Malfunctioning Utopia

Chapter 49: Members

“What’s chives?”

AA asked curiously. Clearly, she had never heard of this plant that could grow back quickly after being cut.

“We are chives. Chives are us,” Sun Jack quipped, then followed up with a serious question, “So, these so-called birthing factories churn out kids, and they all owe the company money?”

AA nodded. “Yes. They calculate the costs of birth and education into a bill, which gets uploaded to our system on our sixteenth birthday, during our coming-of-age ceremony.”

“We have to work hard to pay off the entire debt before we can gain freedom.”

As she spoke, a trace of fear flashed in AA’s eyes, and her hands paused mid-task.

“If… if we’re overdue by more than six months, the birthing factory sends people to repossess our organs, one by one, as collateral. Once we have the money, they return them to us.”

“That’s insane!” Sun Jack was horrified. “Even if you report this to the BCPD, they won’t help, will they?”

“No,” AA shook her head. “According to the contract, our bodies don’t belong to us. They’re the property of the birthing factory.”

“A contract? Between who? The company and the fertilized egg?” Tapai exclaimed in disbelief.

AA lowered her head, looking down at her flat stomach. “They’ve already taken one of my kidneys and half my stomach… I don’t even know what they’ll take next.”

“F***!” Sun Jack’s face twisted in disgust. “Forcing people to be born, forcing them into debt, and using that debt to turn them into corporate slaves—what kind of sadistic maniac thought this up?”

“Wait. I don’t get it. What do they even need organs for? Aren’t prosthetics a thing now?”

“I don’t know.” AA shook her head again. “Maybe to eat. I heard the top-ranking online influencer restaurants serve human dishes, and it’s all members-only.”

“…Eating people?” Sun Jack was left speechless. He used to think the phrase “capital eats people” was just a metaphor, but now it seemed literal.

Then again, thinking about it, this city was always devouring people—this was just a more direct method.

Suddenly, Sun Jack didn’t find last night’s Ke-style cuisine as hard to stomach anymore.

“But it’s fine now! I’ve got 3@ in pay!” AA’s familiar bright smile reappeared. “That’ll get me through for a while.”

Sun Jack looked at the girl in front of him with a pang of heartache. Despite the hellish life she endured, she still faced it with a sunflower-like resilience, always smiling.

If she had lived in his time, she would surely have had a beautiful, happy life, instead of barely scraping by as she did now.

As Sun Jack was lost in thought, AA was already focusing on modifying prosthetics.

“By the way, Jack, how do you want to trigger the projectile launcher and arm blade? I’ve sent you some design options to choose from.”

“Whatever works. Just make sure it can’t be hacked,” Sun Jack replied.

“Got it. I’ll just remove the network module entirely.”

With AA working swiftly, a prompt appeared on Sun Jack’s neural system UI: “Prosthetic 1 has disconnected.”

Upgrading battle prosthetics or changing firmware usually required specialized technical skills. But turning a cyberpunk device into a steampunk one? That was child’s play for a prodigy like AA.

It didn’t take long for her to finish. When Sun Jack reattached his new arm, he noticed the only difference was the absence of a projectile count on his system display.

“Jack, not only is there no projectile count display, but also no auto-aim, self-diagnostics, or error reports,” AA pointed out helpfully.

“I fire at mid-to-close range, so I don’t need auto-aim. As for diagnostics, well, that’s what you’re here for.” Sun Jack gave her a light pat on the head.

AA beamed, her small tiger teeth showing as she grinned.

“The trigger’s on the inside of your pinky and ring finger. Just press with your thumb to activate it. Try it out and let me know if anything’s off so we can tweak it.”

After some tinkering, Sun Jack’s prosthetic was fully modified, rendering it hacker-proof.

“Can you modify cybernetic eyes too?” he asked.

“Cybernetic eyes?” AA hesitated, a slight frown on her face. “Sorry, I’m not sure. Let me research it online and get back to you.”

Sun Jack wasn’t disappointed. The fact that she could modify prosthetics already exceeded his expectations. If she couldn’t do it, it was no big deal—counter-hacking was a priority, but not all enemies were hackers.

“So, what’s your plan for the future?” he asked.

AA shook her head. “I don’t know. One step at a time, I guess. I used to look for work in the northern part of the city, close to home. Maybe I’ll try the south and see if there’s anything there.”

She said it casually, but Sun Jack knew jobs weren’t easy to come by. Without a special opportunity, she’d likely end up back where she started soon enough.

He watched her silently, deep in thought, until AA, feeling self-conscious, checked her face for dirt.

“Would you really want to be a mercenary?” he asked. “If you’re serious, I could train you.”

While someone like King Kong could handle modifications, Sun Jack didn’t trust that swindler. If King Kong would scam Song 6, why wouldn’t he scam him too? Better to keep things in-house. Plus, it’d give AA a job, which was better than having her organs repossessed.

“I do! I really do! I want to earn big money like you guys! If I work hard enough, I can finally buy my freedom back!” AA nodded eagerly like a pecking chick.

Sun Jack was about to caution her about the dangers of mercenary work but held back. In a place like this, where wasn’t dangerous? Besides, AA knew this city better than he did.

“Alright. Go pack your things. When I find a job, I’ll let you know, and we’ll earn big together.”

AA nodded vigorously, packed her tools into her bag, and headed to the door.

Before leaving, she suddenly spread her arms and gave Sun Jack a tight hug. “From now on, I’m sticking with you, Boss!”

“Boss? Where’d you learn that?”

“Mercenary movies! That’s what they call their leaders!” She waved and left Sun Jack’s apartment with a spring in her step.

“You’re really planning to take her along?” Tapai finally broke his silence.

“Yeah.”

“She’s not even on the same wavelength as you. Helping her won’t change that.”

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