Chapter 615: You Can't Use It Anyway

In the infirmary.

Jiang Xuezhou’s eyes, shadowed with dark circles, went wide, her face flushed red as she glared at a certain mutt of a man.

To build him a stronger body, she had spent one-third of her GP savings!

Yet when this guy woke up, the first thing out of his mouth wasn’t, “Thank you, Miss Jiang Xuezhou, I’ll dedicate my life to repaying your kindness!”

Instead, he muttered some nonsense called Gaia.

She had no idea what he was calling for, but his expression made it clear. He was dissatisfied with her masterpiece.

The thought of it made her fists clench harder as her veins throbbed on her forehead.

At that moment, Night Ten, standing beside the pod, was oblivious to her thoughts. He stared into the mirror at his body, torn between laughter and tears.

To cure his broken spine, the Researcher from the Academy had first tried swapping his spine. But when that proved useless as his organs were already failing, she replaced his heart, kidneys, and digestive system with bionic parts.

By that point, he could’ve been discharged from the ICU. But the perfectionist D-class Researcher wasn’t satisfied.

He could move, yes, but his coordination was lacking.

So she made a small adjustment. She implanted a bionic chip in his cerebellum with a built-in motor-control enhancement.

Since the chip was there, why waste its extra computing power? She added a weapons-control module too, then gritted her teeth and blew more GP on high-capacity capacitors and electric arc generators in his hands.

He was a marvel of engineering and she hadn’t even given her Wangy most of the enhancements on Night Ten’s body.

With the chip’s processing power, he could control currents with his hands, fire arcs that burned through the air, even launch electromagnetic projectiles with power rivaling rifle rounds.

Of course, the energy demand far exceeded the amount that could be produced by his body.

In the end, she added a hydrogen-fuel cell at his waist, recharged slowly by bioelectric trickle or topped up through an external port.

Even barehanded, without weapons, he had half of Wangy’s combat strength.

His only flaw was defense.

Even with all the upgrades, his body was still, technically, human.

But could a genius Researcher of the Academy tolerate flaws in her masterpiece?

Obviously not.

Barely hesitating, Jiang Xuezhou replaced nearly all his bones with titanium alloy, joints with powered motors, and surrounded organs with polymer shock absorbers.

After the modifications were complete, even if he did something as reckless as stopping a plane with his body again, he wouldn’t end up paralyzed.

Oh, and his skin was too rough so she swapped that too.

Thinking making him a little taller felt safer, she added three centimeters to his height, making him a neat 1.78 meters tall.

After all that...

Here they were.

Night Ten felt like a cyborg custom-made to an NPC’s personal taste.

Except for his youthful, handsome face, nothing of the original body remained.

Technically, it wasn’t so bad, it was just a game body. A new skin wasn’t the end of the world.

But what broke him was the horror when he opened his eyes, his little brother was gone!

His entire digestive and excretory system had been consolidated into a single rear orifice, with wet and dry storage separated into two compartments.

God fucking damn it!

I’m basically Garbage kun...

“Condolences, brother.”

“I mean, it’s not like you were using it.”

“Exactly.”

“HAHAHA!”

Old White, Ample Time, Gale, and the others were barely holding back laughter. Pineapple Jiujiu had already collapsed in the corner, clutching her stomach while howling with laughter with tears streaming down her eyes.

Seeing Jiang Xuezhou’s face turn beet-red, Night Ten thought of her sleepless efforts to repair him and swallowed his complaints, grimacing as he muttered, “... Thanks.”

She clicked her tongue. “If it’s that forced, don’t bother thanking me.”

Night Ten forced a laugh. “No, I really mean it. I’m grateful! Just... why... no, that...”

“What?!” Arms crossed, Jiang Xuezhou scowled. “I gave you everything I could. What more do you want?”

Night Ten fumbled nervously. “No, no... there’s still one more... you might have forgotten, that, that...

Ahhhh!

Damn it!” Usually quick with lewd jokes, he couldn’t phrase what he wanted to say elegantly. He clutched his face in agony.

Jiang Xuezhou frowned deeper, bewildered at his nonsense.

What rubbish was he babbling on about?

If he had a complaint, why not say it?!

“Anyway... whether you like it or not, I gave you everything possible. You saved me, if you had died, your parents and sister would’ve grieved.”

Glancing at Pineapple Jiujiu she thought was sobbing quietly in the corner, Jiang Xuezhou’s lips curved in satisfaction.

Her effort had turned sorrow into tears of relief.

All those sleepless nights that caused her eyebags to swell were worth it.

Night Ten tried to protest, he had mainly been saving the plane, not her, but a hand clamped over his mouth.

