Hum.
The off-road vehicle transformed into a flying car, resembling a small black plane, tilted and skewed back towards Suiyang.
The airflow rushed into the cab at high speed, causing Li Chengyi's and Song Ran's faces to tremble and their hair to dance wildly.
Li Chengyi's expression was calm, and his eyes were hidden behind AR glasses, but compared to the trip there, he had quieted down a lot.
After personally testing the New Floral Dress's strength, he suspected that even if he fell from dozens of meters in the air, he might not necessarily die.
But now, his thoughts were not on the rapidly passing scenery below but on the Evil Thoughts he had just absorbed after diving into the chaos.
'Evil Thoughts: 73'
His direct assault on Ash Real Estate was meant to catch them off guard, and it seemed the effect was indeed very good.
Upon discovering that his Floral Dress's defensive capabilities had significantly increased, and the speed and strength of the enhancements were greater than before, he decisively chose to make it a quick battle.
He had thought there might be highly skilled masters inside Ash Real Estate, so when he charged in, his body was tense, ready to utilize the Flower Language Technique at any moment.
As long as he acted fast and stealthily, the Flower Language Ability could completely serve as a covert killing move, to forcefully control the opponent.
Just like the man in the white gauze.
What he didn't expect was that there were just a few 'big cats and small cats' inside Ash Real Estate, not a single formidable opponent.
'Of course, it might also be that I was too fast for them to react at all.'
Li Chengyi understood that his main advantage was speed, fast enough that the opponents could not react or gather reinforcements.
All the way, he was quietly pondering, thinking about things.
Song Ran also focused on driving, occasionally communicating with people through AR.
Neither of them had the relaxed mood they had at the start of the journey.
After more than two hours, the flying car slowly descended at a charging station, reducing speed and driving in, ready to recharge.
"What are you thinking about?" Song Ran stepped out of the car, took out a cigarette and gently held it between his lips, lighting it as he walked to the side and stood beside Li Chengyi, waiting for the car's wireless charging to fill up.
"Nothing much, just feeling surprised that it's so dangerous even outside of Blind Spots," Li Chengyi replied quietly.
"That's reality, it's even more dangerous than you imagine," Song Ran responded calmly. "Has the boss ever told you about his past?"
"No."
"That's it then," Song Ran smiled. "The boss's son died because of a mistake in decision-making, his wife left, his business collapsed, and then, disheartened, he went out looking for his son."
He flicked the ash off his cigarette.
"It was just one mistake, but his adversaries grabbed it and tormented him to death. Instead of saying his son disappeared in a Blind Spot, it would be more accurate to say that due to insufficient preparation, what could have been a hopeful escape was ruined."
"That's brutal," Li Chengyi sighed.
"Yeah. It's like the Reinforced Human we encountered this time. You might not be familiar with it," Song Ran said. "Reinforced Humans are generally alien to common people because the authorities and many powers will tacitly block information about them."
"Can you tell me about it?" Li Chengyi remembered only finding a few video clips in his predecessor's memories and truly didn't understand Reinforced Humans.
"It's quite simple," Song Ran nodded. "Basically, Reinforced Humans can be divided into two types."
"Prosthetic enhancements and full-body enhancements."
"So, it's just a matter of partial and full-body differences?" Li Chengyi understood literally.
"Pretty much, prosthetic enhancements are like mine." Song Ran raised one of his arms, pulling back the sleeve of his white shirt, revealing the damaged skin underneath.
There were several bullet holes in the skin, exposing the silvery metal beneath.
"My legs and one arm are robotic, but since they're just prosthetic enhancements, their functionality is quite weak. They mainly provide some added strength, the inner cavities can hold some not-so-heavy items, and they can be fitted with simple instruments and functional modules," he explained.
"Prosthetic enhancement is the choice of most people. Know why?"
Li Chengyi shook his head.
He had very little information on this subject, and almost nothing could be found on the net; many links were blank or failed, clearly indicating someone was deliberately cleaning it up.
"Because it's cheap," Song Ran grimaced. "This prosthetic body of mine, not counting the installed functional modules and such, just the enhancements and neural linkage alone, cost about three million. As for full-body enhancement... at least thirty million upwards, and money isn't even the key issue; the key is you can't buy the important systems. And with full-body enhancements, the most troublesome and crucial part is the systems."
"Systems?"
"Right. To give an example, systems include the two most important parts: firewalls and neural networks. One determines whether you'd be easily toyed with by hackers after your enhancements. The other decides whether you'd be able to normally control your body. Reaction speed, control difficulty, and the level of real-life imitation, all hinge on the neural network."
Song Ran showed a slightly envious expression.
"Every full-body Reinforced Human is built with money, and generally, they can only be produced in self-sustaining cities; they also require a lot of long-term and expensive maintenance. If you ever have the chance to go to a self-sustaining city, you'll see real examples."
Self-sustaining city.
Li Chengyi recognized the term. In this world, cities were different from one another...
At that moment, a soft electronic female voice echoed inside the charging station.
"st1130 charging is complete. We look forward to your next visit."
"Let's go, it's time to head back," Song Ran moved forward, pulling open the car door and sitting down.
Li Chengyi followed, sitting in the passenger seat and fastening his seatbelt.
"Are we going back to the company now?"
