Chapter 505 – Pocket Girls
“It is an honor to meet you. Manager. Please come this way.”
In this way, Seong-il and his party follow the repair robot and move into the depths of the ruins.
“…Escalator?”
The exterior is different, but the escalator is a facility inside the historic site. Unusually, this device had a unique distinction in that it was made of an energy membrane rather than a facility using a conventional conveyor belt.
“It is natural to arrive at the destination. Please wait comfortably after boarding.』
“Oh yes.”
At the repair robot’s words, the party nodded and began to settle down next to each other. One of them sits down on the energy screen with Blue and begins to take a break, perhaps due to fatigue from the battle.
“…How do you know?”
“Yes?”
Seong-il answers with a puzzled expression because he doesn’t understand Kyu-hyun’s question.
“The key you just had. Why did you think that holding the key would grant you authority as an administrator?”
“Hmm…”
Seong-il ponders how far to tell the truth to Kyu-hyeon’s question. In the midst of that, Soo-yeon, like Kyu-hyun, was curious as well, and cautiously approached Seong-il and put on a suspicious expression.
‘I’m sorry… I think I should just be honest…’
Seong-il, who has finally made up his mind, begins a limited explanation of the Deus of Machina to Dr. Low and Dr. Jun based on their procedure.
“…You mean that the ultra-high-performance nanomachines that were injected during the second awakening procedure were injected into your body? And I knew that it would resonate with this key because the nanomachines stimulated my instincts is there.”
“Yes. The reason this guy was used was to prevent organ collapse caused by the awakening of artificial psychic powers.
“Isn’t that simple?”
“Yes. It’s more like an ultra-high-performance computer working inside your body.”
“Ohhh… Is that so?”
The two directors look at Seong-il with a surprised expression and look at him with interest. Seeing that positive image, Seong-il quickly explains and tries to dispel doubts.
“Yes. It absorbs surplus energy through my body to help me recover and use my psychic powers, as well as using my psychic powers as an energy source to control mechanical devices I touch with just my thoughts.”
“That said, it had such an effect…”
Kyuhyun touched his chin with widened eyes, as if he was really surprised by Seongil’s words. Seong-il cautiously opened his mouth to Kyu-hyeon and Soo-yeon.
“Please keep the secret. If this fact goes into the ears of the Hyper group for no reason, it will be very troublesome. Dr. Jun also told me to keep it a secret.”
“Ah… Of course. I’m sorry. I asked for a secret…”
The two directors realized that Seong-il was desperately hiding the contents. They feel sorry for Seong-il, who was forced to reveal their secret.
‘Well… It seems to have gone well. There are some facts that I hid from time to time, but… It would be enough to say that it was an effort to hide confidential information later.’
Although he was a little embarrassed about breaking the confidentiality clause with Dr. Jun, Seong-il is confident that Dr. Jun will understand as the situation is a situation and the person who leaked the confidential information is a key figure in Shelter.
“Hey. What will happen to the Leviathan who infiltrated the base?”
『The current security protocol recommends surrender to RV-456P-DX, and if you do not agree, we will destroy all resistance objects.』
“…It’s okay to just destroy it, but you insist on persuading it? I think the damage will increase if you give it time for nothing.”
Seong-il speaks to himself with a slightly absurd expression at the repair robot’s words. Perhaps mistaking Seongil’s murmur as a question, the repair robot kindly (?) Gives him an answer.
『RV-456P-DX, the surrender request time presented by the security protocol is only 15 seconds. During that time, it is expected that RV-456P-DX’s attack will be insignificant.』
“…It was just talking to myself.”
“Ah. Okay. Sorry. I will correct it.』
“It’s done. Is it possible to repulse?”
Just in case, Seong-il pries the repair robot. To his words, the repair robot responds by moving its unique eye parts.
“Of course. As this facility is also a paramilitary facility, it has sufficient security systems to subdue the enemy. It is not difficult to subdue the rebellion.』
“I’m glad…”
The party all relieved at the repair robot’s words. Even Kyuhyun, who has never let go of his hard expression after an emergency, relaxes and sits down near one to take a break.
