Sky-cracking Rider

Chef Singh was on duty this evening. He was known for his cleanliness habits, and although his cooking skills weren't anything remarkable, handling simple tasks like unpacking frozen food meant, taste aside, at least there was no worry about food poisoning.

The snacks for pairing with drinks that Hanna Gagel could find were limited to cured meats, ham slices, sausages, and at best some curry pancakes. Having Chef Singh to actually cook was really asking a lot of him.

However, why was the curry pancake served with a mild chili sauce from Old Godmother instead of the traditional lentil sauce?

The reason was that the lentil sauce had been eaten up.

Who ate it?

Do you even need to ask that damn question?!

Chen Fei saw the salted duck eggs in the meal box, exactly two, one for each person—almost forgetting that they were also particularly suitable as a snack with drinks.

He smiled slightly, pretending to know nothing, naturally took the cups from inside the hut, and also brought out a bottle of fruit wine. Since they were drinking buddies, it was only right to share.

Unfortunately, although the fruit wine had excellent flavor, it had a short shelf life and could turn sour if not consumed in time. What couldn't be drunk would have to be distilled into strong liquor to be preserved longer. After volatilization, the flavor and taste would degrade significantly, and one could only say it was passable.

"The biology lab tested the biological samples you brought back this afternoon. Guess what the results were?"

When playing the role of drinking companion with Chen Fei, Hanna Gagel would completely cast aside her executive persona, speaking as if she were chatting with a friend.

"Could it be alien lifeforms?"

Chen Fei picked up his glass and took a light sniff.

The wine Hanna brought over this evening was much better than the dry red Chekhov had brought during the day. The wine was clear and well-rounded, going down like a bead clear through to the core, very smoothly into the stomach.

Such quality undoubtedly came at a price.

The drinks that the female executive manager brought over each time were far beyond what Chen Fei could afford on his salary. Some were so expensive that a single sip would cost him a month's hard work, truly an immense indulgence.

But since there was good wine to mooch for free, he naturally was happy to be a close-mouthed and attentive listener type of drinking buddy, opening up for a pleasurable chat. Wasn't that delightful?!

Someone like Chekhov Big Bear, who only knew to clutch onto the Blue Star Er Guotou and guzzle until he was wasted, lacked any sense of refinement. He was only fit to be a drunkard, not a suitable drinking buddy.

"Hahaha, alien lifeforms? Hahaha, you're way off there!"

In Chen Fei's presence, Hanna Gagar became even more uninhibited, shaking her head and laughing heartily with a slap on the small round table.

Gone was her usual frosty demeanor that warned strangers to stay away, and that sour face as if everyone owed her three hundred taels of silver.

"Did you find anything?"

Chen Fei picked up his chopsticks and poked at a slice of cured beef tongue; the reheated cured meat had a fairly standard texture.

"Of course we did, and it's a huge discovery!" Hanna Gagel laughed merrily for a while before continuing, "Genetic sequencing revealed traces of artificial editing. The mutant worm swarm you encountered was not entirely the result of natural mutation. It might be a creature artificially meddled with."

"You mean, someone is messing around, it's man-made?"

Chen Fei was about to poke a second slice of beef tongue, but his movement froze, looking at the executive manager with disbelief.

This was indeed a monumental discovery.

Who would dare concoct such outrageous schemes, artificially creating mutant creatures, as if Blue Star didn't have enough troubles already?

Hanna Gagel gradually stopped laughing, downing the wine in her glass with a sigh, and letting out a sneer laden with mocking sarcasm.

"Heh, whether it's man-made or not, what the hell does that have to do with me!"

Normally, she would never utter such words, instead standing on the moral high ground, righteously denouncing those inhumane plots and tricks.

Right now, however, it was just Manager Hanna's "drunken babble," she was just tipsy, not out of her mind.

When the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up.

Once the report of anomalies discovered in the mutant's genetic sequence was submitted to the Global United Defense Committee, the ones who should be worried were not her and Aircrew Base 911, but those big shots above.

911 Aircrew Base just needed to stick to its duties, continuing the routine patrols, searching for, and eliminating those mutants. That was the end of it.

Who cares whether those mutant creatures mutated naturally or were artificially bred?

Thinking so much won't earn you any Silver!

Is the survival of humankind really supposed to hinge on a small aircrew base, as if everyone else had long since perished?

"Shouldn't they have been spawned by nuclear radiation?"

Chen Fei nearly forgot about his drinking and the dishes on the table, the more he pondered, the more he felt a chill down his spine. The truth was damn scary—if he hadn't brought back that mutant carapace fragment, he might have been kept in the dark forever.

It was common knowledge that the appearance of mutants was largely due to the great war from thirty years ago, which left its scars. The Blue Star humans had no choice but to use Nuclear Weapons, and they had to do so extensively, nearly leading to Mutual Annihilation with the Third Era Civilization. The entire planet's ecological balance had suffered immense damage.

