Great, we're doomed now!

"I'll ask Mann later"—just as Ye Shou was thinking this, his phone screen lit up; it was Mann's voice message.

"Boss, the job's done... but the result might surprise you."

Mann's voice came through, sounding somewhat puzzled: "They didn't choose to immediately turn back into men. It seems they've seriously planned out their lives, realized they can no longer be gangsters, and have no other means of making a living, so they've decided to continue being girl group idols and have already signed with our agency."

"...That's it?" Ye Shou asked in surprise. "You really have absolutely no attachment to your male identity?"

"Not really."

Mann on the other end of the phone seemed to take a drag of his cigarette: "Phew~~ These three guys think they're hot right now, and since they won't be exploited, they'll take the opportunity to make money for a couple of years, and once they have the capital to make a comeback, they'll revert to their male identities."

"...Unexpectedly rational."

Ye Shou raised an eyebrow: "For three petty thugs to be so organized, it seems that the hellish life of an idol has indeed taught them a lot."

"Aren't you angry? After all, things didn't go according to your plan."

“There’s no need to be angry. Although they’re from the underworld, these three haven’t done anything particularly heinous. They might even have a little bit of basic ‘benevolence and righteousness’.”

Ye Shou glanced at the sleeping Lucy and said softly into his phone, "I only thought of them on a whim. There's no need to take it too seriously. It's their freedom to decide what to do."

"You're going to keep the 'options' for them?" Mann was a little surprised. "I thought you were going to say 'it's too late,' and let them be women forever."

"There's no need," Ye Shou chuckled.

Although it is not in his best interest, as long as the three of them do not completely give up, they will still produce Destiny Coins when they turn back into men in the future.

They might even jump around repeatedly... To be honest, Ye Shou was really curious about what kind of things they could come up with.

"By the way, the 'Backstreet Girls' are now our artists, right?"

Ye Shou thought of something: "It's a good opportunity to have them promote 'Ragnarok.' Since they want to survive as idols, they need to demonstrate their commercial value."

"Understood."

drop!

"Hmm... um?"

Lucy rubbed her eyes, wrapped her arms around Ye Shou's neck, and gave him a natural kiss. Then, like a cat, she buried her head in his chest and finally rested it on his lap.

"Is it work again?" the girl asked lazily with her eyes closed. She was wearing loose pajamas, and from this angle, Ye Shou could see a glimpse of fair skin puffed up inside through the loose neckline.

"It's related to Ragnarok... Don't you like that game too?"

“Indeed, we had a lot of fun.” Lucy opened her eyes and looked up at Ye Shou’s face from below.

The two looked at each other, the girl's eyes lowered: "It's rare to have a chance to be alone, can't we put all these trivial matters aside for a while?"

"Okay~" Ye Shou stroked Lucy's cool silver hair, his fingertips swirling with extremely faint ripples of energy, massaging the acupoints on her head like an electric current, making the girl moan comfortably and twist her body in pleasure.

How are you feeling?

"Considering your excellent skills... well... I'll forgive you."

Ye Shou gently stroked Lucy's face, maintaining this position until the girl fell asleep again, then leaned down and smelled her forehead.

"Thank you... It's all thanks to you all."

Ye Shou's voice was light and gentle, but his eyes and tone were full of tenderness.

He looked up and around. This was Lucy's residence. She could have lived in the Kuze mansion with a butler and servants, or moved out to find a detached house, but in the end she chose a high-rise apartment, seemingly more suited to this environment.

Lucy usually loves to look out at the city lights from the huge floor-to-ceiling windows—everyone wants to escape Night City, but once they actually leave, they sometimes feel uneasy.

Ye Shou felt a pang of heartache at this, especially after seeing the minimalist style of the room with its sparse furniture.

Lucy is better when she's with Ye Shou or working, but when she's alone, she has a strange melancholy about her...

People like Lucy and Mann have actually adapted to the environment they hate, and are bound not only by their bodies but also by their souls. It will take them a long time to completely break free from its influence.

It wasn't just the hacker girl; Ye Shou also felt a little guilty towards the maid and his childhood sweetheart, because he knew he could never pour his love into any one person alone.

However, people have different capacities. He was confident that even if he had multiple partners, his love for any one of them would be sincere and unwavering!

Looking at Lucy's sleeping face, Ye Shou made up his mind.

Since I usually have limited time, I'll bring the hacker girl and the maid along for this return to "Iron Blood" and spend more time with them.

As for Qianhua... three women make a drama, it's best to avoid them.

"almost."

Ye Shou's eyes were on the screen, where light and shadow flickered, but his mind was not on it at all.

"...All of it can be exchanged, and there's still some room left over."

He urgently used some of his "savings" and has now gathered enough to buy all the pseudo-points that can be exchanged for—in this way, he will have all the Arcane affixes!

Just as he was tallying his spoils, his phone lit up again, and an internal TPC communication caught his eye:

[If you have time, I hope you can come and take a look. There are some things that require your judgment. Our scholars are currently divided into two factions. If no authoritative conclusion is reached soon, the debate will continue to escalate, which will seriously slow down the research progress of many projects.]

It was Sawai Soichiro's ID, which immediately made Ye Shou serious. Sawai was the type of person who would only bother Ye Shou if it wasn't something very important. He believed that what Ye Shou was doing was very important and that he shouldn't add to Ye Shou's burden.

