She is a very special existence.

Wu Chen answered the incoming call, and the front window of the AE86 instantly displayed the Major's full-body holographic projection. Unlike previous instances where the projection appeared inside her helmet while riding the NM4, this time, the Major stood beside the motorcycle, having deliberately recorded a full-body image.

"Wu Chen."

"Mira."

"Are you driving?" The artificial intelligence captured only the AE86's driver's cabin; the passenger seats and rear cabin were not recorded.

"Yes, just got in," Wu Chen nodded gently, "Haven't started it yet."

"Do you have time to drop by?" the Major invited softly.

"It might have to wait a little." A warm smile showed through Wu Chen's expression, "I have some tricky matters that must be completed."

"I understand," the Major asked again, "How long?"

"About three months," Wu Chen calculated silently. Not letting the Major wait too long while leaving enough margin for himself. Of course, if he failed to survive the Purge Day, breaking his promise would no longer matter.

"The cells are all doing very well." The Major instinctively stroked her lower abdomen, "The Doctor asked me to let you know."

"Good." Wu Chen asked again, "You are still storing them?"

"Mm." The Major nodded slightly. "The Doctor said it's best to complete all collections before a single handover. Therefore, they have been temporarily stored by me until now."

"Is this the Doctor's request?" Wu Chen needed to confirm.

"Yes." The Major never lied.

"All right." If the Doctor requested this, there must be a reason.

"Take care." The Major waved at the camera.

"Take care." Wu Chen ended the call.

The moment the window darkened, it reflected Lin Baiyu's image.

"What is it?" Meeting each other's gaze, Wu Chen asked with a smile.

Lin Baiyu's beautiful eyes shifted, "This Major is a very special presence in the master's heart."

"Indeed," Wu Chen did not deny it.

"Will she become a member of the base?" Lin Baiyu seemed to sense an inexplicable trace of crisis.

"It will be difficult, but I am trying." Wu Chen spoke from the heart. After all, the Major was a five-box character. After shooting the cover, she still needed to be ingested five times. Moreover, each time required showcasing special abilities to facilitate the Guardian's memory. The artificial intelligence had told Wu Chen that because the cover photo showed the Major riding the NM4, the "driving skill" would not need to be ingested a second time. Even so, Wu Chen still had a long way to go and needed to work hard.

"Master, do your best." Lin Baiyu's eyes shone with brilliance, as if she had realized something.

New Port City, the circular stadium, underground cybernetics clinic.

The Major rode the NM4, silently emerging onto the surface.

The Complex, which should have been sleeping soundly on the high platform in the middle of the stadium, now opened countless prosthetic eyes, staring fixedly at the skyscraper exit.

A flash of the Major's light and shadow, and the Complex glared angrily.

The outline of the cloaked NM4 appeared frame by frame in the prosthetic eyes, until it completely detached from the background environment, successfully capturing the Major's trail.

"Ah—the breath of life!" Countless overlapping electronic voices merged into a terrifying wave of sound, ravaging the circular stadium.

The Major focused her vigilance, "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" The Complex blinked its countless prosthetic eyes without a moment of hesitation, "I am the mistress of this city."

"Since when do cybernetic bodies have a gender?" The Major raised an eyebrow with disdain.

"True, true." The massive body of the Complex, composed of molecular structures, bloomed in all directions like a flash in the pan, revealing a twisted giant face made of intertwined mutant nerve bundles: "Speaking of which, just like the Major with a full-body cybernetic shell has no gender until the Major's shell is filled with human seeds, exuding an unparalleled breath of life, only then becoming a complete woman. This, too, is what I want."

"You want humanity's last reproductive cells." The Major's expression turned extremely solemn.

"Yes—" Before the words faded, fire lines erupted.

The NM4's left and right Gauss machine guns blasted the giant face into fragments. Countless prosthetic eyes rushed like a tidal wave to cover it, desperately submerging the shattered giant face.

Firelines roared wildly, and prosthetic eyes exploded.

Sparks flew all the way. The NM4 pierced straight through the Complex, carrying the Major as she sped away.

