Chapter 260 Engineers from the Enterprise

  In the mud pit.

  The iron lump lying on the nest suddenly twitched like an electric shock.

  His hands were on the ground, and before it got up from the ground, a gun was already on the back of its head.

"do not move."

  Xu Shun stared at this guy intently, ready to fire at any time.

   "How to get to...North Suburb." The dull voice floated intermittently from under the armor, making one wonder if he could only say this sentence.

   "What the **** is this guy?" Yu Xiong frowned staring at this strange man covered in steel plates, "Is he a human?"

"have no idea."

  Xu Shun squatted down to check the man's armor, and found that the helmet was actually welded to the breastplate.

   Not only that, the connecting parts of the breastplate steel plate are all riveted, and there is a neat row of hexagonal rivets, and there is no mechanism to open it.

   So here comes the problem.

  What about shit?

   "I can't take it off." Shaking his head, Xu Shun stood up, glanced at VM and said, "Let's leave it to the manager to judge."

  If the manager is an adult, there must be a way.

  Yu Xiong nodded, got two guards to watch over this guy, and then went to the prisoner.

  A total of four prisoners.

   Except for six who ran away, a total of fifteen people were killed in the melee.

  Including their leader—the man named Wu Qiu.

   After interrogation, it was learned that these people were all mercenaries from Boulder City, but they were not part of the mercenary regiment, they were all temporary workers who couldn't get serious jobs.

   As for why they couldn't get a job, each had its own reasons.

  Yu Xiong didn't care about these things, he just ordered people to tie them hand and foot, rush them to squat by the wall, and wait for the manager to come.

  The situation of the players and the guards is quite optimistic. Since the support came in a timely manner, there are no major injuries except for a little injury.

  Including the guy who got shot in the leg.

  The bullet passed through his leg luckily, without hurting any bones or arteries, and it is unlikely that he will be disabled.

but.

  Injury has become like this, and he is still an ordinary person who has not awakened. The rest of his life probably has nothing to do with the profession of mercenary.

   Came out of the alley, Roushan Da Momo buried her head in shame, wishing she could find a crack in the ground and get in.

   "Yes, I'm sorry, I'm scared when the gunshots go off..."

   "It's okay, it's a small problem." Sisi patted Pyrenees on the shoulder and said comfortingly.

  Tail touched his chin and analyzed: "Could it be because there is something missing on the back? I feel that when I was in the experimental base last time, Rourou was quite brave."

  Sisi was a little surprised, then recalled it carefully, and nodded thoughtfully.

   "Hey, maybe it's really possible."

   "Don't be disheartened! This place is too small to use it, I will definitely ride you next time!"

   Rourou: "Wait, wait a minute, I always feel that something is wrong—"

  Siss: "Illusion."

  Tail: "That's right! It must be your illusion!"

  Fatty: "???"

   On the other side, with the help of vines and sesame paste, Yaya, who was stuck by half of the wall, finally broke free from the pile of broken concrete.

   "Damn..."

  Struggling to take off the helmet that was stuck on the breastplate, Yaya shook his drowsy head and muttered, "The network was broken for me just now."

   "Are you really okay?" Fujiteng looked worriedly at the almost dented breastplate, and whispered, "Or... you should go back and save a file."

   "No, no, don't worry, I'm fine!"

   Shaking the bumped head, Yaya gave a smile that she thought was reliable, and gave a thumbs up, "Don't worry, Fujiteng, I will definitely send you safely!"

  Fujito supported his forehead with a headache.

   "How can you make me feel at ease..."

  Yaoya: "Hey! You, a woman, are you not touched at all?"

  Fujito subtly moved his eyes away.

   "A little bit."

   What do you say?

  Although it is an MMORPG, it feels good to be protected.

  Looking at the two people who have a good relationship, Sesame Paste interjected in a low voice: "By the way, who is that person who helped us just now?"

   Yaya was stunned for a while.

   "Yes, I remembered it when you said it."

  Fujito: "Maybe... Boss Xia?"

   Yaya looked at her in surprise.

   "Boss Xia?!"

