Chapter 7: I’ll fight you, rich people, to the death.
The nameless kidnapper hadn’t intended to electrocute Xiang Nanli; the pulse he used was kept within a “safe” range.
Xiang Nanli regained consciousness halfway through the transit, his limbs twitching uncontrollably from the residual shock. However, he quickly realized his situation and focused on relaxing his muscles, doing his best to play dead.
“Alpha, am I being carried bridal-style?”
He kept his eyes closed, but he could feel them moving at high speed; the oncoming wind whipped against his limbs, stinging painfully.
Xiang Nanli thought to himself that he had been too arrogant. The outlaws of this world were bolder than he had imagined. Furthermore, as a nobody without status, his disappearance wouldn’t put any pressure on the police. Being kidnapped in such a public place, and the passersby didn’t even give him a second glance!
Oh, right. Before he blacked out, he seemed to hear someone shouting: “Don’t be a busybody! This kid owes our boss money!”
How is this any different from human traffickers from hundreds of years ago lying and saying they were the woman’s husband?
Is your boss a bank? How can you slander someone’s reputation like this in broad daylight?
Xiang Nanli silently gritted his teeth. I’m so pissed off.
The System remained rigid for a moment before replying: “Yes.”
“Then can you help me call the police?” Compared to turning over his income, his personal safety was more important.
System: “Cannot do. He is equipped with a signal jammer; it cannot connect to the network.”
Xiang Nanli said disappointedly, “Fine. Then do you know what this group wants to do?”
The System wasn’t a god; obviously, it didn’t know.
Xiang Nanli was stuffed into a vehicle. Someone used handcuffs to cuff his wrists behind his back, then tossed him into the backseat. The car started up quickly, heading toward an unknown destination.
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t nervous or afraid. Dying once made Xiang Nanli cherish his life all the more. Even if this shitty air cost money, even if his home were in ruins, even if the world were shrouded in a nuclear winter, even if he were lonely enough to never find his own kind again.
But Xiang Nanli knew very well that a mental breakdown wouldn’t solve the problem, and there was no one to solve it for him.
He had been a team leader, a pioneer, an industry trendsetter, the initiator of a technological revolution… Countless halos had been stacked upon him. He had seen himself in textbooks before he even died. Hundreds or thousands of years later, when people talked about AI and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, whether their assessment was praise or slander, he would be an inescapable monument.
While Xiang Nanli was alive, those around him had deified him, hoping he could solve any unknown problem. When he collapsed due to cancer, aside from deep regret, there was also a hint of relief.
Human strength has its limits. Xiang Nanli’s habit was to suppress all negative emotions, pretending everything was still under control, and settle the score with himself later.
Xiang Nanli asked: “Alpha, can you see outside? Can you transmit an image for me?”
“You didn’t install an electronic eye for me,” the System replied.
“Hehe, artificial intelligence is indeed unreliable.”
Alpha felt like it had just been insulted.
Xiang Nanli snuck his eyes open just a crack. Then he couldn’t help but shudder—out of fear.
In the passenger seat, the long-haired man who had kidnapped him was sitting backward, his arms crossed over the back of the seat, smiling at him.
This man was quite handsome. His left cheek had a slight color difference from the right, as if it had been burned, though it wasn’t very obvious. His black, shoulder-length hair was slightly curled and meticulously groomed, smooth and glossy without a single split end; this indicated his material conditions were good—he had a sufficient water supply even on the surface.
His eyes were a dull red with a glowing, uncomfortable pupil ring.
The System said, “Pupil rings, originally the mark distinguishing ordinary humans from omnics.”
The Human Alliance had originally strictly prohibited omnic experimentation, viewing it as a Damocles sword hanging over humanity’s head, just like the AIs. But as the population continued to dwindle and dangerous areas required human exploration, calls to legalize omnic experiments grew louder. Immortality Tech was also a staunch supporter of this technology.
About three hundred and thirty years ago, the Human Alliance finally approved the legalization of omnics. Most rough, inferior omnics only needed a 1-to-2-year accelerated maturation period to grow from infant to adult. However, their lifespan wasn’t long; they could live about 3 years after adulthood before rapidly declining and entering old age. These omnics were often low-intelligence, with physical fitness similar to ordinary humans. However, by injecting cheap hormonal genetic drugs regardless of cost, they could possess physical strength far exceeding that of ordinary people, enabling them to handle dangerous jobs without protective suits.
