Faulty Utopia

After leaving the building, Sun Jack and his companion re-entered the car Song 6 had commandeered and headed southeast.

Without a map, Sun Jack could only guess by relying on Tapai's verbal directions that he was still roaming around the outskirts of Metropolis.

About two hours later, they reached their destination.

Song 6 flicked his electronic cigarette into the rain and said, "This is it, Shendong Street. It may look like just a street full of sundries, but if you know the right people, you can find anything here."

Through the car window, the most eye-catching sight was the huge, decaying Buddha statue at the end of the street, its steel reinforcements exposed in many places due to acid rain erosion, giving it a particularly derelict appearance.

In the pouring rain, the Buddha statue sat with its eyes closed, weathering the downpour. It leaned back against a statue of Jesus, the two colossal figures supporting each other to avoid collapsing.

Around the statue was a cluster of shops of all sizes, their neon signs blinking incessantly at the entrance, whatever it took to exaggerate and draw attention.

Among these shops selling a myriad of items, one in particular caught Sun Jack's attention instantly: its neon sign alternated between the black, white, and yellow of funeral wreaths, paper money, and coffins, and the pink, purple, and black of various sex toys.

The contrast of these two adjacent sides was startling.

"Let's go, it's this shop here," Song 6 said as he walked towards the store.

"With technology so advanced, people still use funeral wreaths?" Sun Jack asked with a hint of curiosity as he followed inside.

As soon as he entered, Sun Jack saw a monk wearing a Circuit Board Cassock and sporting six scars on his head, busily playing on a computer. In the center of the shop, on a throne, was a Mechanical Buddha illuminated by electronic candles.

Glancing at the peculiar little trinkets on the side, Sun Jack thought to himself, "Heh, Ukiyo-e printed on condoms, propagating traditional culture, huh? Looks like this is a Japanese Monk."

However, Sun Jack soon realized that wasn't quite right; the monk was Caucasian.

It was clear that the shopkeeper was highly creative, merging the incongruous elements of funeral goods and erotic toys in a multidimensional fusion.

Aside from the regular merchandise in the shop, there were special items like sexy mourner's clothing and paper vibrators intended as grave offerings for the deceased.

Sun Jack didn't quite understand it, but he was thoroughly shocked.

"Yo~ bro, long time no see," Song 6 walked over, stretching out his steel fingers to flick the monk's head. The collision made a crisp clanging sound.

"Oh? Is that not Pus Shizhu? I thought you had passed away, Buddha bless, Buddha bless," the monk said cheerily, pulling the data cable from the jack in his head.

He didn't switch languages; it seemed he was speaking his mother tongue.

"Hahaha, King Kong, any new System Chips coming in lately?"

At this question, the monk's face shifted, and he quickly looked behind the three visitors. "Amitabha, I don't know what you're talking about. I only sell legitimate goods here," he asserted.

On the side, Sun Jack, hearing this, returned the black and white impermanence massage stick to the shelf with an exasperated expression.

Sun 6 turned to look at the other two and suddenly had an epiphany, "Oh, no problem, these are all bros. The kind you trust with your life, riding with me, they won't report you."

Hearing this, the monk named King Kong finally breathed a sigh of relief. As he snapped his fingers, the mechanical Buddha worshiped on the lotus throne crawled down to mind the store in his place.

Then he led the two men towards the side door. "Hey, you should have said so earlier. I thought the cops were here on a sting operation."

The side door opened, and as they descended the stairs, it suddenly became a whole lot clearer.

Under the clean, bright white light, brand new prosthetic bodies were neatly arranged on rows of shelves, with two crab-like robots standing by.

Compared to the mess upstairs, this place clearly looked like a retail space.

Sun 6 threw his arm casually around the monk, telling the two, "Bro, let me introduce him again. This is King Kong, modifying master, his skills are fucking amazing, but he's also a sneaky merchant. If you buy second-hand goods from him, be cautious, or else when your heart is about to be shot through, the spare heart pump you bought might just... have insufficient power!!"

No sooner had he said this than his expression changed instantly. With a smack, he drew a gun from his waist and pressed it against King Kong's forehead.

"Motherfucker! After all the stuff I've bought from you, you dare to screw me over! Six holes, right? Don't make me put a few more in your head!!"

"No, no, no. Let's talk about it. We can talk!" Feeling the cold muzzle, King Kong immediately panicked, rapidly gesturing with his hands, sweat streaming.

"So, how are we gonna settle this? I almost died because of your fucking shoddy goods! Huh? Say it! Speak up!"

Sun 6 barked threateningly, his expression ferocious.

Just when Sun Jack thought the other was about to pull some stunt, Sun 6 suddenly holstered the gun, grinning cheekily at a snickering Sun Jie, "Come on, come pick something. Any system chip is free today."

Sun Jack hadn't expected this was how Sun 6 intended to solve his system issues.

By now, he could see Sun 6 was the type who wouldn't spend a penny unless necessary; his chances of survival were scavenged, his house was scavenged, and even the promised neural system was scavenged—complete freeloader.

Soon Sun Jack saw a row of chips gleaming with a cold light, the size of fingernails, displayed before him, with logos he didn't recognize. He only listened as King Kong went on and on with his pitch,

"Honored Pus Shizhu, how about this one? The ALT1G Model 3, comes with an automatic translator and can link to firearms, displaying the ammunition count in real-time, plus it has a hacking system that shows the enemy's ammo count."

"Don't go for that one. Nowadays, which neural system doesn't show ammo count or translate automatically? You have the nerve to bring up such common features?" Sun 6 chimed in from the side.

"And the hacking system in that outdated model is even less useful. Leave a port open, and not only can no one hack through it, but it's also prone to being hacked instead."

He picked up another one from the side, "Go for this. This is the most expensive one here at the monk's place, built-in Level 4 Surveillance Jammer, Pain Editor, temporary ICE, Dopamine Circulator."

Perhaps wanting King Kong to bleed a little, Sun 6 kept picking the pricier options, King Kong's twitching face betraying his pain.

Sun Jack took the coin-sized, blue chip from his hand, pondered for a moment. The two choices from yesterday were actually not good, and the best approach was to find a middle ground.

"Is there a way to not install the neural system in the brain but achieve the same effect? Like through an external device or something?" Sun Jack asked.