Modern Cultivation : The Strongest Couple Bonded by Vampire System-Chapter 579 - 579: Escioo Market

Several nearby city lords turned their heads to look at Aira.
Their eyes were curious, will the city reach their quote or not.
Aira bit her lip.
"Representative Aira Thalindra," she said. "Standing in for Governor Haid."
The Mechalyte's lights shifted as if focusing on her.
After a few seconds, the disk in front of Aira lit up.
Streams of numbers appeared, pulled from the city system.
Quota figures. Population statistics. Loss s.
Alex glanced at the data.
He has modified some of it, changing the log to hide his arrival on the city.
The Mechalyte's voice sounded again.
"Quota compliance, within target range, Deviation acceptable. No extra bonus."
Aira lowered her head.
"Thank you for the evaluation," she said.
Then, unable to stop herself, she lifted her eyes again.
"May I ask about my father's current location?"
Several city lords tensed.
No one usually questioned the administrators directly like this.
The Mechalyte did not move for a breath.
Then one of the diamond lights on its face brightened.
"Governor Haid is still performing assigned mission,
Status, active. You are not required to know more.
Continue your function. Await further instructions."
The answer was like a cold stone dropped into a well.
Aira's fingers curled slightly.
"Yes, I understand."
She stepped back from the front zone.
Alex walked beside her, eyes half lowered like a servant, but his thoughts were turning quickly.
'Still active? Is the mecalyte lying?' he thought.
He glanced at the Mechalyte again.
Then at the device hovering in front of City 123's delegation.
'It looks like some kind of pocket terminal.
If I can get my hands on it…'
Alex let his gaze wander lazily around the hall, but in his mind he was already marking angles, distances, and reaction time.
His brain start simulating everything finding the best and most safest method.
Alex didn't plant to kill the administrator he want to have control over it.
While he was busy thinking,
In front of them, the s continued.
"City 047. Present your quota."
A stout city lord with gray skin and a heavy breathing mask stepped forward.
The disk in front of him lit up. Numbers projected into the air.
"Quota compliance, seventy two percent of target.
Deviation above tolerance.
Third consecutive failure.
Sector 047, marked for correction.
City lord and direct bloodline will be removed."
The gray-skinned city lord froze.
His lips trembled, but no sound came out.
The air shimmered above his head.
A thin beam of light fell from the Mechalyte's core.
Swosh.
He simply vanished, body and clothes erased in an instant.
On the side of the hall, a smaller screen updated.
[Sector 047: City Lord slot empty. Pending replacement.]
Several attendants in the back row dropped to their knees in silent terror.
'Is that it? Seem their power level still not much different than Vesa estimate.'
Alex though looking at the mecalyte attack.
'But I shouldn't let my guard down they main power should be their technological prowess.'
Alex was intrigued, tempted to dig deeper and hack into this tower.
Honestly, he wanted to take it over.
This was a special tower, built only for meetings with the administrator, and there was only one per sector.
A place for the city lords to stand in front of the Mechalyte and receive judgment.
It should hold far more information than the servers in Aira's city.
But Alex knew trying to crack it now was too dangerous.
'Who knows what kind of countermeasures they buried here?'
It was safer to focus on capturing the administrator itself.
If he could take that, the rest would follow.
The ing continued.
More city lords failed to meet their quota, but since this was their first offense, they only received light punishment and warnings.
After some time, the last ended, and the moment everyone had been waiting for finally began.
The Mechalyte announced the reward phase.
A screen appeared in front of Aira and the other city lords.
On it, Alex could see a credit number in the upper right, and several purchase categories in the center, most of them grayed out.
Only three tabs were active.
[Slaves]
[Entertainment]
[Medicine]
In the upper left, Alex also noticed a label.
[Escioo Market – VIP 1]
His lips twitched.
'Why does this feel like a pay-to-win mobile game knock off?'
He still remembered those systems clearly.
VIP 1 to VIP 15, each level gave more benefits, more shortcuts, and enough cheats to let a paying player dominate the game.
"Aira, check the medicine first, then go to the slaves," Alex said.
Aira nodded and opened the medicine tab.
Rows of items appeared. Some were normal restorative drugs and organ repair solutions, but a few caught Alex's eye.
There were high-grade elixirs that could extend a human's lifespan up to a thousand years. The description clearly stated they were safe even for ordinary humans without any special power.
Alex's eyes narrowed.
'This elixir was probably created through life force techniques.'
He studied the prices for a while, then shook his head. The cost was absurd.
Most of the medicine here focused on guaranteeing a long, healthy life and repairing damage, while only a small handful actually strengthened physical ability or combat power.
"Skip this one. Let's check the slaves," he said, deciding to skip the purchase list.
But Aira's gaze was still locked on one of the medicines.
"Why are you looking at that? Do you need it? Have some health problem?" Alex asked.
"No, I just remember my mother experimenting with that medicine, then starting to curse afterward, saying this was made based on her research."
Alex let out a chuckle.
Considering Faerith had spent a lot of time researching Alucard blood, it made sense the Mechalyte used it to enhance their life force techniques. It was like Faerith was researching the perfected version while having no knowledge of the basics, while the Mechalyte had access to all the basic and some advanced techniques.
'Wait a minute…'
A suspicion started growing in Alex's mind.
'Is it possible they took Faerith to learn more about her research?'