Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 31: Chapter 25: Fire Grass and the Cat

”Sir, what would you like to see first, intelligent firearms, close combat weapons, or ammunition?”

”Ammunition.”

The robot led Gao Gong to a display cabinet, swiping its hand over the magnetic strip, and the bulletproof glass slowly opened.

”T1 Incendiary Bullet, featuring a new structure that integrates a steel core and explosives. Its explosion generates flames and scatters steel shrapnel.”

”T5 Armor-Piercing Bullet, with a quenched high-carbon steel tip, capable of penetrating the hide of radiation beasts below D-class.”

”W6 Sniper Bullet, enhances penetration by 11% more than standard sniper bullets, and its specially designed blood groove accelerates bleeding.”

”Black Tracer Bullet, emits toxic smoke that disperses beasts, a specialty of our Security Corps.”

”Virus Bullet...”

Gao Gong pondered.

In terms of purchasing power, 1 Contribution Point is equivalent to 10 Mechanical Coins.

Ordinary bullets are not worth much money and don’t need to be bought from the military supply warehouse; ordering directly from regular weapons stores will suffice.

Some specialized ammunition is more expensive; 1 Contribution Point can only exchange for one bullet.

What the robot just introduced all belonged to intermediate bullets used by the security and peacekeeping forces of Nightless City.

Even if these bullets hit a Reaper, they could cause additional damage.

These bullets cost 2 Contribution Points each.

Without hesitation, Gao Gong purchased one hundred of each type, a total of seven types of ammunition, costing a total of 1400 Contribution Points.

”No more bullets; show me Nightless City’s latest prosthetic bodies.”

”Alright.”

The three major military contractors each have different styles. The Tabor Defense System is focused on firepower, specializing in equipping prosthetics with large-caliber firearms, such as implanted rocket launchers, shoulder-mounted mini-cannons, and palm flamethrowers. Even their close combat prosthetics are highly aggressive, with siege hammer mechanical legs, retractable chainsaw blades, and flaming whips; gorilla arms are one of their flagship products.

Their main clientele isn’t individuals but the Mechanical Legions of major Mechanical Cities.

Meanwhile, Marubeni Global Security dominates land, sea, and air, emphasizing mobility and specializing in battlefield adaptability; their prosthetics lean towards increasing survival capability—bionic lungs enhancing lung capacity, adrenaline boosters for temporary seed bursts, and metabolic editors capable of detoxifying poisons, among others.

Their product range is the largest too.

Gao Gong lingered at their booth for a long time; with his Contribution Points, he could purchase one or two implant gadgets.

Or DIY one himself.

”Give me a roll of load-bearing single molecule line, a handheld ejector, and a combat battery.”

”Sir, we offer implanted energy lines, high-temperature lines, and viper lines here.”

”No, I just want these.”

The robot didn’t insist further and quickly assembled the equipment, costing another 600 Contribution Points.

”Gao, are you planning to craft equipment yourself?”

Gao Gong turned his head to find a charming red-haired woman in a denim jacket. However, when she turned around, it was somewhat chilling.

Her charming face was only half; the other half was a metallic face implant, so her hair was also only half, shaved into a Mohawk.

”Three-Handed Daisila, are you here to buy weapons too?”

Daisila extended two hands amicably; her right hand, like her right face, was mechanically transformed, with two mechanical arms on the right and a normal arm on the left.

Gao Gong hesitated, and Daisila smiled apologetically and retracted the upper arm.

”Old problem, it’s my nerve coordinator.”

Gao Gong laughed heartily and shook hands with her.

Three-Handed Daisila, the captain of the Fire Grass Hunting Squad, was also a pretty famous mechanical hunter in Automobile City.

”You’re not here to recruit me, are you? I’ve had enough to drink today.”

”Of course not. You may be strong, but our team has fixed members, and forcing cooperation isn’t suitable.”

Daisila said seriously, ”But we can share information.”

”Battlefield intelligence sharing?” Gao Gong pondered. As an old hand in Automobile City, he knew each hunting squad’s style—some domineering, some sinister, some liked to snatch spoils, others stabbed teammates in the back.

Fire Grass was quite reputable locally.

”All right,” Gao Gong readily agreed, his eyes glancing at her hover cart with several large-caliber weapons on top.

”It seems your squad plans to seize this opportunity to go big.”

”Of course, we can’t be mercenaries forever, can we?”

Gao Gong nodded, and they exchanged communication codes. Daisila was about to say more when a sweet voice rang out.

”Daisila, are you ready? We’re leaving, you know.”

A short girl squeezed between the two, bowing deeply to Gao Gong first before saying, ”You must be the famous Mr. Gao. I’m Matsushima Keiko, fifteen years old, and I like women.”

Matsushima Keiko raised her head, and in her big, round eyes, there was an aura of killing intent unique to a swordsman.

”Mr. Gao, Keiko likes Daisila, so you should keep your distance, or else Keiko will have to slice you up.”

