The warehouse was located in the public freight depot in Automobile City, right in the middle of the oasis.
The people living here were called freightfolk, most of whom had smuggled themselves in from various places.
The dock was at the other end of the warehouse. It bordered the Sulfuric Acid River, and ordinary cargo ships could not move through the sulfuric acid. Only the factories' specialized cross-river conveyor belts could transport goods here.
By the time Gao Gong drove to the dock, the sky had already darkened.
The off-road vehicle slowed down on its own.
However, a loud, ear-piercing horn suddenly blared. Not far away, a large forklift was rampaging through the warehouse. Wherever it went, people hated it and dogs despised it. Many people who had already fallen asleep were jolted awake, crawling out through openings in their cargo containers and cursing loudly.
"Goddamn metal toad! Is someone in your family mourning today?"
"Fuck your mother, are you going to let people sleep or not?"
"I say that Zhao guy should just shoot you dead!"
Although the forklift's behavior earned it plenty of abuse, it somehow avoided hitting even a single cargo box in the public freight depot, which was a haphazard, maze-like place. Its driving skills were truly impressive.
Pang Xiang stared blankly at the metal head on the hood and suddenly said, "Wasn't this guy dead?"
"What makes you say that?" Gao Gong asked.
"I saw it with my own eyes. That day, Mom sent me to fetch water from the outskirts of Gasoline Town. At the entrance, this guy got into a fight with the guards and was shot in the head."
Gao Gong quickly blinked his right eyelid three times, switching to night vision. The dim scene was instantly replaced by a faintly white field of vision.
A metal head hung from the surface of the hood. There was an obvious dent in its forehead, while beneath its neck were connection wires of varying thicknesses, plugged into the forklift's various interfaces and truly achieving "man and machine as one."
The body modification started with the head. That's rare. It means the nervous system modification rate is at least ten points. The desert doesn't have modification technology of this level.
As the forklift and off-road vehicle passed each other, Gao Gong's eyes swept over a battered mechanical body.
The rest is pretty shoddy, though.
The quality was even worse than the cloned flesh bodies of the artificial soldiers.
"The Security Corps is here! Life's going to be miserable! The Security Corps is here! The oasis is finished!"
"Shut up and let us sleep, or your life will be miserable right now!"
Someone fired a burst into the sky. The head on the forklift immediately shrank back and gave an embarrassed grin.
"Just kidding, just kidding. It's just that I can't get into town, and I'm desperate because I have no way to sell my goods."
"Come on, come on, one nutrition bar each. They're all fresh fruit flavors, and they've only been expired for three months."
A hatch opened at the rear of the forklift, and nutrition bars clattered onto the ground. No one cursed anymore. Countless figures emerged from every corner and frantically scrambled for the supplies.
As soon as Gao Gong parked the vehicle, Pang Xiang came over and proudly pulled out a nutrition bar he had snatched.
"Brother Gao, here's one for you."
"Don't eat random things. Aren't you afraid of getting diarrhea?"
"No. I've never had diarrhea." Pang Xiang stuck out his belly, his face full of pride.
"Then aren't you afraid of getting beaten by your mother?"
Pang Xiang thought about it, then hid the expired nutrition bar and muttered, "I am afraid of getting beaten."
Gao Gong glanced at the metal head, which had given up on life yet was still racing around them.
"A street racer from the Sleepless City? Interesting."
Entering the warehouse of the gun shop, Gao Gong pulled down the power switch. Instantly, a vintage yet vicious contraption appeared before him.
It looked like a combination of an ancient bed crossbow and a repeating Zhuge crossbow, yet also like a handmade version of a multiple rocket launcher.
The ammunition for this repeating weapon consisted of long weapons resembling whaling harpoons. The spear shafts, as thick as arms, gleamed with a cold sheen.
From beginning to end, this ancient repeating weapon used no electronic components whatsoever. Its internal structure was extraordinarily complex, with hundreds of components and mechanisms constantly shifting as the weapon was cocked.
Name: Beast Hunter · Iron Rain
Type: Multiple Linked Launcher
Quality: Excellent+ (Customized Template)
Weight: 23.5 kg
Basic Attributes: DPS: 717.5, Attack: 287, Attack Speed: 2.5 attacks/sec, Muzzle Velocity: 85 m/sec, Range: 800–1,200 meters
Additional Attributes: Beast Rend (+54.9% armor-piercing damage), Iron Rain (+23.7% critical damage), Hunting Mechanism (-16% recoil)
Plugin Slot: Nine-Tailed Clamp (reduces target movement speed by 17%)
Firing Modes: Single shot, three-round burst, five-round burst, twenty-round burst; adjustable through manual mode
Description: A large beast-hunting weapon forged from mutated materials and extraordinary craftsmanship.
Gao Gong picked up a black spear from the table. It was about 1.6 meters long. Its spearhead looked like two sharp blades clamped together and had two blood grooves. A copper ring hung from the butt, with nine large rope hooks attached to it. These hooks would be tightened by the "Nine-Tailed Clamp" mechanism and spin rapidly when launched. Upon striking the target, the claw hooks would spread out like a rotating iron umbrella, catching onto obstacles such as the ground and tree trunks.
Name: Black Spear
Type: Projectile Weapon
Quality: Common
Weight: 2.1 kg
Attack: 18
Description: Although it looks like a steel weapon, it is actually a special spear made from black ironwood.