Ample Time coughed politely, smiling at Jiang Xuezhou. “Excuse him, my brother’s brain is a little damaged and he talks without thinking. Don’t take him seriously. He’s actually thrilled, just too shy to say it. So, on his behalf, thank you.”

“

Mmmph?!?!?!

(The hell am I thrilled about?!)”

Night Ten glared at Ample Time, but Pineapple Jiujiu shot Ample Time a glowing thumbs-up.

“Well, don’t mention it. I’m the one who dragged you down before...” Jiang Xuezhou scratched her cheek as she mumbled in embarrassment.

Ample Time pressed on. “We all have strengths and weaknesses. We’ll trouble each other plenty in future. This guy may speak before he thinks, but he’s good at heart. I’ll leave him in your hands.”

“Of course!” Jiang Xuezhou beamed with her cheeks flushed red. “You can count on me!”

Repairs and maintenance were nothing, she would never abandon her work.

Night Ten, who was still gagged by Ample Time, could only grumble in protest. He was sure Ample Time was plotting to smuggle more high-tech gear through the Wandering Swamp again.

Listening to the ruckus, Chu Guang, standing at the door, smiled warmly and turned toward the captain’s cabin.

Through the window, the skies had cleared, sunlight rising over the sea of clouds. He squinted and chuckled. “Ah, youth...”

Little Seven’s voice drifted in. “Master, you’re young too!”

Chu Guang laughed. “Of course! Anyway, it’s time. Notify the crew, we’re heading home.”

“Roger, roger!” Little Seven chirped.

At noon, the Heart of Steel sounded its horn. The crew scrambled to secure the deck, then slowly drew up the anchor chains.

The war between the New Alliance and the Torch Church wasn’t over, but the campaign over the Brocade Lake Municipality was finished. From that point on, the work would be rebuilding.

After taking care of the Tide, the New Alliance would continue pushing south until the Torch Church was completely eradicated from the land.

By then, Singularity City would serve as the logistics hub linking Dawn City to the frontlines. A nearly 800 kilometer steel railway was already underway, starting from Clearspring City branching out into the wasteland.

Since most of the New Alliance’s railway crews were busy in Sunset Province constructing the western line that cut across the Lion Kingdom and Honey Badger Kingdom to reach Bist Town, this railway’s workers mainly came from Boulder Town, about 3,000 people in total.

According to Boulder Town engineers, with the support of KV-series exoskeletons and logistics trucks, construction speed was expected to average 10 to 15 kilometers per day. If things went well, the project could be completed by June.

The First Corps 2nd Battalion would be responsible for protecting the workers, while another thousand players between LV10 and LV15 would be guided by the quest system to patrol along the railway, clearing out Mutant Human nests and marauder camps.

The order established by the New Alliance would spread ever further along the extending tracks.

Although, according to the Finance Department and other departments, the budget for the project might be enormous, but in the long run, the investment was undoubtedly worthwhile.

Moreover, the surge in steel demand driven by the project would help Dawn City’s steel plants transition from military to civilian projects, and aid Boulder Town’s industries in recovering from their recent bankruptcies.

That would be the New Alliance’s next major infrastructure initiative, following the housing improvements in Dawn City and Boulder Town.

As for the fiscal deficit it would create, Chu Guang wasn’t worried at all.

It was only the beginning of the year... Who worried about deficits this early?

The end of the year was still a long way off!

...

Ideal City.

Health Luxury Corporate Group Tower.

Having rushed back from thousands of kilometers away, Eclipse reported in full to Kang Le about Frost taking the position of acting mayor of Singularity City.

After patiently listening, Kang Le suddenly burst into laughter. “Frost actually said that?”

Eclipse nodded. “That’s what Frost said.”

Eclipse personally disagreed with Frost’s unilateral decision to meddle in regional affairs.

After all, Singularity City was far from the Enterprise and plainly a burden. For Frost to act as acting mayor on behalf of Health Luxury Corporate Group and the Enterprise seemed to bring no benefit.

If there were benefits, they would go to the New Alliance.

Seeing Kang Le in unexpectedly high spirits, Eclipse began to doubt its own value-judgment system and asked in confusion, “You think this is a good thing?”

“What’s the problem? Having an AI manage a settlement is a progressive experiment. Even if it’s a little radical and a little immature, it’s worth encouraging.”

Leaving his desk, Kang Le walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Looking out at the endlessly prosperous city, he narrowed his eyes, gaze slightly distant.

“... It’s a pity we can’t do the same here in Ideal City. Just getting androids involved in public affairs already costs us tremendous effort.”

