CHAPTER 363: CHAPTER 6: MAFIA GODFATHER

At this moment.

Tassia took off her jacket, lifted her tank top, and revealed her lower back. Near the coccyx, one could see the implant interface, somewhat resembling the metal jacks from the movie "The Matrix." There were three interfaces in total, distributed along the spine; Duncan saw only two because any more exposure would reveal everything.

"Mechanical Nerve Bundle."

Tassia shrugged and said, "One of the basic modifications of the Insight Sect. Eventually, everything gets replaced; the whole person is hollowed out and stuffed with all sorts of strange mechanical bodies."

As she spoke, she crossed her hands under her chest, lifting her heavy mounds with a hint of regret: "These things will have to be removed too."

"Because they’re considered a burden."

That really seems unnecessary.

It’s hard to grow them this big and perfectly shaped, so cutting them off feels like a waste.

The ideas of some Mechanical Sects can’t be accepted by ordinary people.

Especially for women, many female members of the Mechanical Divine Sect remove their uterus, erase their gender traits, and due to body shape and thoracic structure, they even remove ribs ahead of time.

If you like, they can even cook a soup for you.

Duncan looked at her with puzzlement and asked, "So you came to the Steel Angels’ district?"

Tassia nodded and said, "Yes."

"If I can make a lot of money or find something valuable in ancient ruins, I can transfer to the Steel Angels’ sect."

Her words were half-true and half-false.

After all, her Mark was ’Rebel’, but nowadays the Mechanical Divine Sect rules supreme, and everyone mingles in it. Not to mention rebels, even cultists disguise themselves as Mechanical Cultists. Strictly speaking, everyone in this world is nominally a believer in the Mechanical Divine Sect because there are no other public faiths.

If you don’t like the God of Faith and lack talent, just lie down quietly.

Everyone is playing double agent in it.

Tassia truly treated Duncan like a youngster to win favor; when she left, she handed him a small bottle of oil, raised her eyebrow, and said, "It’s for you."

"Your gun hasn’t been maintained for a long time. Don’t let it jam at a critical moment."

"By the way."

Saying this, she laughed coyly and said, "Don’t use it for weird things."

This woman talks nonsense.

But it’s well known that oil fanatics don’t have many desires, not even much emotion, and jokes are extremely rare.

If an oil fanatic jokes with you, you’d better be cautious.

One of the common states of the Mechanical Divine Sect is a capability called Mechanical Mind.

As the name suggests, it means the mind becomes like a robot.

Duncan reached out to take the oil, contained in a small bottle about the size of an essential oil, not generous. Who can this small amount of oil not look down on, give me a barrel, or you’d think people can’t afford it.

--- Mechanical Holy Oil (Curiosities): One of the most common sacred oils of the Mechanical Divine Sect, when applied to firearms for maintenance, can speed up cooling, reduce jamming, improve accuracy, reduce wear, etc.

(Some oil fanatics also use it as a daily drink to moisten their throat.)

Is this stuff drinkable?

Duncan opened it and took a sniff, noting it smelled somewhat like Tassia’s scent, a faint oil smell masked by perfume, not too pungent, quite slippery and viscous.

He tried it, and after maintenance, even loading the magazine felt much smoother.

It’s just a bit too little.

As the new living zone had just been established, everyone’s supplies were quite scarce and had to be shipped over little by little; ordinary immigrants couldn’t bring much baggage, and it was unknown where Tassia got hers.

Here only the lower class would become immigrants, starting from scratch to find opportunities, while those with family backgrounds stayed in the old zone as county Brahmin.

The lower layers of Nest City are a bit chaotic, but it’s not a place for random killing.

At least, there’s strict law and order in the settlements, only outside the living zone does lawlessness reign.

Now everything has just begun.

As more immigrants arrive, a gray area will gradually form around the F46 zone, where they will dig out small outposts themselves. However, these places are essentially outside the control of the Mechanical Divine Sect.

The Mechanical Divine Sect operates under a theocratic regime, marking only the major gathering points, essentially ignoring these buffer zones which will be occupied by various local forces in the future.

But in the end, all the resources these people collect must be exchanged with the Mechanical Divine Sect for food and resources.

"It’s like opening a new area in a game."

"All kinds of creatures are coming over."

Duncan stared at Tassia’s departing back, feeling if he wanted to quickly establish a footing, he needed to seize this opportunity of opening a new area.

He routinely collected a portion of the relief food at the plaza.

But today was different from yesterday because there were a dozen more people marked as ’Cultists’ on the edges of the living zone, and many commoners had turned into gang member marks, spreading rapidly, already several hundred people.

They were rubbing their fists, eager to make a move, hurriedly grabbing territory while they can.

"Cultists still need to be cleaned up."

Duncan took the relief food and ate it up in a few bites. Yesterday everyone was well-behaved, but today was different.

