Date: Cela Calendar April 14, 2040.

Continent: North Nassan.

Country: Usah.

Location: Montana, Shalldan.

The dead black sky squeezed thick clouds pouring down torrents of rain, drenching the city below.

The narrow streets, soaked in the smell of rust, were flanked by towering buildings, their pale, gray metal facades casting a dim yellow glow.

Normally, the thick smog would choke the air and obscure the view, making everything look dull and gray.

But today’s rare downpour brought a refreshing change, washing away some of the engine oil smells that usually lingered in the streets.

Thanks to the rain, people could finally catch a glimpse of the vibrant neon lights flickering high above.

Those lights clung to the buildings like colorful caterpillars, flashing in a dazzling array of colors, making the skyscrapers appear even more distorted and radiant.

The rain seemed furious, hammering against the tempered glass, as if ready to break through and invade the inside. It also relentlessly attacked anyone outside, declaring that they should stay indoors instead.

In this rain-soaked urban landscape, a figure dressed in black and yellow was struggling with a small engine wrapped in a tattered coat, desperately trying to push it into an alley.

He looked disheveled, his short sleeves stained with oils. His pale face was dotted with beads of sweat, and his legs trembled with exhaustion.

Finally, he turned into an alley where the tall buildings shielded him from most of the rain. It was still damp, but at least he wouldn’t drown there.

“Damn it, I can’t let the engine get flooded...”

he muttered to himself, praying for a miracle. With one hand holding the engine, he fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a dirty, yellow card.

He glanced at it, confirming it read “Yushi,” and hurried to the dilapidated building in front of him. He pressed the card against a sensor next to the iron door.

“Beep…”

A harsh electronic sound echoed, and the iron door creaked open a crack.

Yushi quickly kicked it wider, rushed inside, and poked his wet head and hands back out to pull the door shut with a loud bang.

But soon enough, his head peeked out again, eyes fixed on a “garbage station” in the corner of the alley.

Though called a garbage station, it was just a cluster of big green trash bins.

Even with the rain easing off, the bins overflowed, leaking a foul, noxious liquid. And there, amidst the mess, lay someone...

No! not someone, but a half-dismembered bionic robot.

Intact head, but the rest of it was a patchwork of damage.

Pale face, closed eyes, silver hair. It was just like a girl who had just passed away.

The body resembled a human’s, clad in a tattered white shirt that clung to its form, soaked through so thoroughly that there was no privacy to her.

Stolen novel; please report.

But the exposed joints connecting its limbs revealed a collection of battered metal.

Though its core components were not exposed, many parts—like the joints of its mechanical arms—were already broken.

It had lost three limbs, leaving only a right arm, which had just three fingers left.

If you weren't paying close attention, you might think someone had been murdered and dumped there, especially with the blood-like stains still visible.

“Who the hell is so wasteful? So many useful parts just left here!” Yushi initially recoiled in shock, but as he studied it more closely, he relaxed.

He pondered for a moment, stepping closer to examine it.

Nowadays, prosthesis implantation was commonplace, so if someone saw this dead-like body, they’d likely freak out and call the cops, thinking it was a real dead guy.

But a closer look would reveal this wasn’t some deceased Prosthetic Maniac.

Which normal one would swap out their entire skeleton for metal and replace their flesh with non-human material?

Technology had advanced, but not to the point of turning someone into a full-blown ship of Theseus.

Still, the blood-like liquid was pretty unsettling...

But thankfully, this wasn’t a real corpse. To Yushi, this hunk of metal could soon turn into a way to fill his stomach.

Since the WDFD(World Data Finance Disaster) hit the world by the AI life Sysus hit the world, the global economy had become a pot of hot porridge.

And with technological advancements, gold’s status as the premier precious metal was shaky at best.

People no longer cared about metals with little practical use but just wanted to fill their bellies.

At this moment, the globally accepted “Worlb” was created from the big countries.

Worlb were primarily made of gold, containing intricate electronic components, available in both paper and coin forms.

While gold might not be as valuable anymore, once turned into Worlb, it regained its connection to wealth.

Anyone could register their personal information with the government to receive an independent vault chip, which could be external or internal. Once connected to their nerves and their biological information confirmed, they could freely use their vault Worlb.

These vault chips were crafted by top departments from various countries during the economic recovery, making them some of the most precise objects humanity had ever created.

After all, no country would hate money, and no one wanted to relive the financial disaster.

This method unified the world’s currency and stabilized financial turbulence to some extent.

“If the core chips aren’t damaged, I could refurbish and sell her for a decent profit. If the motherboard is intact, then it’s better!”

He looked at the robot, as exciting as he had seen two bags of money.

Ignoring the foul, putrid water, back into the rain, he determined to haul it out of the trash bin. But after a few tugs, the thing couldn’t move.

“Gosh. Looks like a girl, but surprisingly heavy. Just like a real person. Getting this hunk of metal out... is going to take some effort! Ugh…”

Yushi muttered to himself, turning around, bending his knees and waist, gripping the damaged arms, straining as he pulled.

“Pang!!”

With a hard yank, the lifeless body was dragged out, its waist hitting the ground with a loud thud, though the sound was drowned out by the rain.

Honestly, if someone were to throw a body in this weather, it would be a piece of cake. No one would know what you were doing.

He hoisted the robot onto his shoulder, carefully stepping back through the iron door, trying to avoid bumping it again. That noise felt like a knife slicing through him, making him uneasy.

Fixing this thing took time, energy, and money!

The robot lacked legs, looking fairly petite.

However, being made of metal, even just the torso weighed over forty kilograms.

Yet its skin felt just like human flesh, which made the dazed Yushi come up some odd thoughts as he carried it.

Pushing open the iron door revealed a battered wall, as if it had survived a war, now dirty and damaged.

Beside the tenants' doors, a couple of noisy vending machines, and some pipes and control boxes, the place was covered in black stains and crumpled yellowing papers.

The damp, rough floor held a small engine with chipped yellow paint and a gray-blue coat that had fallen to the side. That was the stuff Yushi had just moved in with.

Aside from the wall he entered through, the other three walls had doors leading to tenant rooms. But Usah didn’t know his neighbors well. Even after living there for over a year, their doors had never opened to him.

Of course, he hadn’t knocked either. Maybe it was just too old and run-down, with no elevator to use, forcing him to climb the gray concrete stairs all the way to the sixth floor.

Though the stairs also led to the basement, he had no idea what was down there or where it led.

“Ugh... If the rent on the sixth floor wasn’t cheaper and the space a little bigger, I wouldn’t have picked such a high place...”

Yushi grumbled, his rain-soaked brain swirling with thoughts.

After running around in the rain with a two-hundred-pound engine for minutes, now he had to carry a robot’s weight up to the sixth floor, and then come back down to retrieve the engine.

Money was so hard to come by!

“Thud.”

Finally, he reached the top floor, gently setting the robot down. The sound of metal hitting the floor echoed, signaling the victory in his ascent.

The temporary victory.