Chapter 98
The 72-hour forced shutdown was almost over.
While waiting for the workshop’s evolution to finish, I brought up a question that had been lingering in my mind.
“Picker.”
—Yes! Boss! I am here!
Picker, who had been floating lazily in the air, tightened its lens and drifted closer.
“Why do you think the system chose this exact moment to start the upgrade?”
—Perhaps enough experience points accumulated? We worked very hard.
“Then the upgrade should have started earlier.”
I folded my fingers one by one as I muttered.
“A Level-1 workshop was a shelter. A place to eat, sleep, and hide. Level-2 was a factory. A place to mass-produce goods. Then what about Level-3?”
—A drone production base? It would be wonderful if my subordinates started pouring out.
“We already have over three hundred. That’s enough.”
At my words, Picker fluttered up and down.
—Boss! Do you think that’s enough to fight the U.S. military? Think bigger!
Picker had a point.
I had never imagined this while hauling cargo in shelters, but even in this insane world cargo ships and airplanes still moved around.
“Anyway, the system triggered the forced upgrade protocol the moment I installed the Bio Caterpillar Track. I think that was the trigger.”
I had seized dominance over eastern Mapo District along Mapo Boulevard.
And now I had swallowed the massive external force known as Guro Foundry.
Then the moment I started moving the workshop in that situation—level up.
Maybe the system wanted me to move beyond the confined space called the workshop.
—Well, things do seem to be proceeding exactly as you predicted, Boss.
Just then—
[Workshop upgrade complete.]
[Current Level: Lv. 3]
Finally, it was time to see the result.
—You didn’t change clothes again, did you?
He was right.
The workshop’s exterior still looked like a dull mix of gray concrete and rusty rebar.
“No. Look at this.”
I gently stroked the workshop’s outer wall.
[Active Terrain-Assimilation Camouflage]
[Analyzes ground deformation and mana fluctuations generated during movement in real time, altering the texture and color of the outer walls to perfectly blend with the surrounding environment.]
To the eye it looked like rough concrete.
But under my fingertips it felt like smooth metal.
“Something’s different. Porter, try pushing the workshop.”
—What? There’s no way that bear could move it.
Picker blinked its lens in disbelief.
“Just convey your intention.”
The workshop belonged to me.
For some reason, I felt certain it would move.
Porter gently pushed the workshop’s underside using reverse thrust, without activating the Ultra-Vibration Ram.
As expected, the massive workshop slid backward smoothly.
And there were no deep track marks where the caterpillar tracks should have been.
—Wow! Amazing! It’s completely silent!
“Maybe in daylight someone might notice, but at night we could move the workshop openly and no one would realize.”
—Yes. Even my lenses barely detect it. Like a ghost city.
A ghost city.
If I installed a large number of Atlas Guardian units on the workshop?
With hundreds of drones loaded aboard, it would practically be a small aircraft carrier.
Satisfied, I nodded and looked for the entrance.
“But where did the door go?”
Perhaps because of the camouflage function, the door had disappeared.
Then a portion of the wall disguised as a pile of waste quietly split open.
Hiss—
At the same moment, my mind suddenly felt clear.
What was this refreshing scent?
“Let’s go inside.”
The moment I stepped into the workshop, the first change I noticed was the sound.
More precisely, the absence of sound.
The humming machinery of the Level-2 workshop.
The noise of ventilation fans.
The vibrations of fluid flowing through pipes.
Every irritating noise had been perfectly eliminated.
It was a silence so deep my ears almost rang.
—Boss… the air here feels strange.
Picker circled in the air, making a fuss.
“You feel it too?”
—Yes! Did you clean the filters or something? The particulate count on my sensors is zero! Oxygen concentration optimal! It feels like being deep in a forest!
Indeed, every breath filled my lungs with refreshing air.
The visual change was dramatic as well.
The gloomy gray steel interior walls were gone.
Warm ivory-colored bio-alloy now covered the walls.
It seemed the workshop had also used Armus’s Flesh from the Bio Caterpillar Track.
Before, living here felt like sleeping in a factory.
Now it felt like I had entered a luxury VIP shelter.
—Boss. The robotic arms are holding weapons.
“Weapons?”
Looking closer, I saw four massive multi-joint robotic arms, each equipped with dozens of micro-nozzles and laser cutters.
Zing—
As I approached, the system displayed a new message.
[Precision Production Module]
[Capable of micro-scale manufacturing processes at the nanometer level.]
Everything I had built so far belonged to the realm of analog engineering and mechanical engineering.
Even electronic circuits were only copied or modified from existing ones.
“So now I can make semiconductor chipsets?”
Well, I had scavenged plenty of circuits until now.
Good job collecting them, Porter.
—Increasing weight gives me joy, Boss.
—Ugh. Isn’t this guy getting weird? Anyway, if we can produce semiconductors, does that mean AI units like me can be mass-produced?
“If I mass-produce chatterboxes like you, I might lose my hearing.”
—Slander! I don’t even have a mouth!
“Anyway, not yet. Looks like the blueprint isn’t unlocked.”
—Should we raid a semiconductor research lab? I could be back quickly.
“Someone’s probably occupying them already. That can wait. For now it would be better to find someone who used to work in that industry.”
Working as a carrier, I had picked up some mechanical knowledge.
That’s why building exoskeletons and robotic arms wasn’t too difficult.
Later I farmed electronic circuits and learned the basics of circuit theory.
