Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

The data sea begins to recede.

The scattered senses start to reorganize.

The final image, under the glow of the sunset’s afterglow, the golden ocean currents cast the last wave.

The world is completely dark.

Gao Gong irritably takes off the headset.

The thrill of entering the Cyber Network is unparalleled, like cleaning every pore of the body.

But once returning to reality, the whole soul feels like shoved into a cramped, bloated box.

That’s why there’s a group known as ’Cyber Race.’

They immerse themselves in the virtual world constructed by data, often staying offline for months or even years.

Gao Gong takes a deep breath, instantly normalizing the various hormones within him.

The irritable mood also disappears with the drop in hormones.

”Come in!”

”Mr. G, the local gangs are really disrespectful!!”

A sociable person, representing the three elements of ’South Korea, slap, fatty,’ walks in, squinting his ruthless little eyes and surprisingly showing a kind and honest smile.

”I’m the Dragon Head of the Welfare Gang, here to pay my respects.” The fatty squeezes out a smile with three layers of wrinkles, slightly bows, and presents a thick red packet.

Gao Gong takes the red packet, opens it, and sees a promissory note from Gao Yuanyuan’s parents, it looks quite substantial, probably around several tens of thousands.

Gao Gong’s complexion eases slightly.

”How should I address you?”

”Gao Jin.”

”Formerly the Gambling God, I’ve long admired your name.”

Gao Gong glances at the opponent’s taut black suit, seeing obvious bulges that don’t match the muscle curves, raises his eyebrows, ”Biological prosthetic body, quality goods.”

”A mere set of components from Black Body Military reproductive body, how could they catch the eye of a Doctor like you,” the suited fatty grins, showing a row of neuroprosthetic teeth flashing with electronic numbers.

Gao Gong looks at the doorway and sees Leaky timidly standing at the door.

”Why doesn’t he come in?”

”The red paint on him is too heavy, afraid of polluting Mr. Gao’s territory.”

Gao Gong looks at Leaky, indeed seeing lots of bloodstains on his two metal prosthetic legs.

So it was you guys fighting earlier?

Gao Gong takes out a cigarette, the fatty, without a word, snaps his fingers, and a flame shoots out from his fingertip.

Gao Gong takes a deep look at the opponent, blows out a smoke ring, and says, ”What’s the matter with me, if it’s about prosthetic transformation, it requires an appointment first.”

”Don’t just stand there, sit down and talk.”

The fatty is very obedient, putting both hands on his knees, his large frame crouches on a small stool, with a comical sense like a bear tearing off corn stalks.

”To be honest, this time I’ve come mainly to invite Mr. Gao to join us and scheme great endeavors together.”

”You want me to work as your dedicated Prosthetic Doctor?” Gao Gong smirks.

As a Prosthetic Doctor, Gao Gong could secure a good position even in a large corporation, and nine out of ten emerging gangs end tragically, why should he wade into such muddy waters?

The suited fatty extends three carrot-like fingers.

”How about thirty percent of net profits?”

”Fifty black market vendors, gaming arcades, three prosthetic body stores, four weapon shops, and the Red Dream Club on the adjacent street, all are territories we’ve claimed.”

”You guys are fast,” Gao Gong is somewhat surprised, not sure about other places, but the Red Dream Club is an old underground venue with deep roots, it’s quite remarkable they’re collecting protection money there.

”Mrs. Mutou is a good friend of ours, we’re running it together, running it together.” Fatty Gao says with a genuine smile.

Gao Gong is moved and asks, ”Have you recruited other black market doctors?”

”Those people are short-sighted, nothing compares to you.”

Gao Gong strokes his chin and says, ”I remember there’s a Prosthetic Doctor on Sanshan Street next door, an old fellow.”

”Fujiwara, that stubborn old one, is so unreasonable, he actually won’t let us in, I’ll chop him sooner or later!” Leaky interjects angrily.

”Shut up!!!” Fatty Gao suddenly turns his head and yells, then turns back with a genuine smile, ”Peace brings fortune, peace brings fortune.”

”Bring me that old bastard’s transformation technology, and I’ll consider helping you.”

”Is that true?”

Gao Gong shrugs, ”Why would I trick you, if he’s not afraid of being killed, I am.”

Fatty Gao stands up, his small mung-bean eyes suddenly emit tangible cruelty, staring hard at Gao Gong, smiling.

”Great! It’s a deal!”

Their speed was indeed fast, barely afternoon, two gangsters show up at the door, silently passing a blood-stained package, Gao Gong opens it to find an old man’s head, with a brain-machine interface on the back of the head.

Gao Gong’s fingers transform, insert into the opponent’s brain-machine, those dull old eyes suddenly light up, the electronic shield flickers for a moment, then dims again.

”The hardware can’t keep up, so what use is your firewall if it’s impressive.”

[You’ve acquired Fujiwara’s Street Technology—Electronic Mechanical Runaway]

”Hmm, it’s actually a rare Negative State for Mechanical Body.”

According to the Note, such ’Electronic Mechanical Runaway’ can increase the chances of a Mechanical Body going out of control during multiple attacks.

