The Creators: From Night City

The little girl didn't know where she came from, and she had been staying here for half a week. She naively thought that this was a hidden shelter, but she didn't realize that her daily comings and goings could not be hidden from the adults next door.

Jiang Bing did not say anything, but silently stuffed a large bag of food in his hand into the cave, then silently turned around and left the cave. After keeping a sufficient distance, he stood quietly in the rain.

A deliberately suppressed cry of surprise came from the house. Jiang Bing's eyes pierced through the rain, watching the girl hidden in the darkness, the peek through the hole, and the faint thank you, but none of these made Jiang Bing waver in the slightest.

It was not until he heard the rustling sounds of chewing and drinking that he turned silently to look at the house on the left adjacent to this house.

In the darkness under the eaves, an old man was holding a needle-fed double-barreled shotgun and a bag of food and water in his hands.

In Jiang Bing's impression, the person living in this house seemed to be an unemployed old man at home.

It seems that Jiang Bing is not the only one who noticed that there are new neighbors in the past few days.

In fact, just now, when Jiang Bing approached the entrance of the collapsed house, he felt the old man's presence, because he was holding the shotgun in his hand, pointing it at Jiang Bing. It was not until he witnessed the subsequent behavior that he put the gun back into his arms.

The old man limped into the rain with a gun in his hand. Jiang Bing's professional sensitivity made him immediately notice that the old man's right leg was equipped with a very simple prosthesis.

This prosthetic limb was hastily nailed together with a few pieces of wood and iron sheets. The workmanship was so poor that Jiang Bing wanted to grimace. If nothing unexpected happened, it should have been made by this old man with a bad temper himself.

The old man walked to Jiang Bing's side and stopped. Through his slightly worn clothes and prosthetic body, it was easy to tell that his life was rather difficult.

"This is a fucking world. Those congressmen fly around in hovercrafts every day, throwing lavish banquets, but they can't even squeeze out a pitiful amount of money to provide orphans with a few full meals. Isn't that fucked up?"

"Those gentlemen's hovercrafts are flying too high, and they can't see clearly the suffering of people on the ground." Jiang Bing answered meaningfully.

These words seemed to have hit the old man's sore spot, making him laugh out loud.

"I tried to contact that little girl during the day, but she was like a frightened kitten. She ran away before I could even talk to her."

At this moment, Jiang Bing was relying on the extraordinary intuition of the "craftsman" to quickly assess the probability of the pile of building debris collapsing in the coming rainy night.

After getting a safe answer, Jiang Bing turned around and replied.

"Hailey, this shy little kitty's name is Haley."

The old man was stunned, but did not ask any further questions. Instead, he nodded slightly.

"Logan, Logan Steele, an unemployed old farmer, want a drink?"

Jiang Bing normally doesn't drink alcohol to ensure the stability and accuracy of his hands, but at this moment he suddenly wanted to have a drink, so the two of them stood under Logan Steele's roof and shared a few bottles of beer.

"By the way, you can call me Sabul, Sabul Lyric. By profession, I'm a skilled craftsman."

Jiang Bing revealed his pseudonym.

The beer, which is mixed with low-quality industrial alcohol and unknown additives, tastes bitter and astringent. Thinking back on the experiences since coming to this world, this bitter feeling not only did not subside, but instead spread involuntarily from the mouth to the surrounding area.

"Tell me, is this kind of world really normal?" Jiang Bing asked, as if asking others, as if asking himself.

Old Logan tilted his head back and took a deep gulp of his wine. "When I was young, the world wasn't this bad. Farmers still had land to farm, and at the very least, they could find a job to support their families. But it's all those idiotic companies—Arasaka, Militech, and my former, shabby, former employer, Petrochemical. Those high-handed local tyrants only need a thought and a wave of their hand to make the world what they want it to be."

"As for what's normal or not, let me tell you, this world has never changed since ancient times. It's the law of the jungle."

But Jiang Bing was roaring wildly in his heart.

"It shouldn't be like this. It can be better. The world can definitely become a better place."

In a realm invisible to mortals, some grand concept is gathering from higher dimensions and condensing rapidly.

