Chapter 337: Industrial Mecha (Patreon)

Chapter 337: Industrial Mecha

Although the Ice Lake-class Transport Ship was slow, its ten-thousand-ton carrying capacity more than made up for it.

It had become the most powerful means of transportation, second only to the Traction Channel.

After briefly envisioning the future,

Su Wu switched the projection in front of him to a map of the Eastern Continent.

From here on out, everything would proceed step by step.

All he needed to do was ensure that the overall direction remained correct.

In the afternoon,

on the fifth underground level of the Farmhouse Compound,

at Qiushan High School.

As the bell signaling the end of class rang,

An Jun packed his textbooks into his desk and slowly walked out of the school gate alone.

Though it was called a "school gate,"

it was really just an iron railing at the staircase entrance on the first floor.

In this shelter, almost all schools lacked traditional campuses.

Activity spaces were confined to cramped classrooms.

And despite the less-than-ideal conditions,

the opportunity to study here was still highly coveted.

Especially at the high school level where An Jun currently was.

On average, only the top ten students out of several thousand middle schoolers would qualify to continue their education.

Moreover, even after enrolling, it didn’t guarantee a smooth academic journey.

Beyond completing daily coursework at school,

students were also required to participate in labor for a set amount of time after classes.

Only by fulfilling three years of labor—averaging four hours per day, excluding holidays and weekends—

or earning equivalent labor credits,

would they qualify to take the university entrance exam.

Otherwise, they would only receive a high school diploma and still have to make up the missing labor hours through mandatory community service.

It was essentially a pay-to-learn system.

After meeting up with friends at the community cafeteria,

An Jun collected his dinner ration for the day.

He found a seat and began eating slowly.

Today, he had received a Grade E meal set—

just one tier above the lowest grade.

It contained some vegetables, diced radish, bean sprouts, and a small portion of sauce made from an unidentified type of meat.

The taste was neither good nor bad, roughly comparable to a fast-food meal costing a dozen yuan in the pre-apocalyptic era.

Still, An Jun was more than satisfied.

Having come from Shanghe City and endured the collapse of shelters and the struggles of refugee life—where even basic necessities like food and clothing were uncertain—

he knew all too well how hard-won his current circumstances were.

To many outsiders, this was practically paradise.

"An Jun, you dropped to seventh from the bottom in this month’s exam,"

Zheng Mingzhe, his friend beside him, brought up academics between bites.

"Still planning to tough it out?"

"I’ll keep going for a while longer," An Jun replied.

The mention of it dampened his otherwise decent mood.

In this post-apocalyptic world, every high school student was one in a thousand—

elites who would have been top students in the past.

Competing with them was no small pressure.

It had already gone beyond mere effort, escalating into a battle of innate talent.

Unfortunately, An Jun’s abilities were far from outstanding among this crowd of academic stars.

What made it even more disheartening was that even if he gritted his teeth and endured the immense pressure,

failing to advance to university would still leave him with nothing but a high school diploma.

In the pre-apocalyptic era, nearly everyone had one—

rendering it practically worthless.

Yet, despite all this, An Jun couldn’t bring himself to give up.

Because this was the only visible path to advancement within the shelter.

Missing this opportunity would mean becoming just one among hundreds of millions of ordinary workers.

"Keep at it."

Zheng Mingzhe could sense his friend's inner turmoil but was powerless to help.

Truth be told, he was doing even worse himself.

Having failed to get into high school, he'd been forced to join the full-time workforce early.

Though it wasn't without its benefits.

At least recently, he'd managed to accumulate a decent amount of Shelter Points and universal game currency.

His life was considerably more comfortable than An Jun's, who had no time for gaming.

After the meal.

The two of them boarded the shelter's Aerial Rail Transit Train together, heading to their worksite this time—Zone C on the 8th aboveground level.

The single-carriage aerial train, oval-shaped with tempered glass panels on all sides, could seat up to eight people facing each other.

It was a new type of transportation that had only begun spreading throughout the shelter in the past month.

Running on tracks suspended above the shelter's streets.

It could reach speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour.

Combined with its compact and agile design, it could easily navigate most spaces within the shelter.

Basically, no matter which station you boarded from.

You could reach your destination within 15 minutes.

Sitting on the steadily moving aerial train.

An Jun turned his head to look out the large glass window.

The orderly four-story buildings, the saplings and other greenery planted along the narrow streets.

All flashed past his eyes.

"You know."

"Even now, it still feels a bit unbelievable."

"That in just fifteen short minutes, we can pass through the living spaces of over a hundred million people and reach any one of them."

"Before the apocalypse, this would've only been possible in science fiction, I'm afraid."

The spacious carriage held only the two of them at the moment.

With nothing better to do, Zheng Mingzhe mimicked An Jun's posture and gazed out the window with similar wonder.

On the surface before the apocalypse.

Even crossing a single megacity in fifteen minutes would have been nearly impossible.

And a megacity only held tens of millions of people at most.

Putting it in that perspective.

Made them appreciate even more profoundly how magnificent and incredible this shelter they now inhabited truly was.

It probably wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it an epic feat of human civilization.

"Perhaps this is our good fortune."

"To have the privilege of living in such a shelter."

An Jun smiled faintly, his gaze resting on the streets outside.

