Great, we're doomed now!

"I surprisingly like it here. Although life in Night City is dangerous and dirty, and even the air is unpleasant, I've been away for a long time and I really want to come back and visit."

Ye Shou chuckled and pulled out a portable oxygen tank from somewhere.

Would you like a couple of breaths of pure oxygen?

"How thoughtful!" Lucy rolled her eyes at Ye Shou.

The cyborg girl stood up and stood side by side with Ye Shou, looking down at the chaotic low-rise buildings and the skyscrapers in the distance that seemed to support the sky like giants.

"Night City..."

Lucy's electronic eyes flashed with the neon lights of the night, and she said in an enigmatic tone, "I'm back."

-

"Lucy! You're back!"

At the Rebirth Bar, Mann's team was invited. Sasha the cat jumped up happily as soon as she saw Lucy and hugged her best friend whom she hadn't seen for a month.

"Alright, alright~" Lucy patted Sasha's head, the gesture as natural as petting a cat.

"Hey bro!"

Mann raised his hand at 62 and gave Ye Shou a high five. The other members of the team also greeted him.

In a sense, Ye Shou was the financial backer of the "Cyberpunk" team. Although he didn't pay an exorbitant amount all at once, he provided a steady stream of income every month, which was practically like a salary—a rather luxurious treatment among mercenaries.

No matter how much money wanderers have, they'll quickly spend it all, and they'll still be in dire straits when things get tough. But if they have a fixed monthly income, even if it's not as quick as those big-ticket deals, it can significantly improve their lives and raise their standard of living considerably.

However, Ye Shou had clearly "kidnapped" Lucy, and the team's most promising hacker seemed to be retiring, which inevitably made them feel rather complicated.

Everyone sat down casually, and the waiter brought out all sorts of drinks, even the glasses were all different styles.

"Even though you've been in business for so long, it's surprising that you'd treat someone to drinks..."

Mann took off his sunglasses and, like a wild dog, craned his neck to look at Ye Shou from below: "Is there anything important to do?"

No, not at all.

Ye Shou held a glass of cocktail that he didn't know how it was made. He glanced at it and lost interest, then turned to talk quietly with Boss Mann.

"I just have something I need to discuss with you."

"Is it related to Lucy?"

Mann leaned back and glanced at the silver-haired girl who was chatting happily with the cat and Rebecca.

"Her expression has softened a lot... Before, anyone who tried to understand her would get hurt. She never revealed her true self, and she was always wary of everyone, as if she had been betrayed by the whole world."

Now she looks completely relaxed and unguarded. Even a street mercenary wouldn't be this naive, let alone a computer hacker... It seems you've made her very happy.

Since that's the case, I have no objection to your affairs—take her away!

No matter where it is~

"I'm not here to ask for your permission, so don't act like some doting father," Ye Shou said, pursing his lips.

"You've misunderstood. I'm talking about Sasha."

"……what?"

Mann's eyes widened: "Sasha, you did it too?!"

The volume was accidentally turned up too high, and the scene immediately fell silent as all the team members turned their attention to them.

Lucy's words drew their attention back to her: "Don't misunderstand, he's taking Sasha away because of me."

After saying that, the silver-haired girl hugged her best friend tightly and pressed her cheek against hers: "I like Sasha the most, she and I will definitely get along well~"

"?"

"..."

Looking at Lucy, then at Ye Shou, and then at Sasha who was being forcibly stuck together, many inappropriate images flashed through everyone's minds.

What exactly is this relationship?

"No, that won't work!"

The eldest sister, Dorio, grabbed Lucy's shoulders and shook her back and forth: "You're such a good girl, you mustn't be led astray!"

Even though this is Night City, where normal love is a luxury, overly extreme approaches are unacceptable. I absolutely will not agree to this!

"Ugh?"

Lucy was dizzy from being shaken: "W-what are you saying... I just wanted to take Sasha on a trip."

“…Oh.” Dorio released his hand, coughing almost imperceptibly twice. “Not bad, going on vacation? I thought… never mind, don’t look this way, you idiot!”

Regardless of how Lucy persuaded Sasha, when Mann heard that Ye Shou had set his sights on the team's number two hacker, he was furious and dragged Ye Shou away from his seat.

The two arrived at a quiet back alley of the bar. Mann snorted and scared away the homeless man before starting a conversation with Ye Shou next to a trash can.

"What exactly is going on?"

"what?"

"You seem quite interested in our hacking, but you can just give me any tasks you need; there's absolutely no need to do this."

"I see... Then please cooperate, Boss Mann."

"Ok?"

"Paste this over here, my task requirements are as follows..."

Seeing Ye Shou's caution, Mann subconsciously listened intently.

