The people of this Outer Ring had almost no knowledge of how to deal with Hollows. They had little medicine and lacked the all-important Hollow suppressants. As for any kind of Ether-related knowledge, they were completely in the dark.
So, when a Hollow appeared, the best and only course of action for the Outer Ring was to evacuate.
New Eridu would never export such vital necessities here. They barely had enough of these constantly depleting supplies for their own use, so how could they possibly support the people of the Outer Ring, whom they didn't even consider citizens?
Therefore, when the Outer Ring needed these things, the only way was to smuggle them through various channels or bribe those who were lining their own pockets.
Ironically, if the Outer Ring wanted a stable supply of these goods, those very same corrupt individuals were their most reliable partners.
And as for the lack of Hollow-related knowledge, it went without saying. Hardly any established Hollow researchers were willing to come to the Outer Ring. The only people one could find who even remotely resembled Hollow scholars were the Proxies, who operated in a gray area.
However, Caesar, having grown up in the Outer Ring, was completely used to all of this.
Human resilience always shines brightest in times of adversity.
Lacking the all-important Ether energy, petroleum was the absolute mainstay of power here. The neat rows of oil wells showed that the Outer Ring was never a mere appendage or burden to New Eridu.
Even without New Eridu, the people of the Outer Ring could live just fine.
The Outer Ring was a land of hope, a land that humanity had reclaimed from the grasp of the Hollows.
Here, the so-called "Outer Ringers" could come from anywhere. Once you arrived, your original identity no longer mattered.
This custom had its pros and cons. The good thing was that it gave people a place to go even when they had nowhere else to turn, a place where they could survive.
But the downside was that the Outer Ring was always a chaotic mix of all sorts of people. Only an overlord with enough authority to command everyone's respect could unite them into a loose alliance.
Bidding farewell to the Grandfather and his three... grandsons (?), Andrew followed his directions towards the garage.
Pushing open the garage door, Andrew was greeted by the sight of countless fuel-powered vehicles. Caesar, having taken off her leather jacket, was sitting on a small stool, checking and maintaining her own motorcycle.
It had to be said, after removing her jacket, the skin on Caesar's revealed shoulders and arms wasn't tanned dark by the Outer Ring's sun. Instead, it was a healthy, fair complexion with a faint yellow undertone.
Riding under the sun every day did nothing more than give her skin a faint, wheat-like yellow hue, and even that wasn't very noticeable. One couldn't help but marvel at her natural beauty.
The only thing that would make anyone who saw it feel an unconscious pang of regret was her left hand, from the forearm down.
From a clear dividing line, the rest of the limb wasn't normal human flesh and blood, but a mechanical prosthesis.
Judging by her slender and well-proportioned right hand, if her left hand were still intact, they would have been a pair of hands that could make Yoshikage Kira get an instant boner the moment he saw them.
Hearing the sound of the door opening behind her, Caesar immediately knew it was Andrew. She put down her tools, stood up, and happily greeted him.
"You're here, Andrew?"
After saying that, she couldn't help but ask curiously:
"So what on earth did the Grandfather talk to you about?"
To be honest, Andrew was also a bit baffled about being suddenly summoned by the Grandfather, so he recounted their entire conversation to Caesar, word for word.
As a result, there were now two baffled people.
Caesar and Andrew looked at each other, both seeing the same bewildered expression reflected in the other's eyes.
Seeing that they couldn't figure it out, Caesar chose to just put the matter out of her mind.
"Forget it. The Grandfather was probably just looking for a suitable teacher for Ah Cao, Ah Mu, and Ah Zhuan, and wanted to meet you while he was at it."
No longer dwelling on it, Caesar pulled Andrew up and invited him to walk over to the parked motorcycles.
"Let's check out the bikes first! After that, we'll go pick out some parts!"
As the Sons of Calydon, born from the biker gangs of the Outer Ring, they might be short on other things, but never motorcycles.
"Andrew, don't be fooled by the fact that these are all old models. They're in excellent condition."
Saying this, Caesar patted her own ride and said proudly:
"But if you want a bike with some real kick, you've got to customize it to your personal style."
Hearing Caesar's explanation, Andrew understood.
To put it bluntly, for the people of the Outer Ring, picking a bike here was like choosing a blank slate. How it was modified and upgraded later depended on one's own skill and ability.
After all, no matter how skilled you were, you couldn't handle the best bikes without a strong enough physique.
"So, you know your stuff, huh?"
Andrew asked with a smile, looking at Caesar puffing out her ample chest with pride.
Hearing Andrew's question, Caesar put her left hand on her hip, pointed to herself with her right thumb, and declared confidently:
"Of course! I know a ton! I've been messing with motorcycles since I was a kid."
Inside the not-so-spacious garage, there were all sorts of motorcycles, but most were street bikes, rally bikes, and dirt bikes. After all, the road conditions in the Outer Ring were far from excellent, so this selection was already quite comprehensive.
However, after a quick look around, Andrew noticed there wasn't a single scooter to be found.
In response to Andrew's question, Caesar just gave him a "what are you even talking about" look.
"Who in their right mind would ride a scooter in the Outer Ring?! That's just too weird! Besides, Andrew, don't you think it'd look completely out of place with our outfits?"
You know, she had a point. Andrew subconsciously pictured Caesar swapping her bike for a scooter.
In an instant, the leader of the Outer Ring's Sons of Calydon, the head of the Boar Rush company, would suddenly transform into the captain of the Sons of Calydon's Outer Ring food delivery station.
The thought of that scene made Andrew cringe.
The two chatted idly as they inspected the motorcycles in the garage. As Andrew looked them over one by one, he found himself growing more and more indecisive.
As if struck with analysis paralysis, Andrew was stumped by the sheer number of options.
Just as Andrew was wavering, a motorcycle with a design that was a dead ringer—an exact copy, even—of a Gas Gas Pampera 250 (1999) suddenly caught his eye.
It was a trials dirt bike. Its lightweight body and frame gave it excellent obstacle-clearing capabilities.
And its single-cylinder, two-stroke engine could reach a top speed of 130 km/h.
Just by its model name, few people would probably recognize it. But if you mentioned its other identity, many more would likely know.
It was the base model for two motorcycles: the TryChaser 2000 and the BeatChaser 2000 from Kamen Rider Kuuga.
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