Manager, give me a membership card too!

Looking at the gun held up in front of him by Fujimaru Shirou, Pietro pondered for a moment, then shook his head and declined the offer. Seeing the puzzled look on Shirou's face after being refused, he explained:

"It's best to leave professional things to professionals. I've never practiced firearms shooting, so this thing is useless to me and might even be dangerous. I prefer to use simpler weapons."

Pietro smiled, gently pushed aside the Glock that Fujimaru Shirou had raised in front of him, turned around and walked to a nearby abandoned car, ripped off the half-open door, tossed it in his hand, bent down and looked inside, then pulled out a large torque wrench from somewhere and waved it around a few times, looking quite satisfied.

"Excellent, this is the weapon that suits me. Now that I'm ready, let's go!"

Looking at Pietro, who had an alloy car door in his left hand and a torque wrench in his right, Fujimaru Shirou felt a little awkward, but he nodded silently, put away his gun, and walked to the side to help the still somewhat weak Matou Shinji up.

"Let's go, let's find Captain."

Once ready, Pietro and his two companions headed in the direction Donnie had left, following the location signal displayed on their smartphones. Unbeknownst to them, in a corner, a drone with optical camouflage activated shook its wings, circled in the sky, and flew past the cautious group towards their destination.

Chapter 240 SCV Ready!

Chapter 240 SCV Ready!

With a swing of his powerful arm, the torsion wrench, forged from special alloy, easily smashed the rotting head in front of him, sending this once-dead creature back to hell. Watching the zombie fly backward as if hit by a truck, Pietro's expression remained anything but relaxed.

For some reason, even though they weren't far from their captain, they encountered dozens of zombies along the way. Almost every time they passed an intersection, they would see countless enthusiastic residents waiting for them, offering the three young men their sincerest greetings and warmly welcoming Pietro and the others to join their ranks and contribute to the new world of zombies.

Pietro has no intention of becoming one of those inhuman monsters. He has a sister to take care of, and his own ideals and wishes to fulfill. Becoming a zombie is something else entirely.

With a sudden shield bash, he slammed the car door he was holding into the face of a fat zombie who was close to the three of them, sending the behemoth, which looked to weigh at least 300 pounds, flying far away. Before the blond boy with the torque wrench could finish him off, a gunshot rang out, and a zombie that was instinctively getting up nearby tilted its head back and fell heavily back down.

Pietro turned around and nodded to Fujimaru Shirou, who was holding a pistol behind him. He tightened his grip on the torque wrench in his right hand and steadily moved forward.

The three teenagers, who were fighting among the zombies, were unaware that at an intersection not far from them, a drone with optical camouflage activated was emitting a series of low buzzing sounds, attracting all the nearby zombies to their location.

"These three little guys did a pretty good job."

Setting down the drone control panel, Donnie, or rather Tony Stark who had transformed into his younger self using the Extremis virus, nodded in satisfaction, showing approval of the new recruits' performance. Although these decaying zombies weren't particularly powerful, even ordinary people could easily kill them, even one or three at a time, once they overcame their fear.

However, the difficulty lies in overcoming the unease in one's heart and facing these monsters who were once one of them with equanimity. Judging from the current situation, Pietro and his two companions have performed quite well, not wasting the training that Rorschach and the others have given them.

The new recruits are doing well, and Tony needs to take care of his own affairs.

Tony Stark bent down slightly, looking at the mangled corpse in front of him with a headache, and sighed silently.

When Tony killed the two zombies that were close to them, he immediately recognized what the zombies were clutching tightly in their hands.

Those were internal organs, and according to the detection eyes he carried, those organs were still human and had a certain temperature.

This means that there is a survivor near Tony and the others, and that this survivor was attacked and is probably already dead.

Although the unnamed survivor was most likely dead, Tony, just in case, chose to follow the trail of blood on the ground to investigate, hoping to save the man's life. He also wanted to give his team a test to see how capable they were and whether they were worth continuing to train.

As it turns out, although Fujimaru Shirou and the others were still somewhat inexperienced and flustered along the way, they were generally quite good, which is good news.

But since there's good news, there's bound to be bad news too.

When Tony arrived at the spot where the two zombies had eaten their fill, the expected survivor had indeed completely lost his life and turned into a mangled corpse.

Tony silently bent down and slowly closed the survivor's wide-open eyes. He then took out a bottle of blue liquid from his backpack and poured it onto the corpse. As the liquid dripped, visible frost covered the body, freezing it rapidly.

