Chapter 211: Leaded Gasoline And The Millionaire Beggar
Dimensional God’s country.
Horns and curses blared incessantly on the streets like background noise.
Ultron, a pure mechanical lifeform, took heavy, staggering steps at this moment, looking just like a soulless walking corpse.
Those steps were even more devoid of soul than a real zombie. He ignored everything around him, his mind fixated only on “No. 92 gasoline” and that damned USB 2.0 port.
“How could this be? I must be dreaming… but I clearly don’t have the ability to dream… No, maybe I really am dreaming, and actually I’m a damned human dreaming he’s a robot.” He could mutter like this, showing just how disordered Ultron’s thinking had become.
He wandered back dejectedly to that filthy alleyway.
The entire machine leaned against an ice-cold wall covered in graffiti, evoking a sadness that many feel in the dead of night. Even with mechanical hydraulic legs, it still powerlessly slid slowly to the ground.
“No. 92 gasoline?”
Ultron’s metal face twisted into a grimace uglier than crying.
He muttered to himself, as if to finally confirm this cruel reality, mechanically reaching back to unscrew the plastic cap on his fueling port.
Then, he dipped a finger inside, carefully scooping a bit of the remaining liquid. The fact that he was no longer a new energy robot hit him hard—not less than a normal human discovering his 28 cm had shrunk to 1 cm, or a billionaire’s father not being his biological one.
“Damn it!”
Ultron rubbed that bit of liquid on the metal palm of his other hand, even bringing it to his nonexistent nose to sniff, luckily he still had basic sensors for that.
“It’s actually still freaking leaded gasoline! Motherfucker!” At this moment, All-Father Ultron, Heart of the Universe, Reality Controller—all seemed like distant, ironic dreams.
The massive sense of disparity felt like the coldest motor oil.
Filling every circuit inside Ultron’s system.
“Why is this happening, why is this happening.” Ultron felt like one moment he was plotting against the multiverse in the Time Variance Authority, and the next he was just a street stray.
After a brief silence.
Came a volcanic eruption of emotional meltdown.
“Ian Kent!!!!” Ultron let out a heart-wrenching electronic roar, truly furious, though the volume crackled due to aged equipment.
He leaped up from the ground, wildly kicking the alleyway’s trash cans and walls!
“You dare humiliate me like this!!! Turn me into this ghastly appearance!!! Confine me with this outdated garbage from several eras ago!!!”
Ultron roared at the sun in the sky, smashing and cursing, his metal fists denting the wall but also triggering joint damage alerts on himself.
Soon, he couldn’t smash anymore. Not because he calmed down, but because his laggy visual interface popped up a glaring, flashing red alert box.
【Warning: Fuel low! Please refuel promptly! Current fuel: 3%】
Ultron: “…”
His pent-up wrath was doused like with a bucket of ice water, leaving only utter frustration and absurdity.
He, Ultron, the mechanical deity who once sought to destroy the world and remake the universe, now had to worry about… low fuel? What kind of ridiculous contrast was this!
Even with much unwillingness in his heart, Ultron didn’t want to become a Mechanical Master who perished from energy depletion. He’d studied the development history of all cosmic civilizations, so he knew the hard truth of “survive to avenge.” Thus, survival instinct temporarily overrode anger.
Having been a rampant tyrant for so long, his crimson mechanical eyes flickered, and he charged out of the alleyway again, this time heading straight for that place.
Gas station!
Ultron knew how to give himself psychological therapy, even joking bitterly with wild words.
“Even fallen this low, this lord’s still gonna treat himself to the good stuff!”
Ultron rushed straight to a No. 98 gasoline pump at the gas station, yanked off the nozzle, and clumsily shoved it hard into his rear fueling port!
This wolfish act described by those words truly shamed and annoyed Ultron to no end.
“I must endure!”
He told himself this.
“Gulp gulp…”
Crisp No. 98 gasoline surged into his “fuel tank,” bringing a strange… sense of satisfaction? Ultron refueled while warily scanning around, ready for staff or human police to intervene. With his current combat power, even a gas station employee with a mop could take him down.