If used well, this could be quite a dangerous weapon.

”The collection of two blueprints is complete.”

The reason for the Prosthetic Doctor’s job change is an important reason for Gao Gong to come to Nightless City.

Only Nightless City has enough Prosthetic Doctors and enough exclusive transformation blueprints.

It’s just that these Prosthetic Doctors are like sly rabbits with multiple burrows, possibly even more than a dozen, and finding each one might be very troublesome.

Moreover, once someone discovers that I’m targeting ’Prosthetic Doctors’, then the trouble will be huge.

So letting this South Korean fatty make trouble upfront while I fish in troubled waters from the back is also a good choice.

”Tell your boss, I’ll go to the arcade to find you tomorrow.”

...

Nightless City has six districts: Outer City District, Old Town District, Sub-human Continent, Saint Domingo District, Lower Midtown District, and Upper Midtown District.

The first three are free zones, and the last three are order zones.

And only the Saint Domingo District is the only gangster-ruled order zone in Nightless City, where the ones in charge are not the council, not the corporations, but three super gangs.

Steel Claw Gang, Deep Web Weaver, Powerful Gang

These three gangs have their own media, their own research bases, their own armies, and their technology level is completely on par with some regional corporations.

Gao Gong took the floating rail car to the ’Statue of St. Domingo’ station. As soon as he stepped out of the station, two mechanical transformers surrounded him, looking at Gao Gong dangerously.

’Level 20 Body Knight, isn’t this an exclusive profession of the corporation.’

”Name, citizen ID, and your purpose.”

”G, Deep Web Street.”

Gao Gong extended his hand, allowing the other party to scan his chip.

In Nightless City, gangs are legal organizations, and to some extent, they follow rules even more than corporations.

”The lair of those sticky spiders? What are you going there for?”

One mechanical transformer said with disgust.

”To buy chips.”

It’s well known that in Nightless City, if you want to buy high-level cracking chips, you can only do it in the territory of the Deep Web Weaver, which is said to have a mysterious connection with Cyber Space.

”Go ahead, remember, in Saint Domingo District, no weapons are allowed!”

”Of course, I’m a good citizen.”

Gao Gong flashed an innocent smile, his gaze sweeping over the armed drone behind the other party, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

As a main profession on the transformation side, the biggest feature of the Body Knight is the ability to merge with weapons developed by corporations, their firepower is terrifying.

The base of that drone clearly has an implantation structure.

Even Sky Warriors have been reverse-engineered, tsk tsk, this level of technology is a bit frightening.

Although Saint Domingo District is the second-largest district after Sub-human Continent, there aren’t many pedestrians on the streets, only some lazy elderly basking in the sun.

But there are a lot of cameras here, Gao Gong wandered around three streets and found twenty cameras, covering almost without any dead angles.

Fortunately, Gao Gong didn’t plan to cause any trouble, dutifully arriving at a ’Memory Store’, the storefront was very old, the sign yellowed, as he pushed the door open, a bell rang, but there was no one inside.

The walls and tables were filled with various memory modules.

In the Mechanical Era, memory is a commodity that can be traded; creating fake memories is illegal.

Gao Gong picked up a module, with a line of small words written on it—

’The unforgettable night of newlyweds’

Starting off so stimulating, huh?

Gao Gong shook his head, decided to take it back for proper critique, and picked up another one.

’The first half memory of an old gangster member, some content is distorted due to the long time span.’

’Memory of a bionic man escaping.’

’Mad memories of a cyber psychosis lunatic.’

’Sightings from the Cyber Network ’Night City’’

’Ten pieces of mysterious assassination memories’

”Young people aren’t interested in memory modules anymore,” the back door opened, an old woman tottered in, her eyes exceptionally eerie.

Gao Gong’s pupils shrank, the reproductive soldier body quickly covered his body from inside his clothes.

He had been in Nightless City for several days already, and it was the first time he felt such a strong sense of threat.

This old lady is very dangerous!

”I’m just browsing.” Gao Gong said without a change in expression.

”Hmm, yes, the Cyber Network is so interesting, who would care about such old-fashioned stuff, shedding the shell and returning to one’s true self, that’s what those cyber punks say, right.”

”More or less.”

”Young man, you went online this morning, and it was on Hanging Street in the Outer City District. Even if you’re just browsing, you couldn’t have just wandered here.”

”If you’re looking for some special memories, like evidence of a legislator’s wrongdoing or something, I do have them here, but I can’t give them to you.”

”I understand,” Gao Gong stared at her, suddenly smiled: ”But I saw outside that there are flyers promoting memory blind box gambling, right.”

The old woman was intrigued, ”Oh? You’re interested, but some of those unclaimed memory modules can be very dangerous, are you sure you want them?”

”Of course.”

An hour later, hugging a large cardboard box, Gao Gong entered the station, and only then did the old woman’s gaze vanish.

”Advanced AI, or some kind of human form virus?”

”I just connected to the net once, and someone traced my IP all the way home, this place really is dangerous.”