55: Chapter 55 The Big Guy Arrives

"Not right... it's not just a clone..."

"The purity of this genetic structure is simply like a blank sheet of paper! There is no Warp contamination, no long-term radiation buildup. This is even more ancient than the genes of those techno-barbarians from the Holy Terra era!"

He roughly tapped on the control panel, pulling up more data:

"Furthermore, on this foundation, someone used sophisticated genetic means to unlock the underlying restrictions of their genetic locks! How on earth was this achieved?!"

The giant paced back and forth in the laboratory irritably,

"No. A genetic creation of this level must be seen by Carmen."

Lying on the cold operating table, Pi She was currently in a state of complete confusion, stuck in a forced plot interaction.

He couldn't understand a word of the gibberish this bulky NPC was muttering.

But his restless eyes, as a player, kept scanning this hidden underground space.

This was a huge room with a very high-tech style.

All around were various strange instruments he had never even seen before.

There were culture tanks bubbling with green gas, data terminals flickering with faint light, and on the huge monitor in the center of the room, a double helix structure made of countless 0s and 1s was clearly displayed.

"This setting is too hardcore, right? Does this game even have a biotechnology tree?" Pi She muttered to himself.

Not long after, the heavy metal wall on one side of the laboratory suddenly slid open.

Another tall man, about two and a half meters in height, walked out.

Pi She carefully examined this newly appeared NPC.

He also had a burly physique, but the lesions on his body were even more severe than those of the giant from before.

The purple-red pustules on his face had almost merged into one, one of his ears was uncoordinatedly shifted to the position of his cheek, and his facial features presented a disgusting deformity.

Yet, the temperament he exuded was calm and restrained.

"Owen."

The newly appeared man glanced suspiciously at Pi She, who was tied to the operating table, and then looked at the three-meter-tall giant,

"Any new discoveries? I feel... my time is running out. The speed of genetic collapse is accelerating."

The giant, addressed as Owen, excitedly grabbed the newly printed genetic analysis report and shoved it almost into Carmen's face.

"Look at this! Carmen! Can you imagine that in this current wasteland, such a perfect genetic creation could still exist?!"

Owen's voice trembled with extreme excitement,

"If we can completely deconstruct the genetic map of this body, we might be able to completely solve the genetic restrictions on us! The Captain, the Commander... including you! Everyone can survive!"

Carmen took the report, at first only scanning it casually.

But only a dozen seconds later.

Carmen's eyes, which appeared somewhat bulging due to the mutation, grew brighter and brighter, and his breathing became heavy!

"This... this is a miracle..."

Carmen carefully stroked the data on the report, suddenly raised his head to look at Owen,

"You go back into the stasis field first! Slow down your genetic collapse! Leave this to me, Owen, we might actually be saved!"

After Owen obediently walked into a metal sleep pod in the room.

Carmen studied at the console alone for a long time.

"No..."

Carmen rubbed his brow irritably,

"The information obtained just by drawing blood is too incomplete. The telomerase of this clone is special. I need to obtain the complete culture tank that gestated this body..."

He turned around, walked slowly to the operating table, and looked down at Pi She from a high vantage point.

"What is your name?" Carmen asked in High Gothic.

Pi She was completely bewildered, unable to understand a word.

He subconsciously replied in pure Mandarin: "What are you saying? Can you speak human language?"

Carmen frowned: "A language barrier?"

But his sharp brain suddenly caught a hint of long-lost familiarity.

This phonetic structure... this tone...

"Boom!"

It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck through Carmen's mind!

"Terra! This is a branch of some ancient clan language from the Unification Wars of Terra!"

Carmen gasped, looking at the Pi She in front of him in disbelief.

"These people... could they be survivors from that Dark Age of Technology?!"

The more Carmen thought about it, the more his heart pounded.

"That's it... only the survivors of that era could possibly master such advanced and pure genetic cloning technology! This absolutely cannot be something that those Mars techno-cultists under the False Emperor, who only know how to bang on machines, could come up with!"

After Carmen labeled these players as Ancient Terra survivors in his mind, his expression became ugly.

If the other party was truly a survivor from that era, then they must possess terrifying ancient technological weapons.

