Hub Zone Base.
Because of the anchor's impact, many roads had been blocked by collapsed building debris.
With Terrans' physical fitness, it wasn't impossible to climb over it—but if you wanted vehicles to pass, that was out of the question.
"It's completely sealed off," Chen Qianyu said, blinking in surprise. She hadn't noticed when they set out earlier; she hadn't expected the base to be damaged this badly.
"Let's go find an Endfield operator."
The operator she meant was the Meme that Qin Jiangchi had mentioned over comms—the one who suggested using demolition to reopen the road to the Workers' Home.
Of course, this wasn't that urgent.
Even if some less athletic Union members couldn't get over the obstacles, they could still enter the Central Control Tower first, exit through a side door, detour around the blockage, and reach the Workers' Home that way.
Still, since they were going back to base to rest anyway, bringing a batch of Originium powder along was basically "on the way," so they handled this first.
"Supervisor Qin told us to assemble at the Armory entrance," Hao Fan said, glancing at the map. "If that's the case, she should be waiting there."
Sure enough, near the armory there was a green dot staying in place even while everyone else was busy.
That should be Meme.
And it was.
"You made it!" A brown-haired Lupo girl in goggles, with perpetually narrowed eyes, spotted the familiar group walking over and hurriedly waved them down.
"No change in the situation—still exactly what I said earlier."
Meme casually pointed at the pile of wreckage blocking the road, confidence written all over her face.
"I can handle the explosives. I've confirmed the blast points too—no risk of sympathetic detonation. I was just waiting for your Originium powder so I could make the charges!"
Hearing that, the Administrator directly handed over the batch of Originium powder they'd stored in the protocol Originium for Meme to process.
Just then, Hao Fan noticed Qin Jiangchi nearby.
She was standing in front of a piece of equipment, closely inspecting the damage. Several operators assigned to repairs were grumbling with troubled expressions—half the spare parts were ruined, what were they supposed to do now, and so on.
"Supervisor Qin!" Hao Fan greeted her as he stepped over, also wanting to get a sense of the base's overall condition.
"How's the Hub Zone Base doing?"
"Doctor? You're back. Good work… and sorry, but the situation isn't optimistic," Qin Jiangchi replied with a nod, then began explaining.
If this had been earlier, she wouldn't have discussed this kind of thing with a suspicious hooded man—but now it was fine.
"Now that the Protocol Resonance Tower is online, we're going all out to restore the Hub Zone Base's core operational functions."
"The wounded have been properly settled. Many damaged zones still can't be restored for now, but we have to concentrate resources on urgent priorities."
"The engineering team is working on restoring the communications nodes. Progress hasn't been smooth… I'll keep a close eye on it."
After summarizing, she also asked with concern:
"How about your side? Everything going smoothly?"
"Everything's smooth. Thanks for asking," Hao Fan said without hesitation.
After all, the Administrator's team were top-tier. They could push through any problem. He, the weakling, was basically just filling headcount.
If there was something, it was that Andre still had an urgent matter—recovering prototype machine parts.
But Hao Fan decided not to mention it to Qin Jiangchi for now, to avoid adding more stress to an already overworked, no-nonsense professional.
"Good. We'll find a way to solve what's left here. The support work out there will be on you—sorry to put you through it," Qin Jiangchi said with a faint smile before diving back into her work, looking extremely busy.
If the base lost her, wouldn't it basically grind to a halt?
Hao Fan found himself thinking exactly that.
"Administrator! The Originium explosive barrel is ready to use!"
Meme had finished processing the Originium powder into ready-to-use explosives and stored them in the Originium explosive barrel at her side.
"As long as you're near one of these barrels, you can do blasting, demolition, and obstacle clearing quickly and easily!"
She spoke rapidly, eager and animated.
"Oh, and the Integrated Industrial System is online now, right? Then you can even mass-produce explosives through it! Hehe!"
"...She really likes explosives," Chen Qianyu muttered under her breath, watching Meme's gleeful, explosion-obsessed excitement.
Hao Fan suddenly remembered: back when they used industrial explosives to blow open the armory's underground entrance, he'd seen this same Lupo girl among the spectators.
Yeah.
Dangerous hobby.
Side note:
Although the Originium explosive barrel could be used to make explosives, its stability was limited—so the charges could only be used near the barrel.
Industrial explosives were far more stable by comparison, meaning you could carry them around and use them anytime.
But in terms of raw power… the two seemed about the same?
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Meme, face lit with exhilaration, stood beside the barrel, aimed at the wreckage blocking the road, and kept tossing freshly made charges one after another.
Hao Fan fell silent.
This girl was genuinely kind of scary.
But Chen Qianyu thought the exact opposite.
"That was awesome—dead center! Perfect demolition, full marks!"
She clenched her fist, equally pumped, cheering from the side and praising how pretty the "fireworks" looked.
Apparently, this sword-master dragon girl also had a soft spot for explosions.
"…"
Hao Fan didn't even want to talk anymore.
Because when you combine explosives with idiots, his mind immediately went to "accidental self-detonation."
So he quietly took a few steps farther back.
Eventually, after all the Originium powder they'd brought was used up, Meme successfully blasted open a passable route to the Workers' Home.
"Done. Now it's fine!" Meme nodded in satisfaction.
The road was a total mess after such violent blasting, but it was passable.
And once the wreckage had been reduced to scattered rubble, it could be cleared by manpower.
Just… kind of annoying, that's all.
…
Workers' Home.
This area lay in the southern part of the Hub Zone Base—a living district for Union members—and it also had a dedicated Protocol Transfer Point deployed here.
This experimental device, built with protocol technology, used Originium units in its nodes to record the geographic coordinates entered at deployment, and could perform remote spatial transport of matter using the protocol Originium stored aboard the Dijiang.
For example: the weapon Perlica hadn't had time to prepare earlier—her "grand wish"—had now been delivered right into the Administrator's hands via the Protocol Transfer Point.
"This weapon… is really nice."
The Administrator gently stroked the single-handed sword whose blade body used experimental Originium material. She could feel her Originium Arts channel into it without any resistance—if anything, it even amplified them slightly.
And this was currently the finest single-handed sword Endfield industry could produce.
Besides that—
Hao Fan also received a Protocol Synchronizer.
It looked like a high-tech wristwatch—worn on the wrist—to carry the protocol Originium every operator was equipped with.
And the synchronizer integrated all kinds of functions needed for exploration.
For example: checking item information, enemy intel, the teleport network map, and more—extremely convenient.
"Doctor, you still haven't gone through HR on the Dijiang and completed the full process for protocol permission binding," Perlica said with a slight smile. "But given the special circumstances, we'll grant you temporary permissions and a pre-configured protocol Originium first."
She'd been thinking about this since they were at the base entrance earlier, but there hadn't been time—only now did she finally have the spare moment to hand the Protocol Synchronizer to him.
"Thank you. I'll use it well," Hao Fan said, nodding gratefully.
The in-game map was better, sure—but the amount of information accessible through the Protocol Synchronizer would help him understand this world far more comprehensively.
So yes—he really needed it.
"Then let's go see Doctor Miguel," Hao Fan said impatiently. "If I remember right, his clinic is at the very back of the Workers' Home."
"He definitely needs medical supplies right now!"
....
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