NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: Chapter 5 "My Father Died
Intelligent terminal, similar to the smartphone Li Ming had in his previous life, but with even more diverse functions.
"Li Changhai's?" Li Ming grew interested, picked up the intelligent terminal--its surface had a strong matte texture, heavy and solid to the touch.
[Katai Starlink Terminal Youth Edition--Unranked: The fourth-generation intelligent terminal produced by Katai Company, with reduced performance.
Control Conditions: 3 points of metal energy
Control Effect: Hacking skills--Beginner
Control Ability--Intelligent Assistance: Capable of mimicking the environmental information within 1m radius around the host and assisting in processing.]
"Youth Edition, the feeling of déjà vu is so strong…" Li Ming muttered. This wasn't Li Changhai's intelligent terminal; it was brand-new.
Li Changhai's old intelligent terminal had broken not long ago, and although he kept saying he would buy a new one, he had made no move to do so.
Upon powering on, he set up the language following the instructions and entered the homepage, skillfully downloading the Starlink, the most widely used software in interstellar space--for shopping, socializing, browsing news, watching videos... live streaming, etc., it could handle it all.
However, generally, the interstellar alliance prohibited members of its civilization from accessing the networks of other civilizations, unless using special methods.
Following his memory, he logged into his Starlink account and a variety of local news immediately popped up.
"Blue Star Civilization and Star Creation Company sign another three-year support agreement!"
"Protests break out again in Silver Grey City, claiming Star Creation Company's violent mining!"
There was also a special news push--"Singer Nuonuo's concert is scheduled for October 18 on Capital Star, please pay attention to ticketing information."
After a quick glance, Li Ming looked at his friends list. There weren't many people: Li Changhai... Yang Boming... Yang Yu...
Yang Yu was Yang Boming's granddaughter. Li Ming paused on this name, it was highlighted in the special attention list, indicating she was online, and memories surged in his mind.
After a few minutes of familiarizing himself with the operation, a message popped up; it was from Yang Yu, with a cute strawberry bear avatar blowing bubbles--"Why haven't you been online for so long?"
"Uh…" Li Ming thought for a moment and typed a message: "My dad died."
There was no immediate response from the other side.
Li Ming didn't mind and began to control the intelligent terminal. This [Intelligent Assistance] seemed quite impressive.
A familiar tingling sensation ran through his mind as codes interwove; Li Ming had no problems surfing the Starlink before, but now he had a deeper understanding.
He knew how to check a website's firewall, understood how texts and pictures were arranged on websites through various methods.
"Should be pretty useful in the interstellar age," he exhaled and activated [Intelligent Assistance].
In an instant, everything before his eyes seemed different, crystal clear--the barely visible dust on the table, fingerprints on the suitcase...
He could see everything within a 1m radius at 360 degrees without any blind spots.
All the corners that he had never paid attention to came to the forefront, yet he felt nothing out of the ordinary, as if he could analyze everything at once.
Hm? What's that?
There was a grey-black wardrobe standing behind the desk. He squatted down, and the slight scratches on the floor were inconspicuous, just two faint lines that were hard to detect unless inspected closely.
Was there something behind the wardrobe? He keenly realized this possibility.
"Quite a few secrets, huh?" Li Ming's interest was piqued, he tried to move it, but it was as if nailed in place, and even with his strength enhanced by the air hammer, it was immovable.
"There might be a mechanism." He stood up, opened the wardrobe. There weren't many clothes. Thanks to the [Intelligent Assistance] mode, he quickly noticed something amiss.
One end of the clothes hanger had signs of being twisted. He tried to touch it, and sure enough, accompanying a clicking sound, several metal layers peeled back, revealing six password rings.
"Damn it…" Li Ming, tired of the omnipresent passwords, couldn't even be bothered to try. He started absorbing metal energy directly.
Soon, the outer metal layer peeled away, revealing the dense bundles of wires and the motherboard underneath. He descended the stairs, pulled out the chip, and looked to see if repair technology could help identify any clues.
It's worth mentioning that, even though his two control slots were already filled, the chip still vanished from his hand, kept as a spare; it could be switched instantly from the Control Bar, but switching again would require a two-hour cooldown.
Familiar knowledge flooded in, and soon, the power supply module, smart chipset, and so on, were all identified by him one by one.
"Rex Smart Lock chipset, this kind of chipset has a fatal flaw; an overload of electricity can cause it to enter a discharge state."
He found a solution; if all else failed, he could only try to smash it open with a hammer, but that would be too noisy.
He connected two wires, using an insulating clamp on the exposed copper part, and blue electric sparks burst forth, accompanied by a slight smell of burning.
With a "ding," the wardrobe split from the center and then slowly moved to the sides. The white light growing from the gap gradually enveloped Li Ming.
Then, his breath caught, and his pupils slowly dilated; behind the wardrobe was a glass display wall, illuminated from all sides.
There was only one thing there, a nearly two-meter long object, pitch black but adorned with purple lightning patterns, propped up at an angle, both imposing and flamboyant.
"Heavy sniper rifle..." Li Ming finally realized, wondering if he had had the [Intelligent Assistance] on for too long because his head felt a bit dizzy.
The gun policy of the Blue Star Civilization wasn't very strict, but obtaining a gun license required tedious procedures, and only small-caliber firearms were in circulation.
The "huge" object before him was obviously against the rules.
But immediately, he could hear his own heartbeat. The glass display case had no password, he easily lifted it, and his palm landed on the sniper rifle.
[Reid Heavy Sniper Rifle--E Class: a high-end product from Reinfeld Arms Company, every rifling is the art of death.
Control Conditions: 800 metal energy points
Control Effect: Assassination Technique--Intermediate
Control Ability--Charged Shot: Charge for one second, augment with 200% speed and 200% strength.]
Simple, brutal!
The cold metallic touch and the conspicuous 800 energy points made Li Ming calm down.
He barely managed to take it down and gave the display stand another careful look, only to find three purple, slender bullets in the corner, longer than his index finger, each marked with lightning patterns.
And two black stands; he attempted to assemble them and then set it up on a table.
It was too beautiful; he couldn't help but try to pull the trigger, and it seemed as if he could already hear the roaring of flames spitting out from the gun barrel.
Collecting his thoughts, a question emerged: What exactly did Li Changhai do?
Li Ming frowned deeply, his focus finally settling on the assassination technique brought by the sniper rifle.
Based on the experiences with the previous items, the effects of the controllable objects were generally related to their inherent characteristics; that made the assassination technique especially intriguing.
He searched his memories carefully, only to find that his predecessor did not have many assumptions about Li Changhai and had never really doubted his identity.
The grandfather of his previous life had died very early, and his mother died of some disease when he was three. Then Li Changhai had gone to do military service, and the young predecessor was placed in an institution on Silver Grey Star.
It was there that various factors cultivated his predecessor's reticence and even a cowardly disposition.
It wasn't until he turned twelve that Li Changhai came back and opened this repair shop.
"Who brings back a heavy sniper rifle from military service? You couldn't even get through Star Harbor inspections," Li Ming concluded that Li Changhai definitely hadn't gone to do military service during that time; it was highly likely he had become an assassin instead.
800 metal energy points were too much for him to afford at present, so he could only reluctantly put it back.
But just as he was about to close the glass cover, something crossed his mind. He took it back down and after tinkering for a while, he managed to remove the approximately thirty-centimeter-long scope.