Trying to forcibly seize their culture tank would definitely come at a painful price!

Even more, more of the remaining brothers would sacrifice themselves!

Carmen sighed deeply, his eyes becoming complex.

"No. The brothers have already sacrificed enough; no one else can die. I must think of a gentle way..."

...

On the other side. Fire Seed Shelter, Room 1.

Lin Li was currently using the backend to peek at the first-person text livestream that Pi She had posted on the forum.

When he saw Pi She describe that there was more than one of those tall, deformed people, and that there seemed to be an entire group of them, Lin Li's back was instantly soaked in cold sweat.

"This is definitely a dangerous signal!"

Lin Li paced back and forth in the room irritably,

"A group of suspected mutant Space Marine big guys are lurking in the basement of an abandoned Food Factory fifty kilometers away from the Fire Seed Shelter! No matter what their purpose is, this is a sword hanging over the head of the Fire Seed Shelter!"

But, fight them? With what?

With that kind of physical fitness, they could close a ten-meter distance in an instant and crush a steel rifle with their bare hands.

Even if Lin Li, who had now leveled up to 12 and was wearing a Medical Exoskeleton, went into battle himself, it would probably just be a matter of serving up another dish.

"Damn it, how annoying! It's a pity the pv terminal can't record audio. If I could hear what they were discussing, I might be able to guess their true identity through clues. Once the identity is known, their weaknesses can be analyzed!"

The more Lin Li thought about it, the more frustrated he felt.

With the Mountain Tribe's mining area completely under control, the Fire Seed Shelter's supplies and productivity had indeed improved significantly, and the players' levels were also constantly soaring.

But unfortunately, as the exploration map expanded, the things appearing outside were getting more and more overpowered!

From afar, there were the massive, restless Orc clans, and that greedy Coastal City governor with heavy troops; and closer by, a group of mysterious, deformed big guys of unknown depth had just popped out!

"This shitty Fire Seed Shelter system doesn't know how to act at all!"

Lin Li couldn't help but curse,

"Can't you just open all the permissions and production lines of the Fire Seed Shelter to me? I could take the players and hide underground, crazily mass-producing troops and climbing the tech tree, ignoring the chaos outside! Wouldn't it be better to wait until I've saved up ten thousand Gundams and then go out and flatten everything?!"

But the system's rigid mission mechanism forced him to constantly explore outward, which was simply unbearable for Lin Li, who was well-versed in the spirit of 'staying low'.

"Right!"

Lin Li suddenly stopped in his tracks and slapped his thigh hard,

"Yesterday, after finishing the challenge mission of the mine demon, I was rewarded with one thousand core points! Let's see if I can pull something good from the roulette wheel that can hold the fort!"

Lin Li immediately sat down at the computer and fanatically pressed the ten-pull button on the prize wheel.

After a burst of exaggerated golden flashing special effects.

As usual, accompanied by a rattling sound, a pile of things poured out of the transport port on the side wall, scattering all over the ground like unwanted trash.

"73! Stop playing dead! Come over here and get to work!"

STC-73's optical lens flashed with red light, and it floated into the room slowly.

It scanned the pile of things on the ground casually.

Subsequently, a list appeared on the holographic screen:

[Medical Exoskeleton (Civilian Version) * 5]

[High-Purity Synthetic Lollipops (Orange Flavor) * 2 boxes]

[Old Era Refined White Sugar * 2 kg]

[Adrastite Pistol * 1]

"Damn..."

Lin Li looked at the first few lines, and his face turned green,

"I spent one thousand points, and you just pulled me some exoskeletons and sugar cubes?! This scam of yours is too black!"

"Creator, please put away your lack of knowledge."

73's mechanical voice rarely carried a hint of heavy awe,

"Please focus your gaze on the last item. That weapon named [Adrastite Pistol]."

"Pistol?"

Lin Li paused, reached out, and rummaged through the pile of trash.

Soon, he pulled out a firearm with a sci-fi design that didn't fit the 'big, dumb, and crude' aesthetic of the Empire.

This pistol had a streamlined dark gold body; the front of the barrel didn't have a muzzle, but was instead inlaid with a complex glowing crystal matrix.

