On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

Seeing that Liao Ji actually intended to do this, Irene immediately recalled her painful experience of buying the Dream Terminal on the black market and finding it completely unusable, and immediately voiced her objection:

"But the problem is, as outsiders, we don't know anything. If we do buy it, it will definitely be a fake, right? I don't think that's a good idea, Dr., isn't that a bit presumptuous?"

Indeed, Liao Ji did not deny this. Even if there were good things on the black market, only true experts could pick them out. The vast majority of people who followed the trend into the black market were basically just being taken advantage of.

but

"Have you forgotten that there are three of us?"

Before Yilin could even react, the Dream Terminal that Liao Ji had been wearing by his ear broke its optical camouflage and immediately revealed itself. Then, the terminal began to project an image of a virtual maid into the hotel room.

"Hello, miss. Nice to meet you. I am Number 86, a personal maid belonging to my master. May I ask your name?" Number 86 asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry, bye-bye! I'm new here, and you've always been like this, so...hehehe, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Irene clasped her hands together and apologized repeatedly to the maid. Liao Ji was somewhat used to their bickering, and he quickly got to the point, asking the maid, who appeared in virtual form:

"86, can you handle terminals on the black market?"

"Puff out your chest. The 86 can complete the full scan of the terminal as long as the user touches it for more than three seconds."

After receiving a clear answer from the maid, Liao Ji nodded and began to organize his follow-up plans with the two of them.

"The best option is to quickly upgrade the employee's level at Keltech and obtain sufficient permissions, then use their mature and stable channels to enter Zero Dream."

"Of course, we can't put all our eggs in one basket, so our second plan is to try to use 86's abilities to find a device terminal on the black market that can access Zero Dream. However, even if we find one, it's probably not stable, but at least it will allow us to understand Zero Dream first."

After Liao Ji finished speaking, Yilin immediately raised her hand to ask a question.

"explain."

"Doctor, why don't we just have 86 hack into Kyle Technology?"

“Master has already let me try, but the security level of the company network is far more stringent than 86 imagined. I can try to hack in, but doing so is very risky, and there is a considerable probability that it will be discovered by Kyle Technology’s technical department,” Number 86 said dejectedly due to his lack of ability.

"It's okay, bye-bye, we trust the doctor! Right, doctor? What's our next step?"

When Yilin looked over, Liao Ji had already started looking for a trench coat on the clothes rack to go out. The girl immediately understood, and 86 ended the virtual image projection and continued to wear it in Liao Ji's ear as an invisible terminal.

After leaving the room and arriving at the hotel, Liao Ji hailed a car. While waiting for the car, Liao Ji pondered his destination and asked the girl beside him.

Do you have any suggestions for where we're going next?

"Hmm, how about we go to District 13?" Irene suddenly had an idea.

"District 13?"

"Yes, I saw on TV that District 13 is in chaos, with some gang fighting over territory. In my experience, these chaotic areas are usually the best places for the black market!"

"I didn't expect you to actually be reading intelligence."

"Hmph, let me tell you, that murderer will definitely... uh, never mind, let's just forget about it." Irene thought about how young, beautiful, and adorable she was, and if there really was a murderer, wouldn't she become that pervert's target?

In the short time it took for the two to finish speaking, a fully automated driverless taxi arrived in front of Liao Ji and his companions. It was rare to see human drivers in Dream City.

After getting into the car, Liao Ji thought for a moment and then said to the virtual driver:

"Let's go to District 13, and then find the biggest bar in town."

Chapter 193 Fly with Confidence, I'll Take Responsibility If Anything Happens

The City of Dreams isn't that big; some people can walk through it in a day—of course, with prosthetic legs. But no one would call it small when faced with those colossal buildings that rise from the ground like a steel forest.

Perhaps it was simply because the city's design concept was a top-down vertical structure, so even though "District 13" looked far away from the "District 3" where Liao Ji had been before, which was a commercial and wealthy area, on the map, it was actually less than a half-hour drive before Liao Ji got out of the taxi.

