Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 21: Chapter 15: Desert Worm

”You have such a sleazy smile!” Upon seeing Huang Yuanli again, the young woman looked at him with disdain.

”Do I?” Gao Gong touched his face, looking serious, ”Can a face like mine even make a sleazy expression?”

”Eww~~”

Yesterday, Sister Rose was in a good mood and took him for a joyride until nightfall. Gao Gong is not a wimp like Little Finger; the speed of nearly half a Mach was exhilarating for him. His hormones were surging, and endorphins were abundantly stored in his muscles. In short, he was in great shape after getting off the vehicle.

Then Sister Rose took him for another joyride, and when it comes to performance, the Grass Cutting Hunter Blade 430 couldn’t even compare to her.

So Gao Gong was in an exceptionally good mood today, feeling that the sunlight was so warm. Oh, there’s no sunlight in the desert, only warm nuclear radiation.

”Hey, I told the people in the tribe about your matter; some agreed, some opposed, but luckily, in the end, the clan elder insisted against the majority and said they could try to make contact first.”

The clan elder? That organizational structure is a bit archaic.

”But Professor Han was really angry and scolded me when I came back!”

Professor Han? How did the title suddenly become so modern?

Then Huang Yuanli glared at Gao Gong and said hatefully, ”As a result, you didn’t show up for several days in a row, causing me to get scolded again. Many people in the tribe are secretly calling me a liar!”

Gao Gong chuckled without explaining, thinking that fishing is all about tightening and relaxing the line. If he was too enthusiastic, they might suspect him of having bad intentions, and even if a cooperation was eventually reached, he would be heavily fleeced.

He changed the topic, saying, ”So how does your tribe leader plan to cooperate with me?”

Huang Yuanli looked around cautiously as if someone else was around, ”Um, the elder means, can you get a bunch of weapons, like the gun you have on you?”

”This one I have?” Gao Gong glanced at the high-precision sniper rifle hanging on him, ”That would be difficult.”

Seeing the disappointment in Huang Yuanli’s eyes, Gao Gong laughed again, ”But if it’s just ordinary munitions, that’s not a problem.”

Sister Rose has remarkably high standards, not only did she not take advantage of him for free, but the next day she sent materials enough to make three ’High-speed Microcomputer Tiger’, including some rare metals which are military warehouse-exclusive banned items.

And as a reward for Gao Gong’s performance the previous night, Sister Rose also had someone send a high-quality sniper rifle, possibly hinting at something.

Name: Nekomata

Category: Sniper Rifle

Quality: Fine (Custom Template)

Weight: 7.6kg

Basic Attributes: DPS:39, Attack Power:78, Attack Speed:0.5 attacks/sec, Attack Range:3120m

Additional Attributes: Big Sniper (+32% kinetic damage), Berserk (+11.2% Critical Strike Rate)

Plugin Slot: Flying Arrow (Weapon Reload Time -5%)

Note: A weapon traded for with one’s body, yet used against others’ bodies, tsk, scumbag.

”But if I provide you with munitions, what can you offer me in return? You probably don’t have much Mechanical Coin,” Gao Gong scratched his chin, ”Your Electronic Bee seems pretty nice.”

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Huang Yuanli said, ”I can’t give you that. Each person in the tribe has only one. However, as long as we’re in this Hope City, anything you want, I can take you to get it. We know many areas that you don’t.”

Hope City? Gao Gong’s thoughts shifted, and he continued:

”So you’re saying, I supply you with free munitions, and in return, you take me scavenging?”

”Uh, this—”

Seeing the other struggling for a while, her face turning red but still unable to come up with anything, Gao Gong didn’t take advantage of the situation but instead easily let it go, saying, ”Alright, but let’s be clear. Based on what I find, I will provide firearms equivalent to its value, that’s okay, right?”

”Of course, of course.” Huang Yuanli let out a huge sigh of relief.

Over the next week, this 30-year-old woman took Gao Gong deep into this urban circle, and although the city was filled with skyscrapers, most were just concrete jungles, there were still some other areas.

For instance, heavy metal wetlands formed from construction sites, radiation paradise formed from zoos, small mechanical creature settlements in the slums, and the sewer system turned snake pit.

One has to admit, with such a guide leading the way, Gao Gong’s hunting efficiency greatly increased.

As long as he specifically asked for a certain level of radiation beast or a mechanical bio-beast with armor of specific thickness and its weaknesses or daily activities, Huang Yuanli could always give accurate answers.

It might be offensive to say this, but she was more useful than a dog.

Soon, Gao Gong’s Experience Value and Mechanical Coin returned to five digits.

And he didn’t hold back, leveling five Professional Knowledge all to lv4 in one go.

Before starting a task, one must first sharpen their tools. The remaining Mechanical Coin, he planned to save up to buy an intelligent armored vehicle.

Huang Yuanli’s relationship with him also gradually became closer, and while the game didn’t include attractiveness as an attribute, looking good was definitely an advantage between genders, at least pleasing to the eye.

Gao Gong also gained a deeper understanding of Huang Yuanli; her personality was completely different from her appearance, loud and careless.

