Wasteland Development Diary

#300 - Beat the Nightmare

After confirming the test results, Zhou Yi told Sun Hao to stop the treatment.

He needed to handle more pressing matters immediately.

The Atmospheric Lifeform wasn't going anywhere anyway.

"Yuanxiao, bring Fang Qiao over here."

The Death Angel carried the Weapon Hunter all the way over.

Fang Qiao looked nervous and timid, his head drooping, no longer possessing the confidence he had when he first arrived.

"I've already dealt with the cold storage."

The other party raised his head and said, "You took it down?"

"It self-destructed."

Zhou Yi said, "I used my ability to dissipate its destructive power to avoid endangering the Sandport area."

He casually mentioned, "If an Atmospheric Lifeform were to be born, that would be a catastrophe."

Fang Qiao's pupils suddenly shrank.

He quickly recovered, "That's good, that's good... I really didn't know it would turn out like this. The cold storage itself just had refrigeration problems, and it would sometimes make strange noises."

"I thought they were all minor issues, especially since it had been used for so many years. Who knew it would explode..."

Zhou Yi believed this.

If Fang Qiao had a precise understanding and control of the aliens, these situations could have been avoided early on.

The cold storage had clearly undergone many years of maintenance and operation, and despite its small size, its strength was higher than Emerald City's.

"Now that the safety issue is resolved, let's talk about compensation."

Zhou Yi said softly, "Dealing with this self-destructed cold storage is considered an emergency. I won't overcharge you. Just give me the cost price of 8,000 Light Seeds."

This price converts to exactly 80,000 health points.

It was indeed the cost price.

Since he was taking an Atmospheric Lifeform from them, he wouldn't charge extra.

"..."

Fang Qiao looked distressed, "I need to apply to Lord Bingzhu for these funds. If it were repairs, there would definitely be no problem with the funds, but now the cold storage is gone..."

"That's your problem to consider."

Zhou Yi said coldly.

"Of course, of course."

Fang Qiao scratched his bald head, pondered for a long time, and suddenly his eyes lit up, "How about this? Does your company have any weapons that need to be enhanced or upgraded? I can use my quota to apply for Lord Bingzhu to help upgrade one, as long as it's below B-grade."

"Whether it's a prototype weapon or a Light Imprint weapon, it's fine."

"After the upgrade, the strength will increase by one grade."

"Would you accept this as payment?"

Zhou Yi thought about it.

That would work.

It seemed he really wasn't flush with funds.

But what weapon should he upgrade?

He had an idea.

Zhou Yi called for the Spine Hunter.

"Do you still have the Gatling machine cannon?"

"Yes, Chairman."

"Give it to me."

The Sea Hunter spat out the high-speed machine cannon from its body.

Zhou Yi pointed to the weapon and said, "Then upgrade this for me."

Fang Qiao first observed the Gatling, "This is a prototype weapon, high rate of fire, long range, good quality. It should be a C-grade weapon, right? Upgrading it to B-grade will significantly increase its strength."

"No problem."

At this point, the Weapon Hunter's expertise was evident; he could identify the weapon's performance at a glance.

"But I must state in advance that the direction of enhancement is uncontrollable."

Fang Qiao explained, "This involves technical secrets that cannot be disclosed. However, this is the mechanism of weapon upgrades. You can understand that the entire upgrade process is a random selection result."

Zhou Yi frowned, "If it's uncontrollable, will it fail?"

"It won't fail below B-grade."

Fang Qiao said with certainty, "The only limitation is that the direction of enhancement cannot be selected."

"Deal."

Zhou Yi readily agreed.

The other party finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then, I'll take this weapon back to report. The loss of the ice storage also needs to be reported to Lord Bingzhu in person. I'll take my leave first."

"If it's fast, one or two months will be enough for the weapon upgrade. I'll come as soon as possible."

After the loss of the ice storage, Fang Qiao left decisively. He didn't even look around for traces of the explosion, most likely because he had some ability or device to confirm that the ice storage had indeed disappeared.

Zhou Yi mentioned the Atmospheric Lifeform, also releasing a message of sincerity.

The two sides reached a consensus.

...

After resolving the Weapon Hunter's issue, Zhou Yi began receiving treatment from Sun Hao again.

More accurately, it was repairing the Atmospheric Lifeform stored in his body.

Sun Hao concentrated intensely, his face serious, continuously unfolding the "Consciousness Puzzle."

On the other side.

Zhou Yi also saw the consciousness keys scattered in all directions within the Atmospheric Lifeform's core gradually converging.

They returned to the precarious main body, repairing and restoring the dilapidated double helix structure bit by bit.

The black and white stairs became continuous again.

The first phase of treatment lasted 14 hours.

"Father, I'm reaching my limit, I need... to rest a little."

Sun Hao's face was pale, and his voice became particularly weak.

He collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Zhou Yi noticed that even the way this child fell to the ground was very similar to his own.

They were indeed destined.

Zhou Yi checked and found that he was just over-fatigued and energy-drained.

So he single-handedly lifted him onto the sofa, allowing the young doctor to rest well.

A day passed.

Sun Hao suddenly propped himself up, he looked at his hands, "Huh? How did I recover so quickly? I'm full of energy."

"Of course, it's because I gave you a Light Seed supplement."

Zhou Yi smiled, "Your energy limit is quite high. I consumed nearly 20,000 Light Seeds to replenish you."

Honestly.

Zhou Yi felt a little heartache when he initially gave him the energy input.

After all, the company's revenue wasn't as good as before, and all departments were downgrading their spending.

