Chapter 260 Engineers from Enterprise

   in the mud pit.

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

   put his hands on the ground, and before it could get up from the ground, a gun was already on the back of its head.

"do not move."

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

   "How to get to... the northern suburbs." The dull voice drifted out from under the armor intermittently, making people wonder if he only said this sentence.

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

"do not know."

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

   Not only that, the connection parts of the breastplate steel plate were all riveted, and there was a neat row of hexagonal rivets, and there was no opening mechanism at all.

   Then here comes the problem.

  What should I do if I poop?

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

   As the manager, there must be a way.

   Yu Xiong nodded, found two guards to look at this guy, and then went to the prisoner's side.

   A total of four prisoners.

   In addition to the six who ran away, a total of fifteen people were killed in the melee.

   Including their leader - the man named Wu Chou.

   After the interrogation, we learned that these people are mercenaries from Boulder City, but they are not from the mercenary group. They are all temporary workers who can't get serious jobs.

   As for why you can't get a job, there are different reasons for each.

  Yu Xiong didn't care about this, just ordered people to tie their hands and feet, rushed to the wall and squatted, and waited for the manager to come.

  The situation on the player and the guards side is quite optimistic. Due to the timely arrival of support, there is no major problem except for a few minor injuries.

   Including the guy who got shot in the leg.

The    bullet was lucky to have passed through his leg, no bones or arteries were injured, and it was unlikely that he would be disabled.

but.

  The injury has become like this, and he is still an ordinary person who has not awakened. In the second half of his life, he will probably have nothing to do with the mercenary profession.

   got out of the alley, Roshan Damomo buried his head in shame, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to get in.

   "Yes, I'm sorry, I was scared when the gunshots rang..."

   "It's alright, just a small problem." Si Si patted the big white bear 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 the last time I was at the experimental base, Rou Rou was quite brave."

  Siss was slightly surprised, then recalled it seriously, and nodded thoughtfully.

   "Well, maybe it's really possible."

   "Don't be disheartened! This place is too small to be used, so 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!"

   Rou Rou: "???"

   On the other side, with the help of Teng Teng and Sesame Paste, Ya Ya, who was stuck in half of the wall, finally broke free from the pile of broken concrete.

   "Damn..."

   laboriously took off the helmet stuck on the breastplate, shaking his dazed head, muttering, "The network was actually bad for me just now."

   "Does it really matter?" Fujito looked worriedly at the breastplate that was almost smashed into it, and whispered, "Or... you should go back and save it."

   "No, no, don't worry, I'm fine!"

   Shaking the slapped head, Yaoya put on a smile that she believed to be reliable, and gave a thumbs up, "Don't worry Fujiteng, I will definitely deliver you safely!"

  Tujiteng held his forehead with a headache.

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

  Yowy: "Ah! Aren't you a bit moved by this woman?"

  Tujiteng subtly looked away.

   "A little bit."

   What to say.

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

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

   Ya Ya was stunned.

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

  Tengteng: "Maybe... it's Boss Xia?"

   Ya Ya looked at her in surprise.

   "Boss Xia?!"

   "Well, I guess."

  Teng Teng silently pointed to the street corner not far away.

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

   I saw that behind Boss Xia, he was carrying a LD-47s with a scope -- a "long sickle" semi-automatic rifle.

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

   "Manager?"

"Um."

  Teng Teng nodded, a trace of curiosity written in his eyes.

   "It seems to trigger the plot."

  …

   Qian Lai, who was hiding next to the two-headed cow, walked out of the alley while patting the ashes on his clothes, and bumped into Chu Guang who was walking from the west.

  Qian Lai's face showed a surprised expression, obviously he didn't expect to meet this big man in the northern suburbs here.

   "Manager...sir?"

  Chu Guang looked at him and said.

"are you OK?"

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

  Chan Lai admitted that he had been reckless before.

   These people are not weak.

   Although it looks a little unreliable, they are much stronger than he imagined in terms of insight and combat power.

   "You should say this to them."

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

   Next to the man in armor, there are Xu Shun and two guards watching.

   Until Chu Guang walked in front of him and sat against the wall, he was still 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 said, looking down at it, "explain your purpose."

   In response to this sentence, the man in the armor slowly raised his head and wrapped his hands around the helmet.

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

   I don’t know if it’s an illusion.

   He always felt that these eyes looked a little familiar.

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

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

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

   "It's a creeper! Your lord!"

"Wait a moment!"

   raised 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?"

   is really strange.

   The slime mold xenogeneic can actually speak human language?

   His rotting face gasped lightly, and no rational color could be seen in his scarlet pupils.

  Chu Guang was slightly disappointed.

