Chapter 84
Chapter 84
“Picker. Do you know exactly how petroleum used by humanity before the collapse was formed?”
At my question, Picker’s lens spun with a whirring sound.
—There’s no way I wouldn’t know something that basic, sir!
Picker began showing off by projecting a hologram of dinosaur bones and a massive oil drilling rig.
—Millions of years ago, microorganisms, plankton, plants, and animals that died during the Paleozoic era settled deep underground.
—Then soil piled on top, and under immense pressure and geothermal heat they were cooked for ages! The organic matter underwent chemical transformation, squeezing out the black gold! That’s what becomes oil!
The explanation was… colorful.
But the core point was correct.
Millions of years of time, pressure, and heat.
“Right. That’s the established theory. But you see, this world has only been destroyed for ten years.”
That’s right.
Only ten years.
“But the oil scooped from that pit contains mutant DNA. What does that mean?”
—You’re saying monster meat turned into oil in ten years?
“Yes.”
—Does that make any physical sense? Even underground, in ten years it would just rot into soil or leave bones. You couldn’t turn it into oil even if you put it in a pressure cooker for twenty-four hours.
“A pressure cooker? That’s actually a good analogy.”
I focused on the highly compressed mana.
“What if mana acted as the pressure cooker? Mana twists physical laws.”
—Millions of mutant corpses piled underground. And if high concentrations of mana were added…
Picker hummed briefly as if performing calculations, then displayed a shocked emoticon.
—No way! Are you saying mana acted as a catalyst and shortened the maturation period of millions of years down to just ten?!
“What else could explain it? Monster corpses must have reacted with mana and rapidly converted into hydrocarbon compounds—fuel.”
Mutants, after all, were not fundamentally different from humans awakening.
They were simply Earth’s organisms transformed.
The scattered puzzle pieces in my mind finally snapped together.
“Mutant Bio-Crude Oil. That name fits perfectly.”
Unable to hide my excitement, I paced the laboratory.
When I calculated the ripple effect this discovery could have, my heart pounded.
—Boss, but why are you so excited? Don’t we already have an abundance of [Cores]? Why would we ever need smelly fuel like that?
Picker had a point.
Currently, both my workshop and the Mapo Police Station Shelter ran entirely on core energy.
Lighting, showers, heating, automated facilities—even defensive turrets.
“That’s true. Cores are the best right now.”
—Exactly. High efficiency, clean, compact. Totally eco-friendly energy!
“But cores have a fatal flaw. They can only be obtained by hunting named mutants. In other words, their supply is limited.”
—True. Even though the bee drones search twenty-four hours a day, they’re still hard to find.
“Exactly. What happens if the prey runs out? Then there are no more cores. And these are premium resources. It’s better to conserve them.”
Cores had countless uses.
Even building a single [Mana Purification Tank] required one [F-Grade Core].
Now that I had begun supplying the military, I no longer needed to worry about F-Grade cores.
But if we expanded the scale beyond the workshop—to all humanity—the story changed.
If we spent them carelessly, we might end up hunting mutants on the Northern Front just to maintain energy supplies.
“Using cores to power lights, heat bath water, and run floor heating… is like burning diamonds to boil water for instant noodles.”
—Boiling ramen with diamonds? That analogy really hits home.
The strange thing is that you actually understood that analogy.
“It’s fine when our group is small. But what happens when the population grows and our faction expands? Can we supply all that living energy with cores alone? Absolutely impossible.”
But Mutant Oil was different.
This land—no, the entire planet—was littered underground with mutant corpses.
If the oil formed from their decay, then the reserves would be beyond imagination.
The ground beneath our feet could all be oil fields.
All we needed to do was drill and pump.
“If we refine it and run large generators, we get electricity. And when electricity becomes abundant, what can we do?”
—Recreate the conveniences of pre-collapse civilization: refrigerators, air conditioners, electric heating pads, space heaters…
“Exactly.”
What people truly wanted wasn’t the advanced laser turrets or reinforced suits produced by my workshop.
Those were just tools for survival.
What they truly desired was something else.
An electric heating pad to sleep without freezing to death.
A refrigerator to keep food from spoiling.
A single light bulb to push back the darkness.
In other words—tools to maintain a human life.
“With this, we can split the energy system in two. Military and advanced technology will run on cores. Civilian life and infrastructure will run on bio-oil.”
A two-track strategy.
The reason I had removed convenience facilities from the mass-produced shelter designs was ultimately because of the power supply problem.
But if this oil existed?
“Imagine the Atlas Shelter Package with an unlimited electricity supply option.”
—Wow… People will line up to lick your toes, boss! They’d give up all their possessions just to move in!
“That’s exactly it. That’s power. And money.”
—Let’s go mine it right now! I’ll install extra filters in my nost—no, sensors! Loyalty!
“Easy. There’s still a lot to do. First, if my hypothesis is correct, the oil can’t be limited to Machine Society territory.”
The parking lot of Mapo Police Station.
Even as dusk fell and darkness spread, all core personnel of Atlas Industries had gathered.
Their eyes were fixed on the crude mechanical object at my feet.
A relic from the old world—purchased at great expense after defeating rival bidders in an auction.
A [5kW-Class Old Diesel Generator].
It was covered in grease, but after [Repair], its interior functioned like new.
Of course, I had already disassembled it and obtained its [Blueprint].
When I brought out the container of Mutant Oil obtained from the Machine Society, everyone’s attention shifted to the black liquid.
“So… that’s the Mutant Oil you mentioned?”
