Chapter 45
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Queen's New Body
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After spending nearly a whole week glued to the assembly of Hani No. 1, I managed to complete about 90% of it.
All that was left was the final finishing touches tomorrow, and Hani No. 1 would be done.
It had been grueling work for me and everyone else. Zixuan had even pulled all-nighters to help me out. I stretched my arms.
That was when it happened. An East Asian woman materialized smoothly in front of me. I was so startled by the sudden appearance that I nearly hurled the spanner sitting next to me at her.
Of course, I quickly composed myself. The East Asian woman was none other than Queen, the AI module installed in the munitions factory. Queen bowed her head to me with an expressionless face.
She then lifted her head and began scanning Hani No. 1 from top to bottom. It was as if she were appraising a piece of clothing she was about to wear. Well, less clothing and more like a body she was going to inhabit.
"How is it?"
It was a double-layered question—whether she liked her new body, Hani No. 1, and whether the assembly had been done correctly. Instead of answering, she slightly raised the corner of her mouth.
It was awkward, but that human-like smile was answer enough. I nodded with a satisfied expression.
The next day, I finished Hani No. 1 and began the transfer process for Queen. First, I disassembled Queen from the computer in the admin room and synthesized her into Hani No. 1.
I connected the power cables and supplied electricity. Whirr. Lights began flickering on one by one in the limp main bodies. And... finally, Hani No. 1—no, Queen—activated.
At the same moment, the interior scenery shifted. To a field with wind blowing through it. Of course, it was just graphics. An East Asian woman slowly approached from the field.
「Queen confirms the new computer, Hani No. 1. This is a high-performance computer capable of 'fully' utilizing Queen's capabilities.」
「However, Queen warns. Power source is insufficient. An additional power source must be secured for continuous maintenance.」
It seemed Sirius 2 could no longer handle it. Makes sense—Sirius N was supplying power not just to this munitions factory, but to the entire Shelter Apocalypse.
Sure, it was just enough to light up lamps or streetlights, but still.
Even so, powering the whole shelter meant it wasn't enough to run Hani No. 1 as well. Or maybe Hani No. 1 just consumed way too much power.
Either way, nothing changed the fact that, as Queen said, we needed to bolster the power source. It looked like I'd have to rip out a bunch of solar panels and cover the building with them.
Anyway... I put off fetching the solar panels for later and got to installing the Sentry Guns, my original goal. Queen could now operate more than twenty Sentry Guns.
No, not just twenty—if we secured a proper power source, she could run them by the hundreds. I immediately started mass-producing Sentry Guns.
I already had the blueprints, so all I needed to do was use Metal Transformation to make them.
「Used Metal Transformation (Lv.7) to synthesize multi-barrel machine gun x1, steel barrel x1, Wi-Fi module x1, infrared camera x1, creating Defective Sentry Gun.」
「Defective Sentry Gun」
Attack Power: 41~51
Durability: 47/47
Description: A Sentry Gun handmade by Mechanic Park Si-hyun. Due to inexperience, its performance isn't outstanding, and there's a chance of malfunction.
Whenever I made a Sentry Gun, I reinforced it with Metal Reinforcement. It cost more AP, but it was more efficient overall.
「Used Metal Reinforcement (Lv.4) to reinforce Defective Sentry Gun.」
「Defective Sentry Gun」
Attack Power: 50~61
Durability: 53/53
Description: A Sentry Gun handmade and reinforced by Mechanic Park Si-hyun. Due to inexperience, its performance isn't outstanding, and there's a chance of malfunction.
Attack power and durability had increased. Metal Reinforcement at level 4 had no equivalent exchange. I had the shelter residents deploy the completed Sentry Guns.
Then I started making more Sentry Guns. One, two, three... up to seven. I couldn't make any more because I'd exhausted all my AP.
It was a bit slow, but that was fine. Time was what we had in abundance anyway.
My daily routine over the next week was unchanging.
After a light breakfast, I began producing Sentry Guns.
By the time I'd squeezed out every last drop of AP, it was already night. After a late lunch-dinner, I worked until dawn, pulling out work android robots to raise my proficiency.
It was a schedule brutal enough to put any workaholic to shame. But I couldn't rest. I had no intention of forgetting my main goal.
The shelter was one thing, but my real objective was to mass-produce work android robots as soon as the factory district was complete.
