I watched the camera feed from the tunnel boring machine we rented while fantasizing about a refreshing milkshake. It was hot and the sound of just constant digging wore on me, so I‌ pulled up my status screen to distract myself.

Status

Level:

20

EXP:

880/2000

Musculoskeletal:

211

Neural Reflex:

65

Visuomotor Coordination:

87

Endurance:

59

Sensory Perception:

127

Upgrade Points:

0

Upgrades:

* Stealth +7

* Hacking +3

* Cybernetic Engineering +10

* Stealth Technology +10

* Software Engineering +6

* Electrical Engineering +8

Enhancements:

SAID: Zenitech Sebastien v2

Bio-Coprocessor: SocialCorp Lightning II

Optics: Mirage Tech Clear-Sights mk.12

Cyberarm (Left): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3

Cyberarm (Right): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3

Auditory: SocialCorp Echo IV

Cardiovascular: BioGen Lifepump 5

Miscellaneous: HSU Custom Shade

“They say we’re almost through. Let’s get ready, Rollo. They say there’re quite a few mutants down there.”

“Okay, but I’m sure you can handle it. Make sure to push in, though. We don’t want to fight near the boring machine and risk damaging it.”

“Yeah, I remember the plan. I’m going to go get Andrew and Peng. You take your time.”

I closed the status screen and readied my equipment before grouping up with our security teams. Once we were gathered, we went down the tunnel toward the source of all the noisy digging, the boring machine.

It grew exponentially louder as we got closer. My auditory implant did its best, but it also made all the other noises sound muffled.

We endured as the machine continued its work until it finally broke through the last obstacle in its way and connected us to an underground network of tunnels.

Thorne rushed out as soon as we broke through, and I followed closely behind. The tunnel was pitch black, and even our optics needed some light to work with or we couldn’t see. We were thankful that the boring machine had a giant light attached and flashlight attachments on our guns.

I felt the vibrations of the ground first before the mutants came into view, and they were probably one of the most disgusting ones I’ve seen. They were worms that had numerous limbs like a centipede and had spiky teeth in their mouths that they opened toward us in a threatening manner. They moved in a zig-zag pattern as if they were slithering snakes.

“Contact!” One of the security personnel yelled.

We all quickly opened fire once they were in view. I used my SMG loaded with smart bullets, so hitting the targets wasn’t an issue for me, but the others were struggling as our targets stayed low to the ground and swerved about.

Even when hit, the worms continued to slither our way until we landed several more shots.

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

A few managed to close the distance to us and received Thorne’s blade as a reward.

At least these worms didn’t regenerate when cut in half, unlike the urban myth I heard as a kid.

Once we cleared the area, we had the tunnel boring machine retreat as it had completed its job. We then continued clearing out these tunnels of its mutant inhabitants. We had dug into one end of the tunnel network so we could push in one direction with our flanks secured.

Although the tunnel did branch off further in, we would simply have to set up small checkpoints at the chokepoints.

Not even thirty minutes into our operation, I heard Andrew, who was beside me, let out a high-pitched shriek.

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We turned to find one of the mutant worms right next to him. I quickly pulled him back before we riddled it with holes.

He sensed our gaze once we confirmed it was dead and awkwardly looked down.

“...That thing dropped down from the ceiling.”

“You heard him, everyone careful of the walls and ceilings!”

We continued our advance until we arrived at a fork in the path. We had a few guards stay back to hold the flank while the rest of us veered off to the path that led to a dead-end. The Sand Bat helpfully provided us with the general layout with its scans, so we could plot out the extermination mission accordingly.

The branch tunnel led up to a circular and spacious clearing. The entire way was empty—or so we thought when the walls suddenly moved.

“What the hell is that thing?” someone yelled out.

We all backpedaled as we watched a colossal worm, the size of the tunnels itself, uncurl itself in the area we thought to be a dead end. It then faced us and let out a high-pitched shriek toward us.

“Open fire before that thing gets close!” I yelled out.

Our gunfire sounded quiet compared to its war cry just now, and we only made it squeal again with our attacks. It winded up its body like a spring before it charged straight toward us.

“Spread out! Don’t go into the tunnels or we won’t have room to dodge it.”

I watched as it rammed into a guard and took hold of him with its disgusting mouth, only to drop them a moment later when Thorne ran parallel to its body, slashing through it as the worm passed by.

“Someone pull that man away and tend to his wounds!”

I really didn’t want a fatal casualty that would make this venture even more expensive than it already was.

The worm distanced itself from Thorne and opened its mouth to howl out at Thorne in a challenging manner.

“Do that again in thirty seconds, Thorne!”

I didn’t wait for his reply as I fumbled my Suri out of its holster and changed the mag.

I watched as Thorne took hold of his rifle that was attached to his shoulder sling and fired it at the monster. Having caught its attention, he quickly turned on his active camouflage as the worm geared up for another charge.

Shit, did he not know worms don’t use their eyes to see? I don’t think they even had any in the first place. Our upgraded Shades wouldn't block airflow so it would be hard for it to feel where he is, but the vibrations of our movement are another matter.

