stjorthotic Chapter 53 Establishment
Chapter 53 Establishment
About half an hour later.
When Lorraine and her group emerged from the last maintenance passage, the view suddenly opened up before them.
Victor and Anna both gasped simultaneously.
This is an extremely large underground plaza.
Above them is a dome hundreds of meters high, with countless huge mechanical arms hanging above, like a sleeping dragon.
On the left side of the square is a water purification plant that is still operating at low power. In the huge transparent water tank, the blue purified water refracts a gem-like light under the lights.
To the right is a bottomless mining tunnel. Although it has ceased operation, the occasional flashes of golden light in the mountains of slag indicate what grade of ore was once produced here.
And directly in front.
It was a rectangular, enclosed building with a faded badge made of gears and ears of wheat on its heavy armored doors.
Arms storage area.
"This is our real new home."
Lorraine stood at the edge of the square, looking at this sleeping treasure, and smiled with satisfaction.
There is water and minerals here, and unlike the previous place, it is not a maze of roads; there are only two narrow passages to enter.
Once we clear out those damned rampaging mechs and move the Witch's Tower here, this place will be an indestructible doomsday fortress!
Just then, a giant main screen in the center of the square suddenly lit up.
A huge, red countdown timer consisting of binary code flashed across the screen at an extremely fast speed:
[Warning: Unauthorized intrusion detected.]
[Countdown to the activation of the annihilation agreement: 10...9...8...]
"Young Master?!"
Anna called out anxiously. She couldn't understand the binary code, but she could hear the sounds of the surrounding defense machines starting up.
Lorraine, however, did not panic.
He looked up at the red countdown and asked softly:
(ohm?)
next second.
The menacing red countdown suddenly froze.
It was as if the power had been cut off by an invisible hand.
Immediately afterwards, that familiar line of white binary code once again forcibly occupied the screen, casually kicking the line of red warning to a corner.
Messiah is so stingy!
[While her older sister was sleeping, Ohm secretly opened the door for her older brother!]
"Crack—Boom!!!"
The armory door, which had been closed for countless years, suddenly swung open under Victor's stunned gaze.
Amidst the rising smoke and dust, rows of ancient war weapons, exuding a chilling aura of slaughter, were revealed, standing silently in the darkness.
Lorraine smiled.
He reached out and made a head-touching gesture in mid-air.
"Good girl."
……
The air in the B-12 industrial zone was filled with the smell of stale engine oil.
There was no wind, only the occasional low echoes from the ventilation ducts, like the panting of a dying beast.
Lorraine stood in the center of the empty alloy plaza, holding the [Camp Relocation Order] that emitted a faint purple light in his hand.
Behind him, Victor, Anna, and Olivia and Lyra, who had just been brought over, stood in the newly moved camp, looking at this world made entirely of steel with different expressions.
"Is this... where we'll be settling down?"
Leila carefully stepped on the alloy floor, which made a crisp "tap-tap" sound.
"To be precise, it is the best location and the most resource-rich area on the first level of the Tower of Babel."
Lorraine pointed to the left, "See that over there? A Golden Age armory waiting to be emptied."
Upon hearing the words "empty out," Olivia, who had been feeling sorry for the magic crystals that Lyra had consumed during her advancement, immediately perked up her ears.
She lifted her skirt and rushed to Lorraine's side, her eyes gleaming with a green light:
"My lord, this is the armory of the Golden Age! Does it contain a lot of... valuable junk?"
Lorraine glanced at her and smiled.
"It's worth more than you think."
The moment Lorraine led the group into the armory, even Victor, who was used to big scenes, held his breath.
This is a huge rectangular space with a ceiling height of thirty meters.
The shelves on both sides stretched to the horizon. Although most of the shelves were empty or collapsed, the remaining small section was still enough to dazzle these country bumpkins from the wasteland.
"Don't touch those weird buttons."
Lorraine stepped forward, the "Witch's Codex" in her mind rapidly scanning the surrounding objects.
Most of it is already broken.
