Chapter 56
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: The First Work Android
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"Does it even make sense that a professor's never driven a tractor?"
Professor Alex let out a deep sigh at Maria's teasing remark.
"No, young lady. What opportunity would a professor ever have to drive a tractor?"
Maria shrugged her shoulders.
"If even an ag school's professor doesn't know how, who around here does?"
"That guy over there, isn't he one?"
Professor Alex pointed at the tractor. Park Si-hyun, who had been in the workshop for a while and stepped out for a breather, had climbed aboard at the professor's request.
"I know our leader's an amazing guy and all... but there's no way he's driven a tractor before..."
Professor Alex adjusted his glasses and peered intently at Park Si-hyun atop the tractor. He sat there gripping the controls with his eyes closed.
At a glance, it did seem like Maria was right—he had no idea how to drive it.
'What do we do then?'
Park Si-hyun had built the tractor, but if he didn't know how to operate it, they were back to square one. Getting it to move was simple enough, but without proper driving skills, he could wreck the field entirely.
Should they scout someone from another shelter who knew how to drive one? As he pondered this, the tractor Park Si-hyun was on began to rumble slowly into motion.
"Whoa, it's moving."
Drdddrdrddr
The plow attached to the front started evenly tilling the soil. Professor Alex realized then that he was operating it with proper technique.
'Did he know how all along?'
No, if he already knew, there'd be no need to sit there motionless atop it. Maybe this was part of his superpower too.
'Just how far does his superpower extend?'
If his ability could let him "perfectly" pilot even vehicles he'd never touched before... could he handle something as complex as a fighter jet?
'I should test that out next time.'
Thinking this, Professor Alex fumbled in his back pocket and pulled out a small notebook. It was filled top to bottom with cramped handwriting.
Maria was reminded anew that this old man was a professor at a prestigious university. Writing that tiny at his age couldn't be easy...
Gazing at him admiringly, she could also make out the contents of the notebook.
- Stable agricultural water supply needed for large-scale farming (replace aging sewage pipes) (problem: no technicians available except leader) - Need to train technicians (relying almost entirely on leader's abilities) (fine for now, but will be a problem as shelter grows) - Shelter power structu...
As she tried to read further down, the page flipped to a blank one. He had picked up a pen in one hand without her noticing and was now trotting eagerly toward Park Si-hyun.
"Hey, teach me too!"
Maria followed after him, staring at the back of his exposed head for a moment.
"Teach me too, please!"
Park Si-hyun showed them how to operate it. Professor Alex meticulously noted down every detail without missing a beat. He planned to share it with the residents.
After clinging to him for a good while, Professor Alex finally climbed aboard for a test drive himself and descended with a satisfied look. Maria hopped into the driver's seat unnecessarily and got off.
"How many more will you make?"
"It's tough to do one a day, but I can manage one a week."
"That'll do. The land isn't that vast yet anyway."
Of course, it had felt expansive until now since they'd done everything by hand, but with tractors coming online, it wouldn't seem so big anymore.
The power of machines was truly remarkable.
Park Si-hyun nodded.
"By the way, when are you heading to that Valhalla food factory you mentioned the day before yesterday?"
The day before yesterday, Park Si-hyun had gathered the residents and laid out his plans. Excluding the elderly, children, and a minimal guard detail for Shelter Apocalypse, they would "mostly" all relocate.
"I'm thinking next week. Planning to tell the other survivors that too."
Professor Alex tilted his head.
"Didn't you say this week the day before yesterday?"
"Ah, something urgent came up first."
"Urgent, huh... let me guess..."
He recalled what Park Si-hyun had been obsessively working on these past couple of days.
He'd been glued to an android robot all day. From eavesdropping on his chat with Zixuan, he'd said the "comprehension work was almost done."
Professor Alex had no clue what that precisely meant, but he could guess it tied into producing work android robots.
Work android robot.
An all-purpose machine capable of every human task, if only it had AI.
Mass-produce them, and expanding the shelter across the whole island wouldn't be a pipe dream. No, not just the island...
'The whole city...'
Just imagining it lifted his spirits.
Park Si-hyun gazed at the lost-in-thought professor and opened his mouth with a calm smile.
"You're probably thinking exactly what I think you are."
"As expected... when can we see it?"
"If things go fast, maybe by the weekend."
The comprehension work had sped up. He realized it wasn't unrelated to his Metal Transformation leveling up. At 90% now.
A relaxed week, or as little as three or four days to finish. That was why he'd postponed the Valhalla food factory raid to next week.
