Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

April 17th

Golden Chamber, Execution Day, Clash of Dragon Sha North

Today is an auspicious day, good for going out and moving homes.

All of these are just nonsense from Gao Gong, the only important reason being that today at 12 o’clock is the day players go online.

Early in the morning, Gao Gong sent Gao Yuanyuan to the entrance of the Welfare Institute. Watching this younger sister waving goodbye, Gao Gong smiled lightly, took a deep look at the Welfare Institute, and turned to leave.

”Is he your guardian, so young?” The Dean suddenly appeared, curiously.

”Yes, he is a doctor and a good person.”

”Why not invite him in?”

”It’s not convenient, there are other children here.”

”That’s true.”

The Dean nodded and turned to walk into the dormitory, ”Get up quickly, you lazy worms, your Sister Yuanyuan is here!”

”Ah, is Sister Yuanyuan here?”

”I want Sister Yuanyuan to help me brush my teeth.”

”Who took off with my pants, Zhang Feng is very angry, and the consequences are serious!”

...

At the entrance of the arcade, two thugs carrying chainsaws looked Gao Gong up and down. Three days apart, one must treat them with new respect. In just a few days, the 3D green dragon around him, the gang forehead protector embedded in his forehead, and the color-changing jacket recently popular in the Nightless City—this set of three hooligan essentials was complete.

”Who are you?”

Before Gao Gong could answer, Leaky hurriedly walked out and gave these two unruly youths a slap.

”Take out your eyeballs and wipe them clean, this is our White Paper Fan strategist!”

”So it’s the Master, hello, Master, please come in.”

The unruly youths’ expressions changed to one of fawning.

Gao Gong smiled and walked straight in.

The cyber arcade was reminiscent of a 90s arcade, with various game stickers on the walls, virtual experience machines scattered about. Around thirty or forty people filled the area, and a stale sour smell lingered in the air.

The players ranged from teenagers to urban professionals to seventy or eighty-year-olds. Gao Gong even saw a robot addicted to gaming.

The commonality among them was the electrodes attached to their temples.

Though the types of games they played differed, the effects were equally vivid—a motion illusion from ’High Jump Grand Canyon,’ a flying illusion from ’Flight Battlefield.’ The electrode pieces could perfectly simulate real-life experiences.

Additionally, some puzzle games simulating killing the boss or sleeping with celebrity idols could thoroughly engross people.

These were not normal people but about twenty members of the Cyber Race.

Gao Gong’s gaze fell on a signal tower in the center of the arcade. This tower collected players’ sensory signals, then transmitted them to a company’s internal network to stabilize network signals.

This was the infrastructure of the Nightless City.

One of the professionals was foaming at the mouth and convulsing. Leaky signaled someone to drag him out quickly.

”I, I, I can still play!” the professional struggled.

”Play, my ass! Deadbeat, look at how many bars your signal still has?” Leaky rolled his eyes and said, ”Go back to reality and repay your corporate loan.”

The professional cried loudly, clawing at the ground, unwilling to leave.

”No, no, I don’t want to go back, I don’t want to...”

”Master, please come in, please come in,” Leaky nodded and bowed, opening an office door. Sure enough, the Dragon Head, Gao Jin, was inside. As soon as he saw Gao Gong, his eyes lit up.

”Double happiness, double happiness!”

”I count as good news, what’s the other?”

Gao Gong unceremoniously plopped down across from the Dragon Head.

”The Machine Gang, who we’ve been fighting with these days, their boss, an advanced combat robot, suddenly suffered an electronic mechanical runaway last night, slaughtering at Sanye Street, even going after mechanical eyeliner, but ended up getting smashed to scrap by those big-eyed ones teaming up.”

”Look, here’s its body.”

Gao Gong took the photo. The more he looked, the more familiar the corpse was. Damn, wasn’t this the drug dealer from yesterday online?

”Today the sun shines brightly, and the timing is right. It’s time to make a decisive move and take Sanye Street! But the enemy’s firepower is too strong, so what can we do, Master?”

”Do you have any captives?”

”Yes, come here!”

Soon, a member of the Machine Gang was dragged up. Gao Jin glanced at Leaky, who pulled out a Dog Leg Blade and smashed the hilt hard against the elbow.

The person let out a hysterical scream, then was muffled with a towel. As he was hit, gun barrels suddenly emerged from his palm to forearm—five circles in total, like a rotating machine gun, the roller stimulated to turn, but unfortunately, there were no bullets.

”What is this, the latest model of gorilla arms? Quite strong firepower.”

Five circles of gun barrels, each circle with ten barrels, ensuring at least 50 bullets per second, enough to turn anyone below level 10 into a sieve.

The level of street warfare in the Nightless City is indeed quite high.

”Where’s his ammunition stored, is there any anti-shock equipment?”

Leaky lifted his opponent’s shirt. His lumbar sides had been hollowed out and filled with ammo chains, while his back had undergone elaborate thickened modifications.

