Volume 4, Chapter 8 – This Thing Is Pretty Nice- One Second Later, It’s Mine-

The small factory inside Morningstar’s outpost was really just a little workshop inside the central building.

It was tucked away in a very inconspicuous corner.

Under normal circumstances, there would still be people coming and going here.

Firearms needed maintenance, and if some of them were scrapped, the simpler ones could still be made here.

After all, this was a game. Its settings differed from reality in all sorts of ways.

But because of the heavy losses from before, on top of all the sudden incidents, the small factory had now been left completely unattended.

As Anran made her way over, cameras were sparsely distributed along the corridors.

But no one had the attention to spare for her. Staying alive came first.

In this kind of chaos, it was even easier for Anran to fish in troubled waters.

First she would raid the small factory.

Then, depending on the situation, she would take a look around the records room.

If that still did not work, she could just toss a few bombs, rack up some kills, and run.

The door was not locked.

Anran gave it a light push, and it opened.

That was fine too. Otherwise, she would have had to figure out a way to break in.

Inside the small factory were two production lines, and the air carried a somewhat stifling smell of machine oil.

Compared with the workshop in the Research Center, the setup and the environment here were still far inferior.

But this was not actually what Anran was after. She swept her eyes across the layout map posted on the wall.

Workbench, repair room… maybe there would be good stuff there.

Staying close to the wall, Anran moved forward carefully.

The workbench area was a small section partitioned off on its own.

Anran stood outside the cloth curtain and listened for a moment. Hearing nothing, she lifted the curtain and walked in.

The environment here really was much better.

Scattered blueprints were posted on the walls, and all kinds of small tools were laid out across the work surface.

Good stuff!

Anran quickly recorded all the blueprints.

Grenades, firearms, scopes, hm?

There was even a very compact night-vision device.

Memorize them all.

Then Anran swept her gaze across the tabletop again.

Information on the items surfaced one by one.

Rеаԁ oո ΚаtRеаⅾіոɡСаfe

[Mechanic’s Tool Kit (Blue)]

Item Description: A blue-grade Mechanic’s Tool Kit. It can be used to manually complete the production of most blue-grade mechanical items and below.

Anran was instantly dumbstruck!

A tool kit!

She knew what this thing was!

A single set cost well over a hundred thousand Bilu!

The kind of item that made her drool just from looking at it!

Actually, she could already hand-make some items now, but they were not precise enough, and the quality was poor.

With this tool kit, she could completely ditch the workshop. The downside was that she would not be able to mass-produce equipment quickly to farm EXP.

Very good.

Anran set her backpack on the table, picked up the tool kit, and tried to stuff it inside.

“…”

It would not fit.

Only then did Anran remember that the pack was already crammed too full.

A disassembled mechanical armguard alone took up more than half the space.

The rest of the room was occupied by explosives, ammunition, knives, and medicine.

And this tool kit was not small.

It would probably fit only if she threw out everything except the mechanical armguard.

Otherwise, Anran would have to switch to a backpack half as tall as she was.

This one was already eye-catching enough. If she changed to one even bigger, people would not be able to see her at all once she crouched down.

Sigh.

What a pain.

Anran took a turn around the area and found a cloth sack.

So she decisively stuffed the tool kit into it.

One bag on her back, another hanging in front?

Dong—

Clack—

Just as she was thinking that, a noise suddenly came from behind her.

Someone had come in.

Anran glanced around, spotted a large crate, and immediately hid inside it.

Rеaⅾ οn KαtReαԁіոgСаfe

At the very last moment before closing the lid, Anran saw two people walk in.

“At a time like this, the minister just had to go back and give his report! For fuck’s sake!”

It was the voice of an angry middle-aged man.

Curled up inside the crate, Anran was surrounded by darkness. Fortunately, it was not too cramped.

“If it really comes to it, the deputy ministers should just order a retreat. They can’t just stand by and watch us die here for nothing.”

The first voice said in a muffled tone, “For all we know, this is some bullshit bait plan from the higher-ups again!”

So there was that angle too?

Anran froze slightly.

“Hm? Where’s the tool kit?!”

“It’s gone!”

“How could it be gone? I saw it here last night!”

“Could Officer Roentgen have taken it himself?”

“Hard to say. I’ll go ask. You stay here and keep watch. Don’t go wandering around.”

