A single-player post-apocalyptic game, but with an all-female teammate mod.

The android's movements suddenly froze, as if an invisible hand had gripped its throat.

"It works!" Aono's eyes lit up.

Shadow reacts faster.

Her purple hair moved without wind, fine electric sparks swirled around her, and the flashes of swords were like rain, with electric snakes dancing wildly.

Those alloy armors that had once given them so much trouble were now rendered useless by the purple lightning.

Each strike easily tore through the alloy shell's defenses, and lightning drilled in, wreaking havoc within the combat android's body, destroying the energy core and control chip.

After a dozen or so cuts, the data stream on the android's screen face turned into gibberish, its body twitched, and then it became completely still.

But Shadow's offensive did not stop.

The naginata swept across, purple lightning exploded, and the android's head flew off like butter.

Then, with a backhand slash, the blade cleanly and decisively cleaved the headless mech in two from top to bottom.

Ding-ding-ding-ding.

The crisp sound of gold coins and materials hitting the ground was particularly pleasant in the silent battlefield.

The system notification "[Task Completed]" flashed briefly in my field of vision.

Aono ignored him and quickly walked to Kage's side. "How's your energy level?"

"acceptable."

The purple-haired mature woman slowly sheathed her sword, a wisp of electricity still dancing on her fingertips.

Aono looked down at the shallow crater on the axe blade blasted by the energy blast, then looked up at the arc of electricity still lingering on Shadow's fingertips, feeling great.

"It seems this challenge was tailor-made for you; your abilities are a natural counter to these mechanical monsters."

Ying opened her palm thoughtfully.

Purple lightning condensed into a small sphere in her palm. Through combat, she could clearly sense the "penetrating" power contained within the electric current.

It doesn't rely on brute force to break through the armor, but rather, like water finding a crevice, it follows the conductivity of the metal itself to penetrate and strike the core.

"Indeed restrained."

She said softly, "I can feel that even without damaging the outer shell, the lightning element can reach directly into the interior."

In fact, before the naginata tore through the alloy shell, the lightning element had already entered the combat android's body.

The hard alloy shell became so easy to tear because the lightning element had already destroyed it from the inside.

"At this rate of consumption..."

Ying looked up at Qingye, a faint glint in her eyes, "It can basically be used until the upgrade."

Aono raised an eyebrow. "So, you mean you can basically use it indefinitely until you reach the level cap?"

"Ah."

The purple-haired mature woman closed her hands, and the flickering arcs of electricity disappeared into her skin.

Aono nodded, and he could start leveling up rapidly again.

Once you reach the level cap, then bring the little chef along.

As the two were talking, the gold coins and materials dropped by the elite monsters had already automatically entered Qingye's inventory.

Aono led Kage around the lobby, but found no other supplies, so they took the elevator in the corridor to continue exploring upwards.

After entering the elevator, Aono discovered that the building, which looked to be at least a dozen stories high from the outside, was actually only nine stories including the lobby.

Starting from the second floor, the layout changes from a lobby to individual rooms.

The first floor has about three rooms, which contain a lot of supplies.

Besides gold coins and materials dropped by mechanical monsters, there are also items such as books, furniture, and food.

The entire search yielded far more rewards than simply killing the mechanical monsters.

Several battles were also triggered while searching for supplies.

Upon entering the room, one or two mechanical dogs or mechanical spiders suddenly appeared from some unexpected corner.

But they were all dealt with by Ying in a few moves.

With lightning elements destroying them directly from the inside, the purple-haired mature woman cleared out these mechanical monsters with the same efficiency as Aono had when mowing down ordinary mycelium zombies.

An hour later, Aono and Kage walked out of the metal building side by side.

As soon as the two left, the emptied metal building turned from silver to gray-black.

Aono tried to enter again, but the automatic sliding door did not respond at all.

I tried to forcefully destroy it, but just like before, the attack was absorbed as if it were being absorbed, without causing any ripples.

Even when Shadow uses the Lightning element, this is still the case.

"Let's go. It seems this building will be useless after we finish the strategy."

Looking at the gray-black metal building, Aono was not disappointed.

There are nearly a thousand metal buildings on the entire map, so there's no need to worry about not having enough monsters to kill.

He stretched and looked up into the distance.

Under this unreal blue sky, rows of silver metal buildings stand silently.

"Let's go back and let Dudu know we're safe, then we can move on to the next one."

Ying walked to Qingye's side and nodded slightly.

After greeting the little cook, Aono and Kage didn't linger and entered a nearby metal building to begin their monster-fighting and leveling-up journey.

Daytime hours are limited, at most 12 hours.