   "Well, I guess."

  Fujito silently pointed to the corner of the street not far away.

  A blue-painted power armor and a vigorous figure are walking towards this side from the end of the street gilded by the setting sun.

  I saw Boss Xia on his back carrying an LD-47s with a scope—"Long Scythe" semi-automatic rifle.

  The cat's ears moved slightly, and a surprised expression appeared on the sesame paste face.

   "Manager?"

"Um."

  Fujito nodded, with a trace of curiosity written in his eyes.

   "It seems to trigger the plot."

  …

  Qian Lai, who had been hiding next to the two-headed ox before, came out of the alley, patting the ashes on his clothes, just in time to bump into Chu Guang who was coming from the west.

  Qian Lai had a surprised expression on his face, obviously he didn't expect to meet this big shot from the northern suburbs here.

   "Manager... Your Excellency?"

   Chu Guang looked at him and said.

"are you OK?"

   "I'm fine, thanks to your subordinates, otherwise we might have lost more than one cow today."

   Qian Lai admitted that he had been reckless before.

  The strength of these people is not weak.

  Although it seems unreliable, they are much stronger than he imagined in terms of insight and combat effectiveness.

   "You should say this to them."

   Chu Guang nodded, and walked towards the strange man in armor.

  Beside the armored man, Xu Shun and two guards were watching.

   Until Chu Guang walked in front of him, it was sitting against the wall, repeating that sentence like a repeater.

   "How to get to... the northern suburbs."

   "This is the northern suburbs, and I am the manager here," Chu Guang looked down at it and said, "Explain your purpose."

   Responding to these words, the man in armor slowly raised his head and hugged the helmet with both hands.

  Chu Guang caught a glimpse of scarlet from the mesh mask.

   I don't know if it's an illusion.

  He always felt that these eyes looked familiar.

   At this moment, with a sudden "click", the strange man in armor removed the helmet from the breastplate.

   Seeing his face clearly, Chu Guang was slightly taken aback.

  Xu Shun and the guards who stood aside changed their expressions wildly, and quickly raised the rifle in their hands, aiming at the rotten head.

   "It's a creeper! My lord!"

"Wait a moment!"

  Raising his hand to stop the guards who were about to shoot, Chu Guang stared at the scarlet eyes and rotten face with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

"your name?"

   What a surprise.

  The slime mold species can actually speak human language?

  The rotting face was panting lightly, and no rationality could be seen in the scarlet pupils.

  Chu Guang felt a little disappointed.

  However, just when he was about to give up this meaningless thing, that rotten face suddenly opened his mouth slowly.

   "B... Bach."

  Seeing this guy uttering words, the guards standing around were shocked.

  Including Xu Shun.

  Although there are some aliens who can speak human language in the outpost, in his cognition, they are all the technology of the shelter and the pets of the blue coat.

   And such a wild alien species—and it is also a slime mold alien species, opened his mouth to speak human words, he has never heard of such an outrageous thing!

   "Bach?" Chu Guang stared at him and asked, "Your name is Bach?"

  The man nodded slowly.

"yes."

  Chu Guang frowned.

  The name...

   Sounds familiar.

  …

   "The analysis results are out."

   Shelter No. 404, Floor B3.

  Medical laboratory.

  Heya, who came out of the laboratory, skillfully handed a screen converted into a VM into Chu Guang's hands, on which a series of test results including blood tests were written.

  As the most authoritative expert on xenomorphs in the shelter, the silver-haired SSSR is probably the only one who hopes to figure out what happened to this "Budge" man.

  However, Chu Guang couldn't understand what was written on the tablet.

   "What's the matter with him?" Chu Guang looked at it pretendingly, and returned the tablet to Heya.

  Heya explained patiently.

"Various slime mold is infected, and the erosion rate is as high as 67%. This situation is quite rare, because according to my research results, the relationship between the slime mold species and other organisms should be predatory. As you remember, the crawler is a slime mold fruiting entities."

  Chu Guang nodded, indicating that he still remembered.

   "What about him?"

  Heya: "Symbiosis."

