episode_0048
by fnovelpiaIn the distant past, this world was overflowing with nature.
Clean air that doesn’t need to be filtered.
Sunlight that does not attack humans.
Overflowing water and plants.
However, things are different now.
The vast ocean that covered most of the world dried up and turned into a salt desert.
Plants are nowhere to be found, water has turned to oil, sunlight is trying to kill humans, and the air is so polluted that if you just breathe it in, you will instantly develop lung disease and die.
The world that was once overflowing with nature was now covered in steel, and the world that was covered in steel was once again overturned, leaving only a wilderness.
Most of the work the scavengers did in such a wilderness was to endure.
Enduring the boredom that comes from endlessly walking and exploring through a boring wilderness where mostly the same scenery is repeated.
Burying oneself in the ground and enduring until the wind stops to avoid accidentally inhaling the occasional strong dust storm.
Sometimes, when the dust clears, the vivid sunlight reveals itself and the cells escape into the shade to avoid being destroyed, enduring until the dust thickens again.
When a powerful wild machine appears, you take cover and wait for the wild machine to disappear, praying that it will not discover you.
That was the life of a collector.
The group of Domi and his humanoid friend Irina were no different.
Irina can easily endure the natural environment, but Domi and her party are ordinary humans.
They have been wandering the wilderness for a long time, looking for humanoids, avoiding them whenever the environment becomes harsh.
The goal is to fix Irina.
At first, Domi’s subordinates followed him, but soon they began to leave one by one.
Of course.
No one could continue their journey, wandering the wilderness without a proper destination, without even finding a humanoid to claim as their own.
Someone went back to Guldari Village.
Someone died along the way.
Someone switched to another group of collectors.
In this way, the group dwindled and became smaller, and only Domi and Irina remained in Domi’s group.
“Master.”
“Why? Irina.”
“The dust storm is coming.”
At Irina’s words, Domi used his telescope to look in the direction she pointed.
“Damn it. Irina. Let’s dig the ground.”
“Okay.”
Domi and Irina hid underground, covered the hole with a blanket, and waited quietly for the dust storm to pass.
* * *
Dust storms are formed by two elements.
One is, of course, the dust that has accumulated on the surface of the earth. If the dust, which is usually quiet, is disturbed for some reason and encounters a strong wind, it spreads in all directions in an instant, forming a huge dust storm.
Or a tornado.
There are instances where a huge tornado occurs, pulling in dust from the ground and even obscuring the sky, creating dust storms of unbelievable proportions.
Such a huge dust storm is truly a disaster among disasters, as it destroys even relics and changes the terrain.
Fortunately, the dust storm that hit the fence team wasn’t that strong, so the fence team relied on their powered suits to walk through the dust storm peacefully and converse.
“How is the fit for everyone?”
“Really good.”
“It’s amazing how comfortable it is to breathe in this dusty wind!”
“Excellent.”
The Fence Team all praised the powered suit that Harmon had created.
The powered suits were perfectly tailored to their body shapes and were comfortable to wear, with no parts that were out of order, so there was nothing that creaked or moved slowly or made things uncomfortable.
Even in this thick dust storm, I was able to secure a certain level of visibility, so I never lost track of my colleagues, and I even had no trouble breathing, so I could breathe freely and talk to them.
Above all, the heavy powered suit kept the body of the person hit by the dust storm safe thanks to its weight, and its strong strength allowed them to overcome the dust storm and move freely.
“It’s really perfect.”
To the collector, nature is something to avoid, run away from, and endure.
The powered suit that Harmon created was something that turned all of that common sense upside down.
“How did you acquire such skills?“
“I guess genius really exists.”
“Okay, thanks for the compliment. But that’s enough.”
Harmon frowned as he blocked out the endless stream of praise.
‘The dust storm is interfering with the sensor.’
Harmon looked up.
High above the dust storm blowing overhead, there you can see a constant flash of light. The dust is rubbing against each other and generating electricity.
Perhaps there was an invisible electricity circulating throughout the dust storm, interfering with the sensors of the powered suit Harmon had created.