Energy cartridge depleted, barrel corroded, mechanism jammed.
Time is the most ruthless killer; even creations of the Golden Age cannot withstand the erosion of time.
Conversely, outside the city, those mechanisms that had been compromised by the ephemeral change were still able to continue operating for some unknown reason.
Suddenly, Lorraine stopped in front of an inconspicuous silver metal box.
The box was small, with no rust on its surface, but rather a faint sheen.
He reached out and pressed the switch.
"laugh--"
The airtight valve opened, and a stream of white, cold air gushed out.
Inside the box lay a palm-sized black disc, which looked like an exquisite belt buckle or some kind of ornament.
But the Witch's Codex's identification function quickly provided the answer.
[Item: Portable Shield Generator (Single Soldier Type)]
[Note: Standard configuration for Golden Age special forces. Activation generates a shield capable of withstanding high-energy attacks. While the charging module is somewhat worn, the core remains intact.]
nice one.
Lorraine's eyes lit up, and he reached out to pick up the disc, casually fastening it to his belt.
"Victor."
He turned around, pointed to himself, and said, "Take a hit on me with your sword."
"what?"
Victor was stroking a rusty chainsaw sword when he heard this, his hand trembled, and he almost dropped the sword.
"Sir, what...what did you say?"
"I told you to cut me."
Lorraine patted the disc at his waist. "Use all your strength. Don't be afraid. If this thing can't even stop you, then it's just a piece of trash."
Victor swallowed hard.
Looking at Lorraine's resolute expression, he gritted his teeth and drew the molten longsword from his waist.
"My lord, then... I must offend you!"
Before he finished speaking, the hesitation in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by the sharpness of a knight.
The longsword, glowing with crimson light, whistled as it slashed towards Lorraine's hem!
He used half his strength in that sword strike.
Just as the sword was about to touch the hem of Lorraine's clothes.
"Buzz—"
A low buzzing sound suddenly rang out.
A faint light flashed from the disc at Lorraine's waist, followed by a semi-transparent pale purple light membrane that appeared out of thin air and instantly enveloped his entire body.
"clang!!!"
The clanging of metal echoed throughout the armory.
Victor felt a sharp pain in his hand, as if his sword had struck a mountain. The immense recoil sent him staggering back three steps.
Lorraine, however, remained completely still.
The pale purple light film only rippled for a moment before returning to calm.
"nice one."
Lorraine stroked his chin with satisfaction.
This thing's defensive capabilities are stronger than he expected.
With this, you won't have to worry about being suddenly slit in the throat by some unscrupulous assassin on the battlefield.
After all, as a fragile lord, survival is the top priority.
"This... what kind of divine artifact is this? My lord, how do you know how to use it?"
Victor rubbed his numb wrist, looking at Lorraine as if she were a monster.
Even the molten longsword can't cut through it?
"Portable shield generator."
Lorraine offered a brief explanation, then turned to look into the depths of the armory.
"Alright, stop spacing out. The real feast is inside."
The group continued deeper into the area.
After passing through a security door, the scene before them surprised everyone.
That was... an army.
A sleeping steel army.
Hundreds of tall, humanoid mechs were neatly arranged on the huge helipad.
Each of them is three meters tall, entirely black, with heavy artillery mounted on its shoulders, a huge chainsaw sword on its right arm, and a multi-barreled rotary machine gun on its left arm.
Although they were covered in dust, some even rusted, the overwhelming sense of death still made Victor feel breathless.
"This...this is..."
Victor's voice was trembling.
Is this the true value of the military storage facility in the Golden Age ruins?
Although I don't understand how these mechs work, compared to the mechs I just encountered, these mechs seem so huge and powerful.
Both in quantity and quality, they far exceeded his expectations. If he had such an army, he could probably sweep across the entire northern border.
With this number of mechs, it seems the territory will have enough strength to resist the Blade Winter that the lord mentioned before.
Don't get too excited yet.
Lorraine poured cold water on him at just the right moment.
He pointed to the nearest mech.