「Proficiency with Work Android Robot has increased.」
But along with the schedule, my stress was building day by day. It was starting to feel like I might end up with something like depression.
'I need a break.'
I thought tomorrow I'd hole up in the movie room and watch films all day. Of course, the next day, when I snapped out of it and remembered thinking that...
I was unconsciously making Sentry Guns.
"Take a break, seriously. You'll really drop dead like this."
Zixuan brought me a drink. Soda. Nothing beats sweet, fizzy cola for blowing off stress.
"Yeah, I guess I should."
Normally I'd have said 'I'm fine,' but I felt the need for rest again. In the end, I dropped everything that day and headed outside.
It felt like being cooped up inside was stressing me out, so I figured I'd go farming for a change. While Queen scouted for solar panels, I could hunt some zombies too.
Truth be told, my level was rising steadily even without hunting zombies, but right now I just wanted to do something.
I suited up in Aegis, hopped on the Diablo RX, left the shelter, and cranked the motorcycle's speed even higher.
Vroooom. The Diablo RX's insane exhaust note soothed my mind.
I tore through the factory district like a wild horse. The zombies inside had definitely thinned out a lot. Back in the day, that noise would have drawn hordes of them...
Well, hundreds or thousands had been turned into fried chickens by the electric fences. Plus, the Sentry Guns on the rooftops were relentlessly wiping out zombies nonstop.
At this rate, unless someone intervened, they'd really go extinct. Thinking that, I stopped the Diablo RX. A variant zombie had latched on.
Fortunately, the variant that showed up was a Jumper. I could cry tears of joy—it was just what I wanted.
Grrr.
Letting out a beast-like growl, it scaled buildings and circled around me. I grabbed my assault rifle and pulled the trigger. Bang! Bang!
Startled by the sound, it fled, but the bullets hit its leg. It started limping.
But it climbed to a rooftop and leaped to the building across. Since it chose to 'flee,' it seemed like a fairly intelligent Jumper.
'Where do you think you're going?'
I smirked bitterly, twisted the throttle, and let go. It was fast, but the Diablo RX was a 'monster' more than capable of keeping up.
Bang! Bang!
I fired at the building. Six out of seven shots missed. But the last one hit.
It didn't die, but it must have struck a bad spot, because it fell to the ground.
It tried to jump again, but this leap wasn't high or far.
Watching it limp desperately away to survive stirred a bit of pity, but I quickly shoved it aside.
It was a zombie, after all. It showed up to eat me in the first place. Sympathy? Feed it to the dogs. I aimed at its head and pulled the trigger.
The bullet pierced its skull, and its body collapsed.
Almost simultaneously, I looked up. I felt eyes on me. A group of people was staring at me, guns trained.
I knew who they were.
They were survivors from Shelter D. And the woman in front was Sophia.
Yeah, those lovely neighbors.
I stared at them silently. A tense atmosphere hung between us for a moment. Just like with Mariana and Professor Alex, they didn't seem all that friendly toward me.
Some even looked hostile. But on the flip side, I caught curiosity from a few others.
'Why are they staring like that?'
As I wondered, Sophia spoke first.
"Lower your guns, everyone."
The survivors lowered their weapons. I lowered mine too. Sophia walked toward me.
"Long time no see. Or is it?"
If it's been a long time, it's been a long time—what kind of phrasing is that?
"Long time no see."
"We were out scavenging supplies too... Got a minute?"
"Do I have to? I don't think we're close enough for that."
"I'm really sorry about back then. I was the bad one."
Her expression as she said that didn't look sorry at all.
Well, I wasn't planning to press her anyway, so I nodded. Still, what did she want to talk about? I had a rough guess, but the details piqued my interest.
After a moment's thought, I accepted her offer.
"Alright."
We entered a nearby building. A paper mill. Zombie corpses were scattered around. She had her survivors drag over a log table and chairs.
She perched on the edge of the table, and I sat in the chair. Whether intentional or not, it put her looking down at me.
"What did you want to say?"
"Oh, nothing much..."
Her eyes suddenly sharpened.
"It's fine to expand your shelter and loot nearby supplies. But could you stop giving my people false hope?"
"False hope?"
"The rumors spreading in Shelter D—you started them, right?"
What the hell is this about...
Thinking about it, I had a hunch.
Apocalypse All-Purpose Machine