Acceleration

Gao Gong first had Tin Can take him to the quartermaster's warehouse, then let him drive himself to the repair location to fix the car.

However, after ten days of hunting war, the most discarded and damaged items were not the Mechanical Hunters, but the vehicles.

Gao Gong walked into the quartermaster's warehouse once more.

This time, however, his arrival didn't attract anyone else's attention. People here came and went in a hurry; during wartime, everyone was extremely busy.

This was clearly not a place for Gamblers to frequent.

Gao Gong felt at ease and directly called a service robot, handing it the list of materials he had prepared on the road. The sheer quantity even triggered the robot's "double confirmation" protocol.

"Excuse me, do you need one of each of these?"

"Yes."

The robot performed facial recognition, and with a swish, nearly thirty thousand contribution points vanished.

This amount was almost two-thirds of the contribution points Gao Gong had earned by assassinating various C-class Radiation Beasts.

With the remaining points, Gao Gong directly purchased various ammunition, including over a dozen reinforced Radiation Shots.

The Radiation Shots from the quartermaster's warehouse were much better than those from the black market.

At least they had no side effects.

As for the black market Radiation Shots, a considerable portion were watered-down products from Little Finger.

While feeling bored, an enraged Big Orange suddenly leaped up, claws extended towards Gao Gong.

Its jumping power was obviously enhanced.

Gao Gong tilted his head slightly and simultaneously grabbed the back of its neck, controlling its fate.

"Did you get a new skin? Don't get excited. Aren't your Mas Fang products advertised with a customer satisfaction rate close to 100%? Why are you attacking customers?" Gao Gong chuckled.

"Only those who use our company's weapons are qualified to be our customers, you imposter!" Big Orange said angrily.

"Don't get worked up. Your company's weapons have so many issues, like biological viruses and Cyberpsychosis. If they aren't properly debugged, how can they be used?"

"N-nonsense, our company's weapons don't have those problems," Big Orange's eyes flickered.

At this point in time, Mas Fang had not yet secured the outsourcing project from the Mother City, and thus did not have the arrogant demeanor it would later adopt.

Selling faulty weapons during wartime, and being discovered at that, if this were to be exposed, this Big Orange would likely be sacrificed for the greater good.

"Don't worry, it's just a minor issue," Gao Gong said lazily. "I'll fix it when I get back, and I'll definitely use it."

With its fate held in his grip, Big Orange spoke with a hint of forced bravery, "You should know, your weapons are rented to you for free, with guaranteed quality and no defects. You should be grateful."

"Yes, yes, yes, grateful, grateful."

Gao Gong's heart suddenly stirred. In the future, Mas Fang would hire a large number of players for human experimentation, thereby gathering sufficient experimental data, which would pave the way for its future rise.

Since he knew this fact, could he get involved? Players needed weapons in large quantities, and Mas Fang needed sufficient human experimental data.

No middleman to profit from the difference.

But now that he was here, there was a middleman.

"By the way, do you accept bulk weapon pre-orders?"

"Bulk weapon pre-orders? You?" A hint of disdain flashed in Big Orange's eyes.

No matter how you looked at it, Mas Fang was a new large enterprise with operations spanning several Mechanical Cities, and it naturally looked down on a nobody from the irradiated zones.

"Of course, it's not just me. In fact, I have many partners who really need weapons. I can provide a large order."

"A large order? You? Cough, cough—"

Big Orange looked up, about to mock the other party for overestimating himself, but met his half-smiling gaze. He immediately realized that Gao Gong had him by the throat and, with a dry cough, changed his tune.

"It's not impossible, but you need to bring the experimental data first. Otherwise, without any proof, it's hard for me to apply to my superiors."

"Alright."

Gao Gong agreed nonchalantly, then slowly stroked the cat, his movements gentle and rhythmic. Big Orange purred with pleasure, meowing continuously, thinking that although this human didn't look like much, his massage skills were truly excellent.

It wasn't until Gao Gong obtained the materials and left that Big Orange snapped out of its state of bliss. It let out a nostalgic meow and stared at the doorway with its long, slender cat eyes for a long time before sighing softly.

In fact, she was originally human and an internal employee of Mas Fang. Because she failed to complete her sales targets, she was internally punished and transformed into a cat, then assigned to the fringe area of the Iron Sand Desert.

If she didn't complete her mission this time, the next punitive modification would likely arrive soon.

This time it was a cat; what would it be next? It couldn't be a mouse, could it?

Or a cockroach?

Thinking of this, Big Orange shivered. She didn't want to end up like some of her colleagues who were at the bottom of the KPI rankings, transformed into electronic cockroaches and dumped into the sewers.

She had to work hard! She had to strive! She had to dedicate her life to the company!

The next day, the rankings on the electronic leaderboard had changed.

The Symbiotic Squad had squeezed past the Gasoline Worshippers and the Tinder Grass Squad, climbing into the top three.

