Cyber ​​Sword Immortal Iron Rain

"Cyber ​​Sword Immortal Iron Rain" Author: Banma

Copywriter:

“This book is CyberPop, not CyberPunk. It is a self-congratulatory work that the author has extracted and combined his favorite elements. Thank you for reading!”

At the end of science, humans have used technology to reshape the mysticism of ancient times.

In the new world, Qigong practitioners and swordsmen roam in cities and ruins, using man-made flying swords and nuclear fusion elixirs to continue the endless war.

Moss grows on the king's head

Chapter 1 Kuala Lumpur at Night

Although it was raining heavily in Kuala Lumpur that day, it was more crowded and noisy than usual.

Fang Bailu squeezed through the crowds on Jalan Alor, hearing Chinese with a Singaporean Malay accent. Occasionally, there were whispers from Chiba, Japan or Siberia, which were then drowned out by the collective noise of the crowd and the sound of heavy rain.

He pulled the collar of his rubber raincoat tighter to block out the cold rain. In front of him was a row of crude stalls covered with waterproof canvas, with vendors selling pirated boxing techniques and alchemy injectors squatting or standing, filling the sidewalk.

"I-shaped Fu Hu Quan! Completely cracked, monsieur (sir), valid for at least seven days--" A hawker grabbed Fang Bailu's left hand with spit flying, and the saliva mixed with rain water hit Fang Bailu's face.

The vendor had sunken eyes and black hair with blond roots. These were obvious Caucasian features, plus he spoke fluent Chinese mixed with French, and had black pupils disguised by contact lenses: he was a stowaway.

"French? Or from French-speaking North America?"

For a moment he found the scene somewhat incongruous—it had been three years since he woke up in Kuala Lumpur, but he still wasn’t used to such a scene.

Fang Bailu pushed aside the hawker who was still pestering her and walked into the alley beside the main road of A Luo Street. The arc lamp on the roof of the alley was broken by someone, and it flickered with a pale yellow dim halo.

Holographic advertisements for the Dual Cultivation Simulator were posted on the walls on both sides, and the ambiguous aperture dyed the surroundings alternately with pink and purple tones. "You can customize your own electronic Taoist partner!" The advertisement sounded particularly convincing with the vivid colors of the flesh played by the diffuse light.

Fang's Hardware Store was located at the deepest part of the alley. The neon tubes on the store sign emitted fiery red light and phosphorus-like green flames, illuminating the Taoist priest leaning against the store door.

He wore a black Taoist robe made of synthetic carbon fiber, with undulating yin-yang fish patterns all over his body, forming a curved surface: this structure greatly increased the surface strength.

The nerves extending from the top of his head were tied up into a Taoist bun. His entire face was hidden under a black mask, and the mirrored material reflected the red and green light of the neon tube.

"Master." Fang Bailu took off his rubber raincoat and shook it. The shirt underneath was soaked by the heavy rain. It was the law in New Malaysia that civilians had to take off their outer robes to salute Qigong practitioners.

With irritability and fatigue, he bowed to the outer sect Taoist priest: although the outer sect Taoist priest was also his old customer, nothing good would happen when he met a Qigong practitioner.

The outer sect Taoist raised his right hand and bent his index finger to return the greeting to Fang Bailu. His fingers were slender and well-proportioned, his skin was white like jade, and they were so straight that the boundaries of the knuckles could not be distinguished.

"Is he holding something in his left hand, or is he injured?"

Fang Bailu blinked: Outer sect Taoists pay great attention to etiquette, and the one-handed salute is both contemptuous and casual. This is an anomaly, and anomalies mean trouble, which is the rule in Kuala Lumpur.

He pushed open the glass shop door and the Taoist priest from the outer sect followed him in.

Fang's Hardware Store is never locked: although it has only been open for more than half a year, the most active burglars on Alor Street are his customers. He also knows the methods of these burglars. In their hands, the 200mm thick carbon steel door panel is no different from an eggshell, which only increases their curiosity.

Fang Bailu has his own means of defense.

There are three rows of shelves in Fang's Hardware Store, filled with junk collected from junk dealers: second-hand dual cultivation software that has been tortured by countless players and has gone insane; artificial meridians that have been broken into pieces and can no longer be used; old-fashioned alchemy injectors whose cores have been replaced with leaf blight... The shelves are full of these junk. The ceiling is a bit low, and the crowded shelves make the space in the store seem a bit cramped. The yellow light of the old arc lamps further highlights the shabby atmosphere. Fang Bailu wrapped a towel to cover his wet body, swept away the debris piled on the counter with one hand, and waited for the outer Taoist priest to speak.

