Chapter 361: 133. Demolition Genius
Translator: 549690339
Inside the nutrient liquid mechanical workshop.
Talbot appeared gaunt and dark-skinned, like a walking wizened corpse.
Don’t be fooled by his skin-and-bone appearance, he handled the steam valve with unmistakable precision.
“Damn the Golden Merchant’s Sword, damn, damn, really damn…”
Talbot cursed while manipulating the valve, each turn accompanied by a curse, as if he was boosting his spirit.
He glanced at the gauges mounted on the wall.
After triple-checking that all gauge needles were below the “30%” mark, Talbot let out a sigh of relief.
He waved at his companions and hollered a few sentences:
“Everyone put your work on pause. Forget about clearing the filling room, follow me to the incubation room. Quick! Keep up! We need to adjust the steam valve there ASAP!”
Talbot gathered his companions and, together with three Blackbone Hermits and six Alchemy Slaves, headed towards the walkway corner.
As they passed the metal gate leading to the cliff base, Talbot casually pulled the half-open gate shut, grumbling:
“How many times have I told you? When going to other workshops, use the interior underground tunnel, don’t take a shortcut across the open area at the base of the cliff. You’ve forgotten to close the metal gate so many times, are you waiting for double-winged mutants to fly in before you correct this?!”
“Yes, yes, yes, Sir Talbot, you’re right. We won’t take shortcuts next time.” One of the Blackbone Hermits by Talbot’s side flattered.
“Good to know.” In response to his subordinate’s flattery, Talbot generously waved his hands, leaving the issue behind.
He led the group into the corridor, threading through the path illuminated by the coal lamp.
Thick and thin metal pipes covered the walls on both sides. Every so often, there was a gauge to monitor the gas and liquid conditions inside the pipelines.
Talbot kept walking and pausing, checking each gauge on his way. Ten minutes later, they stepped into another machinery workshop full of culture tanks.
The floor of this workshop was hexagonal, bordered by six walls, and its area far exceeded that of the filling room.
A seemingly endless array of culture tanks, neatly lined up on the floor.
Every culture tank was connected to a soft tube for liquid delivery. The other end of the tube connected to a diversion container on the ceiling, which was connected to a large liquid pipeline protruding from the wall.
Countless soft tubes cascading from the ceiling, among them, several mechanical arms moved along slides and suspension devices attached to the ceiling.
The vast workshop was packed with various forms of apparatus but still demonstrated an orderly setup where none of these facilities interfered with each other.
Every time a culture tank filled with nutrient liquid was brought over, a soft tube would deposit an ostrich egg-like aberration egg into the tank.
Once the alchemy array on the tank’s pedestal was activated, the “ostrich egg” would squirm violently, visibly growing at a rapid pace from a white oval object into an aberration showing initial signs of development.
In about ten minutes, fully formed aberrations would appear in each culture tank.
After the aberrations finished their growth process, they weren’t moved by the mechanical arms but were kept in this workshop for further incubation.
More nutrient liquid was injected into the culture tanks from the tubes, supplying nutrition to the aberrations inside.
Throughout the process, these aberrations, submerged in liquid, stayed in a dormant state.
A rough estimate revealed that there were more than two thousand sleeping legged and winged aberrations in the expansive workshop.
Only when the nutrient liquid in the culture tanks was completely absorbed, would the mechanical arms pick up the culture tank and place it onto a mechanical conveyor belt leading upstairs.
Without a doubt, this was an artificial breeding room for mass incubation of aberrations. The area above this artificial breeding room was a primitive cave created by the Blackbone Hermits for various aberrations.
The double-winged mutants Noland Lee observed from the edge of the cliff probably originated here.
With an insufficient supply of nutrient liquid for the culture tanks, the Blackbone Hermits had no choice but to decrease the operating efficiency of the incubation room; otherwise, the not so smart mechanical devices would definitely err seriously.
Talbot was busy turning valves in the incubation room with the others, and their hands were unhesitating and swift.
As the sound of steam spurting echoed forth, the needles on the gauges dropped again and again, finally falling below “30%”.
After finishing the work here, Talbot urged his subordinates to speed up and follow him to another machinery workshop to adjust valves.
No sooner had they left the incubation room, than several palm-sized mechanical spiders descended from the ceiling.
They used the suction cups on their mechanical spider legs to adhere to the surface of the metal pipe, taking light steps towards the valves.
The mechanical spiders cooperated with each other and struggled to turn the valve several times.
“Creak, creak…”
The sound of the valve rubbing was drowned out by the noises in the incubation room, unnoticed by anyone.
Once the mechanical spiders confirmed their little bodies could turn the valve, they returned the valve to its original position and left the incubation room, following the silhouette of Talbot and his team.
“You three, go to the wizard detention area to check.”
Talbot stopped at a fork in the corridor, designated a Blackbone Hermit and two Alchemy Slaves, pointing down the walkway on the right and saying:
“Do a thorough check on their magical shackles, understand? Absolutely, cannot be careless. They have the strengths of the third, fourth, and sixth rings. If any one of them escapes, it could lead to major trouble. I do not wish to hear about wizards escaping before Sir Samuelson leaves the Central Chamber! Go now!”