The Creators: From Night City

Page 332

[Xunchi: They're probably after these pioneers. We've been caught in this mess for no reason.]

[Lily: My 'garden' is half buried in soil! Oh my god, these murderers! Why did they have to do it before I started the reinforcement work? The great Artemis II is so unlucky.]

[Xunchi: How's the situation at 'Eden', Yuri?]

[Lily: The main structure is fine, but two sections of the newly built ecological vertical farm collapsed, slowing down the construction progress by at least 3 percentage points. Mr. Sabur will probably not let them off this time.]

[Xunchi: I'll take this guy back to base first; Mr. Sabur will probably want to see him.]

…………

Kelvin opened his eyes and found himself on a lush green lawn, surrounded by blooming flowers and verdant grass.

"Am I in heaven?" He reached out and touched the grass on the ground; the complex sensation felt so real.

"You're awake," Lily's sweet voice came from the side.

"The 'Garden of Eden' has not yet completed the construction of its entire oxygen circulation system. In order to maintain your vital signs, we can only temporarily place you in the garden of the great Artemis II."

An elfin-like face peeked over from the side.

Lily's appearance would definitely meet the standards of an angel in the minds of ordinary people, but the moment she appeared, Kelvin knew that he should still be living in the mortal world.

After all, no angel would be carrying a shovel covered in dirt, with two precision wrenches in their pocket, and wandering around with their rear end sticking out.

"Who are you? Where am I? And what happened to me?"

Kelvin started with the three philosophical questions.

"I am Lily, Lily Artemis II, a great engineer, hee hee." Lily proudly introduced herself with her hands on her hips (bragging), but because of the big movement, a wrench was thrown out and hit her foot, making a metallic clanging sound against her boot armor.

The scene became quite awkward.

Fortunately, the arrival of another Edosian successfully broke the ice.

"This is the Garden of Eden. You fell into a coma due to mild oxygen deprivation and were rescued from outside by our people."

Looking at the equally beautiful Eve, Kelvin began to doubt again whether he had really gone to heaven.

"Come this way, Mr. Sabur will see you later."

The nano-airtight gate transformed into a waterfall, opening to both sides, and Kelvin realized that he should still be on the moon.

Unlike Tycho Brahe's old and narrow corridors, the corridor outside the door was unusually bright. The surface of the corridor was made of an indescribable alloy, which made the floor and walls exceptionally smooth, as if they were one piece without any gaps.

"May I ask which company you are from?" Kelvin stared greedily at the green ferns placed on one side of the corridor. He was not a botanist and could not identify the specific species of these plants, but he swore on his aching hemorrhoids that these things were definitely genuine.

“【Reverse Entropy】” Eve answered without turning her head.

As he passed by, Erwin couldn't contain his curiosity and secretly plucked a small leaf, put it in his mouth and chewed it. The fresh yet bitter taste immediately filled his mouth.

"Are you hungry?" His seemingly subtle movements did not escape Eve's notice.

"However, it has been fourteen hours since you were rescued. You really need to replenish your energy and maintain the normal functioning of your body."

Because of the subtle influence of the mainstream culture in the first half of Jiang Bing's life, eating well has always been the basic corporate culture of him and even [Anti-Entropy]. As the saying goes, what the superiors do, the subordinates follow. Jiang Bing, who doesn't need to eat at all, will definitely appear in the canteen at mealtimes as long as he is at the base, and try to make some new and interesting dishes.

This makes meals a top priority in logistics.

Eve led Kelvin into a spacious room and settled him at a solid wood table.

'Eden' has a restaurant, but not one open to the public. Kelvin, as a 'guest', was seated in the reception room.

Because the machine technology used was completely different from that in the cyber world, Eve's eyes did not change at all until she finished reporting the situation to Jiang Bing.

"Here, the boss asked me to treat you to a meal. He has something to do on his end and will need some time before he can see you."

As employees of [Anti-Entropy] recruited by Jiang Bing to build a lunar base in this world, all the Edos-type people dispatched from hope Yong are considered to be on business trips. Not to mention their salaries, Jiang Bing will definitely take care of their food and lodging.

As a branch of the 'new humans', the Edosians are capable of eating. Their digestive system can break down and absorb food and convert it into energy, but this does not mean that they necessarily have to eat.

Eve is someone who doesn't care much about food and drink.

In contrast to her, Xun Chi is quite the opposite. The seemingly shrewd and capable leader is a regular at the Palico staff canteen. She has only been there a few days, but she has already become familiar with the fat orange cat who is in charge of cooking.

Kelvin was indeed hungry. As pioneers, the camp's supplies relied almost entirely on back-end transportation. Not only was the transportation capacity limited, but the equipment, oxygen supplies, and drinking water used for work took up a large portion of the space, resulting in all of them eating only ready-made porridge.

