Hangman Street

After giving up on the mature adult steak, the senior engineer got up and walked into Hanging Neck Street.

This street is a bit like a night market street, with a lot of mobile vendors selling psychotropic drugs, synthetic foods, pornographic DVDs, and gang members with holographic tattoos, virtual dragons and white tigers circling around them. Although it's cringeworthy, it's strangely cool.

After bypassing the two virtual male characters who were actually scantily clad women, the senior engineer couldn't help but rub his ears.

It's so noisy; the loudspeakers on every stall are practically blasting the highest electronic volume.

"Hey bro, wanna play a game? I'll give you free coins."

Dodging a gangster's arm around his shoulder, the senior engineer glanced at the arcade not far away. Through the "Data Brain," he could clearly see a large amount of simulated data converging.

"Cybernetic signal base station."

The simulated signals originate from the human body, so the purpose of arcades is to entice people into them and continuously generate signals.

This can be considered a kind of infrastructure project.

He gave the gang member a cold look and emitted a wisp of radiant beast aura. The gang member immediately knew that the senior engineer was not easy to deal with and left sheepishly.

As the senior engineer walked into the alley of Hanging Neck Street, it was clear that the area had just been renovated, with white bricks of unknown material replaced. However, the buildings on both sides were still very old, with a large number of abandoned power lines crisscrossing in the air like a spider web. The gaps between the buildings were also very small, making it ideal for thieves.

"Hanging Neck Street, Employee Lane 3-301".

The senior engineer looked up, confirmed the building number, and then went upstairs.

Gao Yuanyuan, No. 301.

His relative.

"A 17-year-old girl, orphaned, going through puberty, and without any guidance—she's a bit of a handful."

As you walk down the stairs, large amounts of red paint are splattered on the walls, and rats are squeaking around. However, when the engineer steps on one of them, he misses the target.

"A holographic projection, huh?"

There are rats, there's red paint, but something's missing.

Upon reaching the third floor, sure enough, the four large characters "Pay back your debts" appeared densely on the walls, floor, and door.

"These days, you can't get into the underworld without some skills. They even use holographic technology to collect debts, and it's even equipped with automatic sensors."

"Looks like we won't need the key anymore."

The senior engineer guessed correctly; the peephole and keyhole were blocked. However, there was a clear gap in the door. The senior engineer slowly spat out a bone spike from his fingertip, flicked it upwards, and the door opened.

Meow~

Huh? There's a cat! In the cramped space, a big orange cat stares blankly at the sudden stranger.

"You're a Fel Devourer too?"

The senior engineer touched the other party, but found nothing; a large number of electronic light spots appeared on the cat's body.

"So it's a 3D projection. The hair effect is pretty good."

The senior engineer looked around. It was a one-bedroom, one-living room, and one-bathroom apartment. The living room was very small, and he estimated that the toilet was too small to even fit in. The sound of dripping water was constant, and combined with the dim and cramped environment, it was quite suitable for filming a ghost movie.

Moreover, with the engineer's keen hearing, he could clearly hear faint breathing sounds coming from the bedroom, and in the darkness, it was as if a pale white eye was staring at him.

"Never mind, I'll make do for now and clean up tomorrow."

Dragging the tattered sofa over from the leaky window, and looking around to make sure there was nothing to cover it with, the engineer shrugged.

He took off his coat, spread it on the damp sofa, collapsed onto the sofa, and fell asleep.

Behind the bedroom door, seeing that the engineer had no intention of barging in, the girl breathed a sigh of relief.

In the city that never sleeps, day and night are still easy to distinguish; the moment the neon lights and the glow of various displays disappear, it is dawn.

"Squeak—"

A teenage version of Sadako slowly peeked out from behind the door. After confirming that no one was there, Gao Yuanyuan gently patted her chest.

I have a feeling that something is different at home today.

The leaky window glass was replaced, the leaky faucet in the toilet was fixed, and even the peephole and keyhole were cleared.

The holographic plant on the chipped flowerpot lit up again.

The originally gloomy and terrifying environment was inexplicably filled with a little warmth.

Sadako pursed her lips, then suddenly thought of something, and her eyes widened abruptly.

Oh no! I'm running out of time and I'm going to be late for school!

At this time, early in the morning, the stalls also set up shop one after another. However, due to the special core topography of this planet, vegetarian dishes are more expensive than meat, and natural foods are more expensive than synthetic foods.

But no matter what, it's still better than eating nutritional paste.

"Boss, what do you have to eat?"

"Oh, it's you," the bearded man with sunglasses clearly recognized the man from yesterday.

"Since you've provided me with fresh human bodies, this meal is on me."

What do you have here?

"Maggot pizza, cockroach skewers, rat meat noodles, rat salad."

The senior engineer licked his lips. "Do you have anything vegetarian?"

"You're quite picky," he said, stomping a bowl of rat meat noodles, which was filled with rat meat but had hardly any noodles, onto the table.

"Eat if you want, otherwise stay out of the way!"

