Chapter 57: Can You Change Me?

"MDR, what factory is that over there?"

Inside the laboratory, there was only one server rack, and it was unclear if the hard drives inside were full of data, but dismantling these things was too simple for MDR. From the start to finishing packing it, she hadn't even used fifteen minutes.

Originally, Reno estimated it would take nearly an hour to retrieve the data. Who would have thought it would be done in fifteen minutes?

Since there was still time left, wouldn't it be reasonable to pick up some things from this now-deserted port city? Like the staff at the research institute, the residents of this city left in a hurry, leaving behind many valuable things. Some roads were even blocked by cars.

There were various household items scattered on the road. Simonov even found two bottles of Jack Daniel's in the trunk of a car. If it weren't for M1 Garand's persuasion, she would have opened the bottle to taste it on the spot.

"Um, according to the map data, that should be a small-scale mechanical processing plant, producing small items like bearings and hinges."

"When was it established? Before the war or after?"

"Um, it seems to be after the war. Most of the pre-war equipment was destroyed. That factory over there seems to have been established to assist in the reconstruction of the port. Is there a problem, Commander?"

MDR said somewhat uncertainly as she looked at the data on her phone. After all, this map was just an ordinary one found on the internet, and the information recorded on it might be inaccurate.

"No problem, let's go take a look. If everything inside is just pre-war relics, then..."

"Then what?" M1911 tilted her head, curiously waiting for Reno's next words.

"Then we'll pretend we never went there."

With that, Reno walked towards the location of the factory.

"Haha... I never thought the Commander would say something like that!" Hearing this, P38 couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh softly. However, BM59 and Nagant Revolver beside her looked at her with strange expressions, not finding anything funny.

Um...

"Has the contamination reading changed?" Just like the sky in S13, the sky was covered with thick, murky clouds here, looking like they could fall from the sky at any moment.

"No significant changes. This port is probably not the epicenter of the pollution outbreak..." If it were, this place might have already become a black zone. When the residents left here, instead of evacuating, they would probably have contracted severe widespread low-ELID contamination within an hour.

Then, within the next hour, mild ELID infections would progress to severe ELID infections.

Fortunately, this place was only a red zone for now. When the residents evacuated, the pollution level of the city should have only breached the edge of the green zone.

"Commander, over here... It seems like there was a battle." Just as they arrived not far from the factory, the T-dolls saw the dense bullet holes in the factory building and the traces of explosions on the surrounding ground.

While the factory building looked intact from a distance, its backside had collapsed, showing signs of a not-so-easy battle.

There were even traces of fire on the outer walls of the factory.

"Hmm, it's normal. There would always be something like this during evacuations." Perhaps it was because they were broke, or perhaps they had nothing left. Those who had no capital at all and would become penniless once they left this city would naturally do some crazy things at such dire times.

In the outer city area of the city earlier, there might have been many refugees fleeing from this port city.

With no human activity and heavy radiation contamination, this factory, which had been uninhabited for only a few days to a week, was covered in thick dust, perhaps due to a fire that had occurred here.

"Commander! Look over there! It seems like there's a doll lying there!" The sharp-eyed Nagant Revolver seemed to have activated some unknown car headlight sensor and immediately saw a doll sitting not far from the office door.

The motionless doll was like a life-sized doll, quietly leaning against the outer wall of the office. The blue-black shirt had been dyed gray by the dust, and the skirt below, perhaps used as a makeshift shelter from the car headlights, was still red despite being covered in dust.

A folded SPAS-12 was still tightly gripped in her hand, and the bulletproof armor plate hung on her back hadn't been deployed. The speed loader on her waist was still full of ammunition. It seemed she had been hit in the power core without firing a shot, causing her to shut down and enter sleep mode.

"Hey, Commander, if that doll is broken, can I have... the pair on her chest...?"

What!?

Hearing Nagant Revolver's words, Reno blinked in astonishment. Thankfully, the lenses of the gas mask shielded his expression, so no one could see his face. Otherwise, wouldn't his image collapse on the spot?

Just the chest of this doll? Was she so fixated on the chest issue? Do you want parts even from others' chests? Um, it seems like all her current parts were scavenged from others' bodies. Adding another pair didn't seem to matter...

"Let's talk about this later... Let's go to the factory first and see if there are any lathes, preferably ones that can fit in the truck. Also, pay attention to metal smelting equipment and some spare parts for lathes, crucibles for smelting, and look carefully."

As soon as Reno finished speaking, the group of tactical dolls dispersed, searching along the factory's production line for the equipment Reno needed.

Meanwhile, he walked towards the fallen doll. If her neural core wasn't damaged, she could still be repaired. However, it had been so long since its power had been cut off; that he didn't know how much data had been lost from her neural cloud. If all of it was lost...even if repaired, she would probably only be a disabled doll, perhaps worse off than Jaeger's current state.

The SPAS-12's body condition was still acceptable; the bullets had accurately pierced the power core, and the rest of the pipelines were undamaged. It was surprising that a shotgun doll, known for its defense, didn't even have a bulletproof body installed.

For now, leave her here. They would take her when they left later.

Following the direction the dolls had left in, Reno took a few steps forward. Under a collapsed supporting column, there seemed to be something grayish-white. It looked like another doll. Next to it was a... MG42? However, when Reno picked up the machine gun, he realized it wasn't an MG42 but a slightly upgraded MG3.

Crack.

At that moment, a hand suddenly grabbed Reno's leg.

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