My cyberpsychosis is a task prompt

Chapter 143: An Interlude Before the Muddy Waters
Yggdrasil's alloy frame has strength adjustment.

This is a bit like the automatic transmission of a vehicle, and the value will be switched when the strength threshold is reached - the more advanced the prosthesis, the more complex its built-in adjustment programs and functions are, and it can be able to crush skulls as well as caress the skin.

It is mainly to help the recipients through the adaptation period.

John's process is not that complicated, because Blacklight will fine-tune the data after the prosthesis is synchronized, simply erasing the original program and recompiling it.

All implants in his body, including Yggdrasil, will be managed by Blacklight, and data adjustments are all in automatic mode unless his consciousness intervenes, just like the control logic of the higher nerve center.

John raised his hands and picked up Hercules.

The high-grade alloy is heavy and has clear edges and corners, and you’ll feel a sense of reliability and solidity just by weighing it.

Meia said its firepower is as reliable as its appearance.

There was a piece of soft metal in John's palm.

[Prosthesis: Kingston-Radium Dot Hold I3]

This was also the hand prosthesis that Ryan gave as a gift, used to connect to the intelligent module on the weapon handle.

John received the weapon's built-in program, released the control, and his arm moved on its own to start changing the magazine.

Snap, snap——

The Hercules is slightly shorter than an ordinary rifle, but its caliber is doubled. There is a rectangular magazine just below the barrel, and next to it is a semi-arc-shaped custom magazine module.

“More like a troll.”

John wouldn't experiment with new guns in the room.

Meiya called over to Caviar and started loading the spare magazine.

The Rift Gang has already grown in size and is more well-equipped than the newly emerging street thugs. The core circle surrounding Du Raymond has even begun large-scale prosthetic modifications.

The armed forces mainly receive support from two aspects.

First, there was the initial funding from Faqi Industries, and then after Lao Du made a comeback, he absorbed the remaining exile legacy from the City of Eden.

After the death of Tiezu Khumbu, there was no sign of large-scale development of the Exiles.

Part of the supplies stockpiled in the Silver Port were divided up by network monitors, companies, wanderers, and middlemen in their respective proportions, but there are still many high-end resources stored in scattered transportation stations and underground networks in the wasteland.

Du Raymond considered himself the successor.

He seized a batch of experimental weapons and prosthetic limbs remaining in Plato's warehouse through violent means, and distributed them as rewards to those members who played an important role in the urban terrorist attacks.

The Rift Party developed in an atmosphere of terror.

The members are all social extremists, or even living monsters filled with hatred and violence. A large amount of supplies have been seized in recent times, and a style of heavy transformation has begun to become popular among the group.

Meiya is obsessed with the Hercules MAX because this gun is very suitable for dealing with chaotic modified thugs.

It was originally designed to suppress internal unrest when the old United States was being recovered, in the hope that there would be a weapon that could crush out-of-control armed parades on the streets.

It can provide excellent firepower support in individual combat, and is equipped with an overload combustion design. When killing or severely injuring the enemy, it releases toxic substances in the implant, causing small-scale group damage through combustion atomization.

The reserve capacity of 90 rounds in a single chamber and the assault rifle-level firing rate allow the above effects to be quickly accumulated.

Maya was busy with her work, and at the same time she started to investigate the situation in sync with John.

"Why do I feel so scared when I hear this?"

John seemed to realize that this was going to be a difficult job. "How many people are there in Du Raymond and his gang?"

“Several times more than you think.”

When Meiya talked about this topic, she sighed deeply and even put down the auxiliary loader in her hand.

A dark cloud hung over the citizens of Eden.

They have been trapped in gang fights and corporate exploitation for too long, and their only option is to release violence by joining a gang or becoming street mercenaries and taking risks.

But Vito said:
In a sense, the development of gangs and the division of power are inseparable from corporate funding. Every gang that can rise in Eden City basically has capital intervention behind it.

The East Side Street Nocturne Bar is an example.

The Maddox Gang could be wiped out by Haven in the blink of an eye, while the White Bikers could rise again within a week.

Citizens have gone around in circles, and can only release stress through illegal super-sensory chips and indulgence clubs.

Cases of cyberpsychosis are surging every year.

The outbreak of gang wars has once again cast the already difficult lives of ordinary citizens into the shadow of gunfire.

Meiya's family is just a microcosm of the city's chewing process, and even a particularly lucky part of it.

More ordinary people whose families have been broken up and whose lives have undergone drastic changes can only fall into despair and madness.