Before him stood a massive bar that could be described as “magnificent”, and many called it one of the iconic buildings of District 13, and even the entire Dream City.

Night Charm Bar.

In this fast-paced city rife with consumerism, Nightshade Bar is undoubtedly the most popular place. Here, whether you are a homeless person sleeping on the streets, a gangster covered in cheap cybernetic implants, a down-on-his-luck fired worker, a penniless person who has failed in his investment, or a heartbroken person who has been dumped in love, you can get drunk here and forget all your troubles and sorrows.

The original intention of Night Charm Bar was to welcome all those struggling at the bottom of society and to give them spiritual comfort.

For this reason, there is a type of person who is not welcome at Night Charm Bar.

This can be seen from the sign at the bar entrance.

Company executives and dogs are not allowed to enter.

"Haha, Doctor, this bar is interesting, I like it!" Irene, who came from a background of scavenging, clapped and cheered for the brand, praising it repeatedly.

After Liao Ji and Yi Lin entered the bar, his original plan was just to gather some intelligence. But before Liao Ji could even start, Yi Lin suddenly seemed to have discovered something and immediately tugged at Liao Ji several times.

"Doctor! Doctor! Look over there on the dance floor! Isn't that the rich kid who got in through connections?"

Following Irene's direction, Liao Ji looked over and saw a young man with a lewd expression on his face in a fairly conspicuous spot on the dance floor. He had one arm around each of the two girls with a flamboyant, "punk" style, and they were all dancing and reveling to the loud music from the bar.

"No wonder," Liao Ji muttered to himself as he watched this scene unfold.

"No wonder what?"

"No wonder that director had the lead actor wear a silver handkerchief."

While Yilin was still confused, Liao Ji, after his initial reaction, had already taken action. He quickly weaved through the crowd and arrived in front of Luo Xiaoji, who was dancing with a beautiful woman.

"Brother Luo! Brother Luo!"

Liao Ji called out twice, and then he reached out to pull the young man back to his senses. Luo Xiaoji, who was indulging in the dance floor, finally came to his senses and his eyes widened when he saw Liao Ji in front of him again.

"Brother Liao Liaoji? What are you doing here? You're not..."

"Let's find somewhere else to talk," Liao Ji said, pointing to the noisy dance floor and the two street girls in Luo Xiaoji's arms.

"Oh, right, right, alright, my good buddy is here. We have something to do, you guys can go now."

After taking out a large sum of Ash Coins from his pocket and handing them to the two street girls, Luo Xiaoji sent them away, who were still reluctant to leave. He quickly followed Liao Ji to a relatively quiet spot in a bar that Yilin had already reserved.

"Brother Luo, didn't you say you were going to chase after Tia and win back some glory for our Shanghai? Why are you here now?"

"Ugh, this is terrible!"

It would have been better if this hadn't been mentioned. As soon as Liao Ji brought up Tia, Luo Xiaoji's face stiffened. For a moment, he considered whether to tell Liao Ji about the accident that had happened at Kyle Technology, but in the end, he chose to laugh it off.

Firstly, he had promised Steward William not to tell anyone; secondly, if it really involved any private information or secrets, he would be fine with his status and background, but Liao Ji might not be so lucky, and he couldn't let others get hurt.

Making up a random excuse to brush it off, Luo Xiaoji quickly changed the subject, saying, "Stop talking about me, Brother Liao Ji, where are you? Didn't you say you were going to see an old friend? What are you doing here? Don't tell me that the old friend you traveled all this way to see is someone who hangs out in bars!"

"No, it's just that it's too late today, and I've been tired all day, so I'll just leave it at that. Anyway, I'll be staying in Dream City for a while, so I'm not in a hurry. To be honest, I came here tonight to relax a bit."

After hearing Liao Ji's words, Luo Xiaoji immediately nodded, revealing a knowing look that every man understands, and then patted his chest.

