Gao Gong first had Iron Hide take him to the military supply warehouse, then let him repair the car himself.

During the mere ten days of the hunting war, the most abandoned and damaged were not the Mechanical Hunters, but the vehicles.

Once again, Gao Gong walked into the military supply warehouse.

However, this time, his arrival did not attract others' attention. People here came and went in a rush; during wartime, everyone was quite busy.

This was clearly not a place for the gambling dogs to come.

Gao Gong also felt at ease and directly called a service robot, handing over the materials list he prepared on the road. The quantity was so large that it even triggered the robot's 'double confirmation'.

"Excuse me, do you need one of each of these materials?"

"Yes."

The robot did a facial recognition, and with a 'swipe', nearly thirty thousand contribution points were gone.

This amount was almost two-thirds of the contribution points Gao Gong had earned from assassinating various C-level radiation beasts.

With the remaining points, Gao Gong directly bought various ammunitions, including more than a dozen enhanced radiation needles.

The radiation needles from the Security Corps were much better than the black market ones.

At least they had no side effects.

And quite a portion of the black market's radiation needles were watered-down products from Little Finger.

Just as he was feeling bored, an angry orange cat suddenly jumped up and clawed at Gao Gong.

Judging by its leaping ability, it was clearly enhanced.

Gao Gong slightly tilted his head, simultaneously pinching its fate's scruff.

"Have you changed your skin? Don't get excited. Didn't you Mas Sharpness claim to have an approval rate almost close to 100%? Why are you attacking customers?" Gao Gong laughed.

"Only those who use our weapons are qualified to be our customers, you fraud!" the orange cat said angrily.

"Don't get excited, your weapons have so many issues, like biochemical viruses and cyber psychosis. They need to be properly tested; how can they be used otherwise?"

"Nonsense, our weapons don't have such problems," the orange cat's eyes flickered.

At this point in time, Mas Sharpness had not been awarded an outsourced research project at the Mother City Level, so they naturally didn't have the same arrogant behavior as in the future.

Selling problematic weapons during wartime, and being caught, this would surely get the orange cat into serious trouble if word got out.

"Don't worry, it's just a small problem," Gao Gong lazily said, "I'll repair them later, definitely will use them."

Pinched by the scruff of fate, the orange cat spoke with a mix of bluster and timidity, "You know, our weapons are rented to you free of charge, guaranteed in quality and quantity, with no issues at all. You should learn to be grateful."

"Yes, yes, grateful, grateful."

Gao Gong suddenly had an idea. In the future, Mas Sharpness hired a large number of players for human experimentation, collecting enough experimental data to pave the way for its future rise.

Since he knew this fact, could he get involved? Players needed a large amount of cheap weapons, and Mas Sharpness needed a lot of human experimental data.

No middleman to earn the difference.

But with himself here, wouldn't there just be a middleman?

"By the way, do you accept large-volume weapon pre-orders?"

"Large-volume weapon pre-orders, just you?" A trace of contempt flashed in the orange cat's eyes.

No matter how you put it, Mas Sharpness was a new-type big enterprise, its business spread across several Mechanical Cities, naturally looking down on a mere bumpkin in the Radiation Zone.

"Of course, it's not just me; in fact, I have many partners, all of whom need weapons. I can provide a big order."

"A big order, just you, cough, cough—"

The orange cat raised its head, about to mock his overestimation of himself, when it caught sight of his slightly smiling eyes and suddenly realized he was holding its weakness. It coughed and changed its tone:

"It's not impossible, but you need to bring experimental data first, otherwise, just words, I can't make a good case to the higher-ups."

"Sure."

Gao Gong nonchalantly agreed, then slowly stroked the cat, tenderly caressing it, making the orange cat's face full of comfort, meowing constantly. It thought that although this human didn't look like much, his massage skills were indeed excellent.

It wasn't until Gao Gong picked up the materials and left that the orange cat snapped back to reality from its comfort, gave a nostalgic meow, and stared at the doorway for a long time with its slender cat eyes, before giving a long sigh.

In fact, she was originally a human, and an internal employee of Mas Sharpness at that. Because she failed to meet sales targets, she was internally punished and transformed into a cat, then dispatched to the Iron Sand Desert, this remote area.

If she fails to complete her tasks again this time, the next punitive transformation will likely come soon.

This time it's a cat, what next, surely it can't be a mouse, right?

Or a cockroach?

At this thought, the orange cat shivered. She didn't want to end up like those colleagues at the bottom of the KPI, transformed into electronic cockroaches and released into the sewers.

Must work hard! Must strive! Must dedicate my life to the company!

The next day, the top rankings on the electronic leaderboard changed again.

The Symbiotic Squad squeezed out the Petrol Worshipers and the Fire Grass Squad, climbing into the top three.

