Chapter 168: Wasteland, Bounty Hunters

From then on, the Ma Rui Si civilization entered the Wasteland era.

The previously highly advanced civilization had long vanished, replaced by a wasteland civilization that inherited some of the previous generation's technology and legacy.

Now, three hundred years later, the survivors have rebuilt iron cities upon the ruins of civilization.

Most of these iron cities are constructed around the three Angel Cities of the Ma Rui Si plane.

They rely on various metal scrap thrown down from the Angel Cities and some usable broken technology to develop the current way of life and barbaric system.

Outside the iron cities, there remain many gathering points, often built upon former city ruins.

Due to scarcity of supplies, wars frequently break out between gathering points, so scavengers and bounty hunters have become prevalent.

Scavengers, as the name suggests, are a profession that exists to collect various resources.

They are generally equated with violence and bloodshed.

They often appear in the ruins of major cities or metal graveyards, using their experience to obtain valuable resources; over time, many scavenger groups have emerged.

What once was gathering of daily supplies and technological resources has now become violent gangs that operate in a semi‑plundering manner.

After all, as time passes, wasteland resources collected and mined over centuries have begun to run dry.

Consequently, groups that survive on this will naturally adapt their nature as the environment changes.

Large scavenger groups of this sort are mostly backed and controlled by major powers and conglomerates.

The emergence of augmenteds is due to material scarcity, including medical supplies, war demands, and after the Heaven's Tilt War, the proliferation of radioactive substances, leading to special adaptive changes and a derived special group.

Bounty hunters are a semi‑official organization, and almost every iron city bears their trace.

Their original purpose was to compensate for the lack of city guard forces.

Bounty hunters exist to take on missions, hunt criminal targets, and earn huge bounties.

Such entities, while an important supplement to city defense, also become a hidden source of unrest within the city due to their formidable firepower.

Overall, this world remains in a fragmented state of semi‑order and semi‑chaos.

The Angel City towers above, watching the mortal world's storms, while surface civilization clings to a fragmented existence.

This is the current state of the Ma Rui Si plane.

For some reason, upon seeing these data, Fulade always feels something odd, as if an invisible hand is manipulating everything here.

After all, the war's outbreak was inexplicable, its end equally strange, and no records of its cause or detailed course have been found.

But judging from the current war outcome, human intervention seems likely.

And after the war, the surviving Angel City made no effort to restore order or reunify the surface, further confirming Fulade's suspicion.

"Mr. Dracula," Doctor Yide walked out from the clinic.

Doctor Yide, clad in a black leather coat with a smiling face, carried a heavy metal box.

"... Doctor Yide, it seems your haul today is quite good," Fulade surveyed him a few times, then said to the visibly pleased Yide.

"Ah, yes, the parts needed for Lita's mechanical augmentation have finally been gathered; Lita will soon be able to stand again," Doctor Yide said with a happy laugh.

Having been here for almost a week, Fulade naturally knows that Doctor Yide goes to the metal graveyard every two days, scavenging usable parts from the Angel City's discarded metal junk to prepare the augmentation components for his daughter Lita.

"Beep, beep-beep."

"Huh, the augmented human in your hand actually has consciousness," Doctor Yide lifted his hand, lightly adjusting his glasses, and said in surprise at the beeping of his detector.

"Hmm, this is something I picked up from the metal graveyard not long ago; Doctor Yide, are you sure you can fix it?" Fulade turned his head to the Yide beside him who was watching closely.

Doctor Yide sat on a high stool, connected the instrument for scanning, and through the LCD data analysis concluded it could be repaired.

"Wow, the craftsmanship of this artificial‑human girl seems very high, reminiscent of pre‑Heaven's Tilt War creations; back then artificial humans were rare."

"... AEI-18."

Doctor Yide found a character on the girl's damaged body, further confirming his hypothesis.

He looked up at Fulade and said, "Although the craftsmanship is high, it can indeed be repaired, but aside from the parts Lita needs, I'm still missing many components," Doctor Yide shrugged helplessly.

There is not much substantive difference between artificial humans and augmenteds.

Before the Heaven's Tilt War, augmenteds were a medical mechanism developed for people with bodily defects.

It wasn't until after the Heaven's Tilt War that they evolved into military use.

Artificial humans were originally created as artificial lifeforms to pursue powerful high‑end weaponry.

They are generally divided into two types: one is AI‑centric mechanical lifeforms, the other combines human genetic cells with machinery, a semi‑mechanical, semi‑living entity.

Undoubtedly, the latter, aside from lacking natural parental bloodlines, is extremely similar to today's augmenteds.

According to Doctor Yide's brief remarks, artificial‑human technology had reportedly made breakthrough progress before the Heaven's Tilt War, and three years after this news was announced, the war arrived.

At that time, artificial humans generally served as guard forces for high‑level leaders.

Their personal combat power could rival certain large‑scale tech weapons, such as interstellar patrol ships and interstellar escort vessels.

Even more, the strongest artificial humans then were said to be a single person constituting an entire army.

Doctor Yide couldn't help but show a hint of nostalgia and sigh.

Fulade pondered for a moment, looked at the damaged artificial‑human girl, and said, "Give me a list of what you need, and I'll gather them."

In today's energy‑desert world, Fulade's slow recovery speed is astonishing.

Thus he needs to bolster his foundation and strength, and, curious about augmenteds, this artificial‑human girl makes a good choice and test subject.

"I can handle the other parts, but these are hard to find on the market; you'll need to prepare them,"

He took the list handed over by Doctor Yide, which listed about seven or eight items, such as micro energy‑conversion core devices, s8‑type energy‑conducting alloy, and special biomimetic materials for certain parts, like… a uterus!?

"Although artificial humans exist as combat weapons, they also have the right to be human," Doctor Yide said humorously.

