“[Heart-Guard Mirror] subdermal armor, [Nezha] universal shoulder interface, [Taishan] bionic muscle group, [Taisui] high-energy fat synthesis unit. Mm, and this—[Yazi] sniper prosthetic eye... Incredible. Gelian goods need reservations, but Dayan goods are pretty well stocked.”
Feng Xue curled his lip as he looked at the prosthetics he had just gotten from the gray-market dealer, momentarily at a loss for words. But thinking about it, it made sense. Dayan goods had to be smuggled in along the routes, so naturally they would keep some popular items in reserve. As long as they prepared a batch of customs certificates, they could reuse them over and over; at worst, they could claim the goods had been overstocked and failed to sell, losing only a batch of merchandise. Gelian goods, on the other hand, were basically illegally rebadged items. If they got inspected, losing the family fortune would be getting off lightly.
Compared with such trivial details, as he looked at the prosthetics that had cost him nearly three hundred thousand laid out one by one before him, Feng Xue’s heart was filled with a peculiar urge to destroy.
However, he did not rush to record them. Instead, he picked up his tools and dismantled and reassembled them again and again, not stopping until the blueprints in the design diagrams no longer bore the suffix [Incomplete]. Only then did he put them back together.
It was not that Dayan’s prosthetics lacked even an anti-disassembly function, but Feng Xue had, after all, learned so many rustic tricks from Old Man Jiang. Even if there were fragile anti-tamper parts, he could casually cobble together replacements, and that would instead cause the blueprint progress to shoot up by a large margin.
However, that was limited to prosthetics below three stars. Faced with the [Yazi] prosthetic eye, which was already considered quite simple among four-star models, Feng Xue had used every trick he had, relying on an almost brute-force, material-stacking method before he finally produced a high-grade knockoff blueprint whose manufacturing cost had tripled. Fortunately, it could still be recorded, so it could be considered worth the price.
Now that Feng Xue had taken in all twelve blueprints, he arranged the prosthetic equipment in order—
“Record them for me!”
Prosthetics that an ordinary person would need more than ten years of saving without eating or drinking to afford now disintegrated and shattered with such ease, turning into scrap that could only be thrown into a furnace.
Feng Xue felt not the slightest pity. His attention remained fixed on the entries popping up one after another.
After seven white trait fodder entries in a row, such as [Increase Output by 10%] and [Reduce Damage by 5%], whose cost-performance was far inferior to [Lightweight] (Note ①), Feng Xue finally saw a flash of green that could pique his interest—
Entry: Ren Chest
Type: Trait
Quality: Green Set
Effect: Can only be applied to torso armor. Comprehensively improves torso protection and greatly improves impact resistance. Hidden effects remain to be discovered.
Remark: [Ren] is the bearing capacity that embraces all things; it is method.
...
Entry: Cai Shoulder
Type: Trait
Quality: Green Set
Effect: Can only be applied to shoulder interfaces. Reduces the negative effects of equipment and greatly improves proficiency acquisition efficiency. Hidden effects remain to be discovered.
Remark: [Cai] is the power of command that skillfully makes use of external things; it is technique.
...
Entry: De Back
Type: Trait
Quality: Green Set
Effect: Can only be applied to back bionic muscle groups. Improves prosthetic compatibility and reduces the erosion rate of biological prosthetics. Hidden effects remain to be discovered.
Remark: [De] is the beacon that restrains [Ren] and [Cai] from going astray; it is the path.
...
“Good grief! Thank goodness I bought the whole set. Otherwise, where would I even find the individual pieces?”
Looking at the three entries that were clearly part of a set, Feng Xue was rather eager to see the set effect. Even so, he suppressed the urge and turned his attention to that dazzling flash of purple—
Entry: Flesh Maitreya
Type: Manufacturing
Quality: Purple Precious
Effect: Add this entry when manufacturing an energy storage module, allowing the module to store energy in the form of high-energy fat and convert fat at any time into the required energy, including but not limited to stamina, bioenergy, electricity, nuclear energy, and source energy. Loss in this process is below 30%.
Remark: For unknown reasons, it seems to have the side effect of increasing male desire and related physiological functions.
...
“This damn thing is a side effect? Wouldn’t you install it until it bursts?”
That was what Feng Xue said, but he did not have the leisure for such things at the moment. Otherwise, the [Perfect Companion] entry would not still be gathering dust. The true value of this purple entry lay in the conversion between source energy and ordinary energy. With this thing, it was equivalent to attaching more than half of an energy-source system as an external plug-in.
Suppressing that bit of restlessness in his heart, Feng Xue turned his gaze to the final entry. Judging from the effects of the previous entries, this last entry should have come from the most expensive and most complex prosthetic he had bought today—
The [Yazi]-type sniper prosthetic eye.
