Chapter 61: Changes in the City

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Changes in the City

He let Du Bingtian go.

Instead of rushing back to the sewers, Xiang Yi first handed the rifle on his back to Shi Tie.

"Load it and fire a shot."

Shi Tie obeyed Xiang Yi’s command, taking the rifle and removing its magazine.

He glanced at the empty magazine, then took the bullets Xiang Yi offered and loaded them in.

He skillfully inserted the magazine, chambered a round, and flicked off the safety before aiming at the head of Pingyu’s nearby corpse and firing.

The corpse’s head burst apart, and from a short distance away came the sound of panicked scrambling.

’Shi Tie knows how to use a gun. That’s good news.’

’From now on, the rifle can be Shi Tie’s. The deterrent of a gun is far greater than that of a strong bodyguard.’

Xiang Yi decided to keep the handgun for self-defense until he could get his hands on the tritium fuel cell.

Having done everything he needed to, Xiang Yi didn’t linger in the Southwest City District. Under the cover of darkness, he returned to the sewers.

This outing could be considered a perfect success, even exceeding his expectations.

He had not only successfully acquired a fake ID usable within the city districts but had also secured his first bit of startup capital and a corresponding account.

The forger had thoughtfully thrown in two guns, temporarily solving his lack of ranged firepower.

He had even thrown in some miscellaneous tools as a bonus.

Now, as long as he had enough materials, Xiang Yi could use these tools to build some less-complex mechanical devices.

Although, with his current knowledge, there didn’t seem to be anything in particular that he needed to build with his own hands.

But that wasn’t to say the tools were useless. Knowledge could be acquired, and in this world, he would have plenty of opportunities to learn.

He sorted the items from the sack by category, just as he had done before.

Xiang Yi crawled into his sleeping bag and immediately fell asleep.

「The next morning.」

Xiang Yi was up and washed early.

He also changed Shi Tie’s outfit, replacing the previously slashed cloak and clothes.

He had him change into a large trench coat and put on gloves, a mask, and sunglasses. Everything was properly arranged, no longer just haphazardly thrown on to look vaguely human.

They were heading to the part of the Southeast City District that could truly be considered urban, so he and Shi Tie needed to look normal, at the very least.

The district Xiang Yi was in was far more developed than the neighboring one; he could see more numerous and prosperous buildings in the direction of the Central City District.

Even at the edge of the district, scattered residential areas were visible. It seemed the younger people had all gone to work closer to the city’s core, leaving only the elderly and children to move about outside during the day.

However, Xiang Yi suddenly frowned. He glanced around before ducking into a nearby shop.

A few moments later, a police car drove past the shop, continuing its patrol down the road toward other parts of the district.

Xiang Yi glanced in the direction the police car was headed, shook his head, and didn’t think much of it.

His purpose for coming out was to see if the electronic ID card could actually be used for transactions, and this shop was the perfect place to test it.

Xiang Yi grabbed some food from the shelves and brought it to the checkout counter. After the cashier gave him the total, he used his terminal to scan the payment code posted there.

He entered the password he had set when he got the card yesterday, and the payment went through smoothly. The entire process was seamless.

’It seems that robot from before really is capable,’ he thought. ’And it looks like it temporarily accepted my offer of cooperation, since it didn’t report my electronic ID card to get it suspended.’

Xiang Yi handed the bag of food to Shi Tie and turned to leave.

However, the moment he stepped outside, he immediately turned and went back into the shop.

Another police car quickly passed by. This time, Xiang Yi saw a robot at the wheel, with a human officer in the passenger seat.

For a split second, Xiang Yi thought the car was coming for him.

But its lights didn’t flash; like the previous one, this car was simply on a routine patrol.

’But isn’t this patrol density a little excessive? Two police cars in just a few minutes?’

’A coincidence?’

Xiang Yi felt he might be overreacting, but to be safe, he found a hidden spot nearby after leaving the shop and waited for an hour.

During that hour, a total of eight police cars passed the mouth of the alley where he was hiding.