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

   "Bah...Budge."

   The guards standing around were startled when they saw this guy babble.

   Including Xu Shun.

  Although the outpost also has some alien species that can speak human words, but in his cognition, they are all technology of the Refuge, pets with blue coats.

   And a wild xenogeneic like this—and a slime mold xenogeneic, actually opened his mouth to speak human words, he had never heard of such an outrageous thing!

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

   The man nodded slowly.

"Yes."

  Chu Guang frowned.

   The name...

   sounds a little familiar.

  …

   "The analysis results are out."

   Vault 404, B3 floor.

   Medical Laboratory.

  Heya, who came out of the laboratory, skillfully handed a screen converted from a VM to Chu Guang, which was filled with a series of test results including blood tests.

   As the expert with the most say on alien species in the sanctuary, the only person who hopes to find out what happened to this "Budge" brother is probably this silver-haired SSSR.

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

   "What's the matter with him?" With a pretentious glance, Chu Guang returned the tablet to Heya.

  Hya explained patiently.

"Variant slime mold infection, and the erosion rate is as high as 67%. This is quite rare, because according to my research results, the relationship between the slime mold xenogeneic and other organisms should be a predatory relationship. You remember, creepers are slime molds the fruiting entity."

  Chu Guang nodded, indicating that he still remembered.

   "What about him?"

  Hya: "Symbiosis."

  Chu Guang was slightly stunned.

   "...Symbiosis?"

  Hya sighed, and put her forehead with a hand wrapped around her chest.

"I don't really care about 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 I don't know why he suddenly decided to let him live, so he evolved became a fruiting body with organ-like function, replacing his original organ."

   Mutant slime molds evolve fruiting bodies that can imitate the behavior and characteristics of devoured creatures, such as gnaws, creepers, martyrs, and even tyrants.

   However, after eating the organ, it is rare to form a symbiotic relationship with the host instead of the original organ.

   Even Xia Yan, who is fond of urban legends, is unheard of.

  Chu Guang pinched his eyebrows.

   "So he only has one brain left?"

   "Maybe three-quarters?" Heya hesitated for a moment, then said after thinking for a moment, "The infection of the slime mold 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?"

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

  Chu Guang was stunned for a moment.

   "Live forever?!"

  Hya nodded.

"Well...because according to my research results, Mutant slime mold does not have the Hayflick limit, and even with the passage of time, the functions of the organs formed by those fruiting bodies will be further improved and more powerful than before. Of course, there are also Another possibility is that when these slime molds 'feel' that the host is no longer necessary, they may also eat the remaining part of the brain."

   "Wait a minute," Butch, who was sitting beside the scanning bed, slowly raised his steel-covered hand and said in a weak voice, "I'm like this, is there any help?"

  Chu Guang glanced at this guy unexpectedly.

"you're awake?"

   He thought this guy could only speak a word.

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

   She herself is like that.

  Bionic prostheses can not only prolong lifespan, but are also far more reliable than the original organs of the organism. But Heya also knew that replacing the vast majority of parts with technology was not acceptable to everyone.

  Chu Guang coughed lightly.

   "There is no black box for the production of bionic organs in Vault 404... In fact, from another angle, isn't the organ you have now considered a bionic organ? And it can still evolve actively."

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

   "You said that, it's really a bit."

  Budge had a pained expression on his face.

   "It doesn't feel good at all."

  Chu Guang: "Does it hurt?"

  Budge shook his head: "That's not it, let alone pain, I have lost the pain, I can't even feel that I am alive."

  Chu Guang: "What did you encounter?"

  Budge was silent for a while, then sighed softly.

   "That's a long story..."

   That was the winter of Wasteland Age 211.

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

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

   There lives a nice group of people from Vault 404 that just lifted the lockdown, and they've recently become permanent business partners.

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

   In Bucky’s perception, food should be linked to technology. Those wastelanders are already worthy of praise if they can cook the food. If they can’t eat enough, can they know what delicious food is? Not to mention the culture.

   But the letter still arouses the interest of Butch, who happens to be bored to the point of mold in Ideal City. Although life here is orderly and regular like codes on a holographic screen, it is precisely because of this that there is a lack of necessary errors.

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

   But what he didn't expect was that this journey was full of surprises from the very beginning...

"...My father was a wine merchant, and I initially followed a caravan sponsored by my father to the west of the Clouds, and since then I've been on the road alone. I hired guards, guides, doctors, and everything was fine. I made preparations and moved along the track marks of the Trailblazer, and everything went as planned, but when I passed Yongdong City, there was an accident."

