Chapter 159

  Jake’s gaze fell on one of the strange, box-like traptions, roughly the size of a sedan, which suddenly began to emit bck smoke from various openings and gaps. A worker who had been attending to the device rushed over to a panel s set into one side. Waving his hand to disperse the smoke around him, he gazed at the data dispyed on the s, attempting to figure out what had gone wrong.

  Three nearby bandits rushed over and began shouting at him all at the same time. One of the gahen struck the worker i with the buttstock of his shotgun, causing the unfortunate man to double over in pain. Another bandit hit him on the back of the head, sending him crashing to the ground. As if ohe three bandits verged on the prostrate form of the fallen worker, kig him with their heavy boots and striking him with the butts of their ons.

  A few mier, the bandits left him alone, bruised and bleeding. One of them signaled for three nearby workers to e over. He ordered o the wounded worker away while the other two were to repair the maery that was still belg out billows of bck smoke. Jake watched as the first worker pulled the injured man across the base and toward one of the tents, where he began to tend to him.

  The worker quickly gnced around, and when he saw that none of the gangsters were paying attention, he discreetly administered a stim to the injured man. After giving the rec worker a reassuring pat on the shoulder, he hurried back to his duties before any of the bandits could suspect him of sg off or punish him for healing the wounded worker without permission.

  Jake turned his attention back to the malfuning maery. The other two workers quickly fixed it, and the bck smoke stopped billowing from it. After that, Jake got curious. What exactly were all those pieaery scattered around the base? He already knew what some of them were, but he didn’t know how exactly they worked. Until now, he had mostly focused on the people ihe base, so he decided to take a moment to examine various traptions more closely.

  When he trated on the retly repaired mae, he suddenly realized he could access its stats in the same way he did with survivors and mutants.

  Fabricator - Level 4

  No additional information appeared, but from its name alo was clear it could create items. Also, during the past several hours of activities within the perimeter walls, he had seen simir maes produce bullets of various calibers. However, he had a feeling that Fabriight be capable of creating a wider range of items, not just ammunition.

  Fabricators were indeed incredibly useful maes, so it was no surprise the bandits lost it when they saw one begin to malfun. However, that didn’t excuse their brutal treatment of the worker. While they would soo what was ing to them, Jake chose not to act hastily. He first wao gather more information about the gang and their base to uand how everything worked within it.

  Now that he knew he could access information about the various structures within the base, Jake examihem one by one. His attention first fell on the rgest building, situated at the ter of the base. It was a two-story, boxy structure with a ft roof. With a thought, Jake summos stats.

  The HQ - Level 5

  Jake then shifted his attention to the other structures and traptions spread throughout the area, calling up their statistie after another.

  Ste Unit

  In trast to the other structures, the ste units cked game-like levels. They were arranged along the inner side of one of the perimeter walls.

  ery - Level 3

  Several eries were grouped together on the eastern side of the base, varying in levels but none higher than level 5. Each ery was box-shaped and approximately the size of an SUV. They trembled slightly and hummed as they worked. Occasionally, a ery produced several tin s at once, which a nearby worker then carried to one of the ste units.

  Watchtower

  Like the ste units, the watchtowers did not have levels. However, the turrets positioned on top of them did.

  Mae Gun Turret - Level 5

  Jake examined each of the turrets guarding the base and hat all of them were at Level 5.

  Recycler - Level 4

  The Recycler was another boxy traption, the size of a car, but it was not i the moment. Its name made its purpose clear. There was only one Recycler within the base.

  Sawmill - Level 3

  It was another boxy device, somewhat rger than most other traptions, measuring about two cars ih. There was only one Sawmill ihe base, and judging by its slightly vibrating frame, it was in use. Just as he was watg the Sawmill, its front panel suddenly slid open, revealing a long ptform that extended outward, carrying ideal-looking wooden pnks.

  Two nearby workers heaved the pnks off the ptform and stacked them o the Sawmill. The ptform then slid baside, and the panel closed as well. The same two workers strode toward one of the ste units and vanished inside. A mier, they reappeared, pushing a cart that tained various broken pieces of wood.

  The two workers maneuvered the cart to the far end of the Sawmill, opehe back panel, and began pg all the broken pieces of wood inside. Ohe cart was empty, one of the workers closed the panel and pressed a button, activating the Sawmill, which started to vibrate and hum once more. So, this was how it worked: scraps of wood sged from around the city were fed into the Sawmill, where they magically verted into brand-new pnks.

  Smelter - Level 4

  It heroid-shaped device. Although it wasn’t i the moment, Jake guessed it probably operated somewhat simirly to the Sawmill—metal scraps were pced inside, where they miraculously transformed into ingots.

  There was another building that he hadn’t paid much attention to yet. Even before pulling up its statistics, Jake could already guess its purpose based on its appearance alone.

  Hydroponics - Level 5

  So, this was where they cultivated their food.

  Several tents were set up on the western side of the base, though they didn’t have any statistics avaible.

  While iing all these various structures and devices that created different products, Jake noticed a couple of iing things about them.

  First, none of the structures had a level higher than 5. This immediately made him think of the HQ, which was at level 5 as well. Perhaps the different structures couldn’t achieve a level higher than that of the HQ. It seemed likely that the HQ o be upgraded before they could progress further.

  Sed, Jake noticed that all the traptions produg various items operated on magical energy extracted from different mana items. On more than one occasion, Jake watched as a worker stepped up to a traption, opened a specific slot, and ied a mana able inside.

  Suddenly, Jake was jolted from his musing by the roar of gunfire and the revving of a powerful engine nearby. Still ging to the building’s wall and remaining pletely invisible, he turned his head to see what was happening. He spotted a pickup truck speeding toward the base, with mutants hot on its tail.