Episode 16: Deer Herd
It was Wider, the eight-legged Iron Spider.
Driving through the cluster of sky-piercing skyscrapers built in the Old Civilization Era.
When a patch of dense woods appeared on the right.
Lin Shui slammed on the brakes.
"Li Feng, situation."
She activated Wider's onboard sensors.
Reactions immediately popped up on the screen.
A simple map appeared on the panoramic monitor.
Dense red dots.
Surging towards them from deep within the dense woods.
"Lin Shui, let's hide and see what's going on."
"Okay."
She executed a swift U-turn.
Drove Wider towards a nearby dilapidated building.
Wider's toe joints "clacked" and transformed.
Popping out hidden claws.
"Clang!" They dug into the decaying wall of the Old Civilization Era building.
Stabilizing the vehicle.
The entire car climbed up the building's outer wall like that.
Surprisingly.
The spherical cockpit rotated on its own.
Always remaining horizontal.
No one inside felt any sway.
"Here they come."
As soon as Lin Shui spoke.
A large herd of deer rushed out of the woods.
Countless deer.
Hurrying across the road beneath them.
Some leaped over rusted-out wrecks.
Some tripped over robot debris and fell face-first into the mud.
"So many..." Lin Shui murmured.
Li Feng nodded.
After the deer herd disappeared.
The two remained in place.
Wanting to see what had scared the deer so badly.
But after waiting for a long time.
That "thing" didn't even show its shadow.
Normally, they could figure it out by looking with the "Raven reconnaissance drone" flying overhead.
But the weather today was terrible.
The sky was completely covered by thick clouds.
It looked like it was about to rain.
Li Feng had already sent the Raven back to the stronghold.
Now he regretted it a little.
But there was nothing he could do—
Things like this.
Always come with major or minor twists and turns.
"Let's go take a look, Lin Shui."
"Okay."
She flicked her black hair.
"Be careful."
Lin Shui skillfully piloted Wider.
Landed silently.
Retracted its claws.
Moving slowly in the difficult terrain of the woods.
Approaching a collapsed water pit.
Wider's sensors pinged red dots again.
On the monitor map.
A flashing red dot.
This must be the thing that chased the deer herd.
Lin Shui cautiously moved forward.
Found a place where they could see clearly.
"It's a humanoid..."
In front of their line of sight.
A deer lay on the ground.
Beside it crouched a humanoid.
Tearing open the deer's belly.
Taking out organs and stuffing them into its mouth.
"...Even animals can get infected by the humanoid virus?" Lin Shui was stunned.
"There's talk of it, but no solid proof."
"Solid proof?"
"It's rare for anyone to encounter such a mutated species and return alive to report it."
"I see..." she said, half-understanding.
"You've seen them in Trash Town too, right? There are mutated animals from Old Civilization Era genetic engineering in this world. They look completely different from normal animals in the data."
"For example, big dogs with sabre-toothed tiger fangs, and cats with a bunch of tails."
"Right. There are too many types of these creatures. People now can't distinguish whether they are animals infected with the humanoid virus, products of genetic engineering, or mutated due to pollution."
"I see..."
Li Feng picked up the rifle leaning against the back seat:
"Cháng'é, open the hatch."
"It's about to rain, hurry up and finish this," Cháng'é's voice came through.
The bulletproof hatch "whooshed" open.
Li Feng "clacked" the bolt, chambering a round.
Sighted the humanoid steadily.
"Bang!"
The shot rang out.
Followed by another shot.
Overlapping the echo of the first.
Seeing the humanoid stop moving.
Li Feng retreated to his seat.
The hatch closed.
The panoramic monitor instantly displayed the outside view.
"I know humanoids need to eat to live, but what happens if they don't eat?" Lin Shui asked a question she had held back for a long time.
Li Feng scanned the surroundings on the monitor.
Answered:
"Not sure exactly. Probably their cells will go dormant, and they'll lie there as if asleep. When prey gets close, they'll jump up and eat."
"Won't they starve to death while dormant?"
"Dormancy definitely consumes energy slowly, so maybe they can starve to death in the end. But the consumption is too slow, no one has ever heard of one starving to death while dormant."
"As long as they take a bite, they can live forever. No wonder the humanoids from long ago could live until now..."
"Probably. Who the hell knows the real reason."
It started raining before they knew it.
Raindrops "pitter-pattered" on the hatch.
The cockpit was completely soundproof.
They couldn't hear the noise outside.
