Great, now we are dead!

Ye Shou took out an orange-flavored snack and casually tossed it to a homeless man leaning against the wall. The prosthetic arm, with its torn casing revealing a circuit board, automatically caught it and woke the homeless man from his sleep.

"……Um?"

drop!

The homeless man heard a notification sound; his electronic account showed a donation had been received. He quickly checked the amount, satisfied, stood up, gathered his belongings, and turned to leave.

I sat down against the wall of the building across the street.

"Don't forget to call me next time you have business like this."

The homeless man muttered something and then fell asleep again with his face pressed against the jelly. Just moving to a different place to sleep for a month and getting so much money was definitely a very profitable deal for him.

Ye Shou smiled, walked up the half-painted, half-exposed staircase to the second floor, verified his personal information, entered the key, and opened the door.

The first thing he did was connect the hidden cameras and the security system to check if anyone had broken in over the past month. After going through several layers of security measures and finding nothing unusual, he finally relaxed completely.

"call……"

Lying on the sofa, Ye Shou turned his head to look at the minimalist interior design and chuckled.

Living conditions were a bit harsh. If this were the Kuze Manor, maids would be rushing to offer their comfort and care by now. But in this world, he was just an unlicensed doctor making a living on the black market; a life of warmth and comfort was out of the question.

Prosthetics doctor, a profession somewhere between a surgeon, a technical expert, and an artist (isn't that a strange mix of things?).

As the name suggests, a doctor can install or replace prosthetic bodies (or human organs). They can dismantle a person to pieces, and conversely, they can turn a pile of junk back into a human form. Of course, the extent to which they can do this depends on their skill, taste, and the amount of money they receive.

Ye Shou does indeed understand medicine. After all, in the main world, thanks to the monthly updates from the "system card," he has acquired many useful skills for free, making him a highly specialized and versatile individual with a wide range of interests. While he may not be considered a national-level expert in medicine, being a competent doctor with limited experience is not a problem for him.

But prosthetic doctors are not the same thing!

This profession specializes in "breaking up" people!

Moreover, the technological levels are vastly different. At least in the early 21st century, it was absolutely impossible to make prosthetic body transplantation as convenient as replacing parts in a car, or even to allow for hot-swapping.

You think it's the Sharingan?!

The psychological pressure on Ye Shou to do this would be too great, so he didn't initially intend to use the cyborg doctor as a cover. Later, he met a special person who led him into the field, and that's how he embarked on this bumpy road.

Now, the garage and basement downstairs are filled with medical equipment. Although they are all second-hand, their performance in all aspects is extremely superior, which can fully meet the needs of ordinary people to replace their prosthetic bodies.

—With these devices, Ye Shou doesn't need to do much himself. As long as he can bear the bloodshed, the workload and technical difficulty are not high.

Thinking of this, Ye Shou couldn't help but take out his private email and start going through the messages one by one.

Lucy only needs to talk to him about small things. Most of her messages are just a diary of her "day's events," as if she treats him like a close confidante. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about her.

On the other hand, Gloria... the woman who led Ye Shou onto the right path, almost all the messages she sent were related to work.

"No matter what, I should send them a message first to let them know I'm back."

Ye Shou smiled slightly.

……

The next morning, Ye Shou arrived early at another slum in Santo Domingo and knocked on a small door on the second floor.

"coming"

The door opened, and a boy with a trendy hairstyle, wearing a rock jacket but with a mismatched school uniform suit underneath, popped out.

"Hi, long time no see, David."

"..."

David Martinez looked up and met Ye Shou's gaze for a moment, then gave a wry smile that was both disgusted and helpless.

Today I've come to—

"My mom worked the night shift yesterday, she's probably still awake... I'm going to school."

David walked sideways, taking quick, small steps, as if he were dodging something, and quickly went downstairs and left.

"I'm here to discuss business."

Ye Shou watched David's departing figure and scratched his head: Did this child misunderstand something?

It's normal to have wild thoughts during the turbulent period of adolescence.

Ye Shouhun paid no attention, almost forgetting that he looked only a few years older than David, and walked into the narrow, dimly lit room carrying a bag of synthetic jelly...

Chapter 36 Long Time No See, Lucy

The first thing to do upon entering is to turn on the lights. Although it is broad daylight, the lighting is still noticeably insufficient.

Ye Shoushun placed the bag on the shoe cabinet that served as a storage table, revealing the synthetic jelly packaged in silver inside—he himself did not eat such things.