"This world is fucked up. Have you ever thought about finding a way to change it?"

Old Logan laughed at Jiang Bing's question. "Change? How the hell can I change? If there's anything this world has taught me, it's accepting my fate. How can little people like you and me change? What can we do to change?"

Jiang Bing's eyes became brighter.

"I can." The roar hidden in his heart became more and more fierce.

"With the help of the system, I will gradually become stronger, even stronger, far stronger than I can imagine. I will become a powerful being, stronger than all other companies and all forces."

"If they can shape the world to their liking, then I can also use the hammer in my hand to hammer it hard, once, twice, thousands and thousands of times, until it becomes the shape I want. I definitely have this ability."

In higher dimensions, those magnificent components are rapidly outlining shapes that are not conventional.

"Then the other question is, do I think this is necessary?"

The snoring from Haley's sleep suddenly broke through the noisy sound of rain, penetrated into Jiang Bing's mind, and then illuminated everything like lightning.

The little girl was very tired and fell into a deep sleep soon after eating.

And those vague thoughts, those ideas that arose from seeing too many tragic scenes that were contrary to the worldview shaped by the past twenty years of life experience, were rapidly ignited by the catalysis of this lightning, and then they became like a prairie fire, becoming more and more intense, and finally connected into a piece, setting off an endless red wave.

Since the time he crossed over, Jiang Bing had been running forward blindly under the urging of a sense of crisis, floating outside the world. But at this moment, it was as if he had just fallen to the ground and suddenly saw the fire that illuminated the way ahead.

"I can! I think! I will eventually complete this great creation."

In higher dimensions, those magnificent components solidified and were forged into embryos according to the wishes of the "craftsman".

System prompt: [Apprentice Craftsman] Jiang Bing, you have completed the molding of a great creation. As a result of this action, your existence strength has increased by 0.7 and your composition strength has increased by 1.0. Please enter the system to view the specific values.

Countless ethers existing in conceptual patterns poured in from all directions and from other channels that were imperceptible to humans, representing Jiang Bing's existence and composition. The strength of his body was growing rapidly, the essence of his soul was becoming more and more solid, and even the speed of the falling raindrops was gradually slowing down.

But this did not affect Jiang Bing's urge to sing at all, so he excitedly put down the bottle of wine, signaled that he would stop here for today, turned around and walked home while reciting poetry.

Old Lotte, who had been living at the bottom of society all his life, of course didn't understand Chinese, so he threw down a few words that sounded like a warning and comfort, then turned around and went back to his house.

"I'll keep an eye on her."

Of course, if Old Logan installed a Chinese translation plug-in, he would definitely be able to understand the poems spoken by Jiang Bing.

[The land is filled with grief and blood, but the only thought is to save the people. ]

Chapter 5 Reprocessing

It's easy to brag, but it's hard to make it happen.

After returning home, Jiang Bing did not take a rest and began to deal with the spoils in the car in a hurry.

Given Jiang Bing's current physical condition, those few sips of beer had no anesthetic effect at all.

Only then did Jiang Bing have time to open his system panel.

What caught my eye was the system prompt sound I had heard earlier.

System prompt: [Apprentice Craftsman] Jiang Bing, you have completed the molding of a great creation. As a result of this action, your existence strength increases by 0.7 and your composition strength increases by 1.0.

Your personal attributes panel is being listed for you."

Name: Jiang Bing

Qualification: [Apprentice Craftsman]

Class Level: 2 (46%)

Domicile: B33 plane origin planet (Earth)

Location: Earth, numbered HXXD-C2W33

Presence Strength: 2.1

Composition strength: 2.7

Creator Database Access Level: 1 (36%)

It seemed that he had inadvertently accomplished something extraordinary. Looking at the information given by the system, Jiang Bing was secretly amazed.

Unlike the manufacturing industry in the real world, in the field of "craftsmen", the birth of an extraordinary work normally goes through five steps.

They are respectively: molding; smelting; purification; forging; and polishing.

It seems that my previous behavior inadvertently met the requirements of the plastic embryo.

