"That guy didn't deceive you. The internal system of this 'Fenrir' super power armor is indeed bound to DN and completely locked."

After an hour of busyness, Miss Judy, a technology engineer from Night City, opened the door wearily and wiped the oil stains off her face. She said tiredly to Mason, who came to invite her to the trading party starting in the castle:

"It's a physical lock at the hardware level, and I can't unlock it. Moreover, this set of battle armor uses some very peculiar alien technology, so there is no way to restart it through conventional means."

"It's okay."

Mason nodded.

Although he was somewhat disappointed, this result was within reason.

If something made by Master could be cracked so easily, Batman's legendary story would have ended long ago, let alone the fact that this thing was a countermeasure set up against all members of the Justice League.

Its technological barrier would only be higher and more secretive.

After looking up and down at Judy, who obviously hadn't rested, Mason said, "Go wash up. My team members are waiting for you, the guide."

"Don't rush me."

Judy hummed as she wiped the oil stains off her face. She said, "I can't unlock it, but I didn't say I can't help you. Give me two more days, and when you leave Star Castle, I will give you a super power armor that you can pilot."

"Hmm?"

Mason raised an eyebrow in surprise, not understanding Judy's meaning for a moment. The technology engineer smiled, turned to the side, and let Mason see the pile of strange things on her workbench.

Under Mason's astonished gaze, Miss Judy, the engineer from Night City, raised her thumb at Mason and said, "I can't unlock it, but I can replace the whole thing! I have applied for the most advanced power armor control module left by the Conto Company in the captain's place, to replace this bat control system written in a strange way. Of course, this is basically a technological upgrade, so the weapon system and power system inside your battle armor need to be modified accordingly. I'm not familiar with this aspect, but I can give you some modification suggestions."

Judy looked up and down at the delighted Mason and said, "You are also an engineer who can handcraft a star pistol. I think this won't be difficult for you if you spend some time. But now the most troublesome thing is that your super power armor needs to be redesigned and the power system needs to be replaced. Simply put, because I changed the design, the internal wiring needs to be redone. The cunning guy who designed this thing locked the control system and power system together. I can help you replace its 'mechanical brain,' but you need to find a powerful enough 'mechanical heart' for it. Maybe you can get what you want at the trading party later."

The girl Judy, who was dressed like a young person but whose real age was unknown, smiled and yawned, preparing to wash up and get ready for the trading party.

Mason handed her a bottle of tonic and gestured for her to drink it.

The tech girl looked at the strange-colored thing in her hand with suspicion, as if she remembered some unpleasant memories.

She said to Mason with vigilance, "Is there anything strange added to this thing? I warn you, I don't like men approaching me! And you are too young, Mason. Although you speak and act like an old man, your face looks like you're just 18, right?"

"Do people from Night City talk so much?"

Mason scolded and went forward to inspect the internal structure of the Fenrir armor that Judy had disassembled with a super precision machine tool. Behind him, the tech girl Judy hesitated for a moment but still drank the potion in her hand.

A few seconds later, she looked in astonishment at her body, which was filled with energy again, as if the exhaustion from working late for the past few days had disappeared.

It was even more effective than the electric shock plug-ins and motivation prosthetics used for company dogs.

"Go change your clothes quickly."

Mason said without looking back, "Barbara and another lady are waiting for you. She wants to introduce you to her older sister. If I were you, I would dress up."

"This potion of yours is much more powerful than others."

Judy exclaimed, "How did you do it? You're just a rookie who just started, but your medicine is more effective than the drugs of those C-level old guns who boast of being alchemy masters."

"I'm actually one of those C-level old guns you mentioned, and I think I might have some talent in this area."

Mason urged a few more times.

Judy pouted and went to the bathroom. She came out in a few minutes, just adding a black leather jacket adorned with a golden chain outside her vest and changing into a pair of high-top boots, which meant she was ready.She applied lipstick while holding a mirror, following Mason out of the room, and said disdainfully, "What's there to be proud of as a mere C-level personnel? I've been a C-level for over a year in the Afterlife Squad, even though I never go to the battlefield as a logistics personnel. The captain has already started the promotion process for the Twelve-Person Council. Don't underestimate us, Mason. Although the Afterlife Squad takes the elite route and has a small number of members without a fixed subordinate world, we are well-known pioneers in the Star Association."

"I'm more curious about who your captain is."

As Mason walked ahead, adjusting his hat, he said, "Is it the famous V? Or 'Black Hand' Morgan? It can't be Johnny Silverhand, right? That guy died a long time ago. By the way, has V's cyberpsychosis improved?"

"You know a lot about us, but we know nothing about you."

Judy chewed gum, hands in her leather jacket pockets, and said softly, "This way of making friends is very unsettling."

"We have a common enemy, and that's enough to guarantee friendship."

