My Notoriety Spreads Throughout the World-Chapter 523 - 453: Remnants of Stars and Embers of Fire
Bullet screens scrolled by en masse, while far to the east of Jiulong Street, beneath a teahouse.
"Boss of Moxing Commerce Association, Xu Gengchen. Today’s performance was very poor."
Under the gilded plaque of ’Moxing Tea House,’ a white-haired, red-eyed young man held a New Gospel, and in front of him, Boss Xu, who was used to calling the shots on Jiulong Street, was hunched over, rubbing his hands, his ingratiating smile slightly changing upon hearing the words ’very poor.’
"Is there some mistake?" Seeing the young man about to leave, Xu Gengchen hurriedly chased after him and asked.
"Tsk, you’re too close. What are you trying to do?" The young man in fiery red overalls rubbed his nose and stood over, displeased as he blocked the man’s way.
Seeing this, the man quickly lowered his posture, nodding like a pecking chicken, occasionally looking up to secretly observe the expressions of the two Disciplinary Officers.
"Disciplinary Officer, I meant no offense. I just want to know why my performance today was very poor. I’ve always stayed obediently in this little teahouse, doing nothing extra."
Cervantes closed the Gospel, looking calmly at the man.
Xu Gengchen felt guilty under those cold red eyes and instinctively lowered his head.
"Boss Xu, how long has it been since you opened your ’recognition module’?"
Upon hearing this, the man’s stout body trembled violently, his face turning beet red as he pointed at Cervantes’s nose.
"You, you, you, this is pure slander, you’re talking nonsense, you’re making baseless accusations! How can you just say such things?"
"I’m functioning just fine, aren’t I?" Xu Gengchen, as if afraid of being convicted, pulled open his eyelid, revealing a line of recognition code on the eyeball’s surface, emitting a faint glow, proving his recognition system was still active.
In Skyline City, it is a serious crime for Bionics to privately deactivate their recognition modules. Being disconnected from the recognition network would mean that, from others’ perspectives, this Bionic would appear no different from ordinary humans, and distinguishing them with the naked eye would be nearly impossible unless the recognition code under the eyelid is checked.
As a Disciplinary Officer, Cervantes knew that a ’Black Box’ that could forge Bionic traits was circulating in Jiulong’s black market recently. When Bionics suffer severe damage and enter a reboot state, their connection with the Hera Network can be cut off, and the Black Box can quickly forge a restart, allowing Bionics to temporarily evade Hera’s surveillance in this way.
After the ’Firefly War,’ the emergence of the Celestial Father, the establishment of the Hera Network, and the construction of the Fourth Wall, a strict and mature Bionic management system was set up in Skyline City. Afterward, there were small-scale Bionic uprisings, but they were restricted to the districts without causing too much turmoil.
However, the recent appearance of Black Boxes led to a large number of ’unlabeled individuals’ evading Hera’s surveillance, greatly increasing the workload of Disciplinary Officers. There were even incidents of attacks on Disciplinary Officers orchestrated by the unlabeled, compounding the social instability they caused, leaving the entire Skyline City in a state of panic.
The Scholar Firefly Councilor of the Human Supreme Council demanded that the Disciplinary Officers uncover the origins of the ’Black Boxes’ within three months, unearth the truth behind them, and clear out the unlabeled individuals in the city.
Bringing his thoughts back, Cervantes quietly looked at Xu Gengchen in front of him, the latter hesitant and not daring to meet his gaze.
"I wasn’t speaking recklessly."
"Boss Xu, I don’t know if you know, but not long ago, some humans arrived at Jiulong Street."
Xu Gengchen’s heart skipped a beat, cold blood beginning to course through his veins.
"What humans?"
Cervantes chuckled softly: "I can describe their features for you: a silent, black-haired girl; a quirky, red-haired girl; a tall, silver-haired girl; a quiet, elegant, blue-haired girl; and... a particularly dangerous blonde girl."
"Is she over 1.6 meters tall?" Xu Gengchen’s voice trembled.
"She doesn’t appear to be," Cervantes answered.
"Damn." Xu Gengchen swore quietly.
That must be the wild lass from who knows where? The one bossing him around in his teahouse, and she turned out to be a human?
"It’s apparent you didn’t recognize her identity," Cervantes said indifferently.
"In dealing with humans, we Bionics must have absolute patience, never contradict their will, and even less offend them, serving them with utmost friendliness. Remember, that is what we were created for."
"You drove away that blonde girl; deducting some performance points from you is fair, isn’t it?"
Xu Gengchen broke out in a cold sweat, everything he saw seemingly magnified rapidly.
In the youth’s light red eyes seemed to dwell a delighted Devil, long seeing through him completely. His words seemed just to mock him, to enjoy the sight of his clumsy lies being unravelled.
"I..."
Just as Xu Gengchen panted heavily, about to collapse, Cervantes merely patted his shoulder, gently said:
"Boss Xu, do better tomorrow."
"Let’s go, Sancho."
Xu Gengchen looked up blankly, watching the frail figure of the young man disappear around the teahouse corner.
His body went limp in relief as he collapsed to the ground, the staff crowding around called anxiously, and only after a long while did he manage to stand with their help, exhaling a lingering breath of fear.
In the alley, the robust youth quickly caught up with Cervantes, confused:
"That guy is clearly involved with the ’Black Box’ affair; why not capture and interrogate him? Hand him to me, I’ll definitely extract some clues."
Seeing Cervantes continuing to walk forward, Sancho furrowed his brows and snorted, turning to head back:
"I’ll catch him back now, give him two punches, make him spill everything about seven generations back."
The young man at this moment pulled him back, under his puzzled gaze, the young man said nothing, merely approaching him for a hug.
His mind blanked with a buzzing sound.
He did not understand the meaning of this hug.
He did not understand why the other suddenly hugged him tightly, as if fearing he might suddenly disappear, yet remained silent, the mild red eyes lowering, emotions flowing silently in them.
"Cervantes, what are you doing?" As a Disciplinary Officer, from the moment Sancho opened his eyes in that tiny underground workshop and saw the young man smiling amidst a pile of parts, he understood his mission to serve humanity, never having hoped to be hugged by anyone, much less by his own creator.
"Sancho, maybe you don’t understand now, but I think you will someday," Cervantes said with a friendly smile.
"Whether it’s this hug or what I’m about to say."
"You are my creation, you don’t belong to humans, only to me. You are my closest friend, and I only feel safe talking to you about many things."
"This era will be ours."
