Chapter 622 “Tree” And “Treant” (1/2)

Walk to the door of Vault 100.

I finally found the communication terminal on the wall next to the door. I pulled out a data cable from the VM worn on my left arm and plugged it into the interface below the terminal.

Looking at the flashing green light of the signal light, expressions of joy and surprise appeared on the faces of all the players.

Unimaginable.

After soaking in sewage and garbage for so many years, this electronic device produced two centuries ago can still be turned on!

I have to say that this People's Alliance's black technology still has something to offer.

Just when I was opening the scientific expedition team's "mini program" and importing the electronic key into the terminal to wait for the reading, Chu Guang, who was in Camp 101, was also paying attention to the situation in Shelter 100.

Sitting on Chu Guang's shoulder, Xiao Qi suddenly opened her eyes and looked at him.

"The terminal shows signs of use."

Chu Guang looked at it and asked.

"Didn't the door never open?"

A stream of data flashed through her light blue eyes, Xiao Qi touched her chin and muttered.

"Well... the power system of the gate was indeed closed for two centuries, but there were access records in 2190."

2190.

Is it the 61st year of the Wasteland Era?

Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand.

According to Dr. Method, Camp 101 had previously tried to explore Vault 100, but ultimately gave up because conditions did not allow it.

Vault 101 was launched after the disintegration of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, and the time should be 2174 - the 45th year of the Wasteland Era.

During the period from 45 to 61 of the Wasteland Era, Camp 101 was very likely to have appeared. After all, according to Dr. Method, although Vault 101 was isolated from the world, it did not completely cut off contact with the outside world. They have been enlightening some wandering wastelanders and conducting indirect scientific investigations into the outside world through them.

At that time, there were not so many extreme mutant creatures flooding the wasteland. It was entirely possible for the residents of Camp 101 to reach the entrance of Vault 100 through diving equipment.

In this brief moment of communication between one person and the AI, my most evil VM has obtained permission to activate the shelter door.

At this moment, a silver metal ball appeared on the terminal's display.

"Welcome! Future friends! You have finally found us. We thought you had forgotten us. By the way, what year is it now? How many colonized planets do we have? I have already said that there are only One Aurora Star will definitely cause problems! If we have a hundred Aurora Stars, those bad things will never happen."

The worst thing about me was that I couldn't understand what he said, so I could only answer from the parts I could understand.

"The year is 2342 in the human calendar, 213 in the Wasteland Era. It's a pity that we are still on the home planet... By the way, don't you even have a timer?"

The metal ball seemed to be stunned, and the frequency of shaking seemed a bit anxious.

"Wait, you're still on the home planet? You mean there aren't any? How is this possible! Where's Reach? The Reach heading for Reach should have reached its destination by now!"

Reach?

I thought about it for a long time before I remembered that it seemed to be the place where the enterprise's colonial ship originally planned to go. I said with a subtle expression.

"No...if you are talking about the Zhiyuan, they did not leave the solar system at all, but took the initiative to strand themselves in the Cloud Province and rebuilt a city there according to colonial standards. I heard that they took in many survivors. By."

The silver metal ball seemed to be stunned for a while, slurping its mouth like a bucket, and it took a long time to squeeze out a sentence.

"What a waste..."

I don’t understand what the waste is that he refers to, but he cares more about what this guy is than this.

"I call me the blackest, what about you? What do you call me?"

"Bell... they all call me that because I always jingle when I walk and talk, like a rusty bell. My designer designed me 55845 working cycles ago and he felt like waiting for the door When it opens again, it will be a new world outside, and someone will take me to work in a museum or something, but now it seems that his wish has come true. "

As if it had lost its initial vitality, the silver metal ball drooped its soft antenna and muttered to itself.

Those clueless words seemed to be answering the interviewer's questions, and also seemed to be expressing self-pity about his own fate.

I counted on my fingers. If the work cycle refers to the number of days, wouldn't more than 55,000 work cycles correspond to... more than 150 years? !

In other words, this guy has existed since around 60 years of the Wasteland Era, and lived until February 213 of the Wasteland Era!

