Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 95 Cooperation
Mori-Saka Networks, computing center, 700 meters underground.

Here, where the sun never shines, tens of thousands of glass tanks are neatly arranged, immersing millions of human brains, forming the core of this vast network's biological computing power.

Countless electrode patches and cables are arrayed to form individual brains, while mechanical octopuses patrol back and forth between the tanks.

A maintenance team stopped in front of one of the glass water tanks.

The nutrient solution in the tank was already murky, and the brains of hundreds of people had lost their activity, turning into puddles of mush.

"It's like this again..."

The team leader's face darkened. "This is the third case this month. Report it to the minister immediately!"

In a sterile operating room.

Ryu Morisaka has just finished a craniotomy, and doctors are examining the inside of his skull.

"Chairman, the neural components are functioning well and have covered 70% of your brain area. There has been no rejection reaction from other brain cells."

"In another six months, your entire brain will be composed entirely of electronic components."

Looking at himself in the mirror, Mori Saka Ryu felt a sense of irony. "All show and no substance."

His voice carried a hint of weariness: "The claustrophobia is immobile. Even if all my brain cells were replaced with electronic components, I would still be just a human being, not a second Father. I will eventually die of old age."

The doctor dared not say much, and initiated the cranial closure procedure, carefully repositioning the skull.

He had just closed his eyes when an urgent communication request came through his brain-computer interface; it was a report from the maintenance minister.

"Another brain array malfunctioned? And it burned out in the same way?"

After listening to the report, his expression gradually turned serious. "Are you sure it was an external hacker intrusion?"

"Yes, Chairman."

Ryu Morisaka disagrees with this conclusion.

"The Brain Matrix is ​​not the same as a silicon chip computer. There are no hackers of that level in the wasteland. Why don't you consider that it might be a Brain Matrix from another company causing trouble?"

"Yes, we'll investigate immediately!"

The moment the call ended, the Minister of Technology's emergency call came in.

"Chairman, those hundreds of mentally unstable gamers have all returned to normal, and the media has stopped following up on the matter."

"We discovered that they all had something in common: while playing the game, they were suddenly pulled into an abnormal space that was not on the server."

"All the patients repeatedly uttered words like starry sky and galaxies, but their memories were extensively damaged, making it impossible for them to access any more useful information."

"Human brain matrix, anomalous space, starry sky..."

Morisaka Ryu frowned slightly. "Investigate thoroughly. I need to know what happened there."

……

Tataji's grotesque head, pierced by a steel bar, hung from the roof of the recycling center.

Its eyes were wide open, its flesh was charred black, and its fur was curly, making it look like a gargoyle, swaying slightly in the wind.

This undisguised deterrence made even the most unscrupulous individuals turn a blind eye.

The members of the Firelight team are working hard to repair the damaged fortifications after a fierce battle.

Sparks from welding danced across the walls, mingling with the dull thuds of building materials being moved.

The rain that had lasted for half a day finally stopped.

A hole was torn in the thick clouds, and sunlight pierced through the eerie mist, casting light and shadow onto the earth.

A convoy of five heavy trucks slowly made its way through the mud toward the recycling station.

Leading the convoy was a giant house crab.

Sitting on the back of the house crab, Mao Shanwang immediately spotted the familiar rat head on the roof.

"Hey, Rat King Tataji, you still owe me 30,000 gold coins."

He clicked his tongue, his expression unreadable, whether it was regret or schadenfreude. "Now we really can't pay it back."

The convoy came to a stop, and he landed steadily on the crab's back, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

When he saw Zhuang Fan standing at the door, his round face was full of a simple and honest smile, and he opened his arms to greet him.

"I'm so glad you're awake!"

"Old Cat, you've arrived."

A tight hug made Zhuang Fan feel like he was being held by a bear, which was uncomfortable.

"Okay, let go now."

"If you don't wake up soon, my business will go under."

Mao Shanwang patted him hard on the shoulder.

Zhuang Fan noticed that his right arm was wrapped in several blood-soaked bandages, and his large leather armor had several scratches, clearly indicating that he had just been through a fierce battle.

"Your injury..."