Mason smiled.

Turning the corner, they saw the members of the K Squad waiting there.

In addition to Barbara and Two-Barrels, whom Judy had met before, there was Scorpion holding a spellbook and blowing smoke by the window, and Lady Selina in a tight-fitting suit.

Especially Lady Cat.

When Judy saw this elegant and wild lady, her eyes sparkled.

Compared to this walking "hormone poison," the sunny and lovely Barbara seemed like a little girl.

"That lady!"

Judy tugged at Mason's sleeve and whispered, "Please introduce me to her!"

"Hey, calm down."

Mason whispered to his new friend, "She's married and even has children, although they're adopted."

"Even better... I mean, what does that matter?"

Judy said seriously, flipping her cool long hair, "I've already had my carefree youth in Night City. Now, I just want some emotional warmth. Don't worry, I won't ruin their lives. I promise!"

"No, I'm not worried about Selina, I'm worried about you."

Mason emphasized, "Stay away from that dangerous cat. You can't outplay her." Despite the warning from the K Squad captain, in the next ten minutes, Judy still fell into the smiling Lady Cat's clutches like a naive little mouse.

When the group arrived at the trading venue on the second floor of the castle, Judy, who was captivated by Lady Cat's charm, had spilled all the beans like a bamboo tube pouring out beans.

She was now crying in Selina's warm embrace, lamenting her ruined world and her nowhere to go.

Kind-hearted Barbara was comforting her by her side, and being embraced and comforted by two seductive women in tight-fitting suits made the not-so-normal tech girl feel like she had ascended to heaven.

And the three men beside them looked at each other.

Scorpion held an unlit cigarette.

He looked at Judy, who was being coaxed by Selina's soft voice, and even started telling the story of her first love that betrayed her.

This made the Black Mage shiver and complain to Mason in a low voice, "You must have given Selina something incredible to drink. This woman is simply a 'witch'! How can she easily get people to spill their secrets?"

Mason exchanged a meaningful glance with Selina.

Lady Cat made a gesture of "leave it to me," and then the young man led Scorpion and Two-Barrels towards the bustling hall.

He said softly, "I just gave Judy a cup of energizing potion, maybe 'accidentally' added a few drops of truth serum. That's all. Tell me about your findings this afternoon, John. About the 'Amaterasu' Squad."

"When we registered at the Mercenary Guild in Star Castle, we found information about them there."

Scorpion slyly surveyed the various areas of the luxurious hall that had obviously been expanded in space, his gaze sweeping over the women pioneers with their unique styles of dress.

He whispered to Mason, "Their captain is also a C-level personnel like you, but in the past six months, they have completed seven bounty missions. They have a lot of momentum, but also suffered heavy damage, so they have been recruiting members. It is said that they are vying to become the direct spellcasters of the Logistics Grand Tutor 'Warlock.' I had a few drinks with a lone wolf who had a grudge against the Amaterasu Squad, and she told me that those guys and two other C-level squads with some background are allies, all a group of spellcasters sticking together. This kind of thing seems to be quite common in the Star Association.""There's no useful information, John," Mason sighed.

"Um, it's hard to say," Urukjin shrugged and said, "The specific situation depends on whether I can 'persuade' that charming lone ranger lady tonight to tell us more. Well, I have to leave in twenty minutes."

"Here, take this," Mason heard this and took out a small jar of medicine from his bag and handed it to Urukjin, instructing him, "Drink it five minutes before you do the job, just one sip, don't drink too much. It's best to ask about their team configuration, the location numbers of the facilities in this castle, and so on. The more detailed, the better."

"What are you up to?" Urukjin felt that his manly vigor might not need this kind of booster, but after thinking for a moment, he accepted it and asked with narrowed eyes.

Urukjin felt that Mason, whose thoughts occasionally wandered, might be up to something dangerous.

Mason didn't answer.

He bid farewell to Urukjin and Er Tong, allowing them to move freely, while he himself was attracted by something placed on a nearby platform. It was a tall figure wearing medieval armor, standing alone behind the counter, flipping through a small book.

It seemed to be the owner of this booth.

The style of his armor made Mason feel very familiar.

Mason guessed that there should be nothing under this set of armor, and he didn't know if this guy had a cool alchemist brother with cool hair and short stature.

"How much is this thing?"

The young man looked at the round disc-shaped engineering artifact in the display case in front of him and said to the shopkeeper, "Can I touch it?"

"Of course," a crisp voice came from the armor, like a young person's voice, with a welcoming reminder tone, "But this is very valuable. If you break it, you'll have to compensate."

"I'm an alchemist too, I understand," Mason smiled and reached out to grab the thing in front of him.

Upon hearing him calling himself an alchemist, the armored person made a skeptical snort. But Mason didn't explain much. He looked at the familiar logo on it.

