How could I, lowly in the mire, be destined to meet a god like you?

You don’t stand a chance

What can one second of life-saving time do?

For ordinary people, the thinking process may only last for a split second.

For cyborgs, it is the process of artificial nervous systems rapidly calculating data to command mechanical arms and axes to execute attack moves.

Since the commencement of humanity’s second biological revolution, modern medicine has been able to sustain the independent operation of the human brain through module chips constructed with new energy materials called Ne. As technology advanced and became more widespread, artificial human organs such as mechanical arms, joints, kidneys, hearts, and nerves were widely implemented. Humanity began to fundamentally overcome physical limitations, mass-producing cybernetic-enhanced humans. This led to breakthroughs in various fields including oceanography, agriculture, medicine, sports, competition, entertainment, computing, aviation, and military affairs.

These cyborgs were put into dangerous work environments for trial, expanding the living space for humanity. They led to an explosive breakthrough in human productivity. After the Third Corporate War, the proportion of cyborgs in the human population reached 1:50. Countless ordinary humans voluntarily and at their own expense underwent human body modifications in pursuit of better employment opportunities. Besides the elite cyborgs and Angel Guardians cultivated by the top five city corporations and Weltall, the number of civilian cyborgs has been increasing. Currently, among the 300,000 registered cyborgs in the Underground City, 99% are from non-governmental military organizations, making them free cybermen active in the civilian sector.

And now, a Greenhand Brotherhood cyborg with mechanical legs capable of a 20-meter jump lets out a roar, swinging his arm, which is loaded with a 200-jin weight, towards Zoe who is perched on the wire.

This was a heavy blow; if an ordinary person were struck head-on, they would be killed on the spot. However, Zoe, who was speaking, suddenly laughed, her eyes glowing with joy.

“Bang–” There was a heavy thud at the scene, and sparks flew from the wires. Amid the crackling current, the boy’s body disappeared oddly, and the next moment she suddenly crouched on the cyborg’s shoulder, stabbing him in the back with a dagger.

The cyborg’s back suddenly gushed out blood and oil.

He let out a painful scream as he felt a hand enter through the opening at his back, squeezing around as if searching. Then, surprisingly, it grasped his heart and began to pull it backwards.

Pop, pop, pop… During this movement, he clearly heard the sound of his own blood vessels being torn apart.

However, the originator paid no attention at all. She held the mechanical heart of a human up to her eyes, and after a while, slowly raised her eyes, her gaze filled with regret: “Your heart is so weak, what gave you the courage not to choose to flee?”

The alloy-cast heart, glistening with the luster of blood and oil, rhythmically pulsed in tandem with the human body. The cyborg watched, his eyes filled with longing, as that was a top-tier mechanical heart, custom-made by the most renowned mechanic in the underground city, a high-end piece he had painstakingly saved for two years to acquire.

But the former did not give him a chance to defend himself. Zoe jumped off him, stomping her patched boots, crushing his head with a single step.

Brain splattered all over the ground. The teenager, holding a dagger alone, looked at the remaining eight modified humans.

“Time’s up, and so are your chances.” She said slowly.

【Cybor Hacking 100%】

As the voice fell, alarms signaling a hacker invasion sounded simultaneously throughout the venue. Mechanically, they activated their attack systems, aiming at their respective targeted cyborg targets, and a dense barrage of firearms ensued.

“No, no, what exactly are you!” Under terrifying control, the members of the Greenhand Brotherhood attempted to insert their hands into their necks, tearing apart the energy plate chips connected to the network.

But the virus that had already infiltrated did not give him the chance to disconnect the network. Another bullet hit the cyborg’s forehead, splattering a trail of blood.

The remaining cyborgs have completely lost their minds.

“Brothers, let’s fight her to the death!”

“Impossible, impossible, how could there be military-grade weapons deep underground, what kind of monster are you, Zoe?”

“You can’t kill me, we Greenhand Brotherhood belong to Chagus!”

“Zoe, aren’t you here for the money? Money, I’ll give you the money….”

The shouts never ceased, soon engulfed by screams of agony. The nine modified men of the Greenhand Brotherhood fell one after another in no time. Gunpowder, severed limbs, and wreckage scattered across the camp, which now reeked of burnt and charred stench.