  Chu Guang was slightly taken aback.

   "...symbiosis?"

  Heya sighed, resting her forehead with her hand wrapped around her chest.

"I don't really want to popularize common sense... In short, he is probably half human now, and half has become a slime mold. At first, the slime mold ate most of his organs, but for some reason it suddenly decided to let him live, so it evolved into The fruiting bodies with similar organ functions replaced his original organs."

  The fruiting body evolved by the mutant slime mold can imitate the behavior and characteristics of the devoured organisms, such as eaters, crawlers, martyrs, and even tyrants.

  However, after eating an organ, it is rare to replace the original organ and form a symbiotic relationship with the host.

  Even Xia Yan, who is fond of talking about urban legends, has never heard of it.

  Chu Guang squeezed the space between his eyebrows.

   "Does that mean he has only one brain left?"

   "Maybe three quarters?" Heya hesitated for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "The slime mold infection stopped after reaching the cerebellum, and at least half of the spinal cord has been replaced by the fruiting body formed by the slime mold."

  Chu Guang: "How long can he live?"

  Heya: "I don't know, maybe I can live forever."

  Chu Guang was stunned for a moment.

   "Live forever?!"

  Heya nodded.

"Hmm... because according to my research results, there is no Hayflick limit for the mutated slime mold, and even with the passage of time, the functions of the organs formed by the fruiting bodies will be further improved, and the functions will be stronger than before. Of course, there are other One possibility is that when these slime molds 'feel' that the host is no longer necessary, it may also eat the remaining part of the brain."

   "Wait a minute," Bucky, who was sitting next to the scanning table, slowly raised his hand covered with steel, and said in a weak voice, "I am like this, can I be saved?"

  Chu Guang glanced at this guy unexpectedly.

"you're awake?"

  He thought this guy could only speak one sentence.

"I injected him with an inhibitor, which inhibited the activity of the slime mold that invaded the nervous system." Heya looked at Bucky, who was sitting on the scanning bed, and continued, "I don't know how to answer this question, if It is probably impossible for you to completely restore the original appearance, but if you can accept the prosthetic transformation, you can completely remove the xenogeneic organs and replace them with bionic prosthetics."

  She herself is like this.

  Bionic prosthetics can not only prolong life, but also far more reliable than the original organs of the organism. But Heya also knows that replacing most of the parts with technology is not acceptable to everyone.

  Chu Guang coughed lightly.

   "There is no black box for the production of bionic organs in Vault 404... In fact, think about it from another angle, isn't the organ on your body a kind of bionic organ? And it can still actively evolve."

   He Ya looked at Chu Guang in surprise, and after thinking for a while, she nodded and said.

   "It's kind of true when you say that."

   Butch had a pained expression on his face.

   "It doesn't feel good at all."

  Chu Guang: "Does it hurt?"

   Butch shook his head: "That's not true, let alone the pain, I have lost the sense of pain, and I don't even feel that I am alive."

  Chu Guang: "What happened to you?"

   Butch was silent for a while, then sighed softly.

   "That's a long story..."

   That happened in the winter of 211 in the Wasteland Era.

  Baqi, who is far away in the ideal city, has just received his graduation certificate and is planning a graduation trip, but at this moment, he receives a letter from a good friend from afar.

  Luo Hua described in the letter that in the far west, in the middle of the Central Continent, there is a good place called Qingquan City.

   There's a nice bunch of folks living there from Vault 404 that just got unblocked, and they've recently become permanent partners in the Enterprise.

  Of course, the most important thing is that there is amazing food and culture there. Those blue coats have mastered many cooking methods that he has never seen before, and can even turn those hard-to-eat exotic meat into delicious dishes.

  In Bucky's perception, food should be linked to technology. Those wastelanders who can cook food are already worthy of praise. How can you know what is delicious if you can't eat enough? Not to mention any culture.

   But the letter still aroused the interest of Butch, who happened to be bored to mold in Ideal City. Although the life here is well-organized and regular like the codes on the holographic screen, it is precisely because of this that the necessary errors are lacking.