But to hear their surroundings during combat.
The system collected environmental sounds and played them inside.
Wind rustling through the grass.
Sound of water flow.
Footsteps.
Creaking of steel frames.
Gunshots...
But the system would automatically filter out or reduce distracting noises.
So the sound of the heavy rain hitting the car.
Was almost inaudible.
"Let's go quickly, Lin Shui. If the rain gets heavier, some roads will be flooded and impassable."
"Okay, accelerating."
The two drove Wider.
Through the buildings that still bore traces of street fighting.
On the remains of combat robots half-buried in rubble.
Unknown wildflowers poked their heads out.
Swaying under the impact of the raindrops.
Passing by the wreckage of a multi-legged combat vehicle covered in moss.
Wider's claws gripped tightly.
Moving cautiously to prevent slipping.
Glancing at the tunnel filled with rainwater.
The two finally reached the kindergarten stronghold.
The rain intensified.
The surrounding scenery was blurred by the curtain of rain.
"Li Feng, we're here."
Li Feng looked at the reconnaissance information sent by Cháng'é:
"First, confirm if the surroundings are safe, see if there are any tails following us. So, wait a bit longer."
"Okay." Lin Shui nodded obediently.
Scanned the surroundings with Wider's sensors.
Looked again with her own eyes.
There were no tall buildings around the kindergarten.
It would be difficult to infiltrate if the rain caused flooding and water accumulation.
Although she wasn't too worried about intruders.
Li Feng still carefully confirmed the safety.
Drove Wider into the kindergarten's small park.
Li Feng put on a gas mask and a pollution-resistant raincoat and got out of the car—
They had to get inside quickly.
To prevent water from entering the cockpit.
"Nothing."
Cháng'é said.
"That would be trouble. By the way, where's the Raven?"
"It's in the kindergarten's game room, pretending to be a broken brick right now."
"Is it damaged?"
"This little rain won't damage it."
"Right."
"But it'll be quite troublesome to repair."
"By the way," Li Feng asked Cháng'é, as if remembering something,
"Are there any devices that can repair machines on their own?"
If there were automatic repair devices for robots.
They could continue to use the salvaged broken robots.
They might even be able to repair and sell the scrap metal that was beyond repair.
Their lives would be a little more comfortable.
And they could use them to fortify the stronghold.
"There's a Universal repair workshop," Cháng'é said.
"Really? Where is it?"
"It's right here in the stronghold."
"Behind that isolation wall that's always locked because we don't have high-level clearance?"
"Yes."
Li Feng sighed, "Ai..."
"Cháng'é, you've been like this lately."
"Like what?"
"Not telling me important things, hiding them."
"You didn't ask. Besides, even if I told you, the isolation wall couldn't be opened, so it would be pointless to say."
"Whether it's useful or not isn't up to you to decide."
"Just kidding, I only found out recently. Why do you get angry so easily?"
"I'm not angry."
"That's good if you're not angry."
Good my ass.
Li Feng checked the building for threats as he walked forward:
"Speaking of which, how did you know there was a repair room in the stronghold?"
"It was from the chip set I bought from Yoshida in Trash Town. Maybe it can be used to restart the stronghold's alert system? So I checked the stronghold's database and found that I could get administrator privileges for security robots, which would allow me to use most areas in the stronghold freely."
"Most areas... still can't get all of them?"
"Can't get them all, you need a special pass that the officials have."
"It seems we still need to sneak into military territory and steal a high-ranking official's terminal."
"Yes, government buildings or major corporate headquarters, maybe we can get it there."
"With our current equipment, going in would be suicide."
"Yeah, we'd be shot full of holes by the security <Assault Robot>."
"Then we'd really be done for..."
"No sign of trouble, let's go back."
After meeting up with Lin Shui, who was on standby.
The two walked towards the kindergarten's parking lot.
This place used to be piled high with scrap cars and garbage.
It took several weeks to clean it up.
Now it was so clean they barely recognized it.
Every time Li Feng saw this scene.
He felt a little proud.
As for the scrap cars and junk.
They were piled up in a corner of the stronghold.
He thought about dealing with them.
But he hadn't moved on it, finding it too much trouble.
They reached the strangely protruding wall in the parking lot.
Li Feng touched the wall.
Cháng'é remotely operated.
"Whoosh!" The isolation wall opened.
Lin Shui drove Wider inside.
The isolation wall closed.
The elevator leading underground "hummed" and started.
Wider's hatch opened.
