The Creators: From Night City

Page 460

Therefore, this is an undisputed hard currency throughout the entire Nest City.

"Excellent craftsmanship," the female hunter praised, picking up her spoils and turning to leave.

But Jiang Bing stopped her.

"Would you be interested in making a deal?"

“I don’t usually do business with strangers who are hiding their identities,” Doria replied warily, clutching her gun.

Jiang Bing took an opaque industrial plastic bottle from under the counter and placed it on the table.

“You’ll be interested,” Jiang Bing said, looking at the other person’s pale, chapped lips, and pushed the bottle away.

After a brief silence, the other person twisted open the sealed bottle cap, dipped a finger in some water from the bottle, and smeared it on the tip of their tongue.

There was no fishy smell, no bitterness, no nauseating taste of water purifier; Doria only felt a sweetness she had never tasted before spreading from the tip of her tongue, quenching her thirst.

She smacked her lips in disbelief, hesitated for a few seconds, then simply picked up the bottle and poured a little water into her palm. She carefully observed the water quality, and after greedily licking it clean, she finally barely confirmed her guess.

"Level 1 drinking water!?" She was so surprised that she exclaimed.

Within these vast city-states, there are often tens or even hundreds of billions of people. The planet's own resources alone are simply insufficient to meet the survival needs of everyone. In addition to relying on resource trade ships traveling between planets, resource recycling and reuse is another crucial solution to this problem.

Here on this planet, drinking water is classified into four levels based on its cleanliness.

Level 1, standard water allocation by the Ministry of the Interior.

This level of drinking water comes from large, advanced water recycling and purification plants in the upper or middle layers. The water source is collected from surface rainwater, recycled domestic wastewater from the upscale residential area, and pollution-free industrial condensate that has undergone strict purification.

This grade of drinking water undergoes multiple filtration processes, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet sterilization, ion purification, and a blessing ceremony by the Mechanicus Church to ensure its 'purity' in all aspects.

The water is completely transparent, odorless, and poses no health risks with long-term consumption.

This type of water was mostly reserved for nobles, high-ranking government officials, and high-ranking military officers; ordinary people only heard of such water sources in legends.

Level 2 is recycled water that has been certified and tested by the "Water Industry Association".

It mainly comes from the mixture of domestic wastewater and light industrial condensate in the middle and lower layers. After treatment such as basic sedimentation, chemical flocculation, activated carbon adsorption and chlorination disinfection, only trace amounts of harmless minerals and impurities are present in the water. However, both its quality and appearance are lower than those of Grade I drinking water.

This level of drinking water circulates among the middle class, highly skilled workers, leaders of the hive city guards, and organized gang leaders. It is the "best" water that the lower-class residents can access, and can be considered a luxury. Ordinary people cannot obtain it and can usually only buy it at high prices on the black market.

Long-term consumption does not pose much harm to the body.

Level 3, public circulating water, also known as "grey water".

The water bodies originate from mixed wastewater from lower and middle-class communities, including large amounts of domestic sewage and lightly polluted industrial runoff.

As the daily drinking water for most people in Chaohu, its water purification process is very crude. It only undergoes the most basic impurity filtration and heavy chlorination, plus an unreliable ion adsorption process, which cannot completely remove heavy metals, chemical pollutants and radioactive isotopes that may be present in the water.

This drinking water appears slightly cloudy and generally looks gray under light, hence its nickname "grey water".

This type of drinking water has a lingering chlorine, musty, or rusty taste when you drink it, and drinking large amounts may cause a slight burning sensation in your throat. It is truly 'smooth on the palate, but goes down smoothly'.

Long-term consumption of this type of drinking water by ordinary people can lead to various chronic diseases, such as kidney problems, tooth decay, and mild organ damage.

The intense labor at the Chaodu factory means that tens of thousands of lives are lost every day on its deadly assembly line.

Most of the inhabitants of the hive are 'consumables' of this industrial planet.

Compared to chemical burns and radiation sickness caused by environmental exposure and chemical pollution, as well as promethium explosions, the deadly crushing by giant gears, conveyor belts and hydraulic presses, and the deadly cutting by high-speed rotating slicing saws, these chronic diseases are nothing in terms of killing.

Level 4 drinking water is called 'recycled water'.

You can get a general idea of ​​what this water is like just by its name.

Its main sources include landfill leachate, untreated industrial wastewater, surface water from toxic swamps at the bottom, and condensate collected from abandoned pipes.

Its main customer base consists of the destitute, scavengers, and mutant tribes. Of course, Doria, who has always been impoverished, has also drunk quite a bit.

This bottled water, which tastes like chemicals, decay, and a cloyingly metallic sweetness, has a spicy flavor and leaves the tongue feeling numb and astringent after drinking, has only one competitive advantage: it's cheap.

That's why Doria was so excited when she tasted the pure flavor of the water in the bottle.

