The burly man being held midair by Zhang Yi froze for several seconds before suddenly roaring in anger.
"My temper's fucking raging right now! A fresh batch of goods I just got this morning was stolen by those damn Viper Gang bastards from the next street over. If you can help
get them back, I'll reward you handsoly!"
"Got it."
Chen Mang waved his hand, signaling Zhang Yi to toss the man aside, then picked up the bag of goods and walked out of the parking lot.
No matter how they took on this job or whose side they chose, it seed the mission reward would only be this single bag of goods.
On the street.
Chen Mang opened the bag to inspect its contents—over a hundred chips, all mory chips. A faint smile curled at the corners of his mouth.
This haul was a jackpot.
Who would've thought? Initially, he just wanted to understand the products sold in this convenience store to gain deeper insight into this chanical civilization. Yet now, he'd stumbled upon such a massive windfall.
Just as described in the Serendipity Map's holographic display, this city wasn't just for relaxation—it was full of Fortuitous Encounters.
"Let's see what chips we've got." Biao Zi squatted down eagerly, picking up one chip and reading the fine print on its packaging: "'A Satisfying Poop' mory fragnt, capacity 0.2 units."
"'A Wank' mory fragnt, capacity 0.4 units."
"'Arguing with a Stranger and Overwhelming Them' mory fragnt, capacity 1.4 units."
"'A Hearty Feast' mory fragnt, capacity 1.2 units."
"Hmm..."
The smile gradually faded from Biao Zi's face. "Lord Mang, are these things even valuable?"
"If this city's gangs are dealing in crap like this, no wonder they're all carrying steel pipes. How could they afford guns?"
"Let's check at the mory Bank."
Chen Mang didn't elaborate, simply tossing the bag to Zhang Yi before mounting the off-road motorcycle to retrace their path back to the mory Bank. He wanted to see how much this batch was worth.
Soon.
They arrived at the mory Bank. After inventory, the male attendant smiled and quoted a price.
"Total for the full batch is exactly 240,000."
"Confirm sale?"
"Confird."
Chen Mang grinned, extending his wristwatch to receive the attendant's transfer. His balance imdiately updated to—
389,440.
Nearly 400,000!
This windfall was massive—far more than what he'd earned at the entertainnt district. Clearly, through his exploration, he'd discovered that the fastest way to make money in this city wasn't playing those mini-gas, but seeking out robots with unusual behavior to trigger quests.
"That much...?"
Biao Zi's jaw dropped slightly at the number. They'd worked so hard in Sun City to earn less than 150,000, yet this single effortless job just netted them 240,000.
Now...
His Zombie Siege map chip was practically guaranteed. Plus, they could buy plenty of other things too.
The Train had grown stronger again.
All thanks to Lord Mang.
Outside the mory Bank.
Li Shiji sighed with emotion, "Lord Mang, if nothing unexpected happens, the wealth gap in this chanical civilization is probably enormous. Before the apocalypse, the capitalists in the federation would exploit the working class, but at most, they only took away ntal and physical labor—just making you work a bit harder."
"But in this chanical civilization..."
"The people at the bottom can't even keep their mories."
"If they finally have a mory worth cherishing, they might have to sell it off on so day when they're short on money, just to survive."
"Not the bottom-tier people," Chen Mang shook his head casually. "mory extraction surgery requires a ntal Strength of at least 16.0. According to that shop assistant, the lower class in their civilization probably can't reach that level."
"But... I've definitely... you know..."
"Why didn't the first scan detect my comrcially valuable mories?"
"Simple," Chen Mang swung his leg over the off-road motorcycle and glanced at his wristwatch before speaking. "The mory products we saw in the mory Bank were all large, coherent mories. The mory chips seized from that gang were fragnted—definitely not obtained through legal channels."
"Most likely, they completely dissected so poor kid's mories and kept the leftovers."
"Let's go."
His next target was still another "entertainnt district."
Of course.
He planned to stop by any shops that looked unusual, just to see if there were any quests to trigger.
He couldn't stop at every shop—there wasn't enough ti.
If he missed an opportunity, so be it. He couldn't hog all the good things.
"Ahhh... refreshing!"
Customized Brothel.
The King of Electronic Music Train's conductor, the Dwarf Man, descended the stairs with a spring in his step, stretching his limbs. There was no denying it—a three-ter-tall woman really hit the spot.
He loved it.
Next ti he got the chance, he'd try a five-ter one. Maybe he could crawl inside entirely.
Like sleeping in a camping bag.
Just then, he thought he heard faint sobbing. Pausing, he pushed open a small side door and found a cramped space where a girl was curled up, crying.
She looked about 18.
Utterly pitiful.
When the door opened, the girl hurriedly wiped her tears and forced a smile at the Dwarf Man. "How may I serve you?"
"Uh..."
The Dwarf Man stared at the girl huddled in the corner, hesitating before tentatively asking, "Is there... anything I can do to help?"
"Did this brothel force you into this?"
"Wait, no—you're a robot, aren't you? I—"
"Really?"
The girl's eyes suddenly lit up, and she trembled with emotion. "Seven is missing. I'm so sad. If you can help
find her, I'll reward you handsoly."
"Seven is my cat."
"..."
The Dwarf Man expressionlessly closed the door again, rolling his eyes in annoyance. Crying so miserably in a brothel—he'd almost felt guilty, thinking sothing truly awful had happened. Turns out it was just her damn cat.
At that mont—
A cat strutted past the shop door with leisurely steps, almost as if taunting them.
Coincidentally, his thugs had just co downstairs.
"Go catch that damn cat for ."
"Fuck."
"I'm too kind-hearted."
Half an hour later.
