Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Morgue, Tamil and Apu arrived at what Apu called the 'Black Market Transformation Point'.

The environment here was somewhat like a vegetable market, except what was being divided were human corpses, and the bloody scene was extremely terrifying.

The two walked amidst it, seeing well-dressed men coming and going, vaguely hearing words like organs and prices.

Apu frowned and gave Tamil a look, the two walked to the very back of the market, where there was a curtain covered by plastic sheeting, outside stood two hulking men.

"Brother, I have an appointment with your boss for yesterday."

One of the hulking men looked at Apu and nodded, Apu smiled and pushed open the door to enter.

Inside was a prosthetic body modification workshop, on a welding bed, a bald fat man was adjusting a mechanical arm, amidst the 'sizzling' sound of electric sparks, the bald fat man injected oil into the adjusted mechanical arm and then inserted it into the socket on the shoulder, as the current flashed by, the metal fingers began 'myoelectric reactions'.

Unfortunately, for some reason, the thumb wouldn't move, the bald fat man tried several times but couldn't fix it, angrily yanked off the mechanical arm and smashed it to the side.

"So, do you want me to do it, or are you going to cut off your hand yourself?"

Tamil frowned, stepped forward abruptly, and grabbed the reaching arm of the other party.

The artificial muscles on the other arm of the bald fat man began to bulge, with veins popping out densely.

While the muscles on Tamil's right hand also bulged, but his muscles looked more like metal.

Both men's arms were enhanced in some way, ending in a draw.

The bald fat man retracted his arm, looked admiringly at Tamil and said, "You have the eyes of a butcher, how about it, want to work with me? I can do an enhanced transformation for you for free."

"No need."

The bald fat man glanced at the two men's arms and sneered, "So, you both have a fixed Prosthetic Doctor, so why come here?"

"To buy information," Apu smiled.

"I only sell information to acquaintances, if it weren't for you saying yesterday that you wanted to sell your hand, I wouldn't even bother with you," the bald fat man sneered repeatedly, not taking them seriously at all.

"Is that so? What if I said there's an acquaintance in the Security Corps," Apu pulled up a tiger's skin for a flag.

"I run a legitimate business, I have merchant travel permits, even the Security Corps can't stop my goods for no reason, who do you think my goods are sold to."

The bald fat man's expression became dangerous, and the scattered human body parts around began to move.

A creepy feeling gradually emerged.

"What about Radiation Organs, surely you're interested in those."

Sure enough, the bald fat man showed some interest, waved his hand, and the crawling mechanical bodies around stopped.

Apu remained calm and said, "I have a large batch of Radiation Organs on hand, if you need them, we can cooperate."

"Out-of-towners?"

B-level Radiation Beasts are rare in the Desolate Desert, Radiation Organs can only be imported from other deserts.

"You must have heard of the Beast Tide, our head collected a large amount of Biological Materials in the central area, including organs of B-level Radiation Beasts."

"I have indeed heard of the Beast Tide, those corporate dogs, ever since they used those strange drugs, they don't leave any benefits," the bald fat man nodded, "if you truly have Radiation Organs on hand, I can indeed do business with you, according to my rules, the first piece of information is free."

"Can I ask now?" Apu asked.

"Of course."

"I want information about 'God'."

"Leader of the Flame Motorcycle Faction? That is indeed an arrogant guy, what, are you going to deal with him?"

"That's a secret."

"Fair enough, that Flame Pass is a prime location, many have eyed it, but unfortunately, none succeeded," the bald fat man looked at the two meaningfully.

"Alright, I won't beat around the bush, did you know how old that 'God' guy is this year?"

Apu was stunned, shook his head, the warlords in the Land of Flames are called genetic maniacs for their rampant use of gene modification techniques, their own people don't even know if their leader is a genetic clone or his original self.

Or if he's merely someone else in disguise after cosmetic surgery.

"It's a very secretive piece of news, that guy hasn't been replaced, still the original, and he's already 95 years old this year."

Apu was shocked, 95 years old, so old, isn't he a World War II veteran?

"That's all I can reveal to you," the bald fatman grinned, "if you plan to deal with him, you might want to consider his age."

"Haha, if that's the case, then we'll just—"

"Who said you can leave?" the bald fat man's expression changed, coldly said, "You think I'm an idiot, that by saying a few words you can get a precious piece of information from me?"

He pointed his carrot-thick finger at Tamil.

"He stays, you leave, I'll wait for you to bring the Radiation Beast organs you spoke of."

"Also, according to my rules, since you're here, you have to leave something behind."

"What do you plan to leave?"

