Chapter 81 - 76: Lucy

Chapter 81: Chapter 76: Lucy

Only after accepting the special event shared by Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence and reading the event description from the system did Nan Jiamu fully believe it. None of this was fabricated by Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence. Was Ancient Abyss truly facing an unprecedented crisis?

Could it be that because she planned to completely end the invasion during her next trip to Chi Hai, the system had arranged this massive obstacle for her?

Nan Jiamu’s heart sank little by little, but she remained firmly convinced that the final victory would belong to her.

At the suggestion of Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence, Nan Jiamu led her squad members back to the information center. She had her special assistant, Wang, contact the top psychology experts in the country to create a psychological profile for Black Domain Walker, aiming to narrow down the search scope.

Nan Jiamu specifically contacted Bai Qiang, whom she suspected. Bai Qiang was willing to cooperate and even drove to the information center immediately. This left Nan Jiamu somewhat confused. If Bai Qiang was Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence, avoiding suspicion right now would be the best choice. Could it be that Bai Qiang wasn’t?

In the early hours of the morning, Yin Zhen pushed open her front door.

The house was dark. Without turning on the lights, she took off her bloodstained tracksuit, balled it up, and threw it into the washing machine. She tossed her pig-killing knife to the Shadow Servant to wash clean.

Yin Zhen went to take a shower, using the time to organize her thoughts and decide on her next steps. When she came out of the bathroom, a bowl of instant noodles was already set on the dining table. The Shadow Servant had snagged some leafy greens from who-knew-where, making it more nutritious than her morning bowl.

"What are you buttering me up for?" Yin Zhen sat down and picked up her chopsticks.

The pitch-black Shadow Servant, wearing a blue floral apron, twisted its hands together. It manipulated the shadow Yin Zhen cast on the table, shaping it into the form of a video game console.

Yin Zhen nodded. "You’re learning about this world pretty quickly. Alright, I’ll go buy you one tomorrow."

The Shadow Servant silently clapped like a seal, turning the shadow of Yin Zhen’s head into a heart shape. Once Yin Zhen had eaten her fill, the Shadow Servant happily went off to wash the dishes.

Yin Zhen walked into the living room and took out the card representing her game inventory. On the back of the card, the little girl in the third slot was curled up, her blonde hair hanging down to cover her face, and her indicator light was a solid red.

It was time to deal with Lucy.

The little girl appeared out of thin air in front of Yin Zhen, looking exactly the same as when she was stored away. Lucy’s pupils instantly focused. The solid indicator light began to flash frantically as she scanned her surroundings.

"Environment... mismatched... database... no corresponding coordinates... network... unable to connect..."

"I’m offline. This isn’t Night City!"

Yin Zhen crossed her arms. "Correct. This isn’t Night City. You can’t connect to the Saint Group servers, nor can you connect to the advertising screens on the building across the street. Your 0.1-second threat doesn’t exist here."

Lucy’s indicator light flashed frantically. She took a step back. On her forever emotionless face, something that could be called ’panic’ appeared for the very first time.

"Where is this?"

"Another world."

"You have severed all my external connections. You can destroy me at any time now."

"Correct," Yin Zhen looked at her. "But I won’t."

Lucy’s indicator light flickered as she processed this. "What do you want?"

Yin Zhen said, "I want you to help me find someone. A top-tier hacker."

The indicator light on Lucy’s temple flashed a few times at varying frequencies. "I cannot connect to the network."

"Uh..." Yin Zhen scratched her forehead somewhat awkwardly. "I forgot to pay the internet bill. Hold on a second."

Yin Zhen took out her newly bought phone and turned it on, but before she could pay the bill, the freshly booted phone screen distorted with static. Looking back at Lucy, the indicator light on her temple was flashing rapidly.

"Wait... wait a minute!" Yin Zhen hurriedly stopped Lucy. Using cellular data was expensive, and it could also expose her Identity!

Lucy stopped connecting to Yin Zhen’s phone, and the screen returned to normal. Yin Zhen quickly paid the internet bill and then turned the phone off.

