Great, we're doomed now!

She was very grateful to Ye Shou. Although she didn't know how he did it, he gave her such a precious opportunity, which she herself might not be able to seize... which made her hesitate even more.

"You're overthinking it. No one is more suited to this place than you, or rather, the people of this world need you."

Ye Shou clutched his chest: "For example, me."

"...Is sweet talk a specialty of this world?" Lucy smiled, her confusion dispelled.

“I’m a man who gets straight to the point. Believe me, you can play an irreplaceable role in this world—and you can definitely bring smiles to many people’s faces.”

Ye Shou extended his hand to her: "Don't ask anything. Can you come with me to a place? You'll understand everything then."

"I have no reason to refuse you."

Lucy rarely showed her gentle side, taking Ye Shou's right hand in hers, the warmth emanating from it calming her down.

She obediently followed Ye Shou out of Meixueting. Liuli, who had been waiting outside, immediately came to greet her. Just as she was about to speak, she saw the silver-haired girl walking out from behind Ye Shou. She opened her mouth slightly, clearly very surprised.

"There are other people here... How do you do things? Why are there outsiders in the courtyard?" Liuli's first reaction was that her subordinates had made a mistake, but Ye Shou's words dispelled that thought.

"Don't be surprised. I invited Lucy to be my guest. With her abilities, infiltrating this place would be a piece of cake. No wonder they..."

Ye Shou smiled nonchalantly: "Besides, she's not an outsider."

"..." Liuli blinked. As expected of someone who had received professional training, she reacted instantly to this sudden situation. She placed her hands on her lower abdomen and bowed to Lucy.

"Hello, we are clearly friends of Lord Ye Shou, but we have failed to fulfill our duty as hosts. Please forgive us for our poor hospitality."

"No... no need for formalities." Lucy scratched her cheek, feeling uncomfortable with this way of speaking.

No one in Night City is this polite—except for Ye Shou next to her.

Seriously, how come he has so many subordinates, and each of them looks very professional, quite different from street gangsters... Is Ye Shou a high-ranking figure?

In the instant Liuli lowered her head, she quickly glanced at Lucy's attire, and no one noticed the deep furrow in her brow:

Not an ordinary person! Perhaps... not even human!

There is no sign that Lord Ye Shou has been taken hostage, so let's just wait and see.

Speaking of which, this cheap and decadent vibe... it's the same as Lord Ye Shou's...

"Liuli?"

"Ok?"

The maid looked up: "Young master, what are your orders?"

"Get the crew ready, we're going to fly another one."

Ye Shou glanced at Lucy, a confident smile playing on his lips: "Let's go to the 'Medical Integration Center.' I want to take Lucy to see [Medicuboid]... and those children."

Chapter 46 The [Blue Dream] Group is established! ~Koo-ya!

The "Medical Integration Organization" is not an ordinary hospital, but an experimental organization jointly established by several medical universities, aiming to promote medical progress and improve the unhealthy atmosphere in the Japanese medical community.

—The above is the official statement.

In reality, Japanese medicine has been stagnant and corrupt in recent years, with rampant nepotism and corruption, leading to a decline in its core competitiveness and a deteriorating business situation. In order to prevent foreign hospitals from entering the market and causing significant disruption, they urgently need to produce sufficiently groundbreaking scientific research results to garner increased government support.

So when Kayaba Akihiko approached them for collaboration, hoping to select volunteers from patients to test certain data, the medical consortium readily agreed, recognizing the project's potential at a glance.

The final cooperation agreement was that the medical consortium would fully support Akihiko Kayaba's research, providing him with volunteer opportunities and legal medical authorization, making it a win-win situation for both parties.

Considering that although the patient is being exploited, they also receive help from it, it's not an exaggeration to call it a win-win-win situation.

After Kayaba's failed attempt at a death game, with all his projects being hijacked, the medical consortium's partners naturally shifted to pharmaceutical companies under the Kuseya Group. Kayaba Akihiko became a symbolic figurehead, losing all decisive real power.

