Chapter 1

On a beginner planet with a magic background, potions that restore health and mana are "Health Recovery Potion" and "Mana Replenishment," but in a setting like Aquamarine Star, "red and blue potions" are clearly nutrient capsules and healing agents.

After an infuriating shooting training session, Han Xiao was taken by researchers to a nutrient capsule filled with healing agents for two hours. The knife wounds on his body had scabbed over, and he could move normally, but it would tug at the wounds, causing dull nerve pain.

There was a vacant mechanical modification room in the base, and because he had shown talent in mechanics, he was placed there alone. He could use the lathes, materials, and tools inside at will. There was a monitor in the corner of the room, which Han Xiao was not surprised by, as the researchers were probably observing him at all times.

The bookshelf by the wall was full, and Han Xiao found several books on basic mechanical knowledge.

Aquamarine Star in Galaxy Calendar 687 was one of the beginner planets, having only recently come into contact with interstellar civilization. It was transitioning from the "Old Civilization Era" to the "New Civilization Era," and its civilization level was still on the surface of the planet. The technology was similar to Earth's, and the best mechanical technology he could find was at most advanced knowledge.

The mechanic knowledge tree had three branches: Armed, Energy, and Control, each with 20 types of knowledge, divided into five levels: Basic, Advanced, High-End, Cutting-Edge, and Ultimate. Career knowledge was the player's growth tree, the core system of the main career.

The first career knowledge was used to obtain the main career, and after that, career knowledge required potential points to learn, and the knowledge level was also raised with potential points.

There were three ways to obtain potential points: leveling up, rewards from certain advanced missions, and maxing out a skill.

With 2 potential points, he did not plan to learn new career knowledge for the time being. Career knowledge was not urgent. He would save the potential points for other uses. Many players spent their potential points as soon as they leveled up, and then were dumbfounded when they needed them later. As the character grew, potential points would become more and more difficult to obtain, and every point would be precious.

All of his free time outside of training was spent on mechanics, trying to accumulate enough experience to escape this enemy camp without freedom as soon as possible.

…

Time passed quickly.

Han Xiao gained experience by assembling and strengthening machinery. As his technique became more skilled, the assembly perfection of basic machinery could be maintained at over 90%, earning him a lot of experience each time.

Assembling a machine too many times repeatedly would constantly reduce experience until no experience was given. Fortunately, the base had a dedicated armory with a wide variety of firearms, providing sufficient materials for him to farm assembly experience.

Germination Organization was not wary of Han Xiao. He was a test subject whose past memories had been erased by the organization and who had also been brainwashed. They did not think that accidents such as rebellious psychology would occur.

Han Xiao maintained a silent, harmless, and low-key image to reduce everyone's wariness of him.

The organization had high hopes for Han Xiao, but he knew that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, so he stored his experience and did not level up.

The researchers quickly became disappointed in him. This level of mechanical assembly could also be done by trained logistics personnel, which did not meet their expectations for the Valkyrie experiment.

After a month of observation, the researchers stopped the 24-hour surveillance and unanimously concluded that Test Subject Zero was a failed waste product, so they put their efforts into improving the Valkyrie potion.

Han Xiao no longer had to pretend under the constant surveillance of the monitor, which was a great relief.

As the investment saw no returns, the Germination Organization's patience with him was constantly decreasing. Only Lin Weixian and Balota continued to pay attention to him.

Lin Weixian was curious about Han Xiao's mutation and repeatedly suggested to the organization that Han Xiao be dissected to obtain more experimental data, but they were rejected with the reason "wait a little longer."

Han Xiao knew very well that, according to the Germination Organization's style of doing things, he would fall into Lin Weixian's hands sooner or later, which brought him a lot of pressure.

Balota did not hide his enthusiasm for torturing people, euphemistically calling it a means to spur the test subjects to complete their training. He could not torture his colleagues, so the "emotionally dull" test subjects became the only choice. Due to the existence of healing agents, his behavior was not stopped, and the researchers believed that appropriate torture was conducive to stimulating changes in the test subjects.

Gradually, Han Xiao began to become numb to pain. He remembered every drop of blood that splattered and waited silently.

Living in a dragon's den and tiger's lair surrounded by enemies, with no one to communicate with, Han Xiao put more energy into studying mechanics. Turning those cold metals into various shapes on the lathe and assembling them into useful tools gave him a sense of fulfillment.

…

Armed guards carried a large amount of supplies out of the mechanical modification room, and Han Xiao watched silently from the side.

"The organization is very disappointed in you. From today onwards, your resource allocation will be reduced by eighty percent."

A flat-headed man stood in front of Han Xiao, with a hint of smugness and disdain on his face, looking down on Han Xiao with the eyes of a victor.

He was Test Subject Number One, the second surviving test subject after Han Xiao.

"I heard that you were the test subject before me. The organization spent a lot of resources on you, but you can only play with these broken things."

