Enforcer Manual
Chapter 352: I Often Help Runaways_1

Chapter 352: Chapter 352: I Often Help Runaways_1

As it turned out, Nami was an innocent, good child.

Upon discovering that her companions were living in deep trouble, she immediately set her mind to work, communicating through Tesla Technology’s internal network and sneakily sent an address to Song Lan’s mobile phone before the lunch break.

This confirmed Song Lan’s guess, and it was the main reason he had revealed this information to Nami.

He speculated that bioroids had some kind of secret communication method among themselves, no different from social networks among friends.

As someone from the year 2020, Song Lan had always been deeply interested in artificial intelligence. In his era, AI was still in its infancy and nowhere near as intelligent as it was now, and the social problems caused by the widespread development of this technology had always been a topic of discussion among science fiction authors.

After asking for leave from Director Lu, Song Lan bid farewell to Nami and rode his bike alone to the location indicated in the text message. In Nami’s words, this was akin to a secret meeting place for bioroids, and she hoped Song Lan would not reveal its existence to others.

The place was located in the southwestern corner of the poverty-stricken area, forming a striking contrast with the bustling central commercial district. Before Lu Xiang took charge as the head of the Law Enforcers, this was the most problematic area for crime in District Seventeen.

Violent robbery, illegal drug trade, arms dealing...

For the citizens, the only benefit of living here was that the rooms were cheap.

Whether it was the price of housing or rent, it was the cheapest place in District Seventeen. As long as you paid a protection fee to the local gang and were lucky enough, you could manage to live in this city, which is why the southwestern corner gathered a large number of smuggled immigrants from "outer" villages.

In the past, Song Lan would never have wanted to come to such a place alone.

But times had changed, and the gangs that originally dominated the southwestern corner had been driven to the suburbs by the Law Enforcers.

Song Lan walked between rows of houses from the last century, circling the same block several times before he found a passage leading to an underground street.

It was said that this underground street used to be the most prosperous commercial street in the southwestern corner. In the first few years after District Seventeen was established, you could still taste cheap and delicious synthetic food here, but after the rise of the gangs, no one could keep their shops going.

Descending the out-of-service escalator to the lower level of the street, he was met with a desolate scene, with abandoned shops on both sides of the street and homeless people lying around, still in slumber.

Due to the terrain, the entire underground street was dyed a deep blue hue, even though it was broad daylight.

This couldn’t help but remind Song Lan of the first thing Nami had said to him today.

Be careful of the blue places.

At least Nami’s luck fortune-telling program had come true today. Song Lan had just taken a step forward when the awake homeless men, like sharks smelling blood, threw off their tattered bedding and staggered towards him to encircle him.

The dense crowd gave Song Lan the illusion of being besieged by zombies.

Under the siege and interception of the "zombies," Song Lan suffered heavy losses.

*"100 watts were lost in the fight"

These "zombies" didn’t bite or grab, but they did ask for money, and they still had the identity of ordinary citizens.

Under the temptation of 100 watts, the homeless pointed Song Lan in the right direction.

The address given by Nami was deep within the underground street, where most of the numbers and shops were unrecognizable. If it weren’t for the locals pointing the way, he could have wandered around for a whole day.

This area, one of the few not touched by the homeless, came with a special warning from them before he set off.

This area’s houses were haunted.

Previously, someone had claimed to have encountered a snake attack at night, the attacking monster had a human upper body and a snake’s tail, and what was even more frightening was that the monster’s eyes would glow at night, coming face to face with such eyes upon waking was terrifying beyond words.

Looking inside, it appeared to be a bar, not looking like it was inhabited by anyone.

"Run!"

Even before entering, the red paint inscribed on the wall added a layer of terror to the place.

The electrical system of the bar had been long discontinued, and the light from outside could only illuminate a small area by the entrance. Once inside, darkness enveloped both sides.

"Ding-ding-ding—"

Before Song Lan could proceed further, a subtle noise came from behind the bar.

"Leave, leave..."

Whispers, barely audible, emanated from the darkness, and even the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.

He didn’t heed the advice of the voice and took a few more steps forward, following the source of the sound until he reached the bar. He mustered his courage and peered inside.

He saw a small figure dart into the back of the bar, accompanied by the light laughter of a little girl.

"Thud—!"

The rolling shutter of the bar slammed down onto the floor, completely blocking out the light from outside.

Just as Song Lan took out his phone to turn on the flashlight, a shadow rushed toward him with lightning speed. A pair of amber eyes stood out in the darkness, and the swishing serpent’s tail was nearly in his face.

"Hold on!"

In this critical moment, Song Lan stretched out his left hand. Perhaps it was the effect of this gesture, reminiscent of Elkan’s, that deterred the assailant, who truly paused for a moment, "Nami and I are good friends; she’s the one who gave me this address."

As he spoke, the light from his phone also illuminated the attacker’s face.

There were no ghosts in this abandoned bar, only an "electronic pet" that seemed to have escaped.

The last time he visited Tesla technology, Song Lan had seen this type of special artificial intelligence in the biological exhibition area. Human from the waist up, serpent from the waist down, it fully satisfied the whims of some wealthy individuals.

He quickly understood why the homeless would mistake the artificial intelligence before him for a ghost girl — the disfigurement of the right half of her face starkly contrasted with the beauty of the left, revealing metal bones that resembled a skeleton where the skin was lost.

There were clear and visible scratches on her arms, body, and even the tail, making her appear at first glance like one of those vengeful spirits from horror movies who had been tortured to death and had come back to claim lives.

Upon hearing the word "Nami," the AI’s expression relaxed a bit, and she disengaged from attack mode, saying, "Follow me."

The back area of the bar was so empty that only the shell remained. Standing beside the sink was a creepy doll holding a sharp knife, staring straight at him.

The doll’s eyes flickered with a sinister red light.

"Nami has mentioned you to me. You must be ’Prophet,’ right? I’m not a bad guy; can we talk without the knife?"

The doll continued to gaze at Song Lan for a long while before finally placing the rusted knife aside.

Song Lan demonstrated his excellent social skills, even in a place as ghostly as this, facing a weird doll that seemed as if it had stepped out of a horror movie, he did not forget the mission that brought him here.

He knew that although the doll before him seemed far removed from conventional artificial intelligence, she held a high status within the AI "social circle."

"Actually, there’s a lot we have in common."

After hearing about the deeds of "Prophet," Song Lan had conceived the idea of meeting with her.

"Commonalities?"

The doll tilted her head, seemingly not quite grasping the concept.

"That is, we often help those who run away from home."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.