The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle

The other party fell into silence, unable to speak for a long time.

It seemed they were really comforted, a single sentence warming her for the entire winter.

"Ah, a terminally ill young miss from Life Group... completely buffed up," Su Qi murmured to himself.

After obtaining the Super Dream from the other party, within two days... Su Qi had turned Life Group upside down.

Of course, it was Life Group that he was investigating.

Life Group, one of Night City's top three business magnates, was founded by Sigong Cheng... who controlled the research and development of prosthetics, having an amazing talent on the path where machinery and flesh converged, leading to its catastrophic growth until today.

But... such a giant was helpless against his daughter, Sigong Xun's illness.

Normally, the prosthetic and the nerves would form a connection, exchanging data instantly, melding together as one. However, this also made the nervous system susceptible to influence, descending into madness, belligerence, and personality loss... eventually losing humanity, commonly known as Cyber mental illness.

As for Sigong Xun... she was afflicted with a terminal neurological disease. Although she hadn't installed any prosthetics, her nervous system was weakening day by day, and like a chronic poison, her body was also affected, with her functions declining.

A year ago, she could still stand and walk, but now she could only sit in a wheelchair.

Indeed, because of this, Sigong Cheng restricted her from any mentally strenuous activities, always recuperating in the manor, aiming to alleviate her symptoms. Even so... her disease continued to devour her life force unrestrained.

[Sorry... my mother just came knocking at my door, I got startled and threw the Super Dream under the bed]

Su Qi did not immediately respond to the message, in a dark alley, several Transhumans slowly emerged from the shadows—they were members of Jile's Crowd, apparently staking out to assassinate someone from the Black Emperor.

After all, the two gangs had now completely torn their faces off, determined to fight to the death.

Su Qi pretended not to notice and also checked the other party's message.

[The Super Dream got its corners banged up ahh]

Miss Sigong Xun actually talked quite a bit after obtaining Super Dream, even if trivial matters became part of the message, although it's all monotonous daily routines in the manor, she never tired of it.

After all, confined to a manor and suffering from a painful terminal illness, everything was consuming her limited life force. She probably just wanted to record these in Super Dream.

What a sensible girl.

Su Qi was moved by this.

Then, he gently coaxed her, obtaining vast amounts of internal information from Life Group.

[It seems to be no big deal, I can still chat, and messages are being sent successfully! Yay!]

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a surge of energy from the dark cannon toward Su Qi abruptly attacked!

He slightly shifted his body, dodging it, then grabbed another mutated Transformed Body with a long sword leaping out from behind the shadows!

[By the way, when you said you wanted to join Life Group, were you serious?]

That was his excuse at that time, and she helped plan and revealed a lot of insider information.

Su Qi flipped his sword, the cold light flickering along the circuit lines, crackling past! The Transformer's entire shoulder was severed, revealing the prosthetic wirings inside, and it screamed out in pain—after all, despite some attenuation, the deeper the wounds, the stronger the pain felt!

[Today, when I was having my body checked, I asked my father specifically for a list of interviewees, only to find out I don't even know your name.]

"Black Emperor's men, die!" shouted a muscular man wielding a high-pressure electromagnetic tube, grating noise billowing as he advanced!

[...]

Su Qi's expression was unchanged, and his body burst into action!

The next moment.

The muscular man stared blankly at his chest, a palm piercing through it, then retracted, his eyes whitening, then he spasmodically collapsed.

[You... you couldn't have fallen asleep, could you? If so, I won't bother you anymore.]

Su Qi kicked away the three bodies on the ground, retrieved his long sword, and walked towards the pathway ahead, slowly sending out a [?].

[Saying you went to sleep at twelve... that's an insult to Night City.]

[...]

[Besides, forget about joining Life Group.]

[Why?]

[After all, people strive for higher places.]

Su Qi paused[Right now, my identity is that of a respected gangster.]

[???]

Sigong Xun widened her eyes.

Where the hell is higher up, and what does it have to do with being respected!

Her mood fluctuated, feeling an urge to punch the holographic interface!

"..."

"Logged off?"

Su Qi also closed the page, then accessed Sigong Xun's physical examination data through the Super Dream Protocol. This Super Dream Protocol... after linking to Night City's network, was also gradually growing, intelligently estimating various data, silently infiltrating some non-core areas.

"No wonder her father looks so distressed, his daughter is experiencing full body decay... powerless to help, and not much longer to live."

The data showed all of Sigong Xun's abilities, all below a normal person, and further deteriorating.

The Life Group line was pretty significant.

His The Hustlers Chamber of Commerce might quickly swallow the entire Illegal Land, but to grow bigger and take root in Night City without the support of a top giant, that would still be extremely difficult.

After all, although it had only been fifteen days, he had also planned for later.

"The Hustlers Sect... needs a chamber of commerce that could span across Ten Thousand Realms, of course, it might compete with the Traveling Merchant, but it's not a big problem."

"Then it's time to speed up the process."