She hesitated, looking at the ordinary industrial plastic bottle, then glanced at Jiang Bing, who was completely covered up, her mind churning with thoughts.

'Shouldn't this kind of thing be packaged in a sealed metal can or glass bottle, with the bottle cap bearing the double-headed eagle emblem certified by the Ministry of the Interior and the Mechanicus?'

'Could this person be an upper-class nobleman who smuggled himself in, or some mechanic priest with ulterior motives who came down to shop?'

"It seems you're quite satisfied with the offer I made." Sensing the other party's astonished reaction, Jiang Bing silently abandoned his plan to take out the compressed biscuits and canned goods produced by Valentine's Third Food Processing Plant.

In the lower levels of this cesspool-like city, the essential survival supplies seemed to be more 'valuable' than he had imagined.

Chapter 934 The Mechanical Priest?

Compared to the awful environment of Night City, this place is practically heaven.

Of course, the overall quality of the residents of Night City cannot compare with that of the residents here.

Jiang Bingyin's eyes, hidden behind the mask, swept over Doria's robust body, who was still clutching the bottle tightly, and he sighed inwardly.

Compared to the residents of Night City, the residents of Nest City are generally more physically robust. Jiang Bing hasn't met many people, but the physical condition of each person can be described as that of a "dark-skinned athlete".

After all, the interstellar humans 40,000 years later have already undergone countless rounds of genetic adjustments. For ordinary people, lethal doses of radiation, toxins, and environmental hazards only cause these bottom-nest inhabitants to exhibit some 'benign mutations'.

"What do you want?" Doria was torn between her inner turmoil and her own desires, but in the end, she could not resist the allure of profit.

"I want you..."

Doria immediately tensed up.

Jiang Bing's gaze shifted to the intact automatic gun in the other person's hand, sensing the almost faint, invisible, unfamiliar spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from it, and continued, "Take me to the place where you found these things."

The more psionicists there are, the better, since one water pipe can never compare to two.

The unfamiliar psionic energy on these devices originated from a new psionic user, which naturally attracted Boss Jiang's attention. In any case, the 'lucky guy' living next door had already been 'marked' by him and couldn't escape.

The female hunter glanced deeply at the mask on Jiang Bing's face, her mind already racing with many speculations.

"Sure, but that place is in the bottom nest, and the chips you've given me aren't enough."

"Easy to say"

Jiang Bing clapped lightly, and under the curious gaze of the female hunter, a square-headed robot, resembling a trash can, drove out from the inner room, holding a bag of drinking water.

Theoretically, such a large bag couldn't fit under the table; if you're going to put on an act, you have to go all the way.

Nine pre-packaged bottles of drinking water were placed on the counter by a robot.

Compared to the human empire, Jiang Bing may not be considered wealthy, but compared to Doria, he is not lacking in these meager sums.

Mr. Jiang was extremely sparing with his words when it came to the "deposit".

"When are you leaving?" The huntress finally agreed to the deal without asking anything else.

When the reward far exceeds the value of a person's life, many concerns will vanish.

"Now," Jiang Bing replied.

The hunter put the water back into her tattered bag, looking quite troubled. "I need time to resupply, and I also need time to turn these 'treasures' into cash."

Her implication was quite clear: she couldn't leave now.

Jiang Bing stepped out from behind the counter, leaning on his cane as he passed the other person, and said softly, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go and cash out. I believe you won't mind having another friend in the same industry as me."

To be honest, Doria cared a lot.

However, she could understand this, since such a valuable 'deposit' had been paid to her, it was only right to have someone watch over it.

However, after looking Jiang Bing up and down, she kindly reminded him, "You're going out like this without any supplies or a handy weapon?"

She believed that the other person must be hiding some kind of weapon under their cloak. Judging from their wealth, it might be a small but powerful precision plasma pistol, or a lightweight explosive gun. However, in the perilous Underground Nest, having a good weapon alone wouldn't be of much use.

Air purifiers, lighting equipment, food supplies, and even powerful 'big tools' are all indispensable.

“That’s enough,” Jiang Bing said, tapping his cane on the ground with a thud.

Good advice is useless against a damned devil, so Doria remained silent.

She thought to herself, "Maybe the other party has some advantages that she doesn't know about."

Time is life, so the two of them decided to leave immediately.

"Where are we going to cash in on these treasures?" Jiang Bing followed leisurely, as if they were going on a picnic.

“The dealers at the gathering point can’t afford this level of quality goods. We have to go to the ‘Gear Workshop’. Only the mechanical priest there can offer a reasonable price.”

"Mechanical priest?" Jiang Bing automatically selected the content that interested him most.

"There are actually people from the Cult of Machines in this place."

"A mechanical priest wouldn't be so destitute as to bother with lowly nobody like you, would he?"

