Chapter 188 - 54: Chang’an City

Staring silently at Duan Fei, Hyena finally lowered his head and said, "My bad. We really were robbing a bank."

"Tch, I knew it," Duan Fei said with a sigh. "So this is the extent of your so-called ’big jobs.’ It’s always robbing banks or fighting over jewelry. At the very most, you’ll kidnap an exec or two to string up for fun. What else could it possibly be?"

Duan Fei’s casual dismissal of the bank robbery made Hyena feel small.

Mustering his courage, he asked, "If I may be so bold, where have you killed people? And where have you robbed banks?"

"Hogwarts. Saint Andreas."

"Never heard of them!"

"In games."

Any respect Hyena had before vanished completely.

Noticing the respect in Hyena’s eyes fading, Yan Yuan quickly interjected, "Don’t underestimate my master. When this guy gets serious, he’d even dare to slap a Deity."

"In a game, too?" Hyena snorted.

"Life imitates art, and art imitates life. Who’s to say you and I aren’t just characters in a game?" Duan Fei said.

Hyena squinted at Duan Fei. ’This guy is definitely a cyberpsycho.’

Cyberpsychosis was extremely common here. It could be caused by drug abuse, excessive cybernetic modification, playing with Mewtwo too much, or even downloading a simple applet that implanted another personality. Sufferers would become unable to distinguish between themselves and others, or between reality and hallucination, eventually descending into an inescapable frenzy.

The disease was rooted in one’s consciousness. Even uploading a mind and then downloading it again couldn’t cure it.

The elite could afford safer services, but the underclass had to make do with cheap entertainment, with the inevitable result being cyberpsychosis.

Realizing Duan Fei likely had mental issues, Hyena sighed. "Come on," he said anyway. "I’ll get you a personal terminal. Just consider it my good deed for the day."

"You really are a good person. But does this have anything to do with some kind of moral code?"

"Screw the moral code! I hate that damn thing more than anything!"

Scratching his head, Hyena continued, "To be honest, I’m repaying a debt. If you hadn’t caused all that chaos, I would’ve died back there."

Yan Yuan asked quietly, "Master, is that what they call ’tsundere’?"

"That’s tsundere, all right. But it’s a little creepy when a guy acts that way. Kinda like the Lone Ranger."

"Both of you, shut up! We’ll leave as soon as I’m done sorting my stuff!"

Compared to others, Hyena’s body wasn’t heavily modified.

He had only replaced his arms and legs with cybernetics and had a filter mesh inserted in his throat. The rest was all handled by an exoskeleton.

After giving himself a quick systems check, Hyena tossed a respirator mask to Duan Fei. "It’s secondhand, but it’ll have to do. I’d rather you not get a terminal just to immediately suffocate from the bad air."

Following Hyena’s instructions, Duan Fei put on the mask and fastened the clasp at the back. After ensuring a tight seal, he took a deep breath. It felt a little strained, but it wasn’t a major issue.

Next, Hyena took out some metallic decals and handed them to Duan Fei. "Be careful," he said. "You don’t have any cybernetic modifications. A lot of people around here will stare at a natural body like yours, so it’s better to have a bit of a disguise."

Duan Fei applied the metallic decals to the backs of his hands and over his joints, giving parts of his body a metallic sheen to serve as a disguise.

Once they were ready, the group left Hyena’s hideout and headed deeper into the sewers.

Hyena was very talkative. He chattered on, revealing a lot of information even without Duan Fei having to ask.

"This is Wing City. Wing City is the most prosperous city right now, with a population of sixty-seven million citizens. Most of them live in ’coffins,’ though. You don’t know what those are? They’re just tube-like structures. Residents crawl inside to rest, but you can’t do anything in there except sleep."

"If you want to experience Mewtwo, you should go to a proper shop. I know one that has rare, discontinued Maid models. You can do anything you want with them. I’m partial to the ’government’ roleplay scenario. Times were definitely better when there were governments; the worst government is still better than any corporation. This whole capitalist system is doomed to destroy itself."

"Down here in the sewers, you can badmouth whoever you want. Up top, if you feel like badmouthing someone, you’d better just curse yourself instead. I knew a guy who said just one bad thing about Luminous Heavy Industry, and then he just... vanished. You’ve heard of Luminous Heavy Industry, right? They’re the de facto rulers of Wing City. We all work for them."

"You want to hear more about Luminous Heavy Industry? Fine. Luminous Heavy Industry is a military-tech corporation, so they have the most advanced exoskeleton armor and the most powerful weapon systems of any city. But even they aren’t the most powerful corporation out there. The top dog is the Sinful Corporation. I don’t know what they do, but I know Luminous Heavy Industry works for them."

Duan Fei listened, observing his surroundings as they walked.

Although they were in the sewers, the main channel was as wide as a street in some underground city. In various sections, people had dug out new tunnels, further expanding the area.

’Luminous Heavy Industry must know this place exists, but clearing it out would be a huge expense, and they’d just have to do it again every so often. It’s easier for them to just let it be.’

Most of the underground was dark, but some areas were lit by giant, bioluminescent mushrooms. Each one constantly emitted a faint light, maybe ten watts’ worth, casting a hazy glow on its immediate surroundings.

Hyena didn’t stop until they reached the central processing area.

Pointing to the area, Hyena said, "This is the underground city, Chang’an City. The processing zone is where all the trash from Wing City settles. It gets sorted into layers and then undergoes secondary processing. But before that happens, we go through it first and take anything useful for ourselves."

Pushing open a hidden door to the side, Hyena gestured at the massive tangle of buildings before them. "Welcome to Chang’an City."

All of Chang’an City was strongly reminiscent of Jiulong City.

It looked like a concave bowl. The entire urban area sloped smoothly down toward the center, then rose again from a central point of piled structures, creating a massive, strangely artistic shape.

The place was filled with unauthorized constructions. Many buildings were plastered together in unbelievable ways, making you wonder if they might collapse at any second.

In fact, that was happening all the time.

From his vantage point at the entrance, Duan Fei could see buildings collapsing all over the place, at a rate of about four per minute.

These collapses would trigger chain reactions, causing interconnected structures to crumble as well. The end result was an entire section of the city turning to rubble, like an avalanche of scrap.

Whenever this happened, the construction crews got to work.

These construction crews were heavily modified. One worker had even converted himself into a full-blown excavator, his massive body bearing no trace of his original human form.

They would excavate the rubble with incredible speed, digging out anyone who had bought their insurance and burying anyone who hadn’t. Finally, they’d level the ground and start building all over again.

In this way, the entire city was in a constant state of demolition and renewal.

This was Chang’an City.