Chapter 616: You Won't Need It Anyway

Chapter 616: Anyway, You Won’t Be Needing It

In the medical bay.

Jiang Xuezhou’s eyes, ringed with dark circles, were wide open, her face flushed crimson as she glared at the guy who was yapping like a dog.

To craft him a more formidable body, she had spent a third of her G-point savings!

And the first thing this guy did upon waking wasn’t to “cling to her legs in gratitude, weeping and begging to spend the rest of his life repaying Miss Jiang Xuezhou’s kindness,” but to blurt out some nonsensical “Gaia.”

She had no idea what he was yammering about, but from the look on his face, she could tell he was sneering at her masterpiece.

The thought made her fists clench tighter, veins nearly bulging on her forehead.

At that moment, standing beside the cryogenic sleep pod, Ye Shi was utterly oblivious to Jiang Xuezhou’s inner turmoil. He was staring at his reflection in the mirror, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

To cure his “hemiplegia,” a certain D-level researcher from some institute had first planned to replace his spine. Then she realized swapping just the spine wouldn’t cut it—his entire body’s organs had already failed—so she replaced his heart, kidneys, and digestive system with bionic ones.

That should have been enough to get him off the “ICU” bed. But the perfectionist D-level researcher wasn’t satisfied with her work yet.

Sure, he could move now, but his body’s coordination was still lacking.

So, to keep it from messing with his daily life, she made a tiny tweak: she installed a bionic chip with a built-in motion enhancement plugin into his cerebellum.

Since she was already fitting a bionic chip, it would be a waste not to add some weapons to utilize the extra processing power. So, with another flash of inspiration, she slapped a weapon control plugin onto the chip. Then, gritting her teeth and splurging again, she used G-points to order a high-power capacitor and a high-power current generator installed in his hands.

This was a real gem.

She hadn’t even bothered to install it on Little Wang.

Paired with the bionic chip’s computing power, he could not only manipulate erratic electric currents with his hands and fire arcs that could ionize the air at close range, but also use his arms as electromagnetic rails to launch projectiles packing a punch comparable to standard rifle rounds!

The energy required for such a device was clearly beyond what bioelectricity could supply.

So, she embedded a solid-state hydrogen battery in his waist, one that could be slowly recharged by bioelectricity or hooked up to an external charging port.

Thus, even completely unarmed and without any weapons, he could wield half the combat prowess of “Little Wang.”

The only flaw was his defense.

After all, despite all these modifications, his body still fell within the realm of “human.”

But could a genius D-level researcher tolerate a flaw in her masterpiece?

The answer was clearly no.

Without much hesitation, the now broad-minded Jiang Xuezhou unhesitatingly splurged again, replacing nearly all his bones with stronger titanium alloy, fitting his joints with electrically driven motors, and substituting the flesh around some organs with polymer material capable of absorbing kinetic damage.

This way, even if he went on another rampage like that night, he wouldn’t have to worry about ending up paralyzed from the neck down.

Oh, and his original skin felt too rough, so she might as well swap it for bionic skin.

Since being a bit taller would give him more presence, she took the liberty of adding three centimeters to his height—just enough to make him a neat 178.

And then, one thing led to another…

This was the result.

Ye Shi felt like he had turned into a full-fledged android, and one customized to some NPC’s personal taste.

Aside from that “boyishly handsome face” still being his own, not many original parts remained in this body.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have been a big deal.

It was just a game character, not his real body—swapping skins for fun wasn’t bad.

What really sent him into a panic was the horrifying discovery upon opening his eyes: his little buddy was gone!

His entire digestive and excretory systems had been integrated into a single orifice, with dry and wet waste stored in two separate compartments.

Holy crap.

He had become just like that garbage guy!

“My condolences, bro.”

“I think it’s fine, really—you won’t be needing it anyway.”

“+1”

“Hahaha!”

Standing nearby, Old Bai, Fang Chang, Kuang Feng, and the rest of his buddies were barely holding back their laughter, while Jiu Jiu had already lost all dignity, crouched in the corner clutching her stomach.