“That won’t work Thorne! Dodge!”

I witnessed Thorne dodge just barely in time and made a gash on the mutant’s mouth as it charged by.

It repeated its previous reaction and growled toward us in pain, but I took that opportunity to fire off my entire magazine into its mouth.

With a few milliseconds delay, explosions rang out from within the worm’s mouth. It positioned for another charge, but then let out one last growl before it fell to the ground.

+50 EXP

“Are you okay?” I asked, as I walked up to Thorne, who was kneeling on the ground.

“Yeah, I think so.” He tried to get up, only for his knees to buckle.

I kneeled down to take a closer look at his cybernetic.

“I think the actuators or joints are damaged. Stop trying to move, or you might damage it enough that it won’t be repairable anymore. Peng, Andrew, carry him up.”

Thorne sighed and obediently waited to be lifted.

We retreated back upstairs to the lobby of the building and let another team rotate down to continue clearing the tunnels.

Thorne had to stay on a stretcher the entire time, and we brought him back in one of the vehicles that was headed back to the outpost for supplies and scheduled updates.

Inside the outpost, we were equipped with rudimentary medical equipment and a garage for maintaining our vehicles. I brought some scraps and dismantled a few terminals and spare cybernetics we had for the wounded for parts, in order to perform a stopgap repair.

“You should be able to at least stand and move around a little, but we’ll need to print some new parts for it once we get back. We’ll go back to NLA with tomorrow’s convoy.”

“Fine, but you can stay. You need to oversee the work, right?”

“They’ll be fine without me for a few days. They’re just building roads to get vehicles down there.”

We rested for the night and returned to the city the next day when the scheduled convoy headed back in the afternoon.

It was a bit early, but it beat watching men dig around and do construction work all day.

We ended up ordering some proprietary parts and 3D printed the other for Thorne’s cybernetics. It took a whole day once we gathered the parts. I took the liberty of removing his Shade to upgrade it to the more EMP-resistant variation I had been working on.

I examined his other cybernetics to see if there were any tricks I could learn, but a lot of the essential parts were black-boxed or purposefully obscured, with a lot of redundant parts designed to mislead others.

Since we found a mine, it meant we could resume our other plans as well. Once Thorne was put back together, I immediately immersed myself in creating the prototype vehicle I had been designing.

I occasionally had to stop to consult with our R&D team that was back in Elevate City for the areas that were outside my expertise, but I mostly rushed through those parts in order to realize my own theories with a working prototype.

Besides improving the efficiency of the electric motors as best I could, there were three main areas I focused on.

First was the efficiency of the electric motors while working in the wasteland’s conditions. The constant magnetic fields the wasteland gave out to would normally increase the wear and tear of many components, not to mention all the sand. I managed to make a case for the motors that made use of the constant force from different directions, to fuel the motors instead of disrupting it.

Next came the durability of the vehicle. If your vehicle gave out on you in the wasteland, you were practically dead and could only wait for rescue or your demise. I moved away from the design of the Vanguard and placed the motors in the back instead. I increased the number of motors to six for redundancy, but reduced their power and size in exchange. With my newfound knowledge of electrical engineering, I could properly sync up those motors and get the best out of them.

Lastly, the new outer layer that made use of the magnetic fields also shielded it from other kinds of disruption. This included EMPs and bullets, with the extra chunk of metal protecting it.

While those were the areas I focused on the most, I let my electrical engineering knowledge go wild and worked on various miscellaneous devices in it as well.

The entire prototype cost almost three times the amount a Vanguard went for, to produce, but that was still considered cheap, seeing how the Vanguard was an old model. I’m sure the ones other corps employed cost at least that much. With that said, the cost was mainly the labor costs and some materials and parts we had to order. We could produce the less demanding parts ourselves.

There was no way we were going to sell our new design though, as it contained our stealth tech and detection equipment too.

“You ready to head back, Thorne?”

“...That’s what I’ve been asking you for the past three days. They expected us to be back three days ago, but that car had possessed you.”

“Calm down. It’s worth it to take this opportunity to test out the prototype, right?”

He didn’t reply and simply boarded the new car that we called Wraith, for how stealthy and elusive it was.

There was only one prototype, so the other teams used our old and reliable Vanguards to accompany us.

“Team 3, we’re going to test out the new vehicle as soon as we enter the wasteland. Come after us with a thirty-second delay and try to locate us,” I commanded a car behind us.

“Roger that. Delaying thirty seconds.”

We ventured into the wall of sand that marked the wasteland and quickly turned on our stealth devices that blocked sensors. We momentarily stopped broadcasting our locations to Team 3 and waited for them to follow after us.

“Rollo, we got a ping on their location,” Andrew said as he looked up from the sensors.

“Thorne, take us behind them. We’re going to be stalking them a bit.”

He nodded, and I soon felt the car accelerate.

We followed behind the Vanguard for a good twenty minutes before the gauge for the sensor-blocking device showed 60%. We turned it off as we wanted to leave a good margin for emergencies and concluded the test by broadcasting our signal to Team 3 again.

“Team 3, exercise over. Let’s head to the outpost now.”