Cerebrospinal Fluid

Gao Gong was truly a bit confused.

After he activated the Manual Nerve Disruptor, he knew this thing wasn't particularly safe.

Because in his past life, more than one player had used it to lure monsters, and in the process, they ended up becoming a monster's snack.

So he had even added a frequency modulation mode, just in case he drew too much monster aggro and turned himself into a Tang Monk.

It was fortunate he had no intention of grinding monsters here, otherwise, he would have truly become a Tang Monk just now.

A C+ grade Boiler Elephant, or a C+ grade Bombing Eagle, either one of them could have easily taken him down.

Had his equipment crafting failed?

Impossible, it had already succeeded on the system panel.

Gao Gong specifically glanced at the panel, especially the quest log.

Successfully completed three cybernetic modification surgeries (3/3)

There was no reason for it. If the equipment had failed, how could this transfer quest have been completed?

This monster luring effect was too intense.

But fortunately, his path forward was now unobstructed.

"Hey, are you going in or not? If you're not going in, I will."

"You, you you—"

The pockmarked man wanted to say something, but his anger surged, his eyelids rolled back, and he fainted.

"If you're not going in, I will."

Gao Gong shrugged, pressed a button on his collar, and the next moment, his figure began to gradually disappear.

Desert Skin possessed mimicry abilities, and combined with the effects of the Open-Version Virtual Projection, it could basically achieve invisibility.

Especially with the Mech-Bio Beasts lured away, Gao Gong didn't think he could possibly be discovered.

However, it was a bit unexpected. After the two dogs were lured away, the two people at the entrance stood there blankly. One was repeating "What's happening," and the other was saying "I must report to the Great Elder." However, he only turned halfway before turning back again, repeating his previous action.

Seeing their strange movements, Gao Gong's heart sank.

Something must have happened to the Cable Tribe!

In the dungeons of the Cable Tribe, over two hundred people were crammed together, all dusty and injured.

However, there weren't many severely injured. It wasn't because the Great Elder was kind, but according to what those slave traders said—injured meat people couldn't fetch a good price.

Meng Duo struggled to move to Huang Yuanli's side. He had already lost one arm and one leg, and now he had lost half a leg.

It was the Great Elder's son, Zhao Yi, who had personally chopped it off.

As the instigator of the riot, Huang Yuanli bore especially many whip marks.

Moreover, since the day before yesterday, she had been unconscious and unable to eat anything.

"Use this."

Seeing Meng Duo about to wipe Huang Yuanli's sweat, an old wet nurse took out a relatively clean handkerchief and handed it over.

"Thank you."

Meng Duo thanked her in a low voice, then dipped the handkerchief in some of the accumulated water on the ground and began to wipe her carefully.

For some reason, since yesterday, Huang Yuanli's forehead had been burning hot, and her fever wouldn't subside.

Meng Duo asked the guards for medicine, but he was spat in the face with phlegm.

"Grandma, are we really going to be eaten?" a little girl with one blind eye suddenly asked.

"Don't talk nonsense, they won't eat people, they won't eat people."

The old woman didn't know how to comfort her granddaughter, so she could only hold her tightly and repeat those words again and again.

The dungeon was filled with a deathly silence.

Meng Duo held on for a moment before he couldn't take it anymore and drifted into a semi-conscious sleep.

But before he fell asleep, he vaguely heard Huang Yuanli, with her eyes tightly closed, her lips moving as if she were mumbling in her sleep.

"Professor, you can't do this, Professor, don't—"

"Something's not right."

Gao Gong's expression grew more and more serious. The Cable Tribe before him gave him a strange sense of dread.

The tribe wasn't large, only about a quarter of the size of the Old Metal Recycling Station. Its layout resembled a scavenger settlement outside the Oasis, except that wooden houses were replaced with metal tents, or tree hollows were carved out to become rooms. The environment was considerably cleaner.

But the area before him was empty, utterly silent, which was completely unlike how a tribe should be.

Gao Gong frowned and silently appeared before a guard.

The guard had a foolish grin on his face, seemingly chewing something, like raw meat. Upon closer inspection, it was his tongue.

Gao Gong took a deep breath and took out a pair of "black earphones," hanging them on his ears.

Name: Neural Frequency Amplifier

Category: Auxiliary Equipment

Quality: Fine-

Weight: 100g

Operation Mode: Neural Manipulation

Auxiliary Module: Neural Enhancement

Remarks: This is a hearing aid at the neural signal level.

Neural Enhancement: Enhances the generation and transmission of auditory nerve signals, activating ion channels.

As soon as Gao Gong put on the "earphones," a piercing noise erupted in his ears, drilling straight into his brain.

"Hiss—"

How could there be such a strong neural signal!

Gao Gong felt as if he were standing in the corporate district of Sleepless City, with countless simulated signals interwoven into a cyber network. Nerve bundles shot through him like lightning, his five senses merged together, and finally, the five streams converged into a surging flood, a simulated torrent rushing towards him.

"Holy shit!"

Before the "torrent" could hit him, Gao Gong frantically took off the amplifier, covered his mouth with his other hand, and his left ear began to make a flowing sound. It wasn't water, but blood.