Seeing Jiang Xuezhou’s face redden like a monkey’s butt, Ye Shi thought about how she had spent days fixing his body and couldn’t bring himself to complain. He forced a bitter smile.

“…Thanks!”

Jiang Xuezhou clicked her tongue and replied coldly.

“If it’s that reluctant, don’t bother.”

Ye Shi laughed helplessly.

“No… I’m not reluctant. I’m really grateful, but… why… isn’t there that thing?”

“What thing?”

She stared at him, crossing her arms in displeasure. “What thing isn’t there? I’ve installed everything I could. What else are you dissatisfied with?”

Ye Shi looked at her guiltily.

“No, no… there’s still one, right? You might have forgotten—it’s that, that… Aaah! Damn it!”

He usually cracked too many dirty jokes, and now he couldn’t think of a single polite way to say it. After struggling for ages, he gave up and covered his face in anguish.

Jiang Xuezhou stared at him, utterly baffled, her brows furrowing and unfurrowing as question marks filled her face.

What stupid nonsense was this guy spouting?

If he wasn’t satisfied, just say it out loud!

“Anyway… whether you’re satisfied or not, I’ve installed everything I could. You did that to save me, after all. If I let you just die like that, your parents and little sister would be heartbroken, wouldn’t they?”

Glancing at Jiu Jiu, who was crouched facing the wall, shoulders shaking as she wiped her eyes, Jiang Xuezhou’s lips curled into a satisfied smile.

Turning those tears of sorrow into tears of joy…

It seemed her efforts hadn’t been in vain.

She hadn’t slept much these past few days, her eye sockets as dark as if smeared with coal ash. She’d need a good nap soon.

“What are you talking about? I did that to—mmph!”

Ye Shi was about to argue that he had acted mainly to save that plane, but before he could finish, a big hand reached out from the side and clamped over his mouth.

Expertly silencing the guy’s incessant yapping, Fang Chang turned to Jiang Xuezhou and cleared his throat lightly, speaking with a hint of apology.

“Ahem, my buddy here got kicked in the head by a donkey when he was a kid. Sometimes he speaks without thinking. Please bear with him. I’ll thank you on his behalf. He’s actually thrilled inside—he’ll probably be strutting around in a few days—he’s just too embarrassed to show it.”

“Mmph! (The hell I’m strutting around!)”

Ye Shi was still protesting with his eyes, while Jiu Jiu, who had finally stopped laughing in the corner, looked at Fang Chang with sparkling eyes and gave him a thumbs-up.

Well done!

“No need, no need. Actually, I was the one holding you back before… Sorry for the trouble.” Unaccustomed to such sincere thanks, Jiang Xuezhou scratched her cheek awkwardly.

Fang Chang politely continued speaking on Ye Shi’s behalf.

"Not at all. We all have our weak points, and there will be plenty of chances to trouble each other in the future. Besides, this guy may speak without thinking, but he's actually not a bad person... I'll leave him in your hands from now on."

"Mm!" Jiang Xuezhou nodded with full confidence, her face glowing. "Leave it to me!"

Replacing and maintaining parts was a trivial matter for her, and she certainly wouldn't just fix it and forget about it.

Ye Shi, whose mouth was still covered, couldn't help but grumble a few more times.

He felt like he was being sold out.

Knowing Fang Chang as he did, that guy was definitely scheming again in his mind about smuggling high-tech equipment from the Wandering Swamp!

Listening to the commotion in the infirmary, Chu Guang, standing at the door, wore a fond, almost maternal smile. Reassured, he turned and walked toward the captain's quarters.

Gazing out the porthole at the land that had cleared up and the morning sun floating above a pure sea of clouds, he squinted slightly and chuckled in good spirits.

"Youth is wonderful."

Just then, Xiao Qi's voice drifted into his ears.

"Master is still young too."

Chu Guang laughed heartily.

"Of course! Ah, it's about time. Notify the crew to set off immediately—we're going home!"

Xiao Qi replied with full enthusiasm.

"Roger!"

At noon, the *Heart of Steel* sounded its horn. The ground crew busily secured the items on the deck, then slowly retracted the anchor chain hanging from the gondola.

Though the war between the Alliance and the Torch Church was not over, the military operation in the Jinhe City area had officially concluded. From now on, work in that region would focus on construction.