  So, at the instigation of his good friend, he set the destination of his "graduation trip" in the middle of the River Valley Province, and stepped into the western wilderness with the idea of ​​exploring the unknown.

  However, what he didn't expect was that this trip was full of accidents one after another from the very beginning...

"...My father was a wine merchant. I followed the caravan sponsored by my father to the west of the province of Clouds. Since then, I have been traveling alone. I have hired guards, guides, and doctors, and I have done everything I can. Prepare, follow the track ruts of the Pioneer, everything is as smooth as planned, but when I passed by Yongdong City, there was an accident."

"There is no one there, like a dead city. The survivor settlement that should have appeared on the map, no one knows where it went. Out of caution, we planned to withdraw from the city. But at this moment , we were suddenly besieged by thousands—maybe tens of thousands of gnawers."

   Butch took a deep breath.

"I thought I was dead when I was knocked down by the gnawers, but when I woke up, the gnawers around me were gone...including my teammates. I always thought it was a nightmare, until I found a mirror and I realized that the real nightmare was just beginning."

   Butch's Adam's Apple moved, and he continued.

   "Since then, I have become like this."

   He Ya and Chu Guang looked at each other, and couldn't help but say.

   "This is too bizarre."

  Chu Guang nodded.

"really."

  When he heard the first half, Chu Guang had already figured out the identity of this Baqi. It was Luo Hua who was on the Opener before, and said he wanted to introduce him to his engineer friend.

  However, Chu Guang still had some doubts about the second half of this Baqi's sentence.

   Occasionally, players will die in the tunnel. This is not unusual, but he has never heard of a player being parasitized by the slime mold species.

  As Heya said, the first reaction of the fruiting body of the slime mold is to eat the captured prey directly and turn it into a nutrient for spore production.

   This was the first time he had heard that someone had been turned into a "person of his own" by slime mold.

  Bach gave a wry smile, lowered his head and continued.

"In short, since then, the xenomorphs seem to have lost interest in me. The slime mold xenomorphs regard me as the same kind, and those mutated hyenas will not bite me unless they are extremely hungry. Even if they bite, they will only eat me at most. A hand... maybe a leg. But it doesn't matter, because there is no pain at all, and the lost hand and leg will grow back slowly after a week or two, and they will be stronger than before. By the time the hyena has It can’t bite me anymore, and I have become what I am now.”

   Regeneration of severed limbs? !

  Regenerated limb evolution? !

   Fuck.

  This ability is a bit awesome.

  After listening to this guy's description, Chu Guang's face was full of surprise.

  He dared to bet that if there was a choice, many players would be willing to exchange "life" with him. Apart from being a bit ugly, this "sequence" can hardly think of any weaknesses. As long as the head is not broken, wouldn't it be possible to live forever?

   "Are you envious?"

   "That's not..."

"No, I can feel it," Bucky shook his head and continued with a bitter expression on his face, "You don't understand this feeling at all, and I haven't been to a human survivor settlement since then, and When they see people, they have to stay away, they don’t believe that I am human, even if I tell them it was an accident, they will drive me away.”

  Chu Guang: "... Then you can't make this armor yourself, right?"

  Barge: "I met a slave trader when I entered the River Valley Province."

  Chu Guang: "Slave trader?"

"Well," Bucky nodded, "that guy is the only good person I met who was interested in me along the way. He said he would take me to the Wandering Swamp and sell me to the academy for research. I thought about it. Thinking that maybe the academy could really figure out what happened to me, it seemed good to be sold to the academy, so I followed him."

"The man found a blacksmith and made me a set of steel armor so that I could easily enter the survivor settlement without attracting attention. However... the plan could never catch up with changes. His slaves rioted because of some things, and put He hanged himself from a tree."

"I don't know how to get to the academy at all. I ask those slaves and they don't know. They just want to go home. I can only walk the rest of the way alone. At this moment, I suddenly remembered what Luo Hua told me. There is a place called Shelter No. 404 in Qingquan City, so I continued to walk west, but my physical condition suddenly began to deteriorate, and my consciousness began to trance... It is difficult to describe the feeling, as if There is a rope between my soul and my body."