But miniaturizing them into micro-scale manufacturing was an entirely different field.
“Still, it’s good that our future direction is clear.”
If we kept working and producing results, the Atlas standard might one day become the world’s standard.
That would be a far more terrifying and permanent form of control than territory taken with guns.
The laboratory and command center had not changed much.
Some new blueprints were unlocked and various devices appeared, but essentially the workshop could now move and had gained control functions.
“I feel like the bedroom must have changed a lot.”
The second-floor living quarters.
When I entered the bedroom, I saw a transparent streamlined capsule that had not been there before.
[Bio Recovery Chamber]
“What is this?”
The moment I thought that, the capsule opened.
—Looks like something straight out of a science-fiction movie.
“You’ve never even seen a movie.”
—Toruk Makto! Kyaaak!
Picker suddenly flew around wildly, screaming through its external speakers.
It seemed to have entered some strange fantasy again.
Ignoring Picker, I stepped into the capsule.
Humm—
The lid closed, and warm viscous jade-colored liquid began filling the capsule.
I was startled, but my body quickly relaxed and I couldn’t react.
“Ugh…”
As the liquid reached my neck, a groan escaped me.
It felt like returning to a mother’s womb.
[Stabilizing Mana Circuits.]
[Repairing micro-muscle damage… 12%… 45%…]
My body was literally recovering.
I had been pushing myself hard lately, so my condition hadn’t been great.
The pounding headache disappeared.
The muscle pain weighing down my shoulders melted away like snow.
Even without sleep, my mind felt completely refreshed.
Suddenly I remembered ten years ago.
Back when I was a porter.
The night my ankle had broken and swelled horribly, yet I had no painkillers.
I had clenched my teeth and endured the pain all night.
Lying on the cold cement floor, praying the agony would end.
“…I never want to go back to that.”
I clenched my fist.
This overwhelming comfort and abundance.
It was a right I had won by risking my life.
I wanted to stay longer, but there was too much work to do.
The moment I decided to leave, the liquid was absorbed into the capsule walls.
“Refreshing.”
I expected my body to be soaked, but it was completely dry.
—Boss, there’s another staircase.
“What?”
Just as Picker said, a staircase had appeared where there had been a wall before.
“Let’s go up.”
When I stepped into the newly created third floor, I was speechless.
A transparent dome ceiling.
An artificial sun glowing brightly above.
Below it stretched an endless sea of green.
The scent of soil and grass filled the air.
[Smart Farm]
Robotic arms moved along ceiling rails, diligently planting seeds and removing weeds.
“My god… is this real?”
As if hypnotized, I walked between the crop rows.
Tomato vines grew up to my waist, heavy with bright red cherry tomatoes.
Real life grown from soil—not supermarket shelves.
With trembling hands, I picked one and put it into my mouth.
Pop.
The skin burst, and sweet-and-sour juice filled my mouth.
Nothing like canned food or dried survival rations.
It was the taste of life.
“…Ha.”
I let out a quiet laugh.
It was delicious.
That simple sensation struck my brain like lightning.
“Picker, Porter. Look at this.”
—Oh! Red spherical object! Energy reaction minimal, but the color is extremely brilliant!
—…It appears light, yet an unknown weight is present.
“The weight of life, perhaps.”
I swallowed the juice in my mouth and realized something.
The most powerful weapon in this world wasn’t bullets or missiles.
It was this cherry tomato.
Any faction leader who tasted even one would lose their mind.
I knew.
This green paradise would become my most powerful weapon.
Guro Foundry—or rather, what was now called Atlas Industrial Complex.
Not long ago it had been a living hell filled with sulfur fumes and the stench of burning flesh.
But now the scene had changed completely.
Instead of black smoke, the factory chimneys released clean filtered steam.
People moved in orderly lines at their posts.
No more oil-soaked rags.
Instead they wore gray work uniforms with the Atlas logo clearly stamped on the back.
“Slow down the conveyor! Zero defect rate is the goal!”
“Yes, sir!”
With food, clothing, and shelter fully provided, the workers’ voices were lively.
Watching from the second-floor railing, Yoon Imsu nodded in satisfaction.
Beside him stood Yoon Sungjun, fully armed.
“Incredible. Such a transformation in just two weeks.”
Yoon Sungjun spoke with admiration.
Yoon Imsu pushed up his glasses calmly.
“It’s thanks to the blueprints and resources provided by the Boss.”
He pointed toward the factory’s exterior wall.
The walls once ruined by Choi Manseok’s molten metal had now been smoothly covered with 50-mm compressed alloy armor plating.
And above them stood more than a dozen Atlas Guardian turrets, intimidatingly scanning the surroundings.
Internal reorganization was nearly complete.
Twenty-four corrupt managers from the former Guro Foundry had been expelled.
The five hundred survivors were undergoing polygraph tests and reputation checks.
Those who passed were assigned to workshops or security units.
“How about your side? Are they adapting well?”
“They have motivation. But we’ll need field tests.”
“They survived ten years in this world. They won’t panic when they see mutants.”
“I think so too.”
Just then a radio transmission came from the front gate.
[Capital Defense Command transport convoy approaching. Colonel Kang Cheolmin.]
Yoon Sungjun lightly squeezed Yoon Imsu’s shoulder.
“Good luck, Director.”
Yoon Imsu tensed slightly.
From now on, instead of Kang Sinhyeok, he would handle the military supply contracts.