The move from Aethelgard to Sector 4 was not smooth. It was like a crash. Lu Ran's mind, which was usually very good at thinking and using data, felt like it had been torn apart and put back together again in a way. When he opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was not the smell of roses or the sound of the Great Arcane Pulse. It was the smell of ozone and the steady hum of a city that never stopped working.
He was lying in a puddle of liquid. It was a mix of rainwater and old coolant. Above him the sky was not really a sky. It was like a ceiling of dirty air and flashing signs. Big signs with characters and neon logos for companies like Arasaka-Vanguard and Neuro-Link made the air look even worse.
[System Initialization: ]
[World Tier: 7. High-Tech Dystopia / Cybernetic Integration.]
[Status: Foreign Body Detected. Adjusting Bio-Signatures to Local Parameters.]
[Mission Objective: Construct the "Aegis Hybrid". A mechanical synthesis. Timeline: 180 Days.]
Lu Ran sat up. He moved easily even though he was a bit dizzy. He touched his coat. Felt the special fibers. They were strong. Could handle the bad rain in this city. He felt a feeling in his chest. It was like he was remembering something. He thought about Kaelen's face and Valerius's wings.. He pushed those thoughts away. A scientist does not get sad when an experiment is over. He just moves on to the one.
"This is a world of machines and electricity, " Lu Ran said quietly. His voice was hard to hear over the sound of a train passing. "Everything is getting worse and worse. It's all noise."
The Search for the Variable
Lu Ran did not walk around without a plan. He moved like a person who knows that the important information is hidden. He went through the "Neon Veins". The alleys in the sector where old technology and poor people gathered.
He needed a place to stay. He needed tools.. Most of all he needed the thing he was looking for.
[Target Located: Xenon-01.]
[Location: The Scrap-Heaps of the Iron Lung District.]
[Bio-Data: Rogue Prototype. 84% Cybernetic Replacement. High-Latency Neural Core.]
As Lu Ran walked he started to look at the magic". It was not like the magic in Aethelgard, which came from the earth. This magic was like data in the air. The "Net" was like a sea of invisible signals. Lu Ran used his mind to connect to the System. He looked at the surface of the Wi-Fi clouds. He saw bank accounts, secret messages and the fast heartbeats of people hiding from debt collectors.
He walked past a group of "Chrome-Ghouls". Thugs with metal teeth. Without saying a word. They looked at his coat and the cold look in his eyes. They decided he was either a high-level assassin or a ghost. Either way they left him alone.
The Iron Lung
The Iron Lung was a ventilation shaft for the underground factories. Now it was used as a slum. This is where Lu Ran found Xenon-01.
Xenon-01 was leaning against a turbine. Its body was a mix of wires and black metal. It did not look human. One arm was like a machine claw. The other arm was like a surgical tool. Its face was a mask with a cracked porcelain surface. It had one glowing eye that pulsed like a dying fire.
"You are leaking fluid, " Lu Ran said, stopping a meter away. ". Your brain is getting too hot. You will be dead in 48 minutes."
The machine-man's head moved up. The red eye spun as it tried to focus. A voice, which was distorted by a speaker said: "Are you a scavenger?. Are you from the corporation?"
"Neither " Lu Ran said, stepping into the dim light of a streetlamp. "I am a researcher.. You are the most interesting thing I have found in this graveyard."
"Leave me alone " Xenon-01 said. "There is nothing left to take. My core is locked. It will destroy itself if someone tries to open it."
"I do not want to take anything from you Xenon, " Lu Ran said, kneeling in the dirt. He took out a glowing device from his coat. "I want to make you better. I want to see if a soul can survive in a body made of machines."
The First Procedure
The alleyway became an operating room. Lu Ran did not have a laboratory like he did in Sun-Peak. But he had something he was very focused on.
"The problem with the technology in this world, " Lu Ran said, "is that it tries to replace the body. It should help the body instead. You are fighting your body, Xenon."
"It hurts, " the machine said.
"Pain is a signal, " Lu Ran replied. "I am going to change the frequency."
As the rain poured down Lu Ran started to work. He did not just fix the wires. He started to create a kind of "code" in the machine's brain. He used the principles of the Aethelgardian Genome. The way he taught Valerius to heal.. Applied them to the machine's binary streams.
He was creating a bridge.
By the time the artificial sun rose behind the smog Xenon-01 was no longer broken. The red eye had turned blue. The mask had been fixed, covered with a layer of self-repairing skin that felt like skin.
Xenon stood up. The mechanical joints moved quietly. He looked at his hands. Now covered with a pale casing that looked like Lu Rans.
"Who are you?" Xenon asked. The voice was clear and human-like.
Lu Ran stood up dusting off his coat. He looked up at the corporate buildings.
"I am the man who is going to change this city, " Lu Ran said. ". You, Xenon, are my first step."
[Mission Progress: 5%. Hybrid Core Stabilized.]
[Warning: Corporate Detection Imminent. Arasaka-Vanguard Drones Inbound.]
Lu Ran smiled. It was the smile he had when he faced the dragons of Aethelgard. "Perfect. I have always found that it's better when things get a bit... Violent."