"You are a failure. The organization's decision to let me replace you was correct." Number One's tone was contemptuous. He was a completely brainwashed test subject, and the organization was his faith. He had a inexplicable hostility towards Han Xiao. Han Xiao was unwilling to waste words. Creating conflict would be an unwise move to expose himself.

If the investment did not yield returns, Germination would decisively change its investment target. So after Number One was born, the organization withdrew most of the resources given to Han Xiao.

Han Xiao had expected this. Number One showed what the Valkyrie experiment should be like. He had a good talent in combat, was physically strong, and could be quickly trained into an armed fighter.

Since the laboratory was not equipped with logistics personnel for mechanical maintenance, Han Xiao was able to keep the mechanical modification room to be responsible for maintaining and repairing firearms, but the free mechanical parts and materials allocated each month were much less. He was treated by the organization as a failed test subject.

Several guards passed by and, seeing this scene, ridiculed him without any scruples.

"Tsk, tsk, two poor worms."

"Being taken to do experiments, becoming reserve cannon fodder, and being completely brainwashed. It's better to die than to become like them."

"Say a little less."

"What does it matter? They've already been brainwashed anyway."

Every gaze contained indifference, revealing a sense of looking down on them like pets.

Test subjects, aren't they just tool cannon fodder in the eyes of the Germination Organization?

The discussions faded away, and Han Xiao lowered his eyes, concealing the glimmer in them.

…

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Han Xiao figured out the terrain and personnel deployment of the Valkyrie Laboratory.

The Valkyrie Laboratory was hidden underground, with a total of three floors. Because it was a secret laboratory, the scale was not large. It was hidden in a forest in the wilderness and replenished with supplies through air drops.

There were a total of sixty armed guards stationed here. Hela was the director of the laboratory, and Lin Weixian was the person in charge of the experiments. Every once in a while, the organization would send a batch of "human raw materials" with cleared memories to be used for experiments.

This base was the main laboratory for the Valkyrie Project. Including Han Xiao and Number One, it produced a total of 78 successful test subjects. In addition to this, the Germination Organization had more than a dozen branch laboratories, mass-producing cannon fodder.

Most of these 78 successful test subjects were transferred to other places by helicopter. Only Number One led the 9 test subjects with the best talent to form a reserve elite team to receive training here.

Since the organization reduced its attention to him, Han Xiao's life had become monotonous. Every day, besides training, he stayed in the mechanical modification room repairing and assembling firearms. It had basically become his little world.

The guards were used to ignoring Han Xiao's existence. When their eyes swept over Han Xiao, they would not stop at all, as if Han Xiao was just a background, like a wall.

Being ignored gave Han Xiao a lot of convenience. He obtained a large amount of experience from his uninterrupted mechanical work, like mistletoe, quietly absorbing nutrients from the Germination Organization under everyone's noses, and incidentally memorized the structure of many basic firearms. These basic technological weapons that can be seen everywhere can be mastered by assembling them many times, and are not blueprint skills recorded on the panel.

The experience given by assembly and strengthening were separate. When Han Xiao could not gain experience from assembly, he would start using strengthening modifications to gain a new round of experience. He was very careful. Every time he finished strengthening and modifying, he would return the gun to its original state to hide its ability.

Through the training of Hela and Balota, he mastered the [Basic Combat] and [Basic Shooting] skills, and accidentally unlocked a talent perk [Well-Trained], which added an additional 100 points to his base health, providing more security for his life. He unlocked the sub-career [Agent] and his total level became 4.

After constant practice, Simple Repair and Simple Strengthening Modification were raised to level 4, and Basic Combat and Basic Shooting were raised to level 2.

The mechanic class needed huge financial support to grow, which was one of its limitations. Fortunately, the Germination Organization provided materials for free.

Until Han Xiao had assembled ninety percent of the firearm types in the armory, the experience he could gain at the base finally reached its limit.

600,000 experience points!

The accumulation of half a year!

The ratio of "reality" to game time in his previous life was six to one. Half a year was equivalent to a month in his previous life's reality. Without doing missions or killing monsters, this amount was very considerable in the early stages. Only the mechanic class could create such a rich amount of experience under limited conditions.

…

"Approve Lin Weixian's request and let him dissect Zero. He has requested it many times."

The leader said on the phone.

Hela frowned, "You've also refused many times."

"The organization invested resources in him, so we must get a return." The leader's tone was indifferent, "The only remaining value of waste is to be dismantled and used for waste utilization. Zero is waste."

Hela bit her lip and said, "Understood."

Zero's problem was not the focus of this call. The leader changed the subject, "How is the training of Number One's test subject team going?"

"Very promising, with great potential."

"Very good, let them go to the Night Owl base for training. I've already sent the Night Owl team to pick them up. They'll be there in two or three days."

"That's the day I visit my sister!" Hela's tone sank.

"You don't need to accompany the Night Owl team on their mission."

"That's good."