Abyssal Wanderer

Scavengers are at the bottom of the contempt chain in the ecology of the resettlement area. People tend to associate it with dirty scavengers such as rats, flies, and cockroaches.

But Luo An, a senior scavenger who has inherited his father's business since he was seven years old, has a completely different view on this.

Disposing of corpses, removing prosthetics or implants from the dead, and renovating them to make them glow again in the living. This is a matter of great merit no matter how you look at it. Especially under the monopoly of Olympus Enterprises, this is not only an efficient means of promoting science and technology, but also can eliminate the waste of resources to the greatest extent.

At least in Luo An's view, there are only two types of people who are sincerely opposed to this virtuous cycle: moral puritans who seriously believe that corpses are sacred and inviolable; and those who are brainwashed by consumerism and think that they are superior to others by using original company products. A pretense offender.

As for the vast majority of ordinary people struggling to survive, even if they are vaguely aware of the true source of these cheap black market prosthetics, as long as the seller makes up a lame lie to appease them, they will comfort themselves and buy those soul-bearing prostheses. Huan's prosthetic body was installed on his body, and afterwards he kept lamenting that he had picked it up and missed it.

Moderate self-deception is a good antidote to obsessive moralism.

Thanks to the increasingly fierce conflict between the resettlement area government and the Icarus Liberation Front, Luo An received an exceptionally large number of orders tonight. The murder that occurred at No. 514 Yucca Avenue was the third commission Luo An received today.

After receiving an anonymous order on the "Dead" scavenger platform, he rushed to the dilapidated apartment with his trainee assistant without stopping.

After passing through the violently broken door and the messy dining room, Luo An found the purpose of their trip in a hidden room in the living room.

"This is too tragic..."

The trainee assistant behind him couldn't help but sigh after entering the door and seeing the miserable state of the man's body.

As for Luo An, he was already used to seeing corpses in countless jobs. First, he walked around the body to observe, and then he tsk-tipped his tongue and mocked:

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a hatred."

The deceased was a middle-aged man in his thirties who was about to enter his fourth year of life. He had a body that was too muscular for his age, and a face that was so determined that he would not frown even if a gun was pointed at his head—— At this point, the bullet holes in the other person's face add to the persuasiveness.

As for the rest... Judging from the various weapons and exhibits displayed in the secret room where the other party is at the moment, as well as the shot in the head, the dead guy's identity should be unusual, at least compared to the Qing Dynasty at the bottom. For Dolph, he must have lived a wonderful life.

But, so what if it’s wonderful? Wouldn't the final outcome be that the body was brutally murdered at home, with scavengers like them dismantling the valuable parts, then dehydrating, compressing, packaging, and sending it to the resource recycling pool in the resettlement area?

With such ridicule in his heart, Luo An moved the corpse's face back and forth with his toes a few times, then shook his head and sighed with regret:

"Pity……"

Don’t get me wrong, the pity he is talking about at this moment does not mean that the other person died, but that the place where the other person was shot is actually in the left eye - this means that generally speaking, the best prosthetic eye on the market is the most expensive. His brain implants were severely damaged, greatly reducing his profits from this trip.

Secretly thinking of bad luck in his heart, Luo An ordered without looking back:

"Little slug, go get me the craniotomy tool. With any luck, this man's right eye may not be broken."

The trainee assistant behind him, whom he called "little slug," was a little girl who looked less than ten years old. She was wearing a rough-fitted chemical fiber protective suit, and she was carrying a canvas bag that was too large for her body.

After hearing Luo An's order, the girl immediately took off the strap of the backpack, threw it on the ground with a bang, and then rummaged through it.

It can be seen that she is not very familiar with this job yet. For a moment, she almost fell into the canvas bag.

After rummaging for a while, she took out a metal instrument with a probe and excitedly handed it to Luo An.

"Found it, here!"

She spoke excitedly, not forgetting to sniff the snot hanging from her nose after she finished speaking - this may be the origin of her nickname.

Luo An was stunned for a moment when he saw it, and then he roughly pushed the instrument and the girl holding the instrument back with an impatient expression.

"Can't you fucking understand the speaker? What I asked you to get was a craniotomy tool, not a vital signs detector!"

Being yelled at like this, the girl's originally excited expression immediately became aggrieved. She lowered her head and argued in a low voice:

"But I see in the work manual that the scavengers must first verify whether the subject has completely lost their vital signs before starting work..."

In response, Luo An couldn't help but roll his eyes. I wanted to continue to curse a few more words, but seeing how serious the other party was, I finally sighed and patiently explained:

"Let me explain to you one last time...this thing is only brought to cope with the platform inspection. But whoever gets our turn to rush to the scene to deal with it, there is no chance that he will still be alive. Do you understand?"

Scavengers work in a gray area. Usually, they are regarded more as professionals who deal with corpses and are responsible for the most downstream services of the murder industry chain in the settlement area. Generally speaking, their upper-end working clusters have already processed the objects. If they really want to do it on their behalf, it will be another price.

Of course, in the circle of scavengers, there are urban legends about the sudden resurrection of corpses by people they deal with. But since it has become an urban legend, it also reflects how small the probability of such a thing happening is.

"But what if he is still alive? If we just cut open the head, wouldn't we become murderers?"

Although he was afraid that Luo An would continue to get angry, "Little Slug" continued to insist.

Seeing that the girl was still holding the vital signs detector, Luo An couldn't help but hold his forehead, and then reflected on whether he had made a mistake in training this one-minded guy to be a scavenger - it was not a matter of age. He had followed his elders since he was seven years old. Why is it so obvious when Dad is in this business?

"If you want to examine that dead man's head, you can do it yourself, okay?"

With that said, he angrily walked over and turned over the canvas bag himself.

After receiving permission, the "little slug" stuck out his tongue as if he was afraid of being scolded, and then quickly ran to the man's body.

The slender metal probe was inserted into the man's arm, and the vital sign detector connected to the probe showed the reading almost instantly.

She read item by item:

"Circulatory system activity level three, bioelectricity level four, brain activity..."

The previous readings are not important. After all, in this era of prosthetics, implants and biological enhancements, it is not unheard of for a person to have an implanted heart that continues to beat months after death. Therefore, the standard for judging human death in medicine has been simplified to one-whether brain activity can be maintained at a certain level.

"Brain activity, level zero."

The girl raised her head after reporting the result. At this time, Luo An was already standing beside him with a skull saw.

"What did I say? This is unnecessary."

After speaking, he shrugged to the inexperienced assistant in front of him, and then attached the bone saw to the scalp of the corpse.

Regarding this, "Little Slug" didn't have any embarrassment on her face. She took a step back and said seriously:

“Some things need to be done even if they are superfluous.”

This little brat actually started educating me?

Luo An curled his lips with some disdain, deciding that he had made a complete mistake in bringing her here, and then pressed the switch of the bone saw.

The covers on both sides of the bone saw to prevent blood from splattering closed instantly, wrapping half of the man's head inside.

Then, the alarm of the vital sign detector and the scream of the corpse rang at the same time. (End of chapter)