The Village Got Internet

How could a place like this have a cat?
Xiao Bai had imagined encountering Demonic Beasts, zombies, wanted criminals, or even vengeful souls on his way here, and he had even brought out his weapons and reloaded them just in case.
But he never imagined he'd find a little kitten here...
Moreover, the scan results showed that both its skeletal structure and organ distribution were those of an ordinary kitten, not some Demonic Beast disguised as a cat.
With tabby markings, a round head, and round eyes, its four tiny paws were like little white gloves, making it look especially cute and comforting.
At that moment, it was curled up under a desk, playing with a cartoon-style plush carrot toy.
The dormitory was covered in dust, clearly unused for a long time. In a corner lay a large, torn burlap sack, its contents—cat food—scattered across the floor. The kitten must have survived on this.
But how did it withstand the radiation here?
After a moment's thought, Xiao Bai extended his mechanical arm behind him, reached into the dormitory, and reached for the little kitten.
Startled by the sudden appearance of the metallic appendage, the kitten's fur bristled, transforming it into a fluffy ball. It immediately scrambled away on its tiny legs, trying to escape.
Unfortunately, Xiao Bai was faster. His mechanical arm swiftly grasped the kitten by the scruff of its neck and lifted it up to eye level.
"Heh~ Trying to run?" Xiao Bai chuckled, then shone a green light on it.
No usable resources detected. Please continue your hunt.
The panel didn't even consider this scrap of flesh worth counting as prey.
"Meow?" The trembling kitten peered up at the towering figure before it, cautiously mewing.
"Your owner won't be back. It's not safe to stay here—a electrifying Devil Head could return at any moment. Shouldn't you come with me?" Xiao Bai questioned, his voice resonating from a soul-deep level.
Whether the kitten understood or not, it stopped trembling. Its eyes widened in curiosity as it began observing its new owner.
Xiao Bai casually stuffed the kitten into the cockpit of his mech, effectively assigning it the role of 'pilot'.
"Meow~" The kitten examined the cockpit's dazzling array of buttons and instruments with a mix of curiosity and fear, too intimidated to move a paw.
"So, I guess this counts as having a companion? Otherwise, in this godforsaken place, there's not a single living thing to s ee. After a while, I was starting to worry about my mental state," Xiao Bai muttered to himself. He then stored the bag of cat food in his storage space and casually scanned the dormitory. It contained only simple personal belongings—nothing of real value.
This dormitory area was relatively close to the ground, with a simple little garden made of plastic flowers and plants—a rare place where one could relax a little.
Xiao Bai decided not to leave immediately.
"Let's rest a bit and review what we've gathered so far. See what we can assemble."
This trip had yielded a substantial amount of electronic components, biological chitin, and tons of ammunition, but there were relatively few complete components.
That Devil Head was just too brutal...
At present, only two things could be assembled: the emergency escape device needed to leave "Paradise," and a computational module.
After weighing the options, Xiao Bai ultimately chose the latter.
The emergency escape device was simply too unreliable. The fragmented wreckage of the previous attempt was still fresh in his mind, and he wasn't even sure if it could take the entire Mech with him.
The computational module, on the other hand, offered a straightforward and direct boost to processing power. Moreover, increased processing power would allow him to absorb more information.
But this computational module... it looked rather peculiar.
Enough components have been collected to assemble the 'Brain-in-a-Box' Quantum Computational Module.
"What is this thing? It looks so strange... Should I assemble it?"
A square crystal box materialized before Xiao Bai, emitting a green glow. Inside was an unknown viscous liquid, in which a spherical mass of biological tissue floated, connected to hair-thin tubes.
The tissue resembled a brain, with similar folds and grooves, but its texture and color were more like keratinized tissue, giving it a plastic-like feel. The perfectly spherical mass emitted a faint blue glow.
Xiao Bai focused his attention on the object and read the detailed description:
Brain-in-a-Box Quantum Computational Module
A scientific concept proposed by Paradise Technology, simulating the processing power of a quantum supercomputer using a biological brain's thought patterns.
The small text below added:
- My head itches. Did I grow a brain?
- Uh... The earlier version was just a prototype, a paper machine. Why are we now including hypothetical components?
- But it should be pretty powerful, right? Let's install it and see if we can grow an extra brain.
Xiao Bai mentally dragged the icon and inserted the somewhat peculiar module near the Main Control Chip.
Then...
Nothing happened?
He didn't feel any additional brainpower, nor did he suddenly feel smarter.
A notification sounded from the panel:
Main Control System synchronized
Then, a new icon appeared on the Main Control System interface: Brain is thinking .
Xiao Bai stared at it again...
"Huh? Isn't this just a smartphone interface? Are you trying to make fun of me?"
"It's just the most basic interface, with no apps installed, not even a phone function?"
"So, I spent all the energy I'd saved up, over 200 electronic components, and biological chitin, just to get a smartphone?"
Xiao Bai felt like he'd happily bought a bag of "Great White Goose" candy, only to discover the wrappers actually said "Great White Goose" instead of "Great White Rabbit"...
He reluctantly checked his performance parameters again and noticed a slight change in his processing power.
Model: Unnamed Mecha
Power: 200
Defense: 20
Processing Power: 80 (1000)
Energy: 300/1000 (200)
"My processing power seems to have increased, but not fully?"
"Does this mean this 'phone' has ridiculously high processing power, even stronger than arrays built with multiple chips?"
Xiao Bai remembered the three server-grade computational chips he'd acquired earlier, which he hadn't needed yet. He retrieved them from his storage space and tried to integrate them into this new device.
It actually works?
The processing power after the parentheses instantly skyrocketed from 1,000 to 2,000.
"At this rate, my new phone's base processing power is equivalent to a full set of large servers?"
"What kind of superphone is this? You could probably play gacha games without any lag, right?"
"But first, it needs to connect to the internet..."
Xiao Bai glared at the device until the 'phone's' networking settings menu opened.
Inside, there were no normal options or buttons, only a single prompt:
"No data connection detected. Establish automatically?"
Yes
Then the 'phone' inexplicably went black. A dense waterfall of green characters and data cascaded down the screen, performing calculations Xiao Bai couldn't even begin to understand.
Three seconds later, the screen returned to normal, and a familiar 'Wi-Fi' icon appeared in the top right corner.
And the signal is still full bars?

Chapter end