Novel Catchup
Chapter 1144 A Mysterious Facility
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Once we were done eating our meals at the inn, we made our way to the shopping district where they sold all kinds of machines and their parts. It was faster to move on machine warriors as both of ours could fly. I bought Eleanora on mine, she happily sat down over my lap.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
"I'm thinking on renting two machines," I said. "One for you and another for Hendrick so he can participate more actively."
"Ooh! Is that true, master?! I would gladly do so!" said Hendrick.
"Yeah, but something small and inconspicuous," I nodded. "Perhaps some sort of machine that moves on its own so it's not suspicious. Like a pet robot.
"P-Pet robot…?" Hendrick seemed dispirited after hearing that. "Ah, yes, anything, master."
Hm, now I felt a bit bad.
Once we found the shop from the VIP areas that I unlocked before, we were greeted by a fancy old man wearing a white tuxedo.
In fact the entire building in this vip area was completely different than the rest, looking like modern architecture instead of an ugly scrap building.
The interior was clean and white, and there were several clean-looking robots serving guests and so on.
"Welcome to Mechanoid Industries. Player Zack! I'm glad to see you again today, are these your friends?" the man asked.
"Yeah Alfred, they are," Zack nodded. "They came here to rent two robots. One for her and another… what else did you wanted?"
"The most advanced automaton you possess," I explained. "A machine warrior that could move on its own, perhaps an assistance unit."
"Ooh! Very well, please follow me then!"
Alfred, as he was called, guided us through the white passages and areas, making me want to explore some more, I spread my senses, realizing this building was immensely huge.
In fact, it was underground where they expanded the most, amazingly enough. There was something huge being made in there.
Very huge.
It made me ask a few questions.
"Hey Zack, do you know like, the lore behind this place?"
"Oh!" Zack rubbed his chin. "Kind of, I know they're the last huge enterprise, industry, or whatever in this scrap world. They're like the Elite among Elites that reign the Cities. They have cutting edge technology compared to the rest of the inhabitants. This is where I got made several of my parts and even my robot. Although I had to secure all materials, because it was so damn expensive."
"Interesting, do you know what else they do? Like, planning to do?" I wondered.
"Planning?" he wondered. "No? I mean… I don't know? They rule and maybe are seen as corrupts, the usual story."
"Corrupts?" I asked. "How so?"
"Hmm, I have never been too invested on the story of this game man," he shrugged. "Most people never really care outside of the fighting robots' parts."
"Can't blame them," Eleanora said. "It's kind of cool."
"Yeah right?!" Zack laughed.
"Hmmm, I suppose so," I nodded. Discover hidden stories at empire
Although he wasn't wrong, I couldn't help but wonder what this entire enterprise was doing down there, it looked like a huge project.
Designing new robots couldn't be it, there was much more to it, something huge, maybe… No wait.
"Hendrick." I talked to him through telepathy.
"Yes?" he wondered.
"Do you think you could infiltrate down there and check what they're making?" I asked.
"Hmm… I think I can try!" he nodded.
"Alright, then go," I nodded.
"I shall!"
He quickly flew down, as we continued walking forward, reaching an enormous white hall where many amazing mechs were lined up.
"Now's your turn to pick what you want, Eleanora," I said.
"Oooh…" Eleanora walked around, very interested.
Alfred noticed she got to choose, so he quickly walked to her side to talk with her.
"Lady Eleanora, right?"
"Yeah."
"I was wondering, what do you want in specific? There's a myriad of models here, all at cutting edge technology."
"I can tell, they look great… I'm good with the spear weapons. Moving fast, perhaps long-ranged attacks like… Hmm, shuriken or knives?"
Zack glanced at her while raising an eyebrow.
"Is she trained to fight IRL or what?" he wondered.
"Kinda…" I nodded.
Alfred's face beamed with happiness.
"Then please follow me over here, there's many models you would want!" he said. "So you desire something fast and light, right? Dexterous with long weapons, but also good at long ranged throwing abilities. An interesting choice! But there is nothing on Mechanoid Industries we have not created! We are pioneers in the entirety of Earth regarding cutting edge robotics!"
"Interesting," Eleanora smiled. "Show me then, human."
Alfred didn't mind her calling him "human" as if she weren't one, although Zack glared at me with a weirded-out face.
"She just called him human?" he wondered.
"Yes, what's the problem?" I wondered.
"N-Nothing…" he muttered. "Anyways, are you really giving me back some of the things I lost dude?"
"Of course, a promise is a promise, Zack," I nodded. "I would want us to become… friends, online friends at least. I want to uncover this game's secrets. Now that I've played the arena, I want to play every other content it offers. This world is really realistic, don't you think?"
"Uh yeah, I guess it's pretty good technology…" said Zack.
"No Zack, I believe there's more to that than just because its very good technology," I explained. "It feels like there's more to that, don't you believe?"
"I…" Zack muttered, unable to really understand. "I don't really get it… But sure, yeah, I mean… I love this game, so if there's actually some story, it would be neat."
"Thanks," I nodded.
As I talked with Zack and saw Eleanora choosing her mech, I glanced down below for a second.
Hendrick had already successfully infiltrated down there, passing through at least five security walls.
"Master, this place is unfathomably deep!" he said. "Every room I've passed through also had some sort of laboratory where they were trying all kinds of materials, their durability, and also were producing new alloys and robots."
"I see… keep going, Hendrick."
"Yes, master."
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