Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 53: Chapter 47: Biological Transformation (Part 1)

The exhausted Cable Tribe, after three days of non-stop migration, braving countless dangers, finally arrived at Gao Gong’s secret base, the Old Metal Recycling Station.

The tribe members who still had energy were scavenging through the piles of junk, looking for suitable steel rods to build shelters, constructing their temporary nests.

The robust Fat Xiang was transporting living supplies from his place over and over again.

Some tribe members were initially intimidated by this giant, but his enthusiastic help gradually eased their wariness.

Many young women gathered around him with flushed faces, finding this strong, yet non-aggressive giant very likable.

In the perilous Iron Sand Desert, the aesthetic preference has always been big, strong, and powerful—aside from being brainless, Fat Xiang checked all the boxes.

”Brother Xiang, you have a great figure, did you train from a young age? What kind of girls do you like?”

The women in the desert have always been bold, getting straight to the point in just a few words.

Fat Xiang scratched the back of his head, recalling the images he saw in the virtual machine, and replied earnestly, ”I like women without clothes.”

”What a coincidence, I also like men without clothes. Hehe, maybe we can exchange ideas sometime.”

”Sure.”

Meanwhile, squatting in front of the big pot, Iron Hide jealously watched Fat Xiang, who was surrounded by a bunch of young girls, stirring the spoon forcefully and shouted loudly:

”Time to eat, everyone come over and line up!”

Catering to the needs of nearly two hundred people is indeed a big issue. Not to mention, even if it’s just Nutrition Paste, it amounts to an astronomical number.

Fortunately, Iron Hide, a former second-hand dealer, had the skill to boil Nutrition Paste into porridge. He made three large pots, barely satiating the stomachs of the hungry tribe members.

Meanwhile, Gao Gong and Huang Yuanli were discussing the future of the tribe.

Staying here was only a temporary measure. Not to mention, although this place was concealed, it was quite close to the center of the Oasis. While Gao Gong alone didn’t mind, the more people there were, the higher the risk of exposure.

These were all undocumented people; once discovered, they would undoubtedly be expelled.

”Going to the Scavenger settlement is not an option!” Gao Gong rejected Huang Yuanli’s suggestion.

”Why not? We are also Scavengers; can they really cast us out?”

”That’s not what I mean,” Gao Gong shook his head, pointing at the War Recorder, which refreshed the battle situation daily.

”New Radiation Circles are constantly emerging, and the intensity of war will continually increase. In my opinion, sooner or later, the Radiation Beast leaders will reach a consensus to attack the Oasis.”

”By then, the outermost Scavenger gathering places would be the first to be abandoned,” Gao Gong hinted, ”Do you still want to go there?”

Huang Yuanli’s face turned pale.

Seeing the little woman frightened, Gao Gong shook his head and said, ”Let’s not talk about this for now. Your tribe surviving is beyond my expectations.”

He glanced at a specially isolated area where eight young Reapers were bobbing their heads, peeking through the walls hungrily eyeing the ’food’ not far away.

And whenever they tried to sneak out, Huang Yuanli would rush over without hesitation, cursing fearlessly at those nearly two-meter-tall monsters.

Even though her height was less than a third of theirs.

The short legs would even jump up and kick their knees.

Strangely, those monsters would cower like sons seeing their mother, losing all their Reaper temper when faced with the little woman.

Gao Gong occasionally patrolled by, relying on the ’Humanoid Reaper’ aura to finally pen them in.

In their simple minds, their ’mom’ had found them a dad.

Though this dad looked a bit odd, he exuded the strongest kin-like aura.

They instantly acknowledged him as dad.

Wondering when they might have more siblings.

Seeing the little woman feeding the monsters with a basin of Nutrition Porridge and a pile of metal fragments, like feeding dogs, Gao Gong touched his chin, finding it amusingly absurd.

Moments later, Huang Yuanli walked over with an empty plastic basin—metal basins were out of the question as they would be gnawed to pieces.

Upon meeting Gao Gong’s peculiar gaze, her face flushed, and she put her hands on her hips, barkingly retorted:

”What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen anyone raise a pet?”

Gao Gong sarcastically remarked, ”I really didn’t expect that big brain to help you, ’Brain Toilet’ was indeed not made for nothing.”

Huang Yuanli was furious.

The reason the Cable Tribe had lost fewer than ten people was largely due to the intervention of the ’Brain-in-a-Vat.’

The ’Brain-in-a-Vat’ had a straightforward approach, using the little woman as a ’Brain Toilet’ to impose a Mental Storm, forcibly reprogramming the Reapers’ cognition.

After the cognitive transformation, Huang Yuanli became their ’mom.’

Thus, a new Lolita Queen was born.

As if recalling something, Huang Yuanli worriedly said, ”With these guys’ appetites, I’m concerned that the metal waste in this place will be the first to be eaten. What do we do when there’s no more food?”

Gao Gong was also at a loss; this was the base of the Mechanical Hunter, and letting them hunt outside was not an option as they would be besieged to death.