"There was no one there, it was like a dead city. No one knew where the survivors' colony was supposed to be on the map, and out of an abundance of caution, we planned to evacuate from the city. But just then , we were suddenly besieged by thousands—perhaps tens of thousands of predators.”

  Budge took a deep breath.

"I thought I was dead when I was knocked down by the gnats, but when I woke up, the gnats around me were gone...including my teammates. I always thought it was a nightmare, It wasn't until I found a mirror that I realized the real nightmare was just beginning."

  Budge's Adam's apple moved and continued.

   "Since then, I've been like this."

  Heya and Chu Guang looked at each other and couldn't help saying.

   "This is too bizarre."

  Chu Guang nodded.

"really."

   When he heard the first half, Chu Guang had already figured out the identity of this Budge. It was Luo Hua on the Opener, who said he would introduce it to his engineer friend.

   However, Chu Guang still had some doubts in his heart for the second half of Bachi's words.

   Occasionally, players are killed in the tunnel. This is not uncommon, but he has never heard of any player being parasitized by slime molds.

   As Heya said, the first reaction of the fruiting body of the slime mold to the captured prey is to eat it directly, turning it into nutrients for the production of spores.

   It was the first time he heard that someone had been turned into a "person" by slime mold.

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

"In short, since then, the xenogeneic seems to have lost interest in me. The slime mold xenogeneic treats me as a kindred, and those mutant hyenas, if they are not very hungry, will not give me a mouth, even if they mouth the most, they will only eat me. A hand...maybe a leg. But it doesn't matter, because it doesn't feel any pain at all, and the lost hand and leg will grow back after a week or two, and they will be stronger than before. To the back hyena It can't bite me anymore, and I've become what I am now."

   Regeneration of amputated limbs? !

   Regenerative 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 little ugly, he could hardly think of any weaknesses in this "sequence". As long as his head didn't break, wouldn't he be able to live forever?

   "Are you envious?"

   "That's not..."

"No, I can feel it," Butch continued, shaking his head with a bitter expression on his face, "you don't understand the feeling at all, and I've never been to a human survivor's colony since then, and When they see people, they have to stay far away, they don't believe I am human at all, and even if I tell them it was an accident, they will drive me away."

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

  Budge: "I met a slave trader when I entered the valley province."

  Chu Guang: "Slave trader?"

"Well," Butch nodded, "that guy was the only good guy I met who was interested in me along the way. He said he would take me to the Wandering Swamp and sell it to the academy for research. I thought about it. Maybe the academy can really understand what happened to me, and it seems 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's colony without noticing, but... the plan will never keep up with the changes, and his slaves rioted because of some things, Hang him from a tree."

"I didn't know how to get to the academy at all. I asked the slaves and they didn't know either. They just wanted to go home. I had to go alone. There is a place called Refuge No. 404 in Qingquan City, so I continued to walk westward, but as I walked, my physical condition suddenly began to deteriorate, and my consciousness began to be in a trance... It's hard to describe the feeling, just It was as if there was a rope between my soul and my body."

  Hya interjected.

   "It should be at that time, the slime mold has invaded the nervous system, and I can perform a small operation on you in a while to prevent the slime mold from continuing to spread to the nervous system."

"Thank you," Bachi took a deep breath and looked at Chu Guang pleadingly, "Afterwards, I only remembered the northern suburbs of Qingquan City, and then I went all the way here... This is my whole experience. I am now 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 has helped me a lot. What's more, you have this kind of thing on your way to me, and I can't leave you alone. ." Chu Guang then looked at Heya, "Besides replacing the bionic organ, is there a way to restore him to his original state?"

  Bionic organs are too expensive.

   If you just change your eyes, hands and feet, and if you change everything from the blood vessels to the skin, I'm afraid not many rich people in the ideal city can stand it.

  Many things are non-renewable resources, just like nuclear fusion, there is more than one dimension between the words "useable" and "can create".

  Hya shook her head.

"His immune system has been completely replaced by the fruiting bodies of the slime molds, which technically not he accepts, but the slime molds that allow him to keep his brain and dominate the body that has become xenogeneic. To replace the bionic organ, I actually recommend replacing the body directly... 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, just as she was about to instigate a few words, Chu Guang, who could see her thoughts on the side, coughed lightly, interrupting the guy's words that had almost reached his mouth.

   "I don't think that changing the body of the machine will be more optimistic than the current situation. In short, you should live here for a while, you have nowhere else to go."

   After a pause, Chu Guang continued.

   "By the way, you just mentioned graduation travel... What major are you in?"

  Budge: "Materials Engineer."

  Chu Guang was pleasantly surprised: "Material engineer? Specifically? What are you researching?"

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

   "Carbon nano direction... But don't expect too much from my professional ability, I may know more about wine and food."

