CHAPTER 115: CHAPTER 102: RESTORER

Soon, the newcomer was blindfolded and taken aboard this ’Titanic’ on a small yacht.

The person steering the yacht was a somber middle-aged man, who merely nodded at Gao Gong. Gao Gong didn’t know his name, but he always felt a certain eerie aura about him.

Moreover, the person in charge of the negotiation was quite unusual, at least beyond Gao Gong’s expectations.

"Wow, you’ve really changed!"

Xiao Huang rubbed his eyes in disbelief when he saw Gao Gong, and exclaimed.

"Your level of mutation makes me think of some biological experiment subjects from major corporations."

Gao Gong didn’t speak, but Daisila coldly remarked, "You’d better think twice before you speak. Do you want to be eaten?"

Looking at the increasingly seductive yet spider-aura filled cyber woman, Xiao Huang swallowed and gave an awkward smile.

"Sit."

Gao Gong pointed to the chair opposite, "See if there’s something you want to drink."

Xiao Huang’s eyes lit up, "You actually have fresh orange juice here, get me a glass, I’m about to puke from drinking artificial coloring!"

Soon, a servant brought over a glass of chilled orange juice. Xiao Huang drank it all in one go, looking thoroughly pleased.

"Another glass!"

Gao Gong tilted his head to observe him. After all, he could barely count as an acquaintance. Back on the night of the ’Arm-breaking Operation,’ it was him who piloted the flying device. From what Gao Gong remembered, he was a young man fond of colorful language.

And his last name was Xiao.

"What’s your relationship with Major General Xiao Tong from the Central Desert?"

Xiao Huang wiped his mouth, "He’s my cousin. My mom is a gene replication of his mom, so genetically speaking, he’s also my brother."

Gao Gong ’hmm’-ed, knowing that the old families from the Civilization Era always had complicated internal relations. The Xiao Family is already considered good; at least most are born naturally, whereas some families are entirely self-replicating bodies.

The ethical chaos is also the hallmark of the Cyber Test Field.

Many civilizations experience similar chaos after upgrading, but their chaos is short-lived and quickly adjusted, whereas the Cyber Test Field has always been chaotic: self-cloning, inbreeding, personality replication, synthetic life; you name it, they’ve done it.

"I thought Kep would come to negotiate."

Back when he fought Demon Mountain, the battle was so fierce that outsiders couldn’t get involved. By the time they could, the fight was already over, with Gao Gong’s side achieving an overwhelming victory.

Those two Bio-Fusioners were also powerless to change anything and had to make a hasty exit.

"He can’t come, that old man Gram nearly skinned him alive. If it weren’t for the special situation with the Beast Tide, he would’ve been thrown into a military prison already. Oh, right, do you know Gram? He’s the head of the Blue Desert; Demon Mountain was dug up by him from the Mother City. He nearly died from anger."

Xiao Huang, the brat, seemed carefree, not taking that Major General seriously at all.

But given he’s from the Xiao Family, he’s entitled to that attitude. Offspring from the Mother City’s noble families are just a step below the Cloud Nobility, a standard privileged class.

In Gao Gong’s knowledge, these people love to race high up in the skyscrapers, with many flying car races organized by them.

These high-altitude bumper car races can have severe consequences if you get hit.

However, if you’re on the ’seasoned driver’ route, these events are excellent for obtaining high-quality car parts.

"My brother means for you to replace Demon Mountain and lead in fighting against the Beast Tide."

Xiao Huang, being a rich second generation, was straightforward, diving straight into the topic without preamble.

"Oh? So Major General Gram doesn’t want revenge on me anymore?"

"Revenge for what," Xiao Huang scoffed, "There are plenty of guys like him in the Mother City. If one dies, they just find another. Mass-produced goods aren’t rare."

Given that he’s from the Xiao Family, such an attitude is normal. After all, the family possesses the ’Complete Form Technology,’ a core of ’Reproduction Technology.’

If they wanted, making another Demon Mountain wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

"What’s in it for me?" Gao Gong asked bluntly.

Xiao Huang widened his eyes, "Brother, I thought I was already cocky enough, but you’re even cockier. You took down a general of the Mechanical Legion, and it’s good enough that you can redeem yourself. What, you want a reward too?"

"Demon Mountain died by my hand? You’ve got it wrong," Gao Gong declared righteously. "General Demon Mountain didn’t fall to those two A-level Monsters? As his loyal subordinate, I, of course, have the duty to avenge him."

"But those two A-level Monsters are too strong; without sufficiently powerful weapons, how am I supposed to fight them."

"What do you want then?"

Gao Gong held up three fingers.

"Three sets of Bio-Fusion Armor. Say yes, and I’ll work; say no, and I’m out."

Xiao Huang took a deep breath, eyed him strangely, and said, "I need to make a call."

"There’s a phone on the ship."

After Xiao Huang left, Du Zhaodi, who had been silent, looked worried and asked, "Will he agree to our terms?"

Gao Gong shrugged, "Who knows? Anyway, it doesn’t hurt to try."

He then lowered his voice.

"If we can get three sets of bio-fusion armor as experimental material, our chances of successfully replicating them would be much higher."