"The network protocols are incompatible, and the underlying data architecture is mismatched. I need to learn," Lucy stated in a flat, emotionless tone.

"How long do you need?" Yin Zhen asked.

Lucy fell silent for a few seconds. "How soon will you destroy me?"

"I’m not going to destroy you," Yin Zhen said bluntly. "Help me find that hacker, and I will take you back to Night City and give you your freedom."

Lucy stared at Yin Zhen, as if scanning her pupils and reading her heart rate to determine whether she was lying.

"You deceived me. I cannot trust you."

"But it’s the only path you have."

Lucy lowered her head. The living room grew quiet, with only the HUMMING of the old refrigerator filling the silence.

About a minute later, Lucy raised her head again.

"I need a device capable of connecting to the internet, and at least seventy-two hours to parse the protocols and learn. During this period, there must be no power outages or network disconnections."

"That’s too long. Can’t it be any faster?"

"No."

"Alright. But remember, I will eventually take you back to Night City rather than leaving you here. Please don’t pull any tricks on the network here. If I catch you doing so, I will shoot your core to pieces. This is your last chance."

Yin Zhen took out her laptop, plugged it into the power supply, and set it on the coffee table. Little Lucy knelt in front of the computer. She extended her arm and slid back the skin on her wrist like a sliding cover, revealing a port.

Yin Zhen handed over a data cable. Lucy held it and froze, the indicator light on her temple blinking.

Yin Zhen stared at her, utterly baffled.

"The port is incompatible."

Only then did Yin Zhen realize that Lucy’s port wasn’t Type-C. Suppressing an awkward expression, she asked, "Can’t you use Wi-Fi?"

Lucy didn’t answer. The indicator lights on the router started flashing frantically. The laptop screen dimmed for a moment before brightening again, displaying lines of code that Yin Zhen couldn’t understand.

"Connected. The data transmission pattern might be monitored. I will disguise it as normal video streaming and web browsing so as not to attract attention."

Yin Zhen nodded, feeling much more at ease.

"When I take you back to Night City, I will give you that passphrase to clear your underlying directives and give you true freedom. This time, I won’t lie to you."

Lucy gave no response. She sat motionless, facing the computer screen like a true machine.

Yin Zhen sat down on the sofa behind Lucy. Now, all she could do was wait. As for her plans after returning to the Red Corpse World, she would have to wait until the current problem was solved to figure them out.

July 20.

More progress on listening to the echoes of blood. In the morning, I bought a game console and cartridges for Ying. Right, from now on, I’ll call it Ying. I found a new coach and continued to hone my combat skills. Until nightfall, nothing else happened.

July 21.

Yin Xiaoying gamed all night and wasn’t sleepy at all. I’m so jealous. I re-entered that Gothic space but didn’t see the white creature. Flipping through Lucia’s memories, I finally found Lucy’s passphrase. I grasped a bit of the knack for the Blood and Flesh Ascetic Method. I stayed home to cultivate, and at night, I went out and hunted down a few Blood Clan invaders who were causing trouble nearby. Nothing else happened.

July 22.

Listening to the echoes of blood was a success. A new Skills column was added to the Player’s main system. I used a Skill Upgrade Book to instantly elevate the Blood and Flesh Ascetic Method to Intermediate, granting All Attributes +5, except for Luck. In the morning, I sparred with the new coach and knocked him down in less than a minute. The coach suspected I was from a rival gym trying to cause trouble, so I was kicked out without a refund. If I had known, I wouldn’t have held back! I bought a new game cartridge for Yin Xiaoying, then bought groceries and went home. Yin Xiaoying cooked two dishes and a soup. The braised pork ribs were delicious! Lucy is still completely motionless, showing no visible progress. Does she need charging? There are only two days left on the countdown. I hope Lucy can solve the technical problems and find Black Domain Walker by the early hours of the morning.

July 22, 7:00 PM. Black Domain Walker struck first!