051: Weekend

John did not sleep well.
He woke up the next afternoon and felt slightly better only after downing a bottle of energy drink.
All the items ordered from the cabinet had arrived.
There was a massive haul, with stacked boxes blocking most of the balcony, and it would take time to sort through everything.
As it happened, he had no schedule for today.
First, John located the system upgrade accessories and pulled out the data cable to connect it to the access control system.
Blacklight hack.
He re-backed up his room server and connected it to the public network. The difficulty of this operation was comparable to a mechanic inspecting an onboard vehicle system, and he had learned a fair bit during his time at Ironbang Logistics.
He hadn't gone this far when he first moved in because he was just starting out on the streets and never expected anyone to hack the local area network of an entire apartment building.
Test complete.
John let out a long breath.
Now, anyone attempting to hack his room would trigger a warning signal.
Next, John tackled the large packages.
Inside the boxes was a complete set of Jingke Heavy Industries home smart robotic arms, equipped with an integrated system capable of setting up an automated bullet-crafting assembly line.
As soon as he unpacked them, the house system issued a prompt.
[Your delivery has arrived.]
A box of fried synthetic meat.
Two bottles of iced beer—containing a trace amount of stimulants and a very low proportion of industrial composites, tasting much better than the swill sold at the Black Engine restaurant.
John's recent workouts had been quite effective, and his muscles looked much more robust. Wearing a grey tank top, he busied himself continuously in the workshop.
With some music playing like this, soaking in the company of mechanical equipment felt rather comfortable.
He raised his glass bottle and toasted the empty air.
"Happy weekend."
Blacklight took control of the main system.
The moment Jingke Heavy Industries' robotic arms were connected, the Blacklight swept across them, instantly overwriting the corporate programming and integrating the equipment into the management center.
The programs for manufacturing bullets were already downloaded; all that was required was providing the corresponding raw materials and tapping the screen to initiate automated production.
Whir-whir-whir—
Several clumsy articulated arms began to move.
They extended finer tools, disassembling, crafting, and assembling on a small metal workbench. The finished bullets were pressed directly into the magazine wells, ready to be grabbed as a complete clip whenever needed.
Their efficiency certainly couldn't compare to the large-scale equipment of an armory, but they were more than enough for daily needs.
John watched and observed quietly while eating, tweaking a few parameters—and with that, the setup was completely finished. From now on, whenever he went out scavenging for loot, he would need to keep an eye out for raw materials that were easy to break down.
[New equipment [Workbench] added.]
[Progress: 14/115 [High-Penetration Electromagnetic Rounds]]
[Remaining time: 7.35h]
John pulled up the virtual net to view the exact status of bullet production.
Apart from the cyberware on his body, almost all the money he had earned recently had been poured into this tiny workshop.
It brought a unique joy of accumulating things.
Never underestimate this kind of accumulation; people died every day in Eden City, and very few managed to leave anything behind.
Among the items delivered from the cabinet was also a sealed box bearing the Plato logo, which should be the ballistic vest upgrade blueprints he had been promised.
John adjusted the wall lamp and unlocked it with the security key.
Sss-h—
Inside the box lay a chip containing complete experimental data and formula ratios.
[Crafting Blueprint: Polymer Armor [Mod]]
Embedded next to it were several vials of solvent placed in toughened glass tubes, which should be the catalysts required for the synthesis formula.
John inserted the chip into the back of his neck.
Blacklight flickered, and bursting electric arcs touched his fingertips, followed immediately by a faint burning smell.
He unplugged the chip, his optical cyberware flickering constantly as dense lines of data scrolled across his vision, stacking and unfolding the manufacturing process and underlying logic.
"Damn... I'm a bit tired."
Before the wave of exhaustion could wash over him, John plugged in a special inhibitor—the Blacklight translation chip placed a burden on the body, and it was directly proportional to the complexity of the content.
[Special Inhibitor (Damaged)]
His brain felt much more comfortable, but a sense of tension followed closely behind.
If Oros had continued pressing him about the source of the database scan back then...
How would he have explained it?
Facing a fixer who moved in top circles, alongside that overwhelmingly oppressive armored behemoth, how could he protect his own secrets?
If the Blacklight were exposed to the corporations...
Cold sweat began to bead on John's forehead.
He looked down at the burnt-out special inhibitor in his hand.
