Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: Savior Project
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Now that his morning routine had become everyday life, Yuseong headed to the second basement level. It was originally a space for entertainment. But Yuseong was using it for something entirely different.
Parts and storage devices were piled up there.
One day, Yuseong had an idea.
His robots boasted impressive specs. Their AI levels were quite advanced, allowing for a high degree of independent judgment.
'Why not have these guys search for tech and parts?'
He immediately formed pairs of two robots each and sent them to the nearest factory from the hideout.
The experiment was a success. The robots brought back a substantial amount of parts and storage devices.
But they weren't factory control computers. Combat robots couldn't possibly have the precision to distinguish only the needed components.
Among what they brought were plenty of useless scrap metal.
They had grabbed whatever they could find. So Yuseong came up with another idea.
'Let's use the Strategy Guide.'
He analyzed the factory info stored in the robots' drives through the Strategy Guide. It successfully identified the necessary parts.
All that was left was to dispatch the robots again to retrieve them.
The downside was sending them out twice, but these were combat robots with nothing to do when Yuseong was gaming or crossing to the other world. Aside from a minimal guard detail, it was better to use them this way.
If long-range wireless comms were still functional in this ruined world, the hideout's Strategy Guide could have fed info directly to the robots without this hassle.
But who had long-range comms in a world that had ended?
After checking the parts the robots had stacked up, Yuseong armed himself and left the hideout. Six robots accompanied him.
Four were combat robots for his escort and fighting. The other two were household robots he'd use as pack mules.
En route to his marked destination, Yuseong encountered beasts. He grimaced.
'Six of them again.'
Beasts were grouping up more often. The pack sizes were clearly growing.
'In the old days, I'd be dead already.'
But that pack was no threat to Yuseong now.
True to form, the beasts spotted him and charged like mad. The robots moved to block his front, ready to engage.
Click!
The robots aimed their muzzles at the beasts. And fired.
But nothing happened. No ear-shattering gunfire, no muzzle flash.
A misfire?
-Kieeeek!
The beasts' screams confirmed the robots' attack had hit home.
The robots had used laser guns. Electromagnetic waves meant no loud bangs or flames.
But the high-output energy had enough power to pierce the beasts' thick hides.
And best of all, they just needed energy—no ammo required. That suited Yuseong as much as the firepower.
The six beasts were wiped out in seconds.
The robots reformed their escort formation around Yuseong.
The household robots carrying massive solar generators connected cables to the generators and combat robots, recharging the power drained by the lasers.
Once the robots were ready to move again, Yuseong resumed walking.
As he went, he glanced at the beast corpses. Packs that size were no threat anymore. But their growing numbers nagged at him.
'A beast horde covering the ground.'
He might soon face the kind of overwhelming beast swarms from the monster wars.
* * *
After days of travel, Yuseong arrived at a building.
It was some research institute.
'Future Guardians Research Institute.'
A childish yet grandiose name. Guardians of the future, huh.
But it hadn't lived up to the title.
The world had ended, after all.
It sat atop a mountain. The peak was high enough that the surrounding view was clear.
Looking down revealed a massive gray city asserting its presence.
'That's Seoul.'
The capital and largest metropolis of the old nation called Korea on this land. Yuseong had always known Seoul existed.
The city where he mainly lived in the other world was also Seoul. But this one was vastly different.
It showed the gap in tech and time—this world's Seoul had far more skyscrapers, greater scale, and stranger buildings.
But it was a dead city regardless. Built with more advanced tech than the other world's Seoul, its desolate ruins felt even more desolate.
Yet eeriness wasn't all it offered. Seoul was now crawling with real threats.
'Big city means plenty of beasts holed up inside.'
Even with his current forces, tackling Seoul was out of the question.
'But if I boost my funds and notoriety more, maybe.'
As a national capital, it likely held substantial tech remnants. Yuseong turned from Seoul, planning for the future.
