wooden spears, facing ten natives and emerging unscathed as long as one's stamina held out.
Unfortunately, the metal parts brought from the ship were all formed; without melting and recasting, armor could not be made.
The lead plates did hold some malleability.
But lead was too heavy; making a lead armor would make walking strenuous, let alone running with an axe in hand.
Obtaining these four Brain Flick Divine Artifacts could not only increase the attack frequency but also add a layer of protection to the hand. In Chen Zhou's view, it represented a small step toward completing the full-body armor.
...
He placed the Brain Flick Divine Artifacts back in the packaging, called Lai Fu, and Chen Zhou returned to the kiln cave.
After dinner that night, he removed the 12 springs, lit an oil lamp, pulled out a notebook and his newly made "pen," drawing a few lines on the paper, conceiving the structure of an improved flintlock gun.
With his current conditions, even making a magazine couldn't lead to a fully automatic rifle.
The slow firing rate of a flintlock gun was determined by various factors.
Loading gunpowder in separate positions, needing to load twice, muzzle-loading, slow ramrod loading, these were its flaws, the most fatal being loading gunpowder.
If one could hand-make bullets with a primer, all problems would no longer be problems.
But unfortunately, hand-making bullets was basically impossible for the current Chen Zhou.
Nor did he want to take too big of a step—lest he stumbled.
He only wanted to create a breech-loading gun with a simple loading device, saving loading time and merely adding gunpowder.
With one less step, the firing speed of the new flintlock gun could at least increase from two shots per minute to six.
That meant if he faced the attack of ten natives within a 150-meter effective range, retreating while firing, if his shooting was precise enough, he could take out at least five natives.
A reduction of up to fifty percent would be enough to break the natives' spirit and make them scatter.
...
Paper was limited and could not be wasted.
Having improved the blueprint several times, Chen Zhou was still not satisfied.
Referencing the magazine of an automatic rifle, manufacturing a device to load bullets into the flintlock gun's chamber wasn't difficult.
The difficulty lay in how to ensure the chamber space remained sealed, not dispersing gunpowder power, while also avoiding mechanical failure, getting jammed mid-firing.
Working late into the night for several hours, he ultimately couldn't reach a satisfactory result.
Exhausted his brain, the new solution resolved the chamber space and mechanical jamming issues yet made the gun body exceedingly bulky, not easy to carry, and affecting shooting and aiming.
Overall, it was unsuitable.
Sitting at his desk, scratching his head, Chen Zhou felt as if he had returned to his student days, though his thinking was no longer as creative and flexible as it was back then.
He closed the notebook, blew out the oil lamp, finished his day's work, and returned to bed.