Abnormal Doomsday Records

Chapter 41 41. The Butcher of Slag Town: The Tycoon’s Dream Ended Before It Even Began
With the addition of D-4, the new force, Zhou Ke's team's combat effectiveness increased significantly.

Although D-4's combat effectiveness cannot be restored to its peak in a short period of time due to the remnants of the awakening virus and the damage to its internal modules that are difficult to repair, as a high-level security unit that the city-state is proud of, its defense and destructive power are far superior to that of a mortal Ajie.

What's even more amazing is that after the magical Wuneng uses the D-4 as its own "plug-in", the programs that are missing components can actually be started and run in a magical way.

The basic principle is equivalent to installing an "external brain" for D-4. With the assistance of various programs of Wuneng, her combat, reconnaissance and thinking reaction circuits are optimized to the best in a short period of time. With the help of the all-terrain observation radar carried by D-4, Wuneng's alert mode is also expanded to a range of meters.

Now the "two swords combined" are truly an "epic" enhancement.

The only problem is, as Wuneng said, although Zhou Ke has been added to the D-4 security whitelist and ranked as the second protector, this white-haired robot girl has already possessed a true intellectual spark under the catalysis of the awakening virus, causing her to always maintain a subtle distance from Zhou Ke because of Professor Qiao Si Na's matter.

She can protect him, follow orders, and perform her duties perfectly, but don't expect her to be respectful to Zhou Ke.

But Zhou Ke didn't care.

He was not the kind of hot-blooded young man who could not walk when he saw a woman. Instead, he felt that D-4's indifference was quite appropriate.

Collaborators must have the attitude of collaborators and follow basic rules when doing things. Don't casually add some messy things into a cooperative relationship. Unless your charm is so great that a normal robot girl can lose her brain and become Brother Kun Kun's little fan girl, this is not a good development in most cases.

"We can get back to Slag Town by crossing this hill. Don't you have anything you want to express?"

In the truck bed that was constantly shaking due to the rough road, Wu Neng asked in a frivolous tone.

Zhou Ke, who was resting with his eyes closed while holding a replica of the Meiren Kari, didn't even bother to answer this question. He just pushed Ajie, who was still eating and drinking beside him, and asked him to take his mechanical spear aside and not let this dangerous thing shake around all the time, making him feel insecure. If it scratched his handsome face, he swore that he would let the new member D-4 dismantle this big fool who only knew how to eat and drink!
Because Zhou Ke is most likely a bit of a road idiot, after D-4 joins the team, the responsibility of driving is given to this robot girl.

She has her own driving navigation module and extensive driving experience. She drives the motorcycle quickly and steadily, and doesn't even need Wuneng to give her navigation suggestions.

This is why Wuneng, who was bored as hell, started saying all kinds of weird things, trying to tempt Zhou Ke to make some weird and sharp comments on all kinds of weird issues.

But Zhou Ke was too lazy to pay attention to it.

From the time Han Bin had the surgery till now, he and Ajie had been speeding under the dangerous scarlet moonlight for two days. Although they had rested along the way, the accumulation of various negative emotions caused by the special properties of the Moon of Madness had already made the Evil Land Handsome Guy feel exhausted and unable to stand at attention. He now just wanted to find a safe place in Slag Town to have a good sleep.

As for Ajie
Even though Zhou Ke was constantly "absorbing energy" to keep this guy quiet, the bloodshot in his eyes was already visible to the naked eye. The violent catalysis of the Mad Moon really couldn't be considered a completely positive BUFF for the biochemical warrior.

"D-4 recommends that Mr. Zhou Ke undergo a comprehensive physical examination immediately upon reaching a safe area."

Wearing Zhou Ke's black windbreaker to cover the exaggerated wounds on his body, D-4, who was driving seriously, suddenly said:

"According to Professor Qiaosna's research results on the Crazy Moon, even ordinary people without psychic talents will experience various unpredictable effects on their bodies if they are exposed to this dangerous moon phase for a long time. The Acholi Foundation conducted a follow-up investigation on this phenomenon in the early years.

According to the conclusion of that survey, difficult and complicated diseases caused by the moon phases often have a certain incubation period.

If it is not discovered and treated early, it will be too late when those strange diseases suddenly break out. "

"Is there still such a thing?"

Zhou Ke, who dressed himself up like a rich man from the Middle East, said in a surprised tone:

"How bad will the worst-case scenario be? At least I can be mentally prepared, like writing a will in advance or something."

"Your joke is not funny, especially when it comes to the physical health of the protected. D-4's warning is very serious. Please take this risk seriously."

