Volume 4, Chapter 49 – Autonomous Evolution

The call was from Lü Changming.

The moment Anran saw the number on her phone, she knew.

“It’s me.”

“I know it’s you.”

“…”

“If you have something to say, hurry up and say it.”

“We’ve already taken control of those people from the Aldington branch family,” Lü Changming said.

Anran nodded. “Did you get anything out of them?”

“We’ve already found out which force is standing behind Morningstar.”

Then, after that, there was nothing.

“…”

Damn it, keep talking. Why stop halfway?

Emmm…

Anran instantly realized Lü Changming was doing this on purpose.

Damn it.

He was getting revenge on her!

“I was originally planning to do some business with you people. Sigh.” Anran let out a long sigh.

The world was unpredictable. Truly lamentable.

“…”

Still shameless as ever.

Thinking that this could not be hidden for long anyway, Lü Changming gave in first. “The organization standing behind Morningstar is Night Owl.”

Night Owl.

Information about Night Owl instantly flashed through Anran’s mind.

It came from the chronicles section of the official Night of the Stars forum.

Among the major forces currently recorded were the Elimeria Empire, the Galaxy Free Alliance, the Machina Tribe, the Victoria Star Ring, and the Novalu Republic.

All of them were superpowers spread across several star sectors.

Night Owl belonged to the next tier below them.

It was a certain force active along the Empire’s border. Rumor had it that the Galaxy Free Alliance and the Novalu Republic supported it from behind the scenes, and it specialized in destructive anti-Imperial operations.

It had two enormous fleets active in deep space.

“You mean the anti-Imperial Night Owl?” Anran asked in reply.

“That’s right.”

Lü Changming answered with certainty.

“No wonder the people from Morningstar have been acting like madmen lately. This also explains where some of their unreasonable technologies came from.”

“Even with Night Owl’s support, why does Morningstar think its resistance movement can succeed?” Anran still did not understand. This was the question she most needed to figure out. Only by understanding the other side’s goal could she get one step ahead, instead of aimlessly chasing after Morningstar’s footsteps like she was now.

“That part is still unclear. The Aldington family members don’t know much either.” Lü Changming sighed softly, but at least they had not come away empty-handed. “You’ve made another great contribution this time.”

What use was that?

“You people aren’t giving me any money for it.”

Anran muttered softly, “There is a business opportunity right in front of us now. I wonder if you people are interested.”

“What business?” Lü Changming asked curiously.

“I’ll send you a video.”

After saying that, Anran hung up and sent over the video Aila had recorded.

This kind of robot cost 20,000 Bilu to make, but the technology was exclusively hers. No matter what, she had to sell it for at least three times the price. Anran did not think any player at the current stage could afford it, so she could only cooperate with the government.

About ten minutes later, Lü Changming called again.

His tone was excited, and he asked directly, “Would it be convenient to disclose the performance of these two robots?”

“Since we’re doing business, of course there’s no problem.”

“Anran, Anran, are you going to sell Butler No. 1?” Aila asked, pointing at Butler No. 1, which was sitting quietly.

Butler No. 1’s gaze remained fixed on Anran. Its low-level intelligence did not allow it to understand what Anran and Aila were saying.

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“Shh. I’m helping you earn meal money.” Anran made a shushing gesture.

“Oh, oh.”

As soon as she heard that Anran was helping her earn meal money, Aila immediately became careful.

She took the large Lig metal pancake Anran handed her, washed it with clean water, and then happily started eating.

As she ate.

Emmm…

Aila’s body paused for a moment, and then she leveled up.

The Machina’s autonomous evolution caused a tiny change in Aila’s body, but Anran did not know that for the time being.

“There are two robot models in total.”

“Machine Gun Warrior Generation 1. Electric charging. Rated movement speed is 50 km/h, maximum load 200 kg, rated operating time 75 minutes, and the weapon mounted is…”

“The butler model… can also hold an umbrella and take care of people.”

“Of course, the most important selling point is that they both have quite high-precision automatic aiming systems.”

“Auto-aim?”

Lü Changming, who had already been very interested, became even more interested now.

Nine Songs needed something like this. The Security Department needed it even more.

If these robots really were powerful, then if he acted as a bridge and helped the Security Department acquire some of them, it would count as selling that guy a huge favor.

“I’ll have Monster Mountain Hermit go over and find you to confirm it,” Lü Changming decided.

This…

Emmm…

Anran hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

Although it was a little troublesome, Li Zhuying was easier to fool.

After ending the call, Anran got out of the car.

Although the assassin had already been shot dead, the road was still blocked by two trucks, one in front and one behind.

This was not a major problem. It was just a little troublesome.

After confirming that the driver in the vehicle was already dead, Anran walked to the rear of the truck and directly pushed the car whose front end was already hanging outside over the edge.

“…”

In any case, there was nothing blocking the road anymore.

As expected, this old lady’s strength is boundless!

“M-monster!”

“Mommy, how did that big sister push the car down?”

“Call the police! Hurry and call the police!”

“She killed someone!”

The group of people sitting in their cars were stunned by Anran’s actions.

