The neon lights of Eden City dimmed.

The results of the Death Lottery once again became suspenseful.

The emergency team had yet another day of overtime and rush assignments.

John could only suppress his doubts and surprise — no matter what, the falling object behind him had nothing to do with him. The immediate priority was to rush to another big problem that had just fallen from the sky.

[Eden City - Wasteland Surface B113]

Silver Rider 577 could already see the flames and thick smoke from afar.

The fallen V9 Doug Hovercar had plowed diagonally into the sand, leaving a path of burning debris.

This path was wide enough for vehicles to pass.

There were many exposed remnants between the mud and rocks.

The fire was blazing fiercely.

"Better hope he's not dead."

John looked at the devastation, unsure of the crew's condition.

The Messiah Medusa Series prosthetic eye had a [Scene Analysis Mode] — at this moment, the night scene became clearer in his view, a deep blue grid spreading across the ground.

Various marks were highlighted one by one.

In theory, these functions were all uploaded to the server for network analysis.

But Black Light cut off all prosthetics from the city's local network, or rather, added some [filtering functions].

John could find his [device] through the city network.

But none of the data information in the prosthetic would be sent back to the company's cloud server via the local network.

This was something he learned after an experiment by Oulos.

John followed the blood trail to the side of the hovercar.

Two company employees accompanying were killed in the fall — the protection measures for the passenger seats were not as good as the main seat, and the products after the V5 generation only considered the core customers' riding experience, doing everything possible to please and protect their VIPs, actively compressing space and configurations for other personnel.

Bismarck lay in a pool of blood.

His high-end suit was soaked with blood, especially one arm hung limply on his belly, a mess of flesh and blood.

Muscle bundles and cables had burst out.

"You look like you've just been pulled out of a meat grinder."

John squatted down, pressing the warm assault rifle against the other's forehead, speaking according to what Agave Rope had instructed beforehand.

"Deactivate the remote protocol, tell Plato's employees you're perfectly safe and need no on-site assistance."

John slightly exerted force, pressing the gun forward, forcing Bismarck to look up at him.

"Whoever comes can only collect your corpse; the only way to survive is to cooperate honestly, understand?"

Bismarck didn't answer John.

There was no fear or panic in his eyes, even a hint of boredom.

"Alright."

Bismarck tilted his head slightly, revealing a data slot, looking quite knowledgeable.

Agave Rope pulled out a data cable and plugged it into his neck, using marionettes and proxy devices to personally supervise the cancellation of the emergency group's rescue service.

That's right.

Such high-price insurance, armed rescue services can be canceled.

The chips in the bodies of wealthy businessmen are very sensitive.

The ways for the rich and powerful to "relieve stress" are endless.

No one wants an armed squad to burst in when seeking pleasure in a secret club, let alone possibly having other identity-sensitive "social partners" present.

That's why there's a special code and disclaimer agreement.

Agave Rope turned and nodded to John, but he also didn't know what to do next.

[Fund Change, Transaction Account BTX-771354]

John suddenly received a transfer.

The amount wasn't enough to make him whistle, but it was hard to ignore.

He looked around and saw that Gino and Agave Rope also received money.

"Before I die, every ten minutes, I'll transfer some funds to everyone present, each time increasing by five percent."

"Buying your life?"

"It's incentive management; as long as any one of you is short of money, I can live longer, at least make the atmosphere a bit more relaxed."

Bismarck glanced at the blood pool beneath him.

"The professionals won't be able to come, does anyone here know emergency treatment?"

Agave Rope was helpless.

John shrugged his shoulders.

Gino's face darkened as he rummaged through the wreckage, finding an advanced emergency kit.

The Gaia Cells deluxe set.

John had only seen it on the official website, incredibly expensive and incredibly effective.

It included combat stimulants, trauma emergency injectors, large-area burn spray, hemostatic gel tubes, various gadgets for fractures and wound suture...

Gino was indeed quite capable with hands-on work.

[Fund Change, Transaction Account BTX-771354]

Everyone present received a second transfer.

After some basic assistance, Bismarck regained a bit of mobility.

He took out a Golden Apple e-cigarette from his chest pocket. Judging by his expression, the anesthesia effect was even better than an injection.

"You guys aren't very professional."

There was no fluctuation in Bismarck's tone.

Before anyone could retort, he exhaled the smoke and continued.

"The emergency team's deactivation agreement has a code word for situations like this."

If the client is kidnapped or threatened, uploading specific keys in the remote service will trigger more advanced rescue services.

The emergency team would dispatch "external experts" to the scene.

They would quietly gather information and resolve the issues without alerting the client's social connections.

Of course, it's expensive, but Bismarck can afford it.

John frowned.

Agave Rope and Gino involuntarily looked back at the dim wasteland.

It seemed that in the next second, company soldiers, super lone wolves, might shoot bullets from miles away.

"Don't worry, I'll cooperate."

Bismarck pursed his lips; electronic respirators always have some residue.

"I'm not afraid of you guys, but of Serum. Nearly all the original project leaders are dead in the past two weeks. Lucky me, I might be the last one."

Bismarck was mentally prepared but hadn't given up on survival.

He realized the "kidnappers" were novices, even began to proactively push the process forward.

"We need to establish trust first. Open a secret transmission channel; I'll send you something."

Gino crossed his arms, looking indifferent.

Agave Rope took on the task, establishing a secure channel through hacking means, and obtained compressed commercial files from Bismarck.

"It's all Plato's project plans."

These commercial secrets were all handled by Bismarck, and if leaked, an internal company review would destroy him.

Agave Rope deposited it with the Wanderer Alliance, effectively holding Bismarck's life.

"What does Serum want?"

"Your damn life."

"Heh heh, then shoot."

Bismarck sneered, looking at Gino.

Smoke fumed out from the cracks of his lips, his fingers holding the respirator covered in blood.

"Don't waste time playing intimidation games; we're in the same boat now."

Serum already said Bismarck's life or death didn't matter.

So John didn't rush to waste this bullet.

"The project key of Cyber World, that's what it's called, right?"

"Hmm!?"

Bismarck showed a meaningful expression.

Cyber World [Cyber Era] is the hottest hyper-sensory game in Eden City and even the world.

It allows game assets to be exchanged for real-world currencies and practical skill chips, correlating with a high level of internal data collection and game difficulty.

John once helped Angelica with a character task.

The game is backed by an exchange of interests among large multinational corporations and regimes.

Plato, as a European powerhouse, naturally has project keys, and Bismarck's management level could acquire them.

"Then let's go to the Source Equation, my office."

"What do you mean?"

"...You don't think such high-level commercial keys can be carried around, do you?"

"How to go?"

"Didn't you come on foot? I originally had a hovercar."

Bismarck waved, signaling Agave Rope to support him.

[Fund Change, Transaction Account BTX-771354]

As they spoke.

They received a third transfer.

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