Although we're complete strangers, we're still human, and a decent funeral is necessary. Let's freeze him for now, and find a place to bury him after the base is completed.

Tony silently tightened the bottle cap in his hand, and suddenly let out a soft sigh.

I thought the future I glimpsed through Rorschach's visions was terrifying enough—the deaths and injuries of nearly four billion people were a horrific scene I couldn't even imagine. But compared to this world, the Marvel universe is incredibly lucky.

According to the intelligence Tony obtained before arriving in this world, human civilization has completely collapsed. The government has lost its function, civilians have suffered massive casualties, and even the remaining military can only barely protect itself and shelter a portion of the population; it is powerless to do anything more than that.

"Is this what they call the apocalyptic crisis? Has Rorschach been dealing with this kind of desperate reality all along? I really feel sorry for him."

He silently lit a candle for his friend in his heart. Just as he was putting the black bottle back into his backpack, a noisy sound came from behind him, growing louder as it approached.

"Oh, you've arrived so quickly? These guys are efficient."

With a gentle wave of his hand, Tony stored the corpse in front of him into the system space provided by his membership card. He straightened his slightly wrinkled clothes, stood up straight, and silently waited for the others to approach.

'Bang!'

With a powerful swing of the torque wrench, Pietro sent the zombie flying far away. With one hand on the car door and the other gripping a body covered in a strange, black liquid, Pietro emerged panting from the alley behind Tony, his face showing extreme exhaustion.

Although his enhanced body didn't feel tired, it was still nerve-wracking and his muscles stiff from his first real combat experience against humanoid creatures. Even though he appeared relaxed on the surface, he was still somewhat uneasy inside.

Fujimaru Shirou, who was following behind him with two guns, was in a similar situation. He was just an ordinary student before being taken in as a disciple by Emiya Kiritsugu, who suddenly appeared in his house. After only simple training and education, he was thrown into the cycle space by his cheap master for trials.

In the other person's words, "The best way to learn is through real combat. Your master was about the same age as you when I went to the battlefield. After surviving, I naturally became stronger."

Although Fujimaru Shirou agreed with the other party's point of view and did not feel averse to fighting for some reason, the fact that his first battle would involve facing such terrifying creatures as zombies still made his hands sweat. He had to keep wiping them to ensure that he wouldn't accidentally fire something.

Although Fujimaru Shirou and Pietro were somewhat disheveled, their performance was already quite good. Among the three, Matou Shinji was in the worst situation.

Lacking in combat skills and without any ranged abilities, and unable to cultivate even his family's magic due to his physical condition, he could only follow the two as a lookout. He had to force himself to observe the surroundings, and the constant startling along the way almost drove him to a nervous breakdown.

"Too slow. According to normal time calculations, the three of you should have arrived here five minutes ago."

Tony glanced silently at the unfortunate zombie beside him whose head had been smashed by Pietro, and before the three teenagers could speak, he preemptively reprimanded them, leaving the three of them stunned.

"Although you're a bit slow, at least you're still alive, so you've barely passed the test. Alright, time is of the essence, so let's not waste any more time. I've found an open space nearby that's perfect for setting up camp. It's not far away, so come with me."

Tony finished speaking to himself and turned to walk towards a small alley behind him. The three teenagers, who had finally come to their senses, didn't bother to ask their captain why he had left earlier. They quickly ran a few steps to catch up with him, afraid of being left behind again.

In this perilous world, having a familiar teammate, especially an adult, naturally creates a sense of security.

After passing through a narrow alley and down a dilapidated street, the four of them ventured into a patch of wildly growing grass.

Looking at the grass that reached their thighs, the three teenagers, who had just gone through a fierce battle, were tense and looked around warily, as if countless zombies were hiding in the lush grass, waiting for their prey to approach.

Compared to the three team members who were on edge, Tony Stark, as the team captain, seemed much more relaxed, walking casually through the grass as if he were back home, looking extremely comfortable.

It wasn't that the young master's combat awareness was inferior to that of a child, but rather that he had already dispatched professional drones to scan the entire surrounding area and used low-frequency sound waves to lure all the detected zombies to other places.

This is the power of technology. The reason why humans have been able to dominate the earth is that they can think and use tools correctly.

After walking for about five more minutes, Tony looked at the open space in front of him, which was exactly the same as the one seen in the drone camera, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"Alright, we've arrived at our destination."