『However, RV-456P-DX is…』
“It’s long. Call it Leviathan.”
“Ah yes. Since Leviathan has an excellent ability to call nearby fellow objects, there is a high possibility that a sustained war of attrition will be forced, so we plan to close the entrance to block support.』
“Um…”
The repair robot’s answer was that the escape route was virtually blocked. Seong-il wonders if the passage they passed through is also blocked.
“I wonder if this is where we came from… No. It’s done.”
『…?』
Come to think of it, Seong-il realized that even if he couldn’t go back there, he could go outside with the help of a repair robot. So, I decided to turn my attention away from that issue.
“Elie…Bater, right?”
The huge metal door in front of my eyes opens, and a studio-sized closed metal room descends. Hana muttered with a puzzled expression.
“You’re right. Please board.”
‘There was a door identical to the one at the entrance to the research center where I had body enhancement procedures, so I thought the core facility wouldn’t be far away… But it’s much bigger than I expected, right?’
Compared to Dr. Lowe’s Area A Shelter Secret Lab or Dr. Balter’s Hyperdan Secret Lab, the size of the ruins seemed ten times larger.
『The field trip program begins. Passengers, please do not panic.”
“…?”
At the expression of a field trip that pops out of nowhere and the repair robot’s words not to panic, the party all look puzzled. Meanwhile, the elevator door closes and starts moving.
“Uh…?”
Then an amazing sight to behold. The metal walls of the elevator they were riding in all at once turned transparent and began to show their surroundings in the air.
“Wow… What does this look like?”
Hana exclaimed in exclamation at the magnificent interior view from a high place.
『The wall of this elevator has a built-in monitor function so that visitors can view the facility from a high place.』
“Oh…”
Thanks to the transparent walls, it feels like floating in the air. Everyone in the party looks around with an intrigued expression.
“…A facility that makes repair robots?”
“That’s right. Up to 10 production lines can be operated. However, currently only one line is running.』
Moving the mechanical arm naturally, the repair robot starts briefing the line.
‘Oh… It’s a single line, but it looks like there are quite a few production facilities in one line as well?’
Lines to create hands and torso. Lines to make screws, lenses, etc. Some lines even assemble ultra-fine electronic equipment after completely blocking external dust by surrounding glass and a transparent energy shield.
『After all those individual processes are finished, the parts are gathered into one integrated module to make our G.E.C.R.』
“…G.E.C.R? What is it?”
It is an abbreviation of 『The Garden of Eden Creation Robot. Our designer, Dr. Joseph Redding, hoped that if a small number of humans survived this cataclysm, they would live in a paradise-like place, and he named us this way to mean that we would create that paradise.”
“Ohh…”
Perhaps because he is a robot in charge of field trips, he answers Seongil’s questions with sincerity and in detail.
“Hey. Why are 9 out of 10 lines idle? If we can mass-produce G.E.C.R by fully operating all the lines, we can quickly restore the contaminated area?”
Apparently, he had a lot of interest in the facilities and repair robots here, so he took advantage of this opportunity to ask detailed questions.
『This line is on break due to lack of materials.』
“Come on…”
『Although our facility is built on a land that has all the minerals that can make G.E.C.R, certain minerals have dried up or become scarce over time, and thanks to this, production has decreased significantly due to a lack of some materials.』
“Ha… That’s right. By the way, are you guys doing all the mining?”
Director Kyuhyun calmly and meticulously inquires into the process, which he has been curious about, as if he cannot miss this opportunity.
“That’s right. You can mine as many G.E.C.R as long as you have a mining tool. However, apart from mining, there is a separate robot that plays a separate role because the transportation capacity is low. However, the machine is currently discontinued.』
“…Why?”
『Currently, the main system is in a situation where it is ordered to make G.E.C.R by squeezing all the leeway. Because of this, the production of mineral transport robots has been pushed to the last priority and stopped.”