Looking at the door and counting on my fingers, I was the darkest, and the bell smacked its mouth like a bucket.

"I'm the darkest, right... I have to say that you are indeed dark enough."

After taking a look at the sewage and mud on my body, I patted my dirty breastplate, rolled my eyes and said.

"Can you please open the door anyway? We gave you the code."

Bell: "Of course, you can come in at any time, just press the door open button on your terminal... Or do you think that all doors should open for you by themselves?"

Listening to this guy's nonsense, I rolled my eyes and poked the VM screen with my index finger.

Accompanied by a shaking tremor and a creaking friction sound, the giant metal gear slowly rolled to one side, making way for a hole that was two cars wide.

A staircase leads directly to a spacious buffer area, and directly opposite the entrance are two closed airlock doors with transparent windows.

Orange lights and warning lights lit up one after another, and the shadows cast by the metal parts flickered and swayed on the ground, accompanied by a clanging sound.

The entire shelter was like an old gasoline engine. The new spark plug ignited the fuel tank that had been stagnant for countless years, and reluctantly opened its cloudy eyes.

My darkest VM screen shows that the fusion reactor in this shelter has been re-ignited, and all facilities have been switched from backup power to regular power.

Chu Guang, who was looking at the screen in Camp 101, couldn't help but feel slightly moved.

There is still fuel left in the fusion reactor in Vault 100!

Just when I was most stunned by the changes in front of me, several ghost-faced insects suddenly came out, scaring him so much that he raised the muzzle of the gun in his hand almost reflexively.

"Hey! Wait, these little guys are harmless-"

Seeing him raising the muzzle of the gun, Ling Ding was also startled and tried to stop him, but I had already pulled the trigger.

Amidst the bursts of gunfire, a few ghost-faced bugs instantly landed on the rusty corridor, exploding with juice.

Looking at the dead little guys, the bell on the screen complained with regret.

"You executioner! You killed them all!"

Not daring to be careless, I checked the passage behind the door most carefully, then made a gesture to my teammates behind me, and divided five people to move forward to eliminate any alien species that might be harboring in the buffer zone, while I stayed in for the time being. At the door.

Looking at Ling Ding who was still feeling sorry for those little lives, he suppressed the muzzle of the gun in his hand and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"The reason they're not interested in you is because you're a robot. We encountered these a lot on the way in... They pounced on us as soon as they saw us."

Bell was stunned for a moment.

"Wait a minute, you just said... you also encountered this thing outside?"

I was the darkest: "Yes, what's wrong?"

"Incredible..." Bell murmured in a low voice, his tone full of surprise, "Logically speaking, this is impossible. The door has never been opened after it was closed, not even once. It is impossible for them to go out... Could it be where? Leaked? That’s weird.”

Looking at the chattering robot, Ten Fist Man and Kevin with a Broken Leg, who were following behind me, looked at each other and exchanged a few words in a low voice.

"Why do I feel like I've seen you before?"

"+1"

Looking at the surprised bell, I frowned slightly.

"Do you know them?"

Lingdang cleared her throat and spoke in a eloquent tone.

"Of course, they are called 'Gabong', which can provide abundant chitin, natural high molecular polymers, and high-quality industrial raw materials. In addition, the protein and nutrients they provide are also rare and good things, and It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s no exaggeration to say that this is one of the greatest achievements of this museum – oh no – just a little bit of household waste is needed to feed them.”

My darkest brows twitched, completely unable to sense how this extremely offensive gadget could be called great.

"We call it the Direfaced Bug."

Hearing this interesting name, the bell let out a heart-wrenching laugh, echoing strangely in the dark subway tunnel.

"Ghost-faced Insect? This name sounds good too... Just call it what you want. Anyway, this place already belongs to you."

"Can you show us around here?"

I tried my best to make a request, and the silver metal ball on the screen nodded its round head without hesitation.

"No problem, this is my job originally, come with me."

With that said, Bell turned around.

Just when I was hesitating about how to keep up with him, the iron gate of the buffer zone directly in front opened with a clang.

A silver metal ball is placed quietly on the head of a flat four-legged robot about the size of a washbasin.