Turning around, Tony waved to the three teenagers behind him, whose nerves were on edge from not encountering a single zombie along the way. He then walked around the corner first, heading towards the open space. Shirou and the others behind him exchanged glances and quickly jogged a few steps to catch up with Tony.

As they hurried around the corner, the three of them stopped abruptly.

What appeared before them was an open space the size of three or four football fields. However, what surprised them was not the appearance of the open space, but the 'thing' on it.

Towering fences, neatly stacked sandbags, metal barricades, camouflage military tents arranged in a staggered pattern, and two metal behemoths quietly parked in the middle of the tents.

"That thing, is it a tank?"

"This is... a military camp?"

"How could this be? Even a heavily armored military camp couldn't hold out? That shouldn't be possible. How could those zombies outside possibly breach a military base with such defenses?"

The three teenagers stared at the empty military base, their faces filled with disbelief.

You have to understand that the three of them were already able to move among the zombies with just two Glock 17s, a car door and a torque wrench. The firepower of this military base must be much stronger than theirs. How could it be breached by those weak zombies?

"This world may not be as simple as you imagine."

Tony Stark silently walked to a fallen fence, his expression grave as he stared at the several jagged cuts on it. This was military-grade metal fencing, its strength beyond question, but judging by the damage, it seemed to have rendered it no different from a piece of paper to the 'thing' that had breached the camp.

Tony took a clean test tube and metal tweezers from his toolbox, reached into the broken metal fence to collect some biological samples, carefully tightened them, and then stood up and addressed the three team members behind him:

"There must be a big guy around here. We need to set up defenses as soon as possible so we won't be caught off guard when that thing attacks."

"Establish defenses?" Fujimaru Shirou glanced instinctively at the chaotic military camp before him and suggested with some uncertainty, "Is it just the four of us? We might not be able to finish dealing with this even by nightfall. I feel we should find a sturdy building nearby and defend ourselves from inside; that might be better."

Pietro and Shinji Matou, standing beside Shirou Fujimaru, nodded in agreement, confirming their companion's assessment. This military base was several football fields in size; it was impossible for just a few of them to clean it up quickly. This world was already dangerous enough; it would only get more troublesome at night.

It would be better to find a complete building nearby and make do there for a while before taking things slowly.

"Hehe, don't worry. It's the 21st century now, so we don't need to do it ourselves. You guys move aside, I'll call a few helpers."

Seeing Tony Stark's expression of wanting to take care of them, the three teenagers looked at each other and then stepped aside to give their captain enough space.

Seeing that Fujimaru Shirou and the other two had made way, Tony didn't waste any more time. He took out a black card from his pocket and swiped it in front of him. A blue and white portal slowly opened in front of the four of them.

The instant the portal opened, Pietro and the others standing nearby heard heavy footsteps coming from inside. Along with them came a mechanical voice.

"SCV ready!"

I originally planned to write a School-Live! and Highschool of the Dead story, but it seems like everyone doesn't like zombie apocalypse worlds, so I changed the outline and decided to go with a new world. I'm fifteen minutes late because of the outline change, sorry! I'll write a chapter right away to make it up to everyone.

Chapter 241 Command Center

Chapter 241 Command Center

The recurve metal legs, encased in sturdy armor, stood firmly on the abandoned military camp. The heavy body, shaped like a truck cab, trembled slightly. Two mechanical arms equipped with lifting tools slowly lifted an overturned tank with a series of metallic scraping sounds, righted it, and placed it in an open space next to the military camp.

Near that open space, there were seven or eight similarly shaped mechanical constructs moving various miscellaneous items and scraps from the military camp, gradually clearing out a large open area.

As the massive, nearly four-meter-tall machines effortlessly moved various military supplies before them, the three young men couldn't hide their astonishment.

Although all three of them nominally joined Chaldea, they didn't actually know much about the organization they were part of.

Since Zouken Matou was killed by Rorschach, Shinji Matou has been staying at home playing video games, wasting his time and immersing himself in his own world. He only occasionally hears news about Chaldea from his uncle and father, and even his contract to join Chaldea was signed under duress from Kari Matou.

As for Pietro, he was in an even worse situation. Ever since he met Rorschach, he had been 'playing' in the forest created by Yggdrasil. After finally defeating the man-eating flower that kept chasing him, he ended up in this unfortunate place to continue suffering.

