Chapter 253: Need Something? Find the Boss

Spending ten thousand credit points to buy a map, Yang Bo discovered that this is a level-five city. Inside the game, cities are divided into seven levels, with level 7 being the smallest, housing less than 100,000 people.

The number of zombies in a level-six city ranges from 100,000 to 200,000, while a level-five city has between 200,000 and 500,000. A level-four city ranges from 500,000 to 1 million, level three between 1 million to 5 million, level two between 5 and 10 million, and level-one city has more than 10 million.

The total number of monsters on this planet was once estimated at around 2 billion. Excluding cities, there are just towns.

“Don’t bother thinking about hospitals, they’re inside the city.”

“There’s a pharmaceutical company, but unfortunately, it’s for veterinary use. It’s on the outskirts of the city.” Yang Bo examined the map closely and spotted the veterinary company in the farthest industrial area, downstream.

The so-called industrial zone doesn’t even have twenty plants. Judging by their names, there are grain processing plants, food factories, feed factories, a purified water plant, and the veterinary company.

Yang Bo armed himself a bit, purchasing a set of three-layer leather armor. Metal armor here has durability, and once worn, you have to pay a daily maintenance fee.

Yang Bo speculated that this world has a strong corrosive effect on metals. Otherwise, they wouldn’t use expensive androids. Why not just employ metal robots?

Androids are actually high-end robots. Since exposed metal bodies were typical for machines, many people opted to purchase high-end robots as household helpers instead.

When you get up at night and see the gleaming metal head and skeletal structure, many wealthy individuals feel uncomfortable. That’s why they developed androids that look just like real people.

The biological material of androids has no connection to humans. Strictly speaking, it’s related to a certain animal, as cells are extracted from animals to cultivate their tissues.

However, their texture feels almost human. The highest-end companion robots are also androids. They look exactly like real people, and their usage is identical, including features like body temperature, voice, all customizable—even their personality.

But androids can never replace humans, since after all, they follow a program and have a specific logic. After spending time with them, you’ll notice that although they appear human, their responses are always the same—it’s stiff.

However, the field of artificial intelligence, especially in smart robots, is strictly regulated.

“This set of equipment alone cost several thousand credit points!” Yang Bo glanced at his character’s status panel.

“A set of leather armor is divided into several pieces. With modern technology, making it one complete set is no problem at all. This must be another way to milk money. It could also be compensating for the cost of this equipment.” Yang Bo felt that the character’s equipment design was quite odd.

Yang Bo also equipped himself with a knife, then a bow with fifty arrows, and he had to carry water and food.

Yang Bo used his superpower to check the remotely controlled android. There was no water or food. Clearly, this was a way to drain your virtual money.

The leather armor on his body, however, was real. But it appeared to be made from non-metallic composite materials, not the animal leather as advertised.

“Rest for now. I’ll enter the game again tomorrow.” Yang Bo checked the real-time clock, preparing to log off the game.

From the respawn point to the veterinary drug factory is about three kilometers. However, reaching there would be tough because the route passes multiple buildings.

Browsing the game’s forum, it didn’t take long to find players cursing at the greedy game company.

Many people were restricted from logging in for a year after their character died.

Everyone was discussing the various uses of weapons. Firearms are only for support—cold weapons are more effective in cities.

One player even posted about receiving a 150,000 credit bounty. This guy captured a live mutant beast. It was a snail, about the size of half a basketball, with a bright red shell coated in a deadly toxin.

That instantly attracted a lot of attention. In-game, any item that can be exchanged for credit points automatically triggers an alert.

At this point, Yang Bo was starting to fully comprehend the situation. Something had happened on this planet, turning all the inhabitants into zombie-like creatures.

Other creatures had also mutated. During this period, the Alliance discovered valuable resources. However, Yang Bo was still unclear about what exactly caused the planet’s transformation.

It could have been a war, a virus leak from a biological company, or perhaps a meteorite carrying unknown energy radiation.