In addition to buying and selling scrap, Fang's Hardware Store also provided a brokerage service for Qigong practitioners, garbage collectors, swordsmen, and blacksmiths who walked the streets of Alor Market. Before Fang Bailu took over, it was one of the hubs of the underground network in Kuala Lumpur.

The outer sect Taoist priest was silent, hesitating or brewing. Fang Bailu leaned his right elbow against the counter, his palm supporting his chin, and his left hand resting on the edge of the table: this posture allowed him to activate the firepower and defense mechanisms in the store at any time through motion recognition - Fang Bailu could see that the outer sect Taoist priest today was hiding a secret, and whether he planned to share or keep it to himself, there were risks.

Just like one's "previous life", the rules of this world are equally brutal and capricious.

The voice of the outer sect Taoist priest came out from the black mask, low and dry, like the friction of metal: "Supreme Turing Heavenly Venerable! Boss Fang, I will leave something with you. Someone will come to pick up the goods from you at midnight/12 o'clock tonight." The words "midnight" and "12 o'clock" sounded from his mask at the same time, mixed together and a little blurry. Weird language habits and voice patterns - this is also one of the characteristics of Qigong practitioners.

After saying this, he raised his left hand hidden in his robe sleeve and placed it in front of Fang Bailu as a display.

It was a hexahedron, lying in the hands of the outer sect Taoist priest. With every breath, it expanded outwards and then contracted inwards, pulsating intermittently. It was pitch black, but with every pulsation, light green grid lines appeared on its surface.

Unrecognizable material, never seen before… Fang Bailu turned his eyes away from the hexahedron: “Relics?”

Relics are lost heritage from the old world. There are so many types that it is difficult to say how much value they have: for example, the rocking chair behind the shop counter has existed from the old world to this day, but it is of little use other than making creaking sounds.

And if the Qigong practitioner takes out a relic, it can do more than just disturb people's sleep... Fang Bailu doesn't intend to wade into this muddy water.

"I'm sorry, Immortal Master." Fang Bailu looked at his face reflected in the mirror of the mask and coughed softly. "The storage services of other stores on A Luo Street are better than Fang's Hardware Store..."

A Luo Street was a refugee area. Apart from the stalls set up by stowaways on the sidewalk, how many shops were there? If it were an ordinary customer, Fang Bailu would have kicked him out long ago, but he had to be more tactful when dealing with privileged classes like Qigong practitioners.

The outer sect Taoist priest stood still, as if he didn't understand Fang Bailu's implication at all.

"Ahem! Sorry, I got caught in the rain earlier and I didn't expect to catch a cold right away. Look, I'm coughing. Master, why don't you go back and have a rest?"

Fang Bailu coughed a few times and knocked on the table, making his meaning more straightforward.

The outer sect Taoist flipped his palm and placed the hexahedron on the counter. He put on his pure black full-face mask and moved closer to Fang Bailu: "I heard that recently a big guy is looking for the resurrected living dead."

Fang Bailu turned sideways, covered her face with a towel and started wiping her hair.

Cold sweat mixed with the unwiped rain flowed into his eyes. He was soaked in the cold just now, and the chill on his tailbone made him want to shiver.

He wiped his hair randomly. "Pan-Asia Military Industry? Induction Society? Or Yanshi Club?"

The outer sect Taoist priest's opaque mask seemed to reveal a hint of a smile: "Neither. The one looking for someone is the 'Microcomputer Taoism Research Society'."

Fang Bailu was startled, put the towel on his neck, and smoothed back his half-dried hair:

"The best outcome of resurrecting the living dead is early Alzheimer's disease. Why would the research institute hire a mentally retarded person?"

The outer sect Taoist leaned forward with his hands on the counter, his voice still low and mechanical: "Who knows, maybe he wants to open a hardware store?"

Fang Bailu looked at him, suddenly smiled, stuck out his tongue, and made a face.

Before he finished making the face, the outer sect Taoist's right hand suddenly shot out from his sleeve and grabbed Fang Bailu like lightning.

Snap! The sound of electricity rang in the air, and faint arcs of electricity moved in the house. It was as if the video playing by the outer sect Taoist priest had been paused, and stopped at the moment when he attacked and hurt someone.

Looking at the outer sect Taoist's hand resting in front of his face, Fang Bailu let out a breath.

The grimace was not Fang Bailu's preset defense mechanism switch; the action of stroking his hair back was: facing a Qigong practitioner, he dared not take any chances.

For the first time in three years, someone realized that he was actually a perfectly revived living dead. What was the clue?

