Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 78: Chapter 69: Radiation Beast - Marine Species

On the tarmac of Automobile City, the ’Mechanical Airship’ ascended once again, with six energy jets below spraying blue flames. Inside the airship, numerous internal vents began to spontaneously inhale and exhale, this wonderful fluid structure prevented passengers from feeling a ’chest tightness’ at the moment of takeoff, and there was no so-called motion sickness.

First, the vehicles on the tarmac gradually became smaller, then the tarmac turned into a palm-sized block, and finally, the entire Automobile City became a small black dot.

This ’Mechanical Airship’ trip was not just Du Zhaodi alone.

Besides her, there were also Gao Gong, Zhao Mechanism, and an entire tactical team’s exoskeleton warriors.

Whether by coincidence or on purpose, Major Zhou Cong was once again leading the team this time.

Zhou Cong, as always, had a complicated expression, and after a long while, he sighed and said, ”I hope this cooperation goes well, Major Gao.”

That’s right, Gao Gong got promoted, a military advisor to the Security Corps, with the rank of Major.

”Of course, when have our cooperations ever been unpleasant,” Gao Gong glanced at Zhao Mechanism, then looked at Du Zhaodi who was seriously flipping through documents, and said with a smile:

”The three-person team from the factory is back together, it seems everyone is quite happy.”

”Isn’t that right, Little Zhao.”

Zhao Mechanism’s face darkened, he took a deep breath and forced out a slight smile: ”You’re right, Major Gao.”

”May I boldly ask, is a Major more senior, or is the Captain?”

Zhao Mechanism gritted his teeth, ”I’m just a mere Lieutenant, how can I compare with you.”

”Tsk, a Lieutenant can already make life worse than death, so what can a Major do,” Gao Gong seriously pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked at Du Zhaodi with deep affection.

”I get it, it’s to flirt with women!”

Du Zhaodi cast an annoyed glance at him, shaking the documents in her hand.

This ponytail girl was undoubtedly a workaholic, she’d just gotten her ’committee qualification’ approved yesterday, and today she was starting to work on the factory equipment application report.

Zhao Mechanism’s face turned crimson from holding back, this love display was toxic, but thinking of his bright future, he forcibly squeezed out an ugly smile.

”I’m going to get some fresh air!”

”He’s here to steal our technology,” Du Zhaodi said as she wrote the report without lifting her head.

”They won’t admit defeat until they see the coffin.”

”What do you plan to do?”

”Do nothing,” Gao Gong shrugged, ”they want technology, so let’s give it to them, open the market, fair competition.”

Du Zhaodi gave him a serious look, confirming he wasn’t just spouting nonsense, then reached out a slender, calloused hand to squeeze his palm, returning to her work.

Gao Gong glanced at her, pondered for a moment, opened the system panel, and infused experience into his first auxiliary profession.

[You have upgraded [Industrial Materials Science] to lv5]

Lv5: Able to modify, repair, and synthesize most mechanical materials

[You have upgraded [Mechanical Transformation] to lv5]

Lv5: Master the design principles of mechanical bodies, capable of performance enhancements on certain mechanical bodies

[You have upgraded No. 4 Factory Junior Worker to lv5]

[You triggered a job advancement task, No. 3 Factory Intermediate Worker]

[Job Advancement Task: Self-Cultivation of Technical Trades]

Task Contents:

1. Learn from an experienced worker to become familiar with the mechanical factory’s processes and trades

2. Perform maintenance work on ten mechanical bodies

Indeed, it’s just as expected!

The promotion task for Junior Worker is most likely related to the factory.

All job advancement tasks aren’t created out of thin air, nor are they detached from reality.

For example, ’Child Labor (Factory Worker)’ is the simplest maintenance work, the level of a car wash.

And ’Junior Worker’ requires mastering precise repair knowledge, like building a small robot or replacing a prosthetic body.

While ’Intermediate Worker’ deals with assembling and repairing ’Advanced Mechanical Bodies’, which requires a production line.

As for ’Advanced Worker’, it involves some large mechanical systems such as aerospace systems, war fortresses, and modular installation and operation of prosthetic factories.

The combination of theory and practice creates a true technical master—abbreviated as Technician

Gao Gong seized Du Zhaodi’s hand earnestly and said:

”Director Du, guide me, I want to work in the factory.”

Du Zhaodi blinked her eyes, a large question mark flashing across her white forehead.

...

The place where Gao Gong and his group were headed was precisely the third link of the ’Classical Hunter Task Chain’, the graveyard of the older generation Classical Stream Mechanical Hunters.

The Hunter’s Graveyard isn’t within the range of Automobile City, it is two oases away, nearing the edge of the Central Desert.

The side of the Central Desert is not called the Western Desert, but the Blue Desert.

And the frontline Mechanical Legion is not facing Land Beasts; to be precise, they are called Ocean Radiation Species.

...

On most life planets, the number of marine species exceeds that of land species by an order of magnitude.

Especially when the Mechanical Civilization undergoes ’industrialization’, or when the Carbon-Based Civilization undergoes ’genetic reconstruction’, the number of land life forms only decreases rapidly.

The ’Hydra Battle’ was merely a prelude to the ’Beast Mechanical Disaster’.

Its level of disaster was only at the ’Mechanical City’ level.

But the ’Beast Mechanical Disaster’ covered twenty-two colonial districts, engaging in an interstellar war on all colonial planets.

Its soldiers were sourced from the ocean.

The life battleship cooperates with mechanical species, or perhaps mechanicalized super ocean life.

Moreover, the battlefield is the vast and boundless ocean.

Even a stronghold like the ’Mother City’ had several of its colonies destroyed in the sea-land war.

