Chapter 44
Early in the morning —
Si Chen opened his eyes and allowed himself to lay dazed on the soft bed.
In the past, as soon he opened his eyes, he’d be thinking about how to make money. Si Chen hadn’t had the luxury of laying dazed.
His left eye socket was empty, a black hole.
This was because before going to bed, Si Chen took off the prosthetic eye to charge it. It wasn’t charged with direct current but rather with new energy derived from energy stones.
The end of the mechanical prosthetic eye was lit up with a blue light, indicating that the battery was now fully charged.
He already knew that there was a locator inside.
Thinking of how his whereabouts was being monitored, Si Chen felt something inexplicable that made him shudder.
However, he was curious about this prosthetic eye worth 100 points.
He didn’t know what was so special about this prosthetic eye that unscrupulous merchants would willingly pay 100 points for it.
Si Chen stuffed it back into his eye socket.
An inactivated prosthetic eye cannot provide vision. It was no different from an ordinary decoration.
For safety reasons, Si Chen ordered a new one online. The most basic prosthetic product of the Machine Core Group is priced at 1.2 million.
Si Chen also saw the prosthetic eye model that Ji Chuyao wanted to gift him. It was called the “Stellar Series-Sun Zodiac”.
The advertisements on the webpage were flashy and exaggerated.
“A model peerless and unmatched; the height of exclusive luxury.”
“The product of the latest cutting-edge technology, powered by a Level 1 energy core.”
“It complements the Stellar series prostheses. Top configuration at a mid-level price!”
He carefully counted the zeroes that trailed after the first two numbers and determined that the selling price was 39 million.
Si Chen looked at his bank balance: 2.7 million.
…
He must not know what mid-level price meant.
Although he’d been mentally prepared, Ji Chuyao was simply way richer than he imagined. It was his poverty that had limited his imagination.
An hour after Si Chen finished shopping, there was a knock on his door.
He looked through the home surveillance and saw that it was a courier robot knocking on the door. The cylindrical robot put the package by the door and rolled away.
Si Chen opened the door. On the package, the sender was written as Ji Chuyao.
And this was just the beginning.
He stayed home for the day and throughout the day, he received dozens of packages from Ji Chuyao.
He’d sent over a whole range of things — gene medicine, guns, hotel and restaurant vouchers and game cards. Some of these things Si Chen has heard of; some he’s never even seen.
Si Chen couldn’t help himself from taking out his mobile phone and making a call. “What do you mean by this?”
He felt that what he’d been very clear, bordering on merciless. It was impossible that he’d left the other party with any possibility of harboring any hope.
Through the phone, Ji Chuyao sounded like he’d regained his usual composure. “They’re to express my apology. Please accept them with no psychological burden.”
Si Chen: “…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He didn’t understand. Surprisingly, there were some people who were rushing to be wronged.
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But as he unpacked the gifts, Si Chen’s worry was dispelled.
Among the packages was a “gift agreement” signed by Ji Chuyao. He’d even made his signature big and prominent, absolutely un-miss-able.
Si Chen was silent for a moment and the put the gift agreement in the cabinet.
***
His newly purchased mechanical prosthetic eye arrived the next day.
Si Chen put it on. It was absolutely uncomfortable. The material used must not be very good. It very obviously felt that a foreign object was inserted in his eye socket.
Even the Eternal Life Abyss felt uncomfortable. “Mom, this, hard hard.”
And, aside from providing vision, it was pretty much useless. The built-in scanning range was only 10 meters.
At that moment, Si Chen was even tempted to turn on the phone and ask Ji Chuyao, how dare his Machine Core Group sell this piece of trash for 1.2 million.
This was a money grab!
However, for the time being, he didn’t have the money to replace it with a new one and his old one still has the locator.
Therefore, even if this prosthetic eye was somewhat crude, he had no choice but to continue using it.
In order to excel at the postgraduate entrance examination, Si Chen has been reading and studying at home until the end of his sick leave.
He’d read review books that were two bricks thick and he’d also done a lot of problem exercises.