"Yeah, the person you wanted to check on, the boss has already sent someone to do a field investigation. A lot of their information was cleared years ago, making it hard to investigate," Song Ran nodded. "What about you, want to go home first? I'll drop you off."
"No, finding the clues as soon as possible is what's most important," Li Chengyi declined.
Hum.
The car engine started, quickly accelerated, and shot out of the charging station, heading towards the urban area of Suiyang City on the black highway.
Half an hour later, amidst the congested traffic, the two returned to the New Century Building.
In the company office.
Xindela was holding a tablet, doodling and writing. Seeing people come in, he quickly shut off the screen and stood up.
"Welcome back, safe and sound," he hugged Song Ran briefly and then shook Li Chengyi's hand firmly.
"What's the deal with that sole survivor?" Li Chengyi cut to the chase and asked.
"The information on Jiajier wasn't found in the survivors' data from the Grecius Parking Garage, but mixed in with the earthquake survivors, discovered together. On the record, he has absolutely nothing to do with the Grecius Parking Garage," Xindela replied, his expression serious.
"Nothing to do with it at all? But before..." Li Chengyi frowned, that's not what Ding Chongyi had said previously.
"The company AI compared and concluded that the survivor from the Grecius Parking Garage and the survivor from the earthquake—the person in both sets of data—is the same. Someone intentionally erased his presence. According to the records, none of the survivors from the Grecius Parking Garage had their names recorded. It was the profile photo you provided, combined with the name, that led us to the correct answer."
Xindela picked up a projection flashlight and turned it on against the wall.
With a swish, the previous profile photo of the young man in white instantly appeared on the wall.
Beneath the young man was a line of small print, clearly marked: Dongdi Jiajier, male, currently residing at Wenyang Psychiatric Hospital, ninety-eight years old, suffers from amnesic syndrome accompanied by a decline in intelligence and emotion.
"Where is Wenyang Psychiatric Hospital?" Li Chengyi quickly asked. With the clues right in front of him, it was naturally better to seize them as fast as possible to avoid any changes.
"Not far, about two hundred kilometers from here, in Xinshan City," Xindela answered. "Shall we go now?"
"Yes, the sooner the better!" Li Chengyi nodded.
"I'll go with you," Song Ran chimed in from the side.
The two of them turned and walked out of the office, heading for the elevator.
"By the way," all of a sudden Xindela's voice came through the AR.
"Ash Real Estate encountered an attack three hours ago. The boss, Dason Bazan, was smashed through glass from the ninth floor and flung to his death. According to the monitors, his bones and internal organs had already been crushed before he hit the ground."
Li Chengyi and Song Ran were both startled, their expressions turning to one of shock and disbelief.
"Do you know what force did it?" Song Ran quickly asked, "I also encountered a master there before, could it have been Ash's people?"
"Yes, that person is Ash's top fighter, Wigel, plus another fat guy named Genan. Both are Ash's security heads, but they're dead. It happened today, during the conflict with us," Xindela said.
"Could it be that reinforced human in the purple-black armor?" Song Ran speculated, with deep wariness showing in her eyes.
"That person's fighting skills are extremely crude, obviously a layman, might not even know how to fight at all. He was relying solely on speed and power to smash through.
But the more it is like this, the scarier it gets. Because this means his enhancements are far beyond both me and that Wigel," Song Ran said gravely.
"Who would believe that kind of enhanced human, without any financial or powerful backing?" Xindela sighed, "Maybe it's some opponent Ash had provoked before."
"Maybe so, we'll talk about this later. We're off now, boss," Song Ran said goodbye.
The two entered the elevator, just as the doors were closing.
"By the way, Cheng Yi, do you know about the survivor escape mechanism?" Xindela suddenly spoke out again through the AR.
"I've seen some information about it," Li Chengyi answered.
"Collect as much detailed information as possible and mimic all the actions of the survivor from the blind spot before they were rescued, and you could possibly be saved. So, those kinds of blind spots with survivors are the easiest to escape from. Believe in yourself!" Xindela said.
"Hmm, thanks boss."
"And that symbol."
"The symbol I captured near the little door?" Li Chengyi recalled.
"Hmm, we can't find any information on it for now, but it feels somewhat familiar to me. Also, that mysterious person in the purple armor, suddenly killing so many people. Behind this, it's likely not just something Ash Real Estate could stir up. Be careful not to delve too deep into the investigation, just find what you want and get out," Xindela reminded.
"Understood."
Li Chengyi and the other person responded in unison.
*
*
*
Xinshan City·Wenyang Mountain, Wenyang Psychiatric Hospital.
In the spacious rest hall.
Men and women in white striped hospital gowns were moving their limbs to the rhythm of the music, doing health exercises.
At the entrance, a plump nurse with a mask and glasses pushed the door open and swept a glance through the crowd.
"Over here. Come on in," she seemed to have found something and turned back to say to the people outside the door.
Soon, a young man in his twenties with black hair slowly entered.
He was dressed in a simple gray suit, his hair neatly groomed, giving off a vibe of steadiness and reliability.
"May I ask, which one is..." the young man inquired, but before he could finish, he was interrupted.
"There you go, that old man standing at the very back," the plump nurse pointed towards the far end.
There stood a short old man with snow-white hair, missing front teeth, and continuously waving his arms in the air.