Civilized Society

Li Fan could hear himself emitting a terrible scream, as if every pore and every piece of skin was disintegrating in the flames—a Affliction, desperate, and helpless wail, like the scream of Thunder Monkeys cub unwilling to be weaned, cruelly kicked out of its mother 'Thunder Monkeys arms—a horrific and irritating scream.

Of course, it wasn't him screaming, it was his body screaming. The silhouette of the Thousand-Faced Immortal was reflected in his eyes for only a moment through the crystal shards, and it completely destroyed the rationality of this body, like a black storm tearing the spirit within this flesh to shreds.

Li Fan knelt on the ground, vomiting large amounts of disordered bodily fluids, enhancers, and blood plasma, as if he wanted to squeeze out the last bit of human life from his body, even pus and blood. His brain was trembling.

Fortunately, this wasn't the first time he'd had an attack, and he'd gotten used to it after a while. Besides, this body was highly prosthetic, with all its bones made of metal. As long as it was still under lease, it could function normally. Furthermore, with the support of extra-paid equipment like the blood pump, accessory heart, and brain enhancement, Li Fan could urgently use the Divine Cult's blood refining method to maintain the crucial heart and brain, preventing the system from determining the container was dead. He could barely hold on.

Of course, the most important thing is that since that guy finally got through the door, he naturally wouldn't waste time staying by Li Fan's side.

In the mere seconds between the massive mirror falling from the sky and slicing into countless fragments on the space station's surface, the reflection of the Thousand -Thousand-Faced Immortal was no longer visible among the shards.

Li Fan coughed up blood, manipulated his prosthetic body—which had transformed from a muscular, grotesque figure to a skeletal, boneless robot—to stand up, and turned to look behind him.

The shadow is gone, and the system is offline; perhaps it's still on the space station.

"Warning! Warning! Pressure drop!"

"Alarm! Alarm! Mechanical failure!"

"Alarm! Alarm! Evacuation procedure!"

At this moment, the yellow warning lights started flashing, and the holographic image projected everywhere was orange-yellow.

Looking up, one can see the sky gradually opening up. Although the space station's living area probably has a secondary protection mechanism like a molecular shield to prevent air leakage, the collapse of the 'sky' just now tore a large hole in it, clearly indicating a serious accident. Moreover, components in other areas seem to be systematically peeling away and disintegrating.

This was a complete structural collapse, not a low-probability accident like a meteorite hitting a valve and causing it to break; it was clearly a deliberate act.

But if it wasn't the mood system that did it, then who could it be...?

Li Fan didn't have time to investigate this. After catching his breath, he quickly got to work, not caring about saving money. He activated all his equipment, enhanced all his Cultivation Method, and launched himself into a sprint, charging wildly towards the coordinates where the chip was located.

As he ran, he could feel his gravity system malfunctioning and becoming disordered. Fortunately, his spacesuit had some impact and pressure resistance, and the soles of his shoes could activate magnetic attachment to the alloy layer, preventing him from becoming immobile. However, these features required additional payment to unlock... Damn, they're so greedy...

Before Li Fan could even complain, after running halfway and the surrounding 'orange-yellow alert' turned into 'red alert', he suddenly heard a rapid, pattering sound of footsteps approaching.

Turning my head, I saw a large group of company employees emerging from a building that looked like an office building!

Li Fan initially thought the other party was going to pounce on him and even brandished his switchblade, but upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't.

Hundreds of people, arranged in neat square formations, sprinted out of the industrial zone with the gait of robots, making a right-angle turn on the street and rapidly entering nearby emergency containment facilities with incredible efficiency. Were they taking refuge?

Li Fan took a closer look and discovered that these company employees were still connected to the virtual network, their bodies completely taken over by the system, automatically escaping according to the emergency evacuation procedure.

Automatic evacuation while online or at work? The automatic driving system is actually quite useful...

The entire evacuation process was carried out in an orderly manner, with no one panicking or even desperate cries for help. The space station gradually collapsed and was destroyed amidst the alarms and footsteps. The emergency evacuation mechanism was so skillfully executed that it was heartbreaking...