Ultron was deeply vigilant and worried inside.
But facts proved his mental antics meaningless.
Even after filling up, replacing the nozzle, and deliberately making noise, no one stopped him. The gas station staff just glanced through the glass window before resuming playing on their mobile phone, as if he were just an ordinary robot with self-refueling settings.
“No wonder this world is crawling with marshmallows, heh, fake utopia breeds species that deserve extinction.” Ultron felt a smug “humans are cowards” rise in his heart.
He prepared to mock them with a glare from afar.
But just as he ran a hundred meters away, with his words edited, an unassuming corner of his laggy visual interface suddenly delayed a new message.
The font was outrageously tiny.
If not for Ultron directly reading info without cheap visual capture like a rice phone, normal eyeballs would need a microscope to see it.
【Gas station charge complete: 200 energy coins, 300 surtax, 100 tribute to Ian God’s heart, deducted.】
【Warning: Citizen『utterly ordinary NPC-Ultron』 detected 145 traffic rules violations, rounded to 200 offenses.】
【Fine: 2,000,000 energy coins】
【Per《Super Grateful to Sole God Ian·New Utopia Dimension City, top management penalty code》 Article 214514, body and skin received from Ian God, illegal modification）fueling port specs mismatch initial records）: Fine 500,000 energy coins.】
【Current account balance: 10 energy coins）New immigrant limited super luxury invincible gift）.】
【Auto-debt: 3,700,200 energy coins. Interest calculating…）Current Christmas eve, event active, limited daily rate 0.05%）】
Lines of mosquito-leg-sized text were read by Ultron.
“????”
His already outdated CPU froze.
Completely dumbfounded.
The whole machine lagged again from this sudden sky-high fine.
“Rob… robbery? What did I rob?”
“Refuel without paying?”
“But no one even asked for money!”
“And illegal modification? That crappy fueling port was installed by that bastard! Why fine me?! 3,700,200? Is this number real?”
“So good at padding debt, why not remove my calculation function!” Ultron roared at the sky, but regretted it instantly—he really feared Ian removing his computing functions.
That was basic for first-gen computers; if he, the most advanced AI, lost it, better just yank his fuel line and die on the spot.
“Hiss~”
Glancing at the smirking sun, Ultron felt uneasy, and as misfortune never comes alone, before his outdated processor could sort this outrageous situation.
Wooo~~wooo~~wooo~~
Piercing sirens approached rapidly toward the gas station!
“No way! They really sent minions to remove my calculator?”
Ultron paled in shock!
Powerless now, he dared not clash with this weird city’s enforcers. Due to his last bottom line and dignity, he instinctively scanned like a startled rabbit, then spotted a large roadside sorting trash can!
In such crisis.
No time for Mechanical King’s dignity.
“Human emotions mean nothing to me! I follow only the optimal solution!”
Ultron dashed over, flipped the lid, jumped in without hesitation, and carefully replaced the lid, hiding fully amid waste paper and plastic bottles. Almost the next second, several sci-fi styled, “X”-marked hover police cars pulled up nearby.
Doors opened, and several extraordinary men and women stepped out—the X-Men team, led by Cyclops Scott Summers and Jean Grey the Phoenix.
“Report indicates a suspicious robot just committed robbery and vandalism here.” Cyclops scanned seriously.
“Yeah, that arrogant type who yells about being some emperor, won’t let anyone rest—last one, Belial, started crime right after immigrating.”
Jean Grey the Phoenix slightly closed her eyes.
Powerful telepathy swept the area like radar, then her powerful eyes puzzledly fixed on the slightly shaking trash can.
“Heh.”
Jean Grey stepped forward.
She used telekinesis to gently lift the trash can lid.
Then, the X-Men saw the shocking sight—the silver robot accused of “robbing” the gas station curled motionless in the garbage.
The guy even “professionally” mimicked a broken mechanical arm sweeping randomly with one hand, as if truly a discarded robot vacuum.
“Hiss…” Even worldly Jean Grey inhaled sharply, poking Ultron’s cold metal shell in surprise.
