Humans Shrunk 100 Times

Chapter 107: Killing Radius

"Destruction range?" Dong Junwei was puzzled.

"Yes, or you can call it the killing radius."

"Are you trying to make it larger?"

"Making it larger would be good, of course, but it would also increase the weight, making it less convenient to carry. Moreover, for those who lack strength, throwing distance would be an issue," said Chen Mu.

"We have Lu Shanshan; we can consider having her reduce the weight of the hand grenade, making it easier to throw."

"That's indeed a good idea," Chen Mu nodded. "But we have to handle it properly. Lu Shanshan's ability is to reduce the mass of objects, not weaken gravity. When the mass is reduced, it means that kinetic energy and inertia are also decreased. If it becomes too small, I'm worried it won't reach the collision threshold to detonate."

After a moment of contemplation, Dong Junwei understood Chen Mu's meaning.

For the thrown object, lighter isn't always better; once it becomes too light, it loses its killing power. For example, comparing an egg-sized stone to a foam plastic, the latter's inertia might not overcome air resistance, resulting in a limited range.

Chen Mu continued, "But that's not what I meant."

"Hmm?"

"Increasing the killing radius doesn't necessarily have to rely on your ability; maybe I can contribute too."

At first, Dong Junwei didn't understand, but she quickly grasped it. "You mean adding something inside it?"

"Yes."

Chen Mu nodded. "In reality, explosives are sometimes filled with iron nails or pellets to increase their destructive power. If we combine our abilities, it shouldn't be difficult to achieve that effect."

As he spoke, he held a stone in his right hand, gradually melting it into a bowl shape. Then, he took a small piece of stainless steel from the weapon, holding it in his left palm.

After about a minute.

Chen Mu opened his left hand, and tiny stainless steel beads fell into the bowl-shaped stone in his right hand with a tinkling sound.

Then, he molded the stone back into a spherical shape like a dumpling, just slightly larger than its original size.

"Will this work?"

"Only one way to find out, give it a try."

After Dong Junwei "processed" the stone grenades, there was an interesting phenomenon: once they exploded, the original stones would completely disappear instead of scattering around.

This seemed to defy the first law of thermodynamics.

Tang Jing had once jokingly said that if one day Dong Junwei's ability became strong enough to turn the entire Earth into a giant bomb, would it make the whole world disappear together.

Of course, that was just a joke.

In reality, up until now, no one had fully understood the rules of Dong Junwei's ability.

The term "stone" was broad and encompassed various forms. From a geological perspective, most of the stones seen on the Earth's surface were sedimentary rocks. However, even sedimentary rocks were a category named based on their formation, and there were various classifications below them. If one tried to be specific about the chemical composition, it would become even more complex.

Take the storage room, for example.

The so-called "stones" that the people in Qi Ming usually encountered had roughly two sources.

Firstly, there were remnants of cement, and secondly, various dust particles, primarily composed of yellow sand.

Ordinary cement used in construction was mainly composed of calcium oxide, silicon dioxide, and ferric oxide.

As for yellow sand, it was mostly composed of silicon dioxide.

In fact, the surface of the indoor floor was a mixture of cement and yellow sand.

Therefore, under the current conditions, it was almost impossible to determine the exact composition ratio of the stones they had.josei

The effects of Dong Junwei's ability on different compositions or the differences in effects between various compositions might remain unclear for a long time.

However, this did not hinder everyone from using these simple and inexpensive hand grenades.

Chen Mu made several enhanced versions of the hand grenades, preparing to test their effectiveness outside.

By now, everyone had gradually woken up.

Upon hearing about the new-style weapons, they were all eager to witness them.

After breakfast, during a time when Xiao Huang was absent, everyone gathered outside to witness the experiment.

The original gap in the door had been sealed, but another passage was opened on one side to allow people and carts to enter and exit. This passage had a heavy iron door that required several people to cooperate to open. If the internal door bolts were secured, it would be nearly impossible to forcefully open it from the outside.

Chen Mu put in a lot of effort to create this door, but he had no choice. Otherwise, once he left, the people inside the room would be trapped and unable to get out.

Outside in the open space, Chen Mu asked everyone to retreat to a safe distance while he held an enhanced version of the hand grenade. He searched for a suitable target around him.

Soon enough, he noticed a green caterpillar crawling out of the grass, catching his attention. Standing about 10 centimeters away, he didn't hesitate and threw the grenade towards the direction of the caterpillar.

The caterpillar was not particularly large, slightly thinner than an earthworm, and as expected, Chen Mu missed the target. The grenade landed a few centimeters away from the caterpillar and exploded with a loud bang.

In that instant, Chen Mu had already opened a plastic shield large enough to cover his entire body. Through the shield, it was evident that the effect of this explosion was significantly different from previous ones.

Ordinary grenades had minimal visual impact, usually leaving only a burnt mark at the explosion site. But this time, numerous silver-glittering steel beads scattered in all directions, resembling a flower shower.

The safe distance was the most critical test data. Otherwise, it could turn into another version of the M-388 nuclear rocket launcher, where the killing radius exceeded the range, risking self-harm upon firing.

The shield proved to be necessary as two steel beads bounced off it, producing loud bangs. Even though the remaining force was not significant, it was evident that the 10-centimeter throwing distance was still too close.

After the first grenade explosion, Chen Mu went to inspect the caterpillar. Several small steel beads were embedded in its body on the side facing the explosion, making it a chilling sight. Although these injuries weren't immediately fatal, death was only a matter of time.

After several rounds of experimentation, they ultimately settled on a 15-centimeter effective killing radius for the grenade with steel beads. However, at a distance of 20 centimeters, there was still a possibility of getting injured, depending on the quality and quantity of the steel beads and the explosive power of the grenade itself.

As the size decreased, the object's surface area-to-volume ratio increased, leading to greater air resistance.

Hence, at this distance, the demands on strength and accuracy were already relatively high. Apart from Wei Dalei, who seemed relaxed, even Chen Mu had to exert all his strength to achieve it.

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