“It seems that I can’t stay in Kuala Lumpur any longer…”

When he was thinking about where to escape, a hand as white as jade suddenly touched Fang Bailu's neck.

Fang Bailu was lifted up by the neck, and the pain of his feet stepping on empty air and his carotid artery being compressed suddenly rushed into his mind.

The outer sect Taoist priest held up Fang Bailu, who was struggling due to suffocation, and a hint of smile seemed to come out of his dry voice: "Military nerve blocker? Boss Fang is indeed rich in resources. But this model is probably older than yours. Don't buy this kind of Indian self-developed product next time."

He let go of his hand and looked at Fang Bailu, who had fallen to the ground, touching his neck and coughing. "The Microcomputer Taoism Research Association may find a corpse of a living dead person tomorrow morning, but it's not certain who this corpse is."

"Hey! Master...Master, I can accept the commission." Fang Bailu recovered his breath and immediately put on a professional smile. "But...how is the reward calculated?"

Even in the face of threats to one’s life, business is still business: if there is no profit in return, what kind of business is it!

The outer Taoist priest's mask was still pitch black. "This hardware store is located in a very attractive area with great potential. I will give you 500 yuan after the deal is done. I also hope Mr. Fang will give me 30% of the shares." After a pause, the outer Taoist priest continued, "RMB."

Unlike the new yen and the new Malaysian ringgit, the RMB is the strongest hard currency in Kuala Lumpur.

What a diamond background, gathering strength like a rainbow... Fang Bailu looked at his run-down shop located at the deepest part of the alley and was speechless for a moment.

"I am very curious about the era before the 'Great Blackout'. If there is a chance to communicate in the future, I hope Mr. Fang will be willing to give me some advice." The outer sect Taoist priest bowed and turned around. Under the cover of his wide Taoist robe, he walked without any movement of his body, and glided out of Fang's Hardware Store.

Chapter 2 Until Midnight

Fang Bailu slumped in the rocking chair behind the counter, tapping the floor with his feet from time to time to keep the rocking chair rocking. This rocking chair has been here since he took over the store, and its status is awkward: no one would copy such a useless relic.

But Fang Bailu couldn't bear to throw it away, as the rocking chair reminded him of his "previous life".

The sixteen-faced body of the outer sect Taoist priest was now lying in the safe under the rocking chair. Geiger counter, high-energy particle detector, electron probe... Fang Bailu used all the testing methods in the store to check this unknown object, but he had no clue.

The hexahedron did not show any reaction to the leaked energy. Even when Fang Bailu used a processing laser with a pressure of several thousand psi to cut it, it did not produce any deformation.

I don't know which laboratory it was stolen from... Fang Bailu cursed the outer sect Taoist priest in his heart. Thinking of the outer sect Taoist priest's threat, Fang Bailu couldn't help but sigh and scratched the rust and peeling paint on the handle of the rocking chair with his fingernails.

"The Microcomputer Taoism Research Society is looking for the resurrected living dead..."

Fang Bailu is what the outer sect Taoists call the "living dead". As the name suggests, he is a living dead. It is raining heavily in Kuala Lumpur outside the gate. I wonder how many zombies are sleeping in white coffins in the city in the deep night?

The second floor was Fang Bailu's bedroom, living room and storeroom. In the middle was a coffin, right next to the foot of his bed.

The coffin is two meters long and one meter wide, with one end extending diagonally upward, outlining a smooth arc. From the side, the coffin looks like an open wing. At first glance, the coffin is made of a transparent material like glass, but there is a misty white fog lingering in it, like thick smoke. People call it a "white coffin", while other more proficient Chinese speakers call it an "old house" to avoid the ominous meaning in the language.

He walked forward and gently pressed his palm against the coffin wall. A white mist spread out from his palm, dyeing the coffin wall pure white.

A line of black cursive characters quietly appeared, the curly strokes looked very funny: "'Anle Palace' hibernation life support device." Fang Bailu retracted his palm, and the characters also disappeared silently, and a new line appeared: "May you be safe."

He looked at the four bold black characters in regular script, and remained silent. The coffin lid opened silently, lifted up at a right angle, revealing the misty interior of the coffin.

In Kuala Lumpur alone, there are at least a thousand white coffins. But less than one-tenth of them are opened: some are empty, some contain animals, and the rest are people. The sleeping "residents" inside are in the best case of Alzheimer's disease, and most are brain dead or in a vegetative state.

Except Fang Bailu - three years ago, he woke up in this white coffin.

"When I entered the life support device... was it 2020?" Looking at the wisps of smoke rising from the coffin, Fang Bailu was in a trance.