If she wasn’t careless, she wouldn’t have followed him so closely the first time they met.

The only commonality between her and a proper loli was their shared love of food.

Their ’Cable Tribe’ seemed to have mastered a technique for treating radiation meat, but the treated meat tasted awful, according to her, it was like plant roots mixed with feces.

She even brought a piece for Gao Gong to try, but Gao Gong, looking at the other’s hand holding a three-year expired pale meat chunk, didn’t dare take a bite.

These days were among the few good days for Huang Yuanli, not only did she not need to risk her life hunting, she had delicious energy paste daily, and all she had to do was wander around, watching Gao Gong’s divine power.

She weighed herself yesterday and found that within just a week, she had actually gained three pounds, what a crime.

”Shhh!” Gao Gong pressed down on Huang Yuanli’s head that was about to pop out, signaling her to stay quiet, then set up the gun rack, his right eyelid swiftly twitching twice, switching into aiming mode.

On the Prosthetic Eye, a string of numbers appeared.

Distance: 2114 meters

Wind speed: 3.4 meters/second

Inclination angle: 26 degrees

Light and dark ratio: 46%

Target length: 1.3 meters, width: 0.3 meters

Movement speed: 1.4 meters/second

”Finally caught you!”

Gao Gong muttered to himself. In his vision, a creature resembling a snake was swimming through the heavy metal swamp.

Huang Yuanli also widened her eyes, holding her breath.

Gao Gong gently pulled the trigger, and in the next moment, a faint explosion sound emerged from the silencer as Gao Gong’s right shoulder jolted violently.

[You dealt 101 points of damage to the Desert Worm]

That thing didn’t seem to be killed with one shot and still struggled to dive into the swamp.

But the second shot that followed completely blew its life away.

[You dealt 62 points of damage to the Desert Worm, you have killed the Desert Worm, Experience Value +50]

”Let’s go, check it out!”

Gao Gong dismounted the rifle stand and rushed over with an excited expression.

He had been searching for this thing for almost a week.

”What do you need this big bug for?”

Huang Yuanli looked at the big bug that Gao Gong dragged up from the heavy metal swamp with a face full of disdain.

”This is a good thing!”

The creature was like a thick worm, the only difference being that this ’worm’ was covered with flowing metal liquid on its body, which, upon closer inspection, was secreted from its pores.

Name: Desert Worm

Category: Mechanical Bio-Beast - Oligochaeta - Metal Worm Order

Radiation Level: E-

Life Value: 120/120

Physical Strength Value: 50/50

Biological Energy: 36

Biological Attributes: Power 3 Agility 4 Endurance 10 Intelligence 2 Perception 6

Skills: Metal Devouring lv5 Metal Secretion lv6

Note: Mechanical beasts that feed on metal are not uncommon, but those capable of secreting metal through blood vessels and sweat glands are rare.

Scavenger City is not only large but also dangerous. Even with Huang Yuanli as a guide, finding a specific type of Mechanical Bio-Beast is extremely difficult.

The key is that the Desert Worm itself is a species similar to earthworms that live in various swamp areas, often staying motionless for three to four days, making it impossible to find unless you have a prosthetic eye.

But the good thing is, this creature is a social species; if you find one, it means there are at least a dozen more in this heavy metal swamp.

The reason Gao Gong insisted on finding it is related to the Level 3 Skin Blueprint [Desert Skin] he developed, as the sweat glands of the Desert Worm are the most crucial material for this [Desert Skin].

With this skin, Gao Gong doesn’t have to walk the dog and grind daily; it can intercept electronic signals within his body, allowing him to take the initiative like a genuine Classical Stream Mechanical Hunter.

More importantly, this [Desert Skin] is the first step for him to go the Carbon Stream path.

Before the Level 10 profession change, he must advance the transformation rate of a certain system in the Human Body System to 9%, not through Mechanical Transformation but Biological Transformation.

Mechanical Stream + Carbon Stream is the route Gao Gong wants to take.

This route is called Fusion Ascension.

In the Six Great Nine-level Civilizations, the most powerful ’Eternal Machine Dynasty’ follows the Fusion Ascension route.

Among all Mechanical Civilizations, it is the strongest.

Among all Carbon-Based Civilizations, it is still the strongest.

And during the Celestial Calamity period, it was one of the few top civilizations capable of going one-on-one with the Celestial Calamity.

Since the previous life ’pinching wife’ couldn’t save the players, and even himself ended up traversed.

So in this life, he must take the strongest route, and can only take the strongest route.

Seeing Gao Gong’s shining eyes at the Desert Worm, Huang Yuanli couldn’t help but shiver.

’This guy doesn’t look it on the surface, but might be a pervert inside.’

Gao Gong exclaimed excitedly, ”Let’s catch a few more while it’s still not dark.”

’This guy is really a pervert!’ Huang Yuanli thought.

Gao Gong didn’t care what the other thought, he only knew that with this thing, at least for the first Biological Transformation, he wouldn’t have to worry about Mechanical Rejection.

By the end of that day’s hunt, Gao Gong had harvested a total of five Desert Worms.