Han Daeman asked skeptically.
“That’s right.”
Without hesitation, I poured the oil into the generator’s fuel tank.
As the thick liquid sloshed inside, a foul odor spread, making several people cover their noses.
“Will this really work?”
“That stuff is made from rotting monster corpses?”
Ignoring the whispers, I flipped the switch connected to the Large Industrial Floodlights.
Then I grabbed the starter cord.
“Everyone stand back.”
I pulled the cord hard.
Click—whirr—
At first it only spun uselessly.
Just as disappointment flickered across their faces—
I pulled again.
VROOM—BANG! BANG!
Thick black smoke burst from the exhaust pipe.
“Cough! Ack!”
The nearby engineers staggered back coughing.
The smoke was terrible—but the machine didn’t stop.
ROAR—RATATATATA—
Like a beast waking from sleep, the engine roared violently.
The uneven rhythm gradually stabilized into a powerful hum.
Then—
FLASH!
The three floodlights connected to the generator lit up simultaneously.
After a brief crackle, blinding white light flooded the courtyard like daylight.
“Gasp!”
“It’s so bright!”
Gasps erupted.
It was the light of civilization—nothing like torches or campfires.
Han Daeman walked toward the generator as if hypnotized.
The floodlights illuminated his face.
“It actually works. The engine is running strongly. There’s no loss of output.”
“My god… so monster corpses really turned into oil?”
Even the usually calm Yoon Imsu muttered in disbelief.
Reverence filled his face.
At that moment Yoon Sungjun swallowed and said:
“Then… hunting becomes mining. The more mutants we kill, the more fuel we accumulate.”
I might have been unaware inside the shelter, but people had been hunting mutants for ten years.
Perhaps enough reserves had already formed underground for humanity to use freely.
“An oil-producing nation… Even pre-collapse South Korea couldn’t achieve that dream. Yet we’re seeing it in this ruined hell. How ironic.”
Yoon Imsu smiled bitterly as the generator roared.
While everyone felt hopeful, I continued inspecting the machine coldly.
The engine sound was rough.
The smoke was excessive.
The oil was unrefined—full of impurities.
“It’s promising, but there are still many practical problems.”
As I spoke, the cheering stopped.
Everyone turned toward me.
“The first problem is exploration. We need to know where and how much oil is buried before we can extract it.”
“Can’t we use the Ground Survey Device we already developed? If you order it, we can start production immediately.”
“No. That device only detects underground cavities. The Machine Society drilled thinking it was groundwater and discovered oil by accident.”
I shook my head.
“If we can’t precisely distinguish liquid density and mana wavelengths mixed inside, we’ll keep drilling groundwater—or worse, sewage.”
Drilling a single well required significant time and resources.
We needed reliable eyes.
“Modify it.”
I looked around at the engineering team leaders.
“Combine the existing survey device with a mana detection sensor and create a dedicated scanner that can locate Mutant Oil deposits underground. Request whatever resources you need.”
Their eyes ignited.
The challenge had awakened their engineering instincts.
99% Purity Silver Conductors
Mana Resonance Crystals
High-Elastic Titanium Alloy
Materials unimaginable during their days at Guro Foundry now lay in piles across the workshop floor.
Team Leader Kim Jihoon held his forehead, dizzy.
“Representative… are you really okay with us using all of this?”
“Even if you fail, build the best. Don’t worry about money.”
I sat in the corner chair with folded arms and nodded.
The moment I gave permission, their expressions changed.
They rushed toward the materials like starving hyenas.
“Redo the ultrasonic reflection path. To calculate the thickness of the liquid layer, we’ll need a new algorithm!”
Lee Mira shouted while scribbling frantically on blueprints.
“What are you doing? It has to be shaved thinner than a strand of hair!”
“Stop rushing me! My hands keep shaking!”
Kim Jihoon activated [Milling Hands], sweat pouring down his face.
Mana-infused crystals were shaved with incredible precision.
Meanwhile Han Daeman used his [Metal Compression] ability to forge a special alloy casing capable of withstanding underground heat and pressure.
Three hours of intense work.
Finally, a long staff-shaped device lay on the workbench.
[Atlas Oil Field Surveyor]
It looked like a crude drilling staff.
But inside it combined money, technology, and the engineers’ craftsmanship.
They really are worth cultivating.
After watching them closely, it was clear they had fully committed.
Soon it might be time to awaken them as well.
“Let’s go test it.”
A ruined area about 200 meters from Exit 6 of Gongdeok Station.
“This is the most promising spot.”
I agreed.
When Pig ruled the area, he had trapped a massive slime beneath the hotel and fed it mutant corpses.
The organic matter accumulated underground long before he was sealed.
“Mutants still infest the station interior, so we’ll drill here where the ground connects.”
“Ready!”
Kim Jihoon took the survey device I handed him.
He stabbed the probe into the ground and flipped the connected monitor switch.
BZZZZ—HUM—
An unpleasant mechanical noise filled the air.
Static appeared on Yoon Imsu’s terminal.
Soon a color cross-section of the underground terrain appeared.
Thirty meters down—collapsed Line 5 subway tracks.
Deeper still.
Eighty meters underground.
“We found it!”
Yoon Imsu shouted.
A massive black lake appeared on the display.
“My god… that’s all oil?”
“Jackpot! A real oil field!”
The engineers hugged each other, cheering.
In this hellish world, discovering resources made them forget fear.
Then Picker shouted:
[Warning! Underground pressure rapidly increasing! Critical threshold exceeded! It’s about to blow!]