Chapter Two: The Eye of Dimensions—Fusion and Upgrade!

"What is this? Activation of the Dimensional Eye?!"

'Dimensional Eye activated.'

In an instant, his right eye emitted a faint red glow. Rows of red electronic circuits spread and flickered around his eye socket.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Su Cheng gasped, his eyes wide, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He pushed himself up with effort and looked around in a daze.

The pain was gone.

He could actually see with his right eye! The prosthetic eye was working!

Moreover, something seemed different. He noticed two frames suddenly appearing in his right vision, locking onto two titanium alloy Tang swords resting nearby.

'Two identical technological artifacts detected. Proceed with synthesis and upgrade?'

Synthesis and upgrade? What was this?

Su Cheng was completely confused by his current situation. He steadied his mind, frowned, and after a moment of thought, attempted to say, "Synthesize."

With a soft hum, a beam of red light shot out from his right eye, instantly enveloping the two titanium alloy Tang swords. Countless lines of program code flowed rapidly over the surface of the light. Then, the light burst apart.

The two titanium alloy Tang swords were gone. In their place sat a single, exquisitely crafted, elongated Tang sword that shimmered with a sharp, eerie light!

'Completion: Titanium-Tungsten Alloy Standard Longsword.'

[Titanium-Tungsten Alloy Standard Longsword: Super-alloy technology, harder and sharper than titanium alloy! A military-standard weapon produced in the 8th year of the New Era Star Calendar, classified as First-Dimensional technology.]

"This!?"

Su Cheng walked over, picked up the longsword, and felt a surge of shock. "It really upgraded!"

Those two titanium alloy Tang swords had been left as collateral by a client who couldn't pay for repairs. They were weapons from before the Century War, but they remained common in the post-war Old World. Because they were relatively cheap to produce and possessed decent sharpness and durability, most ordinary people and cyborgs favored them. They could cut through cheap mechanical bodies and cause significant damage to alloy prosthetics.

But a titanium-tungsten alloy longsword was a military weapon! It was part of the first generation of combat weapons replaced by humanity at the start of the New Era. Its sharpness and durability far exceeded that of standard titanium alloy! It could easily sever ordinary alloy mechanical limbs, and its value was several times higher!

"It's actually this powerful!"

Su Cheng touched his right eye in disbelief. He hadn't expected that he only needed two identical low-level weapons to synthesize a stronger one. It was simple and efficient!

"I wonder what I can get if I keep synthesizing."

He recalled the voice that had sounded in his mind earlier. The current technological limit for synthesis and upgrades with this prosthetic eye was the Third Dimension. As far as Su Cheng knew, the highest level of human technology in the New Era was only the Second Dimension.

This meant that as long as he kept using this eye to synthesize and upgrade, he could eventually obtain technology at least one full dimension ahead of current humanity! A whole dimension!

Suppressing his excitement, Su Cheng opened a nearby storage cabinet, which contained two more titanium alloy Tang swords. He used the Dimensional Eye to synthesize them again. The two swords were immediately enveloped by red particles. Three seconds later, another titanium-tungsten alloy longsword appeared.

Following this, Su Cheng placed the two titanium-tungsten longswords together and continued the synthesis! He stared intently at the cluster of red particles floating in front of him.

Three seconds later, a longsword with a blade shimmering in cold light appeared!

'Completion: High-Frequency Cutting Longsword!'

[High-Frequency Cutting Longsword: Causes the blade to vibrate at an extremely high frequency, granting it powerful cutting capabilities. Developed and promoted by the Optic Technology Company in the 58th year of the Star Calendar, it features excellent performance and is classified as First-Dimensional technology.]

"Hiss..."

Su Cheng drew a sharp breath and gripped the high-frequency cutting longsword. He had seen this weapon in the history of the New Era! It was definitely a high-tech product. It was equipment developed by early New Era humans for the conquest of the universe! Although it had been seven hundred years since then and long since phased out by the New World, its performance remained incredibly formidable. At the very least, in the Ruined City, it wasn't something just anyone could afford!

A titanium-tungsten alloy longsword cost about 2,000 Alliance Credits. He didn't know the price of a high-frequency cutting longsword, but it was certainly much more expensive than the former. And he had created it using only four of the lowest-level titanium alloy swords!

Most importantly, this was still not the limit of the Dimensional Eye! He could continue to synthesize and upgrade!

Su Cheng could not contain his excitement. This prosthetic eye was truly too powerful! It held infinite possibilities. He looked at other items in the room, wanting to try again. The titanium alloy swords were gone, but the scope of "technological artifacts" was vast. The room was filled with mechanical prosthetic parts left by clients as collateral.

Just then, Su Cheng noticed two unopened bottles of inferior nutrient solution on the counter. These were also developed by humans; they should count as technological artifacts.

'Two identical technological artifacts detected. Proceed with synthesis and upgrade?'

It worked! He synthesized them immediately.

'Completion: Primary Nutrient Solution.'

[Primary Nutrient Solution: Synthesized from various nutritional elements with fewer impurities; can satisfy the basic daily nutritional needs of a living organism. Does not enhance physical strength. Classified as First-Dimensional technology.]

The two bottles of murky green, inferior nutrient solution had merged into a single bottle of pale green liquid! Su Cheng immediately opened the storage cabinet, where seven bottles of inferior nutrient solution were neatly arranged. He didn't synthesize them all at once; instead, he found two empty bottles, opened one of the nutrient solutions, and poured it evenly into them.

Finally, filled with anticipation, he attempted to lock onto them.

'Lock failed. Please do not attempt to exploit system bugs.'

Su Cheng rubbed his nose. It didn't work—what a pity. He obediently used the remaining six bottles of inferior nutrient solution to synthesize three bottles of Primary Nutrient Solution, then continued the process.