In the cybernetic era, everyone had data ports, and logically speaking, plugging in chips was a completely normal operation. But the moment anyone grew suspicious of him, it would be easy to uncover the clues.
John tossed the chip into the dissolution vat.
The hardware was corroded into a pool of dark liquid.
He made up his mind in his heart:
The waters in Eden City ran deep, and the rule remained the same—never pull out a special inhibitor outside unless absolutely necessary.
Zzzt-zzzt-zzzt—
Electric arcs flashed across the workshop from time to time.
John immersed himself in Plato's synthesis formula for a whole day, thoroughly mastering the entire product.
The quality of what he crafted now would certainly be much better than street-made knockoffs, though it would still fall short of the original factory goods straight out of Plato's laboratories.
[Module: Polymer Armor]
John wrapped the finished product in synthetic fiber fabric and pulled out his silenced pistol for a shooting test.
He pulled the trigger and heard two soft *biu-biu* sounds. The bullet holes on the material were distinct and had not passed through.
The experimental result was a success.
The gun chamber was loaded with armor-piercing rounds capable of shattering even toughened glass, yet shooting at such close range resulted in the bullets embedding halfway through. It was a damn impressive mod.
[Equipment: Concealed Ballistic Vest]
[Mod: Polymer Armor [100%]]
[Description: Improved model by Hiti Industries, the king of cost-effectiveness.]
John felt a little more at ease.
For dinner, he ordered a pizza. The sunset glow looked weathered and dusty through the filter of industrial exhaust, casting a lazy, comfortable light as it streamed through the glass.
[The Captain has arrived, loading freight manifest...]
[Special Consumable X2]
[Windfall Account x8]
The hexrotor drone landed steadily on the balcony.
All the supplies the two Black Spiders had accumulated over this period were right here.
John spent some time crafting the items into special inhibitors, and the windfall pushed the savings in his account safely back above the warning line.
Just as his balance finished updating, an unknown message suddenly popped up.
[Unread message [Unknown Contact]]
[Respected Edenuser343, you are cordially invited to a top-tier sexdoll test drive, supporting customized content and scenario integration, next-generation implant, with a complimentary sensory amplifier...]
John scrolled down to the bottom, glanced at the link, and deleted it directly.
When he used to work at Ironbang Logistics, he would receive similar things; some were club advertisements broadcasted through mobile base stations, while others were pure scams.
Kidnapping and extortion were considered lucky outcomes.
If the people on the other side of the link were tech-savvy ghouls, your heart and lungs would be harvested before you even had a chance to get naked with the girl.
John modified the paint job of [The Captain].
Then he specifically installed a temporary charging slot in the workshop and set up a docking area in the corner of the living room.
He configured the automated route and left it alone.
Neon lights had already spread to the outskirts of the apartment building, marking the end of the weekend daytime. After tidying up various trivial matters, the day had been quite fulfilling.
John decided to kick off his nightlife.
First on the agenda was visiting Mr. Vito to return a favor owed to the Black Gold Gang from a while ago.
John leaned against the elevator car, staring blankly at the tiny piece of graffiti in the corner of the ceiling.
The elevator slid down from the fifteenth floor.
Ding—
[Third Floor - Compartment Rental Zone]
Two girls wearing sequined capes walked in, heavily makeup-laden with pretty patterns painted across their bellies and thighs.
The electronic cigarettes in their hands were new products from Apple Gold, famous for their numbing and hallucinatory effects.
"It's you, tough guy. Not drunk today?"
"Not yet time for that."
John smiled in response.
She flicked a head of glossy, smooth purple hair. Her curves were quite impressive, and it looked as though she had recently cleaned and maintained her artificial leather skin.
"I saw the car you drive. You've got money, right? Want to relax your muscles?"
The girl's fillers were full, her skin glowing white. "What kind of fun are you into? I've got some good stuff back at my place..."
The elevator reached the ground floor.
She stripped off her cape to reveal more skin, leaned back against the panel, and held down the emergency stop button.
John's gaze shifted from her breasts to the other girl.
She wore her bangs swept to one side, covering a bruised forehead. Her clothes concealed her ribs, and there seemed to be traces of heavy makeup masking something on her skin surface.
John's optical cyberware flickered for a moment, and he asked,
"Who hit you?"