It takes at least an hour and a half to completely clear one building, and at most eight buildings can be cleared in a day.

They set off a little late today, and the two of them only cleaned 6 buildings before returning.

After the Ark was upgraded and the map changed, Aono tried going out at night again, but as soon as he stepped out of the protective shield, the intense sense of crisis surrounded him once more.

The crucial point is that the source of the crisis remains completely unknown.

Not only him, but also Ying and Dudu.

After several attempts yielded the same result, the three of them gave up and continued to adhere to the rule of only going out between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

……

In the captain's lounge, Aono and his two companions ate their meal while summarizing their day's achievements.

"Shadow, how many levels did you gain today?"

Level 3.

The purple-haired mature woman spoke calmly, saying that she had killed most of the monsters today, so leveling up three times was normal.

However, the upgrade speed will slow down later on.

It takes 4000 experience points to go from level 14 to level 15. Based on today's situation, the daily experience gain is only around 6000.

"Okay, in that case, to improve efficiency, let's split up tomorrow."

Aono thought about it and adjusted his plan.

"You take Dudu to conquer the buildings that require combat, and I'll go to the mini-game type buildings by myself."

After a day of exploration, Aono and his companion obtained more information about the levels.

The buildings on the map can be divided into three types.

Killing three waves of monsters is just one of them.

There are also two other types: mini-game type and carrot-guarding type.

These are all names that Aono chose himself based on the strategy guide rules.

As the name suggests, the mini-game type means that there will be mini-games inside the building, such as Connect Four, Tetris, and word puzzles.

Only by completing the mini-games can you explore the entire building.

If the game is lost, a penalty will be imposed.

This includes, but is not limited to, encounters with a mechanical army chasing after them, walls suddenly firing energy blasts, and traps appearing on the ground.

The penalty period is one minute.

After one minute, you can either continue playing the mini-game or choose to quit.

In Aono's opinion, this building with its mini-game elements was the easiest of the three types to conquer.

The mini-games aren't very difficult, and while there are occasional penalties, it's quite easy to survive.

As for injuries, those are definitely unavoidable.

However, the returns are not as high as the other two types of buildings.

The third guardian carrot can also be considered a combat-type character.

Once inside, a stone pillar and a large number of mechanical monsters will appear in the center of the hall.

The mechanical monsters' goal is to destroy the stone pillars, while the players need to protect them.

The battle usually lasts less than 10 minutes, but the intensity of the battle is exceptionally high during those 10 minutes.

However, it doesn't make much difference to Ying, since those ordinary monsters can be dealt with in one strike anyway.

Even if an elite monster appears, it's just a matter of swinging your sword a few more times.

The three types of buildings are slightly different in appearance, but they can be easily distinguished upon close inspection.

"can."

Ying glanced at the eager young cook beside her and softly uttered a single word.

That's just her personality—cold on the outside, warm on the inside.

Once you get to know her, you'll find that this sexy, tall, aloof, and mature woman is actually a gentle person.

40. Silver-haired mature woman & blonde mature woman

"Okay, then let's leave it at that for now."

Aono continued, "Once we reach the level cap, we can start trying to conquer those four landmark buildings."

Based on today's findings, there's absolutely no need to conquer all the metal buildings.

Once you reach the level cap, no matter how many monsters you kill, you can no longer increase your strength.

The harvest of gold coins and materials is also plentiful, and when the level reaches the cap, it will definitely be enough to upgrade all functional facilities to level 2.

……

Over the next few days, Aono and his two companions split into two groups, like two tireless exploration machines, rapidly traversing one metal building after another.

On average, 15 buildings can be completely cleaned per day.

Experience, gold coins, and various materials all increase rapidly, like a rocket.

To prevent supplies from running out of space, the warehouse is the second building facility that Aono upgrades.

Besides supplies, the three also encountered five survivor NPCs during the process of clearing the building.

Yes, they are all "acquaintances" of Aono.

They are three hentai anime characters known as the "Three Flowers Gathering at the Cauldron," and two beautiful girls who play music.

The number of survivors has indeed increased significantly, but their quality has decreased.

The first three are unemployed, essentially blank characters, while the latter two do have professions, but they are not very useful.

The "Three Flowers Gathering in the Cauldron" refers to hydrangea, sunflower, and madder that has been picked.

These correspond to Natsuka Murasaki, Higashiyori, and Akane Nanao, respectively.

Aono only had a vague impression of the other two musical girls.

They are Akiyama Mio from K-On! and Yazawa Nico from Love Live!

He hadn't watched either of those anime series, but they were indeed very famous.