The sounds in his ears alternated between loud and soft, a case of intermittent tinnitus.

Gao Gong finally understood why those Mech-Bio Beasts were chasing the Head-Dogs like mad.

The Manual Nerve Disruptor was just a trigger; on a level invisible to the naked eye, there must be something making them extremely uneasy.

Civilizations at the planetary level don't have "nano-repair agents" or "cell regeneration needles" like red potions. If they bleed, they can only endure it slowly or undergo immediate surgical repair.

Gao Gong waited for a moment, confirming his ear had stopped bleeding, before adjusting the "Neural Frequency Amplifier" to its lowest setting and placing it on his other ear.

This time, it was much better. There was still noise at the neural level, but the noise wasn't too loud. And if he listened carefully, the noise wasn't chaotic; instead, it sounded like raindrops, but millions of raindrops layered on top of each other, releasing their sound.

Using the neural noise for reconnaissance, Gao Gong quickly discovered two secret passages within the Cable Tribe's settlement: one was a tunnel, and the other was a mountain path.

The neural noise from the mountain path direction was significantly stronger.

Following the principle of tackling the easier task first, Gao Gong flipped down into the tunnel.

It was called a tunnel, but it was actually a manhole cover in the city's sewer system. However, the manhole cover was gone, replaced by a large rock blocking the sewer opening.

As soon as he moved the rock, a swarm of colorful butterflies flew out.

Raising butterflies in a sewer?

He climbed down the rusty stairs, and a foul odor immediately assaulted his nose.

It smelled like vegetables that had been rotten for who knows how many years.

Moreover, Gao Gong discovered an embarrassing situation.

It seemed that due to the influence of the neural noise, his "skin" had naturally changed, flickering between mosaics and TV static.

This "AV-quality" display couldn't even be hidden by the "Special Effects Generator."

Gao Gong shook his head, pinched the "button" on his collar, turned off the "Open-Version Virtual Projection," and drawing the Red Unicorn, cautiously probed forward.

It's worth mentioning that civilizations at the planetary level had also not developed "subspace storage technology." Therefore, equipment had to be carried by hand. At most, they could arrange for drones to airdrop it. Expecting to pull a weapon out of an inventory slot was out of the question.

Thus, Gao Gong only brought the Red Unicorn on this trip; his sniper rifle and Beast Hunter were both left behind in Gasoline Town.

Gao Gong moved forward slowly. In the empty sewer, only the sound of his footsteps remained.

Gao Gong's current Perception was 14, about three times that of a normal person. With his Perception, he quickly sensed a large number of breathing sounds.

Similarly, following the direction of the sewer system, he also heard footsteps.

They found me already? Do they have cameras?

Gao Gong switched his right eye to infrared mode and quickly located several hidden heat sources.

The blade flashed, followed by a series of explosive sounds. Soon, the enemy's footsteps became chaotic.

There was more than one underground tunnel, indicating that the enemies were starting to scatter.

Gao Gong swung his right hand, grabbing onto a steel bar overhead. He pushed off with his left foot and right foot, disappearing into the tunnel before they could reach him.

"Where did he go?"

"He was right around here."

The voices of the approaching individuals became increasingly noisy. Gao Gong, hidden in the darkness, suddenly saw his vision blur. When he opened his eyes again, he discovered a truly horrifying scene.

Four or five "living people" with their skulls removed, brain matter pulsing, emerged from the darkness. They held crude, handmade firearms, their expressions bizarre and ferocious, their mouths agape, with something like mucus clinging to their upper and lower lips.

Gao Gong inexplicably felt a surge of anger. This anger was so intense that his mind was almost drowned in hatred.

From the darkness, the tip of a blade descended from above, piercing into the brain matter and continuing all the way to the lower body.

Then Gao Gong pulled out his blade and, with his other hand, chopped open the handmade firearm of the person next to him, while using his free hand to cover the muzzle.

As bullets exploded from the barrel, the Red Unicorn sliced horizontally and vertically, cutting the opponent into pieces.

Brain matter sprayed, blood splattered, red and white matter bloomed everywhere.

Just as Gao Gong finished off the last brain-matter monster, a thick itchiness spread from the top of his head.

He reached up and grabbed a clump of "tofu pudding."

Gao Gong stared blankly at the scene, instinctively reaching for his left ear, only to find no "Neural Frequency Amplifier" there. Instead, he found an ear.

It was his own ear!

A hallucination?

Yes, it must be a hallucination!

However, when Gao Gong turned his head and looked at his reflection in the wall, he saw that the other brain-matter people had disappeared.

He was the only real brain-matter person.

The reflection of himself smiled, blood flowing from his facial features.

Gao Gong's eye twitched violently as he looked at the Red Unicorn in his hand.

The blade was gleaming and clean, showing no signs of having cut anyone.

Gao Gong looked up again, only to find pink "large intestines" squeezing out from the four walls.

Water trickled down from above.

The water was clean and transparent.

Gao Gong knew what it was.

Cerebrospinal fluid.