The warehouse's rear door swung open, and Aunt Xiang entered with an unkempt old man.
"Oh, you're here. This is the large beast-hunting weapon you wanted. What do you think?"
"Very good." Gao Gong nodded in satisfaction. If he had possessed this thing back then, he would have nailed the Reaper Commander to death long ago, and the Mother Reaper would never have been able to steal the kill.
His investment of more than ten thousand machine coins had not been wasted.
"You're the brat who commissioned the beast-hunting weapon?" The old man walked over arrogantly and looked Gao Gong up and down. "You don't look like much."
Aunt Xiang sighed helplessly. "Let me introduce you. This is Old Sun, Sun Bingtian, my assistant."
"You used to be an old hunter?" Gao Gong asked with interest.
"Don't change the subject. I'm asking you, now that I've built this thing for you, what are you planning to use it for?"
"To hunt beasts, of course."
"This thing is meant to deal with beasts at least at C-rank. Can you handle it?"
Aunt Xiang could not help saying, "Why do you care whether he can handle it? What, if he can't, are you planning to refund his money?"
"Nonsense. Of course I act like a big shot after receiving the money. Before the money arrives, don't I have to act like a grandson?"
Old Sun lifted his chin, wearing an overbearing, cool, and arrogant expression no elderly man should have. He looked like a guild bigshot sizing up a newbie, or a lecher sizing up a weakling begging everywhere for seed.
Gao Gong raised his eyebrows. Unexpectedly, the old man's provocation triggered a chain quest.
Quest Stage One: No Grandson Old Sun
Difficulty: Easy
Quest Brief: A retired old man's provocation. As the founding ancestor of the New Classical-style Mechanical Hunters, you must respond with ironclad facts.
Quest Objective: Gain Old Sun's recognition
Quest Reward: 100 experience points
It's a chain quest. This is the first time I've triggered one in this life. But what the hell is this "founding ancestor"? Is he some old monster from a xianxia novel? I don't even have long eyebrows.
Although the rewards for chain quests were highly unpredictable and he might end up gaining nothing but the favor of some special NPCs, triggering the quest itself was still quite pleasing.
Gao Gong did not argue. He merely said softly, "Pang Xiang, help me bring over the things in the back seat."
"Sure!"
Pang Xiang huffed and puffed as he carried the thing out. It was a large object wrapped in coarse burlap, and it landed on the table with a heavy thud.
After the burlap was uncovered, Pang Xiang froze and said, "Wow, what a huge head!"
This tank-sized object covered in a metal shell was none other than the Reaper Commander's head.
Gao Gong had originally planned to throw this head into the military supplies warehouse in exchange for contribution points, but that did not stop him from using it to show off now.
Old Sun was dumbfounded. Of course he recognized this thing. In fact, among all C-rank mechanical bio-beasts, Reapers were considered some of the most difficult to deal with. Their entire bodies were covered in heavy armor, their close-combat abilities were absurdly powerful, and, more importantly, they could fly and even control things remotely.
Even for those old friends of his back in the day, being able to hunt one was something worth bragging about.
Yet now, a Reaper's head had been placed so simply in front of him. He could even smell its fishy stench mixed with rust.
"Did you kill this?"
Old Sun was stunned. Only after a long while did he ask incredulously.
"Do you think the black market sells Reaper heads now?" Gao Gong countered.
"Oh, right, Brother Gao, there are four smaller ones in your vehicle too. Should I bring them over as well?" Little Xiang asked blankly.
Even Aunt Xiang was startled. Without a word, she drew the Red Unicorn.
The tungsten-iron blade was already pitted in several places. The section from the tip to the middle was especially riddled with chips.
This was the result of repeated slaughter. In fact, the reason Gao Gong had sought out Aunt Xiang was also so she could repair his blade.
The marks on the blade were even more convincing than the Reaper head. The two old men knew very well that scars like these could only be made by killing more than a dozen radiation beasts.
The two old men looked at each other, speechless for a moment.
[Quest complete, reward: 100 experience points]
Although Old Sun had already acknowledged Gao Gong's achievements in his heart, he still stubbornly refused to admit it and shouted, "It's obvious you didn't kill it alone. Reapers are so fast—how could it possibly have given you a chance to chop its neck?"
"Old Sun, did you take some kind of drug?" Aunt Xiang asked in shock. "You're already living out your retirement. Why are you still being so stubborn? Aren't you afraid of running out of wine?"
"Someone did help me," Gao Gong admitted calmly.
"Fine. Since you admit defeat, I'll give you another chance. I'll give you this big guy. You'll go alone—remember, alone—and hunt down a C-rank radiation beast. Do you dare?"
Looking at Old Sun's flushed face and thick neck, Aunt Xiang suddenly thought of something and fell silent as well.
Gao Gong also received the second stage of the quest—
Quest Stage Two: Lone Wolf · Shadow Hunt
Difficulty: Difficult
Quest Brief: Even a spark that has burned nearly to ash will eventually give off traces of heat. Old Sun seems to want to do something, but before he does, he wants to see whether you are worthy of what he plans to do.
Quest Objective: The corpse of a C-rank radiation beast
Quest Reward: The inheritance of a Classical-style Mechanical Hunter
Before you continue