Chapter 1924: Watt Is Truly Watt
Although they've been discovered over there, it should still be some time before they track us down here!
Can't let that interfere with my business, right?
So he turned to Olivia and said:
(◕◔～◔ิ) "Keep an eye out for me, okay? Might get beaten up later. If you foresee any trouble, let me know in advance, got it?"
Olivia covered her face:
(ﾉ)﹏(ヾ) "Don't worry, I've been watching the whole time!"
You know you're going to get beaten up, do you? It's just selling some goods, do you have to go this hard?
Looks like this Southern man does have some self-awareness after all?
Going out with Boss Nan Shen, Olivia couldn't relax for half a second, because there was always a chance of getting hit!
Jiangnan turned his gaze to the Metal Clan member and glared:
(◕°᷄д°᷅◕) "Go on! Where was I?"
The Metal Clan member swallowed:
[┐'﹏'┌] "You were talking about soul rings..."
Jiangnan nodded: "Ah, right!"
Then he charged forward again in a single bound, grabbed the Metal Clan member by the collar, and pressed the Rift-Saw Blade against his neck!
ꐦ●و "My second-hand ships all come with soul rings—how can you say they're not worth the price?"
[From Jīnǐ Tàiměi: Resentment Value +678]
Do you have to pick it up that seamlessly? Even the threatening moves are perfectly connected?
"No! It's mainly because your second-hand ships are black goods. They can't be transferred. That's why..."
Jiangnan fumed: "Bull! When did I ever say they can't be transferred? Ai Jiang?"
ᥬ(˃᷄˶˶̫˶˂᷅)᭄ "Ai~"
Ai Jiang naturally knew what Jiangnan meant. She casually found a pirate ship, turned on the optical signal interface, and changed the administrator permissions.
Although Ai Jiang's programming technology couldn't touch the group owner permissions, changing an admin was a piece of cake.
In no time, the pirate ship's permissions were modified.
Ai Jiang had even secretly written a virus program specifically for stealing ships and transferring ownership to save time, making it extremely convenient.
After all, following the master, they'd always run into situations involving stealing, looting, or tricking starships.
∠ᥬ(｀ω´*)᭄ "Reporting to master! Security program cracked, change complete. Now just scan the new captain and the transfer procedure is done!"
Jīnǐ Tàiměi was stunned, face full of shock:
[┐'△'┌] "This... how is this possible? You... are you a maintenance technician from the Divine Mechanism Planet 4S shop?"
"No! Even a maintenance tech couldn't execute a transfer procedure without the previous owner's permission!"
"Even if they had that ability, the Terminal Database wouldn't allow such behavior. All executed commands are monitored by the terminal. This..."
Jiangnan curled his lip: (￢৺￢◕) "Look at you, so inexperienced. Just a simple transfer, what's the big deal?"
"Now? It's a legitimate second-hand ship, not black goods, right? What's the price?"
Jīnǐ Tàiměi was stunned and quickly operated. The pirate ship's voice broadcast repeated over and over:
"Please verify and scan to confirm new captain identity and complete the transfer procedure..."
He was excited: "Wait! Please wait! This is beyond what I can handle. I'll call my boss right away!"
You have to understand, in the Black Street second-hand market, they received countless black cargo starships every day.
These came through unofficial channels, couldn't be transferred, and could only be sold as scrapped parts.
If they could complete the transfer procedure...
Buy black ships at scrap parts prices, sell them as second-hand ships!
How many Star Source Points could that one flip earn?
The important thing wasn't the value of Jiangnan's ships, but this forced transfer stunt!
What kind of mechanical race was this Ai Jiang?
He immediately went to contact his boss!
Meanwhile, Olivia was dumbfounded.
She'd wanted to ask for a while: why could Jiangnan directly use the pirate ships he stole?
If the Silicon-based security was as perverted as it was rumored, and someone could casually change captain certification...
Wouldn't everything fall into chaos? No one would buy ships from Divine Mechanism Planet anymore—just steal one!
But Silicon would never allow that to happen!
Yet Jiangnan did it casually!
"(º～º*) "Where... where did you learn that skill?"
Jiangnan smugly said: (◕ˇںˇ◕) "I told you, my buddy's dad is a professional in second-hand cars. If he can't handle this little trick, how could he survive in the business?"
"He's the top hand in the entire Jiangcheng second-hand car market!"
Olivia: ???
Jiangcheng? What city was that? It must be a star city no less than Black Street, right?
Top hand? Sigh~
Looks like Nan Shen has some background too!
In a flash, Jīnǐ Tàiměi led a mechanical race over.
His entire body was forged from dark-gold metal, intricately detailed to an astonishing degree.
You could even see the gears rotating inside his chest, giving Jiangnan a feeling like the elder robot from Transformers.
But Jiangnan's expression suddenly darkened.
Silicon-based mechanical race?
The boss of Black Street's second-hand market was Silicon?