Apu's expression remained unchanged, but his finger pressed on the Single-Molecule Line Ejector.

However, an unexpected sound rang out.

"I'll pay his debt for him."

Two blood-soaked fingers pressed down on the table.

Tamil took a drag on his cigarette and calmly looked at the other person.

"Hahaha, interesting, interesting, you can leave now!"

Apu twitched his eye, walked to the door, and suddenly said, "You're not a local, are you?"

"Hmm?"

"I caught a whiff of that city's stink on you."

"Hahaha, someone able to see through my identity, not bad, not bad. Staying in this dump for too long, I've almost forgotten my original status. Tell your boss, we're all decent folks; as long as it's mutually beneficial, everything's up for trade. I've got a lot of good stuff."

Apu pushed aside the plastic curtain, and at some unknown point, a crowd had gathered outside, two-thirds of them replaced by mechanical bodies.

'The level of modification on these guys is pretty exaggerated, like us. Does someone manage their mechanical rejection?'

Not until then did Apu realize Tamil's behavior was correct. If they really fought, the two of them likely wouldn't make it out alive.

'Carelessness. Thought Flame Land only had those warlord big shots to worry about. Didn't expect these monsters in the underground world.'

Looking at the organ market in front of him, Apu's eyes grew grim.

After dealing with that 'god', this one would be the next target.

...

"You all seem so helpless. Can't manage without an old man like me, can you?"

At a campsite near Flame Pass, the captains of eight Mechanical Hunter teams gathered around. Among them, the old Crawler was smug, clearly in an exceptionally good mood.

Matsushima Keiko was furious, drew her blade, ready to charge, but Old Gua urgently stopped her, sizing up the opponent.

"Captain Crawler, you seem to have grown stronger?"

"Heh heh heh heh, the old man's current strength is beyond your imagination."

Old Gua was also an old acquaintance of the opponent's, both veteran Hunters from Automobile City. Of the initial six elite teams, five were wiped out in the Beast Tide.

Among them, Crawler performed the best, even reaching the top three on the rankings at one point.

Just for this achievement, Old Gua wouldn't underestimate him. But in his impression, this one always had a cowardly personality. How did he suddenly become so arrogant?

"Don't stare. Biological transformation might have messed with the old man's brain; he was like this when he arrived," retorted Sunx Tu with his sharp tongue.

Compared to the enigmatic depth of Crawler, this guy's strength was more obvious. The mechanical arm as thick as a barrel, the one hundred percent mechanical body, and the muzzles all over his body looked overwhelmingly powerful.

Sunx Tu's smugness was no less than that of the opponent's.

"See this, the latest gorilla module developed by the base. Wait, I'll transform and show you."

"Super Gorilla, transform!"

In the next moment, metal struts deployed, mechanical plates covered his limbs, a ton of mechanical parts reorganized, numerous jet vents squeezed out from the joints, and he transformed directly from a human form into a four-meter-tall mechanical gorilla.

"Whoa, two types of mechanical bodies! Brother Tu, you're awesome!"

"Such a level of transformation, was it done by the boss himself?"

"I'm so envious. When can I get such an advanced mechanical body?"

The eyes of a crowd of Mechanical Hunters lit up, touching and examining as if the other party was a top-notch beauty with a great figure.

"Huh? Brother Tu, why aren't you speaking?"

"Bullshit, how can a gorilla speak human?" Crawler said sourly from the side.

Sunx Tu reverted to human form and angrily said, "Rubbish, it's just that the vocal organ isn't installed yet. Once it's equipped, there'll be no problem."

"You know this mechanical module is an experimental version, right?"

"What's wrong with the experimental version? It still works the same."

A Mechanical Hunter timidly asked.

"Brother Tu, why do you shout that line when transforming? Is it voice-activated?"

Sunx Tu blushed and said, "According to boss's explanation, shouting before transformation provides a combat power boost."

"Really? High-tech!"

"So, Brother Tu, after shouting, did you indeed feel stronger?"

Sunx Tu hesitated a moment, uncertainly said, "It feels like a mysterious power keeps surging from within."

On the other side, Matsushima Keiko poked Crawler and said, "Old man, why does that guy seem so unhappy?"

Everyone knew that the Mechanic Huang Wen had contracted a digital virus, bedridden for months. Now he's finally recovering; based on that, he should be happier than these two.

Could it be a side effect of facial paralysis?

"Don't badmouth me in front of my face, especially when I'm capable of fighting back," Huang Wen turned and said, "We've caught up on old times; it's time to discuss tactics."

"The mission from above is simple, ensure outside Flame Pass, not a single 'Flame Motorcycle Faction' member is left alive."