Chapter 1: Remnants of the Wasteland
Black Serpent Camp, Rupert Clinic, Wasteland.
"So, it's worse?"
Lin Yu took the medical report from the doctor's hand and calmly reviewed it.
"Don't you already know how to read it?"
Dr. Rupert, wearing only a loosely buttoned white coat, his beard and hair disheveled, sat down casually at his desk after handing over the report.
"Obviously, I'd rather hear good news."
Lin Yu tossed the report onto the desk, looking into Rupert's eyes. "How much time do I have left?"
"About a month, maybe less."
Dr. Rupert didn't flinch from the gaze, his eyes holding a hint of mockery.
It certainly wasn't a typical doctor-patient interaction.
"Don't look at me like that. We're all scum from the gutter, neither of us is superior."
Lin Yu said indifferently, then pressed further, "What about the medicine I ordered? How much relief will it provide?"
"Forget about the medicine for now."
Rupert shrugged, his mocking smile unrestrained. "You received an advance payment, but the delivery is overdue. So, according to the higher-ups, as a precaution, the medicine is being held. You'll get it when the goods are delivered."
"That was my own money!"
Lin Yu slammed his hands on the table, leaning forward, his gaze fixed on Rupert.
"Advance payment."
Rupert smiled, meeting Lin Yu's gaze.
Lin Yu took a deep breath, slowly sat back down, and said coldly, "The delivery is still a week away. I haven't breached the contract."
"That's not for you to discuss with me, it's the higher-ups' orders."
Rupert simply shrugged.
"Then keep my medicine safe. I'll pick it up next week."
There was no point in arguing further, so Lin Yu didn't press the issue. He picked up the medical report and left the clinic.
"Remember to deliver on time, otherwise, even if you swallow the money from the higher-ups, you won't live long enough to die of your illness."
As he was leaving, a chilling warning, or perhaps a threat, came from behind.
Lin Yu paused slightly, but didn't respond or linger, walking straight out of the clinic.
As soon as he stepped outside, the relatively fresh air was replaced by a foul stench.
Wasteland. This is what city dwellers call all uninhabitable land outside the city.
Severe environmental pollution, foul air, ultraviolet radiation piercing the clouds, even radiation, and the unchecked roaming dimensional beasts all attest to its harshness.
But just as any prosperous era inevitably has its poor and underdeveloped areas, this harsh wasteland outside the city has become a haven for many who couldn't survive in the city.
Highly developed technology, high intelligence, coupled with a capitalist political system, means that in the city, if you have no money, you starve to death.
On the contrary, outside the city, at least you can find a way to get something to eat.
Thus, the poor, the undocumented, escaped or exiled criminals established settlements.
The gangs that thrived there squeezed out profits while acting as managers, maintaining basic order.
Then there were the speculators attracted by this backward yet blank new market full of business opportunities.
—Just like those merchants who went to Africa and other underdeveloped regions on Earth.
Of course, it wasn't just merchants.
Lin Yu, for example, wasn't one.
"Sure enough, these guys are unreliable."
Standing on the street, Lin Yu didn't mind the foul air he had long grown accustomed to, only rubbing his face, which was slightly stiff from his forced composure.
He was Lin Yu, but he wasn't really Lin Yu. He was someone who woke up one day to find himself inexplicably inhabiting another person's body.
This wasn't Earth, but Planet Blue, a world with highly advanced technology, but a society that had become somewhat distorted.
Honestly, he didn't know much about the city.
Because his identity was a Wasteland remnant, born outside the city in the Wasteland.
Like those escaped and exiled criminals, without a household registration or identity chip, he couldn't enter the city.
He would be reduced to ashes by the city defense cannons, originally designed to defend against dimensional beasts, if he even got close.
And unfortunately, or perhaps deservedly, this body suffered from a severe case of Starry Sky Disease.
Due to long-term inhalation of polluted air, ultraviolet radiation exposure, low-level radiation, and other factors, Starry Sky Disease, a disease named for the light spots that cover the body after death, emerged. Wasteland residents more or less had it.
Mild cases weren't fatal; most people just endured it, having become accustomed to it.