”Keiko, that’s rude!”

”Oh,” Keiko pouted aggrievedly, then extended a finger, ”But he doesn’t look like a good guy, Daisila.”

”Handsome men are never good people; that’s what my mom told me.”

Gao Gong looked toward Matsushima Keiko’s waist and saw that she had two samurai swords hanging on each side, with equipment resembling ’Electromagnetic Exciters’ on the scabbards.

But the other’s arm was slender and pale, not matching her rosy cheeks.

”High-fidelity arm prosthetic, knife holder type from Sub-human Continent.”

Matsushima Keiko’s expression changed, surprised that a country bumpkin could recognize the origin of her prosthetic body at a glance.

Sub-human Continent is a district of Nightless City, separated from other districts by a river, mostly inhabited by natives of this continent, rich in martial virtue.

So she’s someone from the city looking to strike gold in the desert, no wonder she’s so ambitious.

”Contact me if there’s a chance in the future,” Gao Gong smiled at Daisila, then looked down and said to Matsushima Keiko, ”So did your mom ever tell you, a flat-chested loli is not a good loli.”

Matsushima Keiko flew into a rage, jumped up to kick Gao Gong’s knee, but was directly grabbed by the collar by Daisila’s three hands and dragged away like luggage, her shouting could be heard from afar.

”Daisila, let go, this man is too rude, I’m going to kill him!”

”Can’t you be quiet for a moment?” Daisila’s helpless voice came over.

”Oh, by the way, I also ordered some parts, please help me place the order.”

Gao Gong smiled, didn’t take this little interlude seriously, and handed a piece of paper to the robot, which listed mechanical parts.

These weren’t for him, but for his ’future’ teammates.

”Okay.”

The robot went to get parts for Gao Gong, and Gao Gong didn’t intend to watch further.

Over two thousand contribution points are considerable, but compared to the results of those famous hunting squads after a long time, it’s not much.

The prosthetics here are fine, but he trusts the blueprints he developed himself more, who knows if these military contractors left any backdoors in the prosthetics.

”Hello!”

A ’cat’ suddenly jumped onto the counter, examining him up and down:

”Your physique is excellent!”

”What’s good about it?”

The cat’s eyes scanned around, nodded seriously: ”The system is very balanced and stable, that’s great.”

”Oh.”

”Are you interested in buying our weapons?”

”Your weapons, who are you guys?”

”Mas Sharpness, you browsed the other two shops but didn’t visit our booth.”

”Isn’t that because I’m broke.”

Gao Gong chuckled, who would dare use your prosthetics? Others merely experiment with weapons, but you experiment directly on humans.

”No worries if you’re broke, I’ll lend them to you, just return them when you’re done,” said the ’cat’.

”So generous?”

”Of course, our main objective is to collect weapon performance data.”

”So how they’re used is up to me?” Gao Gong was intrigued and asked.

”Certainly,” the ’cat’ looked at Gao Gong like he was an idiot, ”Besides, how else would you use weapons? Just use them directly.”

”All right, then pick two for me, I’ll return them when I’m done. But let’s be clear, if they break, don’t ask me to cover it.”

”Don’t worry, our company sincerely serves customers with guaranteed returns, exchanges, and repairs, with a satisfaction rate in Nightless City close to 100%.”

As long as we eliminate customers who don’t give good reviews, the reviews will all be positive.

Thinking about Mas Sharpness’s future operating style, these ratings are definitely manipulated.

Moments later, Gao Gong drove away from the military supply warehouse in his broken SUV, with a big bag of bullets, a pile of mechanical components, and two beautifully packaged boxes.

First, he transported these items to his secret base, then drove to Little Finger’s black market, only to find nobody was there, so he went to the Rose Petrol Bar, to find nobody still.

Luckily, Little Finger had left him a message.

”Brother Finger said, Brother Gao, the things you requested are ready and stored in the warehouse, plus a big item, but it’ll take a few more days.”

Gao Gong had them bring out the items, which were ten boxes of Nutrition Paste, barely fitting in the SUV.

As for the big item Gao Gong ordered, it was, of course, the armored assault vehicle he’s been yearning for.

Normal channels wouldn’t get military regulated items, but isn’t there a black market?

All the hunting proceeds, plus earnings from the first batch of ’skin’, were put together to order this ’early-retired’ military vehicle.

”Alright, I’ll be off then.”

”Take care, Brother Gao.”

Gao Gong drove the car to the outskirts of the metropolitan area, as instructed by Huang Yuanli, lit some special oil tree leaves not far away.

The fire wasn’t big, smoke wasn’t heavy, but the signal could be received by the Electronic Bee’s special organs.

Soon after, a pocked face cautiously emerged from behind the tree.

”Excuse me, are you Mr. Gao?”

”Who’s asking?”

”I’m a member of the Cable Tribe, Sister Lii sent me.”

”Sent you over, where is she?”

Pocked face’s eyes flickered: ”She, she’s very busy now, can’t get away.”