After a short while, Xiao Huang arrived and said straightforwardly, "Okay, my brother agreed."

What?

This time it was Gao Gong’s turn to be surprised. He knew the Security Corps would bleed him dry, after all, they would definitely stab him in the back and drop a nuclear bomb on him while he was fighting to the death with the Beast Tide.

But agreeing so readily was a bit subtle; weren’t they afraid he might grow suspicious?

Xiao Huang had no idea what the other man was thinking. He looked around and suddenly said, "Now that the business is over, shall we talk about something else?"

Gao Gong didn’t understand his intent, so Xiao Huang started to speak evasively, sometimes talking about the distribution of seven continents in the Civilization Era, other times about the history of major countries, and also about the customs and development directions of these civilized nations, like the 9-3 Guanzhong block under their feet, which used to be a servant island country where mixed bathing reportedly was quite popular.

The more Gao Gong listened, the more puzzled he became. He gave Du Zhaodi a glance, and the ponytail girl got the hint and led the others to withdraw first.

When only two of them were left, Xiao Huang’s expression became serious, and he unusually asked earnestly, "Have you inherited the Restorer’s legacy?"

Where did this come from?

In his memory, the Restorer was indeed a branch of the Rebel Army, and even the Knight Order was a branch of the Rebel Army.

Broadly speaking, any resistance force not part of the Mechanical City system can be considered part of the Rebel Army: old model bionic men, anti-mechanical system warriors, terrorists, black market enterprises, the Turing Sect, space colonists, unregistered AIs.

Naturally, remnants of fallen countries were among them.

If there was a difference, the Restorer was more idealistic—they aimed to rebuild the nations of the Civilization Era, restoring the order of the old times.

But what does that have to do with him?

Seeing Gao Gong hesitate without speaking, Xiao Huang bowed slightly and said with some urgency, "Stop pretending! Without inheriting ancient state technology, how could you acquire so much new equipment, and how did you solve your biological rejection from bio-modification?"

Gao Gong somewhat understood. His old-generation Hunter inheritor status could fool simple people from the desert, but wasn’t quite convincing for city dwellers.

At least the bio-modification part was difficult to justify. How could he have solved a rejection issue that old-generation Hunters hadn’t in decades, in just three months?

Moreover, Gao Gong shot a peculiar glance at the other man.

Wasn’t the Xiao Family the Traitor Clan? What, are they looking to exterminate loose ends?

"There are so many rebellion forces. How do you conclude I’m a Restorer?" Gao Gong carefully chose his words.

Xiao Huang brightened, thinking the other man was opening up.

"We’ve investigated you. You have connections with the Rebel Army. That woman named Black Rose is an important member of the bionic man Rebel Army."

"But you can’t possibly be one of them, since those bionic men have a purity complex about bloodlines. They wouldn’t allow Primordial People to join."

"You even fought with people from the Knight Order before, so you’re unlikely to be an extremist terrorist."

"Your path follows close-combat modification, resembling the Empire’s mechanical martial arts."

"Also, your subordinate, that Old Han, we’ve investigated him. He was once an empire’s research investigator. Thus, the truth might be that he found a remnant of the Empire’s bloodline, which is you, and with his help, you’ve inherited part of the Empire’s legacy, and under the influence of that woman Black Rose, became a member of the Rebel Army."

"And your killing of Demon Mountain was a pledge for joining the Rebel Army!"

"Nobody would be crazy enough to kill a top military officer when the Beast Tide approaches without a compelling reason!"

"Uh—"

Gao Gong was silent for a moment, suddenly feeling it made so much sense.

If he were a Restorer, everything would indeed make sense.

But the issue is, he’s really not one!

"This has no relation to our cooperation, right?"

"How could it not!" Xiao Huang slapped his thigh. "If you really were a Restorer, we wouldn’t let them activate the ’Scorched Earth Plan,’ no matter what. Do you know what the ’Scorched Earth Plan’ is? It’s dropping a nuclear bomb on the Radiation Beasts."

The ’Scorched Earth Plan’ has been mentioned, he really isn’t treating himself as an outsider.

Gao Gong exhaled a breath, slowly leaning back against the chair, a strange smile gradually forming on his lips.

"Member of the Traitor Clan, do you really think I’d believe what you say?"

Xiao Huang, anxious, blurted out, "You’re not aware of the inside story. Given the situation then, if those things hadn’t been done, the Empire would’ve truly faced national extinction, as even the old emperor was possessed by aliens. As a Level 2 Civilization, how could we endure an Interstellar War Level strike?"

He even knew Civilization-level stories? Did the Civilization Era already involve contact with alien influences? This means his guess was correct; mechanical warfare indeed involved alien influence struggles.

Gao Gong was considering whether to acknowledge this ’Restorer’ identity.

"I don’t know which Imperial Marquis Clan’s bloodline you belong to, but believe me, we are definitely not your enemies! I will do my utmost to help you in any way!"

There’s such a good thing?!

Gao Gong folded his hands, raised his chin slightly, his expression cold.

"Let’s see how you perform."

No pretending anymore, I’m indeed an imperial descendant.