Jiang Bing's question was quite reasonable. As one of the main pillars of the human empire, the Cult of Mechanism had mastered almost all of the technology known to mankind and controlled almost all of the empire's machinery and military production.

A proper mechanical priest holds a very high position and would never stoop to mingling with the scum of the bottom nest.

The two crossed the anvil square and saw a group of vendors selling drinking water in the distance, with a constant stream of people buying water.

"I don't know. He calls himself the Mechanical Priest, so it's not certain if it's true. But he's very powerful, more powerful than anyone here." Doria's answer was very much in line with her identity.

The 'Gear Workshop' was not far from the meeting point, located in an abandoned workshop. The two crawled through several ventilation ducts, walked through several passageways, and crossed over rickety scaffolding before arriving at each other's door.

"What kind of person is this mechanical priest?" Jiang Bing asked curiously, looking at the human skull pattern covered in gears on the door in front of him.

"He's an eccentric, aloof, and cold-hearted man, but he's fair in his dealings, so many people around him are willing to do business with him."

As soon as the two stood in front of the thick iron gate, the hidden camera equipment quietly started up, transmitting their images into the building.

The next moment, a monotone mechanical voice came from the speaker.

“Repeating visitor, ID 885, Doria, what brings you here?”

The female hunter expertly raised the bag in her hand towards the camera, saying, "I have a batch of good goods that I'd like to sell to you."

More observation equipment was activated, emitting scanning beams that enveloped the two people in front of the door and the bag in the hunter's hand.

Jiang Bingyin's eyes, hidden behind the mask, gleamed slightly, and the detection results obtained by these scanning devices were silently altered.

Golden flames began to spread deeper into the observation equipment's faithful pipes and circuits, and the erosion from the 'craftsman' began to seep into the mechanical priest's 'gear workshop'.

With Jiang Bing's intervention, the test results were naturally all normal.

A gap was made in the solid metal door, which was more than ten centimeters thick, allowing the two to enter each other's mechanical sanctuary.

“My loyal ‘eyes and ears’ see that what you have in your hands is not particularly valuable. A few standard firearms only occupy the 15854th priority in my database.”

A cold, electronic voice rang out from the depths of darkness, and a half-human, half-machine monster emerged.

Chapter 935 Former Mechanic

The scepter, inlaid with gears, touches the metal floor. The seemingly primitive scepter is actually a combination of some kind of optical weapon. Thick tubes are coiled around the scepter, and the indicator lights of the power supply device flicker, making the entire scepter appear both primitive and advanced.

A heavy, blood-red robe covered most of the other person's body, revealing only the arm holding the scepter and a face half-hidden under a hood.

The Mechanisms worship knowledge, believing it to be the sacred manifestation in the secular world, and that all living beings or artifacts possessing knowledge are therefore sacred.

They were equally hopelessly fanatical in their pursuit of knowledge and machinery.

In order to emulate the sacred mechanical form, most members of the Mechanicus are so fanatical that they transform their bodies from flesh and blood into machines, elevating themselves to a tireless, sacred machine unbound by the limitations of flesh and blood.

The simplest way to measure the strength of a member of the Mechanicus is to see how much flesh and blood he still has, and how many mechanical parts and artificial organs he has added to his body (of course, there are also some sages in the Mechanicus who advocate flesh and blood and gene-related technologies and maintain normal physical bodies).

In most cases, this criterion applies.

The mechanical priest in front of him was clearly among the 'not quite qualified' category.

A significant portion of his body was still flesh and blood, but the two eyes on his face under the hood had been replaced with some kind of mechanical prosthetic eyes, and his respiratory system, including his mouth and nose, had been permanently connected to an air purification device.

“Water, Grade A drinking water. I’m sure you’ll be interested.” Doria put her bag down and took out a bottle of water. Before she could even toss it to the other person, it aroused the 'mechanical priest's suspicion.

The mechanical whirring continued, and in the blink of an eye, several logging guns suddenly emerged from the seemingly calm roof of the abandoned workshop, their dark muzzles pointed at the two people below.

It's not that the other party was being too aggressive; the hunter's behavior was indeed somewhat reckless.

At that moment, she realized the inappropriateness of her behavior, stiffly put down the drinking water, and slowly pushed it between the two.

In a dimension invisible to mortals, radio signals surged silently. A 'machine servant' was summoned by the other party, silently picked up the bag, and began to inspect the goods.

The so-called 'machine servants' are humans who have undergone special modifications.

The Church of the Machine God uses various technologies to erase the consciousness of its servants and re-inject pre-programmed neural code into their brains, implanting corresponding artificial organs and making specific modifications to make them into 'robots' with flesh and blood as their base, the brain being their CPU and the muscles and bones being their body.

This human modification technology, which sounds like something out of the ordinary, is prevalent in the Mechanicus and even throughout the entire empire.