The Rift Party threw a bomb into the cloud.

Perhaps it was Fuki Industries that first noticed this force, but he underestimated the city's long-suppressed anger.

The extreme, uncontrollable rage transformed into a purer evil and began to grow.

Du Raymond probably never thought it would develop to this extent.

People, a lot of people, are joining the Rift Party in an endless stream.

Moreover, these guys who had lost something and suffered were even more crazy than the exiles. Especially after they left the West District and began to spread throughout the city, the number of people willing to join in the carnival exceeded expectations.

The city is rioting.

"Now that the company's top brass has noticed this, the smart underworld should also be feeling the pressure..."

Meiya smiled bitterly and shook her head.

"The Rift Party is likely to become the third largest force on par with the Black Gold Gang and the Owl Town Gang, at least in the short term."

"Fake!"

John suddenly felt something was wrong.

"We're going to take out the leader of the third largest gang in the city with just three guys and a gun?"

Caviar straightened up.

He said nothing.

"It's not so absurd."

Meiya said things haven't come to that point yet.

The core factor that allowed the Rift Party to grow stronger was that it stimulated a long-suppressed violence, but Du Raymond, as the temporary leader, did not have the ability to control this force.

"Lao Du is just a despicable person after all. He doesn't have the foundation and aura to rule a super gang. So now the Rift Party is developing independently in different regions, and he is like a spiritual leader, or even a name that no one cares about."

The intelligence from Meiya's investigation shows:
Du Raymond also realized that power was out of control, so he was eager to find super-standard weapons, wanting to use extreme methods to re-establish his authority and summon the rift party throughout the city.

He still has a group of original members following him.

The resistance John and Maya faced was actually just twenty or so newly remodeled violent elements.

"Not as bad as you thought, right?"

Meiya smiled bitterly.

“But it’s not that easy.”

John shook his head.

【Contact-Cabinet [Voice Call]】

His artificial eye suddenly flickered, and after hesitating for a moment, he chose to walk to the bathroom in the corner of the room to answer the call.

"Man, I'm busy right now, so I'll keep it short."

[Let me ask you something. Does Du Raymond have a grudge against you? ]

"…hiss, you have a problem, man."

John quickly recalled the whole process in his mind, and never thought that there would be any point that would reveal the information that he wanted to kill Lao Du, but the cabinet made this call accurately.

"Your information sensitivity is already higher than that of a second-hand dealer. To be honest, if I wasn't so busy right now, I would definitely ask you for an explanation..."

A familiar funny laugh came from the other end of the phone.

"Let's talk about things first."

[Come to Oil Drum Street. I'm going to be away for a while. I'll give you some tips before I leave. Please do me a small favor. It won't delay you from killing Lao Du.]

"I'll have to think about it."

【Waiting for you, come quickly, you won’t regret it. 】

The cabinet behaved very strangely today. John returned to the room and told Maya and the others about the current situation.

Caviar frowned, the cabinet man sounded very familiar to him.

"Damn it, are you talking about the purple-haired guy from Oil Barrel Street? He's also a second-hand dealer who makes money from military heritage, and he's even more ruthless in business than I am."

As John listened to Caviar's description, he felt a little unfamiliar with the slick old man in his mind.

"Do you think he's awesome?"

"Of course. Don't you know? He can even get super-standard weapons. It's been rumored in the city recently. Some people even went to him to make an appointment..."

"Fake."

John and Maya exchanged a quick glance.

[Eden City-Youdong Street]

The cabinet was wearing a sweat-stained vest with his usual leather windbreaker draped over his side. He sat on the table and smoked - the electronic respirator was pressed against the metal mask, and smoke escaped from the gill grilles.

There were also several packages and sealed boxes nearby.

The shelves and electronics were all gone.

John arrived hurriedly and saw this scene. He looked around the scene and asked.

"Robbery or revenge?"

"It's a move, man. I'm going to change the storefront."

The cabinet made faces and still spoke incoherently.

John asked without looking up as he squatted down and fiddled with the guns and accessories in the bag.

"bad business?"

"NOnono, on the contrary, is a bit too good. I don't like to turn the business into a large supermarket."

The cabinet clicked the junction of the metal mask and the skin.

Grease and dirt instantly filled the gaps between his nails, just like caviar. Perhaps these second-hand dealers who always stayed in dark corners all had serious skin problems.

His long purple hair was thrown down beside his forehead like a rag, revealing his metal earrings and the tattoos on his arms.

The more John looked, the more familiar it became, so he activated the scan and focused on it.

