Chapter 114: Arriving at Base 16

“If I had known Iron Bull eats Energy Stones, I would’ve stolen some from the warship. But it seems there were fragments falling off the warship, and I wonder if the Energy Stones would’ve been recovered by the surviving Fighter Jets.” Yang Bo didn’t expect Iron Bull to lick up Energy Stones. If he had known, he’d have brought some.

“We still need to charge it. Looks like I’ll need to go out and find a Mecha to take its battery.” Most Mecha use Nuclear Power Cells, with a few using Antimatter Batteries.

Antimatter Batteries have strong explosive power and long endurance, but they have one flaw: they tend to self-detonate. So if a Mecha is attacked, it could easily become a bomb.

Of course, this is something Yang Bo only heard about. He’d never experienced such a blast firsthand. Then again, those who do probably don’t live to talk about it, much like there are no complaints about parachutes.

With this thought in mind, Yang Bo activated Invisibility and went out to search for a Mecha. Iron Bull watched as Yang Bo left again after coming back in.

Its small eyes showed a bit of confusion but didn’t follow. Yang Bo guessed Iron Bull was probably hurt by that Mutant and is now recuperating.

“I should probably find some Energy Stones for Iron Bull, heal it, and then take it on a trip to the Underground World!”

“I’ll gather a load of Mecha batteries, take out the radioactive material from inside, and dump it into the Underground River to get others to farm for me.”

“Next time I enter the game, I’ll swap for a new Mecha, then infiltrate the Justice Gang and trick them into giving all their high-grade Mecha to Iron Bull for delivery!” Yang Bo thought again of the Justice Gang watching him and decided to make good use of their advanced Mecha to do some good.

Yang Bo’s Invisibility wasn’t that fast. The skill doesn’t enhance speed much, relying mainly on his constitution. Fortunately, Yang Bo’s physique was now very strong.

In the sky, Fighter Jets roared, seemingly searching for targets. They rarely fired lasers, but whenever a place showed one, many drones quickly converged. Meanwhile, warships were nowhere to be seen.

“Let’s check out Base 16. Maybe there’s still some hidden rooms with valuable items. They wouldn’t be left out in the open. Besides, I wonder what kind of energy Base 16 uses?” Gazing at the distant Base, Yang Bo planned to investigate.

After two hours, Yang Bo arrived at Base 16. The place was in terrible shape. The Laser Cannons had all but become scrap metal, some of them severely deformed, while others had been completely dismantled. The gate was destroyed, though the exterior Armor remained mostly intact but bore numerous marks.

Inside the Base, the once wide and bright hall was now filled with garbage and some unknown objects. These seemed to be remnants of the dead, but whether they were Mutants or Soldiers was uncertain.

More mutilated items were scattered around, though anything worthwhile had already been taken. Yang Bo couldn’t imagine what the Mutants needed these things for. “Even the chairs? Did they take those too?” Yang Bo recalled there had been chairs here. Not that Mecha needed chairs, but now they were gone.

He arrived at the place where his Mecha used to be stored, and it too had been wrecked, completely emptied out. Each Mecha once had its own bay, but now the doors were smashed, and the Mecha and their parts were gone.

“There has to be something left. It can’t all have been destroyed!” Yang Bo muttered to himself.

Just then, a sudden energy fluctuation burst from a corner, prompting Yang Bo to hurry over, still using Invisibility.

He found at least five or six hundred Mutants gathered there. They stood in front of a passageway with a silver-white door. Several Mutants were using fire-controlling Superpowers to burn through the door.

“These ones have fire abilities.” From their attire, Yang Bo could tell there were representatives from four different tribes. Mutants didn’t follow the one-tribe-one-type rule here. A single tribe could host several types of Mutants, distinguished by the colors of their energy suits.

For example, after the Tiger-Faced King annexed the neighboring tribe, those people joined his tribe and changed their suit colors to match his.

“Can you guys hurry up? It’s been a day already, and if you take any longer, the Alliance’s warship will get here.” Yang Bo eyed the four obvious tribe leaders. None of them had their Biological Mecha with them. Instead, they wore Energy Suits.

It appeared that nearly half of the gathered Mutants were equipped with Biological Mecha.

Then again, maybe the Mutant leaders left their Biological Mecha at base.

In these grasslands, handling a Biological Mecha made one a sitting target. It’s better to wear Energy Suits and hide in the tall grass, making it harder to be spotted.

It wasn’t cost-effective for a single Mutant to deploy a Railgun. While Railgun energy is plentiful, the hardware has a limited lifespan.

“If you’re so capable, bring your people here. My men are burning through the door while you just talk from the sidelines. What the hell?” Sure enough, Mutants tended to have fiery tempers.

Mutants carried a bit of beast nature. In the animal kingdom, it’s survival of the fittest—compromise doesn’t apply. This made their beastly instincts even stronger.

“Alright, alright, let’s stop bickering. Where’s General Black Blade? Isn’t he an expert in this?” A woman’s voice rose above the crowd.

Yang Bo looked closely and was startled. The woman stood about 2.5 meters tall, like a giant gorilla. Though fully encased in Armor, her silhouette made it clear she was a woman; her voice confirmed it.

“It’d be great if we could unlock the energy system of this base. There must be tons of Energy Stones down there.”

“And lots of rare metals, Energy Metal too.”

Listening to the Mutants’ chatter, Yang Bo came to understand that this was the central energy hub for the Sentinel Base.

“I need to get inside first. If there’s an ammunition depot, even better. I can plant a few kilograms of hydrogen or nuclear bombs and let these dogs become my experience points. Hopefully, I can get the fire mastery skill.”

“Someone gave me Gravity Mastery. Now I just need fire mastery, I don’t care for water or anything else. According to the five elements, I have lightning and metal, which means I’m a yang type. Fire should be within reach.” Eyeing so many Mutants, Yang Bo decided to figure out a way to kill them.

“There must be more than one entrance. I’ll check for a ventilation shaft or something.”

After glancing at the location of the control room, Yang Bo snuck outside, disguised as a Mutant. After wandering around, he made his way to the top of the outpost. There, he found a destroyed Laser Cannon. Looking more closely at his surroundings, he was convinced the Laser Cannon must have a maintenance tunnel. It couldn’t be left unrepaired during battle.