Cyberpunk:Robotic Reverie

Paul Parker walked on a crowded street in the Sinking Building. It is said that the name of the Sinking Building came from the fact that the original structure was converted from an underground square called "Sinking." However, in 2719, underground was already a distant term for some people.

The concrete pavement, which pretended to be the ground, was already full of potholes. The dazzling artificial sunlight passed through the building that almost touched the virtual sky, falling on the plastic roof of the store and illuminating the discount information written on the worn blackboard at the door. A half-human-high commercial robot floated in the crowd, using projection to promote today's "special dishes" to passers-by. The smell of urine, dust, perfume, and roasted earthworm meat filled the air.

The devil worms were animals from an unknown world, but they were easy to breed, and their meat was delicious, making them one of the most popular meats in the building besides artificial food. Paul had eaten it once, and it tasted like a mixture of beef and pork.

A team of four-legged heavy security robots separated the crowd, apparently on patrol. The narrow street had nowhere to go, and the people squeezed into the shops on both sides uttered curses, with some picking up the crushed synthetic leaves on the ground and throwing them at the law enforcers wearing heavy helmets in the patrol team.

Paul ignored it. The different music clips coming from the countless loudspeakers almost ruined his hearing. He left the area quickly and finally found the narrow store door he had seen a few days ago. The passage inside the door was still pitch black. He walked in. This time, there was no obstacle blocking the door.

When he pushed open the door, the store was completely silent, with only the LEDs lighting up. The counter was on the right, and the red-haired girl was supporting herself on one leg, holding her chin with one hand, as her boots tapped the ground, making a rhythmic sound.

Hearing the sound at the door, she turned her head alertly, and when she saw Paul, her eyes brightened.

"Here I am."

"Um."

"Then, sir, what service would you like?" Autumn smiled, a little brighter than the standard one.

"Ah, what services are available here?"

"Let me think..." Paul's terminal had already connected to the store's network. Autumn waved her hand, and the menu popped up. Suddenly, she looked behind Paul and said, "Boss, you're out."

Paul turned his head and saw a burly man standing there. His hair was simply tied into a ponytail at the back of his head. He was wearing a loose blue robe. His hands were replaced with mechanical ones, and the pale yellow metal scales on his wrists were exposed at the sleeves, making people wonder if the entire arm had been replaced with a robot.

The man nodded to Autumn as a greeting and said two words: "Guest?"

"Yes. I am just an ordinary guest. What should I do?"

The man frowned and looked at Paul. His face, which was as hard as stone, resembled a tough guy from a swordplay movie hundreds of years ago. Paul felt uncomfortable under his gaze and looked at Autumn for help, but the only response he got was an incomprehensible smile.

After humming softly as if to indicate his thoughts, the man said, "Take him to practice."

After saying this, he looked at Paul and bowed slightly: "I am your servant; please give me your guidance." Without waiting for Paul to respond, he turned and left.

Paul stared at his back in amazement, and after a while, he uttered, "It is indeed very interesting."

Autumn chuckled and patted the table to attract Paul's attention: "Okay. This place is mainly for those who have mechanical modifications... customers to practice and learn. As for you, you can only experience how to use a knife and then go to the shooting range to play."

"Range?"

"Why? A qualified warrior must master various weapons."

"Okay, then I will... can't this be cheaper?"

The prices on the menu were a little painful. Two items would cost him three thousand credit coins. This was his first time using credit coins, which were universal currencies recognized by the Freeport Enterprise Federation and could even be used in other worlds. The purchasing power of ten units of credit coins was roughly equivalent to one dollar in Paul's world when he was an office worker. Because of the existence of terminals, the transaction of credit coins was very convenient. Due to this convenience, a special fraud recovery service was even born. Credit coins still existed in the form of paper money, and some retroists would use them.

"This is the entrance fee. You can stay for a day for just a few thousand credits. What a great value for money!"

"One day? I understand. I'm just a sucker." Paul suddenly felt that what Graham said was absolutely right.

The space inside the store was much larger than it looked from the outside. After a sound of mechanical friction, a wall slid aside, revealing a dark room. Rows of various cold weapons filled three walls.

Paul stopped in front of a row of swords, hesitating, feeling like a child choosing candy. Autumn took down two of the most common Japanese swords.

"Wait, why a real sword?" Paul took the sword and tried to swing it, feeling a little heavy. "Practicing with a real sword? Have we finally reached this point?"

"Because the boss believes that only through real fighting can we learn something." Autumn gave a helpless look, pushed aside her light pink coat, and buckled the sword on the metal belt around her waist.

"Can I go? I'm still young, and I want to live a few more years."

Having said that, Paul was not too worried about himself because he had a primary combat module, but he was a little afraid of hurting Autumn. After that day, he learned from Graham that the combat module was effective by sending neural signals to the body through the injected micro-artificial intelligence combined with the visual information received by the terminal.

This was why Paul felt his body suddenly move. In addition, the micro-AI could compare and adjust strategies in the database based on the information received by the main body, that is, what it sees, hears, and touches. Combined with the learning ability of AI, in theory, any weapon could be controlled.

In short, after activating the primary combat module, he could knock down others with a folding stool.

However, Graham also mentioned that the biggest disadvantage of the primary combat module is that due to insufficient computing power, the moves in combat will be too monotonous and rigid. He comforted Paul that among the people, there should be only a few close combat experts who could take advantage of this defect. No matter what Paul remembered, Autumn was just an ordinary girl.

"Don't worry, it's just for fun; nothing will happen," Autumn comforted.

"Then give me a different one. I don't want to use the katana."

Paul changed to a long metal stick, which had the advantage of length. At least he could maintain a safe distance and would not accidentally harm Autumn.

The two of them arrived at the venue. The venue was slightly larger than an ordinary middle school classroom. The bright gray metal walls that had been phosphated would not interfere with the vision due to reflection. It was covered with pits and scratches, and there were dark red stains in the corners.

The two walked to the center and moved some distance away from each other.

Autumn drew out her knife, swung it lightly at the air in front of her, nodded, and put the knife down. Then, she looked at Paul and asked,

"Paul, let me teach you how to use this first."

"No, no, we learned how to use it in the martial arts class at school."

After turning on the combat module, a translucent heads-up display appeared in front of him, covering his vital signs and combat data. Small analysis and locking boxes flashed on everything in front of him, finally locking onto the red-haired girl with the tip of the knife pointing at his throat.

The combat module captured the long stick in Paul's hand and successfully matched the stick technique in the database. He tried to swing the long stick, and the layman's force movement was automatically corrected halfway. Perhaps because of the material, the long stick was lighter and more convenient to use than the Japanese sword.

"Oh? Then I won't show mercy." Autumn's eyes lit up when she saw Paul's actions.

"No, no, no, please show mercy." Paul was frightened by her excited eyes and took two steps back.

(End of this chapter)