You have to know that this kind of opportunity is hard to come by for a craftsman. The materials, timing, and even the condition of the craftsman himself at that time are very demanding.

At least since he took office, he has created countless items, but it was only today that the system prompt was triggered for the first time.

Of course, the more difficult it is to do, the greater the reward. The strength improvement brought by this "plastic embryo" is extremely amazing, almost doubling Jiang Bing's overall indicators.

The surge in strength allowed Jiang Bing to handle the spoils with greater ease. His hands, which were originally as smooth as swimming fish, now seemed to be waving shadows under the light. His work efficiency alone was equal to that of the entire high-end prosthetic disassembly production line.

Priority is given to prosthetics that have requirements for storage environment and cannot be exposed to normal temperature for a long time.

Including artificial eyes, internal organ prostheses, and circulatory system components.

Under the skillful hands of the "craftsmen", the optic nerves and lymphatic tissues remaining at the terminal connections were quickly removed, and then they were connected to a special maintenance terminal. The operation and maintenance software cracked and modified by Jiang Bing would perform a self-check. Those that could be used normally would first undergo a full disk virus scan, then be thoroughly formatted to erase the previous user's information, and finally be written into the corresponding clean drive.

If it weren't for the lack of a brain-computer interface, Jiang Bing's ability to input instant data would still be at the stage of typing on the keyboard. With his current network capabilities, he could definitely play the role of a powerful hacker.

But in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, a hacker skilled in actual combat not only needs a special brain-computer interface and corresponding data processing chip, but also a matching prosthetic eye.

This is because in this world, almost all prosthetic eyes are equipped with short-range communication capabilities.

This technology, which originated from the company Qilusi, allows users to use low-frequency lasers emitted from their prosthetic eyes to communicate with objects equipped with receiving devices at short distances. In a world where most objects are connected to the Internet of Things, hackers can use this method to hack into most places, and it is also the most commonly used method by hackers.

Of course, there are many other ways to hack into a site, including radio, short-range electronic pulses, microwaves for regional broadcasts, or simply traditional wired access.

It’s just that the use of artificial eyes is a quick, convenient and covert method that is most popular among edgewalker hackers.

Of course, the war between hackers is not limited to access methods. On the contrary, this is just the beginning of the battle. Subsequent computing power support, network capabilities, the level of puppets, the level of prostheses and even the real-time dynamics of the battlefield are all important factors that determine the outcome of a hacker war.

But the most powerful hackers and AI in this world can indeed burn your brain silently while you sleep.

This is also one of the reasons why Jiang Bing is reluctant to connect the brain-computer interface. No matter how strong the ICE (firewall) is, it will be breached one day.

Jiang Bing, who has no prosthetic body, is basically invisible in front of the hackers.

Of course, hackers who directly join the battlefield and specialize in combat hacking actually account for a minority of the entire hacker group, and most of them are fringe walkers and combatants retained by companies.

Most hackers, like netizens in the 21st century, mainly operate in cyberspace. The only difference is that they have replaced the display screen and host with brain-computer and network access pod. However, the obvious difference is that they are always facing life-threatening danger when surfing in cyberspace.

Ever since Batmos, known as the God of Hackers, was assassinated by a killer hired by a company, the RABBIT virus he released on the Internet before his death liberated almost all the AI ​​on the Internet at that time. The crazy evolution of these out-of-control AIs caused a devastating blow to the first generation of the Internet. 78% of the network was blown up, and countless precious scientific and research data was lost. After a long and arduous struggle, humans could only close the door and form their own local area network, and at the same time build a [Black Wall] to resist these roaming AIs and defend the remaining networks.

But the hellish thing is that the essence of the [Black Wall] is actually a giant AI.

What's more, Jiang Bing knew clearly that the black wall was not capable of completely keeping all AIs out of the wall. In the Night City in the game, there were at least three guys who were suspected to be roaming AIs.

The cyberspace where hackers gather generally refers to the 22% of the network territory behind the black wall. However, the main source of danger to hackers' lives comes from the evil hands of their peers. The probability of being killed by roving AI is as small as winning the lottery.