“Huh…If we can take control of the main system, I think we’ll have to revise the activity algorithm to maximize repair robot production…”
Kyuhyun’s self-talk, as if he wants to strengthen his internal stability by evenly producing mining robots to collect the base’s scarce resources, in the extreme current operating system that only produces repair robots.
“We will arrive at our destination soon. Thank you for taking a tour of our facility.”
After the repair robot’s words, the elevator that showed us around the ruins turns off the monitor and stops its activity.
Wiing!!!
“Wow…!!”
The sound of a huge door opening. And the neat interior facilities spread beyond it make Hana spit out bullets.
“…It’s very clean? It’s very well maintained, isn’t it?”
“This place has a lot of equipment that is extremely sensitive to dust, so we always pay attention to cleanliness. I hope you will follow me.”
After answering Soo-yeon, the repair robot starts to lead the bright research facility without a speck of dust.
“Seongil! What are you doing here? Why are there so many computers…? Everyone seems to be calculating something?”
“Well…? It seems to be calculating something…”
I tried using Deus Ex Machina using telekinesis, but perhaps because the security system was activated, the computer surprisingly bounced off Seong-il’s powerful machine manipulation ability.
‘What kind of mechanism is it that holds up to my ability to manipulate machines…? I think I can barely control it if I gather my energy and give strength to the nanomachines, and touch the machines myself…?’
Thinking so, Seongil calmly shuts his mouth and follows the machine.
“Oh…”
After passing the computing device, this time I see the vacuum glass and mechanical facilities covered by the energy field that I saw in the factory a while ago.
‘…I’ve seen them make things like semiconductors?’
Just looking at it, it looks like a facility that makes products related to ultrafine fairing. It seems that the fine products that were assembled in the factory a while ago are being made here.
‘Well… I can’t make a product like that in a noisy and strong place like before. It must be an extremely sensitive product.’
“Wow…!! What is that!?”
“…?”
Hana throws a tantrum at Seong-il, who is thinking about things. Seong-il is puzzled by the sound and looks where she is looking.
“…Mercury?”
The appearance of a glass flask containing a metallic liquid that at first glance looks like mercury. A round glass bowl the size of an adult’s head had numerous extremely fine tubes inserted into it, and the tubes were connected to gigantic machines and were constantly being injected with something.
‘There’s no way I’d use such a large and numerous machine just to purify mercury… No way?!’
Seong-il instinctively infers the identity of the liquid and begins to shudder.
‘It’s a nano machine…!! That’s definitely it…!!’
The essence of Pocket Girls world science and technology. Even if it’s not the ultimate version like Deus Ex Machina, if it’s at the level of a spray-type nanomachine attached to a repair robot, there are endless places to use it, so Seong-il is delighted with its appearance.
‘Is there any way to get that…?’
Seong-il looks at it with greedy eyes because it would be of great help if he could bring it to reality or another world.
“Im here.”
“…!!”
While I was looking away for a moment, the guide sound of the repair robot flowed in front of my eyes. When Seong-il wakes up from his thoughts and looks forward, a large door and two giant gatekeeper robots appear there.
“…The appearance is bloody.”
The appearance of a gatekeeper robot with the words ‘I am a combat weapon’ written on the exterior. The guy with a thick tank-like body and an orbital lower body was equipped with two devastating gatling guns in both hands.
『From here on, only the manager can visit. The rest of you, please wait here for a while.”
“What!? I have to go in here with Seongil…”
“It is impossible. This is a first-class security area, and if an unqualified person enters, they will be immediately killed.”
After a bloody comment, two combat robots stare at Kyuhyun, who refutes it. Seeing their bloody gatling gun, Kyuhyun swallows dry saliva and quietly steps back, as if he couldn’t bear to argue further.
“Is admission impossible even if I guarantee it?”
『…』
At Seong-il’s remarks, the robots are all silent.
“Please wait.”
After that, the guard robot stands on the monitor attached to the door and starts communicating something remotely.
“The main system granted an exception. However, if you act threateningly, you may attack without notice, so please be careful.”
The voice was polite, but when I answered by moving the bloody gatling gun, the party swallowed dry saliva and nodded.
