Chapter 1 The Man by the Trash Can...
The torrential rain slanted across the deep blue night sky, colorful neon lights twinkled everywhere, and the streets were crowded with cars but relatively few pedestrians.
Ling Qiu held up a sturdy mechanical umbrella and walked home at a leisurely pace.
Luckily, it wasn't acid rain today.
However, the mechanical umbrella was still a bit heavy for her, and she had to switch hands from time to time. She was wearing long sleeves and trousers, and her head was completely hidden in the hood of her shirt.
"Surprise special offer!!!" Suddenly, a bunny girl in a pink leather dress rushed up to Ling Qiu, her eyes full of seductive allure as she recommended the product, "Raymond Company launches the new XXXXXXXXS mini masturbator! Super realistic! Super electric current! Super~~stimulating!"
As he spoke, he turned his buttocks toward Ling Qiu and personally spread them apart.
Ling Qiu walked past the bunny girl's rear end expressionlessly and kept walking forward with her head down.
There was a three-second pause.
"Surprise Special Price!!!" The same line, repeated again, only this time it's a bunny boy in a leopard-print bodysuit, striking a pose as he recommends, "Raymond Company launches the new XXXXXXXXXL giant dick! Super realistic! Super electric current! Super~~exciting!"
Clearly, this holographic projection advertisement failed to identify Ling Qiu's gender and sexual orientation.
From within the deep red hood, a pair of lifeless, pale eyes rose, and slender fingers moved swiftly across the wrist. Then, the bunny boy's face began to blur and distort, eventually transforming into another male face.
The next person to be shown this holographic ad will see her boss's face.
"Heh heh." She let out a strange laugh, then quickly regained her composure and continued walking.
The bustling night scene was gradually replaced by dilapidated buildings, the traffic almost disappeared, and rows of rusty high-rise buildings stood crookedly, like thin ghosts, baring their fangs and claws.
This is the suburbs, a transitional zone between the city center and the slums, and Ling Qiu has a house here. It's dilapidated, cramped, and only 37 square meters, divided into a bedroom and two other areas.
This was an inheritance she received from her parents; otherwise, Ling Qiu probably wouldn't even have a stable place to live.
Whether in the city center or the suburbs, housing prices are too high. Houses in the slums are cheap, but the security is terrible.
In the dim light, piles of empty trash cans of various sizes lay at the base of the wall. Beside them, an unusual white figure moved. Ling Qiu initially thought it was a prosthetic body that someone had abandoned there, but upon closer inspection, she realized it was a whole person. His skin was a pale, unhealthy white, and he sat huddled in a corner, wearing only a white vest and black pants. She casually glanced at him and noticed that the man had long, slender arms and legs.
Such a proportion might seem strange to a normal person, but in a time when everyone is getting prosthetic bodies, it doesn't look odd anymore.
Ling Qiu slowly approached, carefully observing his entire body from a distance of about ten meters. She didn't find any prosthetics on him, and murmured, "A free man?"
With that sound, he raised his head. To Ling Qiu's surprise, he was actually quite good-looking, with handsome features. However, his eyes were unfocused, and it took him a long time to focus on Ling Qiu's face.
The moment their eyes met, for some reason, Ling Qiu suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
After their eyes met, he grinned at her two seconds later, and then his wispy hair fell down, almost completely obscuring the upper half of his face. Ling Qiu could only see the lower half of his face, still smiling.
Is there something wrong with your brain?
Oh, her brain is still intact; she thought it had been removed.
His hair was wet, probably from being caught in the rain. Ling Qiu let go of his hand and shook it off in disgust.
"Hey," Ling Qiu said, "Even though it's not acid rain today, you'll get a skin disease if you don't use an umbrella."
The man laughed again. Even with the upper half of his face covered, the lower half of his face still gave the impression of a very handsome smile. Most importantly, Ling Qiu felt that he was strange, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was strange about him. This strange feeling made her reluctant to leave so soon.
Then, he murmured something softly, but Ling Qiu couldn't hear it.
"What?" she said, bending down involuntarily.
The man looked up at her, and Ling Qiu had a feeling that behind the hair covering his face, those eyes were staring intently at her.
Then he exhaled again, uttering several strange tunes.
Ling Qiu caught a few syllables and asked, "Anbot? Is that your name?"
The man neither spoke nor nodded, so Ling Qiu went along with it: "You don't look like a destitute poor man, Anbote."
She asked, "Are you an exile?"
Company exiles are people who have been fired from their companies. The monopoly of companies in Mante City is very serious, and almost all of them are covered by the Noah Group. Only a few small individual businesses that roam around are regarded as buzzing flies by the Noah Group and are left unattended. These small businesses are lucky if they can make a living on their own.