With Jiang Bing's extraordinary learning ability, he referred to reference materials obtained from various channels (mainly the black market) and studied madly for half a year. He was able to crack the non-prototype prosthetic firewalls produced by various companies, and then he ran antivirus software and flashed the machine, and there were basically no problems.

This level is sufficient at the current stage. The main focus now should be on collecting 100 craftsman badges as soon as possible. They can be used to exchange for the technology that I have been coveting since the beginning of the time travel from the Creator's Database. This is also a way to truly achieve a leap in strength.

【Door】series related manufacturing principles.

This device that can travel through the universe is most likely a benefit given by an industry leader to newbies. Such an awesome technology can be exchanged for only 100 craftsman badges in the database.

This is almost the same as giving it away for free.

Jiang Bing's chaotic thoughts had no effect on his movements. In just over an hour, all the prostheses were processed and stored in different categories.

In fact, only the above-mentioned types of prostheses that have strict requirements for the storage environment need to be stored at low temperatures in special constant temperature boxes. Others, such as high-speed rotors, titanium alloy skeletons, external armor plates, and various common prosthetic limbs on the market, have extremely strong resistance and do not need special containers at all.

These arms, legs and accessories, which were spray-painted with various colors and patterns by the original owner, only need to be physically disinfected first, then disinfected online, and finally repaired and debugged. After confirming that there are no problems, they will be thrown directly into the large basket on the side of the operating table.

The numerous prosthetic bodies were randomly piled up in baskets to form a small hill, just like the pots of braised pork feet in a delicatessen.

Jiang Bing stretched his body and stretched his muscles before putting today's main dish on the table.

The first was the Type 31 heavy machine gun that was damaged by a chainsaw.

The fracture is at the rear half of the gun, and the entire excitation transmission component is completely destroyed. In other words, there is basically no possibility of repairing this gun, but fortunately the barrel is still intact.

Because heavy machine guns need to maintain fire suppression for a long time, the metal used to cast the barrel is generally high-strength heat-resistant alloy.

Shooting for a long time will cause friction between the barrel and the bullet, thus generating extremely high temperatures. This requires that the alloy used to make the barrel must have extremely strong high temperature resistance and the ability to maintain no deformation in a high temperature environment for a long time.

Alloys with these characteristics basically require a complete set of matching metal smelting equipment. Jiang Bing, who is currently at the level of a small folk workshop, is unable to produce them by hand.

After all, he couldn't create a high temperature comparable to that of a polymetallic smelting furnace with his bare hands. This three-story industrial heavy equipment can continuously generate a high temperature of over 3000 degrees, and many alloys need to be at this temperature line to undergo a fusion reaction.

However, the inability to produce it did not affect Jiang Bing, who could simply dismantle it from a firearm that met the requirements.

Next came the bloody body of the scavenger.

The lower class people in the cyberpunk world rarely grow to this size naturally. Various synthetic foods can only ensure that people will not starve to death, but cannot guarantee balanced nutrition.

In fact, the lower class people in Night City are either thin or abnormally fat. These physiques that look very strong are basically formed through artificial prosthetic surgery.

Heavy subcutaneous armor is complicated to install, but that is based on operating on a living person. If there is no need to take the installer into consideration, stripping it off becomes an extremely simple physical task.

As Jiang Bing expected, after removing the subcutaneous armor, the titanium alloy expansion frame installed in the chest area of ​​the corpse was exposed to the air, and large bundles of electronic fibers on the arms replaced the original muscles of the corpse.

This bionic component derived from biotechnology can provide powerful strength and stability. Although its function is not powerful enough to exceed the limits of human natural muscles, the advantage is that there is no need to lift weights day after day to exercise. You only need to find a prosthetic doctor to perform surgery to implant it, and you can gain powerful strength instantly.

Even if you don't exercise for a long time, it won't trigger the body's use-it-or-lose-it mechanism. You only need regular maintenance to maintain your strength level.

Compared to replacing the entire arm, this technology, which is more inclined towards bio-modification, is also more friendly to the installer's prosthetic tolerance.