Hey, your camera is smoking.

"It is fine." It was rare to receive a cherished gift.

Taking advantage of the moment the Major turned her head, Wu Chen pressed the shutter.

"Hmm?" The Major suddenly sensed something amiss and subconsciously looked at Wu Chen. "Hey, your camera is smoking."

"Ah?" Wu Chen looked down, and sure enough, the polaroid camera in his hand was emitting smoke. By the time he hurriedly removed the "film," the camera had already caught fire and spontaneously combusted—the kind of raging, uncontainable fire. Feeling the scorching heat on his hands, he hastily threw it away.

"Pfft—" Seeing Wu Chen's flustered and awkward state, the Major couldn't help but chuckle. "Then let's do it next time."

"Right, right, we'll take it next time." Wu Chen gently waved the developing film as he bid farewell to the Major.

"I'm heading off first." Her words still echoed in the air as the NM4 sped away like lightning. Truly, it was a fine motorcycle.

"What a pity..." A sigh carrying a hint of reluctance sounded from the Brain in his ear. Gifting a Honda NM4 transforming motorcycle was meant to pave the way for the photoshoot.

"Whoa..." No wonder Wu Chen was astonished. The Major's card in his hand now featured five activated frames. In other words, the Major's star rating was at least 4.5.

"Can we still take pictures?" the Brain asked.

"Let's talk about it when we get back." The rented polaroid camera only came with three starry sky cards. Despite the regret, the harvest was plentiful. This trip had certainly not been in vain.

"Was the Master taking photos to save her, right?" Aiyi suddenly asked.

"What?" Wu Chen seemed somewhat absent-minded.

"The 'Mutation Day' mentioned by the Major is most likely a harvesting event initiated by players. So, before the plot fragments are completely destroyed, the Master wants to rescue the Major. Is that it?" Aiyi truly lived up to being a super digital lifeform born in New Kowloon.

"Consider it that way." Wu Chen revealed a warm smile.

Once the female warrior disarmed and sat inside the AE86, Wu Chen retrieved a pair of disposable glasses from the glove box and put them on. Accompanied by flashing laser beams, the return portal was constructed in no time.

"Let's go." He gently pressed the accelerator, and the AE86 surged forward swiftly. The portal then collapsed and vanished without a trace.

When the AE86 reappeared, it had returned to Li Xiaoxian's 0717 flatbed base.

"So fast?" Li Xiaoxian was startled.

"How much time has passed?" Wu Chen glanced at his wristwatch.

"Less than 15 minutes." Li Xiaoxian hurriedly asked, "Has the commission been completed?"

"Completed." Wu Chen handed him the flash card. "It was just an ordinary cyberware storage facility, and there were no 'heterogeneous robots'."

"Goodness, it's an entire storage facility!" Li Xiaoxian was overjoyed. It seemed he hadn't known the specific condition of the marked point.

"As long as you're satisfied." Wu Chen smiled.

"Satisfied, extremely satisfied." Li Xiaoxian nodded repeatedly. "It's enough for me to use until the next, next, next... next cleansing day."

"Then I'll be leaving first." With the commission successfully fulfilled, Wu Chen's mind was tethered to his own base, and he had no desire to linger.

"Alright, 0326." Gratitude shone in Li Xiaoxian's eyes. "Many thanks."

"Don't mention it." Wu Chen drove the AE86 and flew out of the base.

"Master, you should still visit the Mocha Coffee House in person," the Brain suggested. Since the rented polaroid camera had burned down for no apparent reason, Wu Chen needed to give an explanation to the coffee house owner.

"The commission only took a quarter of an hour, let's return to the base first." Wu Chen was right. After all, the daily rental was 10 coins, and only 15 minutes had passed. There was still plenty of rental time left.

Outfitting Workshop O-103B, Flatbed Base Number 0326.

"Master." Before the AE86 had even come to a complete stop, the female warriors left behind gathered around him. "Did everything go smoothly?"

"Very smoothly." Wu Chen tapped the central control screen and first unlinked the smart small trailer.

"Master, the commission task is confirmed complete, and the shelter coins have arrived. The 12 starry sky cards will be delivered by a drone shortly," the Brain reported the good news. "However, 863 plus 136 equals 999 coins. Subtracting the 10 coins for renting the polaroid camera, the balance is 989 coins. And the Mocha set hasn't been factored in yet. So it's still a 3-digit sense of security."

"That's true." Wu Chen smiled and sighed. Earning money was indeed not easy.

Furthermore, the delivery drone for the motorcycle Terminator modification pod that had been sold in advance also arrived on schedule to pick up the cargo. The female warriors felt quite reluctant to part with it, but there was no help for it. After all, the cleansing day was imminent. Wu Chen needed to accumulate cards as much as possible to upgrade the AE86.

