Malfunctioning Utopia

Chapter 68: The Encounter

Seeing the cartoonish projection of a head atop the other party’s body, Sun Jack immediately realized that the person’s real body wasn’t here. This was just a robot being remotely controlled from elsewhere.

“Xiao Ting%?” Sun Jack asked her.

“Delete or add?” she replied curtly, but it was enough to confirm her identity.

“Neither. I just need to know if my current memories are real or if there are any traces of editing,” Sun Jack stated his request.

“50@.” As she spoke, the electronic devices connected by various cables whirred to life, spiraling open like living creatures. They revealed a sleek, humanoid reclining chair lined with dense spikes and needles positioned at the spinal and cranial sections. Clearly, these were meant to pierce into his body.

Two translucent screens descended from overhead, and a holographic console emerged. A keyboard with hundreds of neatly arranged keys materialized.

Sun Jack hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly. What seemed like a massive problem to him was as trivial as eating or drinking to others. In the Metropolis, as long as you had money, anything could be done.

But now he had a new concern. He couldn’t be sure if, during the memory inspection, the operator would access every part of his past.

“I can pay,” Sun Jack said. “But I have one condition: can I let my friend help with the memory inspection?” He gestured toward Tapai.

Xiao Ting% shook her head without hesitation. “No, I only handle my own business.”

Looking at the intricate electronic setup around him, Sun Jack pondered for a moment before nodding. “Alright. But I’ll pay only after the inspection is complete.”

“Fine. Take off your shirt and lie down,” Xiao Ting% said, pointing to the sleek chair.

Without a word, Sun Jack complied, lying back on the chair and feeling the sharp points slowly press into the back of his head.

Xiao Ting% raised her hands expressionlessly. With a click, her ten fingers split into 36 thin mechanical digits, which danced rapidly across the virtual keyboard, leaving afterimages with their speed.

Data and code cascaded like waterfalls down the translucent screens. Just as Xiao Ting% was about to start, Tapai suddenly raised his hand. “Wait.”

Xiao Ting% stopped and looked at him.

“What now? Can you not make trouble?” Sun Jack sat up from the chair, irritated.

“I just remembered,” Tapai began, “I loaned you 30@ for your organ payment yesterday, so you don’t have enough to pay her.”

“F***! Can’t you be useful for once? Do you know how important this is to me?” Sun Jack exploded, cursing at Tapai. Even AA’s attempts to mediate were useless.

Holding his hand against the wound on the back of his head, Sun Jack said to Xiao Ting%, “Give me half a day to borrow some money. Just half a day!” Then he stormed out of the shipping container, with AA rushing to keep up.

“Boss, don’t be mad at Tapai,” AA pleaded. “He probably didn’t mean it. After all—”

Before she could finish, Sun Jack’s angry expression suddenly vanished. He glanced at Tapai. “So? Did you get all the steps down?”

The high-resolution camera under Tapai’s arm twitched slightly. “Yeah, I copied everything. He uses custom software for the inspection, so you’ll need to upgrade my memory capacity to ensure I can fully replicate it.”

“Perfect! You’re amazing!” Sun Jack exclaimed, giving Tapai a punch of approval.

AA was left utterly confused by the scene. “Boss… were you just acting earlier?”

“Of course. You think I’d let anyone access my memories that easily?” Sun Jack replied.

Whether his memories were real or not, Sun Jack would never allow such a thing to happen. Yet, he needed to know the truth about his memories, so he had no choice but to take this roundabout approach. Sure, being broke was one reason, but it wasn’t the main one.

“All we have to do now is scare her off, let Tapai check my memories, and then delete the records.”

From their earlier interaction, it was clear that Xiao Ting% was extremely cautious. The meeting spot was mobile, and all client interactions were mediated through auxiliary AI as a buffer. However, her caution was both a strength and a weakness. An overly cautious nature could be exploited, and Sun Jack already had a plan.

“Let’s leave first. The garage has too many surveillance cameras—it’s not a good place to make a move. Once that car relocates, we’ll follow it.”

“Don’t forget to buy me those memory sticks,” Tapai messaged Sun Jack. “I’ll need them for the calculations.”

“I know, I know.” Exiting the garage, Sun Jack opened an online store and activated the delivery service, spending another 8@. Compared to the earlier 50@, this was a small price to pay.

Balance: 1.9212@.

Waiting wasn’t easy. It wasn’t until Tapai adjusted to his new memory sticks and Sun Jack’s system notified him that the city center tour was about to end that the car finally moved again.

“Follow it!” Draped in a raincoat, Sun Jack leapt onto Tapai’s back with AA in tow.

The car ascended onto an overpass, leaving the central district and heading toward the Teutonic Industrial Zone. At first, everything seemed normal, but soon Sun Jack noticed something amiss: a hover vehicle was flying at low altitude, shadowing the truck at an irregular pace.

His instincts told him the hover vehicle was suspicious. Though he didn’t know much about hover vehicles, he knew someone who did. Activating his cybernetic eye’s vision-sharing feature, he contacted Father.

“That’s a disguised Oath Sword,” Father identified. “Standard config includes eight AI drones, a 120mm rapid-fire cannon, and a pulse wave projector. Don’t mess with it. Even Steel Heart couldn’t take it down. You three don’t stand a chance.”

Hearing this, Sun Jack’s expression darkened. Damn it, they even have bodyguards. There’s no way we can fight this.

As the car sped up, Sun Jack grew increasingly anxious. This might be his only chance to uncover the truth about his memories. He couldn’t let it slip away. The plan had to move ahead.

“Jack, what do we do? It’s about to enter the factory, and we’ll lose it!” Tapai said, clearly worried.

“Don’t panic! Call for help!”

“Who? Do we even know anyone capable of handling something like that?”

“Yes!” Sun Jack replied firmly as he dialed a number. “Hello? BCPD Unit 3? I have a report to make! That’s right, someone’s involved in memory trading. She’s in the Teutonic Industrial Zone. I’m sending you the location now.”

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