What a bustling place.
Countless bridges stretched across the sky, and neon signs covered the entire city.
The pedestrians wore all kinds of clothes, and they all looked like they were at the cutting edge of fashion.
Standing here, Chu Yunyi
looked like a country bumpkin who'd never left the jungle.
He closed the spatial entrance and stepped into this world.
At first,
the pedestrians around him looked surprised, but a few seconds later, they stopped paying attention and went back to whatever they'd been doing.
Chu Yunyi looked around.
Even the passersby had a distinctly technological air about them. A middle-aged man by the roadside had no eyes on his head, just eight red cybernetic eyes embedded there.
A middle-aged woman nearby had a steel spine exposed along her back.
Even some random young man wore clothes with a dynamic ink-wash background.
It was so outrageously fashionable that Chu Yunyi's rheumatism was practically acting up just looking at it.
As Chu Yunyi walked, he stood out like a sore thumb.
The people around him looked at him much as he looked at them: surprised and confused, as if they were seeing some kind of surreal human performance art.
After a couple more glances, Chu Yunyi stopped paying them any mind.
He looked around.
Chu Yunyi thought to himself:
"What the Void Gate wants is for me to get stronger quickly."
"Could it be... that I'm supposed to just remove both my arms and replace them with mechanical limbs?"
Looking at this world of cyberpunk, dystopia, neon colors, and futuristic technology, he couldn't help thinking about it.
But
Chu Yunyi hadn't forgotten that this was the world with the giant-eyed Flesh Planet he'd seen earlier.
This world was bound to be more complicated than it seemed.
As he walked,
two pedestrians caught Chu Yunyi's attention.
They looked like a pair of street punks, something in their mouths as they stared at Chu Yunyi with disdain.
"What're you looking at? Keep staring and I'll gouge your eyes out!"
"Don't be like that, Xiao Huo. Come here, come here, Native Human. Your uncle's got something real nice to show you."
The two punks from another world looked at Chu Yunyi arrogantly, speaking in the language of this world.
The reason Chu Yunyi could understand them
was the ability he'd drawn earlier, No. 6, [Words of All Spirits]. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have understood a word.
If he couldn't rely on No. 6, [Words of All Spirits], was he supposed to expect every world in the myriad realms to have standardized Mandarin?
Looking at the two strange-looking things, Chu Yunyi wasn't afraid. He walked right over.
He entered the narrow alley where the two punks were standing.
It was quite dark in there, and hardly anyone came in.
Just as Chu Yunyi got close to them,
Whoosh!
A blade like a dagger sprang out of the arm of the punk they'd called Xiao Huo.
It shot straight out from the back of his hand.
It wasn't like the one in Assassin's Creed, either. It was more like some Assassin's Creed version of Wolverine. Chu Yunyi thought it looked pretty ridiculous.
But that little blade on the back of his hand was what gave the punk his confidence.
"Hey, hey, you actually dared to come over?"
"We're a little short on cash. Lend us some Credit Points, and we'll pay you back an extra five percent next month."
The two punks grinned wickedly, as if they really thought Chu Yunyi was easy prey.
"Sigh." Chu Yunyi sighed.
Then
Chu Yunyi drew the only Walther he had left from behind his back.
He'd lost both of his Little Bees in the fight with the Wrath patient. He'd given his other Walther to Shadow to ambush Xia Tian, though it hadn't worked very well.
By now,
this was the only one Chu Yunyi had left, but it was enough.
At first,
Chu Yunyi had planned to simply show them the gun and make the two punks back down, but things clearly weren't going to go that way.
"What the hell is that? A kid's toy? You seen one of these, bro?"
"Nope. Looks weird as hell. Real men use knives! Who'd mess around with some freaky toy like that?"
The two punks played off one another like they were performing a comedy routine.
Even Chu Yunyi almost laughed.
"Is this a toy? Hm?" Chu Yunyi raised it, aimed at the more arrogant punk, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A deafening crack rang out, followed by a bloody mess. The alley was instantly filled with a murderous atmosphere.
The punk who'd called himself an uncle froze, his head buzzing.
They'd just been messing around.
Who could've guessed that this guy who looked like a Native Human would actually kill someone right there?!
"Ah... ahh..." The punk was like a mute, unable to get a word out.
What's more,
the punk's strength seemed to leave him. He went limp all over, as if his bones had been pulled out.
For no apparent reason, liquid soaked through his clothes.
Chu Yunyi didn't do anything else. He gave the punk a few minutes to get used to what had happened.
Three minutes later,
Chu Yunyi spoke:
"I'll be blunt. I'm from another world."
Hearing that,
the punk's mind went blank. What the hell was this guy talking about?!
But after seeing the power of the Walther, the punk couldn't help believing him a little.
"An... alien?!"
At the odd choice of words, Chu Yunyi paused in surprise, then quickly replied, "I suppose that's not wrong."
"Now I ask, you answer. If you don't, or if you lie, you'll end up like him."
"Y-yes..."
"What's this world called? Or what's the name of this planet?"
"Night Star..."
"What's that giant eye in the sky? What effect has it had on your world?"
"Huh? You're not from here...? We call it Meat Mountain. It's a planet made up of countless mutated organisms.
"From time to time, it drops mutated tissue down here, so everyone in our city has to get a Combat Chip implanted..."
"One last question. Where do you get all those body modifications?"
"We lower-city folk on the outskirts go to Old Jin's shop. He's a pretty decent guy. At least he doesn't knock us out with anesthetic and sell our organs.
"It's at the corner of the street in District 73. Turn right after you leave the alley, then turn left when you see the suppressant pharmacy. It's the third unit on the twenty-third floor of the Wing Coin Building."
"You call that a decent guy? Forget it. I'm done with you."
Chu Yunyi waved his gun and turned to leave.
But a few breaths later, the punk seemed to realize something and shouted, "What the hell do you mean, alien? Damn upper-city scum!"
"Think you're better than us? You said you and us lower-city folk are from two different worlds!"
"You high-and-mighty upper-city people!"
"Get a taste of the blood and fury of us commoners! Die!!"
After shouting, the punk raised his arm blade and charged. Without even looking back, Chu Yunyi fired toward the sound.
Bang!
He'd said that if the punk didn't answer or lied, he'd die.
He hadn't said the punk would be safe if he answered.
The punk had brought this on himself. Chu Yunyi wouldn't go easy on him.
If someone wanted him dead, he'd just kill them. There was no point leaving them around for some drawn-out plotline.
If things went by the usual cliché—he beat up the younger guy, then the older one showed up, then the old man—that would be a real headache.
Following the directions the punk had given him, Chu Yunyi headed for Old Jin's shop.
He wanted to see
if there were any weapons he could use without getting a cybernetic modification.
Since this world didn't have guns, it stood to reason that weapons like knives would have been developed quite extensively.
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