Justin @ opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, suddenly feeling a strong sense of unreality. Without thinking, he was just about to check the time when he suddenly realized he only needed to work 12 hours a day now and that he no longer needed to take the company's stimulants.
"Just 12 hours of work a day, it's so awesome! It's really too awesome!!" he exclaimed joyfully, rolling around on the bed with the sex robot embraced in his comforter.
Raising up his scar-covered wrist, he stretched luxuriously and made his way to the cramped washstand to start washing up. While brushing his teeth, he looked at the man in the mirror.
With a pair of artificial black eyes and long elf ears filled with earrings, when he noticed the scars from his previous suicide attempts, Justin couldn't help but feel thankful that he hadn't succeeded. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the happiness he had now.
The tendency toward suicide that he used to have disappeared without a trace after his work hours were cut from 22 to 12, making him feel like the whole world was filled with joy and happiness.
After passionately kissing the image of Sun Jack on his pajamas, he got ready to go to work.
Stepping out onto the street, Justin started humming along to the music from the system's music app and headed over to a hot dog stand next to the subway.
"15 Dog B." "I've scanned it."
Justin felt instantly overwhelmed with happiness after a single bite, aware that such organic food would have cost at least 200 Dog B in the past. Now it was so cheap, and although he was working less and earning less salary,
food was so affordable now that he, a former paycheck-to-paycheck guy, was actually able to save money compared to before.
"But selling it so cheap, aren't United Fruit really going to lose money?" Justin pondered this as he walked down the subway entrance.
The subway station smelled a lot better than before; gone were the stenches of feces and urine. But what moved Justin the most was the noticeable reduction in the number of people jumping in front of the trains.
In the past, the subway was hardly ever on time due to the need to clear bodies, causing Justin to often be late for work and have his pay docked.
Justin passed by an African American who was arguing with a drone that had two arms. "Fuck! I didn't say I wouldn't pay back the money, don't scare me, bitch! I ain't scared easy. With the new Metropolitan rules, as long as I have only one organ left, you've got no right to take my organs! At most you can monitor my Dog B account!"
When he noticed that the African American was also wearing a Sun Jack T-shirt, they shared a smile.
Soon after, the subway arrived on time. When the doors opened, two BCPD agents with combat prostheses dragged out a battered and torn body, walking off with stern faces.
"Control, NO: 12234 has been neutralized, over." "Control, acknowledged."
The others, as if nothing were amiss, stepped over the blood and into the subway. As the train started up again, the cleaning robots swooped in, quickly clearing up the blood and pieces of viscera.
Justin lifted his foot, allowing the robot to clean the blood from the bottom of his shoe.
He glanced around, and seeing many people in the car wearing Sun Jack clothes and tattoos, and a woman with a cockscomb hairstyle shoving a Sun Jack electronic toy under her ultra-short skirt, he couldn't help but smile with pride as a fan of Sun Jack.
"My idol is really loved by everyone."
As Sun Jack, who had completely changed Metropolis and brought even greater benefits to the Metropolitan Citizens, he was very well-known among the citizens and even had some fanatic fans, of which I was one.
It was Sun Jack who had pulled me back from the edge of death, and he kept his word; my life has improved so much more than before. Many of his fans shared similar experiences.
There was no need to describe Sun Jack's life story; just by feeling the changes before and after, one could sense a significant difference.
Whether it was the sharing of DNA modification technology or the various rule reforms he implemented for Metropolis, he was indeed fighting for our benefits—a type of person who had never appeared before in Metropolis.
Upon arriving at the work location, as the attending doctor, I followed the medical robot onto the hover car, which had a logo with two spirals on top; it was Weike Medical's hover car, specifically prepared for their VIP subscribers to the medical package.
I had to be on standby at all times. When a member's bio-detection alarm went off, we had to arrive at the scene within three minutes. Suddenly, the hover car's lift lights came on, and the next second, a strong recoil pressed down on me, nearly deforming my bones.
Soon, I saw the employer lying among corpses; his right arm was broken, and he was lying in a puddle after being shot several times, surrounded by a group of pedestrians who were moaning in pain.
"Quick! The customer has no vital signs!" Justin rushed down with the captain, while others were on guard. His palms split open quickly, revealing syringes that extended and promptly connected to the customer's blood vessels and nerves.
After a flurry of activity along with the medical robot, we finally managed to save the customer's life.
Watching the platinum customer get on the hover car, I followed the protocol and asked the affected pedestrians, "Everyone, does anyone need medical services? We offer a 12% discount on the spot!"
As medical ads were projected from the hover car, I went on to ask each one. With the company's account wired in, my colleagues and I started to earn some extra money.
Although all were severely injured, Justin could save them as long as they weren't dead.
After a busy round, the number of pedestrians lying on the ground had diminished. After asking around one more time and confirming that the remaining few indeed did not have money to pay the medical fee, Justin directed the medical robot back to the hover car.
Just taking a few steps, a pale hand due to blood loss reached out from the side, merely grasping the hem of his trousers.
Looking down, Justin saw a small boy about seven or eight years old; half of his body was rotten away, lying on the ground trembling. It was clear that the boy's Pain Editor seemed to be malfunctioning; he was indeed in pain.
Even though Justin felt a pang of sympathy at this sight, he couldn't help much.
Just as he was about to leave, a message suddenly popped up on the system interface. "Warning, warning, there is a casualty nearby, please provide treatment as soon as possible."
Before he could figure out what was happening, he saw his captain storm down from the hover car, "Quick, save the person, the cheapest way! Just keep them alive!"
"Captain, shall we ask them to mortgage their organs?" another team member asked,
"Mortgage my ass! Under the new regulations passed by the Metropolitan Federation through Borrow King, all medical enterprises must take on a part of their public duty. In Metropolis, no matter who, regardless of status, even if they have no money, they shouldn't have to die!"