Its rating was as high as four stars, and this single item alone had cost Feng Xue two hundred and thirty thousand. If not for the fact that the gray-market dealer only had this many items with entries, and that Feng Xue truly did lack a prosthetic eye blueprint, he definitely would not have bought such a thing!
“I hope your entry won’t...”
As Feng Xue’s thoughts stirred, a flash of purple entered his eyes. Only, before he could rejoice, the effect had already appeared before him—
Entry: Hatred
Type: Trait
Quality: Purple Precious
Effect: Can only be applied to eye-type prosthetics. When the prosthetic wearer is attacked, mark the target. If the marked target is within the field of vision, attacks that bring it within effective range are guaranteed to hit.
Remark: This hatred can only be washed away with blood.
...
“Uh, this...”
The excitement Feng Xue had felt because of the purple entry cooled instantly. It was not as if this thing could be called weak; after all, guaranteed hits still carried weight. The problem was that it only took effect after he was attacked first, which greatly reduced the practicality of an entry that ought to be used for ultra-long-range strikes. The fact that it occupied a precious trait slot was also a mark against it.
If it did not restrict the body part, that would be one thing. But it just had to be fixed to the eyes, which meant it had to compete for the same slot as [Single Eye], a trait whose value increased the higher the prosthetic’s star rating.
It was only because Feng Xue currently did not have many skills on hand that this entry, which did not fit his combat style, still had some room for use. Once he found a practical eye-type skill someday, this entry would be due for unemployment.
“But at least I can use it for now. Later, it can also serve as fodder for upgrading a purple entry.”
Feng Xue quickly adjusted his state of mind, took out his materials, and began a major build.
[Ren Chest], [Cai Shoulder], and [De Back] were all plug-in-type prosthetics. As three-star prosthetics, each could be paired with one skill. Unfortunately, the entries produced this time, aside from [Flesh Maitreya], were all traits, so he could only settle for [Great Strength]. The head remained [Combat-Sustaining Rocket Head]. Then came a pair of prosthetic eyes equipped with [Hatred] + [A Paean of Loyalty], the [Flesh Maitreya] energy module installed on the torso [Hajichikov], and the trait [Insurance] was also swapped out for [Lightweight] to accommodate more armor and high-energy fat. After connecting [Cheap Great-Strength Legs], [Hidden Gun], and the [Insurance Second-Son Great-Strength Arm] recovered from Demon Sword Unit Two, the new character was finally complete.
It was worth mentioning that after the [Ren Breastplate], [Cai Shoulder Interface], and [De Back Muscle Group] were combined with [Hajichikov], the three prosthetics each unlocked an additional attribute.
Ren Chest gained the effect of [30% reduction to blunt weapon damage], while Cai Shoulder gained the trait [Equipment durability will not be consumed through proper use].
Although both were quite good, they could not compare with De Back—
Because it had unlocked a passive that could slowly improve physical constitution!
“Good treasure! Good treasure!” Feng Xue’s eyes shone, and he wished he could immediately install it on himself. But considering the precedent of the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao, Feng Xue barely suppressed the thought. On one hand, he was worried that the skill might affect his mind; on the other, he also wanted to see whether this passive could be learned directly like the Sword of Hell.
In any case, Feng Xue’s new character could be considered complete. Glancing at the clock pointing toward the early hours of the morning, he ultimately put away the prosthetics—
“It’s already this late. I should sleep first.”
Note ①: The cost-performance of Lightweight lies in the fact that a prosthetic of the same weight can be fitted with three times the armor, energy modules, and other plug-ins. Therefore, as long as the improvement is below 200% and the trait has no other distinguishing features, then below four stars—where there can only be one trait and the manufacturing cost is low—and provided the prosthetic layout is not especially bloated, it absolutely cannot compete with Lightweight.
P.S. I really have no way of dealing with people who just open their mouths and spout nonsense. Do you think temperament is something you can change just because you want to? It’s not as if wearing one nice outfit suddenly gives you the bearing of someone with money. Where one lives shapes one’s bearing; how one is nurtured shapes one’s body. Some people wear fakes and you still think they’re real. Some people sell everything they own to buy the real thing, and you’ll still think it’s fake. Why do some people look like nouveau riche at a glance? Don’t tell me you think they want to. Temperament is the sort of thing where, if you don’t put on an act, you seem more natural. But if you deliberately try to act it out, then anyone who sees you will think you’re a dumb [beep—].
Why is the protagonist taken for a second-generation rich kid? Isn’t it because he’s natural? If he really tried to act the part, the military police would be arresting him as a thief.