To be admitted to a military academy, the written test accounts for only 20% of the score. However, this was Si Chen’s strong point after all and every point counts. Who could say? Maybe this will be what puts him ahead of hundreds of other candidates.
During this period at home, the association also sent the appraisal report for the items he’d submitted.
[Lighter: The fuel is the fat of a certain type of High-Dimensional Creature. It cannot be replenished. It causes certain death to High-Dimensional Creatures (spiritual type) on the Fourth Step and below.]
[Medical record book: the medical record book of the House of the Mind Rehabilitation Center. Enter a patient’s name to get their personal information.]
[Energy core: Level 3 energy core. Degree of use: 58%. Can be used for mechanical transformation. This energy core can power mechanical equipment below Level 5. Current market price: 8.4 million. ] (Note: If you are willing to sell, you may contact the Association for a direct sale.)
Si Chen suddenly realized how ignorant he’d been working tirelessly at the laboratory to earn his tuition fees.
As an Evolutionary, so long as you are capable enough, you could just enter an instance and you’ll never be short of money.
However, the higher up you go, the more resources you’ll need. There was really no way to compare to those rich second generations with powerful families backing them.
Fortunately, this new employment contract he’d signed with the Serpent Staff Group wasn’t bad.
This employee housing in the urban area alone saved him tens of millions of credits.
Si Chen scrolled through his phone’s contact list.
Ji Chuyao hasn’t contacted him since he was rejected last time and Si Chen was too embarrassed to message him again.
So, he clicked on Xin Xiaocao’s profile picture instead.
Si Chen: For how much can you usually sell a Level 3 energy core?
After posting this question, he sent along the appraisal report.
Xin Xiaocao: ??? What the fuck, where did you get that?
Si Chen: I entered an instance.
Xin Xiaocao: Ah, I see. The degree of damage is 58%, no wonder the estimated value is only a little more than 8 million. Level 3 energy cores usually go for 30 million…
Si Chen was shocked. 30 million?
Xin Xiaocao: Yeah. Wanting to be an Evolutionary is expensive, unless you’re lucky. Back then, I was only able to afford it because of my lottery winnings.
Si Chen recalled how he’d violently dismantled the energy core from the Spider Lady’s chest.
It felt like that punch he’d landed on the nurse’s chest, was hitting his own heart.
Xin Xiaocao: Well, given that degree of damage, 8.4 million’s not bad.
Xin Xiaocao: You’re pretty gutsy to actually take the initiative to enter a Space Fold.
After all, Si Chen looked they type who was soft and weak, unable to stand the wind and rain.
After learning that the Association wasn’t out to dupe him, Si Chen immediately contacted the agent, planning to sell the energy core in order to get a new prosthetic eye.
The customer service agent said that someone will be sent to collect it over the weekend. Si Chen could also choose to make a trip to the Association and hand it to a staff member.
The customer service lady’s voice was sweet. “If you’re free, Mr. Si, you can also go to the association. It just so happens that according to our information, you have reached the Third Step. You might wish to update your information with the association. This will entitle you to more monthly subsidies and even citizenship points~”
The Evolutionary Association, though not very rich, does take great pains to look after the Evolutionaries.
Si Chen replied “OK” but had no intention of actually making the trip.
He still hasn’t figured out how to explain his change from “mechanical transformation” to a “biological transformation”.
After seeing the appraisal report regarding the medical record, Si Chen thought for a moment. He turned to a brand new page and wrote two words under patient name: Si Chen.
He waited for a long time, but the medical record naturally remained unchanged.
Si Chen breathed a sigh of relief, believing that he’d simply been overthinking.
He had no need for this thing anyway so Si Chen simply put it away in the cabinet with Ji Chuyao’s gift agreement.
He changed into his uniform, grabbed his bag and headed to work.
However, unbeknownst to Si Chen, after he left, there was a burst of blood red light on the medical record’s old cover.
The words ‘Si Chen’ that he’d written writhed, like a villain struggling to be free of its prison.
