Chapter 270.2: Black Box

A day later.

At Shelter 117.

Chu Guang convened the experts under his command and held a brief meeting, requesting to report on the latest research progress on the corpse of the Rotten Knight.

Hyrja had done a systematic analysis and had made preliminary progress on the corpse, and she was the first to speak. "I’ll try to explain it as simply as possible."

"First of all, through the analysis of the tissue structure of the fruiting body, I found neuron cells in the sample that are completely different from the structure of the fruiting body. By comparing the DNA, I believe that it should be an adult male, and the survival time of this cell may have been more than a century... This situation is very similar to the symbiosis we witnessed before, but Clearspring City's Slime Mold seems to have eroded the nervous system more thoroughly, completely depriving the host of its self-consciousness."

"You can understand it as changing the hard disk and memory, leaving only half of the CPU and half of the graphics card."

Knowing that Chu Guang couldn't understand the theory that was too difficult, Hyrja simply used a term that she thought was more common.

When she said that, she didn't look at Chu Guang, but at Bucky who was standing trembling to the side.

After a pause, Hyrja looked away from him, shifted her attention to Chu Guang who was in deep thought and continued, "In addition, its sac-shaped organs are more exaggerated than other fruiting bodies, and the secretion of spores can even reach hundreds or even thousands of times that of Creepers. In order to release spores more efficiently, it has even evolved special organs that are able to transport spores to the creep on the surface of the fruiting body, where they are released through the ends of the cilia."

"... All signs point to the probability that your speculation is correct. This is an 'Evolved Type’, which is obviously different from the same kind. It plays a commanding role. They can coordinate different consciousness bodies, just like the nodes in the logistics network. What’s even more shocking is that they have formed some sort of hierarchy within them, with the larger nodes dominating the smaller ones, and so on.”

Chu Guang rubbed his chin and said, "So as long as these node creatures are destroyed, the Tide will stop?"

Hyrja nodded. "That should be the case... At least it would make them go back to normal."

Either running back to the city center or dispersing was far less of a threat than if they came together.

It was like 100 Crunchers scattered in an underground garage of thousands of square meters. Even a newbie could clean them up with a little more time.

But if 100 Crunchers formed a team and rushed forward in an organized manner, even an ability user would have a headache if they didn’t have the support of heavy firepower.

Bucky raised his right hand that was still shaking. "...I have a question. If my brain is completely eroded, will I become like this?"

Hyrja nodded. "That possibility cannot be ruled out."

Bucky shuddered uncontrollably. He didn't know whether he should be happy that he slipped away quickly, or he had a conditioned fear of Hyrja's curious gaze.

Chu Guang suddenly had an idea and said, "If we let Bucky sneak into the mutants' home, and put a 3 kilogram 100mm shell next to the Queen..."

Bucky looked at Chu Guang with horror on his face. "Do you want me to die?!"

Hyrja shook her head. "Doing this has no meaning other than killing him. I should have said before that they rely on the weakened RNA protein to identify the same kind. Only the same kind can have unified consciousness coordination, and the identification code of Slime Mold varies from region to region. You can imagine what it would be like to throw an ant into an ant nest of another colony."

When 2 ants of different colonies met each other, they may not necessarily fight, but if one side followed the other into the other's nest, it would be very hard for the ant to come out alive.

The same goes for the Slime Mold Mutants that were also part of the Hive society.

Bucky would not be attacked by fruit entities wandering on the street, but it did not mean that he could enter and leave the core areas such as the incubation room and Hive at will.

Especially when encountering an evolved type with self-consciousness. Being killed on the spot would probably be the most likely thing to happen.

Knowing how to flank and feint an attack, those Slime Molds obviously had the ability to deal with problems flexibly.

They would definitely be able to see through this kind of trick.

What a pity.

Chu Guang even thought that even if he couldn't deliver the bomb to them, it would be nice to be able to find out the Queen's position. At worst, he could borrow tens of thousands of chips again, buy another wave of air strikes, and take care of the problem with incendiary bombs.

