Chapter Three: The Hunter and the Marauder!

Riding his self-assembled electric scooter, Su Cheng soon entered the outer district of the ruined city.

The surroundings grew lively; shops along the street displayed colorful neon signs. The walls were slightly cleaner, though the exposed air filtration and heating ducts were mostly covered in rust. In the distance, the roof of the tallest and most luxurious building in the inner city projected images of scantily clad beauties posing seductively. It looked far more prosperous than the outer district, and certainly nothing like the suburbs where he lived.

"Hey, handsome, looking for some fun? We’ve got the latest Dreamscape, Thriller, Adventure, and adult romance sims."

"Hey, come to Loli Island Bar, the best in the outer district! Whatever kind of girl you want, we’ve got her!"

"The latest procedure from Durex Cybernetic Plastic Surgery Hospital—make it thicker, longer, and longer-lasting! Still using short, weak human organs? It’s time to make women scream for you!"

...

Su Cheng rode into the pedestrian street, which was packed with stalls and shops.

"Oh, if it isn't Su Cheng. Here for nutrient solution?"

In front of a shop with a sign reading 'Kangba Foods,' stood Kangba, whose body was half-modified with low-grade cybernetics. He enthusiastically held up a bottle of low-quality nutrient solution. "Look, new batch. Guangke Tech improved the formula, so it doesn't make your stool smell as bad as before, haha... truly moving technology."

"The usual."

Su Cheng skillfully operated the identity chip on his wrist to transfer the payment.

"It’s great having a steady customer like you. Want to try the primary-grade nutrient solution?" Kangba leaned in, whispering vividly, "The new formula for the primary grade can strengthen your kidneys. After all, you don't have any cybernetic modifications, so you must really need it, haha..."

Su Cheng took the box handed over by the third mechanical arm behind Kangba. Inside, twenty bottles of low-quality nutrient solution were neatly arranged. Su Cheng’s mouth twitched. "I think you need it more."

"You guy, you're really hard to like. Too stingy. This is primary-grade nutrient solution; you should enjoy yourself once in a while. Once you're done, go find a loli at Loli Island—how relaxing that would be." Kangba shook his head, bored. "By the way, you should get a neural interface. You could connect to the network directly, and payments wouldn't be such a hassle. And don't you ever use the Dreamscape? I hear they have videos featuring beauties from Future City."

Su Cheng gave a perfunctory reply, "I don't watch videos. I'm leaving."

To avoid unnecessary suspicion, he headed to another shop that sold nutrient solution. This trip, he bought a total of sixty bottles of low-quality nutrient solution and four titanium alloy Tang swords. The sixty bottles cost 300 Alliance Credits, while a single titanium alloy Tang sword cost 300 Alliance Credits! Looking at the balance on his wrist chip, only 20 remained.

Sigh... making money is too hard, but spending it is too fast. All his savings from these past years were gone in an instant! But it was worth it, and he would earn it back soon enough.

Su Cheng carried the box, strapped the swords to his back, and mounted his electric scooter, ready to leave.

"Damn it, Hunter! Kill, kill this bastard!"

"Fuck, fuck, that guy took down Husky!"

Suddenly, a figure flew backward out of an alley, smashing into two stalls and crashing heavily onto the ground. The body instantly split open, spraying foul-smelling black biochemical fluid. Immediately after, a person wearing a grey trench coat, holding a kinetic submachine gun, ran out of the alley with effortless grace while dodging bullets from behind.

"Shit, it's Hunters and Raiders. What rotten luck, run!"

"Ah! Help!"

"These guys are starting in broad daylight! They're crazy, they're all crazy!"

The crowd on the pedestrian street erupted into chaos. People fled in terror, and the shops along the street hurriedly pulled down their shutters. The panic led to a stampede, and with the Raiders firing wildly, many were hit and fell, fueling the confusion. Screams echoed one after another.

Su Cheng was too close. He quickly jumped off his scooter and dove behind a flower bed, dragging nearby obstacles to hide himself while drawing a titanium alloy Tang sword, gripping it tightly.

Soon, four Raiders chased out of the alley.

"Don't run if you've got the guts, damn it! How dare you come after us!"