  Heya interrupted.

   "It should have started at that time. The slime mold has already invaded the nervous system. I can perform a minor operation on you later to prevent the slime mold from spreading to the nervous system."

"Thank you," Bach took a deep breath, and looked at Chu Guang pleadingly, "I only remembered the northern suburbs of Qingquan City, and then walked all the way here... This is all my experience. I also I don't know what to do, can you help me?"

"Of course I will help you. Your friend Luo Hua is also my friend. He helped me a lot. What's more, you happened to this kind of thing on the way to my place. I can't let you go. " Chu Guang then looked at Heya, "Aside from replacing the bionic organs, is there any way to restore him to his original state?"

  Bionic organs are too expensive.

  If it’s just changing the eyes and hands and feet, it’s okay, but if the whole set is replaced from the blood vessels to the skin, I’m afraid there are not many rich people in Ideal City who can bear it.

  Many things are non-renewable resources, just like nuclear fusion, there is more than one dimension difference between the words "usable" and "able to manufacture".

   Heya shook her head.

"His immune system has been completely replaced by the fruiting body of the slime mold. Strictly speaking, he did not accept the slime mold, but the slime mold allowed him to keep his brain and dominate the body that has become a different species. Compared with To replace the bionic organs, in fact, I recommend directly changing the body... How about putting the head in a petri dish first?"

  Budge hugged his head in pain.

   "Then I might as well die..."

  Heya's eyes lit up, and she was about to say something provocative, but Chu Guang, who could see her thoughts, coughed lightly, interrupting the guy's words that were almost on the verge of his mouth.

   "I don't think changing the body of a robot may be more optimistic than the current situation. In short, you should live here for a while. You have no other place to go in this state."

   After a pause, Chu Guang continued.

   "By the way, you just talked about graduation trips...what's your major?"

  Barge: "Materials Engineer."

  Chu Guang said pleasantly: "Materials engineer? Specifically? What do you study?"

  The expression on Butch's face was a little subtle.

   "The direction of carbon nanometers...but you should not place too much hope on my professional ability. I may know more about wine and food."

  His diploma was mixed up.

  This kind of situation is not uncommon in Ideal City, especially for someone like him who has no intention of engaging in this industry at all, and there is no need to worry about the problem of passing through.

Butch originally planned to go back to inherit his father's wine business after the trip and open up markets outside of Yunjian Province, but let alone going back now, he didn't even dare to let his father know that he had become such a ghost .

  He can be sure that his father will not spend that unreasonable money to replace him with a mechanical prosthetic body that cannot reproduce, but will choose to regenerate one without hesitation.

"It doesn't matter, everything is from unskilled to proficient, what you lack is just a little experience, and I just can provide you with an internship opportunity," Chu Guang patted him on the shoulder excitedly, "As for the wine, don't worry, Our place is not just wine, there are more interesting things here... By the way, can you still drink after becoming like this?"

   "Of course, my sense of taste is still normal..." Bucky whispered guiltyly, "What are you going to ask me to do?"

  Chu Guang didn't answer, and stretched out his hand to press on the VM. After a while, footsteps came from outside the door, and Yin Fang walked in from the outside.

   "What can I do for you? I'm busy."

  Yin Fang stood at the door with an obviously impatient expression on his face.

  Recently, his players have recovered a lot of valuable information from the ruins, and he has been analyzing the valuable clues in those materials.

  When this guy is busy, he even eats in the laboratory. He probably hasn’t showered for a while. Not only is his hair messy, but he hasn’t even shaved his beard.

   But Chu Guang didn't care about these.

   "I'll introduce you to a new employee. This is Butch. Although... he looks a bit scary, he is a nice guy."

  Yin Fang stared at Butch for a while.

"crawler?"

  Budge had a bitter expression on his face.

   "It was an accident, do I...really look like a creeper?"

  Yin Fang nodded with a strange expression.

"kind of."

  Looking at the depressed Bach, Chu Guang coughed lightly.