A few seconds later, an information label popped up:

Stark Industries Mini Ark Reactor - Rescue Special Model

Quality: Legendary Engineering Creation - Supreme Craftsmanship

Item Effect: After activation, it can provide huge energy for the Mark series battle armor rescue special unit. With the timely replenishment of refined atomic energy cells containing unknown elements, it can be regarded as an 'inexhaustible' power source.

Perfectly compatible with all known mechanical items.

The reactor is safe and reliable, without any pollution. The peripheral safety framework can resist massive impacts at close range.

Creator: Tony Stark

Item Description: Aren't you looking for the 'Heart of the Machine'? What are you hesitating for? Empty your last pocket and buy it at a high price.

Tip: Insufficient engineering skills, unable to analyze the blueprint of this item.

"Failed to get it for free!"

A frustrating thought jumped into Mason's mind.

He shook his head regretfully and returned the reactor to the knight shopkeeper, not even asking for the price. There was no need to ask, he definitely couldn't afford it.

Unless he was willing to trade his magic stone fragments or unicorn blood, but that was obviously impossible.

"Is this Vibranium?"

Mason pointed to another thing emitting a faint blue light in the display case and asked the shopkeeper. The knight shopkeeper wasn't annoyed either and explained like a robot, "It's 90% pure Vibranium ore. It needs special instruments to shape it, and once it's shaped, it can't be modified. Right now, this shop is offering a promotion: buy 100 grams of Vibranium and get 5 grams of Urukjin as a bonus. Would you like to consider it?"

"I'm not very familiar with the prices of trading goods," Mason took out a bottle of cursed unicorn blood from his bag and handed it over, saying, "How should these two be exchanged?"

"Well, this looks like a very high-end alchemical material. Please wait a moment," the strange figure in armor took the crystal bottle from Mason's hand.

Under the strange gaze of the young man, he dialed a number with a Nokia phone-like device, and soon a young man with golden long hair and a red cloak stumbled over.

He glanced at Mason, then took out a microscope-like object and looked at it like an expert evaluating its value.

A few minutes later, this guy shook his head and said to Mason, "If it was pure unicorn blood, it would be priceless, but yours was violently extracted and contaminated, so the price isn't that high. To exchange for 100 grams of Vibranium, you'll need ten bottles of this blood."

"Okay, deal," Mason didn't even bargain.

With a grand wave of his hand, he exchanged nine bottles of unicorn blood from this shopkeeper for a fixed container of Vibranium ore and a Urukjin ingot the size of a fingernail.Of course, Mason's generosity comes at a price. He put away the traded items and asked in a low voice, "Can you reveal where these things came from?"

"A monster named Hulk returned from outer space and caused chaos with people in the base world where my brother and I were staying. It was a bloodbath there. The superheroes were busy fighting, so we took the opportunity to sneak into Wakanda. That's the whole story," he said.

The guy who estimated the value was drunk and lying on the counter. He said boredly, "But this is the last deal. The world that turned into a mess is beyond saving. By the way, my brother said you also call yourself an alchemist? Someone with unicorn blood like you must have some background. I have something good here too."

The seemingly lazy and indifferent young man took out a half tube of blue serum from his pocket and threw it to Mason, saying, "I picked this up on the battlefield. Take a look and give me a price. Ah, damn 'Impact' is coming again. If luck is bad, we'll have to start from scratch."

"We all need to prepare for this. Right, buddy?"

"Yeah, that's true."

Mason didn't even know what 'Impact' was, but he still responded casually while checking the damaged serum in his hand. He felt familiar with this thing, and as he expected, the label popped out:

Search "pawread.com" for the original.

Super Soldier Serum [Remake]

Quality: Epic alchemical item · Supreme craftsmanship

Item effect: After completing a special injection procedure, it greatly enhances the physical qualities of the injector, allowing them to surpass the physiological limits of humanoid creatures.

The downside is that it greatly amplifies the user's inner desires.

In simple terms, the good gets better, and the bad gets worse.

Creator: Howard Stark

Item description: The remake version only differs slightly from the original.

Tip: Blueprint analysis in progress. [Photographic Memory] talent activated, greatly increasing analysis speed.

"Successful freeloading!"

Mason felt ecstatic.

He was still worried about the serious side effects of the Green Demon Serum he got from Mr. Sandstorm, but now the most authentic superhuman serum was delivered to him.

While the young man chatted with the drunken shopkeeper to buy time for the analysis to complete, he looked around the luxurious trading fair.

In Mason's eyes, all the good things displayed at various booths turned into floating blueprints waiting for him to take.

Buy with money?

Bah! He didn't come here to spend money!

If I spend a penny today after sweeping the goods, consider me a loser!

I, the King of Freeloading, have decided!