Cloud Aristocrats

Fat Xiang, a native infant, was almost boiled alive by his own parents due to his obesity.

Like a few lucky survivors in the desert, radiation stripped him of his intelligence but gave him something unique.

That was strength.

The combined strength of two robots, weighing two tons, gradually began to falter against Fat Xiang in a test of power.

Crack! Crack!

This was the sound of parts twisting within the mechanical bodies.

Fat Xiang's face gradually turned red, and an indescribable bestiality overflowed from his eyes.

"You... get away!"

Fat Xiang's arms were like red-hot iron bars as he slammed forward. With a loud bang, the two robots were pushed back three steps. After a scorching hiss, a shallow five-fingered brand mark was left on their chests.

"Radiation Organism detected..."

"Bio-energy rising... Combat mode activated..."

The robots' eyes immediately turned red, switching to infrared mode. Simultaneously, their palms retracted into their arms, and with a swish, four high-strength carbon alloy blades sprang out.

"Don't come any closer, or we'll attack!"

Iron Skin, panicking and gritting his teeth, cocked his submachine gun and glared hatefully at Zhao Xie. However, a robot beside Zhao Xie had already activated its guard mode and blocked him.

"May I ask what you intend to do to my dear subordinate?"

Zhao Xie's right shoulder dipped as an arm, appearing from nowhere, rested on his shoulder.

His alarm system had shown no reaction whatsoever, and the person gave him the feeling of a man-eating beast.

The robot's carbon alloy blades at the very front were suspended in mid-air, unable to move.

Upon closer inspection, a small claw was stuck in the blade.

The other captains, seeing this, began to watch the spectacle.

"What are you all doing? Stop!"

Supervisor Zhou's "priority" was clearly higher than Zhao Xie's. As soon as he spoke, the two robots immediately canceled their combat mode and returned to patrol status.

At the same time, the weight on his shoulder disappeared.

Zhao Xie turned his head, only to see the supervisor and several elite team captains coming out. One of them was smiling and holding Fat Xiang's head, saying something.

Zhao Xie's pupils contracted. This person... it was him...

"What's going on?" Supervisor Zhou frowned. He usually looked down on the Mechanical Hunters, these country bumpkins, but at this juncture, why did this newcomer have no grasp of the bigger picture?

"Supervisor, they're smuggling military supplies and selling weapons!"

"You can eat anything, but you can't say anything you want," Gao Gong said lazily, leaning on Fat Xiang's shoulder. "Iron Skin, show the supervisor the file bag in the back seat of the car."

The supervisor frowned, took it, and opened it. He found a thick stack of authorization documents, containing contracts for the retirement, modification, and sale of armored vehicles.

Whether the documents had any issues would be clear upon close inspection.

But if he were to inspect them closely, he himself would be in trouble.

"It's fine, it's a legal sale, with proper retirement procedures."

Looking at the armored vehicles, which appeared to be at least 80% new, Zhao Xie opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing.

If he dared to object, then he would be the one in trouble.

"It's fine? Then let's go. Fat Xiang, you did a good job this time. I'll treat you to a big meal when we get back."

"A big meal, yes, yes, yes!" Fat Xiang nodded like a pecking chicken, almost drooling.

The other captains, seeing that there was no more excitement to watch, left one after another. Only a gloomy old man voluntarily stopped Gao Gong.

His eyes were dim and bloodshot, like those of an aged falcon. His modified right hand was a knife-gripping device even more advanced than Matsushima Keiko's.

He had a knife-gripping device but no knife, or rather, he concealed his knife.

"Miyamoto, something wrong?"

Gao Gong narrowed his eyes. After being promoted to "Night Warrior," he could clearly sense a killing intent on the other person, similar to his own but even more potent.

This was a Mechanical Hunter who specialized in assassination, and one of the very top tier.

"I just heard that Gao Sang assassinated the Reaper leader. Seeing you today, it's indeed true," Miyamoto Sanzo said hoarsely.

In terms of combat power, the Reaper leader was two to three times stronger than an ordinary C-Class Reaper. No one knew how Gao Gong managed to defeat it.

Thus, a rumor spread that the Reaper leader had actually been assassinated by him.

As a fellow top-tier assassin, Miyamoto Sanzo naturally wanted to meet this "new generation assassin master."

"Haha, is that so?"

"Relying on external objects is ultimately not the right path. Gao Sang must have used Mr. Little Finger's 'medicine' to succeed in the assassination, right?"

Gao Gong immediately understood that the "rumors" about assassinating leader-level monsters were most likely spread by Little Finger.

To GG me in the game and then come after me in real life! Next time we split the money, I'll have him pay the GG fee.

"So, what's your plan? Prove yourself with strength?" Gao Gong asked with interest.

Miyamoto Sanzo shook his head and took out a bottle of 'Protective Cream' from his pocket.

"What I mean is, I now have some unorthodox items, and combined with my skills, the targets I assassinate in the future will definitely be of a higher level than yours."

"Uh—"

It wasn't until Miyamoto Sanzo left that Gao Gong snapped back to reality, smacking his lips.

"This old man is quite interesting."

"Brother Gao, are we heading out to hunt now?"

"No rush, let's go back to the bar first. There are some things I haven't figured out yet."

The Rose Gasoline Bar was unusually empty today. The loud Metal Strike music had been replaced by low, mellow jazz. The dim, yellow lighting and the husky female vocals created an ambiguous atmosphere.

