Cyber ​​Sword Immortal Iron Rain

Thinking of the Qigong practitioner whose heart was entirely tied to him, Fang Bailu felt a headache, felt upset, and his hands were sweating with anger.

He ruffled his hair and wiped the wetness off his hands:

Ever since he failed to stop Zhao Jizi's assassination, Cang Yangzi has disappeared; but who knows when he will come back and use more powerful "sincerity" to invite himself to abandon his mortal body.

He closed the browser and opened another app. Fang Bailu flexed his fingers and typed on the holographic keyboard on the tablet:

"Xiao Huang, what's the situation?"

"Master! It feels like a long time since we last met! Master Huang Wu misses you so much!"

Various characters piled up into a funny dog's head. A huge tongue stretched out from the dog's mouth and licked obscenely, giving Fang Bailu a vivid feeling of disgust.

"You've made a little animation like this? If I let this yellow dog run free for a while, I can open a company..."

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, his ten fingers dancing on the holographic keyboard:

"Stop licking! Report any situation?"

The "knuckles" that were hidden by a company clerk in a hotel in the red-light district are Fang Bailu's only exclusive information about the immortal's physical body.

However, given the shortage of professional talent on hand, we must also prioritize.

"Little Glasses must be working overtime. Master Huang Wu hasn't seen him come back yet! His target is just standing there like an idiot."

White characters flow on the black background, vividly carving out a little man in the empty room. Uncle Huang Wu also attached an infrared video for comparison to show off his newly developed function.

"Hmm... I can't find any other way to save 'Knuckles', so I'd better get 'Yukasaga' first."

Fang Bailu sent the corresponding information of "Yizhitang":

"Help me with a job first, then come back and keep an eye on me."

……

Fang Bailu raised his head: the neon lights outside the store had been replaced by the dark grey of the day. He still didn't get the time to sleep, the hard counter made his back ache.

After sending Master Huang Wu to do the task, he used his own channels and resources to look for a visualization machine for temporary use - after a busy morning, Fang Bailu finally got everything ready.

He stood on tiptoe and took down a few bags of nutrient solution from upstairs like a thief and placed them next to the counter.

"Because these two guys can't find food when they get up and start rummaging around."

As for the two new employees—no, one of them hadn’t been interviewed yet—they were still sleeping soundly, which made Fang Bailu a little envious.

Unknowingly, Fang's Hardware Store has a few more employees: Fortunately, Xin and Huang Wuye basically don't need to eat; Erni's appetite is still not obvious.

"No matter how much you eat, you won't bankrupt my store. When you wholesale the nutrient solution, ask them to give you a few more straws."

Not having to face the problem alone also somewhat relaxed his tense heart. Especially now when crises are everywhere, taking drugs to overcome anxiety requires tolerance.

"Don't worry, life is pretty good."

Fang Bailu patted the wall gently to convey his feelings to the memorial box in the dark layer.

He stepped over Erni, who was sleeping so soundly that she had rolled off the mattress and was drooling, and fanned away the thick new smoke; then he pushed the door open as gently as possible so as not to wake them up.

It was noon and the whole city was in deep sleep.

Fang Bailu stuffed a layer of bubble wrap into his rain boots. The hard soles were like torture to his legs that had not yet recovered. He dragged his numb lower body through the maze of streets and alleys.

Following the address given by the contact, he walked into an ordinary handshake building.

"Three 3s..."

He followed the house numbers and found his destination further down the corridor.

Fang Bailu turned the handle and the security door opened - this was a contactless transaction, the owner of the visualization machine left the door open for him.

This is a small cage-like room, with a plastic stool in the middle for squatting. A huge visualization machine is the ceiling of this room -

A few emails, text messages, and a small discount on purchases helped him get this brief period of time to use the visualization machine from a friend of a friend:

A magical power unique to the middleman.

This old model of visualization machine is anonymous and does not require permission. They were originally an old method used by the Microcomputer Taoism Research Society to screen members, using a one-time visualization to test a variety of talents such as "immortal fate", "roots", and "Tao bones".

"Later, I learned to be smart. I could basically tell how far I could go by checking my account balance."

There were not many of them left, and they were of little use on weekdays. Although they could still connect to the host computer in Xianying Palace, they could not improve the resolution of the alchemy method - each user only had one chance.

It is precisely because of its current useless existence that Fang Bailu is able to use it at a low price.

Fang Bailu took off his raincoat and casually hung it on a curved neural line:

The owner who rented the visualization machine to him was very considerate and even prepared a conversion head according to his instructions.

He took a deep breath to suppress his increasingly violent heartbeat.

Will a celestial being rise from the sea of ​​information and grant me the art of immortality?

Or was it some kind of "star official" from an extraterrestrial colony, coming to greet this relic of ancient times?

It was even just a rough interactive interface and a character-based percentage injection interface... Fang Bailu didn't bring any alchemy skills, so this was probably impossible.

"A fairy in the sea of ​​information? Seafood? Haha, ha."

Fang Bailu thought of a bad pun, but it couldn't calm his nervousness.

He pulled off the visualization machine's neural line and connected the conversion connector:

"I used to love playing with my phone so much, maybe I can find out something like 'Innate Sword Body' later..."

He muttered something to himself as he put the neural electrodes on both sides.

Although it was just a trial connection that had not yet been equipped with alchemy, the upcoming new experience was always exciting: not to mention that perhaps it would be possible to get a glimpse of the truth of a certain world.