"What did I say, Brother Liao? I could tell at a glance from the aircraft that we definitely hit it off. Enough said, I'll show you around tonight. I guarantee you, Brother Liao Ji, will have a really, really relaxing time!"

Seeing Luo Xiaoji's excited expression, Liao Ji shook his head: "No, Brother Luo, we've come all the way to the Mechanical Alliance, I want to try a new way to relax."

"A new way?"

"Yes, isn't the 'Dream' from the Mechanical Alliance quite famous? But unfortunately, it's unusable overseas. Now that we're finally here, how can we not try out Dream?"

"The dream experience is fine, but we can experience it in reality, so why go to the dream world?"

Indeed, for a rich second-generation like Luo Xiaoji, the allure of the fantasy film is not so strong anymore. He can act in action movies himself, so why should he watch others'?

Unless

"So I'd like to ask Brother Luo to help me find something... a little more exciting." Liao Ji pretended to secretly twitch his fingers at Luo Xiaoji.

"Something a little more exciting"

"Yes, the more exciting the better, the kind that's hard to do in reality but can be enjoyed in dreams, the very special kind, you know?"

Following Liao Ji's words, Luo Xiaoji's eyes lit up as well, as if he had indeed thought of something very exciting, but soon his face fell again.

"Hey, Brother Liao, what you're talking about is called Black Dream. As for the channels, I actually have them too, but the problem is... I'm afraid my sister will find out."

"Your sister?"

"Sigh, yeah, I want to contact the channels for Black Dream, but money alone isn't enough; I also need the power of my family's group. But the problem is, my sister is the chairman of the group. If I do anything out of line, she'll know immediately. If my sister finds out I'm buying something like Black Dream... ugh."

Luo Xiaoji gasped, his neck instinctively shrinking back. This was the first time Liao Ji had ever seen this fearless rich kid so timid.

"So no, no, let's forget about this. Although I don't think Black Dream is anything special since it's all fake, my sister is very traditional and old-fashioned, so it definitely won't work."

Seeing Luo Xiaoji's timid waving hands repeatedly, Liao Ji certainly couldn't give up. He immediately changed his approach and persuaded her, "It's okay. You're not buying it for yourself, you're buying it for me. Even if your sister finds out, just say you're helping a friend."

After Liao Ji said this, Luo Xiaoji thought about it and suddenly felt that it made some sense.

Yup!

He was helping his friend!

My sister told him not to buy it, but she didn't say he couldn't buy it for his friends!

Possible

"While that's true, Brother Liao, I still have some reservations."

Seeing that Luo Xiaoji was still hesitant, Liao Ji became a little impatient and said bluntly, "How about this, if your sister really gets angry and wants to hold you responsible, just have your sister come to me directly. Is that alright now?"

"Huh!?"

Upon hearing Liao Ji's words, Luo Xiaoji's eyes lit up completely.

"Really!"

"If my sister really comes knocking on my door, can I ask her to come to you and say that you did it all?" the young man quickly pressed, wanting to confirm.

“Yes, just tell her to come to me.” Liao Ji nodded indifferently. “Just say that your friend is me, and I’ll handle your sister.”

"You said it yourself, Brother Liao. I'm warning you beforehand, my sister has a terrible temper, and she gets really fierce when she gets angry. And she, she is... well, to tell you the truth, she's the chairwoman of the Quess Group. You must have heard of the Quess Group, Brother Liao, right? It's the legendary group whose name is always criticized, but in reality, it's supposed to be losing money but it's always making a killing!"

Liao Ji had never heard of it, but that didn't stop him from nodding and saying, as if nothing was wrong and he would take full responsibility, "Yes, I've heard of it. Don't worry, I'll take care of your sister's matter. You don't need to be afraid."

"Okay, it's settled then. Don't run away later!"

It's clear that Luo Xiaoji has been suppressed by his sister for too long, and he's itching to take advantage of any opportunity.

"Is it a deal?"

"A word is settled!"

Chapter 194 Gold Mine