In fact, he considers it quite impolite to give this thing as a gift, because apart from the taste being okay, there are absolutely no natural ingredients on the ingredient list. If it contains some hydroponic genetically modified fruits and vegetables, it is already considered a very high-end product!

In Night City, the supply of protein, starch, and fruits and vegetables is plentiful, and the residents are not lacking in nutrition; it's just that every food item has to be given a "prefix".

For example, the so-called "synthetic proteins," the main source of meat in Night City, originate from protein factories—which raise crickets and earthworms.

Although the manufacturer insisted there were no cockroaches, Ye Shou honestly didn't think they would let such high-quality protein slip by... Well, those weren't cockroaches, they were short-legged black crickets!

Therefore, in this world, Ye Shou generally only eats semi-finished food that he brings from his hometown. He will only occasionally try some that don't look so bad in order to verify the effects of the "Gourmet".

(It turns out that synthetic foods are less effective than natural ones and do not improve physical fitness at all.)

As a respectable person, when Ye Shou first visited, the gift he brought was emergency food from his private space, some canned fruit that he would never touch unless he had no other choice, thinking that this stuff was cheap enough.

Then, from the bewildered expression mixed with curiosity and fear on the other person's face, Ye Shou understood that even something like this was still too conspicuous in Night City.

He later learned that selling any natural food in Night City was illegal!

It's not that they don't exist, but they're exclusively for the wealthy and are legally prohibited from being sold on the market!

You might still be able to buy natural meat on the black market, but at extremely high prices. On the other hand, the fruits are just as precious, because high-quality water and soil are scarce resources here, and have long been snapped up by large corporations!

Above them is a steel forest, under their feet is a concrete floor, they drink filtered water, eat synthetic food, and can't even see a bird on the road. Throughout their lives, apart from babies, they have never seen anything "natural".

Including small animals, because Night City doesn't even have birds or mice!

It's no exaggeration to say that the canned fruit Ye Shou brought was the first time Gloria had ever eaten natural fruit in her life.

—After that, Ye Shou, who realized the problem, never showed anything like it again in public.

Because the supply channels for natural foods are limited and clearly defined, even the black market originates from this. If someone suddenly appears who can supply large quantities of food without any background, it's practically telling others that he has other connections.

At that time, the gangs of Night City will fight each other to the death over Ye Shou's channels!

Gloria

Ye Shou called out softly, took off his coat and hung it behind the door, and then heard a clattering sound.

Looking back, I saw a disheveled red-haired woman in slippers walk to the refrigerator, fill a glass with water from the filter, and scratch her face sleepily while reaching under her T-shirt to do so.

"David, hurry up and go to school, today..."

The air fell silent, and their eyes met... The condensed water droplets slid down from the cup.

"Kuze? Huh?!"

Gloria lowered her hand, glared at Ye Shou, and asked, "How did you get in?"

"It's David, um, he's already gone to school."

Ye Shou raised his hand to indicate that he meant no harm, and Gloria breathed a sigh of relief. Although the boy may have seen something, neither of them felt embarrassed.

David probably thought Ye Shou was coming too often, and that his unusual hospitality was suspicious, so he must be fantasizing about his still-attractive mother. But in reality, he was overthinking it. Putting aside the age gap between them, Gloria wasn't Ye Shou's type at all.

—He guarded a wide area, but “widows with children” was Cao’s hobby.

The two were merely business partners, and Gloria at most regarded him as a friend, her mind almost entirely focused on her son David.

David suspected there was something between them because they avoided him when discussing business, which made them seem a little guilty.

"Wait a minute, I remember today wasn't... Ah!"

Gloria scratched her head before remembering the message she received yesterday. It turned out that Ye Shou had informed her in advance, but she was too tired and forgot.

"This is terrible... I'm sorry, I ran into a gang fight yesterday and ended up dealing with several corpses."

"as always?"

"That's right, as always."

Gloria sat on the sofa, covered her face with her hands, and remained silent for a moment before looking sharply at Ye Shou.

"They're all in the usual spot. I've accumulated quite a bit over the past month... but I still suggest you avoid domestic products. Trading once a month is just too slow."

"I have my own difficulties too."

Ye Shou smiled helplessly and glanced at the bag on the shoe cabinet.

"A gift for you."

Thank you for your patronage.

Gloria's expression visibly brightened.

The bag contained not only souvenirs, but also money chips that didn't need to be cracked. In this era, they were equivalent to Bitcoin, making transactions quite convenient, and gangsters loved using them.