"Hey, just a minor conflict."

Mao Shanwang didn't care at all, "When I go out to trade, I run into a few ignorant people. A few minor injuries are nothing to worry about."

He lied, and Zhuang Fan didn't ask any further questions.

"I heard things have been quite lively here. The Apocalypse Cult and the Ratmen have joined forces to attack, and you've managed to hold them off!"

"It's not enough to just settle some old scores."

Mao Shanwang took out a cigar from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag.

"Come on, take me to see your warehouse. While you were unconscious, your men amassed quite a lot of good stuff."

"Come on, everything's all sorted out."

Zhuang Fan led him toward the warehouse.

The mountain of metal scrap inside, which was originally covered by the dark brown smog, has now vanished without a trace, leaving only the texture of the metal itself.

Mao Shanwang glanced at it, his mind clear as a mirror.

He had been here once before, and at that time it was all decaying mist, worthless, but after this human woke up, all the decaying mist was swept away.

This kid's got some skills...

The cat-man team began to inventory the supplies.

Mao Shanwang opened the Wasteland Traveler app, swiping his finger across the screen, where the model, condition, and market price of each item were clearly listed.

"Three high-capacity solid-state batteries, five sets of machine gun barrels and ammunition magazines; military-grade chips and sensors..."

"...a total of seven hundred thousand gold coins."

Mao Shanwang gave a number, looking very satisfied, "Those scavengers under your command have a really sharp eye; they only pick out the good stuff."

"not enough."

Zhuang Fan shook his head. "I'm short of money right now. You can take that Baron as well."

"baron?"

Mao Shan Wang's cat ears twitched, and he looked at the steel behemoth abandoned in the corner, a hint of hesitation on his face.

"This thing is a hot potato. It belongs to Nan Yiwei's car team. Last week, Linhai City personally put a reward on it to find this mecha. Basically, no one dares to take it."

"But..."

He changed the subject, leaning close to Zhuang Fan's ear: "One million gold notes, I can help you get rid of them, how about it?"

"Old Cat, the reward issued by the Administrative Office is 1.6 million gold coins after tax. It's not appropriate for you to swallow 600,000 in one gulp, is it?"

Mao Shanwang was exposed on the spot, but he wasn't embarrassed at all. "How about this, I'll quote 1.5 million, and the remaining 100,000 can be used as shipping costs, is that okay?"

"make a deal."

Zhuang Fan then pointed to the mountain of spoils piled up in the corner: "Last night we confiscated a large number of weapons from the Apocalypse Cult and the Ratmen. You can take them all."

Jetta and the advisor have already selected the best batch, including four poorly made power armors. The rest are all old models with severely worn barrels that either jam or explode.

Mao Shanwang walked over, picked up a pistol at random, then weighed a machete in his hand and curled his lip in disdain.

"These are counterfeit products, with a variety of bullet types, low power, and a high risk of barrel explosion."

Name your price.

"Three hundred thousand. Any higher and no one will buy it. I'll have to melt it down and recast it."

"can."

The thirty-odd masked cat-men brought by Mao Shanwang began to move things.

The Baron was so large that they had to disassemble its mechanical legs and armor plates one by one before loading it into the truck.

The three heavy trucks were packed full.

Watson was taking the statistics from the side.

With the addition of the one million from Tataji, the team now has three and a half million gold coins.

This is a huge sum of money that would make anyone envious!
But Zhuang Fan knew it was far from enough. Leaving aside the short-term team operating costs, the money was just a drop in the bucket just to acquire a sufficiently safe underground shelter.

"Old Cat, let me see your price list."

"Feel free to look around, it's open and transparent."

Mao Shanwang handed over a data board with a discount table from his internal channels.

Zhuang Fan swiped the screen, and the first page was full of astonishingly expensive items:

Baron 285 million

[Earl 900 million]

[Gauss machine gun turret 800 million]

[1000 Million Beehive Fortress]

Stop staring at the first page.

Mao Shanwang, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, interrupted his thoughts:

"The heavy-duty armed forces are in a civil war, and strategic materials are in short supply. They are available but not available. You can just flip to the back."