Of course, whether they're risking their lives to work overtime or running, they're all low-level office workers. The middle and senior managers and their secretaries have long since evacuated on special shuttles. Every now and then, a large number of emergency medical service rescue ships fly overhead to rescue their esteemed clients trapped in the disaster area.

Honestly, it's really too much to only organize an emergency evacuation of employees when a red alert is issued and the space station is about to disintegrate! Some companies haven't even organized an evacuation yet! Do they intend to keep working until the very last moment the space station collapses? Are they planning to wait until the space station blows up, and then fire or lay off employees who left early without cause...?

Sigh, well, this company is really awful...

After all, even these so-called managers and key personnel of the company are still just ordinary workers.

Li Fan could tell from the crowd that these people had lived in space for a long time, even living, growing old, getting sick, and dying there. Their bones and skeletons had mutated, making them exceptionally tall, with fair skin due to lack of sunlight, and slender muscles that required prosthetics to perform manual labor. Their main task was probably to remain in space and maintain the normal operation of these valuable orbital factories and space research facilities.

The system says these elite middle-class individuals probably make up one to two percent of the total population. They aren't actually irreplaceable consumables.

The real board members would never appear in this kind of research space station in the outskirts of a city. They all live on Earth, this Earth, or the Earth on the other side of the door, probably one in ten thousand, one in a hundred thousand.

What? Where are the other 99%? Didn't we see them as soon as we came in? Lying in capsules, traveling to all sorts of worlds and dreaming.

So this is what 'traveling to another world' means? Maybe he's lying there dreaming too...

Li Fan shook his head, stopped thinking about it, and ran all the way to the coordinate point.

This is a hangar, near a scrap metal processing plant, almost at the dock. The cargo shuttle driver parked here, got caught, and is now facing a 20,000 yuan fine for overdue parking! Don't you have a parking fee cap?! And at a time like this, why didn't you remove the security robots?!

There was no other way; his current physical condition couldn't dodge bullets, much less withstand machine gun fire. He had no choice but to obediently pay the fine. He hadn't expected the parking fee to be so expensive. Luckily, the system had already pre-allocated part of his work allowance, and it was fortunate that Li Fan hadn't been tempted to rent a service robot to test its skills, otherwise he wouldn't have had enough money.

Sigh... It sounds like the space station is about to explode, and I'm still paying parking tickets for illegal parking. What kind of civilized society is this...?

After waiting for the payment to be processed, Li Fan was able to enter the garage, take the elevator directly to the shuttle ship area, and find the target cargo shuttle.

Holy crap! What a piece of junk! It's just a cockpit towing a cargo hold! It's not even worth 20,000 yuan!

Fortunately, the game pod is in the cargo hold. This thing is quite large, and with all sorts of electrical wiring, sealed compartments, and liquid tanks, it looks quite advanced, like a luxurious alloy coffin. A shuttle-level device really can't be fitted with it.

The system still hadn't given any feedback, so just in case, Li Fan had no choice but to follow the system's instructions, recalling the operation examples to disassemble the circuit board and remove the disguised chip.

The entire chip module is a cube with sides of one centimeter, belonging to the previous generation of products, and the company's chip is packaged inside the cube module. Simply put, it's like stuffing a laptop into a computer case and connecting the cables—a rather shady operation. As for all this messy disguise outside, it probably swindled those two fish out of ten million...

Suddenly, Li Fan's Divine Sense stirred, sensing someone approaching. Damn! They really did come looking for us!

Perhaps he was discovered paying the fine, or perhaps they had been lying in wait all along. Li Fan could sense four groups of four people in each of the four directions—up, down, left, and right—rushing into his range of Divine Sense and approaching the warehouse where the shuttle was located.

Yes, they are all human, and they all have dual Divine Sense fluctuations. Like Li Fan, they should be company security personnel whose original bodies are on the other side of the door, who have crossed over to use the prosthetic bodies of local citizens to carry out missions!