Because Duncan saw gang members robbing someone’s relief food, and some even collecting protection fees, taking one-third of the compressed biscuits. They generally won’t take everything because it’s a psychological game, taking all makes it too absolute.

Upon discovering this,

Duncan’s first reaction was to observe the nearby soldier guards. Those who had to pay protection fees didn’t seek help from them, seemingly fearing the verbal threats of the thugs, afraid seeking help would bring worse retribution; skipping a meal wasn’t worth risking their lives.

"You can play it like this, huh?"

Duncan finished his relief food in a few bites and began to stretch his muscles.

The Power of Gluttony is crucial.

In today’s situation of material scarcity, if you can’t indulge, you can’t increase your Life Bar, let alone speed up the transformation of Engraving bloodlines.

If they dare to rob and collect protection fees, Duncan naturally dares to let loose a little.

Whoever has more food, rob them!

Not far away, the Wolf Gang thugs had extorted dozens of people. They were holding a big sack of relief food and planned to go to the corner of the residential building to trade with merchants, likely intending to exchange it for other things.

The guards were noticeably fewer than yesterday.

Duncan noticed that the Mechanical Divine Sect was gradually lifting military control here. After a new batch of immigrants was brought in, some soldiers with guns boarded the trains to withdraw. In the end, District F46 would probably only have a small garrison left, with the security department maintaining order.

No wonder those gang members started causing trouble.

Duncan followed them all the way; when he passed by a pile of garbage, he casually picked up a piece of scrap iron. It felt just right in his hand.

Around ten people were following behind the Wolf Gang thugs.

Someone noticed Duncan behind them and glared menacingly, "Why are you following us?"

These gang members were somewhat wary of the Mechanical mark on Duncan’s chest.

This was the mark of an official believer.

Unlike those ordinary people of little value, believers who can offer devout faith receive extra attention from members of the Mechanical Divine Sect. Because of the existence of these people, most ordinary people strive to become official church believers as much as possible.

The quickest way for an ordinary person to turn their life around is to obtain the ’Devout Believer’ mark.

This means someone up there cares about your life and death.

Upon hearing this, Duncan raised an eyebrow, blocked these people at the alley entrance, and said in a deep voice, "Protection fee!"

"Hand over everything."

What?

You’re actually trying to collect protection fees from so many of us?

The gang members were shocked. One of them looked at the seemingly weak Duncan and cursed as he charged with a stick. However, the Wolf Gang thug instinctively stepped back half a step, shielding the others.

For one person to mess with so many of them, he must be either confident or courting death.

Bam!

Before the others could react, the gang member who had acted fell to the ground, clutching his broken leg and howling in pain. Duncan had hit a bit hard; the brutal, straightforward kills honed on the battlefield were deadly even with just a stick.

Afterwards, he obviously restrained his strength and didn’t aim for vital points, taking down ten or so people in front of him like a starving tiger pouncing on sheep.

In just a minute or two, the entire alley was filled with gang members either unconscious or writhing on the ground in pain.

"With these few moves, you dare to mess around in society."

Duncan, enjoying doing good deeds, beat ten or more gang members back down to ’Civilian’ marks.

It looked like their path in the gang was dead on arrival.

After the beating, they were well-behaved.

Among the roughly sixteen people, seven were beaten by Duncan until they rolled on the ground, the ’Wolf Gang Member’ mark shattering on the spot, with the civilian mark reappearing.

A child raised with the rod.

Each heart eager to make a mark in the underworld, now shattered.

Thud.

When Duncan reached the Wolf Gang thug, he immediately knelt and offered the protection money he had just collected with both hands.

Duncan took it without hesitation, glanced at them, and said slowly, "What about yours?"

The Wolf Gang thug quickly handed over his own welfare.

Duncan counted the heads and took sixteen portions of welfare, throwing the rest of the relief food back.

Classy!

Duncan tapped the Wolf Gang thug’s shoulder with his stick, saying indifferently, "Sixteen portions daily, remember to deliver them tomorrow on time."

Although the relief food doesn’t taste great, it at least meets the basic needs of the Power of Gluttony.

The Wolf Gang thug nodded fearfully, dropping the dagger from his waist.

Duncan saw a Wolf Gang member who had just climbed up, raised a stick, and beat him until he was skinned, letting out a piercing scream. Another gang member’s mark shattered, and an obedient civilian was born.

From now on, call me Godfather, specializing in teaching you to start anew.

Duncan noticed that these gang members came quickly and left quickly. After he beat them up, a lot of people nearby shrank back and obediently returned to work.

The food problem was temporarily solved.

Next is to consider future plans. Duncan personally leaned towards joining the Mechanical Divine Sect, initially obtaining an identity on the surface as it would facilitate playing double agent or other things in the future.

Being a Mechanic worshiper is fine.

There aren’t many options in this world; in a nation where politics and religion are integrated, not being a Mechanic worshiper is not an option.

.........