Zhuang Fan's gaze fell on the "Body Modification" section, then he looked at Watson's iron arm and asked:

How much does it cost to clone an arm?

"This thing isn't cheap."

Mao Shanwang estimated that "a single surgery starts at one million gold coins, and you have to make an appointment in advance. Organ incubation will take at least a year."

Upon hearing the price, Watson immediately shook his head: "Too expensive, and too slow."

He raised his iron arm, his five fingers making a mechanical sound as they opened and closed flexibly.

"Boss, the team is short of money right now. My arm is working fine, let's talk about it later."

"Ok."

Watson paused for a moment, then offered a practical suggestion:
"Boss, I think we should buy a few power armor units. Those things are really powerful on the battlefield."

Zhuang Fan thought it made sense; if even the assembled goods from the Apocalypse Cult could hold off an entire enemy force, let alone the genuine goods.

"Powered armor? I happen to have a way with that."

Mao Shanwang immediately perked up and began to talk non-stop.

"Powered armor on the black market is divided into three grades. The best is the military version, which has powerful performance but is expensive and subject to purchase restrictions."

"Secondly, there is the civilian version, which has reduced armor and some functional modules, but it is more robust and durable."

"The worst one is the wasteland version, the kind you often encounter, where scrap metal is used to cover the power frame. It's okay for dealing with some small fry, but against regular troops, it's a sitting duck."

"Old Cat, give me six civilian models, secondhand, in relatively good condition."

"no problem!"

Mao Shanwang patted his chest and said, "I'll personally find them for you, and I'll also provide a rotary machine gun for each one. The package price is 1.5 million gold coins. They'll be delivered in two days. How about it?"

1500000?

A hint of surprise flashed in Zhuang Fan's eyes.

He clearly remembered that the starting price for the civilian version was at least 500,000 yuan, and even secondhand ones were expensive. Now, the price per unit is only 250,000 yuan, which is practically half price.

"Old Cat, when did you become so conscientious? Don't you dare cut corners on the quality, it's a matter of life and death."

"Absolutely reliable quality!"

Mao Shanwang spoke sincerely and did not lie.

But he quickly gave a wink and pulled Zhuang Fan to a secluded corner.

"Brother, don't think I'm at a disadvantage. I need this business more than you do."

Mao Shanwang lowered his voice, and his fat cat face no longer held a trace of his憨笑 (a simple, honest smile).

"I've been waiting for you to wake up because I wanted to discuss a deeper collaboration with you."

After Mao Shanwang gave a brief explanation, Zhuang Fan quickly understood his difficult situation.

With the death of the Black Gold Company's cat director, the mutant caravan has lost its only protector.

"Those old guys at the trading company doubled our monthly trade quota in the new regulations. If we don't meet the quota, we'll be downgraded to a third-tier supplier."

Mao Shanwang's face was full of worry:

“Once I drop to level three, not only will the preferential price I gave you be canceled, but my caravan won’t be able to continue. Those guys will take everything from me.”

Zhuang Fan realized the seriousness of the problem.

Mao Shanwang's trade routes are stable and reliable, and he can keep secrets; he absolutely cannot lose this trading partner.

"What should the monthly trade volume be?"

"It's hard to say, anyway..."

Mao Shanwang pointed to the empty shelves in the warehouse, "We need to maintain a stock of goods worth 700,000 yuan like today every day."

Seven hundred thousand per day?
Zhuang Fan frowned: "This amount of goods was collected by my two teams after four or five days of scavenging. Now that Jetta is leaving for a while, I have even fewer people on my hands."

"I know, and I'm trying to find a solution."

Mao Shanwang fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan, his small eyes narrowing. "Brother, aren't you short of men? I can help you get them."

"It's not just about the people, but also the venue."

Zhuang Fan pointed to the roof: "Tataji won't be able to keep us in check for long. Those scoundrels will come over sooner or later."

"Location, hmm... I've been looking, but all the good places are taken, especially those underground shelters, they're all under close surveillance. But don't worry, I'll find you the most secluded and safest one."

Zhuang Fan took out a stack of gold notes from his pocket and slapped them directly onto Mao Shanwang's paw.