If it weren’t for the ’beast mechanical disaster’ leaving the interiors of the three major mother cities hollow, the final ’Cyber Tide’ might not have succeeded.

It should be noted that behind the Mother City stands an advanced civilization at the galaxy cluster level.

And what the frontline legion is up against is the continuous influx of oceanic radiation beasts coming ashore.

The radiation field in the Uninhabited Land severely interfered with aerial reconnaissance quality, but even so, one could still see the map changing from large swathes of red to large swathes of black.

Back then, the ’Western Expedition’ of the Classical Stream Mechanical Hunters almost penetrated the entire Central Desert.

Unfortunately, the sudden descent of biological rejection turned this post-disaster self-rescue operation of humanity into a bleak ending.

When the initial hope became the final swan song, Old Sun became a deserter, or rather, a gravekeeper.

He stored some precious biological transformation data and some corpses at the endpoint of the Western Expedition, a place called the Hunter’s Grave.

”Major Gao, please come to the cockpit.”

Zhou Cong’s voice over the loudspeaker was somewhat anxious. Gao Gong, who was pretending to be asleep, opened his eyes, gave Du Zhaodi a reassuring look, and took big steps to the cockpit.

With the door closing, Zhou Cong didn’t waste time and said directly: ”Trouble has come.”

Gao Gong glanced at the onboard radar, where the numbers were in disarray. Through the window, beneath the dim sky, could clearly be seen a storm of black clouds and even a massive vortex taking shape.

”The atmosphere is clogged with nuclear waste, how can there be a thundercloud weather?” Gao Gong asked in bewilderment.

”It’s the Thundercloud Electric Eel, a species of ocean radiation. It can stir up gales and huge waves on the sea, and even overturn battleships. It’s the biggest headache for colony transportation.”

Gao Gong didn’t ask how it came ashore, just stared at the icy patterns continually forming on the window glass.

”What’s your suggestion?”

The pilot wiped his cold sweat, ”Two plans: one, we force our way through before the thunderstorm fully forms; the other is to change course to the nearest oasis and wait until the storm passes.”

”How long will that take?”

”At least five days.”

Gao Gong exhaled, according to the command center’s plan, departing in the morning, returning at night, 3D printing a temporary factory during the day and airdropping various equipment; if things went smoothly, ’biological weapons’ could be produced overnight.

The beast tide’s attack would also be within these one or two days.

Waiting five days? The opportunity would be gone.

”What level of monster is the Thundercloud Electric Eel?”

”According to the standard of radiation beasts, it’s C-level, but the energy within oceanic radiation species is generally two to three times that of land radiation beasts.”

”No choice, we have to break through.”

”Turn off all electronic devices, power down energy weapons, and reduce the energy furnace to minimum power.”

”Prepare all personnel for landing equipment, be ready to airborne at any time.”

Gao Gong paused, ”Also, open the hatch and let me out.”

They were familiar with Gao Gong’s abilities, so everyone acted quickly.

...

The hatch opened, the violent wind and waves slapped Gao Gong’s face like knives. His knees had the ’Enhanced Motor’ running at full power, facing the gale, he climbed up the ladder step by step to the top of the airship.

Fortunately, the gaps between the top’s armors provided a foothold, so he didn’t have to worry about being blown away by the storm.

He pulled out the ’Neural Frequency Amplifier’ and hung it on his ear, instantly sensing a sound from within the storm, similar to a typewriter’s fast tapping.

According to Zhou Cong, many colonial cargo ships disappeared because they heard this sound, and their routes were disrupted.

Gao Gong took a deep breath and unfolded the radiation field.

In the next moment, a blue radiance enveloped the entire airship.

In Gao Gong’s ’vision’, the radiation field in the sky was more of a ’stream of charged particles’ than ’neutron radiation’.

No matter how fierce a nuclear war gets, it wouldn’t reach the seabed.

So oceanic radiation species are more about energy mutation than radiation mutation.

A blue eel over a dozen meters long emerged from the thundercloud. Its surface flickered with circuit-like patterns, and it had four pairs of ’dragonfly wings’ on its sides.

Like a flying great serpent, it curiously glanced at Gao Gong.

Gao Gong’s expression remained unchanged, a transparent tentacle popped out from his temple, gently swaying, and, using the ’Neural Frequency Amplifier’, he did his best to emit a friendly emotion.

Generally speaking, as long as higher-level radiation beasts do not actively attack, lower-level radiation beasts won’t cause trouble.

But this was just in general, the behavior of oceanic mutant species was anyone’s guess.

Fortunately, this blue eel was fairly well-behaved, curiously bumped against the airship’s armor and swam away.

Gao Gong immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Thus, amidst the storm, Gao Gong unfolded the radiation field, camouflaging as an ’airship mechanical beast’, while directing the pilot through the ’sub-body’, acting as a ’human radar’.

As long as he wasn’t unlucky enough to get struck by lightning, getting through should be manageable.

The wind speed changed from weak to strong and then from strong to weak, and with the naked eye, the storm gradually receded into the background. Before Gao Gong could relax, he felt a sudden twitch at the corner of his eye.

A dozen or so eels charged aggressively.

In the storm, he had encountered these Thundercloud Electric Eels, but only two or three at a time, and he carefully avoided them.

How come there suddenly were so many!

These eels aggressively broke into the radiation field, and with a thought, Gao Gong quickly made the exoskeleton warriors, who were about to attack, halt their actions.

In his radiation field, he didn’t sense any ’usurping’ desire from them; instead, there was a very anxious physiological state.

This state was akin to being in urgent need of laying eggs, or rather, relieving themselves.