"What are you waiting for at the door? Come in quickly."

I exchanged glances with the people next to me, then followed the robot who called himself Bell and crossed the two airlock doors in the buffer zone and entered the interior of the shelter.

The situation here is not as bad as expected. Even after being underwater for many years, no sewage has seeped in from the outside. Even Bell, who has lived here for a century and a half, can't figure out how those bugs got outside. of.

However, even if it is not as bad as imagined, the situation here is definitely not optimistic.

A large number of "rats" have occupied this shelter. They have built nests here, filling all the gaps that may hide dirt like cockroaches. Black excrement is all over the floor, and not only that, there are them. The shed carapace is shiny with oil and the eggs are as big as a fist.

Looking at a few ghost-faced bugs making "wow, bang, bang," sounds, the ten players in my darkest group skillfully raised their guns and fired.

After a burst of intense gunfire, dozens of insects were killed instantly, and the eggs in the room were turned into a dark green slurry.

Operating its four mechanical legs, it nimbly avoided the debris on the ground. The bell sitting on the top of the four-legged robot no longer called these visitors executioners, but only reminded them softly.

"These are good things. The shed carapace is rich in chitin and can be used to make many polymer materials with excellent properties... They are used in most electronic devices and machines."

The darkest thing about me is that I have no time to deal with this guy at the moment.

Looking at the dead bodies and metabolites of the Dire-faced Insects all over the ground, he replaced the empty magazines while reporting back to the rear what he had discovered in the shelter.

"...This is my darkest place. I have entered Vault No. 100. The place is full of metabolites and eggs of the Direfaced Insect. There might be tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of them inside! I suggest cutting off the shelter's connections. The air circulation system will come back in a few days.”

He now finally understood where those mutated water striders came from.

I spent a long time being attracted by these little guys!

There was a rustling sound in the communication channel, followed by the voice of Brother Quan Shui.

"I have reported the situation in the shelter to the manager... His reply is that the ventilation system of Vault 100 is malfunctioning. According to the analysis results of the self-check program, something should be blocking the filter element of the air inlet. It may be insect eggs or shed shells. The ghost-faced insects active in the shelter should flow out to the outside world from there. "

I asked with my blackest scalp tingling.

"So...isn't there any efficient way to get rid of the bugs here?"

How long can you kill them one by one with a rifle?

At least get a bottle of insecticide!

Commander Quanshui: "At present, there is no shortcut, unless you can go to the B2 floor to repair the ventilation system, but this is too embarrassing for you, and it is also embarrassing for me. We must at least eliminate the alien species on the B1 and B2 floors, and then we can Arrange for the air conditioning master from Camp 101 to come in... But these are arrangements for later, we will eventually recover the entire shelter, but this is not the job we have to do today. "

Clearing his throat, he continued.

"To talk about the main point, our task is to recover the black boxes stored in the warehouse on the B40 floor. There are about twenty. You will know the details after you go there. Then there are the logs in the manager's office on the B51 floor, where the manager's needs are stored. Information. In addition, the B100 layer detected signals that were suspected of human life activities...but the signals were very strange and did not completely match the signals of normal people. In short, the first two are main tasks, and the last one is a side task. "

That's okay.

And this shelter actually has a hundred floors!

I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

“Can you fucking come in and help?!”

Commander Quan Shui smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, brother, I'm a bit troublesome with bugs just like you... And I admit that I'm a dog officer, and I'm better at talking than using hands. But don't worry! I've added a hundred brothers to you. You are now With the strength of a company, this first-class merit will also be yours when we return!"

I’m the darkest: “%￥#x-on:!”

Because there were so many flaws, he didn't know where to start complaining, so he simply hung up the communication with a few bad words.

Ignoring my darkest soliloquy, and not understanding what he was saying at all, Ling Ding walked ahead and spoke leisurely in the tone of a tour guide.

"...The Great Vault 100 once sheltered 30,300 residents, and their peak number even reached 81,711."

Ten Fist Man couldn't help but said.

"Eighty thousand people? Here?"