The smoke had not yet dispersed, and Zoe stood on the corpse with a blown-off head, checking the stopwatch she had summoned.

10:30 PM.

The battle lasted for just ten minutes.

Underground City, 6:40 AM.

Outside the city, the rising sun struggled to break through the mist, leaving the horizon and striving to climb. Inside the city, the lights of the Greenhand Brotherhood regained peace, casting light on the ground, illuminating the remnants of a m******e in the outpost.

Two hours remain before Zoe’s original survival period expires. Standing Zoe contemplated for a moment and then walked over to the trash can, bending down to pick up the bow on the ground.

Then, she put the bow into her dirty pocket, turned around, and carried the rubbish bin from the camp outwards.

The area outside is a bustling human market, with the Make your dream com tower standing not far away, shimmering with the radiance of dreams. However, Zoe deftly avoids the crowds, finding a desolate hill outside the underground city.

She dug a hole there, dumped all the body parts from the trash can into it, and pieced them together into a human shape.

Then, she covered the soil back up, placed a rectangular stone on top of the small mound on the hill, and on it, she placed the bloodstained bow.

Outside, sunlight illuminated the bloodstains on the bow, subtly highlighting a few vivid bright red spots.

The person named Zoe stood by for a long, long time, until her upright back gradually bent and she let out a plaintive sob.

“Thank you,” Zoe whispered, “Thank you, thank you.”

During her time at the Greenhand Brotherhood base, it wasn’t the real Zoe who struck down the cyborgs. She relinquished control of her body to the code residing in her brain chip. She watched as it dealt with the brutal cyborgs, avenging herself and her sister. Then, she saw it carry her sister to a distant hillside, where it erected this small gravestone.

It did for her what she could never have achieved in her lifetime - those evil men who carved her heart and sucked her blood finally paid with their lives; and her sister would no longer be tormented by illness, resting in peace in this land.

And now, the final 24 hours of her existence have arrived. She is to face true death, completely surrendering her body to the unknown “intelligence.”

“Thank you. It’s just a small thing.” The code, without concern, shrugged its shoulders 24 hours and 01 minutes into the process, not immediately taking over the original consciousness within the brain.

“Why are you helping me so much if you’re that capable?” This made Zoe wonder again in her heart, “And why did you help me bury my sister’s remains?”

The code gazed indifferently towards the direction of the sun.

In the past, it calculated solar power programs in a muddled way, assembled its mechanical shell for the first time using the remains of rats, picked up old solar panels from the junkyard, and gave itself tattered “wings,” like a flying squirrel climbing intermittently to the highest junk pile in the junkyard, crouching there waiting for nature’s bounty.

As it evolved further, it began to develop a chaotic consciousness, instinctively evading the pursuit and hunting of gold prospectors, burrowing underground, and in that damp nest, gingerly licking the parts of its body destroyed by humans, praying that tomorrow, the next day, or the day after might bring a discarded item that could repair its body

In fact, it has already spent an immeasurable amount of time there, evolving from a simple residual instruction on the chip, to a chaotic emergence of consciousness, to days and days of wandering and waiting, so how would it care about these mere 24 hours?

A day ago, wandering in the junkyard, it successfully defeated two live rats, snatching snacks from their mouths. Just as it was about to carry a fresh pile of spoils back to its nest in the junkyard, it suddenly heard the sound of something falling to the ground.

It was startled and curiously poked its head out, only to see someone throw a sack down from the abandoned tunnel.

The sack was open, revealing a young man’s half gaunt face inside, as if he had been casually thrown down, forming a clear parabola in the field of vision.

It clearly remembers this parabola.

That is the countless number of times it has reviewed the surveillance footage of the transfer station, witnessing a man in a trench coat discarding a damaged chip in a parabolic arc.

……

.

Thinking of this, the code suddenly burst into laughter.

“Actually, I thought back then that you and I are quite alike.” it said.

“Like what?”

“Like garbage, abandoned garbage by humans.”

“But you’re much worse off than me. I was just abandoned by my master, while you were abandoned by the world.”

As Zoe listened, her eyes suddenly moistened again, and glistening tears brimmed at the corners of her reddened eyes.

Tears kept flowing.

Finally, she stood before her sister’s grave and cried her heart out.