"The higher the grade of the energy‑conversion device, the better; higher grades mean stronger conversion efficiency, affecting combat endurance, burst, recovery, and the energy required for conversion,"

"Such top‑tier devices are rarely found on the market; to locate them you usually have to go to large ruins or obtain them from certain factions."

"Of course, the bounty hunter guild's reward pool occasionally offers similar items, or bounties," Fulade nodded thoughtfully upon receiving the answer.

At that moment, a bold plan suddenly entered his mind.

Late night.

Fulade, who had just completed his bounty hunter registration, stepped out of the Bounty Hunter Guild's gate.

It is a massive enclosed building, overall black, hexagonal in shape, constructed from a special alloy.

Along both sides of the sci‑fi‑laden hall stand dozens of huge, black heavy‑duty guard robots.

Whenever someone passes, red scanning beams sweep over them to determine whether they have a criminal record.

Descending the steps, a large display on his left shows wanted lists and reward opportunities.

After a brief glance, Fulade turned and headed toward the city's southern district.

According to the mission brief, many residents in the southern zone have been disappearing repeatedly, with signs that modified humans may be involved in human‑trafficking.

Mission level: B – 【Investigate Missing Persons】

Mission levels range from low to high in six tiers, S being the highest and E the lowest.

Even so, many missions see their difficulty rise repeatedly due to inaccurate intel.

For example, the missing‑persons investigation Fulade received started as a D‑level task but climbed to B, because bounty hunters who took the job kept dying, causing the difficulty to spike.

It also shows the mission's uncertainty: a trivial side job can turn into a life‑threatening hell‑level task, which is not impossible.

He glanced at the semi‑transparent pale‑green badge, fist‑sized, bearing the Bounty Hunter Guild logo, and slipped it into his pocket.

The badge not only proves his status as a bounty hunter but also serves as a data‑storage, points‑exchange, and record device.

He does not wear it because Fulade does not wish to flaunt it; bounty hunters are a semi‑official armed force that stands out sharply to ordinary people. Though they lack policing power, they possess a certain authority to convict. Once someone is judged guilty, and the Guild's review and filing approve, they may be killed. This right grants bounty hunters an alternative extraordinary authority.

Yet possessing these rights and status also demands a price.

For instance, each year one must complete a quota of missions, which varies with the hunter's rank.

Tonight the stars glitter, and a gentle breeze blows.

A figure cloaked in black cape leaps continuously across the night sky.

The mass of the Ma Ruisi plane appears to be dozens of times that of the Dark World, manifesting chiefly as stronger gravity.

Fulade calculated that running at the same speed in the Dark World takes roughly half the time needed on the Ma Ruisi plane.

The same holds for jumping, strength, flight, and so on.

Even the humanoid natives here show that their bone density is markedly higher than that of ordinary Dark World humans.

Their vertebrae count is one fewer than that of Dark World humans.

If not for the low elemental energy, their innate physique would be more suited to corporeal cultivation.

Perhaps for this reason the Ma Ruisi plane is keen on developing human modification and personal combat technology.

Under the shroud of night, Fulade finally stopped on the rooftop of a dilapidated housing block in the southern district.

His trench coat rustled; his deep gaze swept the surroundings, and his Blood Race's keen hearing snapped on.

Based on recent missing‑person patterns, Fulade inferred that the disappearances radiated outward from several hubs, including this rundown housing block.

Searching from here undoubtedly raises the odds and is more convenient.

But the moment Fulade activated his hearing, he instantly regretted it.

A chorus of "ah… ah… um… um…" noises poured into his ears, accompanied by increasingly wild shouts.

It nearly choked Fulade to death! Yet it's late night edging toward dawn; at this hour the wasteland dwellers' nightlife is just beginning, which is normal.

He forced down the urge to knock them out, while continuously gathering usable information.

However, as time passed, Fulade's breathing grew increasingly rapid.

More than half an hour elapsed; not only had he found no suspicious people, but he spent the same time listening at the corner, which forced Fulade to comment that the wasteland folk's stamina is commendable!

Just as Fulade prepared to relocate, away from those scoundrels, a suspicious figure cloaked in a red cape with black trim entered his view.

—Hoo!

A gust of wind brushed by, and the rooftop silhouette vanished.

After several leaps, Fulade hung far behind the female‑modified human.

Don't ask why Fulade knows she is a female‑modified human.

If you see it with your own eyes, the delicate figure hinted beneath the red cape and the swaying, enchanting poise unmistakably mark her as female.

Um, the possibility of a trans‑species isn't ruled out, of course assuming such a species exists here! He turned a corner.

In the distance, Fulade saw the cloaked woman, and once no one nearby was watching, she instantly acted on the target.

It was a sturdy man; before he could react, he was knocked unconscious on the ground.

Meanwhile, Fulade, having recorded everything with his hunter badge, continued to linger far behind, ready to see where it ends up.

After winding twists and turns, Fulade finally followed the female‑modified human into an alley lined with red brick walls and criss‑crossing pipes in mid‑air; just after rounding a corner, she vanished.

After a brief pause, pondering, Fulade's mouth twitched into a subtle expression.

"Hey, are you looking for us, sir bounty hunter?"

A voice came from behind.

Behind him stood a half‑naked figure with a gold‑short haircut and an annoyingly smug grin, hurling a contemptuous taunt at Fulade.

Both arms wielded twin metallic blades that emitted a hundred cold glints, his legs bent backward, gleaming with metallic sheen.

Fulade gave a quick glance, kept a neutral expression, and continued to look toward where the woman disappeared.

At some point, the red‑and‑black‑trimmed cloaked female‑modified human appeared before Fulade, wearing a coquettish smile and gazing at him triumphantly.

(End of chapter)