The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 21 - 20 My Stories with Old Tang
Chapter 21: Chapter 20 My Stories with Old TangJiang Shu had overheard these two talking before, so he could understand what they were discussing, but he was also confused at the same time. Wasn’t he in the middle of tracking down the Fox’s whereabouts?

Why would it involve the local black gangs of Thirteen District?

”Hercules,” a product of the Huang Kong Group, is armor developed using an internal implantation mode. Once implanted, a person’s physical strength would rise to terrifying levels. If it’s one from the batch that had leaked to the public, then his punching power should be between five hundred to six hundred and fifty kilograms, and the impact force could reach one to one and a half tons.” Gary slowly recited the data he knew well. His police station from top to bottom was tracking down the whereabouts of this batch of military gear, and although his job wasn’t directly related to this, he was very knowledgeable about it from constant exposure.

”One and a half tons? In a human?” Jiang Shu couldn’t help but retort. After all, even Tyson’s heavy punches were only around five hundred pounds or a little over two hundred kilograms. Wouldn’t one and a half tons outright shatter a person?

”However, I didn’t pay attention just now and am not clear if it was a full-body or half-body model. If it’s a half-body, the strength is only two-thirds of the former,” Gary said with a hint of regret.

”Here.” Jiang Shu pulled the recorder up and called up the high-definition photo of the man they had just seen, handing it over to Gary, ”Little Armor recorded it.”

”Full-body,” Gary observed the proportion of the limbs and said without hesitation, then showed a helpless expression, ”This is bad, the full-body version is complete, not only does it have increased strength, but also significantly increased speed, although it does have lower agility, overall, its performance crushes the armor currently equipped by the military.”

”Performance crushes?” Jiang Shu was stunned, ”Then why replace it?”

”You don’t understand,” Wolf shook his head. ”Nowadays, the level of performance is not the only factor in standardizing gear. Creating terrifyingly powerful implant armor is easy, but CSI is what’s most crucial.”

”?” Suddenly, Jiang Shu felt like an idiot, completely clueless. However, fortunately, Xiao Yi had already looked up the meaning of the acronym.

CSI, or Cyber Syndrome Immunization, denotes immunity to Cyber Syndrome.

As everyone knows, in this cyberpunk world, once limb modifications or internal armor implantations exceed a certain limit, individuals are highly susceptible to Cyber Syndrome, becoming cold-blooded, brutal, and murderously insane.

Thus, the CSI index is the core element in evaluating such equipment. Even military personnel who have undergone stringent training and can endure these enhancements better than ordinary people will be deemed unfit for service if they accidentally trigger a widespread outbreak of Cyber Syndrome within the army.

And this particular batch of military gear had been phased out and replaced because there were four incidents of Cyber Syndrome occurring in the military due to ”Hercules.”

”Tell Police Chief Tang that we’ve discovered a Disciple equipped with ’Hercules’ and request backup from the Violent Terror Mobile Team,” Wolf prodded Gary and whispered the instruction.

”Yes.” Gary immediately walked to a nearby alley to make the call.

As he left, a strong light suddenly shot out from the shop, followed by a large vehicle, approximately six meters long, charging out and speeding past the street before vanishing around the corner.

”That’s... that’s an armored transport!” Wolf was startled, yet he didn’t hesitate. He dashed to his car and dove in, ”Follow that truck!”

Jiang Shu felt helpless. He truly did not want to get involved in this mess, but he had no choice now that the arrow was nocked to the bowstring; he had to quickly follow suit.

”Boom—” The accelerator was floored in an instant, and the streamlined sports car roared, catching up in a flash.

”Eh?” Gary in the alleyway also saw the two speeding vehicles, and he stood dumbfounded until Tang Hexun asked him several times on the phone before he continued, ”They’re chasing that Disciple now...”

”Damn it, why be so impulsive? Even if he’s T2, he’s not from Combat Sequence!” Tang Hexun rarely cursed, then instructed Gary, ”You try to keep up, I’ll contact the Mobile Team right now.”

”...Yes.” Gary looked around to see an empty street with no vehicles in sight. How was he supposed to follow?

By the eleven bus?

The armored vehicle drove from the secluded suburbs to the busy city center. It was late at night, but the area was still bustling with people, bright lights, and lively nightlife.

Fortunately, the armored vehicle in front didn’t seem to be intent on speeding through the busy area, simply maintaining a steady speed toward a particular destination.

Wolf too only dared dangle far behind the transport, cautious not to draw attention. If the transport noticed them and initiated a life-or-death high-speed chase in the city center, not only would his police career be over, but a major disciplinary action would be unavoidable.

”Hello? Wolf, you’re tailing that Disciple, right?” Tang Hexun called in, and Wolf redirected the call to his sports car’s smart system to answer, putting it on the speaker, so Jiang Shu could hear as well.

”Yeah, Old Tang, I’ve got measure,” Wolf responded. ”I’ll follow and see what happens, will send you the location shortly, just track us in real-time, and make sure to access the surveillance along the route. The way this Disciple is swaggering about, I suspect it’s a trick.”

”Understood,” Tang Hexun replied. ”I’ll contact the Mobile Team.”

”Tell them to hurry. If they’re late to the scene and civilians get hurt, they’re fully responsible!” Wolf spat out and then hung up the phone.

Ironically, this highlighted a problematic quirk: the police station and the Terrorism Control Bureau had clearly defined jurisdictions, but because they were too clearly defined, it often resulted in inefficiency.

The police handled gangs, while the Terrorism Control Bureau was in charge of cyber psychopaths and Mutants. So, who dealt with gangs that possessed cybernetic enhancements? What to do if several half-mechanized lunatics suddenly appeared while apprehending a gang?

”Old... Old Tang?” Jiang Shu noticed the way Wolf had addressed Tang Hexun.

”Yep, I’ve known him for a long time.” With no one from Thirteen District Police Station around, Wolf made no effort to hide it, ”We were classmates at the police academy; I went to Seventh District and he to Thirteen District.”

”Thirteen District’s much more chaotic than Seventh, so he got promoted much quicker than me and is now the big boss of the Thirteen District Police Station,” Wolf explained.

Jiang Shu was somewhat bemused, ”Yet you guys... are still at loggerheads!”

Wolf chuckled and said, ”Can’t help it, it’s healthy competition. If he doesn’t pressure the officers using Seventh District as an excuse, it’s hard for him to justify overtime. In the end, it’s all for the sake of world peace.”

”So these officers are resentful but unable to complain, venting their hostility onto Seventh District’s police station instead?” Jiang Shu understood, but he still mentally paid his respects to his colleagues from Thirteen District Police Station. No wonder, despite it being past eight in the evening, the Thirteen District Police Station was still ablaze with lights; they had such a culture of overtime ingrained.

”Indeed, but these are minor issues. The improved level of social order in Thirteen District is evident to everyone, and for this, the entire staff of Thirteen Police Station has been rewarded with commendations and pay raises by the higher-ups,” Wolf replied.

Jiang Shu regarded this with newfound respect.