Holding a Meetup

Since Sister Ji couldn't come out, the group members ultimately decided to hold a meeting at Baozi's capsule hotel first.

This capsule hotel is also where Baozi, Dajiba, and Sange stay at night, sharing a capsule.

The reason is simple: to be gay, oh no, to save money.

Baozi had done the math: with the three of them's tokens and their daily food and drink, the money from selling the car could only last for ten days at most.

Every little bit helps.

Moreover, capsule hotels have one advantage: gangs won't come to extort or blackmail you.

Behind every capsule hotel stands a force that maintains order.

These "security maintainers" are called "franchise organizations" within the city. They are armed organizations recognized by the mechanical mainframe and used to maintain the proper functioning of "artificial data".

These "security maintainers" also contract security work in upscale neighborhoods and are part of the security systems of large companies. They have 30-hour surveillance systems, heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, unmanned combat aircraft, and war machine gun squads, making their firepower at least two levels higher than that of the gangs in the old city.

In some lower-class neighborhoods, capsule hotels also operate within their territory, places that no gang dares to set foot in.

After all, the upgraded version of the gangsters is the law enforcement.

The plus version of the law enforcement officers is the military contractor.

For safety reasons, some migrant workers even voluntarily move their homes to capsule hotels.

"How should I put it, it feels like a face-to-face meetup," the muscle-bound burly man suddenly said, curled up in the pale white capsule.

"Offline? This is online," Baozi rolled her eyes.

"I wonder what these brothers look like?" the Red Flower Fairy wondered with anticipation.

The first to arrive was "Black Ice No. 2," wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, with a somewhat gloomy expression, especially with his bulging waist, which made him look like someone not to be trifled with.

"I love Baozi, I'm a muscle king, and a red flower fairy."

Black Ice No. 2 shook hands with each of the three, his palms feeling slightly cold.

"Bro, are you the one who jumped off the building?" Big Muscle Boss asked bluntly.

Black Ice No. 2's lips twitched, and he nodded.

"Did you change your identity after you died?" the Red Flower Demon asked curiously. "Brother, what is your identity now?"

"A low-level henchman in Wu's debt collection group."

"The Wu family... a debt collection group?"

"That's right, it's the organization that forced me to jump off the building," Black Ice No. 2 said calmly.

"..."

The three of them stared at each other, dumbfounded.

Is this even possible?!

"This is a bit of dark humor, Black Ice Brother," Baozi finally said with a dry laugh.

"Work hard, get promoted soon, and take revenge soon!" The muscular thug punched the other man's shoulder and laughed heartily.

Each player has a different personality. Baozi is a bit mercenary, Dajiba seems a bit clueless, and Honghuayao is a bit of a hothead.

As for Black Ice Number Two, he seemed like an autistic patient. After introducing himself, he found a corner to sit in and rest with his eyes closed, which made the three of them look at each other in bewilderment.

We were originally planning to have a chat and exchange some information.

This guy is so cool.

Fortunately, PP Head and the plane arrived soon. PP Head was a little girl with a round face and a basic model of network implantation device on her head. She actually looked a bit like "Pleasant Goat".

As for the plane, it couldn't wait to show its talkative nature as soon as they met.

"Wow, Baozi Bro, where's your shop? I'll definitely come by sometime. By the way, what do you sell in your shop?"

"Wow, muscular bro, your muscles are amazing! Is this the legendary bio-engineered muscle?"

"Brother Black Ice, you actually have a gun! That's amazing! Can I see it?"

Baozi scanned the room and found that only 'PP Boss' and 'Black Ice No. 2' had changed jobs; the former was a neural editor, and the latter was a henchman.

Unlike NPCs, players all start as commoners.

For ordinary players, the attribute points gained from leveling up are very low.

Only by changing jobs can one leverage the advantages of their current profession and make targeted improvements.

However, being a commoner has one advantage: after changing jobs, the attribute points gained from the blank job will not disappear, which is equivalent to getting a free secondary job.

Whether to change jobs or level up, whether to immediately pursue power or lay a solid foundation first, depends on the player's individual choice.

The two are not entirely opposed. For example, Baozi knows that in order to join the Welfare Gang, in addition to having 200 street reputation points, one's commoner profession must also reach level 5.

