Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

According to Sister Ji, she’s been at the Red Dream Club, mixing drinks and watching people drive, and she’s already sick of it.

’I also want to watch people drive all day!’ Plane

’Shut up! Interrupt Sister again and I’ll mute you!’

’Got it!’

Besides, she has to dodge the advances of all sorts of unsavory NPCs. But her only joy as a bartender is chatting with those drunken NPCs about life and ideals. Deep conversations.

And anyone holding a Red Dream Club VIP card is at least a mid-level manager in a company, so Sister Ji knows a lot of secrets about Nightless City.

’Sister Ji, why don’t you write all this stuff as background material? Isn’t it more interesting than posting risqué pictures every day?’ Plane

[You’ve muted player ’Plane’ for one hour]

’Your idea is good, but muting is still necessary.’

Anyway, just last night, a regular at Red Dream Club, a balding mid-level manager from the well-known company in Nightless City, ’Deep Image’, complained to Sister Ji.

His daughter is in an online relationship!

He wants to hire a hitman to take down this scumbag!

At first, Sister Ji didn’t take it seriously, but when she logged in the next morning, she found a new task on the system panel.

[Task: Hired Assassination]

Difficulty: Normal+

Task Brief: Benson, a mid-level manager at Deep Image, has asked you to eliminate her daughter’s boyfriend without her knowing.

Task Objective: Kill the target boyfriend

Task Reward: 2000 Experience Points, Benson’s Favor +100, Blueprint*1, ’Deep Image’ Product*1

Note: This task exceeds the player’s level range, task sharing can be chosen, and shared experience points can be reasonably distributed among participating players.

’So, here’s this sudden task, to kill the ex-boyfriend. Everyone, feel free to speak up.’

[You’ve unmuted player ’Plane’]

’Sister Ji, he’s the current boyfriend, not the ex.’

The only girl in the group, PP Boss, weakly said.

’Nonsense, once you take out this guy, he becomes the ex!’ Sister Ji defiantly replied.

’Question!’ Plane

’Fire away’

’What does Deep Image do? Do image design?’

’They say it’s an advertising company that undertakes various virtual ad services. Remember that Aidolu ten stories high? That’s designed by their company.’

’By the way, those holographic ads you encounter in the streets are theirs too.’

’Damn, the root of all evil!’

’It’s actually this damn company!’

’My first death was because I inexplicably signed loads of contracts, got chased by collectors, and committed suicide by jumping off a building! There’s always a culprit. Sister Ji, let’s change the assassination target, take out this guy!’ Hei Bing No. 1.

’Nonsense, I’m always risking harassment to get a task like this, isn’t easy for me,’ Sister Ji sent an angry emoji.

’Question!’ Plane

’Keep firing’

’May I ask, is his daughter underage?’

’Err, probably underage, but are you asking about factory date or run time?’

’???’

’Is his daughter a bionic man?’ I Love Eating Buns

’I’ve been saying it’s an online relationship, how come it’s still a bionic man? Are any of you comprehending the question? Virtual daughter, virtual character, Artificial Intelligence!’

Sister Ji sent several angry emojis.

’...’

’...’

’...’

’Sister Ji, I should say something, but not sure if I should!’ Plane

’Keep firing!’

’What exactly is Benson’s daughter?’

’Did he raise a Miracle Nikki?’ PP Boss

’Similar to Aidolu?’

’Pretty much, his wife is an intermediate AI, and they specifically went to the Mother City to do data regeneration, and spent years fine-tuning the program to raise an AI daughter.’

’City dwellers really know how to play!’ Eldest Brother Hui sent an amazed emoji.

’Alright, don’t ramble, this task is time-sensitive. According to this balding man’s story, he accidentally discovered his daughter plans to meet this guy offline, thus he decided to have him killed. Once they meet, there’d be no chance.’

’Is her daughter’s boyfriend a local?’

’Doesn’t seem so, heard he’s an artist from the Other Shore of Freedom.’

’Other Shore of Freedom, definitely something’s wrong,’ Eldest Brother Hui

’What do you mean?’

’Other Shore of Freedom, the largest consciousness download black market in the planet’s Southern Hemisphere. Her boyfriend is either a scam artist with a downloaded electronic persona, a human-form virus, or a potential criminal implanted with criminal chip. In short, there’s no normal person from Other Shore of Freedom.’

’Or going further, this boyfriend himself is a business spy sent by a rival company to bring down Benson.’

’Boss you’re awesome!’

’Eldest Brother, you know so much!’

’Eldest Brother Hui, are you the legendary Dragon Proud Sky starter, the mob legend Godfather’s adopted child?’

’Does your father need a grandson?’

’...’ Eldest Brother Hui.

’@Eldest Brother Hui, ignore them, keep talking,’ Sister Ji

’Alright, assuming this boyfriend has a problem, here’s the issue. If you don’t take him down immediately and shut his consciousness, he’s bound to choose to escape.’

’Assassinated…definitely escape, what’s the problem?’

’When I say escape, I mean consciousness transfer.’

’If he is a secondary consciousness himself, his flesh is merely a temporary vessel, he’ll choose consciousness upload.’

’If he is a human-form virus, he’ll start spreading widely.’

’If implanted with a criminal chip, before dying will definitely take a big group, including Benson’s daughter.’

’In short, if you don’t take him down immediately and shut his consciousness, then you’re in trouble.’

’Only the most dangerous and strongest hidden profession, Cyber Hacker, can handle these data layer issues on-site. We definitely can’t.’

The group naturally replied with a series of ’666’.

’Of course, this is the worst-case scenario, but perhaps the boyfriend is just an unaware youngster flaunting the Other Shore title.’

’After all, the task’s difficulty is just ordinary, unlikely monsters would show up, but it’s the ’+’ sign that makes one uneasy.’

Eldest Brother Hui added.

’So, to complete the task 100%, can’t go the gang up route; it must be One-Hit Kill?’ Sister Ji

’Exactly.’

’Does anyone have a sniper rifle, or have skill points on using sniper rifles?’ Sister Ji asked.

The group went silent

’Sis, it’s only been 5 days since the server opened, the game map is vast, most players are still exploring.’

’I do have a sniper rifle in my shop, if it’s just temporary use…’ I Love Eating Buns

’Your shop? Bro, you already have a shop!?’ Plane

’Working soul, working spirit’

Baozi sent a humble emoji.

This plan was eventually scrapped because not mentioning sniper rifles, most didn’t have skills with regular firearms.

I Love Eating Buns dared not ’lend’ out the sniper rifle now, fearing he’d have to kill himself in compensation if broken.

’@Eldest Brother Hui, Boss Hui, what’s your idea?’ Sister Ji.

’I might have a way, but not sure if I can make it.’

’Boss, where are you?’ Plane asked

’In a villa by the sea, training with a bunch of identical-looking guys. They want to kill me, I want to kill them.’

’I’ve seen this episode—family feud!!’ PP Boss excitedly chimed in.

’I actually have a candidate,’ Baozi hesitated a bit but sent the message: ’But I’m not sure he’ll come.’

’Have a task and not come, might be an idiot?’ Plane

’Uh, he accepted a hidden task.’

’Damn Europeans!’ Hei Bing No. 2

’Is his level high enough? One-Hit Kill has attribute requirements.’ Eldest Brother Hui

’I asked him yesterday, he’s already level 9, might reach level 10 today.’

’...’

This time, even Eldest Brother Hui responded with an ellipsis.

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