"You've provoked the Dog Gang—you have to die!"

*BOOM.*

One of the Raiders actually threw a high-explosive grenade! A powerful blast wave swept over the flower bed. Su Cheng felt the violent tremor! He widened his eyes, unable to stop himself from recalling that painful memory...

"This guy is a high-level Hunter, kill him, kill him!"

"Ah!"

Suddenly, a Raider let out a shrill scream. Then, a figure dropped from the sky, crashing heavily in front of Su Cheng, a mouthful of black biochemical fluid spraying from his mouth. The Raider saw Su Cheng, and his cybernetic eye glowed with black light.

"Caught you, so you were hiding here, hehe..."

He grinned and raised his pistol.

Su Cheng lunged forward with the Tang sword in a fit of rage! The blade pierced straight through the Raider's eye, instantly penetrating the brain corrupted and driven mad by the Black Death virus!

"Urgh..."

The Raider made an unconscious, guttural sound. His cybernetic body twitched a few times before going still.

"Hah, hah, hah..."

Su Cheng panted, clutching the hilt tightly. This was his first time killing a human. But he had wanted to kill these lunatics for a long time! He once had parents and a right eye; though life was poor, they were happy. It was this group of madmen who had dismembered his parents alive on the street, gouged out his right eye, and left him on the edge of the ruins! He would always remember their crazed eyes and their unbridled, wicked expressions. He remembered every detail, every scene! They deserved to die! He would find those lunatics and kill them all!

"Not bad, kid."

Suddenly, a deep male voice came from above. Su Cheng instinctively stabbed upward with the Tang sword, but the tip was instantly caught by two silver cybernetic fingers.

"Oh, don't be nervous. Your reaction is fast. However, I am not your enemy."

Su Cheng looked up to see the high-level Hunter! Hunters were people who specialized in killing Raiders for bounties. Under the hood of his grey trench coat, a mature man with a square face, wearing sunglasses and chewing on a cigar, smiled faintly at Su Cheng. His silver combat-grade cybernetic arm was striking, far more advanced than the tattered mechanical limbs of the Raiders!

"Since you were the one who temporarily killed this piece of trash, it belongs to you." The man released his grip. "You can take it to the waste processing plant to recycle it for money or exchange it for ranking points—provided you are a Hunter. Of course, if you have other peculiar hobbies, you can keep it."

Exhaling a cloud of thick smoke, the man continued, "But remember for next time: that’s not enough to truly kill this trash."

As he spoke, the arm of the 'dead' Raider suddenly snapped, revealing a gun barrel hidden inside! The man moved with incredible speed! He instantly drew his kinetic submachine gun, pressed it against the Raider’s forehead, and pulled the trigger!

*Rat-tat-tat-tat...*

The intense gunfire rang in Su Cheng’s ears. He watched the man, who looked entirely relaxed, in astonishment. Soon, the gunfire stopped abruptly—the magazine was empty! A large hole had been blown through the Raider's head and the ground beneath it! Biochemical fluid mixed with sticky red and white liquid slowly oozed out.

The man holstered his weapon, grinned, and revealed a set of neat teeth. "Pleasure doing business. We'll meet again."

With that, he exerted a bit of force and leaped over ten meters away! Su Cheng stood up quickly to look; he saw the man hook the four Raider corpses together, grab the chain with his silver cybernetic hand, and drag them all away without the slightest effort.

So strong! That silver cybernetic arm was definitely top-tier gear.

He looked back at the corpse on the ground. Send it to the waste plant for money? No. He did need money, but the mechanical parts on this corpse could be kept for synthesis and upgrades.

Glancing at the chaotic pedestrian street, Su Cheng secured his belongings, used a rope to tie the Raider’s corpse to his scooter, and rode off quickly. Along the way, people saw the Raider corpse with the massive hole in its head on the scooter and, assuming he was a Hunter, all gave him a wide berth.

Hunters lived by killing Raiders, and Raiders lived for the pleasure of torturing ordinary people. As for the ordinary people? Heh. Being alive was good enough.

"Maybe being a Hunter isn't so bad after all."

Hunt down these lunatics, dismantle their cybernetic parts for synthesis and upgrades, and arm himself!