Silicon Invasion

Besides the rookies like Luo Rui, the other pilots from the Hucan base seemed more relaxed after arriving at the base, perhaps because of their extensive experience with similar missions.

The base had been sealed off for over half a month, and some of the original external facilities had inevitably suffered some damage. Some Warrior 7 mechs were reassigned to engineering duties, repairing the damage with practiced ease.

The auxiliary mech took over the early warning systems for the entire base, so Luo Rui's radar was essentially useless. However, his mission came soon enough: to act as a turret at a designated location…

Warrior mechs stood spaced every few dozen meters, forming a circle, and together with some defensive fortifications, they created a wall of steel. Behind them, even more long-range artillery mechs were gathered.

Although the change of position made Luo Rui feel slightly novel for half a minute, he quickly became bored again.

This alien world experience was completely different from what Luo Rui had imagined, but it was understandable. The military wouldn't allow these elite seeds to face the full force of a storm when they had just sprouted.

Watching the Warrior 7 mechs working enthusiastically, carrying bricks, repairing fortifications, mining… not a single Warrior 7 was idle. Luo Rui felt a slight envy. At least carrying bricks involved moving his fingers, which was better than standing guard like this.

Time flew by, and seven or eight hours passed in the blink of an eye. The time on Maikan wasn't synchronized with Blue Star; a day had more than thirty hours.

However, the mission start times were usually chosen to coincide with the synchronized dawn on both planets, thus providing the longest possible daylight hours for the mission.

Although it was still morning on Maikan, the passage of time couldn't be faked. After so long, Luo Rui was starting to get hungry.

Fortunately, he had stored a large amount of food in the cockpit before the mission. The base had a variety of military rations to choose from. Luo Rui not only took his full share, but also asked his teammates to take some extra.

Niu Wei and the others knew that Luo Rui had an unusually large appetite, but in TV dramas, high-IQ talents were always fond of sweets. What was wrong with someone as strong as Luo Rui eating a little more?

Being idle, and with no situation to report, Luo Rui informed his superiors that he was going to eat something, and then slightly loosened his seat belt. He started boiling some water. There was a power socket on the lower left side of the cockpit, along with a matching kettle. Pilots might be on a mission for several days at a time, so some basic functions and configurations were available.

Of course, the simulation machine didn't have these things. This was a small difference between the simulation and the real mech.

Luo Rui had brought mostly a type of food called 'Universal Self-Heating Military Rations.' It was a large package, and inside were various smaller packages, including a 300g portion of red bean rice, 150g of braised beef with potatoes, as well as energy bars, chestnuts, mixed vegetables, and even instant drinks and chewing gum. It was truly all-inclusive.

First, he used the self-heating pack to heat the red bean rice and braised beef with potatoes. Then, Luo Rui opened three more packs, because with his appetite, he needed to eat more.

While waiting for the main courses to heat up, Luo Rui didn't waste time and started eating the chestnuts and energy bars.

The braised beef with potatoes was similar to canned food, but it came in a bag. Besides potatoes and beef, there was mostly oil, because high oil content was a magical way to quickly replenish energy.

This applied not only to ordinary people but also to Luo Rui's attribute table.

If he really couldn't get enough, he would have directly drunk lard…

However, although the military rations were high in oil, they tasted very good, and even though the quantity was a bit small, it was better than nothing.

Eating the rice with the topping, Luo Rui suddenly felt that being an archer was better after all. At least compared to Warrior 7, he had more free time to eat.

The outdoor temperature on Maikan was very high, usually around seventy or eighty degrees Celsius. Even though the cockpit had air conditioning, any space in the mech was very valuable, so the air conditioner was small, resulting in limited cooling capacity. Even at full power, it could only maintain the cockpit temperature at around thirty degrees Celsius.

This led to a high probability of pilots developing heat rash, especially after returning from a mission. Ninety-nine percent of the pilots would develop a patch of rash on their buttocks.

Luo Rui used to sweat a lot, but since his endurance had been constantly increasing, it had become increasingly difficult for him to sweat. Even in the current environment, because he couldn't stand up and move around, other pilots would already be covered in sweat, but Luo Rui felt he could still manage.

Enjoying his military rations and brewing a drink, this long-awaited journey to Maikan really felt like a picnic.

However, this was just Luo Rui. Other pilots, even those also piloting long-range artillery mechs, couldn't be as carefree as Luo Rui.

Because they weren't allowed to leave the cockpit without permission, pilots had to eat, drink, excrete, and sleep in this cramped space during missions.

The pilots' bodysuits were padded with adult diapers…

To avoid the embarrassment of changing diapers as much as possible, most pilots would choose not to replenish food and water unless absolutely necessary.

But Luo Rui didn't have this kind of trouble. It wasn't that he changed diapers quickly, but because he had the attribute table, he could absorb food to the maximum extent.

Otherwise, with the way he ate, he would have to spend more than two hours a day in the toilet.

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After a hearty meal, even if Luo Rui had a good appetite and the food was delicious, he was still feeling overwhelmed by the high oil content. Looking at the time, another two hours had passed.

He simply tidied up the packaging bags. The opened packaging took up more space than when they were unopened, and the air was filled with the smell of food, making Luo Rui feel a little uncomfortable.

Taking a tube of energy liquid as a drink, Luo Rui didn't put his helmet back on. When he was eating, Luo Rui had switched the cockpit to full-seal mode. In this mode, the mech couldn't move, but it could create an environment where the pilot could survive without wearing a helmet.

Mechanically sucking on the drink, Luo Rui's eyes were somewhat blank. His fingers unconsciously tapped, and the crisp sound echoed in the cockpit.

Although the cockpit's full-seal mode claimed to completely isolate the inside from the outside, Luo Rui still felt a slight difference. That strange feeling since arriving on Maikan had become clearer at this moment.

However, no matter how Luo Rui tried to sense it, that feeling was like a willow in the wind, always maintaining a little distance from him, untouchable and unreachable.

It seemed that the isolation was too thorough.

Luo Rui felt that if he just walked out of the cockpit, he might be able to touch that feeling.

But this wasn't a joke. Maikan's natural environment wasn't suitable for human survival, and even brief contact would be life-threatening. So, unless he was one hundred percent sure, Luo Rui wouldn't put himself in danger for those ethereal things.