The Dwarf Man twisted the cat's tail expressionlessly. As expected, it was a chanical cat—the wind-up kind. But he didn't comnt, simply returning to the Customized Brothel and opening the hidden compartnt under the counter. Inside, a girl was still curled up, sniffling.
"Here, your Seven is back."
"Thank you."
The girl imdiately brightened, wiping away her tears. "I don't have much to repay you with, so here's a Free Pass for Neon City. With this, you can have anyone in the city serve you however you like—but only once."
"..."
The Dwarf Man took the Free Pass from her, remaining silent.
She could've given this earlier. Now that he'd already had his fun, what was the point?
Not that he could use it now anyway. Middle age was different from his youth. Back then, seven or eight tis a night wasn't an exaggeration—effortless, never knowing exhaustion.
Hell, he'd even sneak off to the bathroom beforehand to take the edge off, just to last longer when it counted.
Now? After one round, he felt like a monk sworn to celibacy.
A second round was out of the question.
Might as well save it. He'd cash it in right before leaving this Serendipity Map.
"Fine."
The Dwarf Man tucked the pass into his pocket, satisfied enough, then led his n outside to wander around. His pockets were nearly empty—only 129 points left.
Ti to hit a convenience store for food and water.
Staying here for 48 hours on an empty stomach wasn't an option.
Most Train Conductors who entered this Serendipity Map were high-level, driven by ambition.
Sure, so were more curious about the brothels.
But most were scouring every shop, every corner, hoping for a Fortuitous Encounter or a quick buck. And so—
A flood of Train Conductors swept through the city, searching building by building, even the offices in skyscrapers. Most doors were locked tight, but a few stood open.
This was a Serendipity Map with near-total freedom.
Anywhere was accessible—as long as the door wasn't locked.
anwhile—
Chen Mang stood before a factory gate, surrounded by towering walls topped with electric fences, heavy machine guns, and anti-aircraft artillery—the first heavy firepower he'd seen in the city.
Beside the entrance was an iris scanner.
They couldn't bypass it. Couldn't get in.
But...
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes at the scanner. Since leaving the mory Bank, he'd spent over three hours exploring the city without encountering a single interactive robot. Instead, he'd stumbled upon this mysterious factory.
No na. No clues.
But he discovered one thing—all the cash registers, entertainnt centers, and robots in this city were connected via the internet. This was the first place he had encountered since the apocalypse that still had a functioning network.
The Train had no internet.
None of the previous Serendipity Maps he had visited had networks either.
Only this city had one.
This ant that the long-dormant "Supermodel Effect" of the "Train Auxiliary AI" could finally be put to use.
-
"Train Auxiliary AI Level 10 Supermodel Effect": Capable of network intrusion, decryption, and breaching most network firewalls.
-
As long as he brought Xiao Ai into this Serendipity Map next ti, he could unlock more areas that were otherwise inaccessible to him.
There had to be good stuff inside.
Only two problems needed solving.
First, Xiao Ai wasn't a mber of the Train Crew and couldn't be brought here.
Second, Xiao Ai's core was just the Train AI. It could only control robots by manipulating their components, and once a robot moved beyond a certain distance from the Train, Xiao Ai would lose connection with it.
But he believed both problems had solutions.
After all, when Er Dan's consciousness had descended into a robot and entered his Train, the AI had also remotely taken control of the robot and followed along. This ant there was a way—he just hadn't figured it out yet.
Once these two issues were resolved and Xiao Ai was brought into this city, the place would practically beco his private playground.
Free for him to explore.
He just hoped the city's backup power reserves were sufficient. The energy consumption of an entire city had to be astronomical—far beyond what he could sustain. And couldn't they at least turn off the lights in the unused areas? What a waste of energy.
No sense of frugality at all.
Turning around, Chen Mang led Biao Zi and the others as they mounted their off-road motorcycles and continued exploring the city.
The duration of the "Neon City" Serendipity Map was 48 hours.
Only 4 hours remained.
During this ti, they had only encountered one interactive robot with a quest—a bounty notice issued by the law enforcent bureau, offering a reward for locating a stolen aircraft. They earned 120,000 credits.
How bizarre.
This city even had a law enforcent bureau.
They found the stolen police aircraft, taken by a gang, and collected the 120,000-credit reward.
After that, they hadn't run into any other robots with interactive quests.
Now, they stood at the entrance of the law enforcent bureau.
"Thank you."
A mature, intellectual-looking middle-aged woman in uniform stepped out of the bureau, her expression earnest and sincere as she addressed Chen Mang and his group. "Eden has beco a better place because of you."
"One day—"
"I will eradicate all cri in this city!"
"Good work."
Chen Mang smiled at the woman. Though 120,000 wasn't much, it was still sothing. He didn't mind offering a smile, though he felt a slight regret—with only 4 hours left on the map, it seed they'd only make it to 500,000 credits.
Not bad, though.
500,000 could buy quite a few things at the "chanical Train Parts Store."
"."
Biao Zi glanced at the prim and proper mature woman, curling his lips in silent exasperation. If all the illegal activities in this city were truly eradicated, what would even be left of it? Wouldn't it just beco a ghost town?
This woman was the director of the law enforcent bureau.
She looked so serious and upright.
But—
Suddenly rembering sothing, he tentatively poked her again with his finger.
The next mont—
"Sir, would you like to? One million points."
The woman turned her head toward Biao Zi with a deadpan expression.
"Damn it!"
"I fucking knew it!"
Biao Zi took a deep breath and imdiately turned to follow Lord Mang as they walked away. He already knew—no matter what soone's status was in this city, as long as there was physical contact, this interaction was inevitable!
Goddammit!
He shouldn't have dared to hope for anything different. He'd tried countless tis—every single person was like this, without exception!
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