All seven people present were highly skilled players. Even the seemingly most novice player, Feiji, was the only one present who had undergone cybernetic modifications.

His right hand has two modifications: "Finger flick" and "forearm blade". If Umbrella Bro doesn't get involved, then he will have to play the role of "Terminator".

The seven people discussed the information provided by Sister Ji for a while and quickly determined two plans.

"Now that we've discussed it enough, Airplane, Black Ice, and PP, come with me. We'll go find Umbrella Bro and confirm whether he's coming or not."

These three people were actually a little resentful of Baozi's high regard for Brother Umbrella, but they were all adults and knew what superficiality meant.

Baozi naturally noticed this as well.

Hearing is unreliable, seeing is believing.

"What about me? What about me? Why didn't you take me with you?" the Red Flower Fairy complained.

"You should train with that muscle-bound guy. After all, you're not familiar with this android body yet."

"It's okay, bro, I'll show you around," the muscular burly man put his arm around Red Flower Fairy's shoulder, then suddenly asked curiously, "For a genuine android like you, won't some parts fall off if you do any strenuous exercise?"

The Red Flower Fairy glanced at her crotch and gave a thoughtful look.

Meanwhile, the remaining four people left the capsule hotel and, led by Baozi, entered an old building.

Inside the elevator, Black Ice No. 2 suddenly said, "Your reputation on the streets is quite something; the gangsters and thugs there treat you very differently."

"I'm just minding the shop every day, how could I have any street reputation?" Seeing that the other party didn't believe him, Baozi shook his head and smiled, "Don't treat this world as a game. Here, every NPC is a living person, and what these gang NPCs are best at is being opportunistic and reading people's expressions."

"So it's not me who's awesome, it's our boss who's awesome," Baozi concluded.

Black Ice II opened its mouth, but to the others, it sounded like "beep beep beep beep".

"Hey Black Ice Bro, you can do beatboxing too?" Airplane was taken aback at first, then excitedly replied, "Me too! Let's exchange tips sometime. I rap, what kind are you?"

"This isn't ventriloquism; it's because Brother Black Ice talked about something real, so the system censored it," said Pleasant Goat, or rather, PP Leader.

"Censoring in games too?" Baozi was taken aback; it was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.

"Yes, we've tried everything, including but not limited to conversation, text, voice, and special methods of communication such as secret codes, but none of them worked."

"What would happen if we told the NPCs we were players?" the plane asked curiously.

"One warning, two offenses will result in account cancellation."

The plane gasped. "Are the game designers orphans? Aren't they worried this game won't sell?"

"A world that's almost 100% virtual reality, are you willing to give it up?" Black Ice II suddenly asked.

"Alright, we're here!"

I took the elevator all the way to the top floor, and as soon as the elevator doors opened, I was greeted by a wave of heat and noise.

A large oil drum was set ablaze, and a group of people surrounded the flames, including gang members, residents of Hanging Street, and some young people who looked like white-collar workers.

At this moment, these people were shouting loudly, and the veins on their necks were bulging.

At the center of this circle, three cyborgs are besieging a young man wearing a vest.

The young man's eyes were sharp and arrogant, and he looked like a large, upright spear.

All three cyborgs had modified arms; here, they were called cyborg boxers.

A level 10 monster!

Although their firepower system had been removed, just by looking at those gorilla arms as thick as thighs, you could tell that these three were in considerable danger.

Indeed, that was the case. Every punch the three threw produced a crackling sound, their fists like pile drivers, creating craters on the ground and walls.

What's even more terrifying is that when the three of them work together, it's like one person. Whenever one of them runs out of punching power, the other immediately takes over. The three of them are like an impenetrable wall, without a single gap, and this wall is slowly shrinking.

Faced with this situation, the young man in the vest shrunk his body to the limit. At 1.8 meters tall, he looked like a nimble dwarf.

"Kill him!"

"Kill him alive!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

PP's face turned pale. Overwhelmed by the frenzied atmosphere, he involuntarily took two steps back, while Black Ice No. 2 subconsciously reached for his waist.

The rules of these underground boxing matches are that once you step into the ring, it's a fight to the death. What the audience most wants to see is a living person being torn in half.

