Chapter 301: meeting the professor again

As Clark drove away, a broad smile outlined his face. The past hour and thirty minutes were well spent to him, he had a chance to reunite with his old squad-mates and he also got the help that he wanted.

He had to thank Captain Briggs for that. The fact that the captain didn’t tell them before now only made the sudden revelation that he was now a 3rd rank high-grade soldier more effective.

Despite this fact, he was still surprised that every single one of them agreed to help him. He suspected that Captain Briggs did something behind his back, soldiers of their ranks were not so gullible.

He sighed after deducing this, it seems that he already owed Captain Briggs a favor. Though this was done behind him, he still appreciated it. He loved results more than effort, that was his creed.

Though seeing Warrant Officer Antonia’s grave dampened his mood a bit, he was able to recover pretty fast.

Death was not a pleasant thing, but as ingrained in him during his cadet training years, dying in battle for the republic was an honorable act, not something that should bring sadness.

Though after growing up now, he already recognized those words as indoctrination tactics used by their superiors to solidify their loyalty to the republic, he still believed them.

At least to him, dying in battle was far better than dying due to an illness. The only death that would be better for him was dying as an old man in a luxurious bed, surrounded by children and grandchildren.

Well, his brain was thinking too far. He finally brought himself back to reality.

Knowing that he already cleared one from his long list of to-do activities, he heaved a sigh of relief.

For the special honor burial that he and the survivors of his squad were organizing for their dead comrades in the just concluded Everest mission, it would take place 3 days from today.

It was on the same day that the Spartan army would organize the general military burial also. After the military finished all the procedures and the other soldiers left, they would then do their own.

Of course, every need for the burial was being funded by the Spartan army. But still, as the comrades who accompanied the dead soldiers, they had a certain decision-making power in how it would be organized.

Not only their dead comrades would be buried that day. The other squads that went for the mission already returned, most of them returned empty and with a lot of casualties.

Some other unfortunate squads were wiped out.

The great Himalayan ranges were referred to as the dreaded frontier for a reason. Clark and his squad encountered a lot during their time there, but that was just a fraction of the horrors of the Everest.

Some squads met the more extreme horrifying scenarios, they were wiped out even before they could take the first step in completing the mission.

When Clark went through the military report, that was when he knew how lucky he and his squad were.

Luck was an intangible factor, he didn’t believe in it nor did he know if it was there before but after going through the report, his inner man was convinced that he had luck.

The burial of his friend, Benny, that was being organized by his parents would take place in 5 days. And the location was in Benny’s ancestral home city, not here in the Capital.

Though the body was in the custody of the Spartan army and they would bury it in their cemetery, the parents were satisfied with burying the strap of cloth that Clark came back with.

That was the ways of the army and the parents both knew before now so they didn’t kick up a fuss, not that it would have mattered though.

With all of these things happening in the span of a week, the only conclusion was that the whole week was filled with activities for Clark. He’s already compacted his time usage by a lot but it was proving to be still inefficient.

Well, he could not kill himself. He would take them one at a time as they came. The ones that he couldn’t do, he would just bite the bullet and leave them.

For today, he was already done with the first thing that brought him here. For the second and most important reason why he came here, he was already driving there.

As he already visited there once, he still recognized where Monkey Hand’s huge workshop was.

Yes, he was going to meet the army’s weapon specialist. As a Captain now, he was not satisfied with using the weapons that were available in the market anymore. He wanted a custom-made weapon.

He had the materials that were required to make what he wanted, he just had to meet the mechanic, who would be Monkey Hands.

…

15 minutes later, after practically driving round the whole headquarters, he finally located the enormous mechanic workshop.

The cemetery and the workshop were on opposite ends of the headquarters, which made his journey pretty long and boring. After his identity was verified by the gate, he finally drove inside the workshop.

The perimeter of the workshop practically took over a whole street.

Entering through the big gate that was at the front, he was greeted with a sight of mechanic workshops built everywhere, both on his right and on his left.

He already came here before but he was still fascinated by the sight.

The workshops were each built in iconic shapes. Some were built in a lion shape, others like a dragon’s head shape, others took a lot of other peculiar shapes, the one that attracted his attention the most took on a cobra’s shape.

The building looked pretty nasty and menacing. With a cobra’s fang looking at you in the face, it could very much scare customers away.

The only reason why that mechanic had to guts to shape his workshop like that was that this was military ground. Even if the soldiers were irritated, they would not be scared.

