【Successful evacuation. Synchronization disconnected.】
【Side quest completed: None】
【Supplies recovered. You may choose to extract/sell them on the Exchange page.】
“Hoo~” Watching Kong Wu’s body return to the workshop, Feng Xue immediately linked his consciousness again, circulating source energy to begin healing. The underground bare-knuckle ring seemed to be bound to the character—each time Kong Wu appeared, he would arrive at the same arena. And after completing three consecutive victories, this fourth opponent’s strength had clearly increased.
“But it still hasn’t forced me to go all out.”
Because of the trait of the Second Son Arm, “Cheap Regeneration,” the cost of treating this body was not high. In just a short while, he shifted his consciousness back to his main body.
More than half a month had passed since Old Jiang’s death. During this time, the cybernetic clinic had also returned to its former state. At first, the patients would occasionally bring up Old Jiang, but now, after realizing that Feng Xue had truly inherited Old Jiang’s skills, very few people mentioned him anymore.
For a while, this made Feng Xue want to raise every order for these unruly commoners by 1 point, just so they would forever remember Doctor Jiang, who had been 1 point cheaper than Feng Xue. But considering that for these civilians, 1 credit might be enough to draw the line between life and death, he ultimately couldn’t bring himself to do it.
After checking his reserves of source energy, Feng Xue was just preparing to go verify the insights he had gained from the underground ring against the iron dummy when the shop’s artificial idiot suddenly spoke:
“Doctor Feng, you have an encrypted email. Would you like to view it?”
“Oh?” Feng Xue’s brows rose, and vigilance instantly stirred in his heart. He had transmigrated here several months ago, but as for people who could send him emails—and encrypted ones at that—there wasn’t a single…
“All right, there is one.”
Feng Xue looked at the contents of the email. After decoding a pile of seemingly ordinary business correspondence with the general cipher Old Jiang had taught him, it amounted to a single sentence:
“Come to Two Gold Bars.”
“Fine. Looks like there’s a result.” Feng Xue shook his head, with no intention of getting up. With a thought, a burly figure immediately walked out from the corner. Along with the circulation of source energy, that resolute, cold, hard face rapidly softened. In just a few seconds, it already looked exactly like Feng Xue.
Skillfully switching bodies, Feng Xue grabbed a few tubes of nutrient fluid and squeezed them into his mouth as he walked toward “Two Gold Bars.”
Although it wasn’t as if he couldn’t directly use source energy to charge the avatar, considering Xie Miao might not necessarily be trustworthy, he decided to save what he could.
It was already night, but for the residents of the garbage district, it was still far from closing time. Feng Xue walked all the way to Two Gold Bars without seeing many people.
“You’re here?”
Xie Miao seemed to have been waiting for quite some time. As soon as Feng Xue reached the door, he heard his voice.
At this moment, Xie Miao was still wearing that cheap suit, seated beside a fairly tidy table. The teapot on the table was still giving off white steam.
“You have news?”
Feng Xue had no intention of wasting words and asked directly. Xie Miao did not even raise his head. He pointed with that metallic hand toward a chair beside him that looked fairly clean and said:
“Sit.”
Feng Xue did not stand on ceremony. With his eyesight, he was already capable of telling whether there was anything wrong with that chair.
Seeing Feng Xue sit down, Xie Miao immediately pressed a button. Along with a faint noise, the entire world seemed to fall silent.
“This cautious? Looks like the target’s background isn’t small?”
Feng Xue frowned slightly. Xie Miao only shook his head and said:
“I wouldn’t say it’s small, but this isn’t to guard against eavesdropping. It’s to prevent recordings. It’s not just for you. Whenever it’s an intelligence transaction, big or small, I turn it on. That way, if something goes wrong in the future, no one thinks I was the one who leaked the secret.”
“Oh, so that means once I’ve traded with you, you’ll help keep things confidential?” Feng Xue had only asked casually, but Xie Miao’s answer was startlingly blunt:
“No. I only guarantee that I won’t actively leak anything. For example, if someone asks me who bought their intelligence, or who I recently provided a false identity to, I won’t say. But if you’re stupid enough to let someone track things back here and they directly ask me who Feng Xue is and where he is, I wouldn’t mind selling you for a good price.”
