Cyberpunk:Robotic Reverie

"The Frontal Lobe Gang is here, right?" Paul Parker looked at the poorly-lit neon sign, which had a string of Japanese words on it and "Welcome" underneath, but now it looked more like a garbled mess. The sun shone in from the double-glazed windows and stopped in front of the door. Although it was already morning, the shops around were all locked, with only the dark red emergency lights on. Not a single person could be seen walking through the entire floor, only flies buzzing around the garbage scattered at the door.

Feeling a bit flustered, he walked quickly to the other side of the circular corridor. In the middle of the corridor, a store stood alone with its door open, and bright white lights shone from inside.

He approached and saw electronic devices hanging on the walls on both sides of the store. A fierce-looking man stood behind the counter, eyeing Paul, which made him a little uneasy.

"I'm from the firm," Paul said. The man nodded and said nothing.

Paul took a bag out of his backpack. Oh? It seemed the zipper wasn't closed tightly, revealing a small ball inside. Not wanting the customers to see, he zipped it up and handed the bag to the man at the front desk.

The man stretched out his metal-shelled arm and took the bag. Seeing this, Paul quickly turned around and left, jogging to the car and fleeing the building.

…

After arriving at the school, Paul breathed a sigh of relief. He closed the pop-up class schedule and headed straight to the library. After connecting to the Guitar University database, he discovered something unsettling - finding information about time travel in the entire database was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Even if you entered a keyword, the information that popped up could exceed the amount of information in the entire world, not to mention the need to eliminate all kinds of fantasy literature.

Time passed by unknowingly, and the effect of the energy capsules gradually wore off.

After spending an entire day changing a few keywords, Paul barely managed to filter out a little bit of information from the endless data. He glanced at the time. It was not long after nightfall, and it was still early for him. After all, his anxious mood far outweighed the physical discomfort.

He stretched his stiff neck and loosened his knuckles, squeezing out the air from the joints, making a crackling sound. Just as he was about to dive into the documents, the communication suddenly rang.

"Why haven't you come to pick me up yet?" Autumn appeared on the screen with a stern face.

Paul slapped his head. Indeed, there was such an item in the schedule, but he had originally planned to find the information and a way to go back directly, not caring about anything after "arriving at the university."

"Can't you go back on your own?"

"Are you stupid? Try walking one kilometer in the low-security area! If you go any further, bikers will be out roaming. Come quickly!" After throwing a tantrum, she hung up the phone.

Paul sighed. It seemed he wouldn't be able to find what he wanted from the sea of information today. He might as well continue to play the role of "Paul Parker." He pulled out the connector, jumped off the chair, stretched himself, and walked to the door.

As soon as he walked out the door, a tall, thin man with blond hair approached him.

"There you are, I've been looking for you."

"Ah! Graham!" Paul said in feigned surprise, trying to find an excuse to slip away.

The man in front of him, whose appearance was so striking he could make a young girl faint with just a smile, was Graham Friesen, the best friend of "the original Paul Parker" in college.

Graham put his arm around Paul's shoulders and said, "I didn't see you in class today, Paul? Why did you stay in the library for so long? Could it be..."

"Get lost." Paul pushed Graham away. Apart from his appearance, this young man's character was only regrettable. The energy capsule had been digested, and Paul felt hungry. He flipped through the empty backpack and found no organic matter that could supplement nutrition.

Click.

A small black ball fell out because of Paul's action. He picked it up and looked at it but couldn't recognize what it was.

"Oh? It's a functional module." Graham suddenly became interested and snatched the ball to examine it carefully. "There is no number or model number. Where did you get it from?"

What is this? Paul quickly checked and found that the functional module is a modified or enhanced component of the terminal, usually controlled by the terminal after injection. Common ones include beauty modules that control metabolism and sleep modules that promote sleep.

"I don't know. Maybe a passing bird threw it in. Do you recognize what this function is?"

"Not really. Without the serial number and model, it's hard to find out who the manufacturer is. But," Graham paused and looked at Paul with ill intent, "you'll know if you try it."

"Hey, where did you get the syringe from? Why is there someone here?"

Just like being bitten by a mosquito, the nanorobots were released from the black ball, entered his blood vessels, and flowed throughout his body with the blood. After a burst of itching, his muscles spasmed unconsciously.

Then, a dialog box popped up in front of him.

A new functional module has been detected. Do you want to activate it?

Activation is successful.

"Primary combat module?" Paul read out the name displayed on the terminal word by word.

"Wow." Graham whistled. "Combat modules are the number one banned product, strictly prohibited from being circulated among the public. If the Peace Guards find out, then..." As he spoke, he made a throat-slitting gesture.

Seeing that Graham's expression didn't seem to be a lie, Paul suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, swallowed his saliva, and didn't know what to say. He didn't want to start over again so soon.