Anran shot a sideways glare and scared a little brat into crying.

“Waaah, waah…”

“Don’t be scared, baby. Don’t be scared.” The little brat’s mother pulled him into her arms and hurriedly turned her head away.

It was as if making eye contact with Anran would render her infertile.

But honestly speaking, this “murderer” was really, truly good-looking.

Even as a woman, the mother was shocked at first glance.

“Yes, it’s on the road from Shancheng Road to Durabin City. A girl pushed a vehicle into the sea, and she also kidnapped a little girl.”

“She really pushed the vehicle into the sea. It was a truck!”

“I’m not crazy. How do you police even do your jobs?”

The man calling the police had originally been speaking in a low voice, but when the person on the other end questioned him, he immediately grew angry.

He raised his head and looked out the window, and his entire body instantly fell silent.

Just like the people and things around him.

At some point, Anran had driven right past him. Their eyes met.

“Gulp.”

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He swallowed with difficulty, completely failing to hear the question coming from his phone. “Hello? Hello? What happened to you? Hello?”

“Heh.”

Anran sneered.

The man calling the police abruptly opened his car door and, while shouting “Help!”, sprinted madly toward the back.

Heh.

Anran unhappily stepped on the accelerator. The off-road vehicle’s speed quickly shot up, leaving the assassination scene behind.

“Anran, Anran, why do they all seem so afraid of you? We clearly didn’t do anything wrong,” Aila asked in confusion.

Anran explained, “Mm, they’re actually just jealous of this young lady’s beauty.”

“Is that so?” Aila blinked.

“Aila, how many points do you think I deserve?”

Scoring Anran…

“100 points!”

Anran cheerfully rubbed Aila’s head.

…

“Huh? You want me to go find Anran?”

When Li Zhuying received the order, she was carrying out a mission to blow up the Morningstar Resistance near Yaxi City.

As soon as she heard she was supposed to go find Anran, she ignored the conditions entirely and accepted the mission.

Did this even need consideration?

Of course not.

She could receive the mission reward and stay by Anran’s side. When these two kinds of happiness were added together, the effect they produced was far greater than 2.

…

In the outskirts of Nandao City, Anran temporarily halted her advance.

Because she had to wait for Li Zhuying to come and test the robots’ performance, she did not run around.

This place was not especially far from the beach, but it was a famously chaotic area.

During Nandao’s development, the poor had all been relocated here. After the people with ambition left, this place became a lawless zone where crime flourished. Under ordinary circumstances, the police would not come here.

On the dark web, there happened to be a small mission with a bounty of only 10,000 Bilu. It required the elimination of the slum gang organization Kuli.

After seeing this mission, Anran chose this place as her destination.

Now she just had to wait for Li Zhuying to arrive.

When Anran parked the car by the roadside, she noticed that men and women dressed in bizarre styles were everywhere.

Smoking, drinking, and perming their hair.

Revealing clothes, shoving and jostling, hugging and clinging to one another.

At one glance, none of them looked like good people.

She got out of the driver’s seat, and a blondie wearing a trench coat immediately walked over.

“Beauty, how much for one…”

As he spoke, he was about to rest his hand on the roof of the off-road vehicle.

The instant Anran narrowed her eyes, before blondie could say the word “night,” one slap sent him spiraling 360 degrees through the air before he dropped vertically to the ground and stopped moving.

“Little friend, are there any empty houses nearby that can be rented?”

Anran crouched down and poked blondie’s face with a wooden stick she had picked up from the ground.

“Fuck, you dare hit someone from our Machete Gang? You’re asking to die.”

A young man nearby rushed up, swinging the beer bottle in his hand toward Anran. He came as swiftly as the wind, and retreated as quickly as lightning.

Halfway there, Aila “banged” him back.

Crash!

Things on the wall fell one after another, smashing all over his face.

This…

The people on the street nearly wet themselves in fright.

It had already been terrifying enough that the young woman slapped the blondie like a spinning top, but the little girl punching someone three or four meters away was even more exaggerated.

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They could not afford to provoke them. Absolutely not.

The people here liked stirring up trouble, but they also knew what they could and could not afford to provoke.

The dizzy blondie had originally been counting on his accomplice to avenge him. Now his legs suddenly straightened, and he actually began twitching.

“I’m asking you a question. Why are you pretending to be a monkey?” Anran poked him twice more in dissatisfaction.

She always felt that poking people like this was rather interesting.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk. Hiss… Just walk two hundred meters straight ahead, then turn left and go straight for five hundred meters. There are lots of empty houses over there, but they’re pretty run-down.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Anran stood up and casually took the money from blondie’s pocket.

“This is compensation for emotional distress.”

The off-road vehicle continued forward. Blondie lay motionless on the ground, as if he had just been poured over by a whole crowd of muscular men.

Just as blondie had said, Anran did see quite a few empty houses.

But the walls of these houses were mottled, the doors and windows had fallen off, and they looked as if they had endured countless storms. They were simply not places where people could live long-term.

No wonder no one was willing to live here.

