Jake’s gaze fell on one of the strange, box-like contraptions, roughly the size of a sedan, which suddenly began to emit black smoke from various openings and gaps. A worker who had been attending to the device rushed over to a panel screen set into one side. Waving his hand to disperse the smoke around him, he gazed at the data displayed on the screen, attempting to figure out what had gone wrong.
Three nearby bandits rushed over and began shouting at him all at the same time. One of the gangsters then struck the worker in the gut with the buttstock of his shotgun, causing the unfortunate man to double over in pain. Another bandit hit him on the back of the head, sending him crashing to the ground. As if on cue, the three bandits converged on the prostrate form of the fallen worker, kicking him with their heavy boots and striking him with the butts of their weapons.
A few minutes later, the bandits left him alone, bruised and bleeding. One of them signaled for three nearby workers to come over. He ordered one to drag the wounded worker away while the other two were to repair the machinery that was still belching out billows of black smoke. Jake watched as the first worker pulled the injured man across the base and toward one of the tents, where he began to tend to him.
The worker quickly glanced around, and when he saw that none of the gangsters were paying attention, he discreetly administered a stim to the injured man. After giving the recovering worker a reassuring pat on the shoulder, he hurried back to his duties before any of the bandits could suspect him of slacking off or punish him for healing the wounded worker without permission.
Jake turned his attention back to the malfunctioning machinery. The other two workers quickly fixed it, and the black smoke stopped billowing from it. After that, Jake got curious. What exactly were all those pieces of machinery scattered around the base? He already knew what some of them were, but he didn’t know how exactly they worked. Until now, he had mostly focused on the people inside the base, so he decided to take a moment to examine various contraptions more closely.
When he concentrated on the recently repaired machine, he suddenly realized he could access its stats in the same way he did with survivors and mutants.
No additional information appeared, but from its name alone, it was clear it could create items. Also, during the past several hours of observing activities within the perimeter walls, he had seen similar machines produce bullets of various calibers. However, he had a feeling that Fabricators might be capable of creating a wider range of items, not just ammunition.
Fabricators were indeed incredibly useful machines, so it was no surprise the bandits lost it when they saw one begin to malfunction. However, that didn’t excuse their brutal treatment of the worker. While they would soon get what was coming to them, Jake chose not to act hastily. He first wanted to gather more information about the gang and their base to understand how everything worked within it.
Now that he knew he could access information about the various structures within the base, Jake examined them one by one. His attention first fell on the largest building, situated at the center of the base. It was a two-story, boxy structure with a flat roof. With a thought, Jake summoned its stats.
Jake then shifted his attention to the other structures and contraptions spread throughout the area, calling up their statistics one after another.
In contrast to the other structures, the storage units lacked game-like levels. They were arranged along the inner side of one of the perimeter walls.
Several canneries were grouped together on the eastern side of the base, varying in levels but none higher than level 5. Each cannery was box-shaped and approximately the size of an SUV. They trembled slightly and hummed as they worked. Occasionally, a cannery produced several tin cans at once, which a nearby worker then carried to one of the storage units.
Like the storage units, the watchtowers did not have levels. However, the turrets positioned on top of them did.
Machine Gun Turret - Level 5
Jake examined each of the turrets guarding the base and noted that all of them were at Level 5.
The Recycler was another boxy contraption, the size of a car, but it was not in use at the moment. Its name made its purpose clear. There was only one Recycler within the base.
It was another boxy device, somewhat larger than most other contraptions, measuring about two cars in length. There was only one Sawmill inside the base, and judging by its slightly vibrating frame, it was in use. Just as he was watching the Sawmill, its front panel suddenly slid open, revealing a long platform that extended outward, carrying ideal-looking wooden planks.
Two nearby workers heaved the planks off the platform and stacked them next to the Sawmill. The platform then slid back inside, and the panel closed as well. The same two workers strode toward one of the storage units and vanished inside. A minute later, they reappeared, pushing a cart that contained various broken pieces of wood.
The two workers maneuvered the cart to the far end of the Sawmill, opened the back panel, and began placing all the broken pieces of wood inside. Once the cart was empty, one of the workers closed the panel and pressed a button, activating the Sawmill, which started to vibrate and hum once more. So, this was how it worked: scraps of wood scavenged from around the city were fed into the Sawmill, where they magically converted into brand-new planks.
It was a spheroid-shaped device. Although it wasn’t in use at the moment, Jake guessed it probably operated somewhat similarly to the Sawmill—metal scraps were placed inside, where they miraculously transformed into ingots.
There was another building that he hadn’t paid much attention to yet. Even before pulling up its statistics, Jake could already guess its purpose based on its appearance alone.
Hydroponics - Level 5
So, this was where they cultivated their food.
Several tents were set up on the western side of the base, though they didn’t have any statistics available.
While inspecting all these various structures and devices that created different products, Jake noticed a couple of interesting things about them.
First, none of the structures had a level higher than 5. This immediately made him think of the HQ, which was at level 5 as well. Perhaps the different structures couldn’t achieve a level higher than that of the HQ. It seemed likely that the HQ needed to be upgraded before they could progress further.
Second, Jake noticed that all the contraptions producing various items operated on magical energy extracted from different mana items. On more than one occasion, Jake watched as a worker stepped up to a contraption, opened a specific slot, and inserted a mana consumable inside.
Suddenly, Jake was jolted from his musing by the roar of gunfire and the revving of a powerful engine nearby. Still clinging to the building’s wall and remaining completely invisible, he turned his head to see what was happening. He spotted a pickup truck speeding toward the base, with mutants hot on its tail.