Chapter 396.1: 20 Black Boxes and The Envoy

While Chu Guang and the Mother of Deathclaws were conversing, Hyrja stood beside them.

As the dialogue between the person and creature concluded, Hyrja finally found an opportunity to join the conversation. She took a deep breath, stepped forward, and introduced herself. "Hello, I am a researcher from the New Alliance. I was from Shelter 117, specializing in life sciences."

Seeing the amber-colored pupils staring at her, Hyrja's facial expression froze and she hurriedly continued, "The situation with you is very... Surprising. I will... I will regularly take a little blood from you. Of course, this is mainly to ensure you are healthy.”

"It's for experiments, isn't it? It doesn't matter. This body doesn’t just belong to me anyway. It's the crystallization of the wisdom of tens of thousands of researchers over several generations," the Mother of Deathclaws said with a faint smile. She seemed unconcerned. “If you need anything, go ahead and take it."

Hyrja sighed with relief. "... Thank you, I won't hurt you."

Although she was eager to unravel the mysteries of the creature before she arrived, the thought of treating a sentient, talking creature as an experimental subject made her feel somewhat conflicted.

It was great that the other party was willing to cooperate.

As Hyrja shifted her gaze, the Mother of Deathclaws looked at Chu Guang. "If I continue to inject the serum, my body will keep growing, and theoretically, I could live forever... But there's no longer enough space here for me. I plan to stop the injections. This body has, theoretically, another 47 years of life left."

"Now that the traitors are dead, and the authority of Shelter 79 has also been transferred to you, my confusion has been resolved, and I can accompany you for my last 47 years. After you have harvested the research results from my body, I plan to spend the remaining time like a normal being."

Chu Guang nodded. "You can choose however you wish to live."

The Mother of Deathclaws smiled. "What about you? What do you plan to do next?"

Chu Guang looked around. "I plan to take a tour here and also check out the black boxes in your warehouse."

That was the main point. Those 12 black boxes...

It was more than he had seen in the past year combined.

"Black boxes...” A look of realization dawned on the Mother of Deathclaws’ face. As if she recalled something long forgotten, she mumbled, "Speaking of which, there are a few black boxes here... But how many exactly?”

Chu Guang nodded. “There are 12 of them, I just confirmed through the cameras... Haven't you used them?"

"A long, long time ago, maybe, back when I was still human. As for now, those things are useless to me, but I still remember their functions," the Mother of Deathclaws said with a faint smile. "If you don't mind, I can introduce them to you."

Chu Guang nodded. "That would be helpful."

...

The function of the black boxes was clearly written in the user manual. Not only were the black boxes foolproof to operate, but the user manual was just as simple.

After all, the whole setup was designed with the worst-case scenario in mind. They catered for the survivors of the Wasteland Era to completely forget their original language and culture. It was simply to the point where even monkeys or gorillas could figure out how to use it.

From that perspective, an introduction seemed somewhat redundant.

However, since the former administrator had offered to introduce them, Chu Guang naturally wouldn't refuse.

Its brain was equipped with a bionic chip, similar to a VM, which could serve as a terminal connected to the shelter system.

Giving the Mother of Deathclaws a hummingbird drone, Chu Guang headed to the warehouse with Hyrja.

The path to the warehouse had been cleared of mutants.

Descending the stairs to the building's lowest level, Chu Guang soon saw the black boxes of varying sizes in a room spanning hundreds of square meters.

The smallest was only the size of a briefcase, light enough to be picked up with one hand.

However, the largest couldn't even be called a box, taking up a quarter of the room. It was essentially a detachable workshop!

What shocked Chu Guang the most was also the largest device.

When he finished reading the description in the user manual, he couldn't help but exclaim. "... A portable reactor?!"

The hummingbird drone floated gently beside the black box, and the voice of the Mother of Deathclaws came from it. "That's right, to be precise, it's a Hippopotamus-2 portable reactor, a version more advanced than the Hippopotamus-1 powering your exoframe."

"Normally, this type of reactor is used in exoframes, but it's also not unheard of to use it in ground vehicles and low-altitude planes."

Chu Guang gulped once, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

The core component of an exoframe was its portable reactor.

Because of the existence of portable reactors, users could wear exoframes and navigate across any terrain as easily as on flat ground. Their armor might be as heavy as a tank, but it contained all sorts of weapons.

"Haven't you ever thought of using it?" Chu Guang asked.