The Marauder Squad had slipped another spot, falling to eighth place.

The Gray-Eyed Cultists had moved up one position, entering sixth place.

Miyamoto Sanzo had entered seventh place through consistent boss kills.

However, Gao Gong was nowhere to be seen among the last two contenders.

Countless gamblers stared in disbelief. They had expected Miyamoto, the old geezer, to be the first to buckle. After all, youth trumps age, but who could have predicted that Gao Gong, so young, would completely fall apart.

Meanwhile, in a private room at the Rose Gasoline Bar.

Black Rose stared at Little Finger with icy eyes, making him shrink his neck.

"At this critical juncture, you incited him to throw the match?"

Little Finger chuckled nervously, "Sister Rose, well, you know, we take what we can get. Besides, he agreed to it. He was confident he could turn things around, so we went for it—"

"Even if he couldn't hold on in the end, we would have been there. We would have stepped in and helped him cheat."

Black Rose took a deep breath and said coldly, "Do you know that five of the top ten teams have sponsors behind them, and three have already started secretly boosting their scores?"

"Can you guarantee that our cheating methods are superior to theirs?"

Little Finger was dumbfounded. "Impossible. There are battle recorders, drones, and post-match examinations of the bodies. You're telling me you can cheat even with all that? Does he think we're amateurs?"

As if struck by a thought, Little Finger's expression changed. "You mean the Cloud Aristocrats sent their people too? Aren't those parasites always indulging in decadent pleasure and extreme enjoyment up in the sky?"

"The Skull Society, formed by new corporations, is becoming increasingly aggressive, and the Rebel Army's influence is growing stronger. The three great intelligences of the Mother City are cold and ruthless. Even those fools know they need to secure a fallback, and this network of interests in the Iron Sand Desert is someone's fallback."

Hearing Sister Rose mention the "Rebel Army," Little Finger felt an inexplicable sense of relief and was about to speak when something startled him.

Black Rose's high heel suddenly lifted and then slammed down onto the sofa in front of Little Finger's crotch. The sharp heel pierced the leather, leaving only a hair's breadth between it and a certain vital area.

A cold wind suddenly blew, and he had almost been forced to switch to "Mr. Big Tree - Type 3."

"Don't cause trouble when I'm working!" Black Rose said, her voice chilling.

Little Finger knew Black Rose was truly angry this time. His expression lost its lewdness as he said seriously, "Rose, do you think that kid is one of us?"

"What do you mean?"

"I always thought he was just a little wolf cub you kept, but I've changed my mind. You know, one time, this kid brought me bugs, and I happened to catch a glimpse of his eyes. Do you know who I thought of?"

Little Finger said, word by word, "You! You, before any bionic modifications!"

Black Rose froze for a moment, suddenly at a loss for words.

"The same ambition, the same fiery spirit, and most importantly, the same refusal to admit defeat."

"Do you think you, who were hunted back then, would bow down to any man?"

Black Rose sat down again, her mind flashing back to the torrential rain in the Free Shore, as if the sky itself was pouring down. The raindrops felt like tiny knives piercing her bleeding skin...

After a long pause, Black Rose finally spoke, "What is that kid doing now?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure he's up to something," Little Finger said, secretly relieved, shrugging. "That kid borrowed my operating table again."

The next day, the battered off-road vehicle, a spoil of war from the Knight Order battle, was back in action. Gao Gong sat on the chassis, his eyes scanning the rearview mirror.

In the mirror's reflection, "Cactuses" emerged from the asphalt ground, one after another. These "Cactuses" had exteriors resembling strangely patterned rocks, and their unfurled bodies looked like a combination of a large Venus flytrap and a cactus.

Their dense, petrified outer leaves perfectly contained their radiation energy. Once they bloomed to hunt, they could create a radiation energy field within a "10*10" area and simultaneously spew poisonous mist, causing effects like dizziness, weakness, and poisoning.

The previously empty and dry ground now resembled a desert undergoing "afforestation," with cacti and other unfamiliar radiation plants sprouting everywhere.

Gao Gong's heart grew heavy. In less than ten days, this desert was already showing signs of "greening."

More importantly, this location was not far from Automobile City, only about twenty to thirty li away.

The reproductive capacity of the "Radiation Zone" was truly terrifying.

Even with all the Mechanical Hunters deployed and hunting relentlessly these days, the number of Radiation Beasts didn't seem to have decreased much.

It wasn't that the Radiation Beasts were unkillable, but once a Radiation Zone formed, it became a massive birthing ground.

If the Knight Order is behind this chaos, then is this their objective?

To cultivate a suitable battlefield for a future decisive battle.

At this rate, "sieging the city" was only a matter of time.

A flicker of determination flashed in Gao Gong's eyes. This trip to Scavenger City must result in the elimination of the Cable Tribe.

The enemy was accelerating, and he had to do the same.