1: Chapter 1 Acid Rain and Debt Certificates

Acid rain always descended upon this city, which was like a massive steel beast, without any warning.

Grayish-white raindrops, carrying the pungent smell characteristic of industrial exhaust, pelted against Lin Feng's helmet visor, creating a blur of water stains.

On the skyscrapers towering into the clouds on both sides of the street, massive holographic billboards on the exterior walls remained bright and glossy, projecting advertisements for Universal Group's latest virtual reality game. A virtual idol with a hot figure danced gracefully in the rain, as if this metal-corroding rainwater were merely an inconsequential backdrop.

Lin Feng hunched his shoulders and wrapped his faded jacket, which bore the words "Swift Wind Express," tighter around himself.

He twisted the throttle of his electric motorcycle, and the dilapidated vehicle let out an overwhelmed groan. He wove carefully through the slippery streets, nimbly avoiding the puddles on the ground that shimmered with eerie, oily colors.

"Ding—You have a new order. Please process it in a timely manner."

The cold system prompt emanated from the cheap earphones built into his helmet. Lin Feng glanced at the virtual screen that popped up in the bottom right corner of his field of vision—a long-distance order. The pay was three times the usual amount, but the destination was... District 13, Rust Iron Street.

His brow furrowed subconsciously.

District 13 was the well-known edge of the city's "Rust Belt," filled with abandoned factories and frequent gang activity. Security was so poor that even the mechanical guards couldn't be bothered to patrol frequently. On any other day, he would certainly hesitate to take such an order, but today...

His gaze drifted involuntarily toward a small window in the corner of the screen. Inside the window, a pale little girl was sleeping quietly on a hospital bed, a small oxygen tube inserted into her nose. That was his younger sister, Lin Xiaoyu. The sound of rain outside the hospital room window seemed to grow louder.

"Damn it." Lin Feng cursed under his breath, swiped his finger quickly across the touchscreen on the motorcycle handle, and accepted the order.

The electric motorcycle's speed suddenly increased, breaking through the curtain of rain as it headed toward the edge of the city. Rainwater poured into his sleeves, cold and sticky, but he seemed not to notice. Circling in his mind was the payment demand note handed over yesterday by the well-dressed, cold-faced financial robot at the hospital. The cold numbers on it were like a rusty, dull knife, sawing back and forth in his heart.

[Outstanding Amount: 78,650 Credits. Deadline: 72 hours. If not paid by the deadline, the patient will be removed from the life-support unit.]

Seventy-two hours.

Three days. He had to scrape together nearly eighty thousand credits in three days. This was an impossible task, unless he went to rob a bank—or accepted every order he could, even the most dangerous ones.

The rain grew heavier, and the sky darkened rapidly. The surrounding buildings gradually changed from bright and glossy to dilapidated and low, their walls covered in chaotic fluorescent graffiti, mostly symbols of various underground gangs. The sour smell in the air seemed to grow stronger, mixed with the strange odor of rotting garbage and the burning of low-quality energy sources.

He had arrived at Rust Iron Street.

Seven or eight out of every ten streetlights here were broken, and the few remaining ones could only emit a dim, weak light that swayed in the rain like ghost fire. On both sides of the street were automated factories that had long since ceased production; rusted pipes and iron frames stood silently in the darkness like the skeletons of giant beasts.

The location specified by the order was an abandoned vehicle repair shop. The rusted rolling shutter door was half-open, and the interior was pitch black, like a mouth waiting to devour someone.

Lin Feng parked the bike, took a deep breath of the damp, rust-scented air, and retrieved the package from the insulated box—a palm-sized, tightly sealed metal box. It felt cold to the touch, and there were no labels on it.

The feeling of unease in his heart grew stronger. What kind of thing required triple the shipping fee to be delivered to such a godforsaken place?

"Is anyone there? Swift Wind Express!" He shouted into the repair shop, his voice echoing in the empty space.