The Mother of Deathclaws smiled faintly. "Using it is one thing... But it’s not as easy as you make it out to be. How do you plan to use it though? Are you going to magically conjure up the non-existent nuclear fuel? Even if the black box that produces nuclear batteries is right in front of you, without Helium-3 as fuel, it’s nothing more than decoration."

"In my view, this is actually the most useless black box here."

The energy efficiency of portable reactors was much lower than the fixed reactors in the shelter, and it was clearly not cost-effective to dismantle fuel rods to be used to power a less efficient source of power.

Shelter 79 hadn't needed an exoframe in its first 50 years.

And in the time after the mini Ice Age ended, an exoframe gradually lost its significance for them.

Extremely powerful beings were not necessarily inferior to machines.

For instance, Yong...

Thinking of taking it down with a single exoframe was difficult. In the end, players had to rely on human wave tactics to wear it down.

From their angle, it made sense.

Chu Guang calmed down from his excitement and nodded thoughtfully. "... Indeed, not having nuclear fuel is a big problem."

"If the route between the moon and us isn't restored, or if you can't get pre-war nuclear fuel reserves, I advise you to temporarily forget about it... Go look at something else instead."

The hummingbird drone floated to the side, past a row of black boxes, and introduced them one by one.

"This makes fire extinguishers. Not much to say, but the coolant inside is interesting; after you've made the fire extinguisher, you can take it apart and remove the coolant. It's pretty convenient and can be used in chemical engines."

"That makes ‘Champion’ brand coffee beans. It is capable of synthesizing a type of coffee bean that only grows at an altitude of 1500 meters. Honestly, with a name like that, you should know which company sponsored its creation..."

Chu Guang stroked his chin with interest. "Yin Fang would probably be interested in this."

Hyrja's expression was a bit odd and she teased, "You guys really know how to enjoy yourselves."

A light laugh rang through the air.

"It's not really about enjoyment; most of the researchers here have a habit of consuming caffeine. Coffee and tea, I think, are normal interests, although it does sound a bit strange to produce them through a black box."

"The next black box isn't so normal, though. While it's sponsored by the same company, the project contains not just caffeine but also has a mild addictive property similar to alcohol... It’s a 'Champion' brand chemical. One shot can keep you energized for 12 hours. To avoid affecting sleep, we usually use it in the morning."

Chu Guang made a strange face and said, "... That's basically a stimulant, isn't it?"

Flipping through the manual, besides instructions for operating the black box, Chu Guang also found an additional line of advertisement.

[Use Champion, helps you become a champion.]

“...”

Good grief.

Seriously?!

The Mother of Deathclaws said softly, "You can understand it that way. Our main purpose in using it is to ensure we can maintain absolute focus. But after becoming Deathclaws, we no longer need that stuff."

"There’s only so little of it. I'd metabolize it in one breath."

The warehouse stored a small amount of supplies.

Chu Guang walked over to the black box, following the settings in the manual, successively inserting 57g of charcoal, 20g of sugar, and 500ml of water among other random stuff. He activated the intake and power supply next.

Operating it honestly felt a bit like alchemy.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

However, all he needed to do was to press the switch. There was no need for hand seals or spells. Well... They could do it if they wanted to look cool.

The device quickly booted.

Minutes later, a syringe about the length of a middle finger lay quietly at the opening.

Hyrja immediately stepped forward, picked it up, and curiously examined it for a while before stabbing it into her arm without a second thought.

After closing her eyes and feeling the effects for a while, she opened her mouth and said, "All body functions are slightly enhanced... To put it in terms you can understand, all attributes increased by 4% to 20%, duration varying from 6 to 12 hours."

Suddenly noticing Chu Guang staring intently at her, Hyrja paused slightly, a bit embarrassed. "What are you looking at me for?"

Chu Guang said with a strange expression, "I just didn't expect you to use yourself as a test subject. Are you sure it's okay to experiment on yourself like this?"

Hyrja paused before snorting casually, "It's fine... Even if there's a problem, I can metabolize it."

Chu Guang was struck speechless. "...”

Alright then.

High-tech kidneys are really awesome...

Honestly, Chu Guang was a bit envious, but thinking about having strange parts installed in himself always made him feel a little wonked out.

Besides, having a physical constitution in the twenties wasn't bad; who knows, maybe he could awaken some incredible ability later.

Bionic organs and such can wait until I'm older!