The neural tubes extending vertically from the huge machine were lighting up one by one, leading to the adapter behind the neck.

Light burst out from the electrodes on both temples: visualization began.

He closed his eyes.

……

It's quiet around here.

When I stepped into the handshake building before, the snoring, grinding of teeth and talking in dreams coming from the crude soundproof walls gradually disappeared, like a radio channel that was turned down.

The faint light that had penetrated the eyelids and reached the retina was replaced by complete darkness.

Unlike the ignorant experience when crossing the sea of ​​information, when Fang Bailu opened his eyes again - everything had changed.

There were no magnificent heavenly palaces or paradises as imagined, the curtain of 1s and 0s did not unfold before my eyes, and it was not even connected to the star clusters in the universe in the void.

……

The low, dirty ceiling and rows of shelves filled the already narrow space. A mess of defective goods were piled on top and even thrown on the rough and sharp concrete floor. The arc lamps coated them with a layer of dark yellow light.

This is a shabby shop.

Among all his assumptions, he had never expected to see this scene. The scene before him was clear and distinct—Fang Bailu knew this place like the back of his hand, with a familiarity that was unique to home:

Fang's Hardware Store...

But he wasn't the only one in the store.

There was a small stand standing upright on the counter, with the mobile phone embedded in it making a lot of noise, and bursts of laughter could be heard from the body of the phone from time to time.

A man was lying on a recliner behind the counter, a lit cigarette between his fingers. He was rocking in the recliner, concentrating on watching something on the screen that might be a variety show or a sitcom.

Fang Bailu raised his eyes:

There was no freshly painted, striking white paint on the back of the recliner; nor was there any inscription like “Harmony brings wealth” or anything else.

Someone had altered the wall, made it into something they couldn't recognize.

Is it an ancestral hall? Or an altar or a shrine?

The recessed opening was separated by a glass cabinet door, and under the dark red light were several items:

There were two long swords leaning against each other, one with the blade broken in the middle and the other golden red in color, with a vague muttering human voice emanating from it.

A half-face respirator covered with scratches and pits - it seemed to have been converted into an incense burner, with white smoke wafting from its mouth.

In the corner, there was an animal head with fur that seemed to have been burnt black and curled up by the high temperature, and it wore a funny pair of black-framed tortoise-shell glasses.

The altar-like glass cabinet was divided into three layers, and the lower layers were hidden in the lightless darkness.

At the top of the wall, a mottled black screen was displaying bright red words:

"Not for sale. Not for sale. Please do not ask for prices."

Next to it, a few words were scribbled in dark red paint - perhaps blood - "Anyone who asks for the price will be killed."

There is another column below:

"Sincerely miss our top ten..."

The following words were obscured by the smoke from the incense burner and Fang Bailu could not see them clearly.

what is it then?

Fang Bailu didn't think about it. He didn't dare to think about it, he was afraid.

This was not a replay of the past. Fang Bailu still recognized the pair of black-framed glasses. They were a birthday gift she gave to Cibeidao to make him look more refined. And the cell phone on the counter...

"The hallucination was created by extracting my memory!"

Fang Bailu wanted to tremble - deep in his heart he told him that no one could create such a realistic scene in such a short time.

The shop owner climbed up from the recliner, as if he had just noticed that a customer had arrived.

He walked up to the counter and knocked on the counter with his right hand, making a crisp sound like the clanging of metal.

It was a prosthetic limb on the verge of being scrapped, full of cracks and gaps, and it made strange squeaks when it moved; the skin fragments that were pricked were unusually white, as if they were forged from some kind of warm jade. The arm was too slender and did not match the body proportions of the shop owner.

"That's not jade. That's special ceramic, very expensive."

Of course Fang Bailu recognized it: this hand had strangled his neck and also knocked away the enemy who was trying to kill him.

The shop owner picked up a cigarette from the counter and knocked the filter against the counter. He raised his right hand with five strangely long fingers, threw the cigarette into his mouth and held it there; then he lit the new cigarette with the still burning butt:

……

buy what?

……

It was not words, nor words, nor even some mysterious voice that sounded from my heart.

Just the slight movements of his facial expressions and body language made Fang Bailu understand what the shop owner meant.

Is it some kind of reverse cold reading technique? Fang Bailu didn't know.

He just stood there: the shop owner's face, the one he saw every day in the mirror and on his phone screen.

There are more scars and blemishes, but who can mistake their own face?

hiss--

The shop owner sucked his cheeks: the fiery red of the cigarette butt quickly moved towards the filter, turning everything it touched into a dry, white color.

He blew out two white dragons from his nostrils, and reached out to brush most of the ashes onto the ground:

……

Oh, who was that I thought it was?

……

"Who the hell are you?! What's going on here?"

Fang Bailu wanted to shout loudly, but he couldn't utter a word - during this meditation, he seemed to have no authority to speak.

The shop owner raised his index finger and pointed to the ceiling above his head, and spoke for the first time:

"I wish I could give everyone the elixir in the cauldron to enlighten the foolish people."

He took his hand back and tapped his head:

"If you encounter difficulties, remember to use it early. If you delay, you will lose everything, stupid thing."

The voice sounded familiar, yet somehow it was different.

It's no surprise: thanks to bone conduction, everyone's first hearing of their own voice is strange.

"What's wrong with the head..."