The Real Hunt Begins

Seven martial artists of the same tier—and the leader was even the Black Mech Gang's action squad captain, covered in high-grade mechanical modifications. Even a Tier 1 Peak would have to think twice before taking him on. This human martial artist might be powerful among Tier 1s, but he definitely wouldn't survive."

"..."

The figure beneath the black robe fell silent, then finally let out a helpless sigh.

"How's Sister Xi Guang?"

"The Sin City Council sealed off that block. No one can get in or out. If even Xi Guang can't break through, sending all of us in wouldn't help."

The middle-aged man's expression darkened. He sighed and looked back at the television.

Beneath Old Capital's night sky, a dull rumble rapidly approached.

Jiang Xiao raised his sniper rifle and fired several shots in succession, disrupting the routes of the three vehicles. He then picked up the sniper rifle and left the rooftop, entering a building with complex terrain.

The surveillance satellite immediately lost sight of him.

That did not prevent Sin Capital and the Alliance Military Starport from knowing the final result. They only had to see who came out of the building.

Three Armored Jeeps violently crashed into the hall. Seven alien martial artists quickly disembarked—three close-combat fighters and four wielding large-caliber rifles. They advanced in mutual coordination!

The alien in a coat dual-wielded shotguns and took the lead, darting into the building.

At a corner somewhere in the middle level, Jiang Xiao checked the radar map and discovered that the seven red markers had advanced toward his position without the slightest hesitation. He immediately understood.

"Looks like they have something similar to a Personal Terminal."

Jiang Xiao was not flustered in the slightest. Besides its heaven-defying Datafication function, Origin Data was also extremely powerful when enhancing and interfering with mechanical constructs!

For example, he could temporarily double the performance of the Source Energy Battle Blades!

It could greatly enhance the sniper rifle's electromagnetic generator as well, indirectly increasing its kinetic damage. Jiang Xiao was confident he could even contend with a Tier 1 Peak.

What was more, the Source Energy signals scanned by their Personal Terminals were still within the Tier 1 range.

Stealth was useless now. In that case, he would take the initiative!

Jiang Xiao, holding the sniper rifle, rushed out and rapidly advanced toward the seven red markers. At the same time, he had already loaded a bullet into the rifle!

The advancing martial artist squad immediately noticed the situation. The burly alien's eyes narrowed.

"He dares to attack us first? Push forward. The moment he shows himself, open fire with everything you've got!"

"Yes!"

Four rifles firmly covered the corridor ahead as the seven martial artists quickly slowed their pace.

The burly alien watched the red markers on the radar map draw closer and immediately signaled them to prepare to attack.

However, the red marker stopped at a position separated by at least three walls.

Before it could figure out what was happening, a shrill whine echoed out. The concrete wall diagonally to the right exploded, and a streak of light that had scraped sparks from the air arrived in an instant!

One-third of a rifleman's torso vanished.

"???"

What was that? Was that damn thing an X-21 sniper rifle?!

You've got to be kidding! Even the X-22 was only this powerful!

The burly alien was horrified and immediately roared, "Open fire! Suppress them! Attack the breach in the wall!"

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Three tongues of flame erupted and shot into the gap at the end of the corridor blasted open by the sniper rifle.

The burly alien and the other two close-combat martial artists charged toward the breach from both sides. The burly alien smashed through the two-inch-thick wall with one punch, charging forward like a tank with legs!

Even reinforced concrete walls were as fragile as tofu before it.

In the adjacent corridor, Jiang Xiao's eyes widened. "Three reinforced walls couldn't hold you back for five seconds? What the hell, bro? Even a Tier 1 Peak shouldn't be this fierce, should it?"

Sensing that something was wrong, Jiang Xiao raised the sniper rifle and aimed at the direction of the vibrations. A quarter of his Spirit Energy had already burned away, but it burned again. Origin Data surged into the weapon, and the dim sniper rifle suddenly lit up, emitting wisps of electric arcs.

The bullet howled out. At that very moment, the final wall collapsed!

A humanoid creature over two meters tall and possessing four arms stepped out. The highly destructive bullet pierced into its waist, but instead of flesh exploding as expected, sparks flew. The bullet, having lost all its momentum, passed out through its back and bounced off the wall.

"?"

The burly alien looked at the astonished human martial artist and grinned as it tore off its coat, revealing its abnormal body.

Apart from one arm and its head, its entire body consisted of rugged mechanical components. Indicator lights even flashed beneath its outer armor!

Three mechanical arms released pale-red steam. The armor around the burly alien's waist twisted and shattered, but the sniper bullet had barely affected it.

The burly alien took heavy steps, gradually accelerating as it charged toward Jiang Xiao, who seemed frozen in place.

Its tone was savage.

"Although my Source Energy Intensity is only that of a Tier 1 Ordinary Martial Artist, my defense and strength are enough to contend with a Tier 2 Martial Artist!

"Human! This is the power I gained through countless life-and-death battles—the power of 85% mechanical modification, got it?!"

It threw a punch. The terrifying iron fist, wrapped in a fierce gust of wind, smashed toward Jiang Xiao's crotch!