   "Don't judge people by their appearance... Besides, this is a D-level prospector of the academy. Haven't you been looking for the academy? He is from the academy, although it is a thing of the past."

   "Hello, Mr. Baqi," Yin Fang still stretched out his right hand—the bionic prosthesis produced by the academy, "what is your specialty?"

   "Winemaking, and... know a little about materials," Bucky slowly raised his heavy steel arm, barely shook hands with him, and added cautiously, "But I only know a little."

  Yin Fang's eyes lit up.

   "Material-wise? Great!"

  Chu Guang looked at him.

   "Have you discovered anything new?"

"Of course! It's part of the information about Zhongzhou Aerospace. Some data about aerospace external equipment needs to be restored. I just need an expert in materials science, which will greatly speed up the progress of my work." Yin Fang looked at Bach happily. , "Can I trust your professional ability?"

  Baqi actually wanted to say no, because he himself didn't really believe in his level, but the look in his eyes full of expectation made him unable to say anything.

  Since he turned into this ghost, everyone he meets wants him to go away, as far away as possible.

  This is the first time that someone actually ignored his face and said that he needed his help...

   Nodding his head, Butch said cautiously.

   "While I would say brewing and trading are more for me, but... I can give it a go."

"Very good!"

  Chu Guang happily patted the man on the shoulder.

   "Don't worry, you will have a lot of time. In addition to work, of course you can also try those things you are interested in. At the same time, we will do our best to find a way to change you back."

   Butch smiled wryly.

"hope so."

  Originally he intended to use Vault 404 as the starting point of his journey.

   But now it seems that my graduation trip has ended early...

  College, enterprise, legion, and old popsicles in the shelter... The lineup of NPCs in the 404 shelter is getting bigger and bigger.

   Just when Chu Guang settled down with this friend who came from afar, the ten iron horse 60-pot camel machines bought from Jushicheng were finally delivered to the industrial area of ​​the outpost.

   Eight of them were sent to No. 81 Steel Plant, and two were sent to Goblin Technology.

   According to the task received.

  No. 81 Iron and Steel Plant needs to convert four of them into large tractors capable of providing 60 horsepower within two weeks, and complete a set of trailing four-row subsoiler for it.

   In addition, there are irrigation canals on the north bank of Linghu Lake, and the mechanized mills needed by the granary, which will use two of them respectively.

   Looking at the compact and well-designed equipment in front of him, the lone wolf who happened to be helping No. 81 Iron and Steel Plant showed a surprised expression on his face.

   "Is this a camel machine?"

  Brother Suo and Brother Levin glanced at each other and looked at him suspiciously.

"Any questions?"

  Lone Wolf shook his head.

   "Nothing... just thought it was rare."

  The pot camel machine needs to consume a lot of wood, and it has been basically eliminated in the 1970s, and only a few rural and remote areas are used.

  In his impression, the more common power is 8~12 horsepower, and rarely more than 20 horsepower, let alone a 60 horsepower monster that is comparable to a fuel engine.

but…

  This is quite wasteland.

   "The wood consumption of this thing is probably not small."

  Brother Levin smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, the most indispensable thing here is wood. It is everywhere from the city to the outside of the city. When we opened up wasteland, we cut down a bunch of them. It just consumes a little!"

  Brother Suo echoed: "That's right! But we've also been researching internal combustion engines recently."

   Lone Wolf said in surprise.

   "Is there oil here?"

  Brother Levin: "There is a crop that can produce oil."

  Brother Suo Suo: "That's right! Although we don't grow any, the manager said that he can help us borrow some from the neighbor's house!"

  It’s okay to borrow a little.

  Lone Wolf looked at the camel machine.

   "Can I take it apart and study it?"

  Brother Levin said cheerfully.

   "It's okay! Originally, we also planned to disassemble and study the structure inside."

   "That's right!" Brother Suo nodded excitedly, "The manager said it can be dismantled, as long as it can be put back in!"

   There was a hint of excitement in the eyes of the lone wolf.

  He was curious.

  To what extent can the developer of this epoch-making MMORPG be realistic in details.

  (end of this chapter)