Chapter 11: Go and Seek Revenge! A Mysterious Phone Call.

It was well past midnight when Zhu Shan'er slowly regained consciousness.

She opened her eyes, lying on a surgical table stained with blood. "Is this what an artificial eye is? So, this is how my mother always saw the world—without the beauty that eyes are meant to perceive."

She raised her hands and clenched her fists. Thanks to the implants, the Type-B combat prosthetics automatically adjusted to the most optimal state for her host body. With a sharp *clink*, a pair of mantis blades sprang forth, their edges glinting with a cold, lethal light. A moment later, they retracted just as quickly. All of this happened with the slightest flicker of Zhu Shan'er’s intent.

"Such immense power. I can feel a wealth of combat techniques surging through my mind."

Her hair was matted with blood, her eyes now featured pink pupils set within colorful irises, and her hands shimmered with a metallic silver hue.

"Remember to come back tomorrow for a check-up," Su Cheng said calmly. "Your current condition is only average. Don't push the implants too hard yet."

Zhu Shan'er climbed off the surgical table, looked at her repaired left leg, and reached down to forcefully scrape away the cat stickers that had been decorating it. She then walked up to Su Cheng and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Brother Su. Thank you, Mr. Wukong."

"No-Brain" stood to the side, looking somewhat dejected as he offered a word of caution. "Little one, stay safe."

He felt as though the girl before him had changed. Those pink-pupiled eyes lacked the innocence and kindness they once held. The childishness on her face had vanished, and she had even scrubbed away her favorite cat motifs.

Just like the sun outside, the day had set. Night had taken hold of the branches.

Zhu Shan'er offered a faint, strained smile. "I feel very strong now, Mr. Wukong. You don't need to worry."

As she spoke, she glanced at the prototype organs resting in the cooler.

"Your internal organs haven't been modified; they are still organic, so stick to nutrient solution," Su Cheng said, closing the cooler. "The implants are indeed powerful, providing protection to your organs and significantly strengthening your body, but since you don't have a full set of prosthetics, you lack complete defense. You must keep wearing your protective suit."

He handed her the box. "Go, have your revenge."

Zhu Shan'er took the box, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a tattered comic book, handing it to No-Brain. "Here, I hope you like it."

With that, she picked up the box and left.

"Little girl," Su Cheng called out suddenly. "You must come tomorrow."

Zhu Shan'er paused for a moment, nodded, and closed the door behind her.

No-Brain stood there, stunned, holding the comic book. It was an old-world Chinese classic, *Journey to the West*! Though it was only one volume and more than half of it was ruined, he never expected that Zhu Shan'er would have remembered his words and actually tracked it down.

The light aperture in No-Brain’s eyes expanded and contracted, flickering rapidly. "I keep feeling that before toppling Future City, I should kill all the trash in the Scrapyard! I want to destroy the Scrapyard!"

He did not understand what this emotion was; he could not comprehend it. He only knew that within his photonic brain, there was a reaction akin to an "impulse."

***

"Stop thinking about it. If you fry your photonic brain, I won't be able to fix it. Ah, I’m going to sleep."

After operating all day and having slept poorly the night before, Su Cheng yawned. After a shower, he collapsed onto his bed and tossed and turned. "Annoying. Can't sleep."

Su Cheng frowned. "Time to crush 'Big Head' in the game."

"Damn it, come on, let’s crush Big Head. Hell, I’m so annoyed. I refuse to believe I can't beat it forever!"

Five minutes later.

"Dammit, even more annoyed now. I really can't sleep!"

...

The next day, Su Cheng woke up early, hopped on his electric scooter, and headed toward the Scrapyard.

Passing by Loli Island again, the area had returned to normal operations, as if nothing had ever happened. Su Cheng guessed that the visit from the HPC guards previously had been to handle the case of Zhu Shan'er’s mother’s murder. Of course, they weren't there to help Zhu Shan'er, but to protect the high-ranking perpetrator.

"Yo, my friend is back. How come you’ve been coming by every day to buy nutrient solution? Don't tell me you're keeping a harem of beauties," Kang Ba teased with a smirk. "Or maybe you’ve found another way to make a fortune? If you have a lead, you’ve got to let me in on it, my good friend."