To reduce the discomfort of the users driving their own kind, the great scientists improved this technology. These omnics would grow a lot of hair, appearing more like apes than humans. As long as they were fed enough, they could spend their lives like worker ants—or slaves—devoted to the masters who created them.
Aside from this lower class of omnics, there was another kind: higher-level omnics. They were infinitely close to real humans, had the same growth periods as humans, and upon obtaining enough citizen points, could enjoy the same rights as Human Alliance residents. To distinguish them from normal humans, these Omnics were implanted with a “pupil ring” as soon as they left the factory.
It was deeply ironic that higher-level omnics, due to genetic modification, were perfect in appearance, strength, and intelligence—yet they were destined to be second-class citizens, treated only slightly better than robots. If one had to say what higher-level omnics lacked, just like AIs, it was “emotions”. They had almost no reaction to feelings and didn’t develop empathy. However, during their growth, many Omnics learned to disguise themselves to better adapt to life. It was just fortunate that their numbers were too small to form a movement, or they would have revolted long ago.
Xiang Nanli keenly captured the qualifier in the System’s words: “Originally? What about now?”
“Now, some trendy young people also get pupil rings on their prosthetic eyes, but to avoid being mistaken for omnics, they only tattoo one half.”
The man’s pupil rings were glowing in both eyes. They hadn’t shown color before because he was wearing contacts.
Xin Zhui reached out a hand: “Let me introduce myself. My name is Xin Zhui. There might be some misunderstanding in the way I found you, but please rest assured, I don’t consider myself a bad person.”
Hehe… villains love to say that.
He wore a black uniform, much like a tactical vest from Xiang Nanli’s past life. The armor covered vital areas like his chest and thighs. Even the electric hand was covered by a black leather glove.
At the same time, a message popped up in Xiang Nanli’s vision.
-[Citizen ID: A******] is applying to exchange social information with you.
-Y/N
In the Wasteland, what was more direct and persuasive than this information exchange? At the very least, information exchanges based on citizen chips were very difficult to fake.
Xiang Nanli chose to agree.
【Xin Zhui】
-Mechanization Level: 9/100
-Mental State Rating: S (How is he this sunny and cheerful???)
-Genetic Modification Count: You do not have permission to view this info
-Characteristics: You do not have permission to view this info
-Employer: Investigation Bureau
…
It had to be said that Xin Zhui’s data was much more detailed than Andrew’s, with three extra lines. It was also possible that Andrew’s sparse personal information simply didn’t have anything worth displaying.
Xin Zhui was very surprised: “You’re actually a Natural Human?”
It’s not easy to live this long. Your family must be quite wealthy, right?
Why haven’t I heard of you? And why don’t you have a name, only a citizen ID number?
Haven’t you registered at the Data Center yet?
Xiang Nanli was stunned: “You’re an investigator?”
Thanks to the blond guy who rescued him, he had a good impression of the investigators.
In Xiang Nanli’s eyes, investigators were basically civil servants within the system. They shouldn’t be kidnapping ordinary citizens.
And what was so important that they had to use him? Wasn’t the Gusu City branch right next door?
No matter how good his skills were, he had only been self-studying for fifteen days!! General maintenance was fine, but if he encountered instruments not in the textbooks, he’d be completely lost.
Xin Zhui nodded: “Yes, we are all from this vehicle. Honestly, we aren’t kidnapping you; we just hope you can assist with an investigation.”
The bald driver was called Rock. The silent, cool guy sitting behind Xiang Nanli was called Bodhi, wearing a string of red prayer beads around his neck. In modern society, not everyone has a surname, and not everyone has parents. A name could be changed once for 1000 credit points. What was far more important than a name was the unique, unchangeable Citizen ID.
Bodhi, the cool guy, held Xiang Nanli’s little backpack: “Security check, huh.”
He dug out the gun from the bag: “Oh, not bad. The official website sells this gun for 120,000, and they don’t even offer discounts during the New Year.”
Bodhi pointed the muzzle at his own temple and pulled the trigger.
Xin Zhui, sitting in the front row, felt his pupils shrink. He instinctively leaned forward and extended a finger—
Even through the layer of the glove, Xiang Nanli could see blue-white electric light lighting up on his fingertip. Xiang Nanli could even smell his own hair burning.
“Bang.”
A bunch of ribbons fluttered out of the muzzle.