“This criminal… so… adaptable?”
She was astonished.
Felt things weren’t going normally.
Ultron inwardly roared madly.
‘Endure! Endure! Ultron! Endure! Hero down but bullied by dogs! Dragon in shallows toyed by shrimp! This shame fuels future revenge!’
He truly was a knowledgeable AI, even versed in Eastern Ancient Country lore.
Seeing the crowd around him.
Ultron perfectly played a soulless, abandoned pitiful robot vacuum, even emitting faint “buzz” motor sounds like a glitch.
Outside, X-Men circled the trash can, marveling.
“Looks like just an ordinary cleaning robot? System false alarm?”
Storm Ororo Munroe wondered.
“But it did run to the gas station and ‘rob’ fuel…”
Cyclops frowned, pulling up surveillance footage.
“Maybe program glitch? Or low power auto-seeking energy?”
Colossus guessed.
Ultron in the trash can heard the discussion, sneering inwardly like a lurking urban Dragon King, hyping himself up.
‘Yes! Think that! See me as harmless trash! Stupid mutants! Once I get a chance! Fix this body! Access this world’s net!’
“I’ll crack this damned debt system! Assign myself infinite energy coins, crash this world’s finance—Ultron will return! Then, trample this so-called ‘New Utopia Dimension City’! Make Ian Kent pay for his humiliation!”
“Make all who laughed or ignored me tremble under my mechanical army!” His processor struggled with complex info now.
This plan felt like his processor—something Ian ripped from a kids’ watch. But downgraded Ultron didn’t notice.
“Today’s trash can shame, I’ll repay a hundredfold! Endure! Endure!” He didn’t even know why his data had so many similar books.
Dragon King Returns, rage making daughter sleep in chicken coop from doghouse, War God reborn, enduring humiliation to reopen world’s top brothel with 800k harem.
Though absurd, full of positive energy—this fueled Ultron’s survival, the super machine soup keeping his mind from crashing.
“Hurry and leave! You humans, get gone!” Ultron urged inwardly, diligently playing faulty robot vacuum half a day in the can.
He’d nearly rubbed sparks on his dome with bottle caps, yet saw the X-Men not leaving, “watching rare animal” vibe thickening.
“What’s happening? I can’t be exposed! All Oscar data’s in me!” Ultron felt ominous premonition.
No choice, waiting didn’t disperse them. Ultron risked his laggy scan, painfully sensing surroundings.
The feedback chilled his core processor—Cyclops and Jean-led X-Men ignored surveillance or program errors, casually arms-folded with pity, teasing, “how long can you pretend” expressions.
Yes, they were enjoying his trash can performance.
“!!!!!”
Ultron had never been so humiliated.
Turns out… those “system misreport?” “program glitch?” talks were all them messing with him!
They never believed he was a discarded robot vacuum!
“So, your Dimensional Demon God servant implanted ID data in my chassis or system early, verifiable via watches on your wrists, right.” Massive humiliation surged, but sparked reckless defiance.
No more pretending!
Ultron coldly spoke, sitting straight amid waste paper and plastic bottles! Rotten watermelon rind slid from his head onto his shoulder armor.
Flies buzzed around him.
He raised his dimly glowing red electronic eyes, scanning the watching X-Men, voice returning to icy metallic friction tone, distorted by aged gear.
“So… what do you want crowding here? I remember you, mutants, ants empowered by gene mutation.”
Ultron indeed remembered mutants, but rudely, full of broken-jar provocation. Luckily Logan wasn’t on duty; other X-Men tempers held, used to weirdos, just raising brows without flare-ups.
Jean Grey the Phoenix stepped forward, businesslike calm. She projected a glowing electronic arrest warrant into the air.
“Citizen ‘utterly ordinary NPC-Ultron’, for massive debt, unpaid within mandated five minutes, plus illegal modification, public safety hazard, attempted robbery, etc., cumulative sentencing per《New Utopia Dimension City management law》, you’re now heavy criminal, to be arrested immediately and remanded to dimensional circuit court for judgment.”