Mm, actually, that was not quite right. Although no NPCs lived here, Anran unexpectedly saw players.

[Nine Dragons Gang · Big Bird Bro]

[Nine Dragons Gang · Little Bird Bro]

“…”

As Anran passed by a broken-down house, she felt herself growing disheveled in the wind.

She silently left with Aila, spent more than ten minutes searching, and finally found a house whose front wall had collapsed, but whose inner room was still relatively intact. It was just right for parking the car inside.

“Anran, I’ve already boarded the vehicle!”

“Anran, I can arrive in Nandao a little after 7 tonight.”

“Anran…”

Li Zhuying sent over text messages.

“Oh.”

After sending one short reply, Anran stopped paying attention to Li Zhuying, who was still continuing to text her.

She could not show Li Zhuying too much kindness. Otherwise, who knew, Li Zhuying might even dare launch a night raid.

Although Anran could very easily counterattack Li Zhuying until she fainted, she did not have that sort of thought right now.

“Anran, Anran, are we going to stay in a place like this today?”

“We’re just resting here temporarily. We still have other things to do tonight.” Anran rubbed Aila’s head.

At this moment, Aila said, “Anran, Anran, while you were on the phone earlier, I became stronger again.”

“Huh?”

Anran let out a surprised sound and immediately used Scout.

Aila’s level had already become Level 20.

Her secondary profession was empty.

And after Anran’s teaching, her main profession had already become Apprentice Mechanic.

Because of racial corrections, all her attributes had also changed greatly compared with before.

Six stats: Strength 92, Agility 40, Endurance 65 (Armor 150/150), Intelligence 46, Spirit X, Charm 9

HP: 1300 (+1500) / 1300 (+1500)

Stamina: 1437 / – (depends on reserves)

Compared with her stats at Level 18, the current Aila was several times stronger.

This… perhaps this was racial talent.

ORZ.

Standing up straight, Anran took a high-strength electronic scale from the trunk and placed it on the ground.

“Aila, stand on it and let me take a look.”

It was time for a physical examination (X) research again.

Unlike ordinary girls, Aila did not care about her weight. Of course, if she could be about the same as Anran, perhaps Anran would be even happier.

Aila stepped onto the electronic scale and somewhat stiffly put her hands behind her back.

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She stood very steadily, afraid that if she moved around, the measurement would be wrong.

The number on the electronic scale rapidly jumped to 310, then quickly dropped again, finally stopping at 256.

“256 kg.”

She really had become much lighter!

As Aila’s body composition changed, Anran had guessed that her weight would change as well, but she had never had the chance to verify it before.

It must be because she had eaten a lot of Lig Alloy recently.

After calculating it, Aila alone had eaten nearly ten thousand Bilu’s worth.

(T_T)

At least the eating had finally produced results.

Anran’s face streamed with tears.

“Anran, Anran, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just feel very gratified!”

The first visible effect of raising her.

“Oh.” Aila nodded. She was becoming more and more practiced at these human-like movements, because whenever she had nothing to do, she kept observing Anran.

“Anran, Anran, actually, there’s something else that’s been bothering me.”

“What is it?”

“Because I don’t really understand the structure of the female body, my autonomous evolution can’t continue.” Aila’s face was full of distress. “Can Anran teach me?”

“!!!”

Shocked.

Only Aila could say something like that. If anyone else had said it, Anran would definitely think he or she wanted to do her.

“We’ll talk about it later. This place isn’t convenient.” Anran smiled awkwardly.

It seemed she needed to give Aila a second round of education.

Anran placed Machine Gun Warrior and Butler No. 1 on the left and right sides of the off-road vehicle, like gate gods guarding the door, to prevent anyone from trying to damage the vehicle.

After that, Anran had to go outside and gather information.

She had to find out Kuli’s location clearly. Otherwise, they would waste more time after Li Zhuying arrived.

She brought Aila out from the inner room. After only a few steps, she suddenly saw a familiar person.

The player Orange-Juice-Flavored Candy, who sold watermelons on the beach.

She was counting money while walking.

One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred, five hundred, five…

No matter how many times she counted, there were still only five hundred.

So poor.

This sentence flashed through Anran and Orange-Juice-Flavored Candy’s minds at the same time.

After putting the money into her pocket with a deeply unpleasant feeling, Orange-Juice-Flavored Candy looked up and also discovered Anran.

Anran and Aila.

Standing together, they made it difficult not to attract attention.

“It’s you! Anran!”

Orange-Juice-Flavored Candy shouted in surprise.

After browsing the forum, she finally knew Anran’s identity now.

Elite agent of Nine Songs, Morningstar’s greatest enemy, famous yuri Mechanic of the newbie planet, “arms dealer,” profession mentor, and apparently she had even sold pastries before…

“Why are you here?” Orange-Juice-Flavored Candy asked, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately said, “Right, of course. You must have come here to carry out a mission.”

It seemed to have nothing to do with her.

Orange-Juice-Flavored Candy greeted her, then walked straight into the place next door to Anran.

Uh…

Next door.

“Let’s go.”

Anran pulled Aila along to gather information.