“Whatever the cause, as long as they’re not real people, I don’t mind.” Yang Bo had no interest in becoming an executioner—if they were monsters, it didn’t matter.

Logging off the game, Yang Bo washed up and rested. Although he didn’t really need sleep anymore, it’s become a habit over the years, and sleep helps restore his mental energy.

The next morning, Yang Bo drove his aircar to buy groceries. The supermarket was stocked with a variety of vegetables, strange fruits, and other items.

These food and vegetables were divided into multiple grades. Some come from industrial farms, while others are grown outdoors. The various grades directly reflect the prices.

Yang Bo even noticed the brand from Zhou Rui’s family farm. These branded vegetables and meats were sold for much higher prices than the factory-grown ones.

“Is someone following me?” While strolling through the supermarket, Yang Bo had the vague sensation that someone was tailing him.

“Who’s tracking me?” Yang Bo trusted his instincts.

He didn’t react immediately because with his current abilities, as long as no one deployed fighter jets or mecha, he didn’t need to worry.

“They’re definitely following me.” After making his purchases, Yang Bo took his aircar back to his villa.

Sure enough, he noticed a car tailing him. Yang Bo’s house was in a relatively secluded area, with neighbors spaced far apart.

Inside the city, aircars could only move close to the ground. Only after leaving the city could they fly freely, and even then, flights were regulated by the planetary flight control center.

Of course, Yang Bo could fly freely once he reached his own home. His aircar soared over the river at his doorstep and landed outside his villa.

Looking back towards the base of the mountain, the car tailing him slowed down before turning in another direction. Yang Bo felt they were observing the layout of his house.

“Who are they?”

“Could this be related to the mining planet incident?” Yang Bo muttered to himself. Recently, it seemed like he hadn’t antagonized anyone with his public identity. “I’d like to see who’s so bold.”

“Should I notify the Fat Boss?”

After a quick moment of thought, Yang Bo decided to notify the Fat Boss. Given that his public identity hadn’t upset anyone, it might have something to do with one of the tasks that the Fat Boss took on.

Yang Bo sent a message to the Fat Boss. Since these people dared to track him, they must have prepared for the worst.

In the past, Yang Bo would have believed that under the planetary security system’s surveillance, no one would dare to act recklessly.

But now, the more he learned, the more he realized there were dangers lurking beneath the illusion of safety.

The Fat Boss received Yang Bo’s email and immediately called him.

“Do you have a photo of the vehicle or the person? Your aircar’s recorder should have it.” The Fat Boss asked on the phone.

Yang Bo retrieved the vehicle’s information and forwarded it to the Fat Boss from the recorder.

“I’ll get back to you in half an hour. For now, go home and lock everything up. If it’s really the company from Thirty-One, they have quite a bit of hidden strength, but this doesn’t make sense.” The Fat Boss advised Yang Bo over the phone.

Yang Bo casually agreed but still pondered who was tracking him.

The most likely scenario involved his last mission—there was no way for Yang Bo to hide, especially since several people had witnessed him unlocking the confinement collar.

Though the Fat Boss assured him the Bounty Hunter Guild would take care of things, Yang Bo wondered how they’d handle it. Would they just kill everyone? After all, other third-party personnel were also inside the warehouse.

“Would the Bounty Hunter Guild, an underground organization, really be that unreliable?” This thought left Yang Bo with more questions than answers.

On paper, Yang Bo’s public identity was perfectly clean. As for his hidden identity, there was no way anyone could’ve discovered it.

Returning home, Yang Bo locked the doors before heading to his computer room to wait for the Fat Boss’s reply.

Twenty minutes later, the Fat Boss called again. “The car is registered locally, from a rental company, and it was rented half a month ago. We can’t access the renter’s personal information.”

“Why not come to the company dorm?”

“I’ll check if you’re still being followed.” The Fat Boss suggested over the phone.