”So you’re saying, each person is like a mobile Gatling machine gun, and you can actually fight them to a draw?”

Gao Gong looked at Leaky in astonishment. If each of them had a machine gun, their firepower wouldn’t be much different from the Security Corps.

Leaky’s old face turned a little red. He hesitated a few times and said, ”Not everyone in the Machine Gang is modified to that level, and these things jam easily.”

Gao Gong picked up the other’s arm, and surrounding the ”barrel” were ominously protruding bundles of nerves.

”So it’s neural direct-control equipment. The opponent’s neural system can’t control the machine gun well?” Gao Gong fell into deep thought.

If the opponent was only experimenting with this mechanical arm, there’d be no need for neural connections, but from their goal, it seems they wanted to verify if the neural system could control heavy weaponry.

Seeing Gao Gong not speak, Gao Jin’s eyes flashed with a hint of color, and he laughed boldly, ”According to my informants’ reports, there’s such modification technology on their turf. If Master can help us take them out, these technical documents will be offered to Gao with both hands.”

Gao Gong snapped back to reality and smiled, ”It’s actually not hard to deal with them. Since they’re using connected weapons, throwing in an EMP bomb or two can solve the problem.”

”EMP bomb, what’s that?”

”Idiot, how do you not know this!” Gao Jin gave Leaky a heavy slap and then asked seriously, ”What is it?”

Gao Gong briefly explained the principle of electromagnetic pulses. Gao Jin, however, showed a difficult expression.

”This advanced kind of bomb can’t be bought in ordinary weapon stores. Even if you can get it from the black market, it’ll definitely take time. Opportunity knocks but once!”

Gao Gong looked at him and said, ”If that’s the case, I can make some modifications for you, but this kind of modification must be within ten meters to be effective. Can you guarantee breaking into the enemy’s ten-meter range?”

Gao Jin gritted his teeth, ”No problem!”

Soon, a special whip-like weapon was designed by Gao Gong.

Name: Lightning Five-Chain Whip

Category: Electrical Weapon

Quality: Fine-

Weight: 2.5kg

Operating Mode: Manual Switch

Auxiliary Module: Electric Current Module

Note: As soon as it unleashes its elastic energy, it’s as fast as a storm, swift as lightning.

The entire weapon resembles an upscaled version of a ’Single Molecule Line’ ejector. The electric whip it ejects uses the principle of an electric baton.

The only distinguishing feature is the addition of ”Electronic Mechanical Runaway” street modification technology.

At a gym in the Welfare Gang’s base, Gao Jin had ammunition strapped to a captive and thrust him and Leaky into the iron cage used for boxing matches. The door was locked tight, making it clear only one would come out alive.

”Isn’t this too dangerous?”

”That depends on whether Master’s equipment is good enough.”

Leaky squinted his eyes into slits, like a wolf, the embedded diesel engine humming as he moved. As a top fighter in the gang, he had absolute confidence in his strength. Almost the instant the opponent raised a hand, Leaky launched himself, moving so fast he left afterimages behind, and with a backhand flick, a black shadow flashed out, hitting the opponent’s arm at high speed.

With a ’crack,’ the captive’s weapon malfunctioned.

Leaky danced around like a fish in water, maneuvering around the opponent. A continuous series of black shadows flashed by, and on the third strike, the opponent’s right hand exploded, flinging out a dozen electronic components. The remaining gun barrel could no longer rotate, and thick blue smoke rose from the opponent’s bloodied arm.

Without a doubt, the experiment succeeded!

”Hahaha, well done!” Fat Gao Jin strode over and gave Leaky a heavy slap on the back.

Leaky was also a bit surprised at how effective the electric whip was. He could clearly feel that with just one use, the opponent’s machine gun arm would become ineffective, and this effect wasn’t limited to just one type of weapon; it seemed to work against other implanted weapons as well.

”How many of these weapons did Master make?”

”Ten of these electric whips!”

”That’s enough, enough. This time, we’re flattening Sanye Street! Master—”

Gao Jin turned around only to find that Gao Gong had disappeared.

”Where’s Master?”

”Master has already left.”

A trace of gloom flickered across Gao Jin’s eyes but quickly disappeared.

”Hahaha, it seems Master has great confidence in us. We will repay Master’s efforts with the heads of men!”

”By the way, Dragon Head, what do we do with that loser?”

Gao Jin glanced back, snorted coldly, ”Feed him to the dogs!”

...

Gao Gong returned to his small shop on Hanging Street, propping his legs on the counter, watching the forum while also keeping an eye on the electronic clock on the wall.

’Are the brothers ready?’

’Always ready!’

’My game name is ”Love You Ten Thousand Years,” remember to add me when you come in, big shots.’

’Can we choose race? Can we choose profession? I’m totally lost.’

’Why worry so much? Just charge in and get it done!’

As the clock hit twelve, Gao Gong knew that the players were online!