The dragon landed inside Base One. As the door swung open, what greeted them first was a tall wall of cobblestone, as majestic as the Great Wall itself.
Every so often along the wall stood a fully enclosed bunker.
But it wasn't the bunkers that caught Jean and Lisa's attention.
What truly shocked them was what stood on the walls.
At regular intervals, a member of the Millelith stood guard, clad in full enchanted iron armor, eyes stern as they scanned the outside.
Some wore pitch-black tactical uniforms—bulletproof vests.
Each one was equipped with an assault rifle, and a belt of grenades wrapped around their waist.
Inside the bunkers along the wall, two observation slits were visible.
Through one slit, a long light machine gun could be seen, with a Millelith soldier calmly watching the perimeter.
In the other slit, a grenade launcher was mounted.
If you looked carefully, you could even spot a Millelith soldier prone on top of a bunker, holding a sniper rifle.
An impenetrable fortress.
With this kind of defense setup, it wasn't just ground attacks that would be repelled—even enemies descending from the sky would be turned to Swiss cheese by the wall of bullets.
Complete, all-angle defense with zero blind spots.
Jean stood frozen. Having only known the cold-weapon defenses of Teyvat, she found it hard to process what she was seeing.
After a long pause, she finally pressed her lips together and asked, with difficulty,
"Ryen, this…"
Ryen had expected Jean and Lisa would be shocked. He shrugged helplessly and replied,
"Well, this world's gotten a lot more dangerous. These people stationed here full-time need the strength to protect themselves."
Jean and Lisa fell silent.
This wasn't just about self-defense…
A rough count showed at least ten machine guns, twenty sniper rifles, and ten grenade launchers mounted on the walls.
And the number of assault rifles? Too many to count.
At this level, even a god descending wouldn't make it through without taking a hit.
But it had only been about two weeks since they left. Ryen had kept saying that modern firearms were difficult to produce in bulk—and now they were this widespread?
If they waited a little longer to return, would they find Peacekeeper missiles installed in long-range launch silos?
Ryen gave a chuckle and said,
"Better to be prepared than caught off guard."
Jean pursed her lips and responded slowly,
"Mm… that's true."
Ryen didn't bother explaining further. He wasn't lying.
Ever since the modern weaponry mod was fully integrated, the world had become much more dangerous.
There were large-scale bandit raids—not necessarily 100-person forces every day, but dozens at a time, every few days.
And on top of that, there were occasional attacks from mutated monsters.
The Millelith weren't exactly overwhelmed, but their days were no longer idle.
Someone had to always stay behind to defend the base, in case miners and patrols returning home were ambushed right at the doorstep.
The situation was more or less the same over at Base Two.
At this hour, most of the miners were already out working. Only the Millelith stationed on the wall remained—there weren't many others.
Ryen was about to introduce the base to Jean and Lisa when Dashi came hurrying out of the fortress—he'd clearly received word of their arrival.
Jean took one look and fell silent again.
The man was so heavily armed, it made Ryen look modest in comparison.
A belt of grenades at the waist, an RPG strapped to his back, an assault rifle in his arms, and a pistol holstered on his thigh.
He looked absolutely burdened—yet moved effortlessly.
Upon seeing Ryen, Dashi rushed over, beaming.
"Master Ryen! Are you here to inspect the base? Would you like a report on our recent progress?"
Ryen smiled and said softly,
"Just bringing Jean and the others to take a look. Also, tell the blacksmithing division to prepare some standard-issue firearms for them."
Dashi immediately understood—it was for Jean and her team.
He nodded at once.
"There are some ready-made weapons already in storage. Captain Jean can personally choose what she wants.
But if I may trouble her, could I ask for a written request? It'll help me report back to Lady Ningguang."
"Also, Master Ryen—about those weapon components you requested. We've made quite a few. Should we proceed with the modifications now?"
These components were blueprints Ryen had drawn up after the basic distribution of firearms was complete.
After all, just having a gun wasn't enough.
The real magic of firearms lies in customization.
"Let's do it together later," Ryen said, then led Jean and the others toward the blacksmith area to collect their weapons.
These days, Ryen rarely requested raw minerals directly. Instead, Base One would smelt ores into weapons or refined components on-site, then ship them over to him.
At the manor, Ryen had finally fulfilled a dream: he'd built his own private armory.
Dozens upon dozens of different firearms were stored there.
And the bullets? He had an entire room full of crates stacked floor to ceiling.
The forge department of this world had been divided into three separate zones, each guarded by Millelith soldiers.
Although Ryen trusted those stationed here, precautions were still necessary.
He couldn't allow any one individual to learn how to craft hot weapons from scratch.
What if someone smuggled the materials to Liyue Harbor and casually made a gun while on leave?
At the outer edge of the first forge zone, Ryen brought Jean and the others to a section of the wall guarded by four Millelith soldiers.
There was a mechanism—once the lever was pulled, the wall shifted open, revealing densely packed crates.
All filled with modern firearms.
Most of these, Ryen already had in his collection, so he simply let Jean and her team choose what they liked.
While they picked through the weapons, Ryen turned to Dashi and inquired about the state of the base.
Last night had been peaceful—but just before sunset, there was another bandit raid.
Seventeen attackers. A few RPG shots later, not a trace remained.
