Chapter 8 Arrival, Lover, Wells Lee has a car he can't handle...
Half-asleep, Fu Ze heard that sweet and professional electronic female voice once again.
This time, however, she said: "The train is about to arrive at its final stop, V City Central District. Passengers, please take your personal belongings and disembark in an orderly manner."
Amidst the commotion of passengers getting up, Fu Ze propped his chin up with one hand, casually appreciating the bustling, technologically advanced, and classically Chinese aesthetically pleasing V City central area as he tried to clear his head.
Through the pale blue honeycomb-shaped protective curtain, the tall inner wall, which is usually clearly visible in the distance and is built in the style of the ancient Great Wall, becomes blurred, leaving only a faint outline.
A little closer, standing out like cranes among chickens amidst the buildings of varying heights, are several iconic buildings that the citizens of V City call the "Four Guardians".
The place located in the "Vermilion Bird" position is where Fu Ze's previous body worked—the Land of Boundless Romance.
The name sounds elegant, but when considered in light of its current practical use, it seems rather absurd.
For this reason, the locals jokingly refer to this place as "the land of insects."
But when they saw the holographic projection screen at the top of the Boundless Land of Wind and Moon, which could radiate across the entire central area, even the most discerning backpacker had to admit that this "Land of Insects II" deserved a place among the "Four Guardians".
Looking closer, one finds rows of old residential areas that clash with the "Four Guardians" and the high-end buildings with their smooth glass facades, which look as if they were fabricated.
In Fu Ze's memory, when the government announced that the central district station would be located here, the nearby residents cheered, and the property prices in the area also rose significantly.
But once the station was actually built, seeing the dense, thick cables that were as big as buckets and the pale blue barriers that appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared, many residents became frightened and moved away, muttering things like "radiation," "carcinogenic," and "sterilization."
Once this person left, the superficial liveliness and harmony dissipated, leaving only filth that clung to the cracks in the ground and the heels of shoes, like grease.
Fu Ze breathed on the window and then drew a circle on it.
The shop he circled had been splashed with bright red paint. It was unclear whether the shop owner had done something wrong and was being retaliated against, or whether someone was deliberately causing trouble.
When a city is large enough, it can contain all the glory and grime of the past, and all the ideals and realities from top to bottom.
Just as Fu Ze was expressing his feelings, the train slowly came to a stop at the end of the tracks, namely, V City Central Station.
A sweet yet professional electronic female voice rang out again, bringing up the old story once more.
Although the announcement reminded passengers to disembark in an orderly manner, there weren't actually many people on the bus at that time, so even if they did squeeze together, there wouldn't be any problems.
Moreover, after a night of travel, the passengers were exhausted and had no energy left to argue about who was ahead or behind them in the queue. They just wanted to get off the train with their luggage and end this bumpy and arduous journey.
With his hood up, Fu Ze trailed at the very back of the group, walking at a leisurely pace, seemingly inconspicuous at first glance.
However, in reality, he had a very fulfilling and exciting night.
First, he used a "secret maneuver" at the South District Hotel to escape the encirclement of many executives, and then used multiple "golden cicada shedding its shell" maneuvers at various stations along the train's route to successfully evade the executives' subsequent pursuit.
It wasn't until two stops before the central station, which was the second largest transit hub in V City after the North District, that he finally shook off the pursuing executives and got a chance to rest.
The closer they got to the central area, the more difficult the officers on duty became, but fortunately, Fu Ze was ultimately the one who prevailed.
After traveling for a while, Fu Ze quickly parted ways with the ordinary passengers and slipped into a staff passage.
Given Yuan Jianxing's cautious approach, this minor internet celebrity's identity information must have already been marked as a highly watched item.
In this way, if I happen to enter or exit a gate that requires identity registration and has a high-level firewall, I will definitely be identified and caught red-handed by this person.
Better safe than sorry.
Before leaving the station, Fu Ze pulled his hood down a little further.
However, in this chaotic central area, as long as he carefully avoids those new surveillance cameras, no matter how powerful Yuan Jianxing is, he will not be able to catch him.
Despite saying that, Fu Ze had a premonition that he and Yuan Jianxing would soon meet again.
Ugh, that's really bad luck, ugh, ugh, ugh!
*
After taking several public transportation transfers, Fu Ze finally arrived at his warehouse, where he had stored all the supplies needed for the prison break.
