403

Seeing the blood from Number 44 flowing down the iron pipe, Number 43 instantly got furious, directly switched the drone from surveillance to self-destruct mode, and charged towards the group that ambushed him, igniting an intense firefight between the two sides.

"Fuck, dare to hurt my family!?"

Noticing the two siblings in trouble, others also pulled out their weapons and began to retaliate. Suddenly, the battlefield was illumined by combat both in the sky and on the ground.

The fierce gunfire continued on both sides, risking their lives for the potential corpse of Sun Jack.

Even if it meant people died, it was worth it because a bunch of influencers had entered the fray, and as long as there was money to be made, everything could be hyped, including Sun Jack.

With their help, they had driven up the price of Sun Jack sky-high. Dead people were worth much more than the living.

"Blow up their hackers! Blow up their hackers!!" Amidst roars, six mechanical dogs rushed towards Hopelily from different angles.

Just as she was about to be bitten, Number 43 violently yanked, and with a swift kick of his right foot, a red tail flame shot out, directly caving in the mechanical dog's head.

"Hope! Crank their dopamine up to the max, let them die of pleasure! Show them the power of the cyber succubus!"

"Leave it to me!!"

As Hopelily quickly hacked into the enemy's neural system and began injecting tampering viruses, she took over their perception and adjusted their hormones and dopamine.

The virus started to invade system interfaces, filling all their screens with obscene images.

Under Hope's influence, the enemy's strength was clearly limited, and they couldn't fight at full capacity. Eventually, they paid the price of three lives and won the battle.

When collecting spoils of war, the sight of Sun Jack's relatively intact corpse made everyone cheer loudly; it would sell for a good sum of money.

"You okay?" Number 43 asked as Number 44 was replacing the damaged prosthetic body on his body.

"I'm fine, this is nothing. But damn, it really hurts. These guys actually managed to tear through my Subcutaneous Armor. What kind of weapon is that?"

"Why did you risk your life to save me?" Number 43 asked with a complex expression looking at the other.

"What kind of question is that, we're family after all. Sure, we have our little disagreements, but could I just stand by and watch you die?"

The response left Number 43 at a loss for how to face them for a moment.

"Thank you." Hopelily rushed over and gratefully took hold of their hand. "Number 44, thank you for saving him."

When Number 44 saw Hopelily's exaggerated figure, he pulled her into his embrace, "Is that so~ How will you thank me then~"

"Fuck!!" The gratitude from a moment ago instantly vanished as Number 43 pulled Hopelily behind him, "You fucking dog can't change its ways!"

Just as he was about to continue, the sky suddenly brightened, and a powerful shockwave knocked everyone around. Number 43 quickly flattened himself to avoid being blown over.

After the shockwave ended, Number 44 whistled toward the sky with a hint of mockery, "That Little Dog Space Mothership is pretty ferocious, huh? It's all banged up but still tossing nuclear bombs like they're free—doesn't anyone control that thing?"

"Ptooey, ptooey~" Spitting out the numbing radioactive dust from his mouth, Number 43 sneezed and said, "Stop staring and start digging. It's not raining anymore, and without the rain to wash away the debris, if they keep bombing like this, it won't be long before this becomes a high-radiation zone."

Hearing Number 43's words, everyone suddenly felt a sense of urgency, hurriedly disregarding everything else and continued searching for Sun Jack.

The search went on for days and nights. In their quest to earn money, everyone worked tirelessly without sleep, not daring to stop, as the number of Sun Jack's clones kept decreasing. If one paused, others would dig them all up.

During this time, some tried to rob them, but were deterred by the revelation of his Steelheart identity.

Groggy, Number 43 hid behind a barrier and disconnected the drone link. Rubbing his sore neck, he decided to replace his spine with titanium once he was back.

"Hope, found anything on your end?" Number 43 asked. But there was no response. "Sis?"

When he crawled out of cover and looked up, he was stunned. The entire starry sky had split open with three massive fissures, and through those cracks, he saw some flowing memories, "Si Ai? Hilda? AA? What are all these?"

With a mix of curiosity and a hint of fear, he gazed at the sky, as if it contained something he desired. Yet having it seemed to fear losing something of himself.

With a slap, Number 43 looked dazedly at Number 44 standing before him. "Damn it, we're here to make money, and you dare to sleep? Can you even sleep at a time like this?"

"I was asleep? Was I just dreaming? What were those things in the dream? Why would I have such a strange dream?"

While speaking, she pulled out electronic drugs and jammed it directly into Number 43's neural port, the intense sensation making him gasp and abruptly interrupting his thoughts. "Fuck!"

Just then, a tired-looking Hopelily ran over, helped Number 43 up, "We need to retreat. The battle line is moving to the surface, this place won't hold much longer."

"What's happening? Why is the fighting getting more intense?" Number 43 quickly linked up with his drones to expedite their retreat.

"Heard that the Holy Grail is a massive fortress, and some survivors are regrouping and rebelling against Sun Jack's troops."

Reluctantly, but after glancing at the over a million in dog bucks in his account, Number 43 ultimately decided to leave with the others. After all, you need to be alive to spend money.

He left two drones behind to monitor the battlefield and ensure he could return the moment the battle ended.

The gang arrived at the newly opened Club 69, celebrating with champagne, jubilant that they were rich and could finally live the life of the wealthy.

Number 43 looked at his sister as she changed her 30-year-old face into that of a youthful teenage girl and couldn't help but put down his champagne glass to criticize, "Before you use that face, couldn't you change your bear-like body too? Do you realize how incongruent that looks?"

"Fuck, what do you know? Without this body, armed to the teeth, this face wouldn't be able to fend for itself." Contemptuously finished, she eagerly started to browse the net to buy an updated Combat Prosthesis.

"I'd advise you under these circumstances, don't save your money. Dog bucks might crash at any moment, better exchange it for something that holds value."

"I don't need your advice," Number 43 retorted as he accessed the online shop, looking for high-value items.

He was surprised to find that products related to DNA programming were especially popular on the net, obviously linked to Sun Jack's open sourcing.