Chapter Seventeen: The First Bounty—The Abandoned Parking Lot Stronghold!
“Damn it, you went robbing in broad daylight?!”
“I didn’t bring any weapons, how could I rob anyone?”
“Alright then, I thought you were strong. I overestimated you.”
“...”
Su Cheng took out four sets of E-level mechanical prosthetics, activated the Dimensional Eye, and began synthesizing an upgrade.
‘Completed: C-level mechanical prosthetic.’
Just four more sets of E-level mechanical prosthetics, and he could synthesize and upgrade to an A-level combat prosthetic!
That was the pinnacle of human-made prosthetics, incredibly powerful!
But it still replaced the native body.
So it wasn’t enough!
He needed more prosthetics!
He opened the Hunter’s bounty card again.
This time, the hunting bounty was quite a jackpot!
One set of E-level mechanical prosthetics cost at least 1,500 Alliance Credits!
A wealthy patron had directly given him four sets!
Valued at 6,000 Alliance Credits.
If he had sent Zhu Shan’er’s native body to the scrap yard, he could at most get one set of E-level mechanical prosthetics.
That was only because the native body was of high quality; otherwise, it would fetch just a few hundred Alliance Credits.
This was the difference with the rich—if the item pleased them, they were willing to pay more for their preferences.
Besides prosthetics, he also knew that implants were not absolutely rare.
It depended on the person!
“Bounty for raider stronghold eradication in Zone C?”
Soon, Su Cheng saw a bounty right near his home.
‘Bounty: Hunt raiders in the abandoned parking lot stronghold beneath Stone Bridge in Zone C.
Solo hunting bounty.
Reward: Four bottles of basic nutrient solution, 100 Alliance Credits, 5 points.’
Eradicating a raider stronghold only earned four bottles of basic nutrient solution and 100 Alliance Credits.
Clearly, the wealthy patrons’ bounties paid much better.
But with his current hunter level, he could only accept low-difficulty, low-reward bounties.
‘The “Girl’s Body” belonged to a retrieval-type bounty with no danger, which gave him a chance to access the wealthy patrons’ bounties.
The rest were closed to him!
He had to level up his hunter rank quickly!
Su Cheng grabbed his particle-cutting long knife, slung on his electromagnetic kinetic rifle, secured the empty boxes containing mechanical prosthetics to the motorcycle’s rear seat, and rode off.
“Hey, three clients have already come today, including a stunning silver-haired beauty. Aren’t you going to make some money?”
Moutou looked at Su Cheng riding away, helplessly scratching his head, then his hand froze mid-air and dropped. “Damn it, I’ve got no brains.”
...
Stone Bridge was an abandoned broken bridge in Zone C.
Underneath it was a parking lot, also long abandoned.
Because raiders lurked there, no one lived nearby, and no vehicles ventured that way.
Su Cheng quickly rode his motorcycle near Stone Bridge, then dismounted. Holding his long knife, he glanced at several surrounding buildings and shipping containers.
He quietly exerted a bit of strength and leapt directly to the second floor!
“Eight people.”
Su Cheng circled the parking lot, carefully surveying it.
He counted the number of raiders inside and memorized the surrounding terrain.
He stealthily approached an outermost raider with a mohawk.
Though it was daytime and lacked the chaotic noise of the carnival camp, so he couldn't replicate his last assassination,
taking out one was better than none.
Su Cheng hid in a corner, picked up a pebble, and tossed it far away.
“Who’s there? What was that?”
The mohawk raider was immediately drawn to the noise, turning his head.
Seizing the moment like a leopard, Su Cheng sprang forward, slashing the raider’s neck with his particle-cutting long knife, then brought it down, cleaving his head in two!
“Damn, everyone get alert! Some damn fool just barged in.”
Suddenly, a roar came from a nearby shipping container: “Gousheng was talking to us but got disconnected—there’s definitely some trash in here!”
“Haha, finally some action. I’m gonna tear him into eight pieces!”