"They're cheating!"

PP suddenly spoke up. Following her gaze, we saw that all three mechanical boxers had electrode pads attached to their temples. On the surface, they were three boxers, but in reality, a neuro-editor was manipulating the fight with combat software.

"Don't rush, let's take another look," Baozi said meaningfully.

Sure enough, the next moment, an unexpected change occurred.

Umbrella Bro suddenly leaped backward, as if he was about to smash the back of his head on the ground. However, the mechanical fist at the front tightened its grip on both arms, causing him to stagger forward under the force of over 100 pounds of weight.

Threads of single molecules, invisible to the naked eye, were wrapped around the robotic arm.

A dangerous glint flashed in Umbrella Bro's eyes. He moved with perfect balance in mid-air, his waist dangling as if about to snap. His right leg shot out like lightning, transforming into a black shadow that struck the opponent's throat.

From the player's perspective, a 300-damage attack was dealt, triggering effects such as critical hit and double damage.

However, a horse without hooves is useless. Just as Umbrella Bro was about to erupt, a mechanical boxer appeared behind him expressionlessly and slammed his fist into the back of his head.

What happened next left the players and even the surrounding spectators dumbfounded: Umbrella Bro, unable to gain any leverage, spun around, his two long legs swinging rapidly as if performing Mas Flair. The remaining two mechanical boxers were caught off guard and were swept into the whirlwind. The next moment, countless bloody gashes appeared on their arms, necks, and faces, turning them into blood-soaked figures in just a few breaths.

As the blood splattered, everyone then discovered that dozens of nearly transparent monomolecular lines had appeared between the three men, like a complex pulley system that tightly bound them together. Even more incredibly, none of the three mechanical boxers noticed this trap throughout the entire process.

Ultimately, the match ended in victory for Umbrella Bro.

"Brother, you're really something. How about I recommend you to the boss? Maybe you can get promoted to Double Flower Red Pole right away."

He declined the invitation from the members of the Welfare Gang, and in the rainy night, carrying Baozi but no umbrella, he untangled the monomolecular thread on the corpse, nodded to Baozi as a greeting, then took off his coat and took out a towel from his bag to wipe the blood off his body.

"Holy crap, that's amazing!" The airplane's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"So handsome!" PP's face turned red.

Black Ice No. 2 pursed his lips, his thoughts unclear.

Baozi only approached the other person after they had changed into a new black t-shirt, knowing they didn't like small talk, and got straight to the point.

"There's a group project I think you'd be interested in."

Umbrella Bro didn't say anything, but instead removed the wristbands from his arms and ankles, and then rewound the monomolecules.

Open the system panel and add the remaining experience points.

[Commoner level increased to 10 max]

[Your character's potential has been increased to a certain extent.]

[As the first player to reach max level as a free-to-play player, I gained the passive skill: The Path of Ordinary Life.]

The Ordinary Path: If you want to, you can always become the most inconspicuous one in the crowd, but you know deep down that this is just an appearance.

"What are the skills of the random passerby?"

"It suits my future career quite well."

He looked up in the rain, carrying a knife but no umbrella, and said, "Send me the mission time. I'll participate if I have time. If I have something to do, I'll log off now."

After saying this, Umbrella Bro jumped onto the roof of the neighboring house without looking back, and disappeared in a few breaths.

"That's it?" The plane was dumbfounded. "This guy's kind of aloof, isn't he?"

"He's not usually like this; he must have something going on offline."

After spending these few days together, Baozi has gotten to know the other person's character to some extent. While he can't be described as cold on the outside but warm on the inside, he's definitely not the type to deliberately put on airs.

Baozi thought for a moment and decided to make it up to his fellow players, saying, "Since you're all here, I'll treat you all to a late-night snack."

"Okay, okay, I've been eating pig swill for the past few days and I feel like I'm going to die," the plane was the first to respond.

PP Leader and Black Ice No. 2 exchanged a glance and shrugged in unison.

Just as Baozi decided to put the blood in the wallet, in Ahong's safe house, the young hacker also adjusted the ancient network pod.

"There's no problem with two people logging in."

The senior engineer shrugged. "Then what are we waiting for!"

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