The mech's chest armor had rusted and peeled off, revealing broken wiring and a completely damaged core reactor inside.
"These big machines are all broken and unusable."
Lorraine's voice was calm, but there was a hint of regret in it.
Just then, the display screen next to them suddenly lit up.
【(T_T)】
Big brother... Waaaaah...
Lines of binary code cascaded down like a waterfall, and after being translated from "The Witch's Codex," a childlike yet sorrowful voice resounded directly in Lorraine's mind.
They're all broken.
Ohm tried to wake them, but they ignored him.
Their "hearts" have stopped beating for thousands of years. The energy circuits here have long been broken; no one has repaired them, and there are no replacement parts.
[While Messiah was asleep, some adventurers broke in. They were happy to see them, but ultimately left disappointed.]
"Big brother, you should give up too. These aren't treasures; they're just corpses from the old era, untouchable."
Lorraine stared at the constantly flashing sad characters on the screen.
He could sense the despair in the heart of the machine spirit named Ohm.
Having a huge treasure trove to guard, but only being able to watch it turn into scrap metal, is a really tough feeling.
"give up?"
Lorraine raised an eyebrow.
He walked up to a mech that looked fairly intact and tapped its thick leg armor.
The dull sound indicates that the internal structure is relatively sturdy.
"Ohm, you've got one thing wrong."
Lorraine turned around, looked at the screen, and gave a meaningful smile.
"In my hometown, there is a group of people called 'Tuba Garbage Collectors'."
"In their eyes, nothing in this world is truly worthless."
"As long as you don't give up, there will always be more solutions than problems."
Lorraine greeted Olivia.
"Olivia!"
"Here!" Olivia, who was squatting on the ground picking at a piece of rare metal floorboards, was startled and quickly stood up.
"Stop scratching the floor. Get to work!"
Lorraine pointed at the hundreds of lifeless mechs, his eyes gleaming with an almost fanatical light.
"Who said they're dead? They seem perfectly fine to me."
"If this machine's leg is broken, then take the leg off that machine and put it on!"
"This reactor is broken? Then let's just take the reactor from that other one and use it as a makeshift solution!"
"There are hundreds of mechs here; I refuse to believe we can't muster a few dozen that are operational!"
This is the most basic and ruthless logic of restoration.
rob Peter to pay Paul.
Since there are no new parts, we can just piece together the old ones and make do.
"what?"
Olivia stared wide-eyed at the enormous objects. "Young Master, you mean...we have to assemble these things? But we don't understand this Golden Age alchemy!"
"You don't need to know alchemy."
Lorraine pointed to her head. "I am the blueprint."
The Witch's Codex is not just a magic book; it is a vast database.
Although it cannot conjure parts out of thin air, it can perfectly analyze the structure of these mechs and calculate the optimal assembly scheme.
"Anna, use your fire to heat those rusted screws until they're red-hot."
"Olivia, summon your vines and use them as a crane! Lift up those detached arms and legs!"
"Victor, you're strong, be my hammer! Smash down any uneven spots."
"Lyra... just stand there and watch, give us some luck, and make sure the reactor doesn't explode."
then.
An unusual "archaeological restoration" project has begun.
The once noble and aloof witch has now become a disheveled repairwoman.
Olivia manipulated dozens of thick vines, laboriously tearing the heavy arm of one mech off its torso, and then roughly shoving it into the shoulder interface of another mech.
"Be gentle! Be gentle! Those are precision parts!" Lorraine yelled from the side.
"My lord! This thing is stuck! I can't put it in!" Olivia was sweating profusely with anxiety.
"Forget about the precision parts, Victor! Let's go!"
"Okay!"
Victor swung a huge engineering hammer and slammed it twice into the jammed connector.
Click!
Go in.
Simple, direct, and effective.
Anna carefully controlled the flame at her fingertips, soldering the broken wires under Lorraine's guidance.
Although she couldn't understand those complicated circuit diagrams, she trusted the young master.
When the young master said to connect the red wire, she connected the red wire; when the young master said to connect the blue wire, she connected the blue wire.