It had not forgotten the order to capture him alive. Even if a Tier 1 Martial Artist lost his lower body, as long as the bleeding was stopped, he could still tough it out and live for two or three days.

However, just as its iron fist was about to connect, a violent, searing pain suddenly surged from its brain. The temperature of its Mechanical Body rose rapidly, and immediately afterward, its Mechanical Body abruptly stiffened and jammed.

A flash of cold light swept past, and the burly alien's consciousness sank into darkness.

After wiping the blood from the battle blade, Jiang Xiao did not look at the headless body crashing down behind him. He shook his head.

"I understand the principle, but why does your cybernetic processor only have a few basic personal civilian data firewalls from a Primary Civilization?"

Under Origin Data's invasion, Jiang Xiao could clearly "see" the Control System data within the other party's mechanical body.

Black Mech Gang Tier 2 Mech Warrior slain · 1510 Experience Points obtained

He decisively raised his Spirit Energy Intensity to 10 points. In an instant, a clear, cool sensation distinct from Source Energy enhancement surged straight into his brain. Whether it was an illusion or not, Jiang Xiao immediately felt that his thoughts had become much sharper.

The environment that had seemed slightly blurry at night also became as clear as day.

Most importantly, the Origin Data flow.

While its intensity had increased substantially, its quantity had grown by at least five times!

He glanced at the panel, pondered for a moment, then poured the remaining Experience Points into Source Energy.

Given the current environment, he needed to focus mainly on improving his hard power. Without mechanical constructs, Origin Data's effects were difficult to display. This time had merely been a matter of luck.

Ten points of Spirit Energy Intensity were enough for him to enhance firearms and battle blades many times.

Source Energy Intensity: 36 (116/200)

Spirit Energy Intensity: 10 (0/300)

Research Slot (1/1): FT Alloy Shuriken Bullet, Research Progress: 1.11% (Estimated time required: seventeen days)

After advancing to become a Tier 1 Esper, he gained one additional Item Slot. The Fusion Slot and Research Slot still only had one each.

Jiang Xiao casually tossed the headless mechanical corpse into the Item Slot, then raised the sniper rifle again and aimed toward the direction from which the gunshots had come.

A short while later—

Jiang Xiao stood in the thoroughly ruined corridor, rummaging through the wreckage for anything useful.

"Hm? Sin City Network Terminal? What the heck is this?"

Chapter 9: The Real Hunt Begins

He picked up an object resembling a cell phone, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Sin City Network Terminal: An item used for virtual network communication through an incomplete Quantum base station network. It is only useful within Sin Capital or the coverage area of a stratospheric base station.

Current Status: Outside network range (Origin Data can enhance its signal reception strength)

It really was a cell phone.

After stuffing it into his pocket, Jiang Xiao continued working. He quickly stripped the mechanical items from the alien martial artists, taking away anything intact and useful while dismantling the rest into parts and carrying away only the circuit boards and other Precision Components.

Aside from the burly alien's Mechanical Body, the most valuable item was the drone.

It was only palm-sized and made almost no noise while flying. It was fast, and its camera additionally possessed functions such as infrared thermal sensing, life-signal detection, and Source Energy signal scanning.

Judging by its crude exterior and the incompatible arrangement of its internal components, Jiang Xiao suspected that it was a drone modified from a personal tactical terminal.

He returned to the rooftop and set up the sniper rifle again.

Because Electromagnetic Rifle bullets had no casings, they could be used directly as long as they were recovered intact. Even now, he still had fifteen bullets left.

He sent the drone around the vicinity for a lap. After confirming there was no danger nearby, Jiang Xiao took out the Sin City Network Terminal and began fiddling with it.

[Please enter password]

Without changing his expression, Jiang Xiao sent Origin Data inside. The untouchable data streams seemed to become tangible, appearing in his mind as a three-dimensional structure.

Several data streams connected directly to the lock screen interface. Jiang Xiao easily found a line of numbers within one of the data streams.

He entered it and opened the terminal.

Jiang Xiao smacked his lips. The device had been cobbled together by hand on the Frontier Prison Star, and its Data Technology was simple enough to make this possible. If the password had been encrypted and the data streams numbered in the tens of millions, even ten thousand years might not have been enough for him to crack it.

After all, he really did not understand Data Technology. He had only been able to paralyze the alien's cybernetic body just now because its data was too crude, allowing him to spot the control code for its core power-supply data at a glance.

Origin Data could trigger the code with the slightest touch.

The Network Terminal lit up, and Jiang Xiao looked over with great interest.

There were not multiple apps as he had imagined. As soon as he entered, he found an interface resembling the front page of a forum. It was divided into several simple sections. Judging by their names, they were probably "Discussion," "Bounties," "Trading," and "News."

The top three posts on the front page were pinned.

[Starport May Relax Restrictions on Data Intelligence Technology for the Frontier Prison Star. Does This Mean Another Insect Swarm Attack Is Imminent?]

[Black Mech Gang Launches New Defensive Hand Cannon · Firefang Type Grenade Launcher, Capable of Killing Tier 1 Elite Warriors. One Bullet Costs Only 200 Sin Coins!]