Lin Shui poked her head out:
"It's been so long since we were back at the stronghold, it feels like half a lifetime has passed."
Li Feng nodded:
"Because we've experienced a lot of new things."
"It's been quite a fulfilling period, hasn't it?" Lin Shui smiled.
"It's good as long as you're happy."
"Yeah, and we get to see the Butler robot too."
"Oh right, we have to listen to its nagging again."
"Yep."
Lin Shui giggled.
"What does the robot do when we're not at the stronghold?"
"Probably cleaning the stronghold, doing maintenance. If there's nothing else, it shuts down and recharges."
"Is it awake now?"
"Mhm, it's awake."
The elevator stopped.
The isolation wall opened.
The passage to the disinfection room lit up.
Lin Shui drove Wider.
Crawling forward on the grooved floor.
Parked Wider in the designated spot in the disinfection room.
Lin Shui jumped out of the cockpit.
As soon as Lin Shui left.
Wider's engine automatically shut down.
The hatch "clacked" shut.
The two walked to a small room next to it.
Although Lin Shui had experienced it before.
She was still a bit uncomfortable facing the strong wind and bright light of the disinfection room.
Li Feng helped her smooth her messy black hair.
The two waited together for Wider to be disinfected—
Through the glass.
They could see Wider being sprayed intensely with high-pressure disinfectant.
After Wider was disinfected.
A section of the floor rose.
Carrying the car and starting to move it.
Transporting it directly to the garage.
Li Feng and Lin Shui also walked towards the end of the passage.
They reached the room at the entrance of the stronghold.
"Welcome back," an old security robot greeted them.
"I'm back," Lin Shui replied with a smile.
A hidden device on the wall opened like blinking eyes.
A purple-red lens shot out a scanning laser.
"Welcome back, Lord Cháng'é, Lady Lin Shui."
The voice came from the speaker.
The isolation wall "hummed" and opened.
"It didn't call Li Feng's name," Cháng'é muttered softly.
Behind the isolation wall.
The Butler robot was waiting to receive them.
It looked like an antique from an old sci-fi movie.
On its head's display screen.
Was a cartoon-style smiling woman's face.
Looking very happy.
This little metal thing waddled over to Lin Shui.
Chirped happily,
"I'm back, Butler robot."
Lin Shui showed her brightest smile of the day.
The Butler robot walked over to Li Feng on its short legs.
Looked up at him.
"I'm back."
The robot replied with a short "beep."
"Don't worry, I've protected Lin Shui well."
The robot beeped again.
"I've also introduced her to Claire."
The robot chirped several times.
"It's okay, as long as they don't bother Lin Shui, they can stay with us."
The Butler robot left Li Feng.
And pulled Lin Shui's hand, leading her deeper into the passage.
"Lin Shui, you have the day off today, get some good rest."
Li Feng finished speaking.
She smiled, wanting to say something.
But was pulled away by the little robot.
Li Feng walked towards the garage.
Unloaded his luggage from Wider.
The Butler robot came over to help.
Loading the food and drinks purchased from Trash Town onto a small cart.
Making them easier to transport.
After finishing, he put on his backpack.
Carrying his assault rifle and sniper rifle on his shoulders.
Lin Shui's bag was placed on the cart—
Even if he didn't take care of it.
The little robot would transport it.
He walked to the warehouse, which served as an armory and workshop.
Li Feng began to sort out his equipment.
Hung the pollution-resistant raincoat on the hanger.
Placed the bulletproof vest and belt on the table.
Drew his pistol from the thigh holster.
And removed the magazines from the rifles.
Carefully checked the barrel for any jams.
Then took out the small box containing the control chip from his backpack.
Twirling it in his hand.
Thinking about how to tinker in the security room later.
"Can't you do it tomorrow?" Cháng'é's voice came through.
"Yeah, that's true. By the way, where's Lin Shui?"
"She's taking a shower."
"Then I'll rest too..."
"Not cleaning your guns?"
"Exhausted, I'll do it tomorrow."
Li Feng threw recyclable items like paper cups and plastic bags.
Into the <Recycling bin> in the workshop.
Emptied his backpack and put it away.
Strolled into the living room.
Placed the small box containing the computer chip on the table.
Then wandered into the kitchen.
The aroma of coffee wafted from the kitchen.
Li Feng poured himself a cup of coffee.
Sat on the bar stool.
Slowly sipping it.
Lounging lazily in the living room.
Until he heard the Butler robot's "beep, beep" sound.