Golden Body

Leaving the Rust City.

After passing through a grassland stretching for tens of kilometers, you will see Central District No. 03.

Qin Yiguan was very familiar with the place and had borrowed food from them more than once.

Normally.

He usually walks slowly, enjoying the scenery along the way, but this time, he is running.

Because he had a particularly uneasy premonition.

Ahead.

The massive city walls of the Central District are already visible.

at this time.

The city gate was open, and a dozen mechanical police officers surrounded the small gate.

"You... you are that ' Perversion Detective '?"

A robotic police unit, upon seeing Qin Yiguan arrive, first verified his identity. A surprised voice came from its loudspeaker, "I truly didn't expect you to be able to log off and come to the scene in your physical form."

Just call me Qin Yiguan.

The boy in the black jacket squinted at the scene inside the city gate. "The one who came up with the codename ' Perversion Detective ' was Old Wang, wasn't it?"

"Forehead..."

"Old turtle?"

The robotic police officer paused for a moment, slightly taken aback.

Another robotic policeman tapped its iron head. "Are you stupid? Old Wang is referring to Director Wang. Qin Yiguan and Director Wang are on good terms, so he's just teasing him like that. And you're actually repeating it? Be careful Director Wang hears you, or you'll die!"

"Forehead..."

The young robotic police officer then took out an identification card with an integrated chip from his arm.

It handed it to Qin Yiguan and said, "Detective Qin, the defense and security systems of this Central City are currently functioning normally. Your physical body cannot enter the city. If you bring your identification tag, all restrictions will be lifted."

I don't need that kind of thing.

Qin Yiguan nodded and strode into the city.

The mechanical police officers behind them were all stunned. All of 03's detectors, defense alarm systems, and defense robots were completely silent!

Qin Yiguan seemed to vanish as if it didn't exist!

The robotic police officers looked at each other in bewilderment.

This is a world-class bug.

Qin Yiguan was intimately familiar with the scenes in the Central District.

The streets are lined with white buildings, spotless, with fantastical designs and a high-tech feel.

The city ground resembled a crystal, with ripples of light spreading out from within it.

This is a dream city, a city of the Future.

But on the street corner ahead, there was a completely out-of-place scene.

He was a short, thin monk who sat cross-legged on a step, his eyes closed, facing the distance, his hands clasped together.

He was wearing a gray monk's robe, stained with dust and with many scratches.

The soles of his cloth shoes were worn smooth, and his big toe was sticking out.

He had become a dried-up corpse.

Only a thin, somewhat transparent layer of skin remained on the entire skull, clinging tightly to the bone.

His lips also contracted.

His black gums and white teeth were exposed.

Instead of a shackle, it has two large red characters tattooed on its head: "The Strongest".

The image of Shitian flashed through Qin Yiguan's mind.

The little monk always had a smile on his face.

"This humble monk, Shitian, has traveled ten thousand miles on foot and finally encountered a living person. Greetings, benefactor."

"I'm not dead? After entering the Metaverse, I found myself in a desolate area, surrounded by endless Gobi Desert. Then I started walking, walking endlessly, for two whole months..."

What's going on?

Shitian's clear voice echoed in his mind.

Qin Yiguan's brows furrowed tightly.

At this moment, a mechanical sound came from behind. Officer Wang's mechanical puppet slowly came to Qin Yiguan's side and also looked at the little monk.

"Around 17 or 18 years old."

"We walked all the way here from the southeast."

The time of death was two months ago.

"It's been X-rayed."

"He had almost completely exhausted all the energy in his body, all the fat, even the protective fat between his internal organs."

"30% of the muscle has also dissolved."

"His perseverance was simply superhuman, but ultimately he couldn't pull through."

"There was no identification information whatsoever—no resident registration, no virtual helmet usage records, Nutrient Pod usage records, no video surveillance records, nothing at all. It was as if it appeared out of thin air."

"The most unbelievable thing is..."

"His body did not decompose despite the high temperatures of summer."

"On the contrary, it has been miraculously preserved, like a mummy."

"What I find most incomprehensible is..."

"This Central District is filled with countless surveillance devices and Guardian by robots."

How did he get in?

Officer Wang recounted many basic facts. Although this was not a case of a perverted murder, there were still many unbelievable aspects to it.

His name is Shitian.

Qin Yiguan suddenly spoke.

Officer Wang suddenly turned his head and asked in surprise, "You know him?!"

"Um."

Qin Yiguan slowly said, "He and his master have always lived in the remote mountains of the Physical Earth. For eighteen years, they have never come down the mountain or come into contact with the Metaverse. His belief is very strong, and he is the most innocent person I have ever met."

Officer Wang was taken aback again. "Where have you seen him before?"

Qin Yiguan slowly said, "Regarding where I saw him before, and why he was able to enter this Central District, I think it might be because... he's the same kind of person as me."

Officer Wang's voice rose slightly, "... The same kind of person as you?!"

At this very moment.

Officer Wang thought of Qin Yiguan's identity as an 'invisible man' and his incredible superpowers in the Metaverse Experimental Zone.

And at this very moment.

A robotic police officer approached Officer Wang. "Chief Wang, the X-ray scan revealed something else. There's a 'pill' inside this little monk's body!"

"Dan?"

Qin Yiguan and Officer Wang looked over at the same time.

"Yes!"

The robotic policeman said, "I've heard that in the old days, some eminent monks would have their bodies turn into golden statues after death, and relics would form within their bodies."

"But later it was confirmed that the so-called 'relics' were actually the teeth of eminent monks, mostly inorganic matter that does not decay, and even after cremation, they would leave round residues."

"But I don't understand, this little monk's elixir is located in his chest."

At this moment, Qin Yiguan suddenly turned his head and said, "As far as I know, many precious cultural relics from the old era are now collected in science and technology museums. Although no one goes to see them anymore, they will still be preserved permanently. It seems that there are also a few 'golden statues of eminent monks' there, right?"

Officer Wang had already understood Qin Yiguan's meaning.

He then instructed, "Apply to the higher-ups to have this body placed in the science museum as well."

"But Director Wang."

The robotic policeman asked doubtfully, "The golden statues in the science museum all have various titles, such as being reincarnations of high-ranking monks from a certain generation..."

Suddenly, Qin Yiguan said, "Let's call him... the second-generation successor of the Whole Buddhism tradition."