The institute was huge. A tall fence was the first thing he saw—clearly security-focused.
He hopped the fence and entered.
-Kyaaah!
Beasts welcomed him here too. But the robots' pinpoint shots silenced them instantly.
He cleared every beast in sight while scouting the place.
"Hmm."
He'd wondered what a "future guardians" lab researched. Massive electronic devices caught his eye.
'Servants?'
That was his first thought. But further inspection changed his mind.
'Some kind of supercomputer.'
That might justify the "Future Guardians" name.
Unlike factories, this research lab had no finished products. But the tech the system craved overflowed.
Quest: Tech Exploration
Find the technologies in the Future Guardians Research Institute.
Reward: Varies by tech value.
Quest: Item Collection
Explore the Future Guardians Research Institute and transport useful items to the other world.
Reward: Varies by item value (reduced for damage or missing parts).
Sure enough, quests popped up. Usually only one—tech or parts—but now both at once.
'It wants me to sweep the place clean.'
And that meant the system valued it highly.
'Let's do it.'
Yuseong followed the quests diligently.
He ransacked the lab, grabbing everything the Strategy Guide flagged.
Then he found a document.
'About projects done here.'
Curiosity drove him to flip through it. Time had degraded the paper badly, but some text remained legible.
'They were researching supercomputers to run some program.'
Mention of foreign labs suggested an international effort.
'Purpose... looks like multiple things, but hard to read.'
One phrase stood out, though.
Humanity's survival.
'So this was an international project for humanity's survival?'
Not exact, but probably right.
'The name wasn't empty hype.'
AI appeared repeatedly in other snippets.
'The program for the supercomputer was AI?'
No more details—the degradation worsened. He opened the last page. His eyes locked on the logo printed in the margin after the text.
The logo was warped too. But the text below was faintly readable.
'Savior Project.'
Likely the project's name.
Humanity's survival, supercomputer, AI, international project, and...
'Savior.'
Memories flashed: the Savior's Blessing trait from starting the ark, and the AI called Savior under the other world's Utopia.
* * *
The documents offered a thin connection, but nothing solid. The damage made him doubt his read.
The info might differ entirely from his interpretation.
He asked the Strategy Guide, but it had no data.
He checked the grabbed drives, but they only held supercomputer info—no answers to his questions.
So he filed it away mentally without conclusions.
By the time he'd stripped the lab, heaps of items surrounded him.
'Can't carry this all at once.'
Easily over a ton. His plan to transport straight to the other world hit a snag.
'Have to have the robots haul it to the hideout.'
Then ferry it over bit by bit on later trips.
Yuseong ordered the robots to move the stuff, then shifted to the other world. He vanished from the lab in an instant.
* * *
The air upon arriving in the other world was always refreshingly crisp, though familiar now. Today especially so.
He'd come to the house where he'd first entered this world. He wanted a break from concrete jungles to feel nature again.
He strolled slowly out, savoring the natural scents stimulating his senses.
Then.
"Excuse me, are you Yuseong?"
Someone called from behind. He turned. A familiar old woman.
'The grandma from West Garden?'
"You're Yuseong, right?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember me?"
"You're the grandmother from West Garden's owner."
"Yes!"
She gripped his hand tightly, eyes tearing up.
"I wanted to thank you properly, and now I finally can."
"It's fine."
"How could it be? I heard I'd be dead without you. How can I not thank you for saving my life?"
Yuseong looked at her wrinkled, warm hand holding his.
"Wait, I need to treat you to something...."
"It's okay. If there's repayment, I'm getting it from West Garden's owner."
Her intro vid had skyrocketed his notoriety. For Yuseong, that was perfect compensation.
"Still, I want to give you something. But nothing comes to mind."
"Really, it's fine...."
"Come to think of it, I heard you like food. Want a meal at my place?"
"Sure."
He never turned down free food. Yuseong followed the old woman home.