Claretin

"It really is a rice seedling." Hank couldn't wait to examine the plant with a magnifying glass. "With this rice seedling, we'll finally have food..."

"It's in your hands now." Zhou Zuo shook his head and turned to leave.

He had no interest in such things. Perhaps more seeds could be produced by cloning the seedling's genes, and perhaps decades from now, the surface of Alphas would teem with life, but none of that had anything to do with him.

He was just a B-rank fixer, emitting the faintest of light like tens of thousands of other specks, constantly struggling on the edge of survival, living a mediocre life, taking money to get things done, and resolving troubles for his clients.

Great ambitions like fighting the tyranny of Sky City or saving humanity were things only the higher-ups would consider.

Passing through the alleys of the abandoned building, he stepped onto a truss that barely extended from the wall, just wide enough for a person. Pausing there, he could take in the entirety of Woodpecker's Home.

Under the leaden sky, derelict buildings stood askew on the polluted earth. In the distance, the horizon was a sprawling belt of rust. Giant structures symbolizing past prosperity rose into the clouds like mountains, magnificent yet desolate. The setting sun sank there as if it would never rise again.

Zhou Zuo returned to his room. The basement, hidden beneath rubble, was very inconspicuous. Its entrance was overgrown with wild grass, and an indescribable stench wafted from a long-abandoned sewer. Even if someone happened to notice it, they would only take it for another pile of ruins.

Once inside, the air purification system kicked in, and the odor was quickly flushed out. Zhou Zuo opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of ice water, and sat at the table with the leftovers from last night's dinner.

A rustle came from under the bed, followed by the sound of someone bumping their head.

"Come out," Zhou Zuo said calmly.

A little girl wearing a tattered yellow vest crawled out from under the bed. She didn't look very old, with two cute buns in her hair and a single strand sticking up from her forehead.

Her appearance added a spark of vitality to the room, looking completely out of place in such a deathly environment.

"Big Brother Zhou Zuo, you're back~"

A sweet voice rang out, but Zhou Zuo watched her silently, waiting to see how far she would take the act.

Eventually, she gave a "pfft," sat on a chair, leaned back, cross-legged, and picked her nose with her pinky.

"You see such a cute little girl with buns calling you 'Big Brother' so sweetly and you don't even react? Are you even a functioning male?"

"That's disgusting." Zhou Zuo put on his headphones. "I'm eating."

"Data shows that in a wasteland world, raising a pure and lovely little girl, scavenging for food during the day to feed her, and living together at night has always been the dream of countless men. Haven't you ever heard of the little girl, the middle-aged man, and the dog?"

"That's more about seeking a sense of warmth," Zhou Zuo said thoughtfully. "Maybe they're looking for the fulfillment of raising a daughter."

"Pfft, so it's that nauseating 'paternal love'? It's not to satisfy some perverted animal lust? How boring." The girl flicked her finger.

"I know why you were discarded now," Zhou Zuo sighed.

Clearly, this girl with a foul mouth and a dirty mind was not human. Her name was Justin Bieber, a military bionic he had scavenged two months ago in Woodpecker's Home—more specifically, a damaged bionic head. Most of the components were destroyed, but the chip was intact.

As for the bionic body, it was a "Little Claretin" model, a family companionship bionic found at another scrap heap. After swapping the broken chip inside the head with his, she became what she was now.

Just thinking about a "rough man's" soul hiding beneath the skin of a "little girl" made the food in Zhou Zuo's mouth hard to swallow.

Claretin hopped over to the young man, looked at the food in his bowl, and nodded.

"This pre-packaged meal is so old it probably held you when you were a baby. Looks like a product from before the third technological leap. God knows how long it was frozen in an Old Federation underground cold storage. Try not to die eating it, human."

"Speaking of eating..."

Claretin grabbed Zhou Zuo's arm and said sweetly, "Big Brother Zhou Zuo, I'm hungry~"

"My tummy is so empty. If I don't eat soon, my energy will hit zero. Of course, if you're intentionally starving me so you can do something to me while I'm unconscious, I won't be able to resist. Ahaha~" Claretin covered her face shyly.

Zhou Zuo looked at her with weary eyes, watching Claretin roll around the room until she finally clutched her throat, her expression turning into "X-X" as she collapsed on the floor.

He sighed softly, stood up, and pulled a conical connector from the wall. It was crudely welded to a long fire hose.

Seeing this, Claretin's eyes lit up. She rested her chin on her hands, looking like she was about to melt.

"Hurry up and let that thing in! I can't wait anymore!"

Zhou Zuo flipped open Claretin's scalp and aligned the conical connector with the port. Fuel flowed through the hose. Claretin sat stiffly in place. Only when charging would she finally be quiet.

Even a bionic from the Old Federation era could convert fuel into electricity.

For Zhou Zuo, the fuel didn't serve much purpose. He wasn't interested in playing father and didn't need any form of companionship. Since his mother and sister passed away, he had wandered the wasteland alone for many years. He was long used to being by himself and didn't want any attachments.

The reason he brought Claretin home was to have someone watch the house while he was out. If any foolish wanderer tried to break in, Claretin would activate the electric traps without hesitation to kill them.

"Take this," Zhou Zuo said, tossing a rice seed to the now-charged Claretin.

It was one he had just swiped.

"If you ask me, you should give up on that unrealistic vegetable shed plan. I know how much those from Kowloon love their vegetable sheds, but these seeds have genetic locks. It's impractical..."

Claretin caught the seed and stopped mid-sentence as she realized something. She stared at the grain, her internal data telling her there was a germinating embryo beneath the seed coat.

She gasped, "Damn it, where did you get this?"

"What's wrong?"

Claretin's attitude shifted instantly, her expression becoming dead serious.

"You have no idea what a seed with its genetic lock removed means for Alphas. The people in Sky City treat these seeds as top-secret taboos because that's exactly how they divide the surface factions and maintain total control over the people below!"

"I know. That's why I stole them. My companions will be coming to take them soon," Zhou Zuo said with a shrug.

"You think the ones coming for you will just be some street-level law enforcers?"

"If the news that these seeds have reached the surface gets out, the people up there won't hesitate to deploy the army. They'll even scorch the earth with artillery. Even if they have to destroy the seeds along with all of Sector 12, they will never allow them to fall into your hands."

Zhou Zuo's expression changed.