Once, a nuclear power station malfunctioned, causing a leak that led to constant mutations in the surrounding wildlife for nearly a century. Rats had grown larger than pigs and were everywhere, nearly becoming a plague. With so much nuclear radiation dispersing after the war, the scale of the mutation disaster had become even more terrifying.

If not regularly cleared, it could easily become a threat to human society.

Nowadays, there wasn't even time to clear them up, yet some people were still intent on adding insult to injury by artificially breeding mutant creatures. It was hard to fathom what they were thinking. Did they have holes in their brains?

"Whatever their origin, we've got no business worrying about it. Tomorrow morning, you'll first help with igniting the Energy Tower, and in the afternoon, join me in investigating the hideout of those mutants, which is where you landed after being launched,"

the executive manager had already made up her mind and gave Chen Fei a heads-up in advance.

"Sure, I got it!"

Chen Fei nodded in agreement. He wasn't some big shot; he just happened to possess the ability the base needed.

Conducting an on-site investigation at the place where the mutants first appeared carried significant risks. With two supernatural power users present, their safety would be somewhat assured.

After talking business, it was time for complaints.

Hanna Gagel ranted about the rotten mess that was the Apocalypse Defense Group—the infighting management team, the self-serving board of directors, and the shareholders with their ulterior motives that had turned what was once a powerful military contractor into a nervous wreck with plummeting combat effectiveness, a loose heap of sand. It was incredibly frustrating.

The abandoned Aircrew Base 911 had annihilated the invaders from four other aircrew bases, and now the once-avoided Apocalypse Defense Group was eyeing to reap the benefits.

Disappointed with the Apocalypse Defense Group, Manager Hanna was starting to plan using her inherited shares as leverage to separate Aircrew Base 911 from the group and establish an independent, small military contractor.

Even though it meant a fall from a once lofty position of a large military contractor to the last-ranked small military contractor, it was better to be a big fish in a small pond than to be dragged down by others.

This matter was still secretly being planned, and Hanna Gagel hadn't told anyone, not even Chen Fei.

In the midst of laughter and complaints, the bottle was emptied and the dishes were polished off.

The executive manager didn't linger around Chen Fei anymore, gave a sign and staggered away by herself.

-

Early in the morning, a small jet plane descended from the sky, landing on the runway of Aircrew Base 911, bringing engineers from the authorized manufacturer of Target Low Temperature Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower to assist with the reactivation of the Energy Tower.

Before this, citing the wartime corporate struggles and the inability to ensure safety, the manufacturer had refused to send personnel. Only now that the corporate war between the Apocalypse Defense and the Merman Brothers Consortium had temporarily ceased, with neither side having the energy to fight again, did they begrudgingly send an engineer.

The engineer, surnamed Ye, had one-quarter Neanderthal tribe ancestry, was quiet, and the type not to let out a fart with three sticks—a typical 'engineer-type' who didn't have any care for the whimsical things in life. He only had three responses: nod, stare blankly, "fine."

He brought two huge suitcases, one with the ignition device, and the other filled with spare parts, while testing equipment and tools were packed in his backpack. He hadn't brought any personal life necessities or clothes for changing, clearly intending to come and leave on the same day, never planning to spend the night.

Knowing the cause of the shutdown beforehand, after a quick check, Engineer Ye swiftly replaced a few circuit boards, fuses, and display screens. He connected room-temperature superconductive wires from the ignition device to the Energy Tower, successfully activating the management system, opening the restraining force field, and capturing the one-time "Fire Seed" to start the preheat.

The reaction modules slowly un-sheathed themselves automatically.

The ignition process was as simple as lighting a gas stove. Hundreds of high-energy Laser Beams focused on the one-time "Fire Seed," instantaneously lighting up the entire interior of the Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower.

The focal point within the cube reached temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius, as the volatile gaseous fusion fuel released by the reaction modules was drawn by the gravitational field, gradually converging towards the focal point, creating a continuous fusion reaction.

After releasing several seconds of high-energy Laser Beam, which vanished upon successfully completing its mission, the one-time "Fire Seed" also burned out, leaving no residue, turning into a wisp of smoke. The Energy Tower began to cycle efficiently, generating a constant stream of electric power.

Once the switch was flipped, every corner of the aircrew base received abundant electricity, and all the halogen lamps in the shacks lit up, once again returning to a warm and comfortable environment like spring.

Chen Fei, who was assigned to welcome and assist, tried to invite Engineer Ye to stay for a meal before leaving, but the engineer shook his head firmly, packed up his belongings, dragged his suitcases back to the jet, and left the Aircrew Base 911 amidst thunderous roars.

Their entire conversation hadn't even exceeded twenty sentences.

The thing the engineer talked most about was how to use the casting glue Chen Fei needed for filling bullet holes and instructions for patching up the outer shell, and that was about it.

All the effort put into preparing a set of friendly scripts and delicious food and drinks ended up being completely unnecessary.

-

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com