This stuff tastes awful, so to ensure it can be stored for a long time, its texture and flavor must be impeccable.

Before the incident, Kelvin had just eaten two bags of rationed blue-green algae and insect paste, barely managing to fill his stomach. However, the subsequent journey and repeated escapes had already exhausted his body.

He was so hungry he could have eaten a whole cow.

Tormented by hunger, he struggled to survive by counting the old rings of time on the table when the cabin door was opened.

A large plate was brought over by a 'trash can'-shaped robot with four wheels at the bottom and two long, multi-jointed arms.

"Beep beep~ Your Type II employee meal has been delivered. Please enjoy your meal."

These defensive robots, originally from Badlands Base 6, had their operating systems upgraded by Jiang Bing. After simple modifications, they were transformed into multifunctional robots within 'Eden,' saving the currently manpower-scarce base unnecessary manpower expenses.

"This is staff food?" Kelvin rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Beep beep~ No doubt about it."

It's no wonder Kelvin was surprised; any native of the cyberpunk world, upon first seeing the luxurious Palico food (cooked by a professional Palico chef) from the Monster Hunter world, would feel as if it were a dream, just like him.

Or rather, one probably wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing, since it's impossible for a person to imagine something they've never seen before.

Chapter 675 Space Staff Meals

On a large, primitive-looking wooden platter sat a piece of honey-glazed roasted meat, almost the size of a human head. The skin of the meat was charred golden brown by the flames, emitting an irresistible aroma. This aroma of roasted protein directly awakened the carnivorous genes within Kelvin, making his already ravenous stomach churn even more frantically.

The side dishes of fruit, meant to cut through the richness, also made him swallow hard.

There were piles of strawberries, like small mountains, so fresh and juicy that the leaves still had glistening dew on them, as if they had just been picked from the ground.

Indeed, these crops were harvested fresh from the experimental fields of Anti-Entropy near the Starry Sky Outpost in Monster Hunter World.

Each of these strawberries is the size of a baby's fist, white with a hint of red, and shimmering with a crystal-like luster. Just by looking at them, you can tell that their quality is absolutely exceptional.

The drink was a large, transparent, sealed glass containing a green liquid with a grassy aroma. Although he didn't know what it was, Kelvin felt refreshed and invigorated just from smelling it.

He was naturally invigorated. This was a new type of oolong tea made with healing herbs diluted from the Monster Hunter world, mixed with honey and green tea. It was one of the signature products developed by Jiang, the mysterious NPC in the kitchen, and a top-ten bestseller on the [Anti-Entropy] beverage ranking list.

This dish is not only delicious and visually appealing, but its most notable feature is its large portion size!

After all, the Felyne "Fat Orange" who is in charge of cooking used to be a catering cat who assisted the head chef of Starry Sky. The diners were all big-eater hunters, and if the portions were too small, they would definitely be criticized.

Kelvin swallowed hard, then eagerly picked up a piece of the cut-up roast meat and stuffed it into his mouth.

boom!

A taste bud explosion.

This native, who had never eaten anything good, felt that his 31 years on Earth and 3 years on the Moon had all been wasted.

The roasted meat was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The granular spices were just right in terms of both texture and flavor, making his mouth feel fragrant after every two bites.

But what surprised him most was the roast meat itself.

The grilled meat comes from the Pidgey from the Monster Hunter world. Pidgey is a large herbivorous creature that grows up eating healing herbs and drinking the nectar of life.

It's no exaggeration to say that compared to the A5 and the Nissan A5, there's at least a distance between them, like the Earth and the Moon.

If he had extraordinary vision, he would see that these dishes were truly shining!

That is the life energy emanating from the food.

These life-giving energies added extraordinary influences to the meal, making Kelvin, whose body instinctively craved the nourishment of life energy, unable to stop eating.

He ate heartily, devouring everything in a flash. Kelvin was extremely satisfied, managing to stuff himself with enough food for three normal people.

"I really did go to heaven," the diner exclaimed, tears streaming down his face from the delicious food.

"No, you're still in hell." Jiang Bing's first words as he entered the room brought the other person back down to reality.

"Kelvin Acanette, a graduate of Harvard University majoring in planetary geology and mineralogy, entered the Tycho colony in 2074 through a special talent recruitment channel and has been working as a lunar pioneer ever since."

Jiang Bingyi immediately pulled down the other person's underwear.

"How did you know?" Kelvin asked, startled.

Jiang Bing naturally found the information from the Tycho colony's resident information system. He had been in the Tycho colony for so long not just to replace the couplers' couplings. Although he couldn't physically rule this human star port for the time being, it didn't stop him from infiltrating the colony's public system like a sieve.

