Player Reload
Chapter 193 - 177: Apocalypse

Chapter 193: Chapter 177: Apocalypse

Just like the "Holographic Bone Corridor," the "Automated Three-Dimensional Warehouse" also had a second form.

It could expand from the size of a palm-top container toy into a small shipping container.

And upon opening the container’s door, there was an internal space of a medium warehouse scale, 100 meters long, 75 meters wide, and 25 meters high.

Li Cheng stood at the center of the warehouse, wearing a construction safety helmet he got from somewhere, and was writing and drawing on paper while occasionally tapping on a calculator.

"Giggle giggle giggle giggle—"

Gray Rain covered her mouth with her palm next to him, making a Tarzan-like call that echoed in the vast space. Seeing Li Cheng’s serious face, she asked curiously, "What are you drawing?"

"Space planning diagram."

Li Cheng said casually: "If a Mechanical Master wants to upgrade, they have to rely on disassembling items and inventing, constantly honing their skills.

Buying small items for casting is just the first step; afterwards, a whole bunch of goods need to be brought in.

Things like hydraulic presses, flat forging machines, air hammers, pillar drills, gas furnaces, stacking machines, forklifts, gantry cranes, CNC machine tools, 3D printers, diesel generators, and also air circulation purification systems, fire protection systems, wastewater treatment systems..."

Even with the all-purpose Killing Field Slum Street intermediaries who could procure cost-effective equipment, it would still cost quite a bit of money.

Seeing Li Cheng fall into thought, Gray Rain’s little head spun around, and she took over the calculator, tapping away and saying, "With so much space here, why not rent it out to people to live in?

According to 50 square meters per room, one floor can be divided into 150 rooms. With a three-meter high ceiling, 8 floors can be created, which makes 1200 rooms.

Place the container in the most convenient location at the city center, a 50-square room with kitchen and bathroom, and only charge 3000 rent per room, with a deposit and advance rent for three months plus agency fees, you can earn back more than a thousand Game Coins in one go."

"Pfft."

Li Cheng, who was drinking cola, almost spat it out, looking at Gray Rain with a weird expression that said "hey, you really are a genius," "Are you trying to build pigeon cages here? Where did you learn all this stuff?"

"From the smartphone, duh." Gray Rain took out her phone as if it was the most natural thing, the screen cluttered with rental, loan, and web game ads.

"Maybe try to look at less of this random stuff."

Li Cheng felt a headache coming on and took back the calculator. If only Gray Rain hadn’t seen the Hong Kong rental ads, that place had the ultimate inhumane designs like 10-square-meter subdivided apartments.

As for Gray Rain’s idea of becoming a landlord to make money, better forget it... First, the Special Affairs Bureau would not allow it, second, Li Cheng still had scruples, and third, he found it a hassle.

Taking Gray Rain away from the "Automated Three-Dimensional Warehouse," Li Cheng immediately found an intermediary in Killing Field Slum Street to place an order for supplies and equipment.

Money makes the mare go, and three days later, all the equipment had been delivered, and the warehouse was preliminarily transformed into a workshop.

Relying on the workshop, Li Cheng started with forging cold weapons and armor, then gradually replicated along the trajectory of matchlock guns, flintlock guns, muzzle-loading cannons, and rifled cannons, and afterwards, he turned his attention to making steam engines and internal combustion engines.

Most of them were handcrafted by him, with a small part completed by Prometheus Company’s automated industrial robotic arms, as well as Mage’s Hand.

Mage’s Hand, a Level 0 trick that a Mechanical Master could master, was shaped like a spectral hand floating in midair, semi-transparent and able to lift up to 4.5 kilograms.

Because this skill was so convenient, Li Cheng quickly used it to do homework, cook, sweep, do house chores, and incidentally exercised his casting abilities, increasing his upper limit of Spiritual Power Value.