Chu Guang looked at Yin Fang while feeling slightly regretful.

The ‘Leader of the Shelter 404 Scientific Expedition Team’ and the ‘Dean of the Academy’ frowned and didn't say anything.

Even though he hadn’t said a word. intuition told Chu Guang that he should have discovered something.

"What about you? Did you find anything?"

Yin Fang nodded slowly. "I found the T-10 Exoframe's action recorder."

"Action recorder?" Bucky looked at him in surprise and asked, "Is that thing still working?"

"Of course, the T-10 Exoframe is the Federation's land combat exoframe, its black box is located near the waist." As Yin Fang spoke, he gently placed an orange box the size of a thumb and shaped like a nail clipper on the table. "Although the data was severely damaged... I still restored a little fragment."

Chu Guang frowned. "What did you find?"

Yin Fang: "The serial number of this armor is T-10: A71C98U. When I was investigating the ruins in Sunset Province , I came across this series in an abandoned research institute. If I'm not mistaken, it originally belonged to the Federation's 71st Armored Brigade, assigned to the Post-War Reconstruction Committee after the Wasteland Era."

Post-war Reconstruction Committee...

The first time he heard this name seemed to be from the hologram left by Dr. Principle. There were indications that this organization had considerable influence in the early days of the Wasteland Era, which was 200 years ago.

According to the clues provided by the players, Boulder Town seemed to be one of the survivor settlements established by the post-war reconstruction committee.

Even the majestic giant wall was built by the organisation.

Chu Guang frowned faintly.

The clues seemed to be connected together, but several key pieces of the puzzle were still missing.

He wanted to know what kind of role Shelter 404 played in that.

Yin Fang paused for a moment before he continued, "2 centuries ago, the troops to which this exoframe belonged launched a military operation against the city center, with the goal of clearing the Hive in the nuclear bomb crater in the city center. The black box did not record the final result of this operation, but we can assume they failed. The remaining data records the reason why the exoframe was scrapped."

Chu Guang immediately asked, "Why?"

"EMP."

Chu Guang was stunned. However, Hyrja was more shocked than he was.

She yelled in fright, "EMP?! You mean those Slime Molds could use electromagnetic pulses?"

Yin Fang shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Who knows what happened 200 years ago? Maybe the Slime Mold mastered a certain method of triggering electromagnetic pulses, or maybe it's an accidental injury from a friendly unit... Either way, judging from the data recorded in the black box, the powerful electromagnetic pulse destroyed more than 30% of the exoframe's electronic components at 2 hours, 31 minutes and 17 seconds after the battle began, causing the Arc Engine to be forced to shut down."

"The exoframe with limited mobility quickly fell into siege and was completely submerged by the Slime Mold after the ammunition was exhausted. The gas exchange system was eroded first, then the life support system, and the energy system... The whole process lasted for 20 years and continued until the black box ceased functioning."

Bucky held his breath.

After a long while, he finally spoke with fear, "This is too miserable."

The soldier inside could only helplessly watch the Slime Mold gradually spreading over the visor, the spores being continuously injected into his body along the life support system until the immunity system of his body was completely paralyzed as he became a puppet of the Hive.

The only remaining nerve cells were maintained in a special way until his body was completely destroyed before he could finally be freed.

It was more cruel than death by a thousand cuts.

Yin Fang nodded silently. "What caught my attention was these Slime Molds... They seem to know a lot about us."

Chu Guang looked at Yin Fang and asked, "Didn't the Academy record the source of those Slime Molds?"

Yin Fang shook his head. "I don't know, even if there is, it's not information that a D-level prospector like me can get access to."

Mutated Slime Mold, radiation, mutants, mutant humans, and marauders...

What exactly did the lunatics do 200 years ago to blow up the planet into what it is now?!

No wonder the Enterprise on the east coast pinned their hopes on the legendary Shelter 0, and the Academy went straight to hide in the Wandering Swamp.

Chu Guang even had a feeling that the reason why the first administrator of Shelter 404 didn't tell him anything might be because he was protecting him.

After all, the more one knew about the world, the more hopeless one would feel.

