Tin Can Toad

Huang Yuanli had an eight or nine out of ten chance of being in trouble.

The possibility of her being killed was slim, but being confined was quite likely.

Gao Gong, back at the old metal recycling station, quickly put these thoughts aside and focused on his work.

Mechanical Hunters were considered quite capable among the basic professions.

The main reason for this was a class skill—'Mechanical Hunter Augmentation'.

Mechanical Hunter Augmentation Lv. 5 (Class): Allows for a certain degree of modification to one's combat body, enhancing the probability of hunting prey.

This prey wasn't limited to Radiation Beasts; it could also be humans.

Although Mechanical Hunters couldn't craft cybernetic bodies themselves, they could perform secondary modifications on existing ones based on their own circumstances, making them more dangerous.

Back when Gao Gong was still a newbie in his previous life, a high-level player who specialized in the Mechanical Hunter path had shared many methods of 'Hunter Augmentation' on the forums.

Due to the formidable combat power of 'Hunter Augmentation', this high-level player had once climbed into the top ten in the player rankings during the early stages of the game.

He thought it was just the beginning, but it turned out to be his peak.

That player was an unfortunate soul who had managed to infiltrate the upper echelons of the Knight Order, only to have his account deleted by an Artificial Intelligence.

And he had a memorable name—Rainy Night With Knife No Umbrella.

Soon, the sound of welding once again echoed through the recycling station.

Embedding the projectile launcher into the metal material, installing the combat-type battery, adjusting the circuits, and the monofilament wire…

Monofilament wire was a specialty of Sleepless City, an exceptionally sharp and durable high-level material, very concealed, and capable of cutting metal.

Generally speaking, it was a weapon favored by assassins.

However, what Gao Gong chose was the 'Basic Load-Bearing Model', which was construction material.

A monofilament wire as thin as a hair could bear a load of one ton.

While this 'load-bearing model' wasn't particularly sharp, it was only relatively so. How to ensure its function while preventing it from damaging the augmented equipment was a challenge.

Fortunately, after Sister Rose took Gao Gong 'joyriding', she had sent over quite a bit of precious material.

After about three hours, a new hunting equipment was forged.

It resembled a 'metal bracer', composed of a metal shell and a beast-hide lining, extending from the forearm to the palm.

Its activation switch was a Tactile Nerve Stimulator, for which Gao Gong had tuned a special frequency.

And embedded on the surface of the bracer was a small metal claw, about the size of a chicken's claw. Its material was 'Titanium Steel Alloy', an alloy even harder than the material of the 'Red Unicorn'. It was scrap material Sister Rose had used to craft gloves.

As for its function—young man, have you ever played Sekiro?

Gao Gong flicked his wrist, the projectile launcher activated passively, and the alloy claw shot out, crossing over twenty meters and embedding itself into a thick iron plate.

The next moment, a powerful dragging force pulled him directly to the ground.

"Whoa!"

Caught off guard, Gao Gong landed face-first, dragged for over ten meters as if he were a corpse, finally hitting the steel plate heavily with his head with a clang.

If his skull hadn't also been modified, a Grade 2 concussion would have been unavoidable.

The worst part was how utterly pathetic he looked.

"Ptooey, ptooey!"

Gao Gong rubbed his head while spitting out the dirt from his mouth.

It was fortunate no one saw him; otherwise, his reputations as 'Lone Wolf of the Wilderness', 'Reaper Killer', and 'Sugar Baby Wolf' would have been ruined.

"The projectile launcher's force needs to be reduced. If it's too fast, the enemy won't be able to react, and more importantly, neither will I."

Then followed a series of trial-and-error, adjustments, more trial-and-error, and more adjustments.

Two hours later, Gao Gong held a regular steel rebar in his left hand (the Red Unicorn was still being repaired) and with a lightning-fast flick of his right hand, the alloy claw once again embedded itself into the wall. Gao Gong immediately slid forward, and after crossing over ten meters, he used the force of the alloy claw to leap high into the air, flicking his arm again. The alloy claw entered 'retraction mode', and simultaneously, he pulled out the rebar and forcefully swung it at the wall.

Four bricks were shattered by his blow.

Although his landing was a bit wobbly, it was successful.

"Not bad, 'Sliding Tackle Feed Tiger Style' is successful. Now for 'Grappling Hook Slam Style'."

Although that 'Rainy Night' big shot called his self-created combat style 'Rainy Night Killing Mode' and showcased his skills on the forum as a high-end technique, it was quickly imitated by sandbag players, forming two ecosystems: 'high-end matches' and 'casual matches'.

Then, the 'casual matches', with various suicidal methods like 'Spider Egg Stuck', 'Hero Crippled Knee', 'Sliding Tackle Feed Dog', 'Grappling Hook Hanging', and 'Flying Suicide', successfully proved that apart from the Mechanical Hunter profession, other professions couldn't pull off these flashy moves.

A perfectly good technical guide had been turned into a comedy post.

Back then, Gao Gong was still quietly developing his character-building skills and couldn't afford such flashy moves, so he could only be an envious bystander.

However, after starting to practice techniques this time, Gao Gong discovered that it was indeed very difficult. If nothing else, with the same pulling force, a sliding tackle worked, but a tree grapple didn't.