Mann's trendy rocket-shaped haircut was grabbed, and his tall and burly figure automatically bent down, bringing his head close to Ye Shou's face.

Before Mann could react, Ye Shou had already used the technique of the "Humanoid Assassin" to place his hand on Mann's cervical spine, making those solid muscles feel like paper, allowing Ye Shou to knead and manipulate them at will.

puff!

A finger dug deep into his eye socket, and half of Mann's vision suddenly disappeared!

"Aaaaah! You bastard! What are you doing? My prosthetic eye... ugh, I can't move it!"

The man grabbed Ye Shou's wrist, but was surprised to find that he could not break free. This seemingly weak young man possessed a powerful wrist strength that surpassed his prosthetic body!

As Mann resisted, he felt fingers digging into his eye sockets, which made him both anxious and agitated. Although it was his prosthetic body that was being damaged, it was enough to enrage him, and he planned to draw his weapon and give his sugar daddy a good thrashing.

"You bastard! It hurts, you know... ouch?"

It hurts... but it doesn't hurt.

Instead, a long-absent sensation of soreness and throbbing came from my nervous system, and a stream of hot liquid flowed from my left eye socket, followed by a numbing burning sensation...

"!"

Mann blinked, the blurry objects gradually became clearer, and his expression became blank.

"...This feeling is...impossible!"

His left eyeball has grown back!

The nerves that should have been connected to the electronic prosthetic eye are now undoubtedly being enveloped by organic matter!

That was completely different from a prosthetic eye; it was slightly blurry and somewhat shaky, with no system to correct the field of vision.

The difference between the left and right sides was so great that Mann had to close his right eye in order to concentrate on the gradually clearing left field of vision.

Unbeknownst to them, Ye Shou had already released him, and Boss Mann was completely preoccupied with his revenge, looking around in shock, like the first navigator to discover the Americas.

That's impossible!

Eyeballs? They were replaced with electronic eyes eight hundred years ago!

...If one has a clone as an organ source, then it is indeed possible to replace the eyes of an organism.

But he clearly remembered what he had just felt:

This is something that has just grown out; it was not surgically transplanted!

"A miracle... How did you do that?" Mann looked at Ye Shou with awe.

"It's just a simple spell."

Stop lying!

Chapter 82 Eating Forbidden Fruit! Eating Forbidden Fruit!

Seeing the world with the naked eye was a rather "novel" experience for Mann.

In this world dominated by technology and capital, apart from a very small number of people who pursue "purity" and refuse to have machines implanted in their bodies, the vast majority are modified cyborgs, and brain-computer interfaces and electronic eyes are the most basic of these.

These two items are equivalent to mobile phones in the early 21st century. They are needed for social networking, shopping, and searching for information. Going out without them is like becoming a caveman.

Therefore, people like Mann were fitted with electronic eyes from a young age, and their entire lives are surrounded by flashing numbers and light.

But what he sees now is a world without any filters, prompts, or lines, only "reality"!

"What exactly...did you do?"

Seeing that Mann hadn't reacted yet, Ye Shou grabbed his arm, extended his index finger and thumb, and slowly peeled off the artificial skin on his forearm under Mann's watchful eye—

This thing is bulletproof and can withstand small-caliber firearms, yet it was picked up by someone's bare hands!

Mann once saw a prosthetic human with specialized finger strength who could crush a deck of cards with just two fingers, as if he had cut a piece with a hydraulic press.

But looking at Ye Shou's hands... they seem more like the kind of prosthetics that sacrifice performance for "humanization," so they look no different from a flesh body. How can they have such strong power?

This wasn't the only thing that shocked Mann. As a faint light appeared in Ye Shou's palm, a layer of blood slowly extended from the inside out onto Mann's exposed mechanical structure, while his artificial nerves emitted a series of warning signals—

Parasitic behavior similar to that of fungi!

Remind Mann to quickly remove the foreign object from his body and repair the prosthetic skin.

But Mann ignored the hints, staring intently at the scene, watching with his own eyes how capillaries and muscle fibers grew, then a layer of epidermis formed on the outside, and finally even the finest hairs became clearly visible...

It was only a palm-sized piece, its color clashing with the surroundings, and its texture clearly different. It was only upon seeing this that Mann suddenly remembered:

I'm actually of mixed Latino descent, and my skin was much lighter than it is now. As for why it turned out like this... oh, after being corroded by strong acid, I chose cheap secondhand skin and have been using this color ever since...

Really?

Mann's voice trembled slightly as he carefully squeezed it, the soft touch sending shivers down his spine.

The artificial nerve, however, produced a strange itching sensation—it was not adapted to this newly appeared "foreign parasite".