Of course, Kayaba didn't care. His research focus wasn't on medicine; it was just a side project. Now, that man was completely absorbed in virtual space, TPC, and unknown creatures, having long forgotten about his original project!

Currently, the representatives of the Kuze Group and the medical integration organization are Rinko Kamishiro and Ken Higa. They are very interested in this public welfare research project and have great admiration for Ye Shou.

After all, the young master of the Kuse family could easily make money by focusing on game development, yet he's diverting his energy to pushing medical projects that don't show any immediate returns. What else could he be but a saint?!

So when they received the news, the two of them were very happy. Also, out of a little bit of showing off, they came straight out of the laboratory to the rooftop helipad to welcome Ye Shou, eager to take him to see the latest research results.

When Lucy followed her down, the two glanced at the silver-haired girl, but were only surprised that she was dressed so thickly in the sweltering heat:

Before boarding the plane, Ye Shou had someone find Lucy a set of sportswear to cover up the modified marks on her limbs and neck.

“Mr. Kuze, please come this way with...your female companions…”

Higa Ken wasn't very good at socializing, and one sentence from him made Ye Shou feel very uncomfortable.

The bespectacled man was clearly oblivious to his surroundings. While leading everyone on a tour of the laboratory, he kept introducing the various models of medical pods and helmets designed for different diseases, speaking with great enthusiasm.

Without realizing it, he completely ignored the people around him and started talking happily to himself, not caring whether others could understand him. Rinko Kamishiro glared at him helplessly, then smiled apologetically at Ye Shou.

"Please don't mind. This shows that the researchers are fully committed. On the contrary, I am very pleased. I knew I hadn't misjudged you two." The young man nodded warmly and generously, which moved Rinko quite a bit.

She must have done something terrible in her past life to encounter an iceberg like Kayaba. No matter how she hinted, she got no response. It was better to use games to attract him. What a failure... Why didn't she have a handsome junior like Kuze Yoshimori in her school days?!

Fortunately, Ye Shou and the others were not ordinary people. Although Bi Jiajian's narration was extremely professional, everyone could understand the general meaning.

"Virtual reality...Medicuboid..."

Lucy suddenly realized: "This machine is the source of Mewtwo's materials?!"

Mewtwo?

Ruri and Rinko both looked at Lucy with confusion.

Ye Shou nodded: "That's right, strictly speaking, they come from sick children. You should have seen that along the way, right?"

"……Um."

Lucy nodded solemnly.

The patients admitted to this medical institution are almost all those who are unable to survive on their own outside, the most severely ill, and it tends to admit teenagers and young children. So along the way, in the wards and sterile rooms we passed, we saw many children being carefully cared for by caregivers.

The specifics are difficult to explain simply, but even Liuli, who had her whole heart set on Ye Shou, couldn't help but feel down and sad for these poor children.

This was especially true for Lucy, and it even triggered long-forgotten memories for her:

When she was a child, she was "adopted" by the Arasaka Group along with other children because of her extraordinary talent. In reality, she was trained to be a hacker and had to risk her life every day to break into offensive firewalls.

Although they eventually escaped, very few of their friends survived... As a result, Lucy became disillusioned with life, believing that this world, where even children were used as firewood, was nothing short of hell!

Although the Kuze Group and Arasaka are different, and the medical integration organization does not persecute these children, but instead takes good care of and treats them, just seeing so many children suffering is enough to make Lucy feel sad.

"This is all thanks to Mr. Kuze."

At this moment, Rinko Kamishiro spoke up, saying with great respect: "Most of these children come from ordinary families and cannot afford the heavy medical expenses and follow-up care. Generally speaking, even if they survive, they will mostly lack the ability to take care of themselves... The probability of them surviving to adulthood is extremely low."

Although the hospital applied for the 'Public Welfare Assistance Program' for them, the amount and quotas allocated by the government have always been extremely limited, and only a small portion of them can ultimately receive assistance.