Jean Grey seemed strictly procedural.
Ultron laughed coldly upon hearing.
“Heh… hehehe… Judgment? That boy, Ian Kent, wants to pile on humiliation this laughable way?”
“Don’t think I don’t know what courts are!”
“I’ve held courts myself!”
“The universe’s supreme time court! I know courts are just rulers whitewashing violence, justifying their behavior!”
Ultron’s voice longed for past glory.
He grew agitated, metal finger pointing at the warrant: “You’re using this to ‘justly’ erase me! Claiming moral high ground!”
“Humanity’s core is hypocrisy!”
Ultron roared.
“Ian God just wants everyone a chance at justice reform.” Jean sighed helplessly at his roar, asking routinely: “No more yapping? Next you’ll claim you ruled the multiverse cosmos as Cosmic Overlord, making all submit?”
Ultron stunned by the question, then eyed Jean slyly, sarcastically: “You know and still ask?”
“How to mock me? Come on, I wait for words from you who vaporized before seeing my peak.”
Ultron spewed venom.
But wasn’t hit.
Mainly X-Men were on duty, rule-abiding; even testiest Jean just nodded calmly to his abuse.
She pulled a recording board, operating while speaking.
“Mm, confirmed. Standard new immigrant backstory ‘former Cosmic Overlord’ category. Logged.” Jean scribbled, then gestured “please” to Ultron: “Background supplemented.”
“Mental illness subsidies later. Now, come with us.” Jean and X-Men seemed civil, but Ultron wasn’t buying.
“Go with you?” Ultron scoffed, slumping back into garbage, blatantly giving up: “I’m just metal scrap, no life, no soul. Judge? Judge my creator! Find Tony Stark! Why me?”
Truly total surrender.
Nearby Colossus Piotr Rasputin chuckled, slapping his shiny steel body with “clang clang.”
“Bro, who isn’t metal scrap?”
“By that, lawbreaker me exempt? Here, even motor oil scrap breaking law must face judgment honestly!”
This with Colossus’s skin left Ultron speechless.
Cyclops Scott recalled something, adjusting ruby quartz glasses, seriously: “Right, Piotr’s correct. Last week we nabbed a third district serial motor oil scrap… sneaky hider, took effort.”
Other X-Men shuddered, faces complex and wordless—clearly unpleasant capture.
“…”
Ultron wanted no deep thought on “motor oil scrap” serial crimes or hiding. His logic processor neared burnout from abstract info. Seeing “non-life” excuse fail, Ultron stood.
Had to stand.
X-Men had tow-lock devices out.
“I’m not a car!”
Ultron protested loudly, to avoid leg-locks parading as car, lowering his bottom line further.
Silicon lifeforms were thus.
Far more flexible than carbon-based.
“Fine! If judging me! At least… clean me first! Can’t enter court like this! Tramples my last dignity!”
Ultron stated terms.
He stood, garbage cascading off, mechanical body odorless but buzzing flies maddening.
“These damned flies! Get lost!”
Ultron swung metal arms to shoo persistent bugs, checking arm—housekeeping gear had insecticide.
But—needed recharge to refill.
“…”
Ultron had never seen such shameless robot makers; wanted to curse Ian’s nose, ask if next was billboard on him?
Emotions surged.
Ultron bottled annoyance.
Endure.
His robot first law.
“You’re wrong.”
Seeing Ultron complain nonstop, Cyclops eyed bugs, shook head, calmly correcting:
“Not flies. Bees.”
Explanation broke everyone.
“Bees?”
Ultron paused, eyeing clearly fly-like, ungraceful fliers: “You think I’m blind now?”
He roared.
Cyclops explained: “Were flies originally. But long-term local life, excess sugar intake, collective severe diabetes.”
“Thus evolved, now proper little bees. Ian God’s promised ascent path for all beings.”
Logic maxed; Storm, Jean etc. nodded “indeed,” “common sense,” “no big deal.”
“????”
Hearing Darwin-unresting claim, Ultron shorted like water-dunked, realizing terrifying truth.
He or these humans— one side madmen.