Although Quanshui mentioned in the communication channel that this shelter had a hundred floors, he still couldn't imagine that this shelter hidden in the tunnel could fit nearly the entire population of Dawn City.

If it really had that kind of population capacity, it would have to be at least an underground city like Vault 79, right?

But this certainly doesn't look like that kind of place.

There was no surprise at all about his reaction. Bell just chuckled a few times and stopped in front of a trap door on the side of the hall.

"...Your vision is limited by your imagination. Let alone 80,000 people. In theory, this shelter can accommodate 200,000 people."

Just as he finished speaking, the trap door slowly opened upwards, and the world behind the door suddenly became clear.

Completely different from the confinement outside the shelter.

I saw only a spacious circular corridor, which circled an unusually wide space in this underground world and connected hundreds of densely packed rooms together.

The structure of the entire shelter is like a vertically downward patio, with a hemispherical dome emitting beige light directly above it.

The light is like the sun carved in the cave, falling into the bottomless courtyard.

The carapace shed by the ghost-faced insect gathered into a honeycomb-shaped tower on the inner wall of the patio, and under the light, it glowed with colorful sparkles.

It's like a real rainbow!

And the most shocking thing doesn't stop there.

In the circular corridor, the remains of scrapped exoskeletons and mechanical bodies were randomly abandoned like garbage.

Among them are the "Five-Type" exoskeleton, the most classic police equipment in the Federation era, and the "Six-Type" heavy cavalry.

In addition, there are some machines that are more like engineering tools than weapons - such as several crab-like engineering robots that also participate in the battle waving their pincer-like claws.

Their bodies and surroundings were covered with dense bullet holes, and traces of explosives could be seen everywhere on the walls and on the ground.

The alien species active in the shelter ate up all the organic matter under the metal skeleton, and used pieces of shed carapace and mucus to assimilate those exoskeletons and mechanical bodies into part of the insect nest wall, which together formed a building called 100 The "Crypt" of Vault No.

Staring at the shocking scene, the eyes of all the players were straightened, especially me who was closest to the door. I almost subconsciously said "fuck" from my mouth.

This light and shadow effect!

Model this scene!

Every frame seems like money is burning!

It’s like a fortress!

As if he was satisfied with the shock on the faces of these visitors, Ling Dang admired it for a moment and then let out a few chuckles that sounded like the friction of sharp instruments.

Riding a four-legged robot through the trap door leading to the circular corridor, it stopped at the edge of the steeply downward patio.

"Welcome to Vault 100. You are probably the first guests to set foot here since the door was closed two centuries ago."

After taking a look at the debris, I subconsciously asked.

"What's going on here?"

Bell said slowly.

"Many, many things happened. If I start from the beginning, it would be a long story. My master recorded the past here on his VM. That thing should be in the manager's office. You will know when you go there and take a look. ”

I asked the darkest question.

"Is your master the manager here?"

"Manager? How is that possible? Do other shelters have people as managers?" Lingdang laughed out loud, "Anyway, he is just a supervisor here... But my master is still very It’s amazing that he survived until the end! Of course, it’s hard to say whether this can be considered lucky.”

Ten Fist Superman looked at him blankly.

"Supervision?"

Lingdang said concisely.

"The manager of Vault 100 is not a human, but an AI with powerful computing power. Its name is 'Tree', and it has the highest level of permissions for the shelter. Its responsibilities are based on feedback from various sensor modules in the shelter. Parameters make the most ideal decision. If a light bulb breaks, it will know before the person under the light bulb and report it to the specific warehouse and workshop for repair as soon as possible.”

"The supervisors are the residents who ensure that the orders of the 'Tree' can be carried out. They are not only residents of this shelter, but also part of the sensor module of the 'Tree', responsible for supervising the most unreliable ones in the entire shelter. Module – Vault Dwellers.”

When it said this, it paused for a moment and joked in a playful tone.

"But 'Supervisor' is just what my master and his colleagues call themselves. Just like you gave 'Gabong' the name Jiral-faced Insect, those naughty residents of the shelter also don't like the official name. Instead, they secretly refer to them as 'tree people'."