But Mr. Kuze changed everything!

The special fund you set up for integrative medicine can even cover every child. In addition to promoting project research, it provides them with the best environment, care and recuperation, and even their families can receive some subsidies..."

“Raising such children is very difficult. The fact that they have not given up but have persevered until now is enough to prove that they have the responsibility of being parents. There is no need to ask them to continue to work hard.”

Ye Shou shook his head: "I haven't done anything remarkable. All I can offer is money. If we want to change the world and truly bring good news to these children, we still need scholars like you."

"You really are..." Rinko Kamishiro didn't know what to say, as if she couldn't find the right words to praise this high school boy.

Young people who achieve success often become arrogant and disdainful of others—but this seems to be the opposite of what happened to Ye Shou.

These two classmates of Kayaba Akihiko were also proud and arrogant, but after witnessing Ye Shou's series of actions, they were already willing to work for him. They even hated themselves for not being a genius like Kayaba, otherwise they could have satisfied Ye Shou even more.

"You've done so much?" Lucy asked absentmindedly, staring at Ye Shou's profile, lost in thought.

On the way here, seeing that Ye Shouyou had so many subordinates, she already had some guesses.

She discovered that the network in this world was still functioning normally, and information retrieval was particularly easy. So she investigated it via the wireless network from the helicopter... It turned out that Kuzeha Mori was a big celebrity here, and searching his name brought up dozens of pages of news articles with no duplicates!

Not only that, the Kuze Group's influence here is practically like that of Arasaka in a parallel world!

But what she saw and heard along the way convinced her that the man she had her eye on was definitely not a shameless capitalist like Arakasaka.

On the contrary, he is the savior of these children!

"I'm just doing what I can."

Ignoring the presence of others, Ye Shou took Lucy's hand and they looked at each other.

"But one person's strength is limited. I am not a remarkable person and cannot be good at everything."

"So, can you lend me your power?"

“Of course…” Lucy didn’t even have time to think before her mouth blurted out.

Strictly speaking, she's so weak right now that even her waist is a little weak. If Ye Shou were to be more assertive, she'd probably agree to even the most absurd things.

But she was also very puzzled: "Is there... anything I can do to help you?"

“There are many.”

Ye Shou paused, glanced at Higa Ken and Kamishiro Rinko, and said directly without hesitation, "I'm going to set up a new company, mainly responsible for the development of [Mewtwo] - as for what that is, I'll explain to you later."

Mewtwo...

"In short, this is a technology based on virtual reality. I have complete technical reserves here, and theoretically there are no obstacles."

Ye Shou turned his gaze back and said seriously to Lucy, who seemed to be deep in thought, "The net profit of this company will all be used to establish a public welfare fund, which I plan to invest in 'prosthetic body development' and 'environmental protection'."

Environmental protection and prosthetics? Do they even have anything to do with each other?

The other three were a bit dumbfounded, but Lucy immediately got the point!

Yes, this proves that Ye Shou is definitely not one of those despicable capitalist companies!

Feeling the force from Lucy's hand, Ye Shou's lips twitched slightly, and then he said seriously, "Lucy, these children can now experience the life of normal people through Medicuboid's medical pods or helmets, and in the future they can also use this to treat related diseases of the nervous system. But there are some diseases that we are ultimately powerless to treat, you know?"

You mean?

"For example, ALS, AIDS, congenital functional deficiencies... current medical technology cannot cure them. We can only provide these children with a more comfortable environment."

To truly save them, we must use cybernetic augmentation technology!

Ye Shou said firmly, "The mission of the new company is to give the victims new bodies and restore their right to live as human beings!"

"Ye Shou..."

"Lucy, do you still feel like you don't belong in this world?"

Ye Shou shook his head: "Cybernetic modification is proof of a struggle, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Otherwise, would these children also have original sin?"

Stay and help me, Lucy!