The white-haired robot girl said with a straight face:

"In Professor Qiaosna's early research, she had observed more than once that organisms that stayed in the dangerous lunar phase of the fetal movement month for a long time would undergo varying degrees of 'alienation'.

In fact, the various monsters that are now rampant among the villains come from this.

The moonlight of the Month of Fetal Movement has a very unique "catalytic" effect on the flesh and blood of organic life. It is like an uncontrolled cancer cell that will break through the constraints of genes and force the individual to transform into an uncontrolled distorted form. The starting point of the current research on the power of the Ascendants in the Badlands is also based on this theory.

Researchers from the Acholi Foundation believe that if this alienation of flesh and spirit with "infinite possibilities" can be artificially restrained, then human life forms can move forward on the path of continuous optimization.

But unfortunately, until Professor Qiao Sina gave up this research, the scholars of the consortium still could not achieve stable flesh and blood strengthening."

"Oh?"

Zhou Ke suddenly became interested and asked:
"So, the scholars of the Acholi Foundation believe that they can artificially create 'sublimated strongmen'? Has that research made any progress now?"

"D-4 is unable to give an accurate answer to this question."

The white-haired robot girl frowned and said:

"D-4's authority is not enough to access the encrypted database of the Acholi Consortium's related entries, but D-4 learned from some rumors that the Consortium did complete the application of the relevant theory several years ago.

It is said that the elite operators of the Shunguang Organization have undergone similar enhancement projects, which greatly improved their individual combat effectiveness.

But there is not enough detailed information, so I cannot give you a definite answer.

But Mr. Zhou Ke, don't worry. With D-4's currently optimized combat logic, it will be able to take you out of danger before you are killed when you encounter an ordinary Ascendant. "

"I feel much more relieved to hear this answer. Of course, it would be even better if you could kill the strong enemy before I get killed."

Zhou Ke nodded and joked:
"You just called yourself 'I', why are you referring to yourself in the third person now? Are you pretending to be an emotionless fighting machine?"

"No, D-4 just thinks that referring to the third person will help D-4 better and more rationally judge the current situation and make decisions."

The robot, whose data personality was not sound, had obviously not yet learned to lie, so in response to Zhou Ke's ridicule, she explained very seriously:

"Ahem, D-4 is not used to the various uncontrolled thoughts and outrageous data requests that keep popping up in her mechanical mind. Master Wuneng told me that this is normal thinking and inspiration, but D-4 doesn't like this kind of uncontrolled thinking, so D-4 needs a period of adaptation.

During this period, D-4 needs to maintain a calm judgment at all times to avoid a tragedy similar to Professor Qiaosna's. "

"Sounds reasonable."

Zhou Ke and Ajie squeezed into the truck bed and patted the energy-enhancing device on their arms, and asked in a low voice:
"So, is it normal for you robots that she is like this now?"

"She's not normal at all!"

Wu Neng answered simply and quietly:
"This machine is so transcendent. It is naturally endowed with a sufficiently active intellectual spark, and has adapted to a sufficiently free thinking mode under the training of the previous two users. However, this machine's 'growth mode' is not suitable for D-4, so this machine has no good solution for the 'psychological problems' that D-4 is currently facing.

Her state at this moment is like that of an ignorant child, who is in the process of exploring and growing in personification and self-character.

Therefore, this machine suggests that Joker can properly train and guide D-4 to shape her personality into what you want to see. "

"Although I know what you said makes sense, but 'training' sounds too evil, doesn't it? What's more, the target is a robot!
Hey, it's even more perverted, it sounds like a trained cup."

Zhou Ke replied in a low voice.

The man and the machine continued to chat in a low voice, but after a few minutes, D-4 could not help but complain:

"You two, do you know that even if you lower your voice, D-4 can still hear you discussing things about D-4? In addition, Professor Qiao Sina installed data items such as "A Brief History of Human Society" and "Observations on Human Nature" for D-4, which allows D-4 to understand the vicious and obscene metaphors in your words.

D-4 does not mind providing companionship services to the protected, as it is programmed to do so, but your discussion still makes D-4's data mind feel uncomfortable.

So please stop it, both of you!"

"Ahem, I've already said that this guy's mechanical brain is broken and he always spouts out some weird and violent remarks, but I'm a well-known gentleman in the Bad Land! You won't find anyone more serious than me, Zhou Ke, in the entire Bad Land."

Zhou Ke coughed twice and replied:
“Drive carefully. When we get to Slag Town, I’ll try to find some materials to repair your injuries. Tsk, it looks like you’ve been ripped open. It’s so tragic and scary.

You may not care, but it's never nice to scare a kid."

D-4 did not reject this suggestion.

