"System, can't you also compensate me for a full meal?"
William complained helplessly in his heart.
Naturally, the system did not respond.
He touched the crumpled dollars in his pocket and decided to solve the problem of food and clothing first.
A street hot dog stand became his temporary salvation.
After eating a simple hot dog, the warm feeling dispelled some of the chill, and my mind became much clearer.
"The success of Dark Alley's Lone Walker is just the beginning."
William was thinking while chewing on a hot dog.
"I need more clients and more frequent claims to survive in this fucked-up world and become stronger."
His eyes wandered across the bustling streets of New York, trying to identify potential "superheroes" from the crowd.
This is undoubtedly looking for a needle in a haystack.
"The high-profile heroes are nowhere to be seen, and the low-profile ones are too hidden."
"Maybe I can change my thinking."
William remembered the system's judgment of "superheroes".
It doesn't necessarily have to be some famous guy.
As long as the system approves, even a mutant kid who has just emerged and has not yet fully developed his skills, or a vigilante with special skills, may become his client.
"The key is that they have to be 'accident-prone'."
An insurance salesman's professional instinct enabled him to accurately grasp the core.
The bigger the wind and waves, the more fish...
wrong.
The higher the risk, the greater the need for insurance.
He swallowed the last of his hot dog and wiped his mouth.
"Mechanical induction..."
William concentrated again, sensing the "status" of electronic equipment within a five-meter radius.
The street light controller, at this moment, the cold metal shell seemed to become translucent.
Countless fine circuits, beating electronic components, and even a slightly hot node with poor contact all appeared clearly in his mind, like a precision instrument with its outer covering peeled off.
This perception is not visual, but more like a "sense of touch" that acts directly on the brain, allowing him to silently "feel" the pulse of the device.
The electronic sign of the store next door had a poor contact on one of the LED lamp beads, emitting a faint "electrical groan".
Even a car passing by in the distance had a sensor in its engine that seemed to be buzzing and something was wrong, like a time bomb ready to explode at any moment.
"Besides helping me diagnose equipment failures, what else can this ability do?"
He began to wonder how else he could use this ability.
You never know when this ability might be of great help, or even save your life.
For example, finding those "heroes" who rely on electronic devices and whose devices are prone to malfunction?
William walked aimlessly, but his mind was working fast.
He needs information.
Information about the unknown "guardians" of this city.
Just then, a burst of urgent sirens came from far away.
Several police cars whizzed past him, speeding off in a certain direction.
William's heart moved.
Where there is trouble, there may be "heroes".
Without hesitation, he immediately took a step forward and followed not too far away.
After crossing several streets, he saw a cordon set up under an old apartment building in front of him, and several policemen were evacuating the onlookers.
Black smoke was faintly coming out of a window of the apartment.
"Fire?"
William frowned.
The fire department should be able to handle a disaster of this magnitude.
But his intuition told him that things might not be that simple.
Suddenly, he felt a slight throbbing in his "mechanical induction".
Not from the fire, but from...the direction of the rooftop of the apartment building!
There's a very faint, but persistent electronic signal there.
Like some kind of communication device, or... some kind of homemade electronic device?
William's eyes lit up.
"There's hope!"
He immediately decided to go up and take a look.
William did not choose to break through the police cordon through the main entrance of the apartment.
That's stupid.
He quietly went around to the back alley of the apartment building.
A sour stench mixed with garbage hit me in the face.
The alley was dimly lit and filled with discarded debris.
A rusty fire escape ladder was crookedly attached to the wall, extending all the way to the roof.
"That's it." A hint of determination flashed in William's eyes.
He concentrated his mind again and activated the "mechanical induction".
This time, not only the electronic equipment, but also the metal structure of the fire escape had a clear outline in his mind. The rusty joints, the stress points of the rivets, and even the fatigue inside the metal became "tangible".
He could even "sense" that a certain bolt, although old, was still stubbornly biting.
"Should be able to support my weight."
He took a deep breath, grabbed the cold ladder, and began to climb up.
The higher you go, the thicker the smell of smoke becomes, and you can even hear the crackling of flames.
William tried to move as quietly as possible to avoid making too much noise.
His heart was pounding in his chest, partly from nerves and partly from physical exertion.
Finally, he climbed onto the roof.
Some abandoned air conditioner units and miscellaneous items were piled up on the edge of the roof.
Black smoke was continuously billowing out of a ventilation duct on the other side of the rooftop, which was obviously one of the sources of the fire.
William's eyes quickly swept across the entire rooftop, finally stopping on an inconspicuous metal box in the corner.
The weak electronic signal that was sensed before came from there!
The box was not big and looked like a homemade device with several wires of varying thickness connected to it, one of which had an antenna pointing towards the sky.
Just as William was about to step forward to take a closer look, a slightly hoarse voice suddenly sounded from behind him.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
William froze, his adrenaline surged instantly, and he turned around suddenly.
A tall and thin figure wearing a dark hoodie and a piece of tattered cloth covering his face, revealing only a pair of vigilant eyes, was standing at the other end of the rooftop. In his hand... he was holding a strangely shaped energy pistol, and the muzzle was flashing a dangerous blue light.
William's pupils suddenly contracted and his heart almost jumped out of his throat - this was not an ordinary gun used by some street thug!
He could clearly "sense" the complex energy circuits inside the weapon, as well as an unstable and dangerous energy fluctuation surging in the gun body.
"Damn it! I'm going to die today..."
Just as a trace of panic flashed through his mind, the system prompt sounded impatiently.
[Ding! Potential customer "Arc Boy" detected.]
[Target Characteristics: Possessing self-made rechargeable weapons, possessing rudimentary energy manipulation capabilities, and currently possessing damaged equipment (energy core overload, cooling system failure).]
[System suggestion: Try selling the "Homemade Equipment Accidental Damage Insurance (Trial Version)" or the "Energy Weapon Maintenance Package."]
William: "…"
Oh, hero!
This is really... after searching for a needle in a haystack, it finally comes to you without any effort!
It's just that this opening method seems a bit too "passionate".