But once the disease worsened, organs would gradually fail, leading to inevitable death.
The city had medicines that could alleviate, even cure it.
But for most Wasteland residents without identity chips, they often lacked the money and access to obtain them.
Once it worsened, they could only accept death calmly.
"Lin Ge, the clothes are washed, and dinner will be ready soon…"
A thin, delicate girl greeted Lin Yu when he returned home.
She hesitated.
Finally, she couldn't help but ask, "When… when will you take me to find my sister?"
Lin Yu paused slightly, remaining silent.
"…Forget it, I didn't ask."
The girl was used to this silence.
She even feared hearing the answer from him.
She hastily denied her question.
But her eyes were red, and her voice choked.
She wasn't stupid.
A month had allowed her to understand and see many things.
The man who claimed he could help her find her sister was clearly deceiving her, and might even be the culprit.
But this wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, nor could she accept it.
Perhaps it was an instinctive avoidance.
Perhaps it was the flawlessly kind disguise this man had maintained for a while that gave her a glimmer of hope and hesitation.
She desperately longed for news of her sister, yet didn't want to hear the answer she already suspected from this silent man.
She could only comfort and deceive herself, clinging to that remaining hope, or perhaps calling it patient investigation.
"Next week."
Unexpectedly, after a long silence, Lin Yu gave a precise time.
The girl didn't react immediately, then showed disbelief. "Re…really?"
"Make dinner."
Lin Yu didn't respond, only urging her.
"Okay, okay, okay, I'll do it right away, Lin Ge, what do you want to eat? I can go buy any vegetables we don't have."
The girl hurriedly wiped away her tears.
"Anything is fine, I'm not picky."
Lin Yu shook his head.
"Okay."
The girl nodded vigorously and started bustling about.
Lin Yu silently watched the girl's busy back.
She… was the goods.
The goods Rupert's so-called 'higher-ups' wanted.
The original owner of this body was actually a human trafficker cooperating with Rupert's organization.
Two months ago, the original owner tricked and sold the girl's only sister, and a month ago, he lured this girl, Bai Wei, under the pretense of helping her find her sister.
Fortunately, just after he tricked the girl, he underwent a soul transfer, his consciousness replacing that of the original human trafficker.
He might not be a good person, but he had basic moral standards and naturally couldn't continue to sell the girl. He just didn't know how to tell her the cruel truth, so the matter had been dragging on.
Unfortunately, this couldn't go on forever.
Bai Wei wasn't stupid, and she had already noticed something.
His rapidly worsening Starry Sky Disease was a death sentence.
Without cooperating with Rupert's human trafficking organization, he would lose his income, having no money or access to obtain the inhibitor for Starry Sky Disease.
He had no choice but to continue contacting Rupert's organization and, using his past good cooperation record, took a large 'order,' receiving an advance payment.
Unexpectedly, the Starry Sky Disease inhibitor was withheld.
Although he never intended to deliver the goods in the first place.
But it has to be said—the local gangs were incredibly immoral!
The advance payment was the advance payment, but the inhibitor was bought with real money.
"Fortunately… I've also prepared a big treasure for you."
Muttering to himself, Lin Yu got up and walked towards a locked room, a room no one was ever allowed to enter.
"Break Dawn, begin self-check."
In the center of the room, a three-meter-tall mechanical giant, made of various old, even rusty metals, with many exposed wires and internal structures, knelt on one knee.
"Voice recognition passed, command received, beginning self-check…"
The mechanical giant's eyes suddenly lit up with flickering crimson light.
As Lin Yu picked up the bone conduction headset on the table and put it on, the mechanical electronic synthesized voice sounded.
"Central processing unit operating normally…"
"Myoelectric sensors all normal…"
"Infrared rangefinder normal…"
"…."
"Power motor running normally"
"Battery pack running normally…"
"Transmission system…lacking power transmission medium…"
"Model detection: Hercules G-1080 hydraulic transmission system, incompatible with conventional media…"
"Official reference document recommendation: Compatible with No. 5 or higher heavy hydraulic oil."
(End of Chapter)