Li Fan cautiously shifted his position, making a move to check the cockpit. His blind eyes also noticed that the four squads were changing formation and positioning as he moved, indicating they had likely already detected his image through cameras. Damn it, was the system taken down...? No, he wasn't taken down yet; the system firewall was probably still active...

The four squads quickly completed their deployment. The two squads on the same floor separated by a wall, and the squad above the shuttle's flight path, were likely responsible for ambushing and providing cover. The four squads on the underground floor, who were gradually approaching, were likely responsible for the assault.

These people weren't very skilled; they didn't even have equipment like drones. The company was probably caught off guard by this Plan A and Plan B, and in their haste, they hacked into the cybernetic bodies of these low-level security guards, using them as human shields for the company's executives, and then came knocking on their door.

The system had previously stated that factories like OP, being core areas of the company's production, office, and R&D, are naturally prohibited from using military-grade weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, the shuttle docking area is already part of the space station structure, so even if the other party has a gun, its power should be limited to the level of the parking lot gate guards, in order to avoid damaging the alloy structural layer.

Considering the possibility of friendly fire from ricochets, if the enemy is after the goods, they probably wouldn't want to damage the chip with something like metallic hydrogen. Judging from the rapid approach of the assault team, they probably want to... engage in close combat? Ha, they're asking for it!

Buzz--

Four laser beams simultaneously sliced through the alloy layer, twisted counterclockwise, severed the ground alloy plate, and shredded the shuttle's cabin into pieces in the process!

I dug up some grass! A lightsaber!

These are truly lightsabers in the traditional sense, plasma beams confined by magnetic fields that can slice through the alloy armor plates of a space station like tofu; cutting Li Fan would be a piece of cake.

However, this is on the premise that you can actually cut it.

Li Fan lunged forward to dodge the scorching stream of light, then moved sideways and tumbled like a crab, using all four legs to spin and dance within the net of blades cut by the light.

Not to brag, but the security guards' cybernetic bodies were pretty good too. They were quite fast after being given medication, probably at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Perfection. Their lightsabers were also very cool, but their 'sword formation' skills were just awful.

This team lacks even the most basic coordination; it's full of flaws and shows the work of an amateur.

Well, these company security guards are probably top-notch assassins in this world, handpicked and incredibly skilled. But in the Taiji Realm, their skill level would only be considered upper-middle tier, barely enough to control their bodies and fighting rhythm.

It's not that Li Fan is underestimating them, but Li Fan can see that they rely too much on the effectiveness of their equipment. Since a light saber grazes them, it's a death sentence, so why bother with any techniques? Just use wide-range sweeping attacks to block out any room to dodge, and that's it.

Therefore, the cooperation between the four at this time could not be considered a 'sword formation' at all. It was just a matter of avoiding being hit by lightsabers and having some positioning. Their moves were full of mistakes and were so bad that they were an eyesore.

With such limited skills, rushing forward to clash with Li Fan's short sword—is he courting death or simply looking down on others?

Li Fan darted forward, seizing position with a playful roll and leap, squeezing into the arms of an attacker, his elbow concealed with a switchblade aimed straight for the attacker's neck.

However, just as the blade pierced the protective suit, the surrounding air suddenly turned ice-blue, the resistance on the bayonet increased abruptly, and the blade got stuck as if it had hit concrete!

Li Fan wasn't surprised. When he was preparing to deal with the company's operative, the system had specifically mentioned that as a high-ranking executive with access to top-tier chips, the operative must have subscribed to company-level personal security services. Therefore, he had specifically researched how to fight such an opponent if the system's puppet couldn't bypass the operative's firewall.

Although Li Fan seemed to have had pretty good luck before, the company security guards who charged at him this time, wielding lightsabers, were clearly all equipped with similar protective gear.

In short, this security technology uses nanobots that parasitize the skin's surface. Once activated, the nanobots initiate a defense mechanism. The most basic step is to generate a special compound and disperse a molecular-level gaseous protective layer on the skin's surface, as if there were a gas shield. This high-molecular gaseous protective film is a non-Newtonian fluid that can block physical impacts with momentum exceeding a set threshold, such as gunshots, punches, and stabs.