"Hehe, everyone knows Old Jack's temper. You're obviously new here, aren't you?"

The senior engineer wasn't angry. He smiled and took the noodles. A glint of mist flashed in his eyes, and a strong killing intent suddenly erupted from Old Jack across from him. However, when he saw the senior engineer eating his noodles with his head down, he paused in confusion for a moment, hesitated for a moment, and then continued to pull his noodles.

Name: Jack K

Race: Cyborg

Occupations: Mercenary Level 25, Bounty Hunter Level 15

Overall Level: 40

Health: 630/1110

Skills: Intermediate Cooking Lv4, Light Weapon Handling Lv7 (Elite), Heavy Weapon Handling Lv4 (Elite), Full Strike Chance Lv9, Battlefield Survival Lv3 (Expert)

Negative Status: Cyber Mental Illness

Template: War Maniac

Note: A powerful mercenary who once made a living by hunting androids is now a street vendor. His past must have a special story.

"There's even a template!"

Generally speaking, only bosses have templates, but that's not always the case; special story protagonists can also have templates.

The City That Never Sleeps truly lives up to its reputation as a high-level map; even while casually eating a bowl of noodles, you can stumble upon a storyline reminiscent of a special forces king in the city.

Why is this rat meat so hard to chew?

After finishing his noodles, the senior engineer decisively got up and left. He decided to leave the character development and plot exploration to the players; he didn't need the meager rewards. More importantly, cyberbullying was a disease that could cause anyone to become ruthless and indiscriminate, so it was best to avoid it.

When Gao Gong strolled to the entrance of the arcade, he found a group of people cleaning up bloodstains. They were all new faces, and the weapons they used were also very new: chainsaws, kukri knives, metal muscles, and metal skin. This rough style immediately brought him back to the radiation desert.

"A new gang, huh? That makes sense, this is the outer city."

The outer city area is home to 90% of the gangs in the city that never sleeps. It is a mixed bag of people and a place where all sorts of people come from different places. It is a classic "battleground". Only by conquering the gangs in the outer city area can one truly gain a foothold in the city that never sleeps.

"Fighting and killing are really scary."

After casually making a comment, the senior engineer found the Wild Wolf Gang's cybernetic doctor's underground clinic according to the address in the information.

Looking at the demolished construction site before him, he was speechless.

"This area belongs to the No. 214 renovation project in the old city. How can I help you?"

At the entrance of the construction site, an elderly robot smoking an e-cigarette immediately switched to question-and-answer mode when it saw the senior engineer approaching.

The senior engineer didn't say anything, but handed over a property ownership certificate.

"You were originally the owner of warehouse number 124, but unfortunately the transaction time has expired, so you cannot receive compensation."

"What will I get in return?"

The robot grandpa has gone offline.

The senior engineer sighed, took out a cigarette, and handed it over.

"The items in warehouse 124 are in the construction site's storage room. Go get them yourself. Also, this cigarette doesn't have enough nicotine. I'll get an e-cigarette next time."

"I'll definitely do it next time."

After dragging a bunch of things out of the storage room, the senior engineer bribed the old robot with a pack of cigarettes in exchange for a small cart. He made three trips back and forth before he finished dragging everything out.

"Please, kind sir, give me a piece of code."

"It's no use talking to me, go find the programmer."

After knocking a robot beggar aside, the engineer finally managed to drag everything up to the third floor.

Looking at the cramped living room, the senior engineer sighed.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, but at least it's much better than being hunted down right after I transmigrated.

The cardboard boxes were opened one by one, and most of them were garbage: wine bottles, electronic comics, expired drinks, and discarded chips.

Fortunately, there were gains in the end.

A number book recording the former members of the Wild Wolf Gang, a projection TV, a portable operating table, a bunch of tools for prosthetic surgery, four prosthetic hands and feet, and more than a dozen blank-level prosthetic plug-ins.

"Not bad, at least we can open for business now."

Machine coins are just factory currency; in Machine City, people use credit points.

In the city that never sleeps, this is called a machine point.

Credits can be exchanged between different mechanical cities.

However, the transactions between factories and machinery cities are generally large-scale commodity transactions.

Therefore, in the short term, senior engineers will have to rely on their own efforts and work hard to earn money.

He took out the phone book, went downstairs to find a public phone booth, and dialed a number inside.

"Who are you? Did the butcher introduce you? Okay, okay, I'll do as he says."

"When are you going to make your move, brother? What? You're not planning to come back into the martial world? You haven't been around for years! What are you planning to do then?"

"The black market near the outer city? Okay, okay, I'll keep an eye out for you."

"Underground renovation? No problem, I'll introduce you to clients."

It is worth mentioning that although the Wild Wolf Gang's stronghold was blown up and its leaders were all killed, precisely because they were all wiped out, its enemies were not completely eradicated.

In other words, it still has a lot of eyeliner.

After making a phone call, the senior engineer went back upstairs, only to find Ms. Sadako hesitating at the door on the third floor.

Miss Sadako also saw the senior engineer.

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