At that time, Fang Bailu had already developed stage III liver cancer. Laser ablation, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine, and even praying to the gods... No matter what kind of treatment, it could not stop the cancer cells from spreading all the way to his lungs and brain.

Finally, he won a spot in the experiment of hibernation life-support device: freezing terminally ill patients and waking them up in the future when technology has advanced enough to cure these diseases.

Now he wakes up from the white coffin, living alone in this paradoxical era.

Fang Bailu looked out from the second-floor window. The lights of Kuala Lumpur mixed with the light from neon tubes illuminated the sky.

He reached his hands into the mist in the white coffin and took out a toolbox with both hands, which contained many useful small items.

It is difficult to open the white coffin with ordinary violence, which makes it the safest storage point in Fang’s Hardware Store.

Fang's Hardware Store does not have many defensive measures, but it is more than enough to deal with the petty thieves who usually cause trouble - the villains who can get past these traps and killing machines will not patronize his store.

Fang Bailu's eyes flashed with the outer sect Taoist's jade-white right hand and dark full-head mask, and he couldn't help but shudder: I wonder how he broke through the blockade of the nerve blocker?

This is a rare military-grade item in Fang Bailu's hands, which came from the Indian Security Team.

The nerve blocker downstairs is hidden in front of the counter, with four transmitting ports forming a nine-square-meter square area. Normally, this nerve blocker is enough to solve most of the problems that come to the door: alcoholic swordsmen, cash-strapped thieves, crazy garbage collectors... In front of this "embedded neural signal blocking field generator", they can only urinate and defecate and lose their ability to act.

But the outer sect Taoist priest was different. He was only trapped for a few seconds. Fang Bailu sighed: If it weren't for the Taoist robe he was wearing, I would have used a subsonic sandbag gun to remove his limbs... But in fact, the sandbag bullets would only bounce off silently.

Moreover, the abilities of Qigong practitioners are varied. What if such extreme behavior makes the outer Taoist priests want to kill them?

Although this neural blocker is old, its delay and control effects are still obvious. Even Qigong practitioners cannot avoid momentary behavioral failure.

Thinking of the feeling of the outer sect Taoist's cold fingers pinching his Adam's apple, the hairs on his back stood on end.

Fang Bailu supported himself on the workbench with both hands, frowning. He had no intention of using the workbench to conduct an in-depth inspection of the hexahedron: it would be more practical to make preparations in other aspects rather than spend time on a rough inspection; moreover, the less one knew about this kind of thing, the better.

He needed to think and sort out an idea from this mess.

"So first of all, why did the outer Taoist choose me as the intermediary to transfer the items?" Fang Bailu muttered to himself.

"First of all, he knows that I am a living dead who retains self-awareness. This gives him a handle to threaten me: once this identity is made public, I will most likely become an experimental subject in the research institutes of major companies."

"But for a Qigong practitioner like the Outer Sect Taoist, he can't possibly lack subordinates who obey his orders. Why would he choose me to do this? My shop is full of people from all walks of life. It's not the best choice in terms of security or confidentiality."

Fang Bailu whispered as he wrote down the key points on the glass tabletop of his workbench with a marker: this was the way he used to assist his thinking.

Compared with the violent defense mechanism, the anti-reconnaissance equipment in Fang's Hardware Store is much more complete: these are all set up by the previous owner to protect Fang Bailu's secret. Fang Bailu is very confident about this, so he dares to speak freely about this secret that concerns his life.

"Are you using me as bait?" Fang Bailu narrowed his eyes.

"Is he trying to use me as a smokescreen? If I stay in the store until twelve o'clock, will someone really come to take the hexahedron?"

"No! There is too little information and intelligence!" Fang Bailu slapped his head twice.

"Go or stay?" he sighed.

Although Fang Bailu's subconscious thought before was to escape from Kuala Lumpur, now that he calmed down and thought about it, he realized that this was also a dead end.

The influence of big companies is spread across all urban areas of New Malaysia, and the wilderness is full of dangers. Once his identity is exposed, Fang Bailu will have nowhere to escape.

Now I can only complete the cargo agency commission from the outer Taoist priest while ensuring my own safety, and other problems can only be dealt with as they come.

Fang Bailu pressed the area under her ear and activated the implanted phone:

"Fang's Hardware Store is closed today. Please come back tomorrow."

He sent this message to all the regular customers in the store to prevent anyone else from causing trouble.

Fang Bailu took out the hexahedron from the safe and lay back on the recliner, rocking back and forth to calm his anxious mood.

Squeak! There was a slight friction sound, the sound of the glass door of the store opening.