Chapter 1527 - 490: Customization of Humanoid Mechanical Bodies (Part 2)

Chapter 1527: Chapter 490: Customization of Humanoid Mechanical Bodies (Part 2)

The mechanical core had suffered an unimaginable impact and had developed cracks. It wasn’t fatal. As a middle-class machine, Wen Xishu was entitled to fast medical services—he just had to pay a very expensive medical bill.

Even just getting a few suggestions would cost five thousand Mechanical Coins.

The follow-up treatment was even more outrageously expensive. But it didn’t matter; Wen Xishu’s current balance was a seven-digit number.

It was just that this shock had triggered Wen Xishu’s highest-priority self-preservation protocol: repair the core.

During this process, Wen Xishu couldn’t move.

Wen Xishu also realized that the leader of that Gambling God gang had actually implanted a device that would self-detonate once it entered a closed state.

These gambling junkies were truly insane. Maybe it was because they’d seen the methods casinos used to cut off sensory input.

To prevent the people in the casino from pulling tricks on them, they chose this kind of insane measure: self-detonation in a closed state.

Wen Xishu had been caught in the blast, and the shockwave had damaged his core.

Right at that moment, the other machines had also finished reading the advertisement. They were farther from the blast, so although they were affected, their cores weren’t damaged.

"Fuck him up, kill him! Don’t give him a chance, this is the opportunity the boss traded his life for!"

Five or six gun barrels were aimed at Wen Xishu.

But he couldn’t mount an effective defense. His core was being rapidly repaired, but the repair speed was still too slow.

Bang! A bullet slammed into the wall of Wen Xishu’s core compartment.

Wen Xishu’s core itself wasn’t harmed. He wasn’t some low-grade machine that could be penetrated with a single shot. But clearly, cracks appeared on the core compartment wall.

Bang bang bang bang!

Intense fire poured toward Wen Xishu, and in that moment, the wall of his core compartment began to break down rapidly.

Very soon, the compartment wall would be completely destroyed.

Once the core was hit, it would mean he died in this mission.

[Current core repair: ninety-five percent.]

[Remaining defense value of current core compartment: four percent.]

[Current core repair: ninety-six percent.]

[Remaining defense value of current core compartment: two point seven percent.]

There wasn’t enough time. Wen Xishu quickly concluded that he wouldn’t finish the repair before these people shot through his core.

He hadn’t expected that after becoming non-human, he’d be this passive, that he would actually die in such a way.

But just as that thought formed, he was startled to discover—

The gunfire stopped.

It wasn’t that they were out of bullets, nor that these Gambling Gods had suddenly grown a conscience; it was that bullet holes had appeared in the chest of every single Gambling God machine.

Wen Xishu was a little dazed.

[Current core repair: one hundred percent. Bill: 129,400 Mechanical Coins, paid. You are now free to move.]

Wen Xishu didn’t move. He wasn’t sure if this was a case of one gang robbing another, or if reinforcements had arrived.

Only when a familiar face appeared did Wen Xishu realize this really did look like reinforcements.

"ts74, your recent performance makes you feel very unfamiliar to me."

rc-19.

Wen Xishu remembered this designation—a colleague of his. The guy whose gaze had kept landing on him.

Behind rc-19 were several low-grade mechs on about the same level as the Gambling God machines. The only difference was that they didn’t have those dice, pai gow tiles, roulette wheels and other graffiti on their bodies. They just looked like pedestrians walking down the street.

"You..." Wen Xishu wasn’t sure if this person was an enemy or an ally.

rc-19 scanned the surroundings and nodded toward the people below.

His subordinates immediately began looting the bodies of the Gambling Gods, while rc-19 walked up to Wen Xishu:

"Answer one question for me, ts74. Do you still remember your name as a human?"

Wen Xishu had a feeling this was very likely the start of a new event.

If he answered wrong, there was a good chance he’d die.

He carefully thought through the details about rc-19. When he’d first seen rc-19, he could sense that the "human content" on the other guy was very high.

Back then, there had been surprise in rc-19’s eyes—Wen Xishu could tell that was the kind of surprise you saw in human eyes.

And at the time, rc-19 had made a gesture that looked like praying or commemorating.

Putting all that together, Wen Xishu said:

"I remember. My name is Wen Xishu. I was once a human. And I’m trying to find a way to become human again."

rc-19’s expression turned serious:

"You know I just recorded what you said, right? Once I hand over that recording, you’re dead for sure."

Wen Xishu answered with certainty:

"But you won’t do that, will you?"

rc-19 stared at Wen Xishu for a long moment, then suddenly smiled:

"Yeah. I knew it—the way you broke the company record during the day had to be some kind of program atavism."

Earlier today at the company, Wen Xishu had made a big splash, breaking the company record, completing more than a month’s worth of tasks, and the works he’d revised had turned out extremely high-end.

The rarity of that feat was on par with him beating the Gambling God tonight.

"You did something pretty legendary both in the day and at night. I get the feeling you’re going to do a lot more big things after this."

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Yan Zhengji. In private, you can call me Old Yan. I’m from the Rusted One organization. What we aim to do is reclaim humanity. Preserve humanity."

"When you broke the company record, that moment made me realize you might have developed a certain talent—you can sharply capture human emotions."

Wen Xishu could feel that Old Yan genuinely meant no harm.

"Rusted One... what exactly is going on?"

Old Yan smiled:

"This isn’t the place to talk. If you’re willing, you can come with us. We bear you no ill will. We just feel you might not be an ordinary one, that maybe you’ll change something."

Mechanical City was a non-human zone.