Through the uniform building exteriors, he discerned their purposes from the varying details printed on them.

Residential zones, recreation areas, agricultural towers, light industrial factories, and so on.

He saw more clearly than his companion.

While building such a massive, well-equipped shelter was undoubtedly remarkable.

Had the entire Eastern Continent pooled its resources before the apocalypse, replicating several shelters of equal scale might not have been impossible.

But having the capability to build was one thing.

Rational resource allocation was another entirely.

Without universal fairness, pushing the utilization of limited resources to near-perfect efficiency.

This current reality would have been impossible to achieve.

  Supporting over a hundred million people.

About ten minutes later.

Passing through the streets of Underground Level 5, then ascending via the dedicated vertical shaft for rail transport, An Jun and Zheng Mingzhe arrived at their assigned workplace for the day—a temporary transit warehouse on Ground Level 8.

"Our luck's pretty good this time," Zheng Mingzhe remarked. "The Industrial Mecha assigned to us are brand-new, just put into service."

He raised his wrist, checking the task log on his Bracelet, then followed the prompts to locate two Hercules-type Industrial Mecha that had just entered standby mode.

The Hercules-type Industrial Mecha was a new model that had only begun widespread adoption within the shelter over the past month. Rumor had it that its development was tied to the discovery of a new wear-resistant material.

Standing 3.8 meters tall, its operation resembled wearing Exoskeleton Armor—the pilot would be fully embedded within the mecha, controlling it through limb movements. However, as a mass-produced indoor Industrial Mecha model, it lacked specialized protective design. About half of the pilot's body remained exposed, limiting its use to interior shelter operations rather than external environments.

Stepping onto the lift platform and settling into the mecha's cockpit, An Jun immediately saw a row of flickering data appear in his field of vision—real-time performance parameters of the Industrial Mecha. With a quick glance, he noted the energy reserves showed 100%, and it was currently within wireless charging range. This meant the mecha had virtually unlimited power in this area, allowing unrestricted operation.

He slightly lifted his leg, and the massive Industrial Mecha responded with a heavy thud as it took a step forward.

"I'm heading to work first," An Jun called out to Zheng Mingzhe, who was still getting accustomed to his mecha. Without waiting for his friend, An Jun piloted the Industrial Mecha toward the warehouse. It wasn't that he didn't want to wait—Industrial Mecha were regulated equipment. Once activated, the timer started, and his efficiency in completing all assigned tasks would be scored. A low rating would mean being downgraded to lower-performance Exoskeleton Armor for the next assignment. Conversely, an excellent rating could earn him a remotely operated Industrial Mecha next time—safer and more efficient for accumulating labor credits.

As soon as he entered the warehouse, an Industrial Mecha painted in icy blue darted into view, nimbly carrying two Standardized Containers as it sprinted outward. Startled, An Jun instinctively tried to move aside. But his Hercules-type Industrial Mecha had barely begun adjusting its direction when the blue mecha effortlessly swerved past him without slowing down.

The contrast in responsiveness between the two Industrial Mecha was starkly apparent in that moment.

Seconds later, An Jun's comm channel buzzed with Zheng Mingzhe's excited shouts from outside: "Holy crap! That was one fast mecha just now! Is that one of those special AI-controlled models?!" His voice brimmed with awe at the spectacle.

"You're overthinking it. That person is Jiang Yunxia from our school."

An Jun shook his head, recognizing the other's identity.

Previously, he hadn't had a particularly intuitive impression of her.

He only knew she was the top-ranked academic achiever in their school and exceptionally beautiful.

Now, doing the same work, he could immediately feel the despairing gap between them.

He was still operating a Hercules-type Industrial Mecha that required manual piloting.

Jiang Yunxia, however, already had a customized Industrial Mecha tailored exclusively for her, capable of remote operation.

With astonishing work efficiency and rewards, she was close to completing three years' worth of labor credits in just two or three months after enrollment.

Her excellence was almost enough to make one suspect she belonged to a different species.

"That school beauty you mentioned before?"

"Why not try pursuing her?"

Zheng Mingzhe perked up at the mention of a girl their age.

"Too late."

"She already has a fiancé."

An Jun sighed, his expression tinged with regret.

"Fiancé?"

"Arranged by her family?"

Zheng Mingzhe grew even more curious.

In the post-apocalyptic era, where de facto equality had been achieved, engagements seemed like something out of legend for people their age.

"If it were just that, it might be better."

"But the problem is, it was assigned by the Administrators and Artificial Intelligence."

"Apparently, Jiang Yunxia hasn't even seen what her fiancé looks like yet."

An Jun sounded disinterested.

"Artificial Intelligence enforces forced pairings like this?"

Zheng Mingzhe was momentarily stunned, feeling his worldview shaken.

He had always assumed it was just an impartial management system.

It shouldn’t interfere in such personal matters with such strong biases.

"Maybe it's because she's too outstanding."

The more An Jun recognized the reality of equality within the shelter,

the more he understood.

This wasn’t something they could resist or change.

If it were some corrupt shelter official abusing their power,

he might still find a way to seek help and struggle against it.

But if it came from the will of the supreme ruler, high above, who governed the fates of millions,

then aside from acceptance, there wouldn’t even be an option to refuse.

"I just hope..."

"that person treats her well in the future—"

(End of Chapter)