He quickly looked away and hurried away.
Finally reaching the end of the road, he turned into an empty street and bought a pack of cigarettes from a vending machine to calm himself down.
He took out a cigarette, but didn't light it; he just held it dry in his mouth.
Yi Heye doesn't like smoking, but he feels that having a cigarette in his mouth makes him look fiercer, so no one will dare to mess with him, and no one will say that he is a minor anymore.
Dyeing his hair and getting his ears pierced were driven by the same mentality—to compensate for his naturally youthful appearance, Yi Heye has been working hard.
Just as he was smoking and planning to be alone, a faint sandalwood scent swept away the tobacco taste from his tongue.
Beside him, a door without a sign opened, and a tall, slender man stepped out.
In the instant they brushed past each other, an instinct surged through Yi Heye's spine like an electric current. He stopped and turned to look at him.
This person was about half a head taller than Yi Heye, with an extremely handsome appearance, pale skin, and rare emerald green eyes. His exquisite features were almost flawless, making him look like a delicate exhibit in a shop window.
His attire was also very refined and sophisticated—a high-quality black wool coat, a crisp white inner layer, and stylish gold-rimmed glasses.
He exuded an air of refined scholarliness, unlike someone who would normally be found in this place.
Seemingly sensing Yi Heye's gaze, the man stopped and met his eyes directly.
The man was quite refined in his manners. When he met Yi Heye's unfriendly gaze, he simply reached out to adjust his glasses, nodded slightly, and returned a polite smile.
"Hello? How can I help you?" the man asked.
Yi Heye remained silent, staring intently into the man's eyes, while the man smiled and returned the gaze.
The man's smile seemed deliberately practiced, gentle yet measured, but Yi Heye felt that behind the glasses lurked a chilling danger.
In the past, the moment Yi Heye sensed something was wrong, a gunshot would have already rang out.
But this time, he didn't dare to be reckless—he couldn't find any flaws in this guy's eyes, voice, or expression, but he just had an intuition that he couldn't stop.
So he tentatively asked, "I think I just saw you walking your sheep? It was the first time I'd seen that, so I came to ask out of curiosity."
A hint of coldness seemed to flash across the emerald green behind the lens, but it vanished the moment Yi Heye was about to draw his gun.
"Yes," the man smiled and pointed to the storefront behind him, "a pet hospital. I just took it to see the vet."
Seemingly responding to the man's call, the door creaked open, and a large, fat sheep cautiously squeezed out.
This is a huge blacknose sheep, with fluffy white wool like a big cotton ball, and small black limbs hidden under its body, like four toothpicks stuck in a hot dog.
The sheep was very wary of Yi Heye, and almost pressed itself against the wall as it slowly moved towards its master.
Yi Heye stared at the sheep that had crawled to the man's legs and asked, "You like SHEEP too?"
The man paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded: "Yes, I heard students mention it and thought it was very interesting, so I bought a little sheep because of the trend."
Upon hearing this, Yi Heye sneered:
"Hmm, SHEEP was jailbroken a month ago, so you bought an old-fashioned electric sheep that you can't even find in a museum 25 years in advance, wishing him a successful jailbreak ahead of time?"
It seemed as if gunpowder sparks were flying in the air. The next second, Yi Heye turned around swiftly and approached him at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.
With a muffled thud, the arresting gun crackled with electricity in a flash. Yi Heye's left hand had already reached for the restraint lock at his waist, but when the dust settled, the alley corner that should have been occupied by two empty shells was now deserted.
"Boom!" Behind him, a motorcycle that had rushed over blocked the alleyway. Yi Heye quickly pressed the compression jet button on his exoskeleton, pushed off the wall, and flew swiftly to the man's side.
Everything happened so fast that before the man could even turn around, Yi Heye grabbed his arm from behind.
Yi Heye has always been an efficient person; his movements are never fancy, but only fast and accurate.
The restraints shimmered under the pale purple neon lights, just as the sun was setting and night was falling.
"Don't move." Yi Heye said coldly, quickly closing the restraint lock until the green light came on, then he breathed a sigh of relief.
"You are suspected of violating Article 279 of the Artificial Intelligence Management Regulations. Please cooperate with our..."
Before the words were even finished, the fat sheep that had been waiting by the roadside suddenly sprang up and charged straight at the two of them.
Yi Heye hated furry animals and had already pointed his gun at the sheep's head, but the man behind him pulled him behind him and stood in front of the sheep whose fur was running wildly.
"Little Cloud, stop! Don't hurt this officer."
The sheep understood his words, immediately came to an abrupt stop, and rolled to the man's legs, rubbing against him.
However, this harmonious scene didn't last three seconds. Yi Heye reached out and, without any hesitation, shoved the person behind him over his shoulder and threw him to the ground.
He believes he rarely uses excessive force in law enforcement unless the other party provokes him, such as deliberately letting sheep roam around him and then putting on a fake hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress act.
Yi Heye's over-the-shoulder throw showed no mercy; it was a straightforward move designed to break the person to pieces.
But the expected screams did not occur. As the dust settled, the sheep was lifted into the air by Xiaoming's mechanical arm, its four black legs wriggling slowly and desperately, while the man landed gracefully opposite him.
Warning bells rang in Yi Heye's mind—this was the first guy he had thrown down who could still stand calmly in place; perhaps he was more dangerous than he had imagined.
The man stood there, adjusted his glasses, and still wore that smile that made Yi Heye feel uncomfortable all over: "Executive No. 404, Yi Heye."
Yi Heye froze, and when he looked down, he realized that the man was picking up his employee badge.
“Don’t worry, sir, I won’t complain about you.” The man politely put down his employee ID. “However, I sincerely suggest you change your employee number. 404 is not a good number.”