The difference between a mechanic having work android robots or not was night and day.
Shelter C was different from the others.
Green. As a shelter hand-built by a top-tier megacorp, its walls were so high even variant zombies wouldn't dare approach, armed to the teeth with powerful weaponry.
The residents inside were no ordinary folk either. Mostly rigorously selected individuals, each with some standout skill. Industrial technicians, university professors, doctors, priests...
That was why they only took select external survivors. Only the capable ones.
"What's your specialty?"
"Superpower."
Johnson stated firmly. The examiner sighed.
He had screened countless survivors. Judging and weeding out based on their skills was his job.
He'd seen plenty lie about skills they didn't have to get in, but almost never anyone spouting such absurd nonsense right to his face.
And he knew most of those rare cases were ravings from "lunatics."
"Did you pick up that superpower in the psych ward? Makes me curious which one. What, everyone else there superpowered too?"
"Others besides me are superpowered too."
"Does that even make sense? Our shelter's only got room for capable nobles, not lunatics like you."
"What'd you say?"
Qinghan, who had been listening quietly from behind, drew his sword. Survivors behind the examiner trained guns on him.
"You know it's not the Middle Ages anymore, right? A sword. You dumb Chinese guy."
To him, this sword-wielding fool was just pathetic. Swords were obsolete weapons long gone... no match for guns, in his view.
"Hmph, go ahead and shoot. I'll bounce those bullets back and put a hole in your skull."
On the way to Shelter C, they'd encountered and hunted hordes of zombies. Thanks to that, Qinghan had leveled up to 20.
And he'd acquired a new skill: Reflection. Exactly as named—a skill to deflect enemy attacks with his sword.
"Qinghan, no need for that."
Qinghan sheathed his sword quietly. Johnson raised his gun. Shelter C survivors flinched and shifted their aim to him. He infused it with his superpower.
The rifle morphed into a massive anti-tank cannon. The examiner's eyes bulged.
"This enough?"
"No need to go that far."
Natasha stepped forward, using her power. As she focused, objects floated lightly into the air. The examiner gaped, watching.
Johnson smirked and said,
"Now, we qualified, right?"
The examiner stared blankly until Qinghan dragged his katana across the floor with a metallic screech before snapping back to reality.
"N-need to contact upper management."
Johnson nodded. The examiner radioed up, and with approval from above, Johnson's party entered Shelter C.
"*Comprehension of Work Android Robot reached 100%."
"*Current comprehension: 100%"
'Finally done.'
I couldn't help but be thrilled.
We'd practically reached the goal of the machine factory. Making one work android robot was tough, but once you had one, two, three...
With materials, mass production was possible. I immediately started crafting the work android robot.
One final hurdle remained, though: sheer "luck."
I had materials for five units. With Metal Transformation at level 8, success chance for the work android robot was barely 10%.
I tried to stay as relaxed as possible. If it failed, just scrounge more materials.
First try.
"Synthesis failed."
Would've been nice if it worked first go. Nope, failure. The materials clumped into a grotesque lump. Useless now. I cleared it away and moved to the next.
Second try also bombed.
'What if they all fail?'
Three left, but could still flop. Anxiously, third try. White light as materials merged.
Another lump. Resigned, fourth try. Failure again. Now just one shot left.
Mixing in adamantium shards would've pushed success near 90%... Should I grab some from the power plant now? Random thought.
But I shook my head and activated Metal Transformation on the last materials. And then—
"Used Metal Transformation (Lv.8) to synthesize mithril exoskeleton x1, high-capacity battery x4, Mysterious Data Module x1, ..., high-performance camera x1 into a Work Android Robot."
"Metal Transformation (Lv.8) experience greatly increased."
The work android robot was complete.
Not some gloomy ornament like before, but a genuine, lifelike "android robot" brimming with vitality.
With trembling eyes, I looked at Queen beside me. She nodded. The android robot's closed eyes opened. It began moving its head slowly back and forth.
「Work Android Robot M01」
Durability: 120/120
Mounted Firearm: None Mounted Tool: None Connected AI: Queen Explanation: Work android robot produced by Mechanic Park Si-hyun with high comprehension of android robots. Possesses the ability to perform all general human tasks via diverse knowledge in the Mysterious Data Module. Could be used for combat if armed, but as a work model, efficiency would be notably low.
As I stared dazedly at this "all-purpose machine" for a long while, Queen's voice rang out.
「If producing multiple android robots, a higher-performance computer will likely be required.」
Don't ruin the moment.
I let out a wry sigh.
Apocalypse All-Purpose Machine