No one responded. There was only the ticking sound of rainwater dripping onto rusted iron sheets and the faint roar of hover engines in the distance.

He shouted again, while cautiously taking half a step back, his hand quietly reaching for the defensive Wrench under the electric motorcycle seat.

Just then, several blinding red laser beams suddenly lit up in the darkness deep within the repair shop, precisely locking onto his chest and forehead!

"Drop the item and get lost."

An electronically processed, hoarse, and distorted voice came from the darkness, cold and devoid of any emotion.

Lin Feng's heart tightened abruptly, and the blood in his entire body seemed to freeze instantly. He realized that he had stumbled into big trouble. This was by no means an ordinary delivery!

He forced himself to calm down and slowly bent over, making a move to place the metal box on the ground. However, his gaze rapidly scanned the surrounding environment—there was a pile of abandoned tires on the left and a deep maintenance trench on the right.

"Bang!"

An abrupt gunshot shattered the silence of the rainy night, not coming from the direction he was facing, but from the roof of the factory building across the street!

A searing beam of light flew past, almost grazing Lin Feng's scalp, and struck the wall behind him, sending molten metal and cement debris splattering everywhere!

The laser beams inside the repair shop vanished instantly, replaced by a burst of dense energy weapon fire and angry roars. It was clear that more than one party had been stirred in the darkness!

"Fuck! A double-cross?!" The hoarse electronic voice was filled with shock and anger.

Lin Feng understood in an instant that he had become the focal point of a firefight between two unknown factions! Without any hesitation, he violently threw the metal box in his hand toward the depths of the repair shop while simultaneously diving toward the maintenance trench on the right!

"Bang! Bang! Boom!"

More gunshots rang out, and energy beams crisscrossed in the darkness, leaving the ground where he had just been standing riddled with craters. The poor electric motorcycle was instantly struck by several stray shots, its battery exploding in a burst of blinding sparks, rendering it completely totaled.

Lin Feng crashed heavily into the maintenance trench, which was full of oil and standing water, and choked on a mouthful of foul-smelling sewage. Ignoring the pain, he crawled forward on his hands and knees through the dark trench, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to jump out of his throat. Bullets and energy beams whistled over his head, striking the edge of the trench and sending off deadly sparks.

The firefight was exceptionally intense, mixed with some kind of... inhuman roaring and the clanking sound of mechanical joints turning. This was definitely not a normal gang shootout!

He just wanted to escape this hell as quickly as possible. The end of the trench seemed to connect to another exit, with a faint light vaguely shining through.

Just as he was about to reach the end, a massive explosion erupted behind him! A terrifying shockwave, mixed with a scorching heatwave, poured into the trench, tossing him away violently like a fallen leaf!

"Urgh!"

Lin Feng's body uncontrollably slammed against the hard, cold wall, and severe pain instantly swept through his entire body. He felt that some of his ribs might have broken, and warm liquid flowed down from his forehead, blurring his vision.

The world became silent in his ears, save for a sharp ringing sound. He lifted his head with difficulty, his blurred vision seeing that the repair shop had turned into a sea of fire, with burning wreckage and twisted metal scattered everywhere.

The rain was still falling, and the cold rainwater landed on his burning face, slightly stimulating his increasingly fading consciousness.

"I can't die... Xiaoyu... is still waiting for me..."

He used his last ounce of strength, attempting to prop up his body, but his arms went limp, and he collapsed to the ground again. His field of vision grew darker and darker, and the flickering of the firelight became slow and distant.

Just before his consciousness was about to sink completely into darkness, his blurred vision saw that in the midst of the sea of fire, a strange fragment, about the size of a fingernail, flickering with a faint blue arc of light and appearing to be made of pure data, was floating silently. As if it had a life of its own, it slowly, unswervingly, flew toward the direction where he lay.

"What is that..."

This was the last thought in his mind. Immediately, endless darkness completely swallowed him.

In the cold rain, only that eerie blue fragment, like a firefly, silently merged into his forehead and disappeared.