To be honest, he envied the administrator of the New Alliance.

Every decision of his could be executed smoothly in the New Alliance, whereas even within his company, Kang Le faced significant resistance to some of his ideas, let alone in the Highest Council.

Eclipse was puzzled. “But the Highest Council did eventually approve the measure.”

Kang Le nodded and said concisely, “Yes, but that’s not the point. The Highest Council isn’t truly opposed to androids in public affairs. What they oppose is letting us monopolize power. To them, that’s even more dangerous than granting androids citizenship.”

He knew those people well.

After all, The Health Luxury Corporate Group itself operated the same way.

Its subsidiaries would film marauders wearing mining exoskeletons and carrying G9 rifles, then present the evidence in the Highest Council, pressing the Long Axe Group by showing their tech in the hands of criminals.

It was not out of pacifism, nor out of fear of tech leakage. It was just to prevent the Long Axe Group from dominating the city, turning the five great corporations into a singular power, dragging everyone by the nose.

As for weakening marauders, arming civilized factions, lowering regional conflict, or maintaining the Enterprise’s edge in key technology, all of that was just incidental benefit in their games.

When the other corporations later conceded on android public-affairs participation, it wasn’t because the risks had vanished, but because they had gained enough concessions to preserve the balance they wanted.

Kang Le accepted the game of the Highest Council, it helped the Enterprise find the relatively optimal solution when seeking collective interest.

Banning arms exports outright would hurt profits and long-term defense, while lifting all restrictions was suicidal.

So they drew up a whitelist of who could buy what, and how much. That was the product of their little game.

The only problem was, it took too damn long!

At the current moment, the mechanism of balance became an obstacle.

For the sake of balance, the Highest Council grew ever more conservative. Encouragement of the new had turned to resistance.

Ideal City was spiraling downward, not up.

The numbers didn’t show it yet, but as a member of the Highest Council, he smelled it.

In short, their efficiency was too low!

From the Army to the Torch Church, it was the same story.

If not for their allies deploying troops immediately, the Torch Church’s Kingdom of Heaven might have swallowed the Brocade River Province. In fact, reports said the Torch Church’s biologically engineered soldiers even boarded the Heart of Steel.

Because of the Highest Council’s sluggishness, they nearly lost their stake in the central continent, and those lunatics, who should’ve gone to hell 150 years ago, almost succeeded!

“I’ve long pushed for androids in public affairs, but the other corporations fear our expansion. Every step forward is a struggle. Ideal City isn’t lacking in innovation, our scholars are no weaker than the Academy’s in quality or in number.”

He paused, then continued, still gazing outside. “... But as the Academy mocked, we’ve stalled too long. Prosperity a century ago looks no different than today. The same production methods remain. Even another century would change nothing. The Pioneer was only a fleeting miracle, and sadly, the legend of Shelter 0 is gone. Even the dream that pulled us forward has ended.”

“Our citizens don’t lack courage or ambition, the Pioneer proved that. It wasn’t a Highest Council creation, though they cleaned up after it. That alone shows the problem. Our people aren’t afraid to sacrifice for ideals. The obstacle isn’t their conservatism, it’s the rules that manufacture a conservative atmosphere. That’s what holds us back.”

Eclipse tilted its head. “Then what do you expect?”

“I expect radical change. For Ideal City to ascend to a new dimension, as we once leapt into the Prosperity Era. The technological opportunity is here. The only obstacle is the Highest Council...” Speaking passionately, Kang Le suddenly caught himself, coughed lightly, and broke off. “It’s too early to say more. I’ll start with theory, experiment step by step... Singularity City is a good sociological test field.”

“I look forward to Frost’s results. If they’re impressive enough, we can trial them in the Among Cloud Province, then bring that breeze into our own city.”

He didn’t reveal all of his plans.

After all, no tool was ever perfectly reliable, not even AI.

Closing the topic abruptly, Kang Le turned to Eclipse.

“I’ve understood the situation in Singularity City. I’ll explain for Frost in the Highest Council. You take the next flight back, I don’t trust leaving it alone there. Watch it carefully, make sure it doesn’t mess up.”

“Yes, sir.” Eclipse bowed slightly and turned to leave.

It knew its mission well, but one thing still puzzled it.

Frost’s AI core had been designed personally by that man, unlike itself which had been mass-produced from a template.

Generally, AI inherited traits from their designer, as children did from parents.

By all rights, Frost should’ve been his right arm, so why didn’t he trust it?

Pressing the elevator button, Eclipse watched the doors close slowly and shook its head.

Humans...

So hard to understand.