”We’ll take it one step at a time. Maybe when that time comes, this won’t be a problem anymore.”

Though Gao Gong’s words seemed irresponsible, he had a vague plan in mind.

”By the way, what’s the Brain-in-a-Vat up to now?”

”Not sure, it seems to have turned into a super-giant Mechanical Bio-Beast and is leading the tribe through the desert.”

The ’Pan-conscious Subject’ is a troublesome existence, not because of its combat prowess, but because it can proliferate like locusts if not careful.

This ’proliferation’ can even sweep over an entire planet’s intelligent species.

As the lowest level pan-conscious subject, the ’Brain-in-a-Vat’ may not be that powerful, but once it begins its crazy expansion, the number under its control will soon approach that of a Beast King Tribe.

Gao Gong touched his chin; perhaps this might also be an opportunity.

The reason why the later Beast God Soldier was so difficult to deal with, even after several Mechanical Legions were deployed and failed to completely eliminate them, is mainly because the entire desert is their Radiation Circle, and their eyes and ears are everywhere.

The ’Brain-in-a-Vat’ might be a nail that can be inserted into it.

Gao Gong thought for a moment and informed Huang Yuanli of an address, instructing her to find a way to notify the ’Brain-in-a-Vat’.

If it wants to restore its power more quickly, it should go to that place.

”What is this mysterious place, Old Copper Mountain 314 – where is this?”

”A deserted mine southward. Just tell it; I assure you it’s only good for you.”

On the surface, Old Copper Mountain is a deserted mine, but behind the scenes, it is the Knight Order’s unmanned factory manufacturing Beast God Soldiers.

According to the plot, at this point, the Beast God Soldier has already entered into mass production.

These level 20 meat-machinery soldiers that have not yet been injected with the ’Knight Template’ are indeed a great supplementation for the ’Brain-in-a-Vat’.

He knows several more of these unmanned factories.

”Alright, leave this to you. Don’t bother me unless necessary.”

”Who wants to find you!”

Huang Yuanli spat a few times at Gao Gong’s retreating figure.

Previously, Gao Gong had given Huang Yuanli his ’Luxury Metal Shed’, transforming it into the residence of the new Clan Leader.

He himself, along with a pile of purchased manufacturing equipment, moved into a nearby abandoned building.

This building has now become the base for Gao Gong’s team.

As soon as he entered the building, two human-headed dogs greeted him enthusiastically.

These mechanical dogs had been upgraded once more, and you could clearly see the special groove on their backs, with live flesh moving alongside the wires.

The flesh cut from the ’Reaper Queen’ had a special vitality that allowed it to be transplanted onto the mechanical body, forming a symbiotic system with the mechanical body’s power source.

The result of the transplantation was that the human-headed dog’s blood volume increased by 100, and it gained an additional prosthetic body interface.

Of course, this transplantation surgery that seemed simple was actually very difficult.

So difficult that Gao Gong could only assist while Professor Han handled the actual transformation.

Besides [Invasive Neural Modification], Professor Han had at least three full levels of professional knowledge in his mind.

More importantly, he possessed a wealth of experience in biological transformation.

This was the most practical.

Gao Gong went upstairs to the second floor, entering a cleaned meeting room.

Upon entering, a strong scent of blood assaulted his senses.

On the operating table lay a corpse approximately two and a half meters long.

And Professor Han, dressed in white with a mask, was dissecting.

It’s clear that although he wasn’t a Prosthetic Doctor, he could still operate this surgical table.

On another table were various sterile incubators containing the organs of this Reaper Queen.

Professor Han would use a professional eye to judge whether these items had strong biological rejection and whether they could be transplanted for symbiosis.

Gao Gong’s gaze fell on a claw; this metal claw seemed ’alive’, opening and closing within the glass box.

”How is it?” Gao Gong asked.

Professor Han did not speak but handed over a sheet of paper.

The paper listed the various parts of this corpse, divided into three categories: discarded organs, transplantable organs, and modifiable systems.

Among them, discarded organs certainly could not be transplanted.

Of the latter two categories, modifiable systems had a higher transplant difficulty than transplantable organs.

Gao Gong found a chair and sat down, his fingers unconsciously tapping the armrest.

According to the paper, there are five transplantable organs: blade limb, biological armor, electronic tentacle, subcutaneous blood pump, and sensing knee.

And three modifiable systems: circulatory system, reproductive system, digestive system.

When Gao Gong looked up again, he saw Professor Han looking at him with a complex expression.

”You don’t seem to hate me?”

In these past few days, besides Gao Gong, even the carefree Huang Yuanli had a complex expression upon seeing Professor Han.

Others avoided him as much as possible.

Because no wall is completely secure, Professor Han’s plan was somewhat known.

Putting hundreds of living people into his own head.

Who wouldn’t be afraid?

According to the argument of the previous Civilization Era, this individual is undoubtedly the template of a mad scientist.

In response, Professor Han wasn’t surprised; what surprised him was Gao Gong’s attitude.