“I also know that your wife entered the country with you and is currently receiving treatment at an unlicensed clinic in the Cloud Sea Colony, where she has to pay exorbitant medical fees every month.”

Jiang Bing's choice of him as the breakthrough point for poaching people from Tycho's colony was naturally well-intentioned.

Recruiting is actually quite simple. For ordinary people, talk about compensation and benefits; for high-level talent, you should also talk about their ideals. Of course, it's best to offer something that others can't provide.

Coincidentally, all of these [reverse entropy] concepts exist.

"You investigated me?"

"You don't actually think you can get away from here, do you?" Jiang Bing said slowly as he sat down opposite him.

“A strange underground colony and an unknown force have suddenly appeared in the ‘Abundant Sea’. Don’t tell me you don’t know what that means, Kelvin. Why can’t I investigate you? I was even prepared to detain you.”

“No, you can’t do that. It’s illegal, and the TCPD (Tycho Colony Police Department) of the Tycho Colony will not let you get away with it.” Kelvin, of course, understood that he had just escaped one danger only to fall into another.

"Isn't it a coincidence? I wouldn't do anything that isn't illegal."

Jiang Bing gently tapped his cane, and the 'trash can' robot rolled in and began tidying up the table.

"You have two choices now, Kelvin. The first is to stay and work for [Anti-Entropy], and the second is to leave. No one will stop you, after all, I'm not a heartless person."

A glimmer of hope appeared in Kelvin's eyes.

"Of course, we can't provide you with a spacesuit; you'll have to figure out how to get back yourself."

Mr. Jiang's next words completely extinguished the other party's last remaining hope.

Some people can walk on the moon without a spacesuit, but it certainly wasn't Kelvin. Being exposed to the vacuum and turning into a space popsicle was his only fate.

There seem to be options, but in reality, there's nothing to talk about.

“Boss, I think I’ll be very happy working for you.” Kelvin was an ordinary person with some education, and he naturally understood the principle that those who are pragmatic and adaptable are wise.

"Very good," Jiang Bing said decisively as he got up and left.

"The first thing you did after joining the company was to mark out the exact location of the pioneer camp for us. I'd like to see what kind of people dare to mess with us."

A gentleman does not leave a grudge unavenged, even if it is an unexpected enemy.

When the six combat-type Edosians emerged from the Garden of Eden, the Sea of ​​Abundance was in its daytime (one lunar day is approximately 14 Earth days).

'Eden' was built by Jiang Bing in the crater wall on the southern edge of the Petavis crater in the Mare Luna.

Petavian Crater is an ancient impact crater. If you stand on the rim and look down, the deepest part of the crater is 3 kilometers below the ground. This distance is comparable to standing on the top of Mount Everest and looking down at the Grand Canyon in Colorado. It is dark and bottomless.

At the center of the pit stands a striking twin-peaked ridge, about 1.7 kilometers high.

A V-shaped rift valley extends from the foot of the central peak, running through the bottom of the pit like a dried-up riverbed. The rift valley is 10 kilometers wide at its widest point and hundreds of meters deep.

In this very riverbed, Jiang Bing discovered a large quantity of rare earth element minerals, as well as an astonishingly large reserve of ilmenite.

This is also one of the main reasons why the Garden of Eden was built here.

Chapter 676 Sudden Ambush

The abundant metal reserves mean that the metal materials needed to build 'Eden' can be sourced locally. Only the issues of smelting, mining, and energy need to be resolved. The proven reserves inside the riverbed are sufficient for Jiang Bing to fill the meteorite crater with nano-metal architecture.

Of course, the main reason for choosing this location is not only that it has abundant mineral resources. The terrain, which resembles Tycho's colony, is very suitable for establishing a colony. The unique bowl-shaped structure can save a lot of mining work from the beginning.

While a depth of 3 kilometers may seem like a drawback, as long as productivity can keep up, this depth is just right to build a massive three-dimensional city, maximizing space utilization.

Just like Chion in the world of Sword Star.

Jiang Bing set up the colony's No. 3 exit on the wall of a relatively spacious stepped fault, only a few hundred meters below the surface.

He didn't even need to think much; the 'legacy' of the Mother's Domain included professional space soldier propulsion devices, with the wings on Swift's back being a prime example.

This thing is also very suitable for female Edos-like people.

These people just look more like 'angels' now.

The moon is desolate, silent, and cruel; its vast surface is almost colorless, consisting only of rocks and dust in varying shades of gray.

The sky above was pure black, as clear and velvety as a velvet.

Without the interference of Earth's atmosphere, the stars in the sky would not twinkle, appearing as clear as diamonds set against a velvet black curtain.

Sharp-edged basalt fragments are scattered across the vast lunar plain, resembling an ancient, uninhabited desert.