Secrets on the tip of the tongue? (Seeking collections, follow-ups, and monthly votes)

He Ao's gaze shifted to the child's pistol. Under the dim light, the pistol reflected a sheen that only plastic would have.

The gun in the child's hand should just be a toy gun.

Selina also turned around at this moment. She subconsciously wanted to pull He Ao behind her. Firearms wouldn't hurt her, but they would hurt He Ao.

But He Ao slowly squatted down. He lowered his head to the same height as the little boy's head. The little boy nervously pointed the 'gun' in his hand at He Ao's forehead.

He Ao showed a gentle smile, held the hot dog in his hand, and offered it to the boy, "Can I trade this hot dog for the gun in your hand? This is a trade, not a robbery, it's legal."

The little boy glanced at the hot dog in He Ao's hand, swallowed, his throat bobbing slightly. He nodded, "Okay."

As he spoke, he snatched the hot dog from He Ao's hand and ran into the dark street beside them where the streetlights were broken.

But after only a few seconds, he ran back and placed the 'gun' in his hand about a meter or two in front of He Ao.

Then he darted away again.

This was a child who kept his promises.

Watching him run off, He Ao stepped forward and picked up the 'gun'.

The gun was very light, indeed a toy gun. He Ao opened the magazine, and there was only one plastic bullet inside, stained with a bit of mud. It looked like it had been reused many times.

He put the gun away, casually tucking it into his pocket. As he stood up, he met Selina's slightly smiling gaze.

"Sorry," He Ao felt a bit awkward. After all, that hot dog was bought for him by Selina. Using someone else's things to do a good deed, and doing it right in front of them, was indeed a bit improper.

So he naturally walked into the line to buy hot dogs, smiling, "This hot dog has really whetted my appetite. I'll queue up to buy another one. Is there anything else you want to eat? I'll treat you to something too."

He Ao hadn't eaten all day and had just exerted himself intensely, so he was indeed a bit hungry. Buying another one would also show that he wasn't saying the hot dog Selina bought was bad, but simply that he had given it away due to an unexpected situation.

Selina held the hot dog, thought for a moment, and tilted her head, smiling, "A cup of cola."

He Ao queued for another half hour before he could buy a hot dog.

The one Selina had bought for him earlier was actually a 15 Federation dollar Super Invincible Giant Luxury Hot Dog, basically the most expensive hot dog in the store.

A 15 Federation dollar hot dog, when He Ao's daily wage was only a little over a hundred. But he still bought it, enduring the heartache. Compared to this hot dog, cola was much cheaper, only 1.5 Federation dollars.

He Ao bought a hot dog and two cups of cola, walked back to Selina's side, and handed her a cola.

His blonde boss, if she wasn't earning a particularly high salary, was a small rich woman.

"Won't we miss anything like this?"

He Ao looked curiously at the entrance of the 'Crown Casino' opposite them. The two of them didn't look like they were out for work, but rather like they were out for fun.

"It's fine, I'm watching."

Selina took a bite of her hot dog and answered vaguely.

He Ao also took a bite of his hot dog, drank his cola, and looked at the magnificent golden entrance.

Just then, he suddenly froze.

As the food went down, he felt a tiny bit of energy appear in his throat.

His brain quickly worked, recalling the lines in the small book that involved the throat. Soon, he found it.

The second page of this book contains information about the pathways related to the throat. This path is also very short. Starting from the throat, it goes through the left shoulder, elbow, to the index finger and returns, then goes through the left shoulder, throat, nasal cavity, circles around, goes through the right shoulder to the right index finger, and returns to the throat to end.

He Ao tried to follow the path described on the second page, but these energies were depleted as soon as they left his throat.

Even after finishing the entire hot dog, these energies did not break through the area of his throat.

However, this also opened up a new line of thought for He Ao. Not only is there energy in the air, but there is also energy in the food he eats.

But his stomach capacity seemed limited. After eating this large hot dog and a cup of cola, he was already slightly full.

It seemed that these energies were not converted from food; they simply existed in the food and entered the body as the food was consumed.

If food itself is a storage medium, then does different food contain different amounts of energy?

"Let's go, to the car."

Selina finished eating and drinking and threw the packaging bag into the nearby trash can.

He Ao followed suit, throwing away his trash and getting into the car with Selina.

As he got in, the car door instantly closed, the convertible's rain cover slowly unfolded, and the car windows slowly rose, turning into a dark, one-way mode.

Pop-up windows appeared on the car windows, and the huge windshield in front of He Ao also slowly turned dark. Dozens of surveillance screens were neatly arranged on the dark windshield.

This huge windshield was also a display.

And these surveillance feeds basically covered every corner of the entrance of the 'Crown Casino'.

"This is?"

He Ao was shocked by this sudden sci-fi scene.

"What's in my field of vision," Selina shrugged, "These are all images captured by the cameras installed on this car."

So Selina had just said she was watching; she really had been watching the whole time.

"So we have to keep staring at these surveillance feeds?"

He Ao looked at the dense screens in confusion.

"No need," Selina reclined the driver's seat, "I've set up similarity capture. When someone suspected to be Mu Xiu appears, the system will automatically alert. I'll sleep for a while. If there's an alert, just wake me up. The Crown Casino only has this one entrance, so we just need to guard here."

"Aren't we going in to search first?" He Ao asked, somewhat confused, "What if Mu Xiu got here before us?"

"The Crown Casino is nominally owned by the Money Rat Gang, but it's actually an industry controlled by the Dawn City Grain Group and the Nord Financial Consortium through multiple layers of indirect shareholding. We can't get in without a valid reason. However, they will 'self-inspect' the casino's internal staff to confirm that Mu Xiu hasn't mixed in. We just need to guard the outside."

After Selina finished speaking, she closed her eyes. Her chest rose and fell slightly, and her breathing became even, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

If He Ao hadn't wrapped his tentacles around Selina once before, he sometimes wouldn't realize that this was a purely mechanical body.

Her body was too much like a human's.

During the novice mission, the system would still label Selina as a 'Cybernetic Human'. Now, this label was gone, which seemed to be a benefit only for novices.

He Ao leaned back on the sofa, opened his personal device, and searched for 'Dawn City' in the search bar.

Now, he finally had the leisure to carefully learn about this city.

And at the end of this street, a figure shrouded in a black hood, standing far away, looked up at the magnificent casino.

Then he casually stopped a passerby.