System

Sun Jack held the chip in his hand and stated his request to Vajra, who stood before him.

He had spent all of last night thinking it over, and still felt that putting the thing directly into his head was too risky.

Besides, what Song 6 had just said only added to his doubts. Even the Backup Heart installed in his body could develop problems. What guarantee was there that the chip in his head wouldn't? Sun Jack didn't dare take that gamble.

"And besides, I don't know this place or anyone in it. What if those two are trying to pull one over on me? If it's external, I can just take it off if things go wrong."

Sun Jack's words caught Vajra by surprise. "Why is that, benefactor? Could your System Chip be malfunctioning?"

Hearing Song 6's words gave Sun Jack a good excuse. He immediately nodded and went along with it. "Yeah, it's malfunctioning in my head. Now it's stuck in there, and I can't get it out. That's why my buddy had his whole body replaced with steel."

As he spoke, Sun Jack patted Taipai on the shoulder. Taipai let out a very convincing sigh. "╯△╰"

"Is that so? Then let this poor monk take a look."

Sun Jack quickly leaned back, dodging the tool that emerged from Vajra's split-open palm. Damn, if he let him examine it, wouldn't he be exposed?

After thinking fast for a moment, Sun Jack bluffed, "Don't touch it! This little thing is dangerous. It can transfer consciousness. I went through a lot of trouble to break it so it wouldn't gradually turn me into someone else. If you accidentally reboot it, we'll be in trouble."

"Huh? That doesn't sound like what I heard yesterday." Song 6 tilted his head and propped his chin on his hand.

Sun Jack answered without expression, "You tell me."

After listening to Sun Jack's string of excuses, the monk finally gave up on the idea of examining him. "Well... in that case, I'll find you an external device. I think I sold one before." He rummaged through the boxes.

It didn't take long for Vajra to find a circular metal device that looked like a glasses frame in a storage box.

After watching Vajra install the chip in it, Sun Jack reached out and took it.

He stared at the strange-looking device in his hand, took a deep breath, and slowly put it on.

With a hiss, a bright yellow band of light appeared in front of Sun Jack. It really was a pair of glasses, but the lenses weren't made of glass or resin—they were virtual images projected into place.

The projected, single-piece curved lens had some wide-angle distortion at the edge of his vision. He felt as though his field of view extended quite a bit farther to the sides.

The bright yellow lenses flickered a few times. When Song 6 spoke again, subtitles appeared beneath them. "How does it feel?"

"How do I control it?" Sun Jack rubbed the arms of the glasses beside his ears, but couldn't find a single button.

"Just think what you want. It can scan your scalp to perform Electrocardiogram Detection, but because it's external, it can only sense, not interfere. So you can't use the Dopamine Circulator or Pain Editing. Monitoring Interference and Temporary ICE will still work, though."

"Turn off subtitles." At Sun Jack's thought, the subtitles vanished instantly.

"Show information." Names appeared above Song 6 and Vajra's heads. Beneath Song 6's name, a link to his Live Stream Link had even appeared.

Sun Jack raised his Steel Arm. The lower-left corner of his vision immediately displayed the number of bullets and shells: Bullets: 124, Shells: 0.

"Is this what Body Network does?" Sun Jack looked around in amazement through the projected lenses.

At a thought, every Prosthetic Limb on Vajra's shelves instantly connected to the network, with its type, price, and functions appearing beside it.

With this thing, Sun Jack now had the equivalent of a Supercomputer in his head. And this was only an external system—if it were installed inside his brain, he'd be unstoppable.

"No wonder everyone likes installing systems. They're so useful."

"But, benefactor, since your chip is external, you have to protect it. If someone steals your external device, they could take your money and everything else from you," Vajra reminded him.

Sun Jack didn't think it was a big deal. He touched the external device on his head and asked, "What makes you think they can't steal it if it's installed in my brain?"

Smashing open someone's skull and digging out the chip only added one extra step. And judging by Song 6's mental state, people in this lousy place could do it without a moment's hesitation.

"Haha, bro! You're damn right. If it weren't for black market goods, where would all this stuff come from?" Song 6PUS said from nearby, using a broken Prosthetic Limb as a back scratcher.

Vajra was immediately alarmed. "All my goods come through legitimate channels. Don't slander me!"

"Legitimate channels? Then why are you selling them in secret? Afraid the cops will find out?"

"This poor monk is only doing it to avoid taxes."

Their exchange made Sun Jack's pupils contract slightly as he looked at the other chips on the table. "Could all the chips here have been dug out of people's heads?"

Perhaps because he'd been through so much, Sun Jack didn't feel surprised. Instead, it seemed only natural.

After the monk finished maintaining Sun Jack's Combat Prosthetic, the four of them appeared once more in the Mourning Fun Shop.

Sun Jack looked around the shop at the information flickering across his lenses. It all felt completely new. At that moment, the whole world seemed to come alive.

As he looked at the UI Interface all around him, Sun Jack felt as though he were playing a game.

He silently activated Automatic Translation, and every unfamiliar language on the advertisements was translated into Chinese. The sounds around him were automatically translated too.

"@ Account Opening." A dense stream of zeroes and ones flowed rapidly before Sun Jack, eventually gathering in the lower-left corner as 0.0000@.

As he kept testing the other functions, a box suddenly popped up before his eyes. "Come on, bro, let's add each other as friends. We can help each other out whenever anything comes up!"

"Sure. Thanks for helping me out. We're bros from now on." Sun Jack accepted right away.

"Bro, you've got a deal. I can tell you're no ordinary guy, and I believe in you. Not just anyone can handle Chloe." Grinning, Song 6 embraced Sun Jack tightly, then headed toward the car nearby.

After Song 6 PUS left, Sun Jack continued fiddling with his system. This thing was far too extraordinary for someone from ancient times.

He'd barely finished adjusting it when another Black Invitation Box popped up beside him. The sight of the black invitation made his heart skip a beat.

"Besides Song 6PUS, could someone else in this place know me?"

Sun Jack's mind raced. He even wondered whether someone in this city had recognized him long ago and had been silently watching him from the shadows.