—That's right, in this world, gangsters are like goblins and slimes; hitting them even drops gold coins!

She works at a medical center. While she may not be considered a respectable person in Night City, she at least has a legitimate job and should be able to support herself without engaging in black market transactions.

But she had a weakness: David. In order to give David a bright future, she enrolled him in Arasaka Academy, which required high tuition fees, hoping that her son could become one of the "employees" in the future.

But this is too much of a burden for a technician—Arasaka Academy not only has high entry requirements, but also has additional conditions for students who are "not children of employees".

Even working late into the night wasn't enough for Gloria; her financial situation was so dire that she couldn't even afford health insurance. Therefore, if she didn't want to sell herself, turning to crime was only natural.

Fortunately, her position was very important. Although the salary was average, she had a lot of opportunities to come into contact with corpses. In Night City, anything could be bought and sold, including corpses... or more precisely, prosthetic bodies on corpses.

Under normal circumstances, prosthetic bodies with minor damage will be confiscated by the medical center to cover the deceased's medical and funeral expenses (this part of the prosthetic body will then appear on the operating table for prosthetic body transplantation).

Only items deemed unrepairable will be discarded and handed over to decomposers to extract usable parts.

At this point, by simply getting through a few key points, some of the prosthetic bodies that should have been confiscated could be disposed of as waste, and some of the junk could be sent to the decomposers instead, while the high-value prosthetic bodies could be kept and resold.

This sounds like a very profitable business, but Gloria is just a technician. She can't modify computer records, nor does she have the authority to command staff in other areas.

So even though she was the one who took the risks and was the one who directly carried out the operations, she was just an insignificant link in the chain of evil, and what she received was only a small part of the overall benefits.

The majority of the profits go to those people sitting in the office revising records.

It is clear that even those without power or influence will be exploited, even if they engage in illegal activities!

Even so, how many people still can't find a way in!

Over the past year, those people have been constantly increasing their commission rates under the pretext of "risk costs." As a top-tier performer like Gloria, she has been getting less and less, and she has been forced to take on jobs privately... if she hadn't met Ye Shou.

Ye Shou was a newly graduated prosthetic doctor. Although he didn't have a medical license, few people in Night City would bother with such things. As long as his prices were fair and he didn't cut your kidneys unnecessarily, he was considered a good doctor.

He's known among a certain group of people because he offers services beyond the cost of medical care, even allowing billing, and offers discounts for young children, giving the impression that he doesn't care much about money—which is practically insane in Night City!

Some people think he is a follower of a particular religion, otherwise it is impossible to explain his deviant behavior.

But many people suspect he's a wealthy person experiencing life, because every twenty or thirty days, this mysterious doctor disappears for a month, and no one can find him.

Even true experts can tell that the equipment he wears is just a disguise, a loaded component, not his actual prosthetic body.

Most importantly, he has a certain aura... an aura that rats who live in the sewers can never possess:

To do as one pleases, oblivious to the suffering of others;

Despite being arrogant and disdainful of everyone, he is very polite to everyone.

I have a fondness for vintage items, and I often find antiques from several eras ago among my personal belongings.

His gaze was never drawn to money, chips, or luxury goods; his focus was solely on completing the transaction. He was indifferent to the amount of money he received and seemed unmoved by anything.

Do not consume food or water from outside sources;

Some people would use stolen goods to pay their bills, but no one has ever seen him actually sell those things.

His skin was fair and showed no signs of alteration; it was pure, natural skin that seemed untouched by the atmosphere or acid rain. — It would be a miracle if this wasn't a young master cosplaying!

It has to be the kind of truly wealthy people who have been well protected since birth!

Therefore, the attitude of people in the black market towards Ye Shou is very subtle. Ordinary people are more willing to come to him, while those who are "well-informed" try to avoid coming here and also try to restrain their subordinates from having any designs on him.

Who knows, after you make your move, a drop pod might suddenly appear from the sky, a few big guys jump out, and blow you to bits with high-explosive bombs? Apart from true cyberpsychotics, most people just want to live a good life.

In the game, these gangs serve as the "protagonist's" targets for monster hunting, giving the impression that they have an endless stream of underlings and are all deeply entrenched in power.

In reality, only the capitalists truly hold power in Night City, and even the gang leaders have their own backers. The gangs on the streets are mostly scattered "brigades," nominally under the leadership of the bosses, but in reality, the bosses themselves don't know how many they have.