"No, no, no. It's just that these things are the handiest. Taking something useless and giving it a new purpose—what's not to like about that?"
The hacker waved his hand nonchalantly. The virtual terminal on his arm flickered continuously, and several already-scrapped hovercars rushed toward Wende from all directions!
"Sigh. Among the hackers I know, you're the first one to be this aggressive. No, wait, I think I only know two little hackers."
Wende recalled Silver Wolf, whose embarrassing past was still his phone ringtone, the one who cried and threw a tantrum in the space station after Herta and Screwllum banned eighty-six of her accounts. He couldn't help but sigh.
We're all hackers, why can't you learn to be a little cuter like her?
Wende shook his head, then fiercely kicked forward!
BOOM!!!
The hovercars immediately slammed down on Wende's position. Several of them were instantly crushed beyond recognition by the force of gravity, sending countless metal fragments scattering and various car parts flying through the air.
"Hmm... wasted eight cars this time. I'll have to go prepare some more [stock] later."
The hacker gazed at the scene in the distance, which resembled a massive pile-up. He showed no concern for Wende's fate, merely turning to lift his virtual terminal and jotting down the loss of eight scrapped cars' worth of [ammunition] in his notepad.
"Oh... you're not a truck driver, you're a scrap car collector?"
Wende's voice came from in front of him, his tone now carrying a hint of certainty.
"No wonder. Are you planning to sell all these cars for scrap? But from what I can see, the one thing Punklorde doesn't lack is scrap metal. What do you think?"
"..."
"It seems I'll have to expend a bit more ammunition."
The hacker looked at Wende, who had appeared before him at some unknown point, and shook his head as if sighing. His eyes then flashed with a vicious light.
"Why didn't you run? If you had run, I might have let you live."
The hacker's tone was incredibly flat, as if mocking and ridiculing Wende for overestimating his own abilities. At the same time, his hands flew across the virtual projection of his terminal, typing out various lines of code.
As the hacker worked, ripples began to appear in the sky above. One by one, wrecked hovercars slowly emerged from the shimmering light.
"Seriously, what is with your obsession with wrecked cars!"
Wende shook his head helplessly. At the same time, his figure flickered rapidly, and two pure white lightning needles infused with Yang qi shot from his fingertips in an instant!
Bzzzt...
The moment the lightning needles made contact with the hacker, an extremely high-voltage current instantly spread throughout his body! First second! The hacker's virtual terminal exploded! Second second! The completely charred hacker collapsed weakly to the ground, white smoke and a burnt stench rising from his body.
"No wonder the people from [Phantom Light] hate hackers so much. Troublesome, and arrogant."
Wende looked at the piece of charcoal lying on the ground, feeling rather helpless.
Had this guy gotten so used to lording over the Scrapyard that he started to think he could be called a "Legend"?
If the only thing he used his reality-altering hacking abilities for was to play with junk cars... then helping him delete his account could be considered a good deed.
It was just a pity...
Wende had left him alive.
After all, having a local as a guide was better than relying on a map, right? Veyl had also said her map wasn't detailed enough. To ensure a foolproof plan, they would need the "assistance" of a local.
"Hello? Dan Heng, you can head back now. I've found the source of the problem... Oh, and tell everyone to head in the opposite direction. We went too far. If we keep going, we'll end up in the sea of garbage."
Wende took out his phone and called Dan Heng to update him.
"Mm... I've run into a situation on my end. Have Himeko and the others meet up with you first."
Dan Heng looked at the group of Scavengers staring at him menacingly and spoke with some hesitation.
Honestly, he couldn't figure out why these Scavengers were targeting him. But if they dared to attack, he wouldn't be polite either.
"Alright. I'll tell Himeko and the others first, then we'll wait for you here."
With that, Wende sent Dan Heng his location.
Although Punklorde's network satellite positioning system hadn't been repaired, the Express orbiting in the sky could provide navigation services for their phones, so using the location function was perfectly normal.
"Okay."
Dan Heng replied flatly and said no more.
"Well, it seems there are quite a few clueless people in this Scrapyard. I hope those Scavengers will be alright."
Wende sighed as he thought about the fate of anyone who provoked Dan Heng.
At the very least... it was best not to provoke Dan Heng while he was gaming... Speaking of which, was this a traditional Xianzhou ability? How terrifying!
After sending the message to Himeko, Wende walked over to the lump of "charcoal." The power of Abundance and Yin qi intertwined in his hands.
Thump... thump... thump...
The hacker, whose heart had stopped from Wende's lightning strike, began to beat again. His once-severe injuries started to recede at a speed visible to the naked eye.
But the price was that the hacker, who had originally looked like a young man, now had white hair sprouting from his head, and wrinkles were beginning to form on his skin.
This was rapid healing at the cost of overdrafting his life force. Only in this way could Wende avoid being stained by a shred of karma. And besides...
This could also be considered the price he paid for recklessly smashing people with cars, couldn't it?
"Mr. Hacker, it's time to wake up."
Wende smiled and condensed two ordinary lightning needles, then jabbed them into two powerful stimulation points on the hacker's body.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
For a moment, a blood-curdling scream echoed through a certain path in the Scrapyard.
---o---
"Hmm..."
Himeko stroked her chin, looking at the trembling hacker on one side and the completely unfazed Wende on the other. She suddenly felt that if you were to cut this guy open... would he be black on the inside too?
"Ah, this... is this the legendary Punklorde hacker? Why is his skin so dark?"
March asked curiously, looking at the hacker Wende had "invited" over.
"Maybe... he used to live near Punklorde's equator?" Stelle guessed.
"In any case, this here is our guide. Completely voluntary, right?"
Wende smiled broadly and patted the "dark hacker's" shoulder.
"Y-yes... yes... I'm a volunteer... I'm a volunteer..."
The hacker, who had previously been so imposing and arrogant, with the air of a cyberpunk renegade, was now trembling before Wende like a child who had been beaten into submission.