Treatment

"Huh?" Sun Jack's mouth hung open, staring in utter shock at the absurd scene before him. "This... this is possible too?"

Could such a life-or-death crisis be solved simply with money?

Song 6, grinning, gave himself a thumbs-up. "Bro, now you know why I worked my ass off to make money? Because money can really buy lives!"

"Then... why didn't they use it?" Sun Jack turned and pointed at the shattered mercenary corpses in the ruins behind them.

"Because they had no money."

"So, if you have no money, you die?"

"Yeah, if you have no money, you die."

"So, if you have no money, you die?"

"Yeah, if you have no money, you die."

"Damn it."

Watching the mercenaries die like ants in the ruins, Sun Jack gained a new understanding of this world.

"Let's go, I only bought three minutes."

Thanks to the time Song 6 bought with money, their feet finally landed on the rotten garbage just as the red light in the sky lit up again.

The three of them collapsed onto the garbage, looking at everything in the distance.

Spaceships descended from the aircraft carrier, methodically cleaning up the battlefield.

"No matter what, we finally escaped." Sun Jack lowered his head and spat out another mouthful of blood, gasping for air.

"Look, everyone, this is what the company does." Song 6 said, turning on his live stream again, as if he had become a war correspondent at this moment.

"This is the company?" Sun Jack muttered to himself, looking at it all. He had a completely new understanding of the word "company."

Regardless of what had happened in this world before, Sun Jack now deeply understood that this world was completely different from the one he had lived in before.

"Jack, your body temperature is rising. You're highly infected. We need to find a doctor." Taipai said, preparing to lead Sun Jack over the garbage mountain.

Song 6, standing beside them, stopped him. "Bro, it's over seventy miles from here to Metropolis. If you walk him there, he'll stink before we get there. I've already called the Treatment Center, and they'll send a spaceship over soon."

"Then why didn't you call them just now?" Sun Jack, weak, tilted his head and looked at him. His vision began to darken.

"What did you say? We were fighting just now. In that situation, do you think the Treatment Center would take the job? They run a Treatment Center to make money, not to save lives. Of course, they wouldn't do a losing business."

"Damn it." Hearing this, Sun Jack was completely despairing of this world.

Soon, a red laser beam descended from the sky, drawing a square area in front of them. Immediately after, a white spaceship with a red cross on it pierced through the clouds and landed precisely there.

Immediately after, two doctors in white coats, accompanied by four tall, slender white robots, quickly approached.

"Area secure, rescue can commence." The robots split open, rapidly transforming into mechanical stretchers. Their soft prosthetic limbs quickly but gently lifted Song 6 and Sun Jack onto the stretchers.

In a daze, Sun Jack felt something pierce his forearm. "10314C1 user secured, bio-signal connected, life detection panel activated, cardiac stimulant injected, dopamine 70mg, norepinephrine 110, fibrinogen 800..."

As the cold voice continued to sound, Sun Jack, who should have been losing consciousness, slowly began to wake up.

Lying on the bed, Sun Jack looked down at his opened abdomen. He saw a mechanical arm, like a crab's leg, quickly and precisely disinfecting and sterilizing the gruesome wounds on his body, from the inside out, leaving no gap.

After cleaning, it began to stitch rapidly, the sutures forming a seam as dense as a zipper. The surgery was as exquisite as embroidery.

During this time, he felt no pain at all, as if it were someone else's flesh.

Sun Jack was once again shocked by the technology of this world. His severe injuries were treated as easily as a common cold.

He had thought that with such serious injuries, being exposed to the acid rain again would surely mean certain death. He hadn't expected to be saved so easily.

"How is it? Awesome, right? This is the VIP package I booked for us."

Also lying next to Sun Jack, receiving the same treatment, Song 6PUS produced an e-cigarette from somewhere and began puffing clouds of smoke. His shriveled head had returned to normal at some point.

"So? Am I not useless now?" He seemed to care a lot about Sun Jack's previous complaints.

"Where are we going now?" Sun Jack looked around the simple, pure white interior of the medical spaceship.

Song 6PUS flicked his dreadlocks. "To Metropolis, of course. What? Are you planning to cross the nuclear blast zone and go to Gomorrah?"

Seeing the expression on Sun Jack's face, Song 6PUS asked in surprise, "You're not from around here? Where are you guys from?"

"No comment." Sun Jack directly refused the question. Without understanding anything, any fabricated answer would reveal a flaw.

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter where you're from. You saved my D's life. In our line of work, we value loyalty. When we get to Metropolis, I'll throw you a proper welcome party."

As he spoke, Song 6PUS raised his e-cigarette and lightly poked a button on the wall. With a "swish," the wall on the left became transparent.

It was still raining outside, but there was no longer any trash on the ground. Instead, there were remnants of concrete forests.

This scene, combined with the rainy weather, created a dim, monochromatic vista, presenting a scene like the end of the world.

The desolation outside contrasted sharply with the clean and tidy interior of the hovercar.

Without anyone needing to explain, Sun Jack understood that these things belonged to the world before the Intelligent Machine Crisis. They were simply never repaired, abandoned and forgotten, just like himself and Taipai.

As he was about to truly encounter this world, Sun Jack began to feel a sense of unease again. He waved gently to Taipai, who moved closer, and they began to whisper.

"Help me search for information about this Metropolis. Given our current undocumented status, is it safe to go there?"

Taipai nodded slightly, and an ellipsis began to appear repeatedly on his screen.

"Metropolis has a permanent population of 30 million, with extremely high inbound and outbound traffic. It's a melting pot with all sorts of people. Based on my calculations, there's a low probability of attracting the attention of other factions."

"Are you sure? With your appearance, won't you attract attention?" Sun Jack looked at Taipai's all-steel body, full of doubt.