After dealing with the Wave, the Alliance would continue southward until the Torch Church was completely eradicated from this land.

By then, Singularity City would serve as a logistics hub between Dawnbreak City and the front lines. A steel railway spanning nearly 800 kilometers had already begun construction from Clearspring City.

Since most of the Alliance's railway construction personnel were in the Sunset Province, building the western line through the Lion Kingdom and the Honey Badger Kingdom straight to Bister Town, the workers for this railway were mainly from Boulder City, totaling nearly 3,000 people.

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

The second thousand-man brigade under the First Legion would ensure the safety of these workers. Meanwhile, over a thousand players between levels 10 and 15 would be guided by the quest system to this area, participating in patrols along the railway and clearing out nearby monster nests and raider camps.

The order established by the Alliance would spread farther along the ever-extending railway.

Though the Ministry of Finance and other departments estimated that the budget for this project would be no small sum, in the long run, the investment was definitely worth it.

Moreover, the demand for steel generated by this infrastructure order would help the steel mills in Dawnbreak City's industrial zone transition from military to civilian production, and also help Boulder City's industrial zone emerge from the shadow of its recent bankruptcy.

This would be another major infrastructure project planned by the Alliance, following the housing improvement projects in Dawnbreak City and Boulder City.

As for the resulting fiscal deficit, Chu Guang wasn't worried at all.

Wasn't it only the beginning of the year?

Who frets over deficits at the start of the year?

The end of the year was still far off!

...

Ideal City.

Kangmao Group Tower.

Eclipse, who had rushed back to Ideal City from thousands of kilometers away, gave a complete report to Kangle on how Frost had become the acting mayor of Singularity City.

After patiently listening to Eclipse's report, Kangle, sitting behind his desk, suddenly burst into laughter.

"Did Frost really say that?"

Eclipse nodded.

"That's what it said."

Eclipse had opposed that machine's unilateral intervention in regional affairs.

After all, Singularity City was too far from the Corporation—it was clearly a burden. Acting as the acting mayor in the capacity of a Kangmao Group and Corporation representative, Eclipse saw no benefit.

Even if there were benefits, they would go to the Alliance.

Seeing that Kangle was unexpectedly in a good mood, Eclipse couldn't help but suspect its value judgment system had malfunctioned, and asked in confusion.

"Do you think this is a good idea?"

"What's the problem? Having an AI manage a settlement—I think it's a progressive experiment. Even if it's a bit radical and immature, it's worth encouraging."

Rising from his desk, Kangle walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Gazing at the infinitely prosperous city outside, he squinted slightly, his gaze somewhat distant.

"...It's a pity we can't do something similar in Ideal City. Just getting androids involved in public affairs has already cost us a great deal of effort."

To be honest, he was a bit envious of that administrator.

All his decisions could be implemented smoothly in the Alliance, but some of Kangle's ideas faced considerable resistance even within the group.

Not to mention the council.

Eclipse looked at him in confusion.

"But the council ultimately passed that resolution."

Kangle nodded and said succinctly.

"Yes, but that's not the crux of the issue. You should notice that the council doesn't truly oppose androids participating in public affairs. What they oppose is us becoming the sole dominant force. In their eyes, that's even more dangerous than granting androids citizenship."

He knew those people well.

Because Kangmao Group itself was the same.

Their subsidiaries would go to the wasteland to film raiders wearing mining exoskeletons and wielding G9 assault rifles, then present evidence at the council that villains were using their technology for evil, pressuring Changge Group to restrict the arms dealers' business scope.

This wasn't because they were pacifists, nor because they feared corporate technology leaks. It was simply to prevent Changge Group from becoming the sole power in Ideal City, turning the five major groups into one, so that everyone would be led by the nose by those arms dealers.

As for weakening the raiders' strength, increasing the armament of civilized forces in the wasteland, reducing the intensity of regional conflicts within their sphere of influence, and maintaining the Corporation's advantage in key technologies—all of that was just incidental benefits from their game.