  His diploma is a mixed bag.

   This kind of situation is not uncommon in Ideal City, especially for someone like him who has no plans to engage in this line of work, and there is no need to worry about the problem of wearing gangs.

Bachi originally planned to go back to inherit his father's wine business after the trip, and open up markets outside the province of Yunjian, but now, let alone going back, 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 the unjust money to replace him with a mechanical prosthesis that cannot reproduce, but will choose to regenerate one without hesitation.

"It doesn't matter, everything is from unskilled to skilled. What you lack is just a little experience, and I can provide you with an internship opportunity," Chu Guang patted his shoulder excitedly, "As for wine, don't worry, We're not just about wine here, there are more interesting things than that... By the way, can you still drink when you've become like this?"

   "Of course, my sense of taste is still normal..." Butch said in a low voice, "What are you going to ask me to do?"

  Chu Guang didn't answer, he stretched out his hand and pressed it on the VM. Not long after, there were footsteps outside the door, and Yin Fang walked in from outside.

   "What's the matter with me? I'm busy."

  Yin Fang, who was standing at the door, had an expression of obvious impatience on his face.

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

   This guy was in the lab when he was busy, and he probably hadn't showered for a while. Not only did he have messy hair, but he didn't even shave his beard.

   But Chu Guang didn't care about that.

   "I'd like to introduce you to a new employee. This is Bucky. Although... he looks a little scary, but he is a good person."

  Yin Fang stared at Butch for a while.

"crawler?"

  Budge had a bitter expression on his face.

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

   Yin Fang nodded strangely.

"kind of."

   Looking at Butch who was in depression, Chu Guang coughed lightly.

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

   "Hello Mr. Butch," Yin Fang still held out his right hand, the bionic prosthesis from the academy, "what is your specialty?"

   "Wine, and... know a little about materials," Butch slowly raised his heavy steel arm, barely shook his hand, and added cautiously, "But I only know a little."

   Yin Fang's eyes lit up.

   "Material? Great!"

  Chu Guang looked at him.

   "Have you discovered anything new?"

"Of course! It's some information about Zhongzhou Aerospace. Some data about aerospace equipment needs to be repaired. I just need an expert in materials science, which will greatly speed up my work." Yin Fang looked at Bachi with joy. , "Can I trust your professional ability?"

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

  Since he became this ghost, everyone he met wanted him to roll away, the farther the better.

   This is the first time that someone doesn't care about his face and says that he needs his help...

   nodded, Butch said cautiously.

   "Although I'd say brewing and business is better for me, but...I can give it a shot."

"Great!"

  Chu Guang happily patted the old man on the shoulder.

   "Don't worry, you'll have a lot of time. In addition to work, you can of course try things that interest you. At the same time, we will do our best to find a way to make you change back."

  Budge smiled wryly.

"hope so."

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

   But now, it seems that his graduation trip has ended early...

  Academy, Enterprise, Legion, and the old popsicles of the Refuge... The NPC lineup of Vault 404 is getting bigger and bigger.

   When Chu Guang settled down the friend who had come from afar, the ten iron horse 60 pot camel machines bought from Jushi City were finally delivered to the industrial area of ​​the outpost.

   Eight of them were sent to Steel 81, and two were sent to Goblin Tech.

  According to the task received.

  Steel Works 81 needed to convert four of them into large 60-horsepower tractors within two weeks and complete a set of trailed four-row subsoiling planters for it.

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

   Looking at the compact and tightly designed equipment in front of him, Lone Wolf, who happened to be helping out at No. 81 Steel Plant, showed a surprised expression on his face.

   "Is this a pot machine?"

   Brother Toilet Suo and Brother Levine looked 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. It has been basically eliminated in the 1970s, and only a few rural and remote areas are in use.

   In his impression, the more common powers are 8~12 horsepower, and few of them are above 20, let alone 60 horsepower that is comparable to a fuel engine monster.

but……

   This is quite a wasteland.

  "I'm afraid the wood consumption of this thing is not small."

   Brother Levine smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, the most important thing here is wood. It is everywhere from the city to the outside of the city. When the wasteland was opened, a bunch of them were cut down, just to consume a little!"

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

   Lone Wolf was surprised.

   "There's oil here?"

   Brother Levine: "There is a crop that can produce oil in the setting."

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

  It’s okay to borrow a little.

   Lone Wolf looked at the pot camel machine.

   "Can I take it apart and study it?"

   Brother Levine said cheerfully.

   "It's okay! We originally planned to disassemble it and study the structure inside."

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

   Lone Wolf's eyes brought a hint of excitement.

   He was curious.

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

   (end of this chapter)