Fujimaru Shirou, on the other hand, had the most ordinary background among the three. He grew up in a family of swordsmiths in Fuyuki City, where generations of his family had made a living by forging swords. He listened to his parents talk about the story of their ancestors forging the famous Muramasa sword every day, and he was born with a fascination for all kinds of weapons.

Whether it's a cold weapon or a firearm, he feels a natural affinity for them, as if he was born for these weapons and his blood is filled with gunpowder and molten lava.

Then, he met the man destined for him and witnessed a world completely different from his daily life.

Although he had witnessed another world, Shirou had never expected to see something so 'sci-fi'. You see, Fuyuki City was in the early 1990s, and let alone large robots, even personal computers were considered 'expensive luxuries'.

In the past, the only places where Fujimaru Shirou could see such large robots were comic books and television screens.

However, now he can come into face-to-face contact with this large robot, which is an unprecedented experience for a boy who is at an age where he is curious about these things.

"Captain, are these robots... Gundams? Or Zakus? But they don't have pig noses?"

"Gundam? Zaku? What are those?"

Tony Stark stared blankly at Fujimaru Shirou, whose face was filled with anticipation, for a long time before pointing to the tall mechanical figure beside him carrying a stack of ammunition boxes and saying:

"These are 'Space Construction Vehicles,' which are generally used for engineering operations and maintenance tasks in various terrains and environments. You can call them 'SCVs.'"

“S...CV?”

"Yes, don't let their seemingly bulky appearance fool you; they actually operate with incredibly high precision. If needed, they can move their robotic arms in minute increments to perform precise tasks. For example, they can repair damaged machinery or use their modular tools to smash an enemy's skull."

Listening to Tony's seemingly joking story, Shirou and the others subconsciously looked at the terrifying mechanical claw that was as tall as a person, imagining the scene of this thing, which could be weighed by the ton, smashing into someone's head. Ugh, it was just too beautiful to look at directly.

Ignoring the strange looks from the three teenagers beside him, Tony glanced at the abandoned military camp, which had been cleared out, silently calculated its area in his mind, and then decisively took out the controller from his pocket and started operating it.

As Tony Stark manipulated the controller in his hand, the SCVs, who were wandering around the abandoned military camp clearing away the ruins, seemed to receive some kind of order. They all put down what they were doing and stood in neat rows behind Tony Stark.

The next second, a blue and white spatial gate suddenly appeared above the cleared ground, and before the spatial gate could be completely stabilized, a huge metal tray slowly emerged from the spatial gate. Dozens of square metal ingots were neatly stacked on the tray, and a huge mechanical arm steadily grasped the tray and placed it on the ground. Then, it disappeared into the air along with the spatial gate.

A pale blue light flickered in mid-air from the blue and white portal, illuminating everyone nearby. The moment the portal disappeared, without Tony issuing any further orders, the SCVs, as if already receiving instructions, automatically surrounded the contents of the metal tray and began working with the modular tools on their massive mechanical claws.

Just as the boys were wondering what this huge thing was for, the metal ingot, which had been sitting quietly on the tray, suddenly changed, perhaps because the group of SCVs had triggered some kind of switch.

Countless mechanical arms, almost as thick as an adult's thigh, nimbly emerged from these metal ingots. With the help of nearby SCVs, they spliced, cut, and combined them, rapidly changing their shape and appearance. Finally, to the astonishment of the three teenagers, a neat stack of metal ingots was transformed into a giant metal building, nearly ten meters high and the size of a football field, in just ten minutes.

"What...this is?!"

"This is simply...unbelievable!"

Hearing the low gasps of admiration and surprise from the teenagers around him, Tony Stark's face was full of pride, because the masterpiece before him was his own work, the culmination of his hard work over this period of time.

Modular automated assembly system

Perhaps this wasn't a particularly novel idea in Rorschach's previous life in 2020, but it was definitely a rare thing in Tony's 2008.

To minimize the construction time of buildings in emergency situations, Tony created this convenient system.

All components were prefabricated in the Steel City on the moon. When needed, the modules required to build each functional building are transported to the designated location via a portal. Then, the autonomous programs inside these modules can be used to assemble a complete building.

It takes about half an hour to an hour to build a complete building on your own. If you have an SCV on site to assist you, this time can be reduced to less than ten minutes, which is very convenient and quick.

"Alright guys, our lodgings for tonight are all set up. Come on in and pick a room you like."

Chapter 242 The Beast X Must Die!

Chapter 242

The secluded, dimly lit alley was pitch black.