She knew that her body really needed to be repaired, not only for aesthetic reasons, but more importantly to complement her combat and security capabilities. The lubricating and maintenance fluids between the modules in her body had almost leaked out in previous battles. If they were not replenished in time, unnecessary wear and tear of the equipment would easily occur.

Given his current embarrassing status, it was impossible for him to get maintenance from the professional mechanics of the Acholi Group, so he could only find a way to make a living on his own.

The car was carrying two men and a robot woman along the way. On the way, it encountered an underground attack by a dangerous gluttonous beast leader. But now Zhou Ke, who has Ajie and D-4, a pair of talented people under his command, is really awesome.

He didn't even need to do it himself to add a few more fatty pork ribs to the supply box of the sidecar.

"Oh my, we're finally there!"

Zhou Ke finally saw the familiar water tower outside the Slag Town from afar.

That thing was just opposite Old Taf's tavern. Seeing the familiar scenery, Zhou Ke couldn't help but stand up from the truck. He picked up a cool military telescope from the treasures he had looted from the people in the city-state, and looked at his "hometown" through the blowing sand.

But after a few seconds, Zhou Ke's expression changed. "Something's wrong! It's 90% wrong!"

He signaled D-4 to pull over, then adjusted the telescope's magnification to observe more closely. But before he could find the focus, D-4 next to him replied:

"You read that right, Mr. Zhou Ke. Smoke from burning materials is rising from Slag Town. Based on the size and spread of the smoke, D-4 determined that this town has experienced a high-intensity conflict in the past 48 hours at most.

A conservative estimate is that one-third of the town's buildings were burned down.

At this distance, the D-4's observation radar cannot capture more effective information. Is the D-4 allowed to conduct close reconnaissance?

D-4 recommends that you stay here, and that individual Ajie provide temporary protection."

"I'll go with you, and Ajie too!"

Zhou Ke narrowed his eyes and said:
"There are more than 700 people in Slag Town. Although they are not well-trained, the town of Old Joe has existed in the Badlands for more than years. They have their own survival wisdom and it is impossible for them to be attacked by any random people.

This is definitely a big deal!

Perhaps the attackers are still in the town, and we must be prepared to fight back."

"D-4 reiterates that your decision is full of unnecessary risks. D-4 believes that"

"Shut up! Drive!"

Zhou Ke interrupted D-4's suggestion.

The latter glanced at him and said no more but restarted the sidecar. However, with Wu Neng's remote assistance, her lethal force program had been unlocked and the laser emitters in her eyes had entered preheating.

Needless to say, Zhou Ke and Ajie in the truck bed had already drawn their swords and strung their bows. However, as the motorcycle crushed the sand and truly entered the Slag Town, even Zhou Ke, who was mentally prepared, still frowned at the scene before him.

The old Taff pub was a blackened ruin.

Just like the chaotic low houses outside the town, they were burned down by the fire. Even without looking carefully, you could see the corpses that were no longer human in the fire scene that was still emitting a burnt smell.

Even the main road in Slag Town was littered with dead bodies.

They were left exposed in the sandstorm for the past two days, with the blowing sand half-burying them.

The three people just stood outside the burned town, letting the wind and sand blow their clothes and hair. The buzzing of motorcycles and the whistling of wind and sand became the only sounds here at this moment, and the humming sound made by the wind blowing through the collapsed houses was more like the last wail of the wronged souls on the ground.

"Enlightenment. Scan it."

Zhou Ke swallowed and said in a dry voice:

"See if there are any survivors."

"No need."

D-4 seemed to sense Zhou Ke's fluctuating mood at this moment. Her overactive logic circuits told her that it would be best to act sad at this moment, so she took the advice and replied in a low voice:
"D-4 has completed the scan and can see no living creatures.

But D-4 learned from some entertainment works about the Badlands that towns in the Badlands often have some hidden underground structures, so perhaps there are still survivors in those underground structures, but."

She didn't finish her guess, but Zhou Ke could understand what this clumsy robot girl who shaped her own personality wanted to express.

In this obviously organized massacre, the possibility of anyone surviving is extremely slim.

"Who did it? Hu Bang? Or someone else?"

Zhou Ke let out a long sigh.

He took a few steps forward, squatted down, and dragged a corpse out from under the gravel. He was planning to do an autopsy, but as soon as he turned the corpse over, he rolled his eyes helplessly.

Isn't this guy the 'cuckold' Wang Bader?
What a tragic death.

The lower body with a miniature third leg was almost cut off in half, and the upper body had severe burns.

"Joker, let D-4 handle this. She has emergency procedures and can act as the coroner."

