Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Invitation
Everything happened too fast!
One second, that super mutant was still approaching aggressively, the next second its massive body fell forward due to inertia, its bizarre internal organs in the exposed skull already blasted apart by a single shot.
Bang.
The nearly five-meter-tall body of the super mutant collapsed with a boom. It seemed like it wasn’t completely dead yet, but its limbs couldn’t move freely and only twitched erratically.
"This life force is too tenacious!"
Su Ziyu was sure he blew that super mutant’s head off.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t dead at this moment, just as if it lost the ability to move. Other organs on its body clearly still showed signs of life, as if they were individual life forms.
"Firepower coverage!"
Explosions erupted continuously on the fallen monster’s body. The Brotherhood members were extremely tense, bombarding that body for nearly three minutes before slowly ceasing their attack.
At this point, the super mutant was finally completely dead.
"Task completion."
"Activate related flesh-enhancement abilities!"
It was only after the data stream gave the prompt that Su Ziyu finally let out a slight sigh of relief. He put down the BTL82M, which was a bit hot to the touch, and stood up to walk towards the super mutant’s corpse. The Brotherhood members had already surrounded it; the monster’s corpse was blown beyond recognition but still twitched occasionally.
"Gained 5 points of Source Power Value."
The data stream’s prompt made Su Ziyu frown slightly. He originally thought he could gain a point of Divinity Value, but didn’t expect to collect Source Power Value instead. It seemed that acquiring the Divinity Value wasn’t solely linked to the monster’s strength; at least the super mutant before him was far more dangerous than the monster that Rote turned into back then.
Perhaps due to some special reason, he was able to obtain that point of Divinity Value at that time.
"It should be completely dead." Su Ziyu addressed the still tense Brotherhood members beside him.
After speaking, he nodded slightly towards Pasha.
Since the Brotherhood was here, they naturally should hand over the Bionic Human Plan data to them, thus completing all matters satisfactorily.
Pasha hesitated briefly but quickly went over to talk with the Brotherhood members.
As for Su Ziyu, he had other matters. He seized the moment when no one was paying attention, swiftly wandering around the battlefield and almost touched all the living corpse ghost bodies he could find.
Now he was sure of one thing.
That is, ordinary living corpse ghosts wouldn’t provide Source Power Value, only those highly mutated elite-level living corpse ghosts could yield a point of Source Power Value. Unfortunately, the number of such elite-level living corpse ghosts was too few. The Source Power Value obtainable from them was the same as that from radiation giants, but the difficulty in dealing with them was worlds apart.
One radiation giant could at least take on two to three elite living corpse ghosts.
A total of 8 points of Source Power Value.
The greatest gain came from that super mutant, while another three points of Source Power Value came from scattered elite living corpse ghosts, one of which was also taken down by the Brotherhood members.
Not far away, Leon emerged from somewhere, looking disheveled and covered in dust.
"Thanks to you guys for this time," he appeared to hold a significant position within the Brotherhood and was quite friendly towards Su Ziyu, even though the two had exchanged blows in the hotel before.
Pasha solemnly handed over the Bionic Human Plan to the Brotherhood members.
Their leader took it seriously as well.
A leading man quickly contacted the back and had a small team of combatants escort it back to the base first.
The others entered the Freelancer organization’s stronghold.
Inside, there might still be isolated living corpse ghosts, but more valuable were the various resources of the Freelancer organization. Nearly everyone inside was dead, though what exactly happened wasn’t known. Leon was unwilling to say much, only vaguely mentioning that the monster killed many people under cover of darkness and released the living corpse ghosts from the underground laboratory.
Su Ziyu certainly had suspicions, but he didn’t delve further.
Later, more people arrived at Polaris, and among the crowd, Su Ziyu saw old Bill, the respected German man among the scavengers.
To his surprise, he was acting alongside the Brotherhood members.
"There’s a radiation pollution source inside. We need protective suits to enter." A stern-faced woman emerged from the sewers with her team.
She gave Su Ziyu a slight nod and said, "The pollution in the underground lab is severe."
"It’s best to seal it off completely."
In the meantime, Leon had replaced a simple mechanical arm. Many of the Brotherhood members seemed to have bionic limbs installed. Su Ziyu counted at least ten people moving around with relative ease despite their bodily injuries, mostly combat-related amputations of limbs.
"Alright. Take some people down to clean up," Leon nodded and said, "The others, come with me to gather some materials inside."
The Brotherhood members were systematically receiving the legacy of the Freelancer organization.
Pasha, not far away, seemed a bit silent.
Beside her was old Bill, seemingly engaged in some persuasion. There was a slight dispute between them during the conversation.
Su Ziyu didn’t intervene, he sat on a rock holding the BTL82M to rest; a Brotherhood member beside him brought over a bottle of clean water plus a small box of compressed biscuits. After Su Ziyu ate some, he was handed a cigarette, "Clean. Unaltered."
This was a rather quiet man, about thirty years old, with a specialized mechanical left arm, while the right arm was intact. He was lighting up a cigarette and took a puff.
Not everyone had bionic organs installed; more people used mechanical limbs instead.
This time, Su Ziyu didn’t refuse. He lit the cigarette and took a puff.
Exhale.
He felt slightly relaxed mentally, and his physical fatigue slowly faded over time.
The man beside him seemed to be a very competent warrior, quietly smoking his cigarette, occasionally glancing at the monster corpses. Nearby, others were collecting these bodies, all of which would be incinerated in the end to prevent them from being eaten by radiation mice or cockroaches, which could lead to the creation of more dangerous beings.
About an hour later.
Leon emerged from the sewers, holding a thick wad of research data. He handed over a portion to Su Ziyu and slowly said, "That old guy had been studying corpse ghosts for a long time."
"To suppress his radiation mutation, he hasn’t eaten for three years, surviving solely on some special methods."
Su Ziyu flipped through a few pages casually and tossed it back.
He’d already seen similar scenes in the Southern Cross’s lab, the Freelancer leader just repeated the process.
In this Wasteland Era, radiation pollution was omnipresent.
Not only food and water but also daily activities accumulated mild radiation pollution. Earth had undergone unknown magnetic field changes post-catastrophe day. The corruption of flesh was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over this world, uncertain when it would fall, and no one could escape, as the Space-Time Monitor System indicated, humanity in this world was already on the brink of extinction.
"Do you want to join us?" Leon asked while eyeing Su Ziyu beside him, "The Brotherhood needs someone like you."
Su Ziyu smiled and then shook his head.
Upon hearing this, Leon merely sighed, gazing at the super mutant’s distant corpse, and slowly said, "The real terror, more than these monsters, is the despair blanketing this era!"
"Thank you for finding us a glimmer of hope."
"The Brotherhood owes you one!"
.........