Glancing back at Jean and the others still picking out guns, Ryen spoke in a soft voice:
"In a few days, it'll be the Rite of Descension. Head over to Base Two and New Town to inform them."
"Tell them to get ready. We'll be heading back to Liyue for a bit of a break."
Dashi paused, looking a bit troubled.
"All of us?"
Strictly speaking, the Rite of Descension was one of Liyue's grandest ceremonies, and of course the Millelith would want to attend.
But even back in Teyvat—without Minecraft's influence—those stationed in critical zones like The Chasm weren't summoned back.
Let alone now, when all of Liyue was depending on the steady stream of resources coming from this world...
Ryen nodded slightly and chuckled.
"Just do as I said. And remember to bring your firearms."
Dashi's eyes flickered—he seemed to understand something.
He leaned closer and whispered in Ryen's ear, lowering his voice:
"Master Ryen, is there some reckless fool planning to stir up trouble during the Rite of Parting?"
Ryen couldn't help but laugh.
Stir up trouble? That was quite likely. It could be the Fatui, or even the demon god Osial.
But ultimately, it was all because Zhongli had insisted on abdicating.
Who knew how Zhongli would feel if he heard Dashi say something like that?
Seeing that Ryen didn't answer, Dashi understood.
He nodded. "In a few days, I'll lead the team back to guard the city. As for the firearms, I'll report to Lady Ningguang and have them stored in the designated area."
Ryen smiled faintly.
Although he had convinced Zhongli to abandon his idea of faking his death, the proper procedures still had to be followed.
Prolonged chaos in Liyue wasn't good for Ryen's plans to develop this world. He needed to time things right.
Recently, he'd been planning to have the Qianyan Army follow the river downstream to scout out more suitable locations for new bases.
But more importantly...
Ryen really wanted to see what kind of shockwaves massed firearms would send through Teyvat.
As for whether Celestia would be startled awake…
If worst came to worst, he'd just punch it back to sleep.
Until more of his favorite mods were activated—and until Liyue had the power to confront Celestia head-on—Ryen didn't mind helping them handle some of the trickier issues.
Just as he was about to discuss firearm modifications with Dashi, distant gunfire rang out.
Jean and the others immediately reacted, grabbing their weapons and running to Ryen's side.
"Ryen, we're under attack!"
Jean spoke with tension in her voice. Ryen waved a hand calmly.
"Relax. Did you forget the defenses you just saw?"
Jean froze for a moment—then exhaled in relief.
"Well, since we're here anyway, let me show you what your base will look like. For now, you'll probably have to follow Liyue's methods."
With that, Ryen led the group—now swelling into a sizable crowd—toward the city wall.
The gunfire outside grew louder, but the Qianyan soldiers inside and atop the walls remained unfazed.
Clearly, this wasn't the first time they'd been attacked.
The MC world was growing more dangerous, though Liyue was able to handle it with ease. But for Jean, this wasn't good news.
Her Knights of Favonius would still need a lot of time to adapt.
And if they got ambushed by people wielding firearms during that time… that would be a nightmare.
They couldn't just have knights duel people holding automatic rifles.
If that happened, Liyue would be building cemeteries for wolves, while Mondstadt would be erecting tombs for knights.
Ryen noticed Jean's troubled expression and softly reassured her:
"When your people arrive, have them start at Base One or Base Two to get familiar with the weapons. Once they're trained, they can move into your base and start work."
Jean thought it over and nodded, realizing it was the best plan. She softly thanked him.
Gunfire erupted. Qianyan soldiers on the walls opened fire in response.
Light machine guns poured out steel torrents, drowning out the sound of other rifles with suppressive fire.
The attack was coming from the main gate, so the soldiers in other sectors merely glanced over and then returned to their posts.
While they did envy the gunners' freedom to shoot wildly, duty was the highest virtue of a Qianyan soldier.
The screeching gunfire was unsettling for most.
Except for Klee.
From the moment the shooting started, her eyes had gone wide—and now she was literally bouncing with excitement.
Ryen led the group up the wall and casually glanced at the attacking bandits.
There were about thirty of them.
Given that the firefight had lasted a minute or two already, the original group was probably around forty to fifty—a medium-sized bandit crew.
Snipers picked them off one by one, and machine guns sprayed indiscriminately.
Their numbers were dropping fast.
Maybe thinking this was taking too long, Dashi activated the comms and said:
"Bunkers Three and Four, RPGs ready."
"Loaded and ready to fire!"
Dashi turned to look at Ryen. The latter gave a nod.
Dashi raised his voice and commanded:
"Fire!"
A deafening roar drowned out all other gunfire.
Two rockets, trailing flames, landed right in the middle of the enemy ranks.
Two mushroom clouds bloomed on the battlefield, tearing up the ground and flinging dirt everywhere.
A sniper in the bunker scanned the aftermath and calmly reported:
"All enemies eliminated."
"Clear the battlefield. Stay alert."
To Dashi, this kind of skirmish didn't even warrant a comment.
They'd been through so many small-scale firefights using modern weapons recently—it was just routine.
But among those present, there was one small elf whose eyes sparkled with uncontainable excitement.
After a moment of silence, Klee suddenly let go of Ryen's hand and jumped into the air.
"RPG! RPG!"
Hearing Klee's gleeful shouting, Jean's heart sank.
This was… not good.
~~----------------------
To read 30 future chapters head over to patreon:
patreon.com/Dreamer20