His current player panel was:

[Life-Sacrificing Gambler·Ant]

[Lv12, Experience Bar 560/1200]

[Strength: 10]

[Agility: 10]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Constitution: 10] (New Human: +1) (A Common Man’s Rage: +1)

[Perception: 8]

[Charm: 5](Barbecue Lover: -1)

[Equipment Column: Assembly Puppet, Mechanic Master’s Certificate, Holographic Bone Corridor, Bat Hook Claw Gun, 170 Straight Blade, Nuclear Energy Lighter, Thunder Horn*1]

[Backpack: Suicide Notebook, Automated Three-Dimensional Warehouse, Insect Lord’s Divine Calamity Crystal, Achili Toy Factory Key③, Healing Gel*5, Eyes Communication Headset, Emergency Escape Card, Electronic Pet Egg, Micro Life Potion*1, Sea Shark Type Single Soldier Exoskeleton, Bat Wing Heavy Armor Motorcycle, Avenger Cannon, drone, Sexy Daoist Robe]

[Skill Bar: Fog Concealment Skill, Multi-threaded Brain Domain Method, Experience Playing Method, Instant Thunder, Demon Exchange, Death Curse Torrent (Temporary), Bloodthirsty Fury (Temporary), Cutting Hemorrhage (Temporary), Feathered Gliding (Temporary), Mislead Slander (Temporary), Small Gravity Energy Ball (Temporary), Summoning Technique: Thousand Paper Cranes (Temporary)]

[Game Currency: 1053]

[Spiritual Power Value: 480]

[Sanity Value: 390](Barbecue Lover: +120) (Helicopter Destroyer: +30)

Just as Li Cheng thought it was another ordinary Friday night, a sudden palpitation deep inside made him slow down in his task of screwing bolts into the steam engine.

In the corner of the warehouse, Gray Rain, who was secretly playing with her phone at the desk, heard the screwing stop and hurriedly stuffed the phone into her textbook, pretending to continue doing her homework.

Only when Li Cheng passed by her did she curiously poke her head around and ask, "What’s up? Is there a mission?"

"Yes, and no."

Li Cheng frowned slightly as he turned on the computer and logged into the player forum.

Sure enough, the forum was being updated at a dazzling rate with new posts constantly being refreshed.

Titles were all like[It’s here it’s here it’s coming!], or[The Desire for Slaughter is Rising], or simply a series of exclamation marks.

About twice a year, the killing field would undergo some sort of change.

European players call it a major event, American players refer to it as a shock point, religious followers call it the moment of revelation, gaming enthusiasts call it the seasonal update, while the Special Affairs Bureau’s jargon is[Tremor]

During this period, the killing field will distribute regular tasks to all players, with the execution location being in the physical killing field.

The form and content of the tasks vary greatly, some for individual players, some for teams, some requiring the hunting of a certain experimental subject, some requiring the exploration of a certain area.

Only two things can be certain: the difficulty of the tasks is linked to the player’s strength, and the rewards are extremely generous.

After a brief delay, the forum’s casual discussion section began to see advertisement posts.

Things like small loans, item rentals, personal safety insurance, firearms modification, lone wolf temporary team-ups,

Even nightclub ads, inviting players to indulge themselves before their tasks with a 20% discount across the board.

The Whale Song Organization, in charge of maintaining order on the forums, hurriedly went online, efficiently deleting a large number of advertisement posts.

But the astroturfing armies hired to advertise quickly learned to adapt, adopting seemingly serious titles,

Like[The Big Event is Imminent, What Equipment Should New Players Buy to Quickly Improve Combat Capability],

[An Analysis of Classic Mission Cases During the Last Four Years’ Moments of Revelation, with Substance Inside, Administrators Please Feature],

[A Hundred Taboos of the Killing Field, Unknown to 99% of Players],

After clicking in, the content starts off seriously but midway it suddenly shifts to advertisements, recommending players to spend at some shoddy shop back in the slums, it’s really enough to make one want to curse.

The marketplace is like a battlefield, and by now, some business owners must have taken the opposite approach, not advertising their own shops but instead desperately buying astroturfing posts and creating junk threads for their competitors’ stores, stirring aversion among the player community toward those shops...

Li Cheng scrolled through the forum with a sweat-bead emoji face and finally waited for an official forum sticky post written in uppercase red bold font.

[The Global Supernatural Alliance will hold a news conference at the center of the killing field slum street at London time noon, in conjunction with official organizations of various countries and major guilds. All Summoners are cordially invited to attend and watch]

London time noon is about 10 minutes away.

Li Cheng released Mage’s Hand, shut down the total power of the workshop, took Gray Rain with him out of the automated warehouse, and logged into the killing field heading toward the slum street.

Slum street is neither particularly large nor small, and the streets were packed with oddly dressed players.

Fortunately, Li Cheng and Gray Rain arrived early; they managed to secure an open space in the forecourt of the Special Affairs Bureau’s main building and set up a life-guard-chair modeled two-meter-tall observation chair— that’s right, with the large capacity space item, the[Automated Three-Dimensional Warehouse], Li Cheng had stuffed an assortment of miscellaneous items into it...