Chapter 1016 - 59: The Sun (Part 1)

One day ago.

"Close your eyes, focus your mind, feel the energy in the Universe..."

Clink—

A crisp sound seemed to clear all distractions from Jack’s mind.

The bedridden days were over; Lille had fixed all the issues with his body: dismantling this and that, then installing this and that...

The so-called Lizard Frenzy Component Type 3 was essentially a complete redesign of Jack’s damaged, non-original parts under further technological advancement.

This technology, which could be described as custom-made full-body prosthetics, was not rare. Everyone knew it existed, but only a few could afford it.

Now, Jack was among the few.

Just as his mind was cleared of distractions, as he opened his eyes, he suddenly thought: I’m quite a big shot now, like a gang leader ruling the streets with petty thugs, or what’s it called when leading an army...

Before he could think of the word, three Tarot cards appeared before Jack:

"Upright Sun, Upright Demon, Upright World..."

"A very unique spread... The Sun is the best card among all the Major Arcana, meaning this action has strong vitality, it’s the power of hope and idealism, undisturbed by any external interference. Even the dark side wanting to interfere will vanish under the Sun’s rays."

"The last card is likewise a card symbolizing attainment and lasting success. The Goddess of Victory will eventually lead you... or us through the gate of success. However, before entering the gate of success, we must cross through joy and sorrow, success and failure. The road to paradise is not easy and requires sustained hard work."

"A good beginning and a good ending, but a perilous process in between..."

"The Demon grins wickedly at the slaves bound by chains. Though bound in chains, as long as they help each other, they can break free from the Demon. Yet, the Demon’s temptations blind them, luring people with money and so-called security to become their slaves..."

"How strange, this is a card symbolizing overwhelming external forces that will eventually crush everything. If everything gets crushed in the process, how can there be victory?"

Blinking again, the cards disappeared, and Jack moved his right hand, his arm making a whirring sound as it circled; unimaginable strength.

Lizard Frenzy Component Type 3—or rather the full-body prosthetic "Jack"—was a semi-biological prosthetic entirely designed to match Jack’s genome:

The Lizard Serum, which nearly eroded his brain for the past two years, did not make him lose his sanity. After weighing the options, Lille increased the human-lizard muscle tissue content, greatly enhancing Jack’s strength attribute.

His skin tissue was completely replaced with bulletproof alloy and ceramic composites, his joints and bones all swapped for metallic materials, and his lizardified organs pulsed with life far beyond conventional combat machines...

Compared to earlier versions, the Lizard Serum had become a truly normalized substance flowing in the bloodstream, removing the limited "frenzy" command, pushing constant strength to its extreme.

The Tarot cards Misty drew for them flashed through his mind, followed by Lille’s response:

"Don’t obsess over superstitions, no matter how good it sounds, let it slide. But do you really have to listen if it sounds bad? Scare yourself?"

Jack eased his mood, then quickly took out a small notebook and wrote this sentence in his "work":

"Tarot cards are a nice thing, I suggest drawing one before an action to see how beautiful your win will be. If it’s a bad card, remember, don’t be superstitious."

After writing, Jack returned to reality: he was driving a big truck toward the administrative building.

The Burger King trio had already split into three teams, and his mission was in Idaho—

Before the United States collapsed, it was an important agricultural state, and Wanderers roaming the Evil Land still spoke of how it once looked:

Endless golden fields.

However, with the corruption of America’s four major gangs, the collapse of the financial system, and repeated failed wars with Mexico, farmers’ lives here became increasingly difficult.

Corporations began releasing viruses with genetic selection functions, selling seeds that could only be harvested once, cutting off farmers’ self-sufficiency at the source, deliberately bankrupting every farm owner and farmer, acquiring their land, and turning everyone into company employees.

If you refused to become a company employee, even basic survival was problematic. Companies controlled food production, raised prices, making everyone who worked live just above the subsistence line...

When the United States collapsed, everyone rose up, hoping to establish a free state where everyone had land to farm, but things only got worse.

The new state government immediately welcomed high-tech entry, opening doors to agribusiness giants, directly killing those occupying land using armed means, and legislating to prevent people from acquiring resources privately: collecting rainwater was a crime, gathering soil was a crime, and raising consumable animals, even rats and cockroaches, was a crime!

Yet the agribusiness giants cultivated Nevada into a premier agricultural resource export state, given its vast land and sunshine resources!

A powerful agricultural export state where people couldn’t afford to eat.

Later, when New America unified, no one dared resist; Miles directly took over here. Some who often heard Miles’ passionate speeches on the radio even fantasized things would get better, but in reality...

Agricultural resource exports increased, but so did the number of people starving to death.

They had grown numb—

But today, the numb people followed behind this big pickup truck, excitedly gripping weapons hidden under their clothes, following it in the shadows as closely as possible.

Honestly, Jack was quite worried at first; he didn’t have Lille’s charisma, and Nevada looked orderly, so he worried he might be mistaken...

Yet Lille’s fantastical words were proven true on the vast Evil Land and the city outskirts’ poor districts:

"Why don’t you check the poor districts and places where Wanderers sleep on the streets, see if anyone’s munching on burgers, look for burger graffiti, then go in and ask them who they want to kill, give them a gun, and when the time comes, go kill."

There really were wandering lunatics chewing on expired burgers!

Nevada, a New America State, where Miles summarized the reasons for the American government’s failure, and referencing the European Union’s strength and stability, implemented repression and surveillance over all reclaimed states...

Yet at this very moment, no drones or surveillance facilities identified this unregistered pickup; they simply let it pass.

As if they saw nothing—

The Wanderers followed more closely, as if it was the rising and setting sun, fearing the sun would one day set and never rise again, chasing it madly like fools.