Therefore, once a person's information is stamped with the "dismissal" mark, they will not be rehired by any of their affiliated companies. Such a person is a company exile, with no other way out but to become a beggar.
The man didn't answer.
His strange attitude made Ling Qiu lose patience, and she reached out again to pat the man's face.
"Are you lost?" she asked softly. "Would you like me to take you to the slums?"
The man grinned again and uttered that strange word "Anbot" once more. Ling Qiu frowned, shook him off, and continued walking forward.
He must be insane, right? Every exile goes insane without exception.
Ling Qiu resumed her journey home. Just then, her digital watch rang. It was a call from Lu Lulan, one of her few friends. Ling Qiu answered the call.
"Routine inquiry!!!" Lululan's holographic projection popped up, "What are you doing, baby? I'm just checking to see if you're still alive!"
Ling Qiu, weak and feeble, barely uttered a whisper: "Thanks to you."
"Hahahaha!" Lululan laughed loudly, "You're still so cute! It's late, you should go home early. A little darling like you will get eaten by bad guys if you're out alone!"
Lululan, with her hair in pigtails, gestured wildly at Ling Qiu, her pink prosthetic eyes darting around endlessly.
“On my way home, I’ll call you later…” Ling Qiu was speaking when her hand was already on the end call button. Then, she saw a strange shadow on Lululan’s holographic projection.
Ling Qiu turned around quickly and saw the man who had been next to the trash can crawling towards her.
His crawling posture was bizarre; strictly speaking, it couldn't even be called crawling. His knees weren't touching the ground; instead, he followed behind her like a mechanical wolf, with his forefoot and toes as the only points of contact.
A pale creature, its face obscured, was approaching her step by step.
Ling Qiu felt a chill run down her spine. She quickly pressed the end-of-communication button and quickened her pace, wanting to get out of the dark alley as soon as possible. But as she sped up, the man behind her sped up as well, and his crawling limbs even left afterimages due to the increased speed.
Finally, Ling Qiu started running wildly, throwing her umbrella away in the process. However, this momentum did not last long. She soon began to pant and her heart was racing. She had to stop and lean against the wall to breathe heavily.
The air was filled with a strange, indescribable mixture of smells: musty, rusty, and sour...
The air quality in Mante City had long since plummeted to rock bottom, making strenuous exercise that would require deep breathing a complete fantasy for a free spirit like Ling Qiu.
The strange man caught up with her, and Ling Qiu had to turn around to look at him. He was still moving forward in the same posture, but this time he was still holding her black umbrella in one hand, so he was moving forward with his other hand and two feet, which looked extremely strange. When she slowed down, he also slowed down, and his movements even became more relaxed. Losing one hand had no effect on him, and he was able to maintain his balance perfectly.
Ling Qiu's eyes trembled slightly. She dared to say that in the twenty years she had lived in Mante City, she had never seen such a strange person. There were clearly no cybernetic modifications on his body, but the way he moved was very eerie.
While silently waiting for him to approach, Ling Qiu put his hand into the pocket of his hoodie on his stomach, where he kept an electrified short knife, a self-defense tool that Ling Qiu had made himself. It was exceptionally sharp and could quickly cut through any muscle and bone, including prosthetics.
The man crawled closer step by step. Ling Qiu gripped the hilt of her knife tightly, ready to strike. However, just as she was about to draw her sword, the man sat down in front of her like a dog.
"Hmm..." he murmured softly, his voice dry, as if he wasn't used to speaking in this way. He was like an old stereo, adjusting himself for a long time before finally uttering a complete sentence, "Help me."
He said, "Help, help me."
He opened the black umbrella, stood up slightly, and held the umbrella over Ling Qiu's head.
Ling Qiu's gaze, however, followed the stroking motion of his other hand to his abdomen. He kept touching his belly and spoke to her again, "Help me."
The eyes behind her hair were definitely staring at her again. Ling Qiu couldn't describe the feeling, but the feeling of being watched made her very uncomfortable.
During the standoff, Ling Qiu took a deep breath and then said softly, "Okay."
She tentatively reached out her left hand, touched his head with her palm, and stroked him like petting a dog. She saw the corners of the man's mouth curve up again, then widen, revealing that happy smile.
Then Ling Qiu's eyes flashed slightly, and with a sudden burst of strength, she grabbed his hair with her left hand and pulled the man to the ground. With her other hand, she raised her knife and with a flash of white light, she severed his legs.
A note from the author:
The story has begun!!! [Sprinkling flowers]
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