"What's the deal with this?" Lin Li weighed it in his hand.

"This is a standard-issue sidearm used by the true Golden Men of the Golden Age."

73's tone was solemn,

"In the Imperial era, only the most core Custodians on Holy Terra were allowed to carry and use a small number of replicas of such weapons."

"Holy crap! A weapon used by the Golden Men? Same model as the Custodians?!"

Lin Li jumped straight up from his chair.

After so many draws, Lin Li had long figured out the system's patterns.

Anything related to the Golden Men was definitely an overpowered, god-tier piece of equipment!

"How do you use it? What abilities does it have?!" Lin Li asked impatiently.

"The Adrastite weapon's principle is profound. It does not fire physical ammunition, nor does it fire plasma."

73 explained coldly:

"What it fires is a terrifying directional energy beam. This beam can forcibly disintegrate the molecular bonds of the target material directly from the subatomic level!"

"Enemies hit by it won't bleed or explode. Instead, they will disintegrate instantly on a physical level, leaving not even a residue. Any known armor is meaningless before it."

"So violent?!"

Lin Li gasped.

This isn't a pistol at all; this is clearly a miniature causality weapon!

"However."

73 ruthlessly poured a bucket of cold water,

"Since this is an ancient defective product, its internal energy matrix is unstable. Currently, its charge is only enough to fire one precious shot."

"After firing, it will become a heavy piece of scrap metal. Please use it with caution."

"Can only fire once?"

Lin Li's eye twitched, but soon, he figured it out.

"Not bad! Once is not bad!"

Lin Li tucked the dark gold pistol into his belt carefully with satisfaction, a sinister smile curling on his lips.

"A divine artifact of this level has a deterrent attribute far greater than its actual lethality! Just like nuclear weapons, a nuclear bomb that isn't launched is the most powerful!"

"With this gun as a trump card, even if that deformed big guy really dares to come to the Fire Seed Shelter to cause trouble, I have the confidence to go toe-to-toe with him!"

The next morning.

The dawn of the wasteland had just spilled onto the walls of the Fire Seed Shelter, and the entire surface camp appeared exceptionally empty.

For the forty-plus main combat players who died in the bloody mine battle, there were still several hours left until their resurrection countdown.

In the camp, only a few dozen early-rising native miners were silently moving bricks and mixing mud.

Lin Li washed his face and was planning to go to the open space to practice his American-style quick-draw speed, and incidentally, get familiar with the newly pulled dark gold pistol.

Inadvertently, he glanced at the computer monitor in the control room.

In the beta forum, a post that had just been published less than a minute ago was being crazily pushed to the front page.

Poster: [Player Pi She].

Title: [Help! That deformed big guy is here to block the door of the Fire Seed Shelter!]

The post content was full of exclamation marks:

"Brothers! It's bad! I just logged on today and switched to first-person view, only to find myself being carried on the shoulder of that deformed big guy! He is sprinting towards our camp! The speed isn't fast, but the pressure is too strong! What should I do? Will our NPCs be wiped out by him?"

The replies underneath instantly flooded the screen.

[Nicotine Truth]: Holy crap! What's the specific situation? Where is he?

[Liver Emperor]: A World BOSS came directly to our door? What's the point of playing anymore!

[Praise Ming Shen]: It's bad, our main force is all waiting for resurrection CDs, there's no one in the camp right now! Those miner NPCs are okay in a winning fight, but they will definitely fold against this kind of monster. By the way, Pi She, is that big guy wearing armor? Did he take any weapons?

[Player Pi She]: No! He isn't even wearing clothes, just a rag wrapped around his waist, looking like a savage!

[Liver Emperor]: Only a rag? That feels like the hostility isn't very strong. If he were here to slaughter the village, he would at least wear armor and carry a big machete, right?

Lin Li looked at the screen, feeling a headache coming on.

However, he also felt that Praise Ming Shen's analysis made a lot of sense.

The other party wasn't even wearing armor, swaggering over while carrying a person; they probably wanted to return the player to express some kind of goodwill, or had another purpose.

"Regardless, the necessary presence and precautions must not be lacking."