"Right, let's not scrap this channel. If there's anything work-related in the future, we'll discuss it here," Old Six's voice came through Sun Jack's system.
Meanwhile, back at home, Sun Jack was preoccupied with something even more important. He immediately clicked on the no-interest loan advertisement he had seen before and mortgaged his liver.
If he was planning to make a living off this, there was no point in being timid. He had to pay up and couldn't be stingy.
As the screen flickered slightly, Sun Jack saw his account balance in the top right corner of the screen jump from 0.000@ to 3@.
There was no way a pristine, unmodified liver was only worth that little, but with the lowest interest rates for collateral loans, minus the upfront interest cut, that was all he could get.
With the 3@ Coin loan in hand, Sun Jack immediately spent 1.4@ to order drone weapons delivery and stuffed his combat prosthetic body with bullets and shells.
The main items were palm grenades: compact, powerful, and handy, but admittedly, also very expensive.
Looking at the 40 grenades and 300 bullets, Sun Jack felt a strong sense of security.
Next on the agenda was the matter of life and death; weapons were of utmost importance.
What a pity he didn't have enough money, otherwise Sun Jack would have definitely gotten himself the optical camouflage that Baldy had, the kind that could make you invisible.
After ordering weaponry, the second most important thing was food. Sun Jack was starving, so he ordered a delivery.
A bowl of plain noodles, or rather, instant noodles with a bit of synthetic meat, was delivered through the open window by a drone.
Such ordinary noodles made Sun Jack almost cry when he slurped them down with the broth.
The savory broth, the aromatic noodles, the rich taste of the beef — it was just too delicious, he hadn't tasted noodles as good as these in over a thousand years.
An ordinary bowl of noodles tasted like an unparalleled delicacy, and in the end, he drank every last drop of soup and water, leaving nothing behind.
Just as Sun Jack was about to order another bowl, still not satisfied, the sight of his account balance dancing before his eyes made him gasp in shock.
"A bowl of noodles? 0.02@? Are you kidding me? It's robbery!"
If one @ Coin was worth ten thousand, then he had just spent 200 on a bowl of noodles!
"What kind of pricing is this? Oh my god, is eating always this expensive? Isn't there anything cheaper?" Sun Jack said as he rubbed his partially filled stomach and resumed browsing.
Soon, Sun Jack found the cheapest food at the bottom of the UI: nutritional paste, 0.003@ per box, roughly equivalent to 30 bucks.
But even 30 bucks felt expensive to Sun Jack, who was so poor he had to mortgage his organs for high-interest loans.
After placing the order online, the product was quickly delivered through the window by a drone.
Looking at the large tube of paste in his hand, Sun Jack hesitated for a moment, then unscrewed the cap and squeezed some into his mouth.
How to describe it... The bizarre taste, like enoki mushroom feces mixed with wax oil, was indescribable. He just gagged and vomited it out, which was his way of protesting against the substance.
"Is this even edible?" Sun Jack reopened the purchase interface, and that's when he noticed a line of fine print in the nutritional paste's description, "Recommended to be consumed with a taste adjustment module."
Beneath the small print was a very thoughtful link to purchase a taste adjustment module.
Since Sun Jack's neural system was externally connected, he naturally couldn't adjust his taste.
"They think they're feeding pigs; even pigs wouldn't eat this," a frustrated Sun Jack angrily threw the nutritional paste away and ordered three more bowls of noodles through his neural system.
"You're being incredibly extravagant," Tapai said from the side.
Hearing this, Sun Jack couldn't help but laugh in irritation, "Extravagant just for eating three bowls of noodles? Why does my bit of extravagance make me seem so miserly?"
"That's just the way the world is, you have to adapt to it as quickly as possible," Tapai insisted.
"But this damned place is clearly wrong, why should I have to adapt? I don't care, I just want to eat!" Sun Jack declared.
Sun Jack picked up the beef noodles delivered by the drone and began to devour his meal, biting furiously, as the neon-lit world stretched out before him.
The next morning, Sun Jack woke up and looked at his remaining balance, contemplating how to gain more strength.
Soon, drones carrying supplies buzzed in and out through the window. Besides buying another bulletproof vest for himself, he also purchased some bullets and grenades for Tapai's rifle.
He didn't forget to stock up on the painkillers and stimulants that had proved useful during his fight with the fat man.
Lastly, Sun Jack didn't forget to buy health insurance for himself; though he could only afford the cheapest plan, it would at least ensure he wouldn't die.
After all his purchases, the 3@ loan had thoroughly depleted Sun Jack's savings.
But since he had taken out a loan, being frugal was pointless. He had to earn more money by any means necessary and spend it just as fiercely.
"Click," Sun Jack familiarly chambered a round and said to Tapai, "Ready? Let's go."
Mounting Tapai like one would a scooter, Sun Jack set out, having purchased many things, but forgetting just one—a raincoat.
After riding for two hours, they arrived at the so-called affluent area of Mid-Mountain A22, his face almost twisted by the driving rain.
Chilled to the bone, Sun Jack hopped down from Tapai and rubbed his stiff face vigorously.
He was extremely grateful that they had planned to strike at 11:30 a.m. because after 12 o'clock, he wouldn't have had enough money for lunch.
"Where are they? Could I have arrived early?" Sun Jack stood in the drizzle, looking around the sparsely populated crossroads.
This place was called an affluent area; strictly speaking, it was only on the outside, where he saw nothing but some vehicles shuttling through the misty rain.
"Hey! Hotshot!"
Turning his head, Sun Jack saw an SUV's window roll down nearby, with the highly recognizable Si Ai woman inside, cheekily chewing gum as she greeted him.
Thanks to the subtitles provided by his neural system, Sun Jack realized that this vehicle was emblazoned with a cleaning company logo, obviously a ruse to infiltrate the villa zone.
As soon as Sun Jack got in the car, Si Ai started driving towards the heavily guarded security checkpoint.
Sitting in the back, Sun Jack noticed that the others were no less equipped than he was. The most eye-catching was the Priest's six-eyed square shotgun, looking like a giant hammer in his hands as countless data cables ran from the weapon into the Priest's beefy forearms.
After quickly scanning the group, Sun Jack noticed that someone was missing. "Where's Old Six?" he asked.
Before he could finish, Old Six's voice came over the old team channel, "Don't worry, I'm here. I'm online all the time, and my heart is with you guys."
"Damn, you're not coming? Leaving all the dirty and tiring work to us?" Sun Jack realized the nickname was quite fitting; this guy really was an Old Six.
Online, Old Six immediately retorted, "You guys are the ones to do the job, I'm just the broker who pulls in the work. My combat prosthesis is all fitted on you, so I'd be useless if I went. Besides, should I live stream it? Hahaha, wouldn't that just tell everyone it was us who stole it? Hahaha."