Himeko Was a Stubborn Old Fossil

Himeko carefully read her own price on the quotation sheet.

It was pretty high.

"Does this machine treat people entirely as merchandise?"

Himeko glanced over the shelves. The mechanical prosthetics for sale varied widely in price.

The cheapest cost just over sixty thousand, while even the most expensive brain-computer interface chip cost only a hundred and fifty thousand.

By that comparison, selling her arms and legs would let her buy out the entire shop.

"They leave such valuable things sitting right here, without so much as a security guard. How do they keep them from being stolen?"

Himeko picked up a brain-computer interface chip from the shelf, and the surveillance camera in the corner automatically locked onto her.

[Civilian Brain-Computer Interface Chip X250: Installing this in a brain-computer interface grants an additional 5% computing power, with an additional computational boost for street fighting.]

After looking around, Himeko had a rough understanding of what these Cybernetic Implants and chips did.

It was simply a matter of flesh being weak, so people had begun researching ways to modify themselves.

Himeko had no interest in adding this and that to her body. Her flesh had no plans to escape its family of origin.

Still, studying them would be interesting.

She was an engineering graduate, after all. With Imagenesis Technology, replicating mechanical prosthetics would hardly be difficult.

"If it were Welt, he could probably make more, stronger mechanical components out of thin air after just one look?"

Himeko fiddled with the prosthetic hand she had created using her Imagenesis Technology.

The prosthetic hand was attached to her arm, mirroring every movement she made.

Its only flaw was that people without hands could not use it.

"This went completely off track! It's not a giant robot."

Himeko had only wanted to give it a try anyway. How could she make something identical just by looking at its exterior?

She was neither a scanner nor a 3D printer. Welt was the one to go to for that sort of thing.

"Right, this is a good chance to see whether I can pick up some souvenirs for Welt here. He'd be interested."

"I think March 7th has probably already taken care of that."

Aside from Cybernetic Implants, the implant shop also carried the most important thing.

[Brain-Computer Interface: The law requires residents to have a brain-computer interface installed at birth. This is one of the few free services in this world. However, there is no shortage of visitors who have never experienced the power of technology. For a small fee, they can have a single-chip-slot brain-computer interface installed.]

[Price: 1000]

Compared to Cybernetic Implants, the brain-computer interface really was cheap.

As Himeko held the brain-computer interface in her hand, a system notification quietly arrived.

[Achievement obtained: Welcome to Night City]

[This godforsaken world is filled with high technology. You can even sell your own brain for payment.]

[Reward: Drink-Mixing Robot Shut Up can now accept brain-computer interface chips (this world has no corny-joke chips).]

On the train, Shut Up was telling Pom-Pom a corny joke when it suddenly froze, cutting off halfway through.

"Hm... did it break, pom? Wonderful! This Conductor will throw you into the cargo car right away, pom!"

Pom-Pom's eyes lit up. During Himeko's absence, Shut Up had told it a full twenty-three corny jokes.

Pom-Pom immediately brandished its broom, trying to chase the king of corny jokes into the cargo car. Fortunately, Shut Up's installation finished quickly, and it stopped Pom-Pom.

Seeing it resume functioning, Pom-Pom had storm clouds gather over its head and hurriedly covered its ears.

"Why didn't you break? Even running out of power would've been fine, pom!"

Shut Up spoke again, but this time, Himeko's voice came out.

"Pom-Pom, it's me. I've gained control access to Shut Up. I need its help with something."

"O-oh, I see. Wonderful, I finally don't have to listen to corny jokes anymore, pom. Himeko, be careful, pom!"

"Don't worry, Pom-Pom. I'll let you know if I need support."

With that, Himeko controlled Shut Up and brought it into the Cybernetic Implant shop.

Himeko was a stubborn old fossil. She had no desire whatsoever to stick these strange things into her body. It made perfect sense to put mechanical components into a robot.

After explaining the whole situation to Shut Up, Himeko asked for its opinion.

Naturally, Shut Up had no objections.

"There is no need to worry about outside viruses taking over my main control chip. My firewall is strong enough that not even a spark can drift through."

"So you keep all the fire out. No wonder your jokes are so cold."

"Recording Himechi Cat's corny joke..."

"So you've been stealing all your corny jokes!?"

Himeko moved behind Shut Up and found a newly appeared port on the back of his rounded body. After she opened it, a tray with five chip slots popped out.

Having confirmed that Shut Up could accommodate a full five brain-computer interface chips, Himeko pondered how to get a couple of chips.

"I can't actually sell my arms and legs."

After a moment's thought, Himeko made her decision. "Let's get jobs."

"That sounds like a decision Dan Heng would make. Shut Up, Shut Up, how do we obtain this world's currency?"

"I'll give you the most... sorry, there are remnants of an uninstalled program in my library. Based on recorded information, I'll give you the most precise, most direct solution: you can sell me, then I can sneak back once you have the money."

"Whose information is that?"

How come Himeko knew nothing about anything like that happening on the train?

"Information source: silverWolf. The hacker lady who frequently appears on the train casually left this information when she hacked into my panel."

Himeko shook her head slightly. Still, selling something really would bring in money quickly.

Himeko turned her gaze to Himechi Cat.

"You want to sell me?"

Selling Himechi Cat was not something Himeko could bring herself to do.

"Of course not. Since I can use Imagenesis Technology to create things out of nothing, I can just sell those."

"Your ability is getting more and more different from conventional Imagenesis Technology."

Himeko took out the Cybernetic Implant that only people with hands could use.

"Isn't this ready-made?"

"Isn't the target market way too small? You'd be better off using Imagenesis to make a few human hands and feet."

"That would be a little too visually shocking. Our world is rated 12+, so we'd better show some restraint."

Himeko searched along the roadside for a shop that bought used Cybernetic Implants, while Himechi Cat rode on Shut Up's head, studying how to download a map into its brain.

"Miss Himechi Cat, have you noticed a change in me?"

"You have five extra chip slots on the back of your head?"

"I've gone from [robot] to [Hime-Rider]."

"Shut up."

"I'm here."

"Shut up."

As they walked down the street, several people in formal attire, carrying numerous weapons, were watching Himeko's every move from the shadows through the surveillance cameras covering the streets.

"Target locked. The energy on her is largely identical to that of the wanted criminal who destroyed the company building."

"Shall we make the arrest?"

"Denied. Continue observation."

Behind them, a wanted poster was pinned to a whiteboard.

[Wanted Criminal: Dan Heng. Danger level: highest.]