Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Sakiko's life was a tragedy.

She never thought her money would vanish so quickly, that the income she had saved up would disappear in the blink of an eye.

A year ago, Miss Sakiko Toyokawa's genes might have fetched a decent price, but now, her genetic information was worthless.

The reason for her misfortune was that her AI study program had collapsed.

The boss running the AI company was just a shell corporation. They had taken Anti-Entropy's commercial AI system, slapped a new label on it claiming it was their own research, and then marketed it for their IPO.

Damn it all! How can such a ridiculous thing happen in a place with such advanced technology?

What Sakiko understood even less was that this thing had been operating for over half a year. Six months ago, the government's AI systems hadn't been fully implemented yet. Work was still done with traditional paper and electronic files, so the oversight wasn't nearly as strong.

Back then, "that little brat" had only been focused on finding her beloved Seele.

The current situation was just a further reckoning that came with the full implementation of personal IDs.

And so, Sakiko's AI studies came to an abrupt "GG." The money she had paid was gone, and she had to reconsider her study plans. The remaining issues would have to be resolved through special communication between the Academy City Council and Anti-Entropy.

At the very least, Anti-Entropy couldn't be allowed to engage in such irresponsible outsourcing again.

But for now, the money Sakiko had lost was gone for good. She could only miserably await her fate, silently hoping that the higher-ups in the Academy City were a group of good people.

Given the competence of the Far East's bureaucracy... well, Sakiko couldn't complain about their attitude. The attitude of the public servants in the Far East was indeed impeccable. Formalism here also had a long and storied tradition.

The unlucky Sakiko could only temporarily halt her studies and continue looking for a suitable job in the Academy City.

"Here, this is today's organ sales list and the things you should introduce to the customers. I think you could buy yourself a couple of cheap new eyeballs. See this? This is our new square-pupil, multi-color version. It's very popular on the market in the Academy City right now. If you wear it, you'll be the coolest chick outside the city!"

Sakiko Toyokawa frowned. "Manager, where... are you from?"

"Shandong, China. I came here specifically for this business. I used to work at Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical, but I felt they had a serious case of big-company disease, so I left to specialize in physical aesthetics. You can call me Old Chen, or President Chen."

President Chen was quite handsome, but unfortunately, Sakiko had no expectations or feelings for his appearance. In the Academy City, looks were as cheap as a face mask. Only those with exceptional confidence in their appearance kept their original features; most people had had some work done.

An outsider like Sakiko still found this hard to accept.

She looked at the beautiful eyeballs floating in a transparent liquid in President Chen's hand and fought back the urge to gag. Not everyone could accept this strange aesthetic of exposed flesh.

But for the sake of the job, Sakiko had no choice but to agree.

"I think this new style might suit you better, the frosted gradient type. The pink-to-blue color-changing eyeballs are our bestsellers. This is all just small change. You'll get used to it after a while. In the Academy City, the highest level of genetic technology will always be the Stigma Armor!"

President Chen glanced up at the clock in the shop and suddenly exclaimed, "Crap, the Kengan Association semifinals are about to start! I have to go see the results. You handle things here. If anything comes up, call my sister."

Sakiko Toyokawa glanced down at the business card her boss had prepared for her: Chen Tianwu.

He was a young man who specialized in Asian business. His sister, Chen Tianwen, also lived in the Academy City. The two of them ran this shop together.

But none of this had much to do with Sakiko. Shops like Chen Tianwu's were everywhere in the Academy City, mostly catering to people from outside.

Sakiko turned on the AI guide device she wore on her ear. It had a light green lens that served as an electronic display.

The reason they didn't use androids was that they needed humans like her to communicate with outsiders. Another reason was that androids didn't accept jobs with a commercial economic model, mainly out of concern for causing mass unemployment.

The primary job of androids was to satisfy the emotional needs that humans lacked in the modern age.

'I was a customer service rep outside, and I'm still a customer service rep in the Academy City?'

Sakiko Toyokawa felt like she had come to the Academy City for nothing. This place was even more bizarre and terrifying than she had imagined.

She looked at the nine major categories—'locomotor organs, digestive organs, respiratory organs, endocrine organs, circulatory organs, nervous organs, urinary organs, reproductive organs, sensory organs'—so brazenly displayed in the devices.

The organs were still functioning, and there were even things like brainstems, midbrains, and ventricles on display.

But these weren't for people to install. They were just to show that the Academy City had the ability to produce original or replaceable organs.

Whenever Sakiko's gaze swept over them, a corresponding explanation would appear on her lens. There was a lot she didn't understand, but that didn't stop Sakiko from simplifying it into something a normal person could understand and explain.

The most sold items inside the Academy City were eyeballs, limbs, facial features, and the like. The people here had bodies that were well-protected by medical technology and didn't need modification.

The next most common procedure was work on the skull, but that didn't require their intervention either. There were specialized stylists who would help them find their unique look.

Sakiko Toyokawa knew that the reason everyone here looked like handsome men and beautiful women was because facial reconstruction was extremely cheap.

Thus, aesthetically pleasing organs became the top sellers.

"Eyeballs? Ears? Lips? Different colored fingernails? And these... skin-related genetic serums."

The variety of goods was dazzling. Medical aesthetics and medicine, two very different things, were displayed on the same shelf here.

Sakiko Toyokawa tried her best to get used to these things. The only reason was that the pay was high and the job requirements weren't too demanding, which would give her more time to complete her studies.

"There's even more here than what's sold outside the Academy City. It's unbelievable. What do people here do with these things every day?"

Most of the students in the Academy City's high schools used textbooks personally written by His Majesty, Emperor Noldrei. The biotechnology in the textbooks was taught at the same level as the research institutes under Dr. Tesla.

If Sakiko knew that the knowledge she was learning was just normal school knowledge from the outside, repackaged under the banner of AI education and sold as knowledge from within the Academy City, she would probably be filled with murderous rage.

Most of the money she had spent was on cheap, common educational content that was worthless inside the Academy City.