“I’ll come right away.” Yang Bo agreed. Since there was trouble, he’d let the Fat Boss handle it. After all, the man was from a powerful family and had superpowers, while Yang Bo’s public identity couldn’t afford any scandals.

His public identity was his lifeblood. If something ruined it, he’d have no choice but to flee to one of the other two nations.

Yang Bo got into his aircar, setting the route to the company.

About ten minutes later, Yang Bo’s aircar pulled into the parking lot of the company dorms.

“That car was following you again!” The Fat Boss was already checking the surveillance cameras, pointing at the footage as Yang Bo arrived.

“It can’t be a coincidence, right?” Yang Bo asked, testing the waters.

The Fat Boss nodded. “It’s no coincidence. We just finished a mission, and someone’s already tailing you. Could it be the Bounty Hunter Guild’s president sending people to track you?”

The Fat Boss had doubts but didn’t mind smearing someone’s name. He continued, “During the auction for the longevity energy stone, only he knew it was with you.”

“Maybe they think we still have a longevity energy stone?” The Fat Boss speculated further.

Yang Bo shook his head, pretending to be clueless. “That shouldn’t be it. I just joined the Bounty Hunter Guild.”

“Better to be cautious.” The Fat Boss was unsure who might be following Yang Bo.

Whether it was a mistake or not, the Fat Boss admired Yang Bo’s vigilance. “In this line of work, sometimes we end up making enemies.”

“Boss, I noticed people mentioning cloaking capes. Can criminals really use such capes to commit crimes?” Yang Bo curiously asked.

“Cloaking capes can only be used in the wilderness. They’re not much use in cities. City surveillance systems have video recognition tech.”

“Cloaking capes absorb detection waves from the sky’s surveillance satellites. Satellites can’t observe like CCTV, always scanning the ground. They only activate when detecting unusual energy waves on the surface.”

“Each satellite covers a certain area. They can’t be scanning the entire planet constantly. Only when an unusual energy wave is detected does it start scanning the area.”

“But if they’re daring enough to openly follow you, they must be from a serious background.” The Fat Boss’s curiosity was piqued. He wondered just who was following Yang Bo, hoping it was all a misunderstanding.

“I have no idea. I haven’t crossed paths with anyone recently, right? You know that, Boss.” Yang Bo spoke innocently.

The Fat Boss was also puzzled. He knew most of Yang Bo’s affairs and couldn’t find anything that would make someone suspicious.

The Fat Boss was almost ready to contact the Bounty Hunter Guild but held off. After all, the Guild was a prominent organization in society—they wouldn’t do something so brash.

Meanwhile, Yang Bo was still racking his brain. His public identity hadn’t upset anyone.

“Could it be the Trinity Corporation?” Yang Bo asked.

“Impossible. If the Trinity Corporation made any reckless moves, they’d be destroyed instantly. Other companies are looking for excuses to finish off Thirty-One. They probably don’t even have time to deal with us.”

“Besides, Thirty-One doesn’t even know we were involved.” The Fat Boss shook his head.

“Wait a minute.” Just then, the Fat Boss noticed a flicker in the surveillance footage, particularly at the entrance to the parking lot. It returned to normal in a second.

“What’s up, Boss?” Yang Bo noticed it too but didn’t find it odd.

“It looks like the people tailing you might try something here. Are they crazy, or is there government backing?” The Fat Boss was a bit shocked. Someone had clearly invaded the system.

Yang Bo was also surprised but immediately linked the situation with something else.

The Grey Ash Organization!

Yang Bo had dealt with a low-level intelligence agent from this group. Reflecting on it now, that agent was tasked with investigating him and a few others—survivors from Green Demon Planet.

If the Grey Ash Organization had sent more people, they might continue investigating Yang Bo. Analyzing the circumstances surrounding that agent’s death may have also put Yang Bo on their radar.

“Boss, what should we do now?” Yang Bo asked, appearing a bit overwhelmed, though mostly for show.

“Obviously, we report it to the authorities.” The Fat Boss replied with a confident tone.