Although each one was merely on patrol, the sheer number was seriously wrong.

’Could the government really be in trouble?’

Just yesterday, Xiang Yi hadn’t seen this many patrol cars; he had barely seen any officers at all.

But today, there weren’t just patrol cars—they had deployed robots as well.

Xiang Yi had been counting on the ID card to blend into the city and look for more opportunities to get off-world, but who could have predicted this would happen today?

A fake ID’s only purpose was to conceal his identity, allowing him to move freely in areas without robot patrols.

But now, robots that could identify fake IDs were everywhere. The fake card was as good as useless.

’What the hell is going on?’

Xiang Yi felt that something was very wrong and was about to leave.

But just as he stepped out of the alley, someone nearby suddenly shouted, "Stop!"

Xiang Yi turned his head to see a very plainly dressed man shouting at him.

"Who are you?"

The man walked up to Xiang Yi, pulled a police ID from his pocket, and showed it to him.

"Police. Cooperate. Take off the mask and sunglasses."

A jolt went through Xiang Yi. He quickly signaled for Shi Tie, who was still in the alley, to retreat and hide.

He, meanwhile, obediently removed his mask and sunglasses, took out the fake ID from yesterday, and handed it to the plainclothes officer.

The plainclothes officer’s expression didn’t change when he saw Xiang Yi’s face. He took the fake ID and glanced at it. It seemed fine, and he was about to hand it back when he caught sight of an approaching patrol car out of the corner of his eye.

He immediately waved to the patrol car and walked toward it.

Xiang Yi couldn’t help but click his tongue in annoyance. It wasn’t like he could turn and run now, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow the officer to the police car.

The police car stopped as they approached, and two officers and a police robot got out. The officers seemed to know the plainclothesman.

The police robot’s Visual Sensor swept over Xiang Yi and the plainclothes officer but remained silent.

’Looks like my facial data isn’t in the police database yet,’ Xiang Yi thought. ’That’s good news.’

The plainclothes officer chatted casually with the two patrolmen, explaining that he had stopped Xiang Yi for acting suspiciously. Then, he handed Xiang Yi’s card to the robot.

Xiang Yi had been standing quietly behind the officers, trying to make himself inconspicuous, but he knew he couldn’t wait any longer when he saw what was happening.

He suddenly reached out, patted the robot’s upper arm, and said, "This is a pretty cool robot."

An officer slapped his hand away.

"Don’t touch it, and don’t try to get chummy."

The robot finished scanning Xiang Yi’s card without sounding an alarm.

The plainclothes officer handed the card back to Xiang Yi. "Sorry about that, Bingtian," he said. "Things are pretty chaotic around here lately, so try to understand. But you should probably avoid dressing like that in the future, or you’ll just get stopped again."

"It’s fine. You’re just doing your job. I understand."

As he spoke, Xiang Yi quickly snatched back his fake ID, simultaneously wiping the sweat from his palm.

Thankfully, he had anticipated this kind of situation. The instant the robot began to scan the card, he had touched it and taken control.

He had also made a subtle modification to its Signal Receiver, forcing all incoming signals to register as "permission granted."

He was lucky this time. The robot’s program registered the authentication as successful instead of a system failure, and let him go.

Once he was a safe distance from the officers, Xiang Yi didn’t dare linger in the city district any longer.

Although he had an identity and could control robots during an inspection, he had only intended that ability to be a trump card for a worst-case scenario.

Who could have known he’d have to play that card so soon?

Besides, there was no guarantee how many more robots he might encounter.

Controlling a robot consumed Spiritual Power, and that single encounter had already used up nearly a quarter of his total reserves.

If he ran into more than four robots, the fifth one would absolutely identify him.

The city was also crawling with plainclothes officers now. If Shi Tie were discovered, it would be game over. No explanation or ID could ever account for his gray-black skin.

’I have to find out what exactly is happening in this city.’

Xiang Yi went back to retrieve Shi Tie. Bypassing the urban area, they set off once more, heading toward the west side of the city.