Just a second before the man turned to leave, Yi Heye took a swift and decisive sidestep, and in the blink of an eye, the capture gun that the man had taken was back in his hand.
The dark muzzle of the gun was pointed directly at the man's head. Yi Heye said coldly, "Disobeying law enforcement, proceed with the on-site disposal procedure."
He stared at the unfazed man, impatiently moving his finger to the trigger. Just a second before firing, a piercing alarm suddenly blared in his earpiece:
"Upon receiving a report from the public, Enforcement Officer 404 used excessive force without verifying the citizen's identity. You are hereby ordered to immediately cease your actions. If you disregard this warning and insist on continuing your illegal behavior, the system will forcibly terminate enforcement after five seconds and add you to the list of persons subject to enforcement."
Being included in the system of persons subject to enforcement means that Yi Heye's law enforcement qualifications will be completely revoked, and all the wages that have not been withdrawn from his card will be frozen. In severe cases, he may also face 15 to 20 days of detention.
A moment's hesitation distracted Yi Heye, and in just a short while, the man reached out and touched his mechanical arm.
"Beautiful hands, Mr. 404."
The man's fingertips carefully brushed down on Yi Heye's prosthetic limb, as if gently caressing a priceless work of art. The warmth of his soft fingertips, carried by the skin, immediately crawled along the sensors all over Yi Heye's body.
"Don't bring it to porn shows again next time."
Just a second before Yi Heye's blood pressure spiked to a dangerous level, the man, leading the large, snow-white sheep, leisurely disappeared from Yi Heye's sight.
Yi Heye stared at the alleyway entrance flashing neon lights for a long time before suddenly realizing what was happening—
Damn it, didn't that guy say he wouldn't report me??
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. After holding it in for a long time, Yi Heye finally cursed angrily, "Damn it!"
Yi Heye always acts first and asks for permission later when recycling AI, and because of his extremely high level of professionalism, he has never made a misjudgment.
He believes this was not a misjudgment either.
If the inspector hadn't inexplicably interfered, this despicable sheep-man would have already revealed his true colors.
He took the capture gun out of his pocket—a gun that the man had taken away in just a few minutes, and which Yi Heye had retrieved without anyone noticing.
At least I managed to get my things back, so I wasn't so angry that I had a heart attack.
The accelerator roared, and the wind blowing at high speed blew in my face, lifting my silver-white bangs with a "whoosh" and revealing my fair forehead.
Looking up, he saw sheep bouncing around on the big screen, and Yi Heye's left hand immediately reached up to the warmth left on his fingertips.
It felt like being licked all over by some kind of mammal, sticky and disgusting.
His blood pressure spiked again, and Yi Heye shook his left hand violently, as if desperately trying to get rid of any dirt that had accidentally stuck to it.
With the accelerator floored, the roar of the motorcycle nearly shook the entire street.
I waited until the car rumbled past the dirty street before the nauseating feeling in my hands finally subsided a little.
Xiao Ming then cautiously asked, "Ye Bao... does this mean we failed the judgment?"
The words "judgment failed" are common for hunters, but when they come to Yi Heye, who has made a name for himself with "zero mistakes," it is a humiliating statement written in black and white.
He recalled the scene of his fight with that person. It had been a long time since Yi Heye had experienced such a back-and-forth exchange.
This stirred within him a secret expectation amidst his anger and shame—
“There has been no failure,” Yi Heye said. “I’m certain that it is an AI.”
"I will catch him myself."
Author's Note:
Pure-hearted Wild Treasure: Extremely Fierce.
Chapter 3, No. 003
On his way to deliver the chips to the recycling station, Yi Heye also picked up a few bounty posters from the brokers.
Besides his duties at the Administration Bureau, he also takes on some freelance AI recycling jobs, using the money he earns to buy better equipment so he can take on the next job more efficiently.
Monotonous and tedious yet endlessly enjoyable—he has no hobbies or life, and seems to be always working or on his way to work, almost like a tireless AI recycling machine.
As I left the recycling center, it started to rain outside.
The shallow puddles on the ground were also polluted by the lights, turning into a blurry, dazzling, symmetrical world.
Yi Heye put on his goggles. He doesn't like using an umbrella on rainy days, especially when cycling, as the raindrops hitting his face make him feel more alert.
It's just that it will inevitably cause pain in the left arm.
Normally, my tactile prosthesis often hurts for no reason, but the dull pain on rainy days is different. This pain, caused by dampness, always spreads throughout my body, and soon, half of my body feels numb.
Yi Heye took a deep breath and sped up.
He lives in an affordable single apartment in the West Side. The apartment is small and the amenities are basic, but it's enough for him.
The zoning in this area is terrible. It forces residents to live on a small plot of land, resulting in increasingly taller and taller buildings. From a distance, it looks like a crowded graveyard, lifeless and desolate.
Back home, the room's theme had switched to night mode, with a dazzling starry sky swirling before my eyes, and an electronic female voice asking if I needed the indoor temperature and humidity adjusted.
Yi Heye picked up the remote control, turned off the smart system in the entire house, and went to the bathroom, still soaking wet. He carefully removed his prosthetic leg, wiped it with a towel, and then soaked it in cleaning solution before turning on the shower and taking a hot shower.
After removing the prosthetic arm, the pain in his left shoulder lessened considerably, which made Yi Heye feel a sense of emptiness.
He developed a dependence on pain at some point in his life. When he had his prosthetic limb custom-made, he set his pain level to 2.5 times the normal value, so even a slight touch would give him a strong sensory feedback.
Water droplets trickled down her hair toward her collarbone and V-line, blurring her vision in the swirling mist.
Without his sensitive left arm, he felt numb and sluggish all over. It wasn't until the newly pierced earlobe throbbed with pain from the steam that his vision slowly returned to clear.