“What the hell’s going on lately? In broad daylight, anyone dares mess with our Dog Gang? Damn!”
“Don’t know if they have prosthetics, missions have been getting heavier. We gotta dismantle more!”
“Kill him, kill him! Haha...”
The remaining seven raiders all moved toward Su Cheng.
Three wielded titanium alloy broadswords, two had kinetic pistols, and two carried kinetic submachine guns.
Su Cheng quickly retreated to the corner, then jumped onto a heating pipe and climbed onto a shipping container.
“Damn, I see him! Shit, trying to run?”
“Shoot! Kill him on the container!”
The raiders with guns immediately fired, but they didn’t aim properly.
Though their prosthetics helped with aiming, their weapons lacked auto-aim and bullet-tracking, so accuracy was very low.
Once they lost sight of Su Cheng, they just sprayed randomly.
Two raiders with blades jumped up to the container, wildly swinging their broadswords.
“Come on, let me slash you twice, haha...”
Su Cheng jumped behind the container and quickly shifted position.
Powerful kinetic bullets pierced the container from behind him.
Spotting a corner ahead, he jumped down, pulled out his electromagnetic kinetic rifle, hid in the corner, and aimed at the container.
Soon, two raiders with broadswords approached.
When they saw Su Cheng, they shouted, then swung their blades down with a jump!
‘Bang bang bang...’
Dense kinetic bullets instantly fired, riddling the two raiders with holes, black biochemical fluid spraying everywhere!
They collapsed to the ground, twitching.
“Damn it, Gousheng and Gouzai also disconnected, shoot! Smash the container!”
Immediately, everyone with guns fired furiously at the container.
Su Cheng observed the bullet trajectories penetrating the container, slightly leaned out, and took aim.
Fire!
‘Bang!’
A shot hit a green-haired raider wielding a broadsword!
“Missed the head.”
Su Cheng frowned—he aimed for the head but hit the body.
Without modified prosthetics, he couldn’t connect with the gun or use prosthetics for aiming assistance.
He dared not linger—his position was exposed!
He jumped onto the heating pipe, used the maze of pipes and containers to climb onto Stone Bridge, then ran toward the raiders’ rear.
No sooner had he left, his previous position was riddled with bullets!
“Night is better. They stay connected all the time. What a pain.”
Several raiders had brain-machine interfaces, staying online constantly.
If someone disconnected, the others immediately knew.
“Damn, he’s flanking, kill him!”
“This guy runs too fast; he must have some good prosthetics. Kill him, take his prosthetics! Rip out his eyes and sell them! If not, kidneys, liver—haha...”
Su Cheng’s enhanced body sprinted at car-like speed.
Though he didn’t know the exact speed, the buildings rushing past on both sides blurred!
He jumped down from Stone Bridge and shifted behind the abandoned parking lot.
Only five raiders remained, but only four blocked his path.
One had climbed the bridge, trying to surround him from behind!
He quickly recalled the parking lot layout, glanced at the raiders, then to his right.
“Come out!”
The injured green-haired raider shouted angrily.
‘Bang!’
A bullet exploded his skull instantly; his body went limp and collapsed.
“Damn, too sneaky. If you’ve got guts, fight face-to-face!”
“Cowardly bastards, just hiding!”
The remaining three fired toward Su Cheng’s previous position.
“Here he comes!”
But the next second, Su Cheng suddenly sprang out from behind a scrapped car on the left.
His red blade flashed across the raider’s shocked eyes and instantly sliced his neck.
Su Cheng’s speed was so fast they couldn’t even shoot—them all taken down in an instant!
“Damn, got you now! Let’s see where you run!”
The last raider sneered, jumped down from Stone Bridge, and raised his gun to shoot: “Watch me be awesome, haha...”
Su Cheng sneered coldly, quickly raised his electromagnetic kinetic rifle, and unleashed a torrent of bullets.
He emptied the entire magazine before stopping.
‘Thud.’
A shattered corpse fell to the ground.
Bounty complete!
...