'Completion: Intermediate Nutrient Solution x2.'

[Intermediate Nutrient Solution: A very good nutritional supplement; can provide the basic energy required by the human body for three days. Does not enhance physical strength. Classified as First-Dimensional technology.]

Keep going!

'Completion: Advanced Nutrient Solution.'

[Advanced Nutrient Solution: A high-quality nutritional product; perfectly provides all substances required by the human body for three days while continuously supplementing nutrients to keep the body in peak condition! As food, it is perfect and even possesses certain medical properties, but it still does not enhance physical strength. Free of all impurities and completely absorbable by biological organisms. Classified as First-Dimensional technology.]

Su Cheng looked happily at the nutrient solution in his hand, which was devoid of any impurities. This was a luxury that only the wealthy and those in the Future City could enjoy! Let alone consume it, this was his first time even seeing it!

But he didn't plan to use it yet. Firstly, Advanced Nutrient Solution was incredibly expensive! One bottle of inferior nutrient solution cost only 5 Alliance Credits, and two bottles could meet a person's daily nutritional needs. Just to survive, one bottle was enough—it was the source of food for most of the refugees on Earth. Of course, after replacing internal organs with machinery, one only needed energy blocks, which were cheaper and more durable. In the Old World, the cost of living like a human was too high.

The price of Primary Nutrient Solution reached 30 Alliance Credits! It was simply unaffordable for ordinary people. Intermediate Nutrient Solution cost 200 Alliance Credits per bottle! The supply of Advanced Nutrient Solution was extremely scarce, and the price had already reached 1,000 Alliance Credits per bottle! And this was a consumable!

Secondly, he noticed that whether it was Primary, Intermediate, or Advanced, the description contained one consistent line: *Does not enhance physical strength!*

This likely meant that if he continued to synthesize and upgrade, he would eventually obtain a nutrient solution that *could* enhance physical strength! If he synthesized it up to Third-Dimensional technology...

In this abandoned Old World of Earth, it was impossible for people to cross the radiation layers of the atmosphere, break through the high-energy particle barrier, enter the Future City, and go to the New World. They were eternally imprisoned on this former home planet of humanity.

But now, he could turn waste into treasure. Using low-level items from the Old World, or even trash, he could synthesize and upgrade to technology far beyond the New Era! He could completely break through all shackles!

Su Cheng picked up the necklace that had fallen from his clothes earlier. A black metal rose hung from it.

"Wait for me. I will definitely find you in the Future City!"

Carefully tucking the necklace back into his clothes, Su Cheng's gaze turned cold. "But before that, I need to become strong enough, and then find that group of lunatics."

He had too much to do, things he would likely never have had the chance to accomplish in his life. But now, with the Dimensional Eye, he could!

Putting his thoughts aside, he locked the Advanced Nutrient Solution in his safe. He had saved a little money over the years, originally intended for his own self-improvement. Now, he could buy some inferior nutrient solution, synthesize it into Intermediate Nutrient Solution, and sell it. Although Advanced Nutrient Solution had a higher value, selling it in large quantities would inevitably invite danger! He currently lacked the strength to protect himself, so he had to be cautious.

He would use the money from the sales to buy more inferior nutrient solution for synthesis. He had to find out if higher-level nutrient solution could truly strengthen the body!

He glanced at "No-Brainer." Although the guy was blunt, he was his only partner, so he needed to be upgraded too. However, finding identical products for that guy would be difficult. Moreover, the ruins were dangerous, so he couldn't go there for now.

He put on a black metal air-filtering mask and prepared to head out. He lived in the suburbs of the Ruined City, near a factory that processed garbage from the Future City, which emitted large amounts of smoke daily. Combined with the layer of weak radioactive dust in the atmosphere following the Century War, the air quality was terrible.

Just as Su Cheng reached the door, a loud roar of engines and noisy death metal music approached from afar, stopping right in front of his house. He looked back at the security monitor.

"Yeah! Su Cheng, I know you're in there, haha..."

Suddenly, a half-modified metal face pressed against the camera, his low-level optical prosthetic eye glowing white as it stared into the lens.

"Time to pay this month's protection money. If you don't pay up, don't blame me for killing you, haha..."

The other half of his face, tattooed with a skull pattern and covered in piercings, was full of madness. Su Cheng's face darkened. This man was "Wild Ghost," a low-level leader of the Death Rock gang. The Death Rock was a local gang that made a living by extorting protection money. Although they hadn't been infected by the Black Death virus and turned into lunatics like the Raiders, in the Old World, humans could sometimes be crazier than the insane.

There was no order here! No rules! Every terrible thing you could imagine happened here every day: violence, slaughter, insanity, and sex. Although there was an HPC security force, they only served the rich and the elite!

Wild Ghost extended a mechanical arm covered in graffiti and pointed at the camera. "We'll be back in three days to collect the money. 200 Alliance Credits. I know you have it. You only have three days, haha..."

With that, he turned and hopped onto the back seat of a motorcycle with four sky-high exhaust pipes.

*Vroom!*

With a roar, the four pipes instantly spat out flames over a meter high!

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

He clutched an exaggerated metal guitar and played it frantically. The entire motorcade began to shriek. The motorcycles restarted. Wild Ghost pulled out a grenade and tossed it behind him.

The grenade hit the ground and exploded instantly, bursting into a large cloud of purple liquid paint and smoke.

"Woo-hoo! Everyone get out of my way!!"

The others all pulled out grenades and tossed them in every direction. A patch of colorful smoke erupted, painting the walls in vibrant hues. The colored paint ran down the walls, merging into the sewers with the rainwater.

When the noise finally faded away, Su Cheng put on a black raincoat, opened the door, gave the paint splattered on it a cold look, lowered the brim of his hat, and left.