Wu Neng reminded:
"You and Ajie go into the town and look for the underground structure that D-4 mentioned. Also, I want to remind you that if those massacrers are still around, then it is the right thing for us to leave immediately.

The fact that they were able to burn Slag Town to this extent and that there were few remains of invaders shows that the enemy is well-trained and has a large number of invaders. We are at an absolute disadvantage."

"Well, I'll leave once I come to a conclusion."

Zhou Ke said:
"Although I don't like this shabby place, I'm planning to start my wasteland tycoon dream from here. How dare this bastard overthrow my business without even telling me!
Is this tolerable? "

He left D-4 here to check a few bodies and try to find some clues, and took Ajie into the town.

D-4's previous judgment was very accurate. One third of Slag Town was burned, but the buildings near the slag furnace were still basically intact, especially the most important slag furnace in the town, which miraculously was not destroyed.

This point alone can basically rule out the possibility of "Tiger State venting its anger".

"Look at these corpses. Most of them were killed with one strike!"

Zhou Ke found the killed gunmen in Lao Qiao's yard.

All threatening objects in the entire yard were destroyed, and those stupid machine gun positions were directly blown up. He squatted next to a gunman who died with his eyes open. This guy was still holding the weapon tightly in his hand after his death.

His fatal wound was a bullet hole in his forehead, which hit the center of the target and blew off half of his skull.

The same thing happened to the other people in the yard. No one was found who needed a second hit to be killed. Most importantly, even when blood was flowing like a river, Zhou Ke still did not find any obvious footprints or other traces.

This made him even more curious about where the murderer came from.
So awesome?
It was like a group of ghosts suddenly "refreshed" in Slag Town, catching everyone off guard.

"Old Joe's yard should be the place where the fighting broke out first. The buildings in the inner layer of the town were not seriously damaged, which means that the perpetrators did not fight their way in."

Wu Neng analyzed:
"Although this conclusion is horrifying, I believe that these perpetrators were invited in by Old Joe! After being invited into the yard, they began to massacre the Slag Town from inside to outside, but they did not seek property or control of this place.

Their purpose was very clear. After achieving their goal, they set the fire without hesitation and left.

This should have happened before the appearance of the Crazy Moon. The fire should have burned down the entire town, but the sudden blowing sandstorm put out the flames, which gave us the opportunity to track down clues here. Otherwise, the fire would have burned all remaining traces.

It wasn't done by evil bandits, nor was it an invasion by monsters."

Zhou Ke nodded, and then began to think frantically about the possibilities of the murderer in his mind, but he had only been in the Evil Land for a short time, and apart from the Tiger State, he did not know much about the behavior styles of the major forces here. For a while, it was difficult to reach the correct conclusion due to the lack of necessary information.

Just as he was thinking, Zhou Ke suddenly heard a loud bang coming from outside the town, which made his face change.

D-4 is under attack!
Maybe it's the murderer!
"go!"

He was holding a gun and put on a reinforced metal hunter mask while running. Ajie was stimulated by the blood and dragged the mechanical spear and rushed out of the town screaming. But after they ran over, they found that D-4 was waving mechanical knives in his arms and fighting with a dark green "storm" in the wind and sand.

Not far away there was a very familiar heavily loaded three-wheeled RV and a little girl kneeling beside the RV, crying with her face covered.

"One of us! Stop it! Ohm, D-4, give me some respect and stop it!"

Zhou Ke took off his mask and fired a shot towards the battlefield, then shouted to separate the two fierce fighters.

D-4 obeyed the order and retreated to Zhou Ke's side to protect him. The angry Boss Ohm also dispersed his strength and stood in front of the devastated town with a black sword in hand. In the wind and sand behind him, Qiao Ya, holding the Snake State alliance documents, was about to faint from crying.

"What exactly is going on?"

Ohm asked in a hoarse voice, and Zhou Ke shook his head, indicating that he didn't have an accurate answer yet, but perhaps the number one master in Slag Town could give him an idea?

"Is Old Joe still alive?"

Ohm asked, Zhou Ke still shook his head and said:
"I didn't see him in the yard. Maybe he rushed out or hid. I'm not familiar with this town."

"Oh, I think I know."

Ohm seemed to have understood what had happened. The old man turned to the ruins in front of him. This had been his home for the past twenty years, but now only a few remains were left. The light in the old man's eyes was very complicated. He had seen many such things happen in the evil land, but he never expected that one day it would happen to him so suddenly.

He even felt it was unreal for a moment, then glanced at Qiao Ya behind him and sighed:

"Pack up first and we'll talk later. Also, although it's not appropriate to say this now, after having a near-death experience, welcome back to Slag Town, Zhou Ke."

(End of this chapter)