“Have you always been this blunt?” Feng Xue was a little speechless at the other party’s honesty. Xie Miao, however, replied very calmly:
“That’s my answer no matter who asks. If you don’t feel at ease, you can shoot me after buying the intelligence. Don’t worry, even if I don’t die, I won’t take revenge, nor will I spread your information around. Next time you come, as long as you settle the medical fees, we’ll do business as usual.”
“…” Feng Xue was momentarily speechless. He decisively skipped over this topic, which gave him a strange sense of déjà vu, and dragged the conversation back on track—
“Let’s talk business.”
“Fine. The balance is three thousand, including the killer’s information and an overview of the force behind him. Mm, I can tell you this much first: his name is ‘Theodore’—that’s the deposit’s worth.”
At this point, Xie Miao sighed and picked up his teacup. Just as Feng Xue thought he was about to smash the cup as a signal, Xie Miao suddenly said:
“Kid, I don’t know whether you’ve heard this name before, or whether you need further intelligence. But out of professional ethics, before you make your decision, there are some things I have to say first.”
Hearing this, Feng Xue nodded slightly and made a gesture of “please go on.”
Xie Miao took a sip of tea. “I know you want to avenge Old Jiang, but this matter is very troublesome.” He paused, his fingers unconsciously tapping against the armrest of his chair. “I won’t say I understand how you feel, and I don’t plan to waste my breath stopping you. But I hope you only make your move when you’re confident.”
“He’s very strong?” Feng Xue raised his brows slightly.
“He himself isn’t much, but if this man dies, the trouble won’t stop.”
Xie Miao’s words carried implication. Feng Xue nodded and took out a chip—
“I understand.”
“…” Xie Miao took the chip, and it was as if he had become a different person, immediately entering a strictly businesslike state:
“A few days ago, the gendarmerie swept through the garbage district, creating vacancies among the gangs and triggering quite a few conflicts. You should know that better than I do.”
“So he’s a gang leader?” Feng Xue understood. Xie Miao nodded, then shook his head—
“He did want to put together a gang, and then he wanted to find a cybernetic doctor to join. He asked around and heard that the best doctor in the rusted district was Old Jiang. Then Old Jiang refused. This guy felt Old Jiang wasn’t giving him face, so…”
Xie Miao made a shooting gesture. Feng Xue, however, looked completely dumbfounded. He had imagined that Old Jiang might have been a hidden agent whose secret was discovered and who was executed as a result. He had also imagined that Old Jiang might have been a retired underworld boss hunted down by enemies. At the very least, it should have been because he accidentally saw something he shouldn’t have and was targeted for it. But never, ever had he imagined that it would be something so…
“Absurd!”
“Yes, very absurd. Under normal circumstances, even if a cybernetic doctor refused, no one would take action. But this Theodore just happens to be someone who doesn’t follow the rules.” Xie Miao added a little water to his teacup and sighed.
“That’s just how Saint Lotham is. No one knows what kind of ridiculous reason the person in front of them might have for opening fire. Old Jiang was careless, so he died.”
“Where is this man now? What about his gang?” Feng Xue did not care about that. He directly asked what concerned him most.
Hearing this, Xie Miao sighed and said:
“That’s exactly what I was about to say—he felt gangs in the garbage district weren’t fun, so he went back to the blocks.”
“Bang!”
As for a machine avatar that doesn’t use source energy, there’s absolutely no advantage there!
First of all, there’s the control system. Advanced AI requires sufficient computing power, and ordinary individual combat cybernetic bodies can’t withstand that. Five-star ones can barely manage, but five-star computing units don’t just burn a little money—and that’s assuming you can even get an AI of that level.
If you use remote control, then how do you guarantee precision and real-time feedback? Even a delay of 0.1 seconds can get you beaten into paste. And with just one signal jammer, you lose the body.
Then there’s control precision. Relying solely on mechanical technology to control an avatar is just like playing a game. If you use a controller to operate an avatar, the flexibility and precision are definitely far, far worse.
When you add it all up, burning money is actually the least notable drawback.
As for installing biological-brain wetware… how is that any different from directly raising a deathsworn?