"Nothing like that. Just stocking up early. Winter is coming, and you know it’s almost impossible to go outside once it hits," Su Cheng replied coolly. "Fifty bottles."

"You’re right about that; winter is hard to endure, and it gets colder every year. The heating pipes seem to be failing entirely. But you aren't just buying from my shop, are you? You’ve been hoarding quite a bit." Kang Ba arched an eyebrow intentionally as he handed over the goods. "Good friend, if any good opportunities come up, you must remember me. Otherwise, me and my other friends will be very sad."

Su Cheng glanced at him indifferently. "Sure, but you’ll have to ask Zhang Jie first."

"Zhang Jie?" A flicker of apprehension crossed Kang Ba's eyes. He quickly adopted a fawning tone. "My good friend, I didn't know you were acquainted with that high-level hunter. Actually, we’re all friends here. I was just trying to help, in case you were in any trouble."

Su Cheng picked up the box, gave a cold laugh, and rode off to the next shop. He had already attracted attention; Kang Ba knew he had been purchasing from other stores. If he stopped now, it would only make him look suspicious. Fortunately, the name Zhang Jie worked wonders.

However, after this procurement, he would need to lay low for a while. As his technological level rose, upgrading with inferior nutrient solutions was becoming too slow, and the base amount required was growing exponentially. It would inevitably draw unwanted attention, so he couldn't rely on purchasing forever. He needed to find other ways.

According to his plan, he bought two hundred bottles of inferior nutrient solution this time, costing him one thousand Alliance credits.

Back home, Su Cheng synthesized 11 bottles of basic strengthening serum. These would help Zhu Shan'er complete 12 perfect body optimizations, allowing her to better utilize the military-grade implants. The remaining 24 bottles of inferior nutrient solution were synthesized into 3 bottles of high-grade nutrient solution.

"Here." Su Cheng tossed a medium-grade energy block to No-Brain. "Clear out the waste from the energy chamber. From now on, use the medium-grade ones; they don't leave any residue."

He hadn't bought low-grade energy blocks to synthesize, as the nutrient solution purchases had already drawn attention; buying energy blocks as well would be too risky.

"Damn, pal, you’re the best! It’s a shame you’re not a woman, or I’d definitely marry you."

"If anyone comes for repairs today, turn them all away. I have to go out."

Su Cheng took a bottle of high-grade nutrient solution and prepared to head to the waste treatment plant.

*Beep-beep...*

Suddenly, the chip on his wrist triggered a call request. The caller was a stranger.

"Yang Siqi?" Su Cheng frowned. He had never heard that name before.

*“Listen here, you bastard. If you don't pick up, don't blame me for leaking the surveillance footage of Wild Ghost.”*

After listening to the voicemail, Su Cheng’s eyes narrowed, and he accepted the call.

"Unbelievable. In this day and age, people still use identity chips."

The chip projected a frame, intended to show the caller's image, but it displayed only a dark silhouette.

Su Cheng’s tone was icy. "There was no surveillance at Wild Ghost’s place."

Since he had accepted the call, he was effectively admitting his involvement in the incident at the Carnival Camp. It also meant the other party knew about that night. Furthermore, since she could contact him directly, she must have investigated him and knew his identity. Using her real name to contact him showed a certain degree of sincerity, so there was no need to pretend ignorance and waste time.

"I said there was, so there was. Do you think I’d lie to you? Pfft, I’m a sweet girl—*cough, cough*." The woman coughed twice, her tone shifting to a gentle, standard accent. "You’re straightforward, I like that. I’ll be blunt: there was indeed no surveillance at the Carnival Camp. However, the Dream-Vision glasses Wild Ghost was wearing that day had a built-in recording function. It automatically recorded the process of you killing him and uploaded it to the cloud. But don't worry, I intercepted it for you."

"What do you want?"

Su Cheng truly didn't understand the tech behind Dream-Vision. He had checked the area for surveillance, but he hadn't expected the glasses themselves to record. He had even slashed those glasses in half at the time.

"Tonight at ten, meet me at the balcony of the Ancient City in Sector C."