Bodhi slapped his thigh and laughed out loud: “I felt the weight was a bit off. This ribbon gun is pretty realistic, right? Did you make it yourself? Very fun.”
“Too bad, this kind of gun can’t kill anyone.”
Bodhi stuffed the toy gun back into Xiang Nanli’s bag.
A flicker of annoyance flashed across Xin Zhui’s face. It was clear that Bodhi had done similar suicidal, dangerous things more than once.
Xin Zhui sat back in his seat and rubbed his temples, seemingly pondering how to explain it so Xiang Nanli would accept it: “Our investigation team set out a week ago. For some time now, mutants have been moving toward a specific coordinate.”
Xiang Nanli had seen this on TV three weeks ago, on the subway.
At the time, passengers had said the Investigation Bureau only knew how to ask for fiscal appropriations and didn’t do any real work.
Xin Zhui: “We originally thought it was a special magnetic fluctuation causing the mutants to mistakenly end their hibernation. But at the destination, we found…”
Xin Zhui stopped instinctively. He was thinking about whether he should tell Xiang Nanli.
A few seconds later, he continued: “A large number of out-of-control omnics and traces of the Black Cross Inquisition.”
But Xiang Nanli intuited that this definitely wasn’t what Xin Zhui had originally wanted to say.
The System offered an annotation at the right time: “Black Cross Inquisition*, a surface-ruin-based black organization with religion at its core. Members are mostly surface relics. They believe the people underground abandoned them, and the only way to survive is to save themselves. Unlike those weaklings underground pursuing mechanical ascension, they are almost all genetically modified humans, holding strong hostility toward underground residents. By the way, the Inquisition is suspected of receiving massive aid from the Omnic Legion. You guys are quite split internally, aren’t you?”
Xiang Nanli: “Don’t you think that sentence of yours has strong subjective bias? Why is pursuing mechanical ascension weak?”
Although he hadn’t undergone mechanical modification, he still had feelings for the “novice village” where he was born.
System: “Ask yourself; I am just an out-of-touch, offline AI. My linguistic style adjusts according to your dialogue.”
Xin Zhui pulled out a photo and placed it in front of Xiang Nanli. Xiang Nanli’s hands were still cuffed, so he had to crane his neck to look.
The shooting time was 6:30 AM. Under a grey, gloomy sky, tattered wire fences stood atop ruins. Thick fog rolled in from the walls. Through the mist, hummingbird drones could be seen hovering in midair, searching for intruders. At the same time, countless flight drones were perched on cable-like wires, like sleeping night hawks.
A massive Crawler was struggling to climb over the wire fence. Scorching electric light had roasted half its body to the point of melting, yet it didn’t seem to notice, its scarlet eyes even revealing yearning and excitement.
On a crumbling metal wall revealing its under-layer, two crosses had been painted with black oil paint. It looked exactly like the word “End” (末) but was missing the last two strokes—it was the mark of the Black Cross Inquisition.
Xiang Nanli memorized the contents of the photo and continued asking: “Fine, but what does this have to do with a law-abiding citizen like me? I pay taxes on time, and I love charity.” (Although it was for tax avoidance, and it had been hundreds of years ago.)
“Vice-Captain, don’t you think you’re saying too much to him?” Rock, who was driving, said. “This counts as confidential content in the investigation report. Or do you want to hit on him? I’ll remind you, his occupation is ‘unemployed’, not the kind of college boy you like.”
The corner of Xin Zhui’s mouth twitched: “We want to apply for support to continue the investigation. But headquarters didn’t agree and demanded we retreat immediately. Our captain didn’t want to give up, so he was injured while sneaking in to search for information. His mechanization level is quite high, and he needs someone to repair him; that’s it. To a machine-modified human like him, you technicians are like doctors.”
System: “He is deliberately hiding something. Normally, the investigation bureau wouldn’t ignore a severely injured employee. If they were worried about being forcibly taken back, is there anything more important than one’s own life? I can’t figure it out. Too bad there’s no internet here; otherwise, we could check the news to see if an investigation team has rebelled.“
“How did you start analyzing it for me on your own?!” Xiang Nanli grumbled, “Are we intimate to that degree?”
The System was silent for two seconds: “Helping to reduce your decision-making costs.”
Xiang Nanli ignored it and blinked innocently at Xin Zhui: “Then can you let me go back after repairing him? Do you really have to entrust such an important matter to me? What if I don’t fix it?”
Xin Zhui smiled, a perfunctory reply: “Let’s try first; we can’t find anyone better.”