As soon as Gao Gong entered, before he could even react, Sister Rose pushed him onto the sofa. It took him a while to struggle up, gasping for air, a fishy smell lingering on his lips. His mouth had been bitten.

Wow, ordinary rich women don't have this kind of combat power. Is this the strength of a domineering CEO?

"I'm very satisfied with your recent performance."

Behind the bar, Sister Rose personally mixed a drink for Gao Gong. Her emerald eyes, peeking from behind her red hair, narrowed slightly. She held a cigarette between her fingers, her smile very alluring.

She was probably referring to 'Desert Skin'.

Gao Gong picked up a tissue to wipe his mouth and said with a smile, "Are things settled?"

"Settled, or rather, compromised."

"How was it settled?" Gao Gong asked curiously.

"I personally broke into his territory, put a gun to his head, and asked him to sign the contract. I also took a few of his illegitimate children out to play."

Wow, a real big shot, I can't afford to offend him.

Gao Gong popped the cherry from his glass into his mouth and asked, confused, "Why would the Security Brigade compromise so much? Autonomy, exploration rights, are they really willing to give that up?"

"Why wouldn't they be willing?" Black Rose sneered. "The Security Brigade itself is just a rebranded entity, merely a temporary authorization from the main mechanical brain. They pretend to be real tigers under a tiger's skin. If they don't perform well, they can just be taken back."

"Temporary authorization? You mean the Security Brigade isn't on the list of mechanical legions. But who can modify the core logic of the main brain? Even the top cyber cowboys can't do that."

"I heard that the main brain of Sleepless City has the strongest computational power among the nearby mechanical cities."

"Have you heard of the Cloud Aristocrats?"

Of course, I have. They are the planetary nobles living in the orbital space station known as the 'City in the Clouds'. In my previous life, the final main quest in the Cyber Proving Ground was to obtain Ark tickets from these nobles to escape this blown-up planet.

According to Sister Rose's explanation, the Security Brigade was actually a semi-legal, unofficial organization.

The reason they could thrive in the Iron Sand Desert was that one or a few Cloud Aristocrats used their privileges to obtain temporary authorization to control the desert from the instruction set of the Sleepless City's intelligent main brain.

Although this authorization was temporary, with some clever maneuvering, the 'temporary' period could be extended indefinitely.

The only condition was that the authorization required them to ensure the 'safety' of the desert.

And once the desert was no longer 'safe', this authorization would be immediately revoked, and the real mechanical legions would replace the Security Brigade to control the desert and fight the radiation beast hordes.

Once the mechanical legions moved in, this massive gray profit chain, which had been ongoing for decades, would be directly severed.

Very few people knew about this. The only informed parties were a few desert tycoons, and of course, Sister Rose here.

"So, as long as they can protect this profit, they'd rather let others join the table than let the AI flip it over."

The main mechanical brain and the Cloud Aristocrats maintained a state of equilibrium.

The Cloud Aristocrats and the local power factions also maintained another balance.

The desert tycoons also divided their territories among themselves, maintaining a balance.

And once this balance was broken, it was like a problem in the food chain; everyone wanted to become a higher-level hunter.

Wang Tian thought so, which was why he was eager to annex Black Rose's underground intelligence network to expand his influence. With that as leverage, he could then negotiate better terms with the Cloud Aristocrats.

And then he was beaten black and blue by Sister Rose, who had a much deeper background.

"So, the Cloud Aristocrats would rather distribute profits to rootless Mechanical Hunters than to these local powers."

"That's right."

Sister Rose's red lips looked particularly alluring in the dim light, but her words were exceptionally strong and domineering.

She pointed at Gao Gong.

"Therefore, you must be the first person in this hunt."

"No problem," Gao Gong grinned, exuding an unspeakable confidence.

Black Rose narrowed her eyes. "You don't need my help?"

"Not this time, at least," Gao Gong grinned. "I never lie, especially not to you."

Black Rose felt a sense of unfamiliarity again. The person before her had always been confident, but his previous confidence stemmed from a ruthless ferocity that alienated everyone. Now, his confidence carried something she couldn't quite discern.

This inexplicably made her feel a thrill.

"You need to think clearly. If you mess this up, your fate will be dire."

Sister Rose always kept her word. Even if the other party was her own lapdog, if they failed to fulfill her ambitions, they would be severely punished, even killed on the spot.

"I won't say the same thing a second time."

Gao Gong leaned in and gently wiped the corner of Sister Rose's lips with a tissue. Her bright red lipstick looked good but was impractical, smudging a bit.

It wasn't that Gao Gong had high morals, but based on his experience in his previous life, some rich and powerful women liked this kind of dynamic. Playing hard to get, resisting yet yielding, if you were truly shameless and clung to them, they would kick you away without a second thought.

This kind of melodramatic trope, like "you can have my body but not my heart," or "I like you for who you are, not your money," really hit the right spot for them.

As expected, Sister Rose's emerald eyes shimmered, and her red lips parted slightly, "Then you'd better do a good job, or I'll punish you severely."

There wasn't a hint of killing intent in her tone; it was purely flirtatious.

"Then how do you plan to punish me?"

"Kneel."

"You want to insult me by making me kneel like this? Do you think I'm someone who just spouts off with words?" Gao Gong roared in anger.

"Then are you going to kneel or not?"

"Alright."