The Plunderer Squad fell back one more place, dropping to eighth.

The Gray-Eyed Cultist moved up one spot, entering sixth place.

Miyamoto Sanzang, with his steady boss hunts, moved into seventh.

And yet, Gao Gong's name was missing from the last two positions.

Countless gamblers were dumbfounded. They had thought that the old Miyamoto would be the first to give in, after all, youth prevails in fights. But who would have expected that young Gao Gong would fall so quickly?

Meanwhile, in a private room at the Rose Petrol Bar.

Black Rose was staring coldly at Little Finger, causing the other's neck to shrink back.

"At this critical juncture, you conned him into throwing the game?"

Little Finger grinned sheepishly, "Sister Rose, well, a profit's a profit, and besides, he agreed. He was confident he could turn it around—that's why we did it."

"Even if he couldn't hold on till the end, we're still here to help him cheat."

Black Rose took a deep breath and said coldly, "Do you know that among the top ten teams, five have rich backers, and three of them have already started secretly boosting their scores?"

"Can you guarantee that our cheating methods are better than theirs?"

Little Finger was stunned, "Impossible! With the battlefield recorders, drones, and post-event inspections of the bodies, they can still cheat? Do they think they are us?"

As if realizing something, Little Finger's face changed, "You're saying the Cloud Nobility sent their people? Aren't those parasites always lost in indulgence above the skies?"

"The Skull Society formed by new enterprises is becoming more radical, the Rebel Army's power is growing, and the three main intelligences of the Mother City are ruthless. Even those fools know to keep a backup plan, and the web of interests in the Iron Sand Desert is one such backup."

When Little Finger heard Sister Rose mention the 'Rebel Army,' he inexplicably relaxed. Just as he was about to speak, something popped into view.

He saw Sister Rose's high heel rise sharply and then stab fiercely into the sofa in front of Little Finger's crotch, the sharp heel piercing the leather, just a hair's breadth from a vital area.

Suddenly chilled by the wind, he almost had to get fitted for the 'Mr. Great Tree·Type Three.'

"Don't mess things up when I'm handling business!" Black Rose said coldly.

Little Finger realized that Black Rose was genuinely angry this time and lost his lewd expression, seriously saying, "Rose, do you think that kid is one of us?"

"What do you mean?"

"I used to think he was just a little lapdog you raised, but I've changed my mind. You know, once, that kid delivered some insects to me, and I caught a glimpse of his eyes unintentionally. Do you know who it reminded me of?"

Little Finger spoke clearly, "You! The unmodified you!"

Black Rose paused, momentarily unsure of what to say.

"The same ambitious drive, the same fire, and most importantly, the same unwillingness to admit defeat."

"When you were being hunted down, would you have bowed your head to any man?"

Black Rose sat down again, memories of that torrential downpour at the Other Shore of Freedom flooding her mind, the rain pouring down as if the sky itself was collapsing, rain droplets stabbing into bleeding skin like little knives…

After a long while, Black Rose finally spoke, "What is that kid doing now?"

"Not sure, but I'm certain he's causing trouble," Little Finger sighed secretly with relief, shrugging, "He borrowed my operating table again."

…

The next day, that dilapidated off-road vehicle was back in action. Gao Gong sat on the vehicle, his eyes scanning the rear-view mirror.

In the mirror, a series of 'cacti' emerged from the asphalt ground. These 'cacti' looked like oddly patterned rocks, and their unfolded forms resembled a combination of a giant carnivorous plant and a cactus.

The thick, petrified outer leaves perfectly encased their radiation energy. Once they bloom to feed, they create a '10*10' radiation energy field while spraying toxic mist, causing dizziness, weakness, poisoning, and other effects.

The once-empty highway now seemed like a 'reforested' desert, with strange-shaped radiation plants springing from the ground.

Gao Gong felt a heavy weight on his mind. In less than ten days, the desert had started to appear 'greened.'

More importantly, this place was not far from Automobile City—only about twenty or thirty miles away.

The proliferative power of the 'Radiation Circle' was truly terrifying.

Even though all the Mechanical Hunters had deployed in recent days, hunting wildly, the number of Radiation Beasts didn't seem to decrease much.

It's not that the Radiation Beasts couldn't be killed; it's just that once a Radiation Circle forms, it becomes a giant breeding ground.

'If the chaos behind the scenes is indeed orchestrated by the Knight Order, then this is their goal.'

'To cultivate a suitable battlefield for the decisive battle ahead.'

At this rate, 'attacking the city' is only a matter of time.

Determination flashed in Gao Gong's eyes. This time, heading to Scavenger City, he must deal with the Cable Tribe.

The enemies are accelerating, and he needs to speed up as well.

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