Xiang Nanli sighed: “Fine, I promise I won’t call the police. But can you let me connect to the net for one minute? Or you can help me operate it.”
Xin Zhui’s eyebrows arched high, his slender fingers tapping on the seat: “Uh-huh?”
Xiang Nanli found it hard to say, “My credit card is about to be overdue. There’s enough money in the account; I just haven’t made the payment yet.”
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come to the surface to do black-market work. And now he’d almost gotten himself killed doing it.
Xin Zhui: “It’s fine; it will automatically deduct when it’s due. No internet needed.”
“Then the protective suit I rented hasn’t been returned yet.”
“I’ll buy you a set,” Xin Zhui said dismissively.
The protective suit Xiang Nanli was wearing cost 300,000 credit points.
Damn it! I’ll fight you, rich people, to the death.
Xiang Nanli wasn’t sure how fast the car was going, but the rail cars and maglev vehicles in the Underground City were pretty fast. He looked up, and the scenery outside the window changed constantly, so fast he couldn’t see anything but a blur.
Xiang Nanli maintained the position of a criminal suspect for at least two hours before he couldn’t take it anymore: “Brother Xin Zhui. Can you unlock my handcuffs?”
Even though the seat cushion was comfortable and obviously expensive—far better than any bus or subway he’d ridden—his body couldn’t take it. Furthermore, Xiang Nanli had figured out that Xin Zhui definitely held the highest status in this four-person gang. They all called him “Vice-Captain”.
Xin Zhui sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, in a light sleep: “Almost there. Wait a bit. Every ridiculous rule has a reason; I’m really afraid you’ll dismantle parts of the car.”
Many mechanical technicians couldn’t keep their hands still. Even when encountering a nuclear bomb, they’d want to touch it a couple of times first. There had even been more than one news report about a “mechanical technician being kidnapped, only for them to dismantle the car halfway, causing it to crash”. And though Xiang Nanli’s mechanization level was 0, who knew if he was secretly wearing some mechanical exoskeleton?
Xiang Nanli waited another two hours for that “almost.” Fortunately, halfway through, Xin Zhui had humanely cuffed his hands in the other direction, saying he was worried about his hands going numb.
Xiang Nanli was very moved—and secretly held a grudge.
Finally, the off-road vehicle stopped in front of a tunnel.
Late-night fog hung thick in the air, making it impossible to see the road ahead, with only faint red lights flickering in the distance. It was winter, and everything was covered in white snow and ice. The yellow-white snow could almost submerge one’s knees. The railroad tracks on the ground had long since corroded, and countless weeds and vines grew from the gaps; only by trying hard to push them aside could one discover traces of past civilization.
From the fog came the occasional hoarse roar, sounding like monsters tearing each other apart. That must have been the Crawlers coming from various places.
Xiang Nanli was wearing a protective suit, and the filtered air kept him from smelling anything strange. But Xin Zhui could smell a rotten, stinking stench, like rotting meat left in the sun for an afternoon, oozing yellow fluid and crawling with maggots. Disgust, pity, and something else indescribable flashed through his eyes.
These Crawlers… they had once been his kind.
Besides the Crawlers, there were Stalkers, Rippers, and Berserkers. These different categories of mutants were nothing but monsters unleashed by greed.
Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting.
But now wasn’t the time to think about so much. Xin Zhui looked at Xiang Nanli as he walked out of the car, pointing to the tunnel ahead: “Through the tunnel is the shooting spot for the photo I showed you. That’s an industrial hub; the town’s residents are all employees of the same factory. The company is called ‘Donghuang Heavy Industry.’ It hasn’t been cleaned out yet; it’s a Wasteland. But the danger level… hasn’t reached the level of a Forbidden Zone yet.
“However, that’s not our destination. It’s too dangerous. Let’s go.”
Xiang Nanli took the little backpack handed to him by Bodhi and obediently carried it on his back. It should be very cold outside, but fortunately, the protective suit was reliable. Xiang Nanli felt no chill. 300,000 for one piece was actually a fair price.
Xiang Nanli was 1.8 meters tall, not short. But he was surrounded by three tall guys, and wearing the airtight protective suit made him look like a white peanut-person.