His founded The Hustlers Chamber of Commerce had already included hundreds of shops across Jile's Crowd's territory, aside from initially negotiating in person, later it was mainly other shop owners under Simon's lead who covertly spread the word.

After all, Su Qi had set up a reward for inviting new shops; for each shop pulled in, corresponding Cyber Coins would be earned... the more valuable the shop brought in, the more they earned.

For buyers, it was the same, Su Qi had not restrained himself, both users and merchants were continuously expanding, and the daily orders and turnovers had reached an astounding level.

Hundreds of players naturally couldn't withstand such a growth in orders... so, Su Qi recruited more runners through intermediary channels, this time targeting the poor, and similarly offered generous subsidies.

Three days then passed.

Simon, worried sick and extremely anxious, burst through the door, "It's bad, it's bad, President Su, something big has happened!"

"The Black Emperor and Jile's Crowd have noticed something wrong, they've started to scale back their stance recently, and they're keeping a tight watch over the streets! They've started issuing prohibitions!"

Su Qi was calm, as if he had anticipated this. In these few days, he hadn't stirred the flames, and with the forces gradually building up, the Black Emperor and Jile's Crowd, the two local dragons... had finally noticed something wrong, having eased up from the fight,

"Now our channels are restricted, and they are also scrutinizing The Hustlers Chamber of Commerce closely! What should we do!"

Su Qi pondered and pointed to a machine next to him, "Simple, help me make a pancake."

"At a time like this! You're still eating pancakes!" Simon's eyes widened.

Wasn't this something significant!

He exclaimed urgently, "Both forces will soon understand our model, and after they do! I fear they will completely take it over!"

Su Qi slowly applied a layer of starch, calmly saying, "That's exactly what we want them to know."

"???"

Simon couldn't understand, "But..."

Su Qi clicked his tongue lightly and said,

"In any case, don't rush, let the pancakes cook a bit longer."

The fourth day.

Simon came again, his expression even uglier than before.

"Those beasts!"

"After they understood the profits involved, they ordered everyone to triple the protection fees!"

"They took over all the channels and even demanded high fees!"

Su Qi calmly said, "Let them do it."

He had already instructed Sha Shili and many other players to hold their forces recently, and had also temporarily disconnected the system.

Simon cursed in anger, yet he was powerless!

Just when he saw a glimmer of hope, a good day ahead, they were pushed back to the old ways by this damn gang!

"And why at this time!" Simon's eyes bulged, "President, you're still eating pancakes!"

Su Qi calmly reminded, "No, today this is a hand-grabbed flatbread."

Simon's eyes widened even more, "Does it make a difference!"

"You're getting more and more impatient, be careful about losing merit badges, and also what's the use of being impatient?" Su Qi said calmly, "Do you think you can dare to resist?"

"Why not!" Simon roared out these words.

After he roared, he immediately regretted it, his eyes dimmed slightly, and he opened his mouth:

"Sorry..."

Resist... how could they possibly resist, facing two massive forces, on what basis could they resist.

He was too presumptuous... after witnessing Su Buxian's strong ability, he placed all hopes on him, but in this situation, there was nothing they could do.

The fifth day.

Simon arrived somewhat later than before, his body bearing injuries, his eyes also redder with anger.

"It seems... there's been a change today," Su Qi paused.

"Many shops have united in opposition, but those bastards didn't care, they smashed all the opposing shops!"

"Many of the poor were beaten back! The previously collected Cyber Coins were forcibly taken back!"

"Damn it, damn it! Those bastards simply aren't human!"

Su Qi paused again, "Normal, the tempers from both sides have flared up these past days, they naturally vent and displace their anger onto others."

However, it still wasn't enough.

A fire could stir up their anger, but in the face of a powerful deterrence, it was still lacking; it needed a bigger fire, one that would show them hope, the hope to change everything.

Of course, the fruit was planted by Su Qi, and naturally, he intended to harvest it.

As for that bigger fire, they needed someone else to start it.

"Regarding who will be played for the fool..." Su Qi looked towards the direction of Main City.

Meanwhile,

The Netherworld King had earlier made contact with the major elites, firmly securing his foothold in the enforcement department. He observed the incoming messages, his eyes now revealing a hint of murderous intent.

"It seems the chaos has already started? Quicker than expected..."

"But, everything is under control, it's time to start."

The Netherworld King used his authority, submitting an application for the eradication of the Illegal Land.

Within just half a day, he quickly received support from most of the elites.

Because the elites discovered... recently a large batch of unlicensed products had flooded into Night City, with many citizens secretly tapping into mysterious channels, disrupting their markets, and the source was the Illegal Land.

Nothing can be touched, except their profits!

An elite coldly said, "This is a good opportunity, by seizing this chance, completely wipe out Jile's Crowd and the Black Emperor, and this place that only produces rubbish!"

The Netherworld King and his hundreds of players along with the carefully transformed Prosthetics, fully equipped handling squads, were ready for the eradication clash.

And as they watched the place where the Illegal Land was located: "Next..."

"It's time for the harvest."