However, considering that this was repairing the Atmospheric Lifeform, and also a significant experiment, these costs were necessary.

"So that's how it is, thank you, Father."

The boy looked happy.

"I'll continue the treatment."

Then he threw himself into the consciousness body repair again.

The repair process for the Atmospheric Lifeform took much longer than Zhou Yi expected, totaling 15 days and consuming 80,000 Light Seeds before it was basically completed.

Sun Hao wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, revealing a relieved expression, "Father, this part of the consciousness body in your body has been repaired."

"Its size is too large. It's the first time I've seen a consciousness body with such strength and size. It took a long time to repair."

The double helix structure of the Atmospheric Lifeform was completely repaired.

The core changed from the past dimness to brightness again.

In the endless staircase formed by black and white consciousness keys, the Atmospheric Lifeform, shaped like the eye of a storm, began to walk and explore inside, no different from other normal lives.

Zhou Yi pulled himself out and said to Sun Hao, "Show me your Dream Demon."

The black-robed boy was surrounded by a huge shadow.

At this time, the Dream Demon was already two meters tall, still the shadowy monster with horns.

It no longer had the dazedness of its initial small form, and its empty eyes also had pin-like black pupils.

The Dream Demon looked around, seemingly observing the surrounding environment, its eyes cunning and agile.

Sun Hao smiled and stroked the monster's black body, "It's my friend, and also the evolution of my ability. During the repair process, a large number of attacks attached to the consciousness fragments were blocked by it and sewn onto its body, preventing them from harming me."

"Thanks to it, it cut off the parts in those consciousness bodies that affected healing and connection, which allowed the repair to be completed."

"Without it, I wouldn't be able to repair the consciousness body cube."

"Father, it's very good to me!"

Yuanxiao, who witnessed everything, looked worried but didn't interrupt. She pinched her fingers, her expression looking somewhat anxious.

Zhou Yi coldly watched the Dream Demon.

The Dream Demon seemed to have noticed something and also made its first formal eye contact with Zhou Yi. It quietly retreated behind Sun Hao, revealing a provocative and smug look.

You're asking for it.

Zhou Yi was furious.

It's also a consciousness body.

"Maiba, grab it."

"Yes."

The Dream Demon suddenly disappeared from the spot.

Sun Hao was startled, "Ah? What's going on? Where did it go? Why can't I sense it?"

"Don't worry, I'll help you find it."

Zhou Yi said.

"Yes, Father."

Then Zhou Yi closed his eyes and immersed himself in the world of BGM.

...

The first thing he heard was the sound.

"Sleep, sleep, my dear baby..."

It was a cradle song from ancient memories.

Zhou Yi noticed that the world before him was very peculiar, with consciousness keys floating everywhere, some black, some white, some long, some short.

Many of them were broken, and some consciousness keys were combined with each other, becoming trident-shaped, long-strip-shaped, multi-legged-shaped, tree-shaped, and other structures.

The Dream Demon was swimming inside.

It stopped in front of a consciousness key, and a black needle extended from below its eyes, piercing into it, and then began to drill it open like a drill.

Some strange fragments flew out, like small snakes, with heads of various shapes, some triangular, some like pincers, some with bayonet-like horns, and some with cracked mouths...

They attacked the Dream Demon, but the latter easily dealt with them and swallowed them into its body.

The Dream Demon then found another adjacent consciousness key and started the same process.

After doing this, it connected the two adjacent consciousness keys together, combining them into one.

It continued to repeat this labor, hunting the attacking forces inside the consciousness keys.

Zhou Yi was a little curious.

Since it was hunting, why was it still performing the repair process?

He appeared next to the Dream Demon.

"You, answer my question."

The Dream Demon was frightened and turned into a cloud of shadows, fleeing in panic.

But this was in vain.

After being easily blocked by Zhou Yi hundreds of times, it finally became honest.

The Dream Demon gave up its escape, and the two horns on its head also drooped slightly, somewhat trembling.

"Answer my question."

"Why do you repair consciousness keys?"

The Dream Demon made a dry, strange sound, "This is the rule. You have to repair the consciousness keys so they won't reject me. If you only obtain the destructive consciousness inside, you will be rejected by the consciousness keys and cannot cut and extract."

It was equivalent to a mutually beneficial relationship.

"Do you know why I caught you here?"

The Dream Demon said, "I don't know."

"Really don't know, or pretending not to know?"

"Really don't know."

"This is not the answer I want."

The Dream Demon argued, "But I really don't know... I didn't do anything, just normally obtaining destructive consciousness, not hurting anyone, and not doing anything else."

Zhou Yi didn't care.

"Sun Hao is my son. You take good care of him. If anything happens, I'll cover you."

"If you hurt him, even if you hide in the Great Holy Spirit's place, I will dig you out. There is a technology that allows death to proceed according to a specific program. The consciousness body will constantly enter a certain place. This kind of death reincarnation is said to be quite interesting."

The Dream Demon said in a panic, "Don't worry, I will definitely cooperate with the young master! I absolutely dare not have any disloyal intentions!"

Zhou Yi was a little surprised.

This Dream Demon's courage was too small.

It looked arrogant before, but it chickened out completely after being caught and put under pressure.

It completely lacked the evil and unruly temperament of a master-devouring monster.

Since the warning had already taken effect, that was enough.

...

The Dream Demon reappeared.

Sun Hao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, "So it didn't leave."

"Look, I brought you back, not a single hair was lost."

Zhou Yi said with a smile.

"Thank you, Father."

The boy bowed.