Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 14 Treatment and Assessment

"Synthetic nutrients? What flavor is it?" Pila couldn't help but ask, her face filled with fear of expired military rations.

"It's nutritionally balanced, providing essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals," Chen Yu's answer was quite technical. "The flavor options include standard energy bar flavor or unflavored nutritional paste."

Pila's face fell. Rebecca rolled her eyes. "It's better than starving to death! Deal!" She gritted her teeth and slapped Pila's arm hard. "It's better than being hacked to pieces or dying of thirst and hunger! And he can fix your broken shoulder!" She tried to cover up her unease and a hint of excitement with a loud promise.

Pila took a deep breath, nodded, and tried to appear calm, though her legs were still a little weak. "Alright, sir. We accept your offer. We'll work for you." At least, the other party seemed to value efficiency and practical benefits rather than taking pleasure in tormenting people, which was a rare find in this godforsaken place.

“A wise decision.” Chen Yu smoothly retracted his arm armor. “The first step: adaptive modifications. To ensure work efficiency and reliable coordination, and to reduce unnecessary losses.”

Two mechanical tentacles reached out steadily and firmly towards the two, their tips gleaming with a soft calibration light. Rebecca nervously closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly. Pila also held her breath, her body tensing slightly, preparing to face the unknown modifications.

“Relax,” Chen Yu’s voice remained calm. “This is much better than the experience of having those inferior prosthetic bodies installed.”

The modification process was not as painful and terrifying as imagined; instead, it was characterized by a peculiar precision and efficiency beyond comprehension. Chen Yu's movements were skillful and steady, each operation perfectly timed, as if he had rehearsed it countless times, displaying the composure unique to a master technician. The mechanical tentacles moved with elegance and economy, without a single superfluous movement.

“Your optical prosthesis is a cheap version of the Tsunami III,” he commented calmly as he operated it, tiny tools protruding from the tip of his tentacles. “The lens is badly worn, and the image processor is from the previous generation. No wonder you often squint.”

Rebecca's eyes widened in surprise: "How do you even know that?"

"The scan shows an abnormally high focus adjustment frequency, and the infrared imaging function is almost completely disabled." Chen Yu's answer was as direct as ever. "Now we're loading you with a new sensor suite and processing unit, giving you enhanced environmental scanning and night vision capabilities, along with basic threat identification capabilities. This is expected to improve your resource identification efficiency by more than 15%, and significantly enhance your adaptability and situational awareness in low-light environments."

The process was as smooth as replacing a standard module in a precision instrument; the tiny laser welding points flashed briefly, but caused no discomfort. Rebecca only felt a slight warmth, and then her vision began to change.

For Pira, the operation was even more delicate. Tiny probes and nano-repair units extended from the ends of the tentacles, emitting a barely audible high-frequency hum. "There's significant signal attenuation and cross-interference in the third and fourth conduction bundles of the left shoulder nerve interface," Chen Yu diagnosed. "It's likely a problem caused by the cheap wiring used during the last 'Krenzikov' model installation. It severely affects the stability of the delicate operation."

Pila's eyes widened: "You even know I installed a 'Krenchikov'? That thing burned out from overload a month ago!"

“The burnt-out residual circuitry is quite evident,” Chen Yu replied calmly, while precisely repairing the neural interface in his shoulder. “Now, recalibrate and strengthen the main neural interface. This should effectively eliminate your operational tremor and increase your reaction speed by about ten percent. Next time you install a speed-type prosthesis, remember not to use cheap, secondhand connecting cables.”

Once finished, Rebecca eagerly opened her eyes, instantly overwhelmed by the information flooded by her newfound visual experience. Everything in her field of vision seemed to have been given new layers and details; the outlines of distant parts were highlighted, dark corners became clearly visible, and even the differences in material density could be roughly discerned. "Wow! This...this is so cool!" she exclaimed excitedly, looking around like a child who had received a new toy. "I can see the pipework layout behind the wall! Pira, is that wrench on the third shelf of your toolbox chipped?"

Pila carefully moved his left arm, feeling an unprecedented ease and fluidity in his shoulder, and an expression of unbelievable surprise appeared on his face. The stiffness and lingering pain that had plagued him for so long, making him anxious every time he performed a delicate operation, had completely disappeared, and his arm moved with ease, steadily and powerfully.

"This is amazing..." he murmured to himself, trying out a few loose grips and making several complex tool-manipulation gestures. "This is even better than what I had after spending a fortune on adjustments at the prosthetic doctor's! Sir, how did you do that?"

"It's just a standard neural interface optimization process," Chen replied casually, while silently completing the implantation of the monitoring and positioning module—a standard operating procedure for mechanical engineering priests, a rational decision based on risk management. "Now your survival and work efficiency should have been significantly improved."

The brother and sister were completely absorbed in the joy and excitement of gaining new abilities, oblivious to their surroundings. The possibilities brought by their new equipment and bodies temporarily overshadowed all their worries.

“Now,” Chen Yu retracted his tentacles, pointing to the mess outside the door, “the first task: clean up the external waste and systematically recover all usable components and resources. Afterwards, provide a detailed report and mark any locations in the vicinity that you know of that may contain high-value components, rare materials, or stable energy sources.”

He paused briefly, then added, "Consider this your first on-site performance assessment. The results will influence subsequent resource allocation and upgrade priorities."

Rebecca and Pila looked out at the battlefield that needed to be cleared, and felt the new power surging through their bodies and their enhanced senses. When they looked at the silent, tall figure in red robes again, their initial fear had not completely dissipated, but it had been replaced by a strong sense of pragmatism, a newfound hope, and a sense of urgency to prove their worth.

“Let’s go, Pira,” Rebecca said, rubbing her still-adjusting prosthetic eye, and led the way out, her tone filled with eagerness and enthusiasm. “Let’s show the boss we’re not just freeloaders! And while we’re at it, we’ll do a good search; my new eye seems to be able to spot something!”

Pila sighed, adjusted his goggles, and resignedly followed, muttering habitually, "I hope the 'synthetic nutrients' the boss mentioned aren't expired military-grade compressed biscuits... It would be best if they had some flavor... But then again, this arm is truly amazing, worth it..." He moved his flexible wrist, already subconsciously assessing which parts from the corpse were most worthy of priority recovery.

Chen Yu watched as the two began to work. Although their movements were somewhat clumsy and unfamiliar, their attitude was quite positive. The scarlet optical lens flickered slightly. The servo skull silently approached, and the jawbone gently opened and closed.

The internal logs are updating quietly: Two temporary external collaboration units have been added. Corresponding management sub-protocols have been loaded: resource recovery, area reconnaissance, and auxiliary security. Initial tasks have been assigned. Their performance and adaptability are being monitored.

He hoped their actual output would match the energy and parts they consumed. At least, they seemed much more active than most silent servitude machines, perhaps providing some unexpected data samples and…noise. He turned his attention to the critical promethium battery, ensuring a continuous power supply for his newly expanded, noisy, and uncertain project team. The massive red figure once again immersed himself in the technical work he knew and loved.

(End of this chapter)