A shower of sparks burst forth, and fragments flew everywhere. Half of a shattered giant face crashed heavily to the ground amidst a sky full of debris.

"Heh-heh..."

On the street filled with synaptic cords, the NM4 sped past. The prosthetic eyes active along the way hurriedly hid back into their eye sockets like frightened hermit crabs.

The giant face's electronic voice chased after the speeding Major, drifting faintly into her ears: "Does the Major know why the mutant prosthetic eyes all over the streets keep hiding in their original owners' eye sockets?"

"It certainly isn't out of nostalgia." The Major accelerated once more.

"I am called 'Belonging'." The giant face emitted rapidly leaping electronic sounds via the "cyber-throat" on the synaptic cords: "Although the A.I. programs have mutated, their data cores still retain the original functions bestowed upon them by humans."

"What did humans bestow?" Smashing through the swarms of mutant prosthetic corpses constantly falling from the skyscrapers on both sides, the Major turned onto a backstreet, hurrying toward the 11th Survivor Camp.

Before the giant concrete lead wall towering at the street entrance of Camp 11 blocked signal transmission, the giant face left its final sound: "To become 'Cyber-Humans'."

The NM4 parked at the entrance, and the camp guards hurriedly opened the gate to welcome her.

"Major."

"Mm." The Major raised a hand in acknowledgment.

Behind the dense clusters of skyscrapers, the slum buildings grew wildly, wedging themselves into every available space. Their interiors had long been cast solid with lead walls and concrete. The dim streets were filled with bunkers and dense guard posts, forming a barrier to defend against mutant prosthetic bodies, leaving only a sliver of sky overhead. All survivors hid within underground shelters. All integrated circuits and smart chips were destroyed, using only the most primitive machinery to maintain daily life. There were no complex circuits, let alone human-computer interaction, and indispensable machinery was even forcibly converted to manual operation. Even if survivors carried prosthetic organs, they would change into special "protective lead suits" upon entering the camp to shield signals and prevent remote invasion by mutant prosthetic bodies, which would cause them to lose their humanity and degenerate into walking corpses, awaiting surgical removal later.

Similar to the underground level where the cybernetic clinic was located, the underground level of Camp 11 had also been converted into a warm community. Simple residences built of reinforced concrete had all electronic equipment removed in advance. All-encompassing cables and street lamps lit up the camp sequentially without any dead ends. Survivors set up tent stalls for trade right outside their doors, bartering and selling daily necessities. The monetary system had long collapsed, and high-tech products were avoided like the plague. Life had returned to the utmost simplicity of the post-apocalyptic era, save for working at sunrise and resting at sunset—because neither the sun nor the moon could be seen.

The core building, the underground bunker, was the headquarters of the resistance and also the Major's destination.

"Major." The resistance leadership came out collectively to greet her.

"Good day, everyone." The Major parked her motorcycle steadily and entered the bunker together with the resistance leaders.

"How is the progress?" the Major asked first.

"We have poured up to Sector 36." The resistance leader pointed at the blueprint, "Only three streets away from Hanhua Machinery's headquarters."

"Good." The Major nodded slightly, "Hanhua Machinery is the source of the prosthetic mutation. It is no exaggeration to call it the 'source of all evil'. Destroying the source is the only way to end this endless man-machine war."

"Understood." The resistance leader fetched another blueprint, "The reconnaissance team has discovered a new mutant nest surrounded by rampant viruses, and our people cannot get close."

"I'll go." The Major's cybernetic body was immune.

"Good." The resistance leader brought over high explosives, "Major, please be extremely careful."

"Mm." The Major took the explosives and headed to the safe house on her own.

Every survivor camp had a safe house exclusive to the Major. Thick shielded doors, resembling a bank vault, required manual opening.

Before falling asleep, the Major checked her cell stock once more: 276,932,580.

Five had undergone apoptosis.

Relative to the massive base of hundreds of millions, the loss of five cells was negligible. Even so, a sense of unease arose in the Major's heart. All qualitative changes stemmed from the accumulation of quantity. If it was confirmed that cell apoptosis was accelerating, the only viable solution would be a secondary collection.

Before falling asleep, the Major thought thus.