Watching the drone fly away from the base, Wu Chen instructed, "Contact Boss Chu and explain the situation."

"Understood, Master." The Brain immediately sent out an email.

Soon, the owner of the Mocha Coffee House replied, inviting Wu Chen for a meeting.

Without stopping to rest, Wu Chen headed to 9 Nathan Road, Mocha Coffee House.

Second-floor salon.

"Good day, Boss Chu." Wu Chen inevitably felt a trace of apprehension.

"Good day, 0326. Is the card still intact?" The coffee house owner skipped asking about the camera and asked about the card first. The focal point of his concern made Wu Chen breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"It is." Wu Chen took out the Major's card.

"Ah, it has 5 frames." The coffee house owner understood immediately. "The Mc-1 basic model cannot capture plot characters with more than 3 frames."

"So that's how it is." Wu Chen hurriedly asked, "Can it still be remedied?"

"Ofurator." The coffee house owner smiled. "The Mc-2 progressive model can hold 12 starry sky cards and capture 5-frame characters." The coffee house owner used "frames" to replace star ratings, which was much more practical. Five frames meant five picture frames, capable of capturing plot characters of both 4.5-star and 5-star ratings.

"How much is the daily rental in coins?" Wu Chen couldn't help but be tempted.

"I apologize for interrupting your shoot. As compensation, the reshoot is free." The coffee house owner provided thoughtful service.

"No, no." Wu Chen waved his hands repeatedly. "The plot fragments I shot do not belong exclusively to me. I don't know when I'll have the chance to enter again."

"The reshoot has no time limit." Boss Chu looked closely at the Major's card in his hand, pointing to a large square black spot inside the first frame as he said, "0326, you have already obtained an exclusive fragment."

"Ah?" Wu Chen was stunned. He had initially thought the dark marks in the frame were shooting flaws caused by under-exposure, but Boss Chu claimed it was an exclusive plot fragment. "How do you acquire this?"

"By reading the card," Boss Chu smiled.

"Thank you for the guidance!" Wu Chen was eager to return to the base.

"Wait a moment." Boss Chu retrieved an Mc-2 polaroid camera and handed it to him. "Before another player preempts the shoot, you can complete the reshoot."

"Understood." This was good news.

Returning to the base, under the watchful eyes of the female warriors, Wu Chen walked alone into the telephone booth.

Taking a deep breath, he first inserted the unfinished Major's card into the card reader. Following the prompts on the screen, Wu Chen selected the plot fragment.

A dark cubic block then emerged behind the glass partition of the telephone booth. Accompanied by expanding ripples, it flew out on its own and landed in Wu Chen's palm.

This high-dimensional creation, jokingly dubbed the "black sugar cube" by the Brain Aiyi, was one of the fragments of the Ghost in the Shell plot world. As long as it was successfully activated, Wu Chen would be able to freely shuttle through the plot fragments and reap profits. This meant that Wu Chen could enter and exit the plot fragments to reshoot as he pleased without needing to accept commissions from cyberware doctors.

The question was how to activate it.

Stepping out of the telephone booth with the black sugar cube in hand, Wu Chen voiced his confusion to the Brain housekeeper.

After a fuzzy calculation, Brain Aiyi provided the answer: "Master, I analyzed the client's disposable teleportation glasses and roughly cracked the teleportation rules. Perhaps we can try building another portal."

Only then did Wu Chen remember. Li Xiaoxian's disposable teleportation glasses had been kept in the AE86's glove box before leaving the plot fragment. The Brain had never stopped analyzing them either. Even while dealing with the giant amalgamated entity, the Brain had multitasked and secretly completed the decryption, acquiring the technology to build a portal.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Wu Chen was eager to try.

"Master also needs to read the card 'Mutated Cyberware Neural Bundle'." Aiyi reminded him at the appropriate moment.

"A creation of the plot world." Wu Chen understood. It was equivalent to a spacetime beacon, designating a destination for trans-spacetime teleportation, belonging to a "plot destination anchoring item."

Wu Chen returned to the telephone booth once more and read the 2.5-star Mutated Cyberware Neural Bundle.

It was a completely different feeling from welcoming a stunningly beautiful female doll. A mass of rolling, writhing, tangled, and twisted mutated nerve bundles swarmed around his lower legs like a pug trying to curry favor, crackling with electricity, giving Wu Chen goosebumps all over.

Suppressing the strong urge to kick it away with one foot, he walked out of the telephone booth. The clingy mutated nerve bundle was immediately taken over by the Brain.

"Master, where should the portal be built?"

He originally wanted to build it in the garage to make it convenient for the AE86 to enter and exit. Remembering that he had once told the Major he possessed a floating base, Wu Chen temporarily changed his mind: "Build it in the flight control center hangar."

"Understood, Master." The Brain understood in a second. Since it was a floating base, naturally one had to enter and exit via aircraft.