A few lines of fine printed words appeared on the medical record.
[Experiment No. X-13…]
[Initial transformation…]
[Second transformation…]
[Third… Fusion. 】
But soon, without any warning, that page simply disappeared.
The medical record evaporated; like a gas, it diffused into the air.
*
Serpent Staff Gene, Production Department Building.
Si Chen pushed open the window and watered the flowers on the office balcony.
Usually, this was the mechanical cleaners’ job.
The carnivorous plant on the balcony was the product of a fusion between a High-Dimensional Creature and a known species. It is very fragrant but likes to bite.
However, when Si Chen approached it, the flower moved far away. Its buds were tightly closed, looking as though it wished to shrink itself into a corner.
It could feel the aura of a hunter coming off of Si Chen.
Eternal Life Abyss: “…Oh.”
Synthetic meat, not tasty.
It still wasn’t hungry today.
Actually, most of the time, the Eternal Life Abyss wasn’t truly hungry.
It just wanted to eat.
After watering the flowers, Si Chen took a look at the clock hanging on the wall.
11 am.
It’s been 2 hours since the start of normal work hours, but he was the only one in the office, fishing at his workstation.
He took out his mobile phone and looked at the date, making sure that today was a Monday and that he should be at work.
Si Chen couldn’t hold back and sent Xin Xiaocao a message.
Si Chen was puzzled: Aren’t you going to work today?
He took a peek, not only was his own area of the office deserted but the work areas of the other groups were also deserted.
On the contrary, in the mechanical maintenance department upstairs, there were several Evolutionaries queuing up, waiting for their mechanical prosthesis to be patched up.
If they were to send these to the Machine Core Group for maintenance, not only would nothing be done, it would even cost them tens of millions.
The company’s mechanic had a monthly salary of 2 million. Even if he only repaired one, it was still 2 million. It was like plucking wool.
Xin Xiaocao replied quickly: Didn’t you just work last month?
He was referring to their clean up job at the Jiangchuan suburb Space Fold last month.
Si Chen: …Isn’t work from Mondays to Fridays? And it starts at 9am?
Xin Xiaocao: Shit. You didn’t’ go to office, did you? There’s no need to go there if there isn’t a notice about a project. That work time is for calculating hourly wages.
Xin Xiaocao: But the company meals are delicious and there’s also a game room. So, spending time there’s really not so bad.
Si Chen felt that death rate aside, working in the production department of the Serpent Staff Group was indeed the ideal job.
Just as he was thinking so, there was a light knock on the office door.
Since reaching the Third Step, Si Chen’s five senses have sharpened even more.
However, he hadn’t noticed Song Qingyu’s approach.
Si Chen was inevitably taken aback.
When he saw the person coming, he put on a lovable smile on his face, “Chief Song.”
Song Qingyu was the leader of the Scarlet Bird Team, in other words, he was his immediate boss.
Song Qingyu was wearing a red suit, a cigarette between his fingers. “Are you feeling better?”
The smell of smoke wasn’t heavy. Rather, it had a faint aroma, like icy mint. And so, it didn’t smell bad.
Si Chen nodded. “Yes, I’m all right now.”
Song Qingyu looked at his face and said, tone casual, “Are you free right now? Won’t you join me in my office?”
The author has something to say:
Eternal Life Abyss: Greedy and picky eaters deserve to starve to death.
Eternal Eating Abyss…ahem, little baby doesn’t need to eat, just likes to eat…pfft! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️😈
Nope, still don’t like that Song guy. Please stay faaaaar away, thank you.
Xin Xiaoyao not thinking it’s necessary to go to work for hourly wages… Don’t you know how important having money is??? You f+cking need it for fulfilling your basic needs of a roof over your head, the chance to sleep, and food and drink!!!
Also, Xiao Lan or what’s his name should get along well with Si Chen, considering the whole “poverty limited my vision” or what it was called.
Thank you for the chapter!
welp that stuff about the house of minds can’t be good for si chen…
Author, why are you so cruel???
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Thanks for the update!!