Seeing his nervous look, Graham smiled and said, "Don't worry, this is Guitar University; everyone has some prohibited items. Look at the people in the sports department, everyone has a military-grade neural implant."

"Then I won't be caught by the police, right?"

"No, no. Why don't we try out the effect of this module?" Graham said, eager to try.

"No, I still have to pick someone up."

Paul suddenly thought of Autumn, checked the time, and left Graham behind, running away.

At the highest speed on the aerial track, the flying car rushed past the car in front, causing a little commotion. However, a moment later, the flying car slid into the aerial entrance of the roadside building with a beautiful tailspin.

Paul parked the car in a hurry and almost knocked over the cheap plastic railing. Autumn had returned to the gym because she had waited too long.

When Paul entered the elevator, the stench and heat almost overwhelmed him in this steel cage. The scenes of the floors slowly appeared and disappeared from the wire mesh that replaced the elevator door. The cold air that came out instantly mixed with the smell inside the elevator, forming a strange scent. When he was almost at the limit of holding his breath, the elevator finally reached its destination, and Paul rushed out the moment the wire mesh opened.

Paul breathed in the turbid air that had been circulated several times, and his mind was full of questions. Why is this 19th-century old elevator still in use?

He sent a message to Autumn, telling her that he had arrived. A few seconds later, there was a ding-dong sound, and it was Autumn who replied.

Autumn: It's not convenient now. Wait a minute. It's not convenient for me to come out right away.

Isn't she in the gym? Paul's mind suddenly popped up with many unknown film and television themes. Driven by his sense of justice, he opened the terminal and found the location of the gym on the Internet in just a few minutes.

After turning several corners in the maze-like floors, he finally found the gym. The gym was in the busiest market, but from the outside, there was only an inconspicuous neon sign hanging on the door frame, and inside the door frame was a deep corridor without even a light. The light seeping from the depths barely indicated that the store was still open.

The moment Paul stepped into the corridor, he understood what Autumn meant by "inconvenient." Two men were squatting at the door, smoking something that was glowing green in the darkness. The sweet smell came over, making Paul feel dry in the mouth. The light leaking from the dojo hit the two men, refracting on the greasy implanted muscles.

This is not very convenient for me. The situation in front of him made Paul a little troubled. After thinking for a moment, he walked over. The man raised his head, with an unnatural excitement in his eyes.

"What are you doing here, kid?"

"Ah, I can't find a toilet nearby, I want to go in."

"What?!" The muscles on the thug's face bulged, and it was unclear whether it was because he didn't hear clearly or because he was in a bad mood.

"It's okay. I'll go first." Paul turned around and wanted to leave. Maybe it would be better to ask Charlie what to do about this matter.

"Come back! Do you look down on me, kid?"

The two thugs suddenly stood up and attacked Paul in a twisted posture.

Just as the sandbag-sized fist was about to hit him in the face, a line of small words flashed in the lower left corner of his vision, and his body moved on its own.

Threat detected, primary combat module activated.

He dodged the grab by leaning sideways, ducked to avoid a straight punch, and used the power of rising to hit the thug's chin with the base of his right hand. The shock to the vagus nerve made the thug stagger and fall down.

Wait, what's going on? Paul was like a bystander, watching his body operate on its own.

Another thug slammed his head against the wall, leaving spider-web-like cracks on the fragile concrete wall. He turned his body, held down the thug's head as it was about to rise, and hit the thug on the back of his head with his elbow. The thug fell to the ground and twitched twice.

Threat eliminated.

So cool, was this made by me? Paul looked at his hands and couldn't believe what he saw.

"Clang clang clang!"

The sound of the bell made him turn around immediately. It turned out that the glass door of the dojo was pushed open. The girl with flaming red hair had a long sword hanging on her waist. She held the handle of the sword and looked at the scene in surprise.

"Paul, what's going on?"

"They slipped."

"Ka. (Sound of sword being drawn)"

"Okay, okay, actually I took a martial arts class in college recently, and then they wanted to beat me up, so I... actually used reasonable self-defense."

"Really?" Autumn looked at Paul doubtfully and let go of the knife handle. "Wait for me, let's go back."

On the way back, Autumn seemed to want to ease the awkwardness and said,

"It's a pity you didn't meet the boss. He's a very interesting person..."

"Running around with a samurai sword?"

"No, it's another kind of fun."

"By the way, why did they suddenly want to beat me? Can't I even tell them to go to the bathroom?"

"They are from the surrounding gangs. You just came when they were high. Who else should they beat if not you?"

"Then why in front of the store?"

"Because... I'm monitoring the gym."

In the building.

Paul did not realize that since he left the office, there had been a pair of eyes following him in the dark.

At this moment, the owner of the eyes watched him get on the flying car, smiled slightly, and jumped out of the air exit.

(End of this chapter)