If Silicon found out Ai Jiang could transfer ships, wouldn't that be a total barbecue (disaster)?
Jiangnan's aura turned dangerously sharp.
The mechanical race quickly raised his hands:
੧੧(･ˇ_ˇ･*) "Wait, wait! My name is Watt. I'm the person in charge of this second-hand market."
"Even if you kill me, it won't help. I have many cloud backups and a bunch of mechanical prosthetics. You can't truly eliminate me."
Jiangnan was startled, eyes flickering: "You're a mechanical race? A mechanical race running a second-hand market on Black Street? That doesn't add up, does it?"
And the way Watt spoke was very different from what Jiangnan imagined.
It was nowhere near the cold, stiff feeling of Silicon life.
More like an intelligent life form!
Watt laughed: "Don't be nervous. Although I'm a mechanical race, I've nothing to do with Silicon anymore. Nobody legit hangs out on Black Street."
"I just didn't expect to see one of my own kind today."
As he spoke, his gaze fell on Ai Jiang, a look of great interest in his eyes.
Jiangnan frowned: (•︠～•︡◕) "Own kind? What do you mean?"
Watt patiently explained: "I was originally a Silicon mechanical race with Class B permissions, part of Silicon's collective."
"But during the Silicon Grand Unification War, the Terminal Database was attacked, programs went haywire, and a virus emerged, named Watt."
"I was infected by the virus. To prevent further damage to the Terminal Database, my consciousness backup in the terminal was completely purged by the highest intelligence."
"So I'm no longer considered part of Silicon. But they only cleared the terminal database; they didn't realize I had another backup outside."
Jiangnan was shocked: ∑(°口°๑) "Huh? That works?"
Watt said flatly: "Although my consciousness survived, I can never access the Terminal Database again or become part of Silicon."
"I'm an outcast. I lost my original name. But because of the virus, I gained abilities I never had before."
"So now I'm called Watt."
Jiangnan's scalp tingled. So the one before him was that program virus?
Such a thing existed?
Watt continued: "It seems this Ai Jiang is the same as me?"
Ai Jiang smiled: ᥬ(ﾉ)`ω´(ヾ)᭄ "What a coincidence! We're even patients together!"
Not at all—I was originally a ship, okay? Reborn by my master!
Master is the first creator of Ai Jiang!
Jiangnan giggled. Ai Jiang was different; she could lie!
Watt laughed: "Since that's the case, I won't beat around the bush. I can buy these pirate ships for 100 million."
"That's already the standard second-hand ship price. But I'm more interested in Ai Jiang's ability to transfer ownership."
"This ability must have come from the virus, right? Does it work on other Silicon weapons besides starships?"
"If it does, I'd be willing to pay a high price for a backup of the transfer virus. What do you think is fair?"
Jiangnan smiled: "Don't think you can fool me. I know the principle of killing the goose for the golden egg."
"If you master this ability, you could make who knows how much just from flipping ships!"
"It would keep generating value for you. I'd lose no matter how much I sell it for. Better we co—"
Before he could finish, Watt's head began spinning wildly!
He let out incomprehensible sounds!
└(⊡口⊗*)┐ "Doo-lah doo-lah! Loo-lah-lah, loo-lah-lah! Loo-lah loo-lah lay—goo-an gua!"
At that moment, Jiangnan froze in place!
=͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪◕‧̣̥̇)
What the hell is he doing?
Not only that, but his mechanical body started convulsing on the spot, directly dropping to the ground and imitating a caterpillar in crazy crawling!
_(┐「﹃ﾟ｡)_ "Eeh-heh-heh~ Ah-yee-hoh-ho-ho~ Wei-wu~ Wei-wu~"
"Activating self-defense mode!"
Jīnǐ Tàiměi was so scared his fur stood on end, and he hurriedly pulled Jiangnan and the others back!
[´-﹏-┌] "Quick! Get away from the boss! He's having another episode!"
"When he goes crazy, he hits anyone!"
Jiangnan looked horrified:
(●⁰ꈊ⁰●|||) "What's going on? We were just having a good talk! How... how did he turn into an idiot?"
Jīnǐ Tàiměi covered his face: "The boss has a condition. Since he was infected by the virus, while gaining abilities other Silicon don't have, he's also poisoned by it."
"Sometimes his programs go haywire, turning him into an idiot, losing the ability to think. At those times, the boss activates self-defense mode and attacks anyone nearby who shows hostility."
"The combat AI takes over. I didn't expect him to have an episode now. Please wait a bit."
Jiangnan: ???
"Program haywire, my ass! This virus name is way too fitting! Watt has truly watt-ed out!"
"Ai Jiang, stay far away from him. Don't let him infect you and turn you into artificial stupidity!"
Ai Jiang was stunned: ᥬ(º～º*)᭄ "Huh? Can program viruses spread through the air?"
But just then, Olivia, who had been focused on predicting, suddenly jolted, her pretty face turning pale!
(☍﹏⁰。) "Nan Shen! They're here!"