Chapter 181: Chain Reaction

"Huh? Why did the lights go out?" UMP40, seated in the mental space, was playing ghost cards with Maria. With nothing much to do, they were just passing the time. After all, their computer had limited performance, and if they played too intensely, they might burn it out.

The sudden darkness in the studio startled UMP40. She knew that Renault had never turned off the studio lights before. Even when he left, he would leave them with a desk lamp.

And now, it was nighttime, and with the lights out, the webcam on the laptop couldn't capture anything but darkness.

Of course, they could switch on the webcam's night mode, but before UMP40 could do anything, Maria panicked and shouted, "Renault! Renault, are you still there? The laptop's power is off!"

Maria's cry echoed through the workshop via the laptop's speakers, startling UMP40.

The power was off; it had never happened during their time here!

And Renault was supposed to be making their bodies. It seemed they were close to completion, and now suddenly, the power was out!?

"No need to shout so loudly. I'm here. Probably just a circuit malfunction in the factory area. I'll check it out. Don't panic, and don't waste the laptop's battery. The neural cloud doesn't need to be worried; the power is enough to last half a month," Renault scratched his head irritably, saying as he pushed the door open and stepped out.

As he stepped out, he bumped into G36 coming to find him. "Commander, the entire factory area has lost power. The vertical farms run by CF05 and Simonov's teams are probably in bad shape."

In the entire factory area, the ones consuming the most power were CF05's and Simonov's two vertical farms. They needed air conditioning every day to maintain the temperature and a certain level of lighting.

As for other electrical equipment at home, there were only two printing devices in the workshop, and the daily power consumption of the T-Dolls charging themselves, and the little energy MDR and RFB used to charge their phones and game consoles, was negligible.

"Yeah, I'll go take a look. It's not urgent for the farms. As long as the buildings aren't damaged, the temperature won't drop too quickly," Renault reassured. The vertical farms had insulation measures in place during construction, and although it was winter, the temperature wasn't too high even though they were by the coast.

Although it wasn't snowing, the cold wind was biting, causing a significant drop in temperature inside the factory buildings. If there was a power outage, most of the crops in the vertical farms would likely freeze to death.

The substation was conveniently located behind the dormitory building. To go out and check, they had to walk through the dormitory. Renault hadn't thought of this place before because the power supply in this area was very normal, with no problems at all.

"Wow! It's so cold! Is it already below zero? We don't seem to be far from the previous city. Why is it so cold here?" Nagant Revolver, who followed, shrank her neck and pressed her hat down as soon as she came out.

"If you feel cold, you can go back. It's just checking the substation. There's no need to follow me," Renault waved his hand, gesturing for Nagant Revolver to go back and wait.

"Um, since I'm already out here." Renault glanced at Nagant Revolver, who was shivering, and then strode towards the substation. After a quick inspection, he found that all the equipment was in good condition. The substation, like the factory, was built after the war, with a complete set of automatic repair equipment. Under normal circumstances, it would last for decades without any problems, even without maintenance.

And he had checked it before; there was no problem with the equipment here. After checking it again, everything was still fine.

The only possibility was that the power had been cut off from the power plant in that area.

Thinking so, Renault climbed onto the roof of the substation and looked towards the direction of the southern port.

It was pitch black.

Obviously, Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing's material plant had also lost power.

Or rather, this power outage was probably targeted at Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing, and he had been implicated. After all, in this city, only Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing's raw material factory needed electricity. Shutting off the power supply here would probably save a lot of money.

It seemed that the new T-Doll at Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing had done something after obtaining authorization. Otherwise, the power plant wouldn't have done this. After all, Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing paid for electricity.

"Alright, let's go back." Thinking of this, Renault jumped down and waved to Nagant Revolver.

"Has the power been restored?" Jogging to catch up with Renault, Nagant Revolver glanced at the still pitch-black factory area and asked Renault with some surprise.

"No, the power plant over there has lost power. Go back and get some tools. Let's fix the generator in the neighboring factory building for now," Renault replied.

"Oh, okay."

Backup power supplies were common in factories, but it still depended on the situation. Fortunately, there was a 300kw generator in the neighboring steel mill, which should be enough to ensure power for the vertical farms and T-Dolls for the time being.

It just consumed a lot of fuel. That machine would burn several tens of liters of diesel per hour, and without any inventory, they couldn't afford to use it.

Fortunately, many trucks had arrived earlier, and the diesel left in the tanks should last him for two or three days.

As Renault connected the wires and started the generator, the lights in the dormitory building came back on, but G36 quickly turned them off again. The vertical farms only maintained minimal lighting and temperature.

In emergencies, conserving power was essential. Otherwise, they might not last even two days.

"MDR, have you found out what happened with Sangvis Ferri?"

If there was anyone who was well-informed, it was MDR, who spent all day browsing anonymous forums on her phone.

"Um... it seems really awful. Sangvis Ferri has been reportedly started attacking G&K's various bases directly, and several cities near Sangvis Ferri's control zone have also been attacked," 'MDR' scratched her head, somewhat at a loss.

She had interacted with Sangvis Ferri's elite T-Dolls before, but she never expected Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing to do something like this.

"Yeah, I thought so. Who's coming with me later? I'm going to check the power plant and see if I can buy something from the nearby city," Renault said.

Low on supplies, he couldn't afford not to buy anything anymore.