"Splash—"
The warehouse's old and dilapidated roller shutter door stopped halfway up and kept moving up and down in the same spot.
Fu Ze, feeling impatient, condescended to bow and come to the inside of the door, intending to offer it a small assistance.
After confirming the location of the problem with the roller shutter door track, he kicked it, creating a dent in the track.
With a "clang," the part stuck in the slide rail fell out, and then the roller shutter door, which had been stuck in place, suddenly rose to the top.
Although the process was somewhat violent, at least the problem was resolved perfectly.
Bathed in the slightly scorching sunlight, Fu Ze stepped onto the gray-painted metal steps and quickly descended to the warehouse floor. He grabbed the lining cloth covering a streamlined item and forcefully ripped it off.
Instantly, the dust that was embedded in the velvet was shaken off into the air and then enveloped in a strange, flowing color.
This color comes from the sunlight reflected off the paint of the 757 lizard car in the center of the warehouse.
The mimicry color-changing function has not been officially activated, so the color on the surface of the Magic Lizard 757 is changing depending on Fu Ze's viewing angle.
Bright blue, dazzling purple, silver green, vibrant red... a multitude of colors are mixed together, creating an extremely harmonious and colorful effect.
Recalling the various selling points that the Magic Lizard 757 had heavily advertised when it was first launched, Fu Ze stood outside the driver's side door.
Upon detecting someone approaching, a rational, slightly cold male voice rang out from inside the vehicle: "Hello, nice to meet you. Please verify your logged-in information to begin your driving journey."
Fu Ze placed his phone, which already had the air-to-air camera recognition and intervention software pre-downloaded, behind the recognition lens and silently prayed, "Please, it has to succeed."
It's really not his fault for not being well prepared. Anyone would never expect to be in a different body right before going into battle, right?
After what was originally a short period of time, but felt exceptionally long to Fu Ze, the male voice said very politely, "Facial recognition failed. Please try again. Two attempts remaining."
...
Fu Ze raised his hand and rubbed his temples.
It's so hard to do something bad; one obstacle after another, but you always manage to get through them.
*
Reading the error messages in the software's background logs, Fu Ze managed to glean the current situation from the words that he recognized individually but couldn't understand when put together.
In short, in the period following the hacker's death, many vehicle companies underwent a major upgrade to their security systems, abandoning all previous technology stacks and starting from scratch.
In other words, all the vehicle-specific intrusion codes developed and written by this hacker during his lifetime were rendered useless.
If the existing cheat is now invalid, and Fu Ze wants to drive away the Demon Lizard 757, he can only return to his previous body like rewinding a game, and then use that face to unlock it.
Considering the impending prison break, he could also choose to completely abandon the Lizard 757 he had prepared in advance, remove the heavy firepower modifications, and then find a temporary replacement to install.
Fu Ze definitely couldn't do the former, and the latter...
He can't do it either!
Putting aside the fact that switching to other models would likely not allow him to escape the executives' pursuit, and also the question of whether time would permit him to do so.
This Demon Lizard 757 is very expensive! Expensive!
How could I just say I don't want it anymore?!
Although Fu Ze did inherit a considerable amount of money and non-money assets through his many deaths, these hosts mostly lived a "live for today" lifestyle.
In other words, the more you earn, the more you spend.
Fu Ze, upholding the traditional virtues of diligence and thrift, painstakingly saved up a small fortune, which he then poured into this prison break.
Therefore, there was a period when he was really poor, to the point that he had to drink a bottle of ginger ale from a vending machine in two separate servings.
Ironically, at that time he happened to be in the previous body, the body of the person in charge of the brothel. One of his daily tasks was to inspect the operation of the place and intervene appropriately in some scenes to prevent and resolve potential conflicts.
Undoubtedly, those scenarios always involve some quick and easy transactions involving money and sex.
Some of the transaction amounts left Fu Ze speechless, and he felt sorry for his health, which had been compromised by his previous work in truly high-tech and high-risk industries.
On the other hand, even if Fu Ze had enough funds, he wouldn't be able to get another Demon Lizard 757 anytime soon, let alone find a reliable mechanic to transfer all those heavy weapons over.
After careful consideration, Fu Ze made a plan.
He dusted himself off and tidied his appearance. "Things have come to this, let's call for reinforcements."
*
At 10 a.m., a time of day that is too normal and healthy, any bar that mainly operates at night is in a slump, and the Rotten Violin Bar at the end of the long street, which is half underground, is no exception.