The car stopped in front of the tunnel, and Xin Zhui led him up the hillside. Xiang Nanli had people in front and behind, sandwiched in the middle. Centuries had passed, and the path up the mountain was long gone. Occasionally, a bit of stone slab could be seen under the loess. The snow on the mountain hadn’t been cleared and was very thick, making Xiang Nanli’s walk arduous. Usually, Xin Zhui had to walk for a bit and wait about ten seconds, and then he could barely keep up.
And this was traveling by night; Xiang Nanli didn’t dare walk too fast for fear of missing a step and falling. After walking about a few hundred meters, Xin Zhui stopped, turned his head, and asked with a smile: “Do you prefer being carried in arms, or on someone’s back?”
Xiang Nanli: “…Back, please.”
Brother, we’ve only known each other for half a day; carrying each other in arms is still too intimate.
Xin Zhui brushed the dew from his cuffs, found a relatively flat spot, and squatted down: “Get on.”
Xin Zhui was tall and lean, not someone with a “double-door” build. His shoulders were far less broad than Rock’s. But he was surprisingly steady to ride on. He didn’t feel shaky at all in such steep, primitive mountain forests.
On the back of his neck, obscured by his long hair, some black lines were looming. It felt very much like the corner of a product barcode.
Xiang Nanli restrained his unnecessary curiosity. It must be said, an omnic’s body really is good-looking.
With a waist that thin and core strength that high… definitely a body of a predator.
“Xiang Nanli,” the System suddenly spoke, using his full name, its tone as mechanical as ever.
Xiang Nanli was startled: “Huh?”
System: “Nothing, just a friendly reminder. Omnics have erectile dysfunction, so they cannot reproduce offspring.”
Xiang Nanli was dumbfounded: “…Uh, huh??”
Why are you suddenly telling me this?
Hiking for another half hour, Xiang Nanli even heard the murmuring of flowing water. The surrounding slope gradually leveled off. Xiang Nanli saw an abandoned Buddha statue. He didn’t recognize any gods or Buddhas—maybe it was Guanyin, made of stone.
This Buddha statue had fallen to the ground, facing the sky. Its expression remained as compassionate as ever. The snow fell on its face and parted, like winding tears. It was hard to imagine what kind of mood those people had been in to move it here from somewhere else.
Did praying to gods and Buddhas earn you a happy afterlife?
“We’re here.” Xin Zhui set Xiang Nanli down, rubbed his sore arms, and walked forward to knock on the stone wall: “Sister Yan—”
Even in the deep mountains, his voice was very soft.
The hill beside the Buddha statue trembled, a stone door receded, and a woman with short, pink hair appeared in the doorway, letting out a sigh of relief: “Finally back. Hurry, the Captain is about to run out of power.”
Unlike the pitch-black outside, there were electric lights in the mountain cave. Bright places always make people yearn for them. Xiang Nanli admitted that seeing the woman and the lights greatly relieved his tension. Even though Xin Zhui could have removed his kidneys halfway if he wanted to.
“This should have been a human survivor stronghold. Later, after most people died, the stronghold scattered,” Xin Zhui introduced as he walked.
The air content in the stone cave wasn’t high. Fortunately, except for Xiang Nanli, no one had a high demand for air. Rock and the woman named Yan talked for a while. She nodded, took an oxygen tank from a supply box in the corner, and connected it to Xiang Nanli’s protective suit. The burning sensation in his lungs was relieved.
And Xiang Nanli finally saw the machine-modified human he was to save.
Xiang Nanli admitted that when he saw those familiar blond locks, he froze for a full three seconds.
“This is our captain, his name is Xiu,” Xin Zhui introduced briefly. He looked uncomfortable, his voice low: “Burned by corrosive chemical agents.”
Xiu’s appearance looked terrifying and abstract. He was lying limp on a makeshift wooden board, having been carried out. Xiu’s neck was fixed with a brace; his lower body to his waist had disappeared entirely, and only a bicep remained of his left arm. Wires were flying everywhere from exposed parts. The synthetic skin on the surface might have been scalded, turning the same red as the mutants. The only thing intact on his whole body was that handsome face.
A blue electronic heart the size of a fist was beating in his chest. This was the energy core of a machine-modified human.
This is actually a living person?
Beyond the horror, Xiang Nanli felt shock.
Xiu should be conscious; his eyes could still move. His ocean-blue eyes slowly shifted to Xiang Nanli’s face, devoid of much emotion.
Xiang Nanli thought he recognized who this was.
This was the investigator who had fished him out of the cryo-pod and sent him to the hospital.
Oh, and had given him a free shot of genetic medicine, too.