As a result, Gao Gong began practicing his 'suicidal jump' exercises.

Fortunately, his body's attributes were good; falling from a three-story building would at most cause him to lose health, not actually kill him.

He practiced until midnight when Gao Gong suddenly slapped his forehead, realizing he didn't need to practice sliding tackles and tree grapples with the same pulling force.

He could create two pulling force modes by adjusting the frequency of the 'Tactile Nerve Stimulator'.

The thinking diverged further; the gripping force of the alloy claws could also be adjusted. Whether gripping walls, trees, weapons, or even Radiation Beasts, the grip could be adjusted to the most suitable level.

However, for this kind of augmentation, simply adjusting the "feel" wouldn't be enough. It would be best to install a "Combat Chip" and input various combat modes into it, constantly updating them.

Gao Gong finally understood why only Mechanical Hunters could enter the "high-end game." It was because only "Mechanical Hunter Augmentation" could continuously tune the grappling claws, coordinating with the attribute parameters of other cybernetic enhancements on the body to form a power system that was most suitable for oneself.

It was a shame that "Mechanical Hunter Augmentation" was a professional skill, and its skill level could not be upgraded or exceed the professional level.

Otherwise, it would be too overpowered.

Back in the day, before the "Rainy Night" expert showed off his skills, he must have gone through a period of arduous training.

Practicing the "Monofilament Grappling Claw" for a day, Gao Gong even felt more exhausted than hunting for a whole day.

"Two more days left. Tomorrow, my teammate should be arriving—what was his name again?"

In a storage room within the public cargo hold, Tin Can stood seriously in front of a mirror, forcing a fawning smile.

"Cough, Brother Gao, I'm here."

"No, this isn't right. This kind of expert definitely wouldn't like someone who only knows how to flatter. I should be cool and aloof."

"Little Gao, from now on, I'll be your teammate. I'll protect you."

"Will this be too arrogant? Being too arrogant isn't good either; I might get slapped."

His roommate in the same storage room yawned.

"They're one of the strongest Mechanical Hunters in Automobile City. Why would they take a liking to you? I suggest you just go back to sleep."

"Nonsense! Brother Gao specifically sent someone to invite me. What do you call prestige? This is prestige!"

"Then what do they see in you? Do they like that you don't bathe? Do they like that you're stingy? Do they like that you don't upgrade your cybernetics?"

Tin Can roared in anger and kicked his roommate off the bed.

"There must be a reason. I must have some hidden strengths that I'm not even aware of!"

The next day, Tin Can woke up early, specifically oiled his mechanical body, and then looked expectantly down the street.

Many people heard that Tin Can was invited to team up by a famous Mechanical Hunter and came to join the fun.

"Toad, don't do anything rash. I heard that phantom limb syndrome is a symptom of cyberpsychosis."

"It's not phantom limb syndrome; it's clearly his brain that's hallucinating."

"Brain hallucinations, what kind of illness is that?"

"I told you not to modify the brain. Look, even his thoughts are messed up, just like those AIs that have been infected with a virus."

"That's called Brain Freeze."

Tin Can gritted his teeth, enduring the string of taunts as he waited. Perhaps because he was being ridiculed by everyone, time seemed to pass especially slowly. After a long wait, the agreed-upon time finally arrived.

At the end of the street, two black dots appeared.

Soon, two vehicles came into view.

One was a common high-displacement off-road vehicle in the desert, and the other was a full double the size of the off-road vehicle, looking like a steel fortress from afar.

"Whoa, a military armored vehicle!!"

The armored combat vehicle of the Security Brigade and the military armored vehicles of the old civilization era were completely different species. To prevent attacks from high-level beasts, the armor on the vehicle's body was so strong that even some rocket launchers couldn't penetrate it. The vehicle's power source was a special model of energy panel, and with its eight tires, it could reach a speed of 230 km/h at full throttle.

As everyone stared in dumbfounded amazement, the armored vehicle's door opened. Little Finger yawned, scanned the crowd, and casually asked, "Who's Tin Can?"

"I am."

"Get in."

Seeing Tin Can still dazed, Little Finger glanced at him. "What, do you need me to invite you?"

Tin Can jolted and quickly scrambled inside, not forgetting to give the onlookers the middle finger.

The car sped away, leaving behind a dumbfounded crowd of onlookers.

Little Finger wasn't driving; he sat in the passenger seat, yawning repeatedly, not knowing what he had been busy with the night before.

Tin Can, however, enthusiastically introduced himself, "Brother Finger, hello. My name is Tin Can, nicknamed Tin Can Toad. You can call me Little Tin."

"Uh, you know me?"

"Of course, I know you. Who in this day and age involved in smuggling, ah, no, doing small business, doesn't know you?"

Little Finger took off his glasses, rubbed them, and examined the other person through the rearview mirror, letting out a soft "Oh."

"Toad, your augmentations are quite interesting. The bionic brain modification is something only possible in the city. And your mechanical body, my god, what kind of junk is this! Can this thing still work?"

Tin Can looked down at the exposed wiring conduits and dilapidated organs on his body and said aggrievedly, "Brother Finger, I was deceived too."