"Here are 100,000 gold coins as a commission. Use all your connections to find them as quickly as possible."

"Okay, I'll handle it, don't worry."

Mao Shanwang accepted it without hesitation.

"By the way, speaking of manpower..."

He pointed to the figures moving goods outside the door, his憨厚 smile fading, and his eyes became very serious:

“They are the seeds of my cat-people, they came out of the mountains with me, they are all simple and kind children, I can let them help you, you just need to provide food and lodging.”

His tone turned serious, and he said, almost emphasizing each word, "Please make sure you treat them well."

Seeing his serious expression, Zhuang Fan slowly nodded:
"I will."

Soon, twenty masked cat-men jumped off the truck and lined up in neat rows, ten men and ten women, all of them agile and strong.

“Tonight, I will bring in another twenty scavengers to supplement your manpower.”

Zhuang Fan looked at the group of masked cat-men, his tone slightly somber:
“Old Cat, I have many secrets. I can trust your people, but I need to question the others.”

"How to say?"

Zhuang Fan thought about it carefully: "What I need are loyal warriors, not hired hands."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "If it's just about getting a salary, I don't need people like that. What I need are members who can stand with me through thick and thin, who can take up arms, and who can defend our homeland together."

Mao Shanwang understood.

The conditions Zhuang Fan offered for recruiting were actually far more generous than those of any other scavenging team, so no one would refuse, and the selection criteria were also higher.

The more cautious Zhuang Fan was and the higher the screening threshold became, the more at ease he felt, as this would ensure the safety of his people to the greatest extent possible.

“My people will follow you from now on. Their lives and fortunes are tied to you. They will never come back to me. You can trust them completely.”

"As for the scavenging members, I will personally select some of the younger ones, with loyalty being the top priority. Although the older ones are more efficient at scavenging, they are all cunning old foxes who will run away at the first sign of trouble, which does not meet your requirements."

"Then I'll leave the task of selecting the right people to you."

"Got it."

Zhuang Fan's gaze fell on his arm again.

"What exactly happened to your injury?"

Now that the two have become allies, Mao Shanwang no longer hides his true intentions.

"My people are hiding in the mountains in the southwest. I don't know which bastard leaked the news, but those scum from the Swift Dragon Mercenary Group have been sending people into the mountains to search for them."

"The one leading this time happened to be Scarface. I wanted to settle both the old and new scores at the same time, so I launched a sneak attack from the rear, but I didn't win and almost lost my life."

Mao Shanwang spoke of it casually.

Scarface... Of course Zhuang Fan remembered him.

Back in the Strange Rock Hills Refuge, when Harry called for reinforcements, it was this Scarface who led the team to capture him.

Afterwards, Zhuang Fan was used as cannon fodder and taken to the Skaven stronghold, where Scarface and Tataji happened to clash.

He managed to escape during a lull in the fighting between the two sides.

Zhuang Fan asked, "How did you two become enemies?"

"Mainly his brother, Scarface."

Mao Shanwang felt a surge of disgust. "His brother is also a second-tier supplier, competing with me for goods in Linhai City."

"He's a business idiot, brainless, only good at bullying others by relying on Xunlong's power. He often disguises himself as a bandit to rob my goods. He's disgusting."

Zhuang Fan sneered: "Then it seems we have a common enemy."

Mao Shanwang suddenly thought of something and sighed slightly:

"I didn't expect that you could fool that kid Xiong Er."

"Old Cat, why don't you send Xiong Da over too? He's quite good at moving warehouses, and two bears together would make a perfect pair."

“Brother, it’s not fair for you to poach people from my team like this. I should at least offer some compensation.”

"Okay, I'll compensate you."

After he finished speaking, a wisp of dark mist condensed in his palm and was placed on the wound on Mao Shanwang's left arm.

Mao Shanwang was stunned for a moment, then he noticed that the pain from the gunshot wound in his arm was gradually disappearing.

At the same time, Zhuang Fan also extracted the remaining traces of eerie mist from his body.

Mao Shanwang felt a sense of lightness throughout his body, and the lingering sense of oppression that had plagued him for years vanished.