“All right. Leave this side to me.”

Tap tap tap—

Anran heard one set of footsteps gradually recede.

Roentgen?

She had just heard a very tempting name.

That was twenty thousand EXP and a jetpack walking around on two legs!

Clack clack—

Immediately afterward, Anran heard the sound of a chair being moved.

Someone sat down, apparently right beside her.

In that case, no need to be polite.

Mechanical Interference.

Up she came, bursting out of the crate.

Haha. Bet you didn’t expect that!

Holding her mechanical switchblade, Anran sprang out.

“Y-you…”

The young man sitting at the table was so startled by Anran suddenly popping out of the crate that he lost his voice.

Then his stomach took a heavy punch.

Rеαⅾ οn КαtRеаdіոɡCаfe

His mouth was blocked.

Before despair could even fully spread through him, Anran’s series of heavy blows finally triggered the game’s stun effect.

His head lolled to one side, and he dropped.

“Whew…” Anran wiped the sweat from her forehead. It had been hot and stuffy inside the crate. Wearing body armor and Morningstar’s thick uniform, she was getting so overheated that she almost wanted to strip a layer off and cool down.

Anyone who said a hard blow to the neck could knock somebody out in one hit was full of shit.

Anran checked the man’s HP. It was already down to one-third.

The reason she had not used a blade was because she was afraid the smell of blood would expose the fact that an intruder had gotten in.

A muffled kill.

She tossed the body into the crate.

Then Anran raised her head and studied the terrain.

There was a ventilation duct on one side of the wall.

She climbed onto the table, removed the metal grate, and stood on tiptoe to peer inside.

The duct split left and right.

At this size, even with a small bag on her back, someone of Anran’s build could get in and out of it very easily.

Why the hell was this ventilation duct built so large?

Thinking that, Anran tossed both bags inside, grabbed the edge of the vent, rose onto her toes, and with a bit of force, wriggled in.

The left branch seemed to lead to the warehouse next to the small factory. A few meters ahead on the right was a dead end, with only an opening leading downward.

Anran pushed the bags toward the dead-end side, put the metal grate back in place, pulled out a rifle, and settled in prone to camp her ambush.

If that Roentgen showed up, maybe, if luck was on her side, she could score a headshot from the shadows.

She waited a full five or six minutes.

Only then did Anran hear movement again.

The curtain was shoved aside violently, and a man in uniform strode in.

“Where is he?” he said.

A middle-aged man followed in behind him. “Huh? He was just here a moment ago.”

“Sir, this…”

“Check the surveillance first!”

Emmm…

That was a bit bad.

Anran narrowed her eyes.

Mechanical Interference had kept the cameras from capturing her face, but the moment they checked the surveillance, they would definitely notice something was off.

Rеaⅾ οո ΚаtReaⅾіոgСаfe

She was going to be exposed sooner or later anyway, so she might as well take two heads first.

Maybe she could buy herself a little time too.

The muzzle lined up with a gap in the metal grate.

Bang!

A headshot with the first round. Anran immediately shifted her aim.

“S—”

Bang.

The second shot was a headshot too.

Severe-injury lethal judgment.

Anran put the rifle away, twisted her hips, dragged her bags along, and crawled to the right without looking back.

Two kills netted her 1,800 EXP.

Pretty strong trash mobs, huh. Too bad neither of them was the elite mob Roentgen.

She stuffed the earpiece into one ear and switched on the radio.

She needed to use it to get a sense of the situation.

By now, Morningstar’s base was also in complete chaos.

“Where’s that idiot Berg?”

“Couldn’t find him!”

“Fuck, we can’t reach him at all. We’ve already got casualties. Looks like infiltrating the place is impossible now. We can only force our way in.”

“Kite them for a bit. If there’s a chance, get out immediately. I’ll report the situation to the higher-ups first.”

If the operation failed, there would definitely be nothing to gain in the end.

The people from Nine Songs were furious.

The sudden burst of force they unleashed left Morningstar reeling.

Anran had already heard several shouts of “Fall back, fall back!”

So the situation was delicate.

Keep moving.

Just as Anran was thinking that, she suddenly froze.

In that narrow passageway, faint clinking sounds were coming from around the corner.

Wasn’t that the sound made by someone crawling?

Anran quickly backed up a short distance. After reaching a bend in the duct, she tightened her grip on the gun in her hand.