The neon lights that had been burning all night had now gone out completely, making the bronze statue sign standing next to it look droopy.
Bypassing the pool of liquid at the shop entrance that looked rather strange, Fu Ze pushed open the revolving door and entered the Rotten Violin Bar.
The bar was dark, illuminated only by a few rays of sunlight streaming through the ventilation windows.
In the empty hall, only a little girl with her hair tied up in a checkered cloth was cleaning various items on the bar counter with a clean rag.
Hearing the door open, she looked up and said respectfully, "Hello, this is not business hours, please..."
"I'm not here for drinks, I'm here to find someone." Fu Ze pulled out a bar stool and sat down, giving the young girl a friendly smile. "Is Wells Lee here?"
Wells Lee is a well-known underground modification agent in this area, known for his ability to "take apart anything with a screwdriver."
His real identity is Charles Lee, the manager of the Rotten Violin Bar.
Although anyone can walk into this lousy violin bar, the manager spends almost all his time behind the wooden bar, putting on an image of being on good terms with everyone.
But those are all superficial appearances.
Anyone who wanted to see Wells Lee would often first drink three large glasses of Charles Lee’s specially made Dry Martini, then sit for three hours straight, and only those who could remain sober at the end could get their wish.
Upon hearing the name "Wells Lee," the little girl looked at Fu Ze with some suspicion, trying to predict the visitor's purpose like a mature and reliable adult.
Having tossed and turned all night, Fu Ze was extremely tired. Unbeknownst to him, a few drops of moisture seeped from the corners of his reddened eyes as he suppressed the urge to yawn.
Having keenly noticed this detail, the little girl seemed to have suddenly realized something, threw the rag into the sink, and went upstairs with a "thump thump thump".
Immediately afterwards, a sickeningly loud rusty scraping sound came from upstairs.
Before the words had even finished, the young girl shouted, "Brother! Your old flame is looking for you!"
After saying that, she peeked out from the stairwell and glanced at Fu Ze, then turned back and raised her voice, saying, "She's still a super beautiful woman."
Fu Ze: ...
Forget it, let it be a misunderstanding. Right now, as long as he can see Wells Lee as quickly as possible, anything goes.
Using the reflection from the wine bottle placed not far in front of him as decoration, Fu Ze examined his current appearance once more, then shook his head with slight regret.
This internet celebrity is indeed pretty, but she's still a bit short of being considered a true "beauty."
The essence of a "beauty" lies first and foremost in her character, not just her appearance; being pleasing to the eye is the most basic requirement.
Secondly, one must possess a unique personal charm, ultimately achieving the effect of "a smile that could topple a city, a second smile that could topple a nation."
It should at least make Yuan Jianxing, this cold and unapproachable man, hesitate for even a second before taking action to be considered acceptable.
Perhaps misunderstanding Fu Ze's head-shaking gesture, the girl who was originally just standing at the door decisively rushed in, creating a chaotic noise, and then pushed and dragged a man out of the room.
She frantically gestured with her eyes in the direction of Fu Ze, shouting, "There! Look there!"
The man, Wells Lee, grabbed a handful of hair, rubbed his eyes, and finally clicked his tongue.
"This kid hasn't seen enough of the world. What kind of beauty is this?"
...I'm glad you have your own opinions on beauty, but I still hope you can pull up your pants before expressing your thoughts.
Wells Lee casually tucked the belt buckle into a hole, stood next to Fu Ze with a yawn, his muscular and hairy upper body bare. "What's the matter so early in the morning?"
He seemed to be ready to shove Fu Ze's head into a bar bottle if Fu Ze couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer.
Fu Ze leaned back on the bar stool and said softly, "Tonight, I will ignite the dawn."
This was a body Fu Ze had previously inhabited, and a secret code agreed upon by Wells Lee and one of his few close friends.
Wells Lee, who had been somewhat impatient, suddenly opened his eyes wide and scrutinized Fu Ze carefully.
"Who are you? How do you know this?"
Fu Ze naturally wouldn't answer that question; he simply placed the card in his hand on the table and pushed it over, saying, "I'm having trouble with a car; can you help me out?"
A note from the author:
----------------------
We hereby announce that our third couple's animal-themed party is:
Crocodile x Chameleon.
Both sides are cold-blooded creatures, but when they're close together, they share the same temperature—if you're cold, I'm cold; if you're hot, I'm hot. Isn't that cool? [Glasses]
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