This kid really knows his stuff...

Wait, that’s not right!
He glared at Zhuang Fan, a bold idea surging within him, yet he hesitated to believe it.

"Take it open and see, it should be cured."

Mao Shanwang snapped out of his daze and quickly unwrapped the bandages, discovering that the deep, bone-revealing wound had healed completely without leaving a single scar.

"This……"

He was utterly shocked, staring at his arm and then at Zhuang Fan, as if he were examining a monster.

"I suspect you have some secrets, perhaps a way to remove the rotten fog, or some kind of machine."

His voice trembled slightly, "But I really didn't expect... you could control the fog directly, that's too incredible."

"It's just luck, remember to keep it a secret."

Mao Shanwang scrutinized him for a while, confirming that Zhuang Fan was still human and not possessed by some kind of demon.

"So...you also extracted the Mist of Decay?"

"Yes, I did it."

"A warehouse full of goods, can it be emptied in just one day?"

"It used to take half a day, but now it only takes two hours. We are making progress slowly."

"Can I keep smoking?"

"If the mysterious mist won't work, the decaying mist should."

"Holy crap, bro!"

Mao Shanwang couldn't stop his voice, and after blurting it out, his cat face instantly tightened, and he glanced around warily.

He pulled Zhuang Fan closer, lowered his voice, and his tone was full of excitement:
"You're not just defogging, you're turning trash into gold! You're going to make a fortune!"

Do I look like I've made a fortune now?

"Hey, that's because you didn't tell me beforehand. Just wait, what a crappy second-tier supplier. I'm going to move up to first-tier and make you the richest person in Linhai City!"

Zhuang Fan didn't want to eat any of the pie in the sky that the cat was trying to paint. He lowered his head, opened the data panel, and began a new round of purchasing.

In order to arm the team and fortify the base, in addition to six powered armored vehicles, he also purchased two modified warehouse trucks, enough weapons and equipment to equip twenty people, a batch of defensive facilities, and enough food, clean water and fog lights to last for half a year.

Next is the personal equipment. All core members each received a carbon nanotube bulletproof vest, priced at 20,000 gold coins.

These few items alone cost another million.

He also bought Xiong Er a second-hand heavy Gauss sniper rifle worth 100,000 yuan.

More than three million yuan was spent like water, and in the blink of an eye, only eight hundred thousand yuan remained.

Zhuang Fan purchased a large amount of food and clean water, leaving it for the Jetta team to distribute and recruit the ratmen.

In the end, his savings were reduced to only 40 gold coins.

Mao Shanwang left with the order, repeatedly assuring everyone before he left that he would deliver all the goods a day later.

Bear Big held a piece of animal bone in his hand, glanced at the departing convoy, scratched his head, and looked at Zhuang Fan with a puzzled expression:

"Are you the new boss? Will you provide food?"

"It's fine, you can eat as much as you want."

"Good."

Xiong Da stepped into the new warehouse and officially became the warehouse manager and gatekeeper bear.

At that moment, Hua Xin jumped down from the roof and landed precisely next to Zhuang Fan without making a sound.

"Brother Ya, we've finished scouting. The situation in the surrounding area isn't good."

"How to say."

She unfolded a simple map with more than a dozen points marked in red.

“The nuclear group has a large number of patrols and has blocked many key roads outside the city, requiring passes to pass through.”

Zhuang Fan looked at the red dots and quickly sketched out nuclear tactics in his mind.

They are weaving a net, first dividing the area into sections to reduce the flow of people, then conducting focused searches in each area and creating a safe whitelist.

Since Chu Ningyan has already searched their area and added it to the whitelist, it will not attract the attention of the nuclear forces, at least in the short term.

However, this instantly raised the bar for Hua Xin and others who were scavenging. Not only did their search area shrink, but obtaining a permit also required time and review.

Zhuang Fan looked at the map and pondered for a moment.

“I have a way to try to distract them.”

Hua Xin's cat ears stood up.

Zhuang Fan raised his head, his gaze piercing through the ruins and looking towards the direction of Linhai City.

"But I need to go into the city."

(End of this chapter)