The elder sister is watching you.

Alice City.

On the ground buffer sand strip of Central Avenue.

Beside the crash-landed convertible hovercar, a tall and slim tour guide robot was scrutinizing Gloria from head to toe.

Only then did he realize that this woman was actually more beautiful than his own prosthetic body, and her figure was even more exaggerated.

“Miss, what kind of constitution do you have? A single sneeze could wreck my car like this?”

Gloria feigned innocence.

“Do you have any idea of the value of a Sword Spirit Warrior? Even my random sneezes come with sword aura. Blame it on your air being so sweet—it triggers my allergies. This car is worthless anyway, and insurance will cover it.”

The tour guide robot could only sigh.

“This minor issue doesn’t warrant calling the insurance company. Besides, if I do, the Tourism Bureau will deduct my safety credits. Because this stewardess prosthetic is too attractive, I keep getting harassed by guests, which has led to several safety incidents and a lot of lost points… If I lose any more, I’ll have to give up this part-time job.”

Lu Chen saw his chance and seized the moment:

“So, how do you suggest we resolve this?”

The tour guide robot looked a bit embarrassed. “Let’s handle it ourselves. According to regulations, any traffic accident directly or indirectly caused by a guest is covered fifty-fifty by the guide and the guest.”

Lu Chen could tell this person wasn’t much of a hustler; otherwise, he wouldn’t admit his safety credits were nearly depleted.

Perhaps, in this society, people didn’t develop scheming, petty, merchant-like personalities.

“Is it allowed to settle privately?”

“This is just a minor traffic incident with no casualties; Big Sister’s computing power won’t be wasted here. She merely records it. Only violations or disputed cases trigger Big Sister’s attention, analysis, and judgment.”

Lu Chen smiled knowingly.

Just as he had anticipated: Big Sister wouldn’t pay attention to such trivial matters, at most recording video, with real-time monitoring and intervention only for rule violations.

Otherwise, even the strongest computing power couldn’t handle real-time surveillance, analysis, and judgment for billions of people across the planet.

This meant Lu Chen’s hacker skills had room to maneuver.

As long as Big Sister didn’t notice in the moment, even video evidence left behind afterward didn’t matter—he’d complete the bounty task within hours and then disappear.

Thinking this, Lu Chen patted the dented hood, checking the control panel’s warning lights.

“Actually, the bodywork isn’t the main issue; the problem lies in the flight control system. Some spirit patterns inside were short-circuited and burned out by the impact…”

“You’re a Spirit Mechanist?”

“Mm, a shipwright.”

The tour guide robot stared at the young man in astonishment.

From their conversation, he’d assumed Lu Chen was a sociology student.

“You can fix cars?”

“Starships are much more complex than cars; fixing a hovercar is no problem.”

“If you can really fix it simply, that’d save us both money and trouble.”

“Do you have tools?”

“They’re in the trunk.”

Lu Chen took the repair tools as naturally as Gloria would take up her sword, or Sun Wukong his golden staff.

He first relied on item recognition—not divine sense—to silently, without a trace, identify the monitoring devices and program details Big Sister had installed in the hovercar.

Compared to spirit patterns, the code was more advanced.

Impressive, but not as high as he’d imagined; at least not up to the Empire’s top standards.

No wonder Big Sister’s mechanical ascension had failed…

He confirmed it was a system he could hack quickly, though the antivirus was fierce, making it hard to linger.

“The flight control system has several spirit patterns short-circuited and burned. I need to re-engrave them, which requires your prosthetic’s program authorization.”

“Oh… What should I do?”

“Just connect this.”

A spirit pattern cable linked the prosthetic and the hovercar.

Lu Chen immediately searched the prosthetic’s memory, learning the official information format used by Big Sister.

Then, picking up the engraving knife, he wrote a brief transparent program to block Big Sister’s monitoring, ensuring nothing would trigger her attention.

He quickly disconnected the network and, in Big Sister’s style, forged a message to the man behind the prosthetic.

[Your hovercar and prosthetic appear to be infected; they will soon be impounded by the patrol and sent to the disinfection center for a day. Please bring your ID and retrieve your hovercar and prosthetic from the city disinfection center in twenty-four hours!]

There was immediate silence on the other end.

Lu Chen believed this convincing message would keep the other party from reporting for at least twenty-four hours.

Enough time to finish the bounty!

Soon, Lu Chen had full control of the prosthetic, quickly familiarizing himself with its network operations.

The tour guide robot stretched lazily, then touched his slender physique… Hm, still far inferior to Gloria.

“All done. Let’s go execute the mission.”

Lu Chen spoke through the robot’s mouth.

Gloria was bewildered.

“You?”

“It’s me. I’m the father bringing your vengeance.”

“…”

…

Before coming to Alice City, Lu Chen remembered clearly the location for the rescue bounty.

It seemed to change dynamically; each day’s details gave a different spot.

Perhaps more than one group of children needed saving.

It made sense—even in such a developed society, things were still too oppressive. Who wouldn’t want their own children?

Outskirts of Alice City.

Amid tall, sparse hillside woods, many high-end homes stood, styled as classical villas.

They didn’t look modern, but were more livable.

In front of a smaller villa,

the sightseeing hovercar gently landed.

Here was the contact point for the bounty.

Lu Chen had already sent the villa owner a signal containing the bounty’s secret key.

Soon, a middle-aged couple welcomed the three.

The man wore a dress shirt and silver-rimmed glasses, appearing refined, like a professor.

The woman was dressed in Western classical attire, a painter, with the living room filled with canvases.

All depicted idyllic Western pastoral scenes.

Lu Chen could see the family’s yearning for freedom.

The man, seeing the youthful Lu Chen and recalling the message he’d received, was somewhat shocked.

“So you’re a hacker. Other adventurers rarely make it here; with a hacker, things are much simpler.”

Lu Chen opened his resonance sense, then activated item recognition.

He discovered the house was equipped with very advanced network shielding; as long as the residents didn’t use many appliances, they could remain outside Big Sister’s surveillance.

Yet the man’s demeanor didn’t fit that of a hacker—more like a humanities professor.

What was slightly eerie was that, while the house blocked Big Sister’s monitoring, all the appliances’ cameras and sensors were still on, as if under another kind of surveillance.

It made Lu Chen slightly uncomfortable.

“Is it safe here?”

“Safe enough for a short while.”

The man poured coffee for the three, speaking at length:

“Big Sister destroys infected appliances and prosthetics outright, but on Scion Star there are many cyborgs, some with chips implanted in their hearts and brains. What happens if they’re infected?”

This man dared to call Big Sister by name; so had the tour guide earlier, indicating it wasn’t a sensitive term.

“Quarantine.”

Lu Chen answered without thinking.

“No, quarantine carries great risk. There may be leaks during transport, and some people resist management during isolation. Big Sister’s solution: disappear them from the world.”

The man’s eyes widened, lowering his voice instinctively.

Lu Chen said nothing, picking up the cup only to realize it was coffee, which he disliked, so he set it back down.

Gloria didn’t drink either, searching the house for alcohol.

Only Alice sipped the coffee, her cautious expression as if testing it for poison on Lu Chen’s behalf.

The man, seeing the trio unmoved, let his artificially subdued tone return to normal.

“Strictly speaking, the logic of artificial intelligence isn’t wrong, but it’s long since diverged from humanity’s original intent. It doesn’t understand how vital freedom is to humans.”

Lu Chen nodded slightly, his tone cold.

“That’s not my concern. I’m here to rescue the children.”

“Please, follow me.”