Hopelily leaned against unit 43, quietly observing his profile and the data flowing continuously in his artificial eye.
Unit 43's faceplate had been replaced several times. Now, a teardrop tattoo adorned the corner of his left eye. In her eyes, no matter how many times his face changed, his features retained a blend of handsomeness and a hint of cuteness.
She was truly grateful, grateful to have such a person to rely on in Metropolis. That was more precious than anything.
Suddenly, she saw her companion jolt awake, turn his head towards her, and say, "We can do this job, let's take it!"
"Are you sure? Didn't you just say that we shouldn't get involved? You mentioned that this could have a huge impact, and a slight misstep could lead to doom," Hopelily asked.
"Yes, I did say that, but now we're on the side of the victors!" Unit 43 said excitedly as he grabbed Hopelily's arms and began to shake them vigorously.
"The Holy Grail has fallen! Right now in the entire Metropolis, Sun Jieke Group is the most powerful! Plus, his influence is enormous. I feel that they could replace the Holy Grail, and maybe then we could become the new Holy Grail People!"
Unit 43 grew more excited as he spoke. "I also heard that because of the Borrow King's impact, all cities globally are affected differently, and various sizes of resistance armies are popping up. Other cities simply don't have the resources to bother with what's happening here in Metropolis!"
"That means, for the short term, Metropolis won't face foreign capital intrusion. And I just found out that this guy, Borrow King, used to be the boss of the Rat Alliance Battle Line! He has a real knack for rebellion."
However, Hopelily seemed very calm, "Didn't you hear that Sun Jieke's original body has disappeared? All this is based on the condition that Sun Jieke's original body returns. If Sun Jieke's original body can't be found, things might change."
Hearing this, a troubled look appeared on Unit 43's face. Yes, just at this moment, Sun Jieke's original body had disappeared,
Based on his experience within the company, it was more dangerous to be without a leader during a division of spoils than during a project execution. It could lead to the disbandment of the entire project team. Now he finally understood why Steelheart had been so anxious before.
It seemed that there might be issues within Sun Jieke Group.
"It's okay, calm down, calm down," Hopelily said, opening her arms wide and gently embracing him, stroking the back of his head with her hand. "If he hadn't disappeared, Steelheart wouldn't have come to us,"
"You have a point. Let's go, first to work. This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Even if it's not successful, there's no loss."
Unit 43 gave a pat lastly and stood up to walk outside. According to the information he had received, Sun Jieke's original body had disappeared two days ago, in the Central Business District.
After arming himself fully and starting the car, he drove towards the city center. Along the way, he witnessed gunfire and continuous explosions outside. The entire Metropolis was in utter chaos.
The collapse of order and the establishment of a new one always brought turbulence and confusion—something Unit 43 was already aware of.
Just then, Unit 43 saw a Metropolitan citizen beside him, crushed by something and left with only half a body, roaring into the sky with blood pouring out of his mouth. This was a Cyber Lunatic.
This was the scenario here, and even more so in the city center. When he arrived in the Central Business District, he saw several spacecraft carriers fiercely battling in the sunny sky, unaware of who was fighting whom. It was just intensely chaotic.
"Why are they still fighting? Isn't the war over?"
"Stop talking, it's time to work." Unit 43 lit a cigarette, took a puff, and immediately deployed surveillance drones through the network. The drones swiftly flew out, attaching to every surveillance camera and starting to check the records from two days ago.
While nearby, Hopelily was equally busy. She approached a battle broadcaster and asked softly, smiling as she silently activated the hormone secretor within her, beginning to manipulate the broadcaster's emotions.
Abu's search for help was clearly not random; he contacted experts in the field.
Using his method, Subject 43 began to narrow his search down to within the area of Shendong Street. He crouched on a damaged hand statue, examining the puddle of blood on the ground, and activated the trace scanner.
"Wait, are these dragging marks? Is it Sun Jieke's original body or a clone?"
As he diligently searched, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar face flashing by in the distance, "Sun… Sun Jieke?!"
Subject 43's eyes widened, and he sprung up on his feet, rapidly chasing after the figure.
Just around a corner, he abruptly stopped; there were voices from ahead!
"Damn it! Why do you have to find the original body? Can't you just pick any one of the clones and pretend it's the original?"
"No."
"No your mom no! Do you understand how dangerous this is now? The millions in the ragtag army are all passionately following you, which is why they helped overthrow the Holy Grail! They only recognize Sun Jieke now!"
"The war isn't over yet, we can still utilize the remaining forces of the Holy Grail to distract them, but you see, the Holy Grail is no longer effective!!"
"If the Holy Grail is completely gone, they'll sooner or later choose their own leader either passively or actively! It will lead to division, and then do you know what will happen? It'll goddamned turn into a warlords' battle, and the whole Metropolis will be utterly ruined!"
"Damn it, Sun Jieke! Is this the Utopia you want to create? This is worse than the Holy Grail!"
"You think we don't want to? But without the original, even our self-awareness is problematic! Let me ask you! All of our clones, whose orders should we follow? Anyone could be Sun Jieke! Thousands of Sun Jiekes have thousands of different ideas. Over time, differences will only grow! We now need an existing anchor point! Without an anchor point, we clones would become completely independent entities!"
"Moreover, without the original Sun Jieke to provide consciousness, the digital personality will soon lose the people's support!"
"I've already sent all clones and Utopia Security members to search for him. I believe we will soon have results. Who's there? Come out!"
Eavesdropping nearby, Subject 43 peeked out, hands raised to show he meant no harm. "Gentlemen, I mean no harm. I am here on Steelheart Boss's orders,"
After a brief conversation with his brother, Abu's furry face darkened and he boarded a hover car with Sun Jieke beside him and left.
"Are you alright?" Hopelily, hiding in the distance and clutching her gun, hurried over and asked anxiously.
"I'm fine, I just overheard some insider details, I'll send them to you."
After learning the backstory, Hopelily frowned, "So it's not just us searching for the original Sun Jieke; so many people can't find him? Where could the original Sun Jieke have gone?"
"Yeah, where could Sun Jieke's original body be now?" a melancholic Subject 43 mused, pulling out two cigarettes from his pocket, lighting them, and taking a deep drag.