‘Isn’t it still not completely capable of overcoming nature? If the dust storm gets any bigger, the powered suit might break.’
Harmon walks while recording new research projects and constantly recording information about the powered suit he uses.
Since they already have a destination set, they just need to go in a straight line towards it.
Currently, the humanoid production factory still has a signal device left behind by the dummy Undine, and they are following that signal.
The dust storm blew for about two hours and then died down, and as the dust covering the sky began to settle a little under the influence of the wind, sunlight began to shine on the ground.
The killing sunlight that kills humans.
Of course, the fence team, protected by powered suits, walked in the sunlight without any problems.
“That’s amazing.”
As Shady opened his mouth like that, Leonard looked back at Shady.
“Walking under the sunlight.”
“Okay.”
“A colleague of mine once had the misfortune of being exposed to sunlight while sleeping. The next day, he got strange hives all over his body and died.”
“That was easy. The guy I know kept vomiting red liquid until he died.”
Of course, they had their own experiences and pasts as they had worked as collectors before being chosen by Isaiah.
As Leonard and Shady talked, the other subordinates also spoke up.
“The village I lived in used sunlight as an execution tool.”
“Execution?”
“Yes. Those who broke the village law or invaders were caught and hung on a cliff where sunlight periodically shined. Then, those who were exposed to sunlight would die painfully.”
“Aha. There was something like that in the group I was in.”
“How was Mr. Leonard’s group?”
“We… ….”
Isaiah laughed at such men.
“Hoohoo.”
“Why?”
“I think our kids have become really close. At first, we were really stiff with each other.”
“Was it?”
“Yeah. Was my education too harsh? But I think the kids’ hearts have loosened up since you gave them the powered suits, Harmon.”
Just as sweet desserts soften the human heart, excellent equipment softens the hearts of collectors.
The Fence Team, which had been hardened by being selected by Isaiah and undergoing training close to torture, were opening their hearts and becoming closer thanks to the power of Harmon’s powered suit, and were truly transforming into one team.
And as if to test them, soon a wild machine was discovered in the distance.
“Wild machines. Two machines. Fighting each other.”
Shady, who was conducting reconnaissance with a drone, speaks, causing the fence team to tense up.
“The form is….”
“Shady. Just share the video data.”
“Oh, yes. That, sharing the video data? I will.”
At Shady’s command, the powered suit shared the video data it received from the drone with everyone, and the video the drone was sending appeared in everyone’s sight.
“Oh.”
“Wow.”
“Ah, then I don’t need to explain it so painfully. I don’t think I’ll have time to show off my hard-trained drawing skills… … .”
What Shady discovered were a wild forklift and a wild tank.
As the tank rolled backwards, it fired its machine gun at the forklift, but the forklift ignored the machine gun with its thick armor and clung to the tank, swinging its mechanical arm.
Kwajik!
As the thick tank’s gun barrel bent and it lost its main means of attack, the tank realized that it was at a disadvantage and detached the tank gun barrel, retreated again to avoid the excavator, took out the excavation part, dug through the ground, and escaped underground.
As the tank fled underground and disappeared, the excavator used radar to map the underground area, then changed the parts of its mechanical arm into a jackhammer and aimed at the tank’s path.
Kuuung!!
The jackhammer on the forklift’s mechanical arm fired on the principle of a railgun, digging into the ground and hitting the tank below. The forklift slowly dug into the tank and then began to greedily suck out the oil inside the tank.
At the same time, he begins to tear apart parts of the tank and repair the parts of his own body that need to be repaired and modify the parts that need to be modified.
“Hmm.”
“A strong wild machine. Wouldn’t it be better to avoid it? We can run away without hiding.”
Leonard said this to Harmon and Isaiah, but Harmon shook his head.
“No. It looks like a good fit for testing out a powered suit. It’s not even a crab meat, except for the railgun.”
Harmon said, unfolding his weapon.
“Hunting.”
“Okay.”
The fence team all started preparing for battle.
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