[Graphic analysis, database matching...]

"WTF! Are you a drifter?"

John was slightly surprised.

The cabinet followed his gaze to his arm, chuckled a few times, and spoke in a nostalgic tone.

“I am a wanderer among wanderers.”

John suddenly became interested in this middleman.

Cabinets often emphasize rules, but they are always vague.

He once said that he would not be open before 8 o'clock in the evening, but John found that as he gradually became famous on the streets, this rule could be ignored, and he could even place orders remotely and have the goods delivered to his door.

However, the cabinet will strictly abide by the rule of "odd numbers for selling and even numbers for receiving" in every transaction.

The cabinets will "rest" for a week between the end of the month and the beginning of the month.

The call will be forwarded to voicemail.

As a black market trader, he seemed to have his own information channels, and his sense of smell was more sensitive than that of some middlemen.

The cabinet never showed any urgency for business.

His clientele circle is relatively fixed, but his business scope is very broad, ranging from original gun accessories to restricted heavy equipment.

Gnaeus thought he was the most powerful middleman on Oil Drum Street.

Only now did I discover that he had another identity.

"Do you know Nando?"

"I guess so. I left the family early and joined the Klein Brown tribe. I have nothing to do with Damascus. When I started to hang out in Eden City, Nando hadn't become the leader yet."

The cabinet rarely showed a desire to chat.

John took the initiative to ask about his story.

"What does it mean to be a wanderer among wanderers?"

“Only those whose lives are destroyed and who have no place to stay are called wanderers. I was once a member of the family, running from city to city until I got tired of it. So I left the family and took root in the city, which was equivalent to betraying the family and cutting off my retreat… There is no class that belongs to me in the world.”

There is a playful tone in the cabinet.

This experience is like a not-so-hideous scar, branded on my body to remind me all the time, and it has healed enough to show it to others.

"The stationed city. Nando and the others are also discussing this. I can sense that some people are not very happy."

"Hahaha, there must be an argument."

"Wait, you know Nando's story? Tell me what the gang war of 75 was all about!"

John had heard some hints of this in the camp.

The cabinet exhaled smoke and smiled without saying anything, his eyes sliding towards the package. "Would you like to take care of the business? Some of these things are really hard to handle."

"... Damn it, use the money, but don't give me the garbage."

"how could be?"

The cabinet stuck the respirator on the mask and squatted among the piled packages to find the accessories box.

[Accessories: Magnetic Clip [K65 Type]]

The firepower of the [Sprinter] in John's hand is average, but as long as it is paired with a magnetic magazine, it can be replaced almost instantly, which can play a huge advantage in short-range vehicle firefights.

It's a pity that I lost several of them when fighting with the cyber maniacs. I didn't expect that there is a suitable source of them here in the cabinet.

Chips and accessories are the main ways to upgrade firearms.

Apart from the major companies that produce them, no one can guarantee a stable supply.

The circulation in the market mainly relies on:
Smuggling, theft, market control, ghoul dismantling...

Neither is stable.

Therefore, people who hang out on the streets for a long time almost all have a habit:

Whenever I come across a shop or vendor I have never seen before, I will check the merchandise list. If I come across better chips and accessories, I will generally choose to buy them if conditions permit.

John paid very promptly.

The cabinet showed no joy, as if it was just a process, took off the e-cigarette and started telling the story.

Homeless people are victims of capital expansion.

After losing everything, they huddled together, but as their numbers increased, they had to consider the issue of survival.

The wanderers are divided into different states according to their power.

The state was further divided into several tribes, given surnames, and finally into family units for migration, looking for lucrative job opportunities in different cities.

State, tribe, family.

That's all John remembered.

The cupboard blew out smoke and continued.

"The wanderers are nomads in the cyber age. Vehicles are their cattle and sheep, which help them obtain water and grass in the steel jungle."

The cabinet smiled as it told these stories.

But that expression did not have the usual eccentricity, and even had a hint of philosophy.

"I heard this saying. It shows that you have substance when picking up girls. In our era, if you have a bad personality but are a little bit deep, you will have a lot of girls sticking to you..."

The cupboard explained with a smile.

After the collapse of the old United States, several rounds of corporate wars broke out and a large number of job opportunities appeared in the cities.

Reconstruction of ruins, urban transportation, rise of factories...

Wanderers multiply and migrate in the wastelands between cities, carving out routes through the land containing trace amounts of radiation, and almost occupying a share of inter-city transportation and smuggling.

(End of this chapter)