[Somewhere in the Alps, numerous written records have been discovered using massive stone walls as a backdrop, initially identified as an ancient site… However, simplified Chinese characters, which shouldn't be present, were found at the site, sparking heated debate among scientists. What are your thoughts on this? Because…]

[In the final part of the document, there is a writing format different from other languages, which records a god or giant named 'Ultraman Bayeri'.]

Upon seeing this, Ye Shou was slightly dazed.

【Ding! 】

[Destiny Coins (Ancient: Camilla, Darramb, Hitra... Gatanothor)]

+110!

Chapter 259: This person is absolutely despicable! (4K)

"Never mind whether it's in simplified Chinese characters or not, just look at the workmanship. Let me tell you, modern technology can't produce something like this!"

"Don't try to fool me, I'm not well-educated. Look at this whole page, it's all ancient, unknown script. Only the last line is Chinese, it's not even oracle bone script! Do you think that makes sense?"

"Calm down first. Let's analyze this carefully. Is it possible that it's automatically updated by its built-in AI?"

After detecting a new civilization, it automatically collects data and information.

"Can AI automatically maintain operations for 30 million years? Even if it can, every upgrade will leave a trace, just like that city you took me to visit on my last trip to China... Luoyang? Kaifeng?"

It should present a layered structure with clear dividing lines separating records from different eras and civilizations.

But you see, most of the records here have a uniform text and format, only this one is different, which seems rather abrupt!

"Besides, this is the Alps...it has absolutely nothing to do with Chinese characters, okay?"

—A group of scientists are exchanging opinions intensely while looking at photos in a tent at the camp.

"I think that's probably true."

At this moment, a highly respected scholar spoke up, temporarily halting this endless debate.

"Although the last line of Chinese characters seems illogical, it has been tested and found to be from the same era. Most importantly, this stone wall is not simply an inanimate object; it is essentially a massive medium of memory."

Its surface is maintained by an energy field, which is why the writing has remained clear despite 30 million years of geological activity, and this particular line of text is also protected. In other words, the technique used to carve it is the same as that used for other inscriptions on the rock face.

After he finished speaking, he paused, and everyone fell into deep thought.

"After eliminating all the impossibilities, what remains, however illogical, is the truth!"

"An answer that can explain all questions is itself no matter how absurd it may seem..."

"When the last part was written, the recorder was clearly a different person, and this person wrote a separate line of Chinese characters at the very end of the article, when the whole article was almost finished."

Interestingly, among the data retrieved from the internal database, only the last part was described differently. The earlier parts were written in a relatively mechanical tone, but when describing the 'Dark Lord,' the language seemed to become more human..."

Have there been any breakthroughs in semantic analysis?

"Even with a supercomputer, we can only understand some single words and short phrases; it's difficult to connect them as a whole, and taking things out of context is too dangerous..."

"Perhaps we could consult a master profiler? Analyze the final character's profile?"

The old scholar gritted his teeth: "What was his motive for leaving such a bug in the first place?!"

"Profiling? It might actually be useful. Since the ancient civilizations were very similar to us, they should also have similarities in culture and sensibility."

“Speaking of this, I know an expert in this field.”

The middle-aged scholar coughed, drawing everyone's attention: "But he is not a member of the TPC, regarding the confidentiality code... Of course, this person is very reliable, and many people here should know him."

"We have the most professional team here, but even they are unable to analyze the ancient heritage. They can only provide some written records and photos. There will be no problem."

The scholars didn't care: if someone could find any clues in it, that would be a good thing.

"Okay, I'll contact him right away... Hello, is this Yusaku?"

After a while, the man on the other end of the phone began to speak in a charming, magnetic voice.

"This person might be a prophet or a time traveler."

"what?!"

“I tend to believe the latter, because he has already determined that something will happen, and his level of confidence is more like ‘experiencing the future’ than ‘foreseeing the future’.”

But this wasn't malicious... He must be very young, with achievements that most people can only dream of, full of confidence, and prone to mischievous thoughts even in a very oppressive environment... He's a 'heroic personality' who loves challenges and adventures.

“Yusaku, your description is too fragmented; we don’t really understand his specific image.”

"Hmm... Judging from the handwriting, he has clearly practiced modern calligraphy. Although he is using Chinese and his calligraphy is quite good, there are also small details of Japanese pen calligraphy that are commonly used. He may even be someone who lived in the early 21st century, in the same time and space as us... What follows is just my speculation. You can take it as a reference for now."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, and the scholars took out their pens and paper or opened their tablets to take notes.

"A young Asian man, he should be quite good-looking, possibly even a handsome man, and has trained in martial arts. He lives in Japan but has studied Chinese calligraphy, or vice versa, and his grammar is elegant and refined... It is speculated that he has a high social status, a good family background, and personal cultivation."

But he has two faces, and few people know his true self... He travels, no, he often encounters unexpected situations.

They are more lustful than the average person, but also more restrained. Deep down, they have a mischievous and playful side, but the image they project to the outside world is likely to be more approachable.

"Hmm... Although there are many distinctive features, there's still no way to figure out who it is, right?"

"No need to search for it specifically."

The famous writer on the other end of the phone chuckled softly, "It's just like the phantom thief's advance notice."

"Hey, what does that mean?"

"If a gun is hanging in the first act, then that gun must be fired in the third act."

People are always tempted to seek symmetry and logic in things, and the smarter the person, the more so.