Clark was the only one who was driving a car inside this place. There was a rule enforced by Monkey Hands that no one below the captain rank was allowed to bring a car inside his domain.

Seeing him drive-in, the mechanics and people on the road cleared up a path for him respectfully.

Driving through a clear road, his passage time was significantly shortened. As he drove forward, he noticed that there were some slight differences here that were not there the last time he visited.

These sights did not linger in his mind though as he finally came before what brought him here, Monkey Hand’s personal workshop.

With it standing there like a giant, the other workshops suddenly felt like dwarves. The enormous workshop was built in the shape of a giant hammer, with the hammer’s head being at the top.

Comparing its size with houses, Clark deduced that the workshop was as tall as a 10-story building.

After parking his exotic car at the designated garage, he came down and went into the workshop on foot. Of course, he went through a lot of security checks before he was let in.

At the place that was supposed to be the door inside the workshop, in its place was a black wall with white stripes. He already went through it before so he knew its mechanisms.

Trying hard to suppress the disgust that was showing on his face, he entered an enclosed space that was at the side. As soon as he entered, a white circular bowl came out of the wall before him.

He cursed before bringing his hands down to unzip his pants. Bringing his little thing out, he peed on the bowl.

[Ding! Please, wait. Matching urine…, verified.] A green light flashed.

[Your identity has been verified according to the parameters set up by my legendary Master. Welcome, Captain Clark Pendragon! The door to my Master’s kingdom is now open to you, you may now take a step inside…]

“F*ck you!”

Clark did not wait for the A. I to finish spouting its nonsense before he stormed off. Going back to where the black wall is, he saw that it was no longer as hard as a wall.

The white stripes on it squirmed a bit, making it look gel-like all of a sudden. He already passed through all these, so he knew what to do.

He went straight ahead and entered it. It pulsed a bit while changing like it was absolving him, he felt like he was being sucked by a vacuum tube and his vision was now dark.

When his vision was restored, he was no longer outside but he was now in a mechanic workshop that was filled with activities.

Compared to the other workshops, very few customers were here. Despite this, the mechanics that were in here were working furiously like there was no tomorrow.

Under the appeal of wanting to please their big boss, they all worked their asses off. It was not today news that any mechanic that drew the attention of the boss and received tutorials from him became a genius overnight.

Who didn’t want to become a genius? Their boss was not a soldier but even the revered Commander Rashford respected him. To them, f*ck being a soldier, Monkey Hands was the real epitome of power.

To them, mechanics was the real occupation chosen by God, the others were just man-made products that kept on spreading violence without any purpose in life but to kill, kill, and kill again.

None of them paid attention to the person that just invaded their workplace. Clark did not feel offended though nor did he feel shocked, his shock was reserved for his first time coming here.

Blue light shone down from the ceiling, brightly illuminating the workshop and giving it a science fiction vibe. This place felt more like it was inside the belly of a beast than a mechanic workshop.

Machines that towered up to the sky were being worked on by both mechanics and machines controlled by A.Is.

Spare parts filled the whole place as special carrier bots kept on transporting metal parts back and forth. Some of the mechanics worked on cars, others on weapons, others on energy-intensive gadgets. The place was boisterous.

The few customers that were here, though Clark did not know them he already guessed that they were bigshots like him. They were being escorted around by apprentice mechanics assigned to them.

He already came here before, so he didn’t stand in one place to admire like an enchanted birthday boy. Walking forward, one of the apprentice mechanics quickly came to meet him.

“Welcome to the Monkey feet workshop Captain Clark, my Master is waiting for you”.

Clark raised an eyebrow. “He’s changed the name of the workshop again, why didn’t he choose monkey-shit this time?”

The apprentice coughed. “Sir, I can’t answer that. Please don’t make things hard for me”.

Clark chuckled. “Ok, lead the way”.

They had to pass through the antics of the mad Professor again. They peed on another bowl which opened a teleportation door for them. Going through it, they finally arrived at the Master’s personal domain.

Professor Monkey Hands was dressed in a blue flowing gown with a black vest underneath. He had a grease-stained hand glove on, he was currently working on a 2-handed sword.

Clark wondered who the sword belonged to.

Hearing the sound behind him, the Professor dropped his working tools and turned back with a bright smile on his face.

“Welcome back, Clark. You’re still alive?”

“…”

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