The only people in this world who could face these difficulties with optimism were the happy players.

Chu Guang took a deep breath. "Is there anything else to report?"

"I've something that I want to report," Bucky raised his hand. Seeing everyone looking at him, he continued nervously, "About the material of that exoframe... I studied its structure carefully."

Chu Guang asked immediately, "Are we able to produce the same material?"

Bucky froze for a moment, and smiled wryly. "The structure is made of porous aluminum-magnesium-manganese alloy, and boron carbide and silicon carbide are used as filler. This is only the first layer."

Seeing that Chu Guang still had an expectant expression on his face, Yin Fang sighed, "He doesn't understand what you mean. You'd better stop with such technical terms..."

Chu Guang looked at Yin Fang with dissatisfaction and snapped, "What do you mean by that?"

What do you mean I don’t understand it? I... I... Nevermind.

Little Seven, who had been listening quietly, also interrupted abruptly, "That's right! Are you looking down on the wise and mighty administrator? Master, do you need me to kick him out?"

Chu Guang gave an embarrassed cough, "That's not necessary."

And what the hell was that ‘wise and mighty administrator’, he didn't remember teaching Little Seven to call himself that.

Yin Fang rolled his eyes at the camera on the ceiling. Before, he wanted to dismantle the dustbin for research, but Chu Guang didn't agree, and he was strictly prohibited from doing so. In the end, he gave up the idea.

Although he was curious, he was not stupid.

However, the petty-minded AI seemed to remember the grudge well.

Trying to smooth things over, Bucky hurriedly continued, "The T-10 exoframe is pre-war equipment. Its armor shell is probably based on 3D printing technology, and it is constructed on the atomic level. Our technology is too far behind. Let alone here, even the Enterprise can't reproduce it."

If a composite armor with a thickness of only 40mm could have the equivalent thickness of 400mm homogeneous steel at the perpendicular level, then with a little bit of inclination, wouldn't it reach 1000mm.

The protection was almost at the same level as a modern main battle tank!

In Chu Guang's impression, the Armor Fist Bazooka of the Army's seemed to be able to cause damage to the exoframe of the Enterprise. Obviously, even the Enterprise had no conditions to produce armor like that.

Seeing the disappointed expression on Chu Guang's face, Bucky continued, "But it's not without gains. We previously analyzed a material called A3-type Alloy from the Central Continent Aerospace database, but due to lack of data and no samples, we have not been able to determine its specific composition."

Yin Fang looked at him in surprise. "Are you telling me..."

"Yes," Bucky nodded excitedly, "the missing part should be aluminum-magnesium-manganese alloy!"

Chu Guang couldn’t help but ask, "Is this alloy very strong?"

Yin Fang nodded. "Very. Moreover, it has a wide range of uses and is relatively cheap. It can be used for everything from exoskeleton frames to linking parts for large machinery."

"To put it more intuitively, if the frame of the KV-1 exoskeleton is replaced with an A3-type Alloy, the protection, maximum load and durability can be doubled while the weight remains the same. The cost will only increase slightly.”

"At least it's a C-class technology!"

Not just exoskeletons, but vehicles running on the ground to drones flying in the sky could all benefit from this achievement.

If he was in the Academy, this credit alone would be enough for him to be promoted from a D-level prospector to a C-level researcher.

The only drawback was the risk of fire in oxidizing environments.

But as long as it was not used in large quantities, or mixed with other materials, it would not be a big problem!

Chu Guang's eyes lit up immediately. "Can it be produced?"

That was the only thing he cared about!

Bucky nodded, his tone much relaxed than before. "Compared to the composite armor of the T-10, the mass production of the A3-type Alloy is not very difficult, and I should be able to do it."

Chu Guang revealed a joyful expression.

He didn't expect to be able to recover such great stuff from the monster! It came as a great surprise to him!

After the meeting, Chu Guang updated some of Hyrja's research results on the official website and shared them with players as an official guide.

Meanwhile, at the west of the third ring...

Over the dark and silent ruins was a blaze of fire.