More advanced security features include optical camouflage, heat and cold protection, radiation protection, acid and alkali resistance to resist biological and chemical attacks, and even the generation of magnetic deflection fields to deflect bombardment from military-grade plasma cannons.

Of course, the specific effects depend on the security service plan purchased by the subscriber each month. Some functions require customized updates of special nanobots and prosthetics to be implemented. This is probably the fundamental reason why these security guards, who have guns but don't use them, instead show off by brandishing lightsabers and charging at each other.

A lightsaber is powerful enough to burn through polymer protective layers and destroy low-level security nanobots, making it a weapon against corporate dogs. Of course, this doesn't mean a nanobarrier is completely defenseless against a lightsaber; even a plasma cannon can't withstand a plasma beam. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for...

However, this level of service isn't something you can subscribe to just because you have money. It's generally only available through company group purchases and is arranged for core employees. Ordinary workers don't have access to it.

Li Fan's prosthetic body, that of a bankrupt soldier, didn't have such a thing. However, the security guards on his side weren't particularly high-ranking officers either. Would someone sitting in an office go down to a construction site to do such dirty work? Impossible.

So although the switchblade's thrust was intercepted by the anti-Newtonian gas protective layer, the blood stuck to the tip of the sword still accurately splashed into the eyes of the security guard due to inertia and Li Fan's mental manipulation, and because of the low momentum, it did not trigger the defense mechanism.

A normal person would probably close their eyes immediately, but these security guards' artificial remains were being manipulated by other system apostles. However, they were clearly 'remotely controlled dolls' that were isolated from pain, and they didn't seem to care at all as blood splattered all over their faces without even blinking.

Of course, Li Fan doesn't have much divine blood that he can control right now, so this much is enough.

With a thought, Li Fan pierced the security guard's eyeballs with a blood sword that suddenly transformed into a sharp blade. The blood sword pierced through the lens and went straight into the central nervous system, destroying the security guard's brain and killing the container that was being used as a prosthetic body.

The container suddenly died, and the operator on the other side of the door was also forced offline in a daze, losing all permissions. Security nanobots and lightsabers also became ineffective.

So Li Fan flicked his wrists, slicing the first security guard to pieces with his switchblade, and then snatched the metal hilt of the lightsaber. Although it was an enemy weapon, and probably had some kind of access control or fingerprint lock, given this civilization's operating style...

"Hello, can I make a purchase?"

"Welcome to Qimingxing Civilian Security Flashlight..."

Wow! A lightsaber calling itself a flashlight?! Seriously, these companies are going to such lengths to avoid taxes...

"Using low beam mode incurs a transaction fee of 10 coins; using high beam mode incurs a transaction fee of 20 coins; using double high beam mode incurs a transaction fee of 40 coins..."

"Damn, you really are a flashlight! Stop whining and give me what they're giving me!"

Li Fan was chased by the remaining three lightsaber security guards, making Qin Wang run around pillars and containers haphazardly.

"Transaction complete. You have activated self-defense mode..."

Forget it! As long as Li Fan has a sword, no one in the world can kill him!

Li Fan drew his sword, and with a whoosh, a lightsaber appeared! He turned and seized position, slashing back with his sword. With a flick of his wrist, he sliced the unsuspecting security guards who had caught up with him into six pieces. Then, with a flourish, he deflected all the plasma beams fired by the support teams from both sides using their 'flashlights,' scorching eight of their heads. He then increased the output of his 'flashlights,' thrusting them straight up at the ceiling. With a flick of his wrist, he sliced through the ceiling with four sword strikes, and blood gushed down from the ceiling.

In less than a minute, he had wiped out all the company dogs around him.

"What a fine sword, what a fine sword..."

"Thank you for your positive review and patronage. In this self-defense mode, you killed 15 attackers. An additional service fee of 15,000 coins has been charged. You can also spend another 1,500 coins to download a holographic image for use as evidence in court. Please rate this service from 1 to 10, indicating your strong intention to recommend this civilian flashlight to your friends. A perfect review with a screenshot and contacting customer service will receive a small gift!"

... Sigh, this world is truly beyond saving.