Later, when other groups made concessions on the issue of androids participating in public affairs, it wasn't because the risks they had previously worried about suddenly disappeared, but because they had gained enough benefits from the exchange and bargaining to maintain the balance they desired.

Kangle agreed with the council's existing bargaining mechanism, which helped the groups find the "relatively optimal solution" when seeking overall interests.

A complete ban on arms exports would hurt the groups' economic performance and even weaken their armaments in the long run, but completely lifting restrictions would be asking for trouble.

So they set up a whitelist, specifying what could be sold to whom and how much of each item could be sold. This whitelist was the product of bargaining.

However, the problem was that this took too much time!

By now, the existing bargaining mechanism had become an obstacle.

For the sake of balance, the council had become increasingly conservative in decision-making, and its attitude toward new things had shifted from encouragement to obstruction.

Ideal City was transitioning from an upward spiral to a downward one.

Even though this trend hadn't yet shown up in the data, as a member of the council, he could already smell it.

To put it in one sentence:

Their efficiency was too low!

The threat from the Legion to the Torch Church is the same.

If not for their allies dispatching troops at the first moment, the plague spread by the Torch Church would have already caused the Jinchuan Province to fall... and in fact, according to feedback from the front lines, the Torch Church's biological soldiers once boarded the Steel Heart.

Because of the Council's sluggish response, they nearly lost their interests in the central region, and that group of madmen, who should have gone to hell a hundred and fifty years ago, almost succeeded!

"I have always been committed to promoting androids' participation in public affairs, but other conglomerates have always been wary of our expansion, so even taking a single step forward is incredibly difficult... The Ideal City is not incapable of nurturing new technologies; our scholars are no less than the Academy, both in quality and quantity."

Pausing for a moment, Kang Le continued, his back to Eclipse.

"...But just as the Academy mocks us, we have been dawdling in place for too long. If you look closely, you'll find that the prosperity of a century ago and the prosperity of today are essentially the same, and the production methods of the past are still in use now. I have reason to believe that even if we cycle through another century, it will be the same. The Pioneer was a fleeting miracle, and sadly, the legend of Shelter Zero has faded with the wind, and now even the dream that led us forward is over."

"Our citizens do not lack the spirit of adventure and pioneering; the Pioneer is the best proof. It was not a product of the Council, even if the Council had to clean up after it in the end... But this precisely illustrates the problem. The citizens of the Ideal City are not afraid to sacrifice for ideals. What hinders our progress is not our own conservatism, but the rules of the Council that naturally create a conservative atmosphere, restricting our advancement."

Eclipse looked at him with incomprehension.

"Then what is it that you hope for?"

"I hope for a radical transformation, to elevate the Ideal City to a new dimension, just as we moved from the old era into the prosperous age. The technological opportunity has already appeared; the only obstacle is the Council..."

Just as he was speaking with vivid enthusiasm, Kang Le suddenly thought of something, gave a light cough, and stopped.

"It's too early to talk about this now. I plan to start with the theoretical part, experimenting bit by bit... For instance, Singularity City is a good sociological experimental ground."

"I look forward to the results of Frost. If its achievements are astonishing enough, we can promote them on a small scale in the Cloud Province, and then let this new breeze blow into our city-states."

He did not intend to fully reveal the vision in his mind.

After all, no tool can be called absolutely reliable, not even an AI that theoretically would never betray its master.

Hastily ending the topic, Kang Le turned to face Eclipse.

"I already understand the situation in Singularity City. I will explain to the Council on behalf of Frost. Take the nearest flight back as soon as possible. I'm uneasy leaving that one alone there. To avoid messing things up, you need to keep a closer eye on it."

"Understood." Eclipse gave a slight nod, turned, and walked toward the door.

It was well aware of its mission, but there was one thing it couldn't figure out.

Frost's AI core was personally designed by this gentleman, unlike itself, which came off the assembly line, not generated from a template.

Generally speaking, AIs more or less inherit some traits from their designers, just as children inherit some traits from their parents.

It was no exaggeration to say that Frost should be like a right-hand man to Mr. Kang Le.

If so, why was he uneasy about it?

Pressing the elevator button, Eclipse watched the closing gap of the doors and shook its head.

Humans...

Truly hard to understand.