Black Sail

Gray Core City, South District, Underground Street.

The buildings with red bricks and blue tiles are wrapped in stripes of light, the street is narrow, crowded with an array of shops and winding alleyways.

The neon signs on the street are rusty, and the whole street is flushed with a profusion of enticing signs.

"It's just up ahead."

Yuan Jingang is leading Wang Qing.

At the same time, this street is also a famous red-light district in Gray Core City, lingering with various streetwalkers. Amidst the thriving prosthetics industry, cosmetic surgery has reached an exaggerated extent, with generally high beauty standards, and most are picky about patrons—too old, too fat, too ugly won't get any welcome.

"That woman isn't wearing socks, the boots themselves are breathable, it's a pity, can't smell the scent. If it weren't for the trauma team rushing over, I'd surely experience it."

The person called Ali is in distress, with a cultivation at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, his eyes flickering with nostalgia.

Wang Qing's forehead is lined; he just wants to destroy the data quickly and make some money in passing, cracking equipment can't be done openly, so he has Yuan Jingang dismiss the other three subordinates.

"If you're itching, then go, but tomorrow morning we need to get up early, prepare for the night to meet the pharmaceutical company's broker. This is the first deal, can't afford any mistakes; whether we make big money depends on this."

Yuan Jingang sends the other three subordinates to do their tasks.

Leaving Wang Qing and Yuan Jingang alone.

Yuan Jingang privately talks about the afternoon's matter.

"That woman's family might be quite powerful. These two pieces of equipment are quite rare. If her family comes looking for us..."

He truly feels a bit fearful.

Mixing on the streets of Gray Core City, anyone with a bit of brains knows how much the underworld can earn does not depend on being ruthless, but on its position in the current market value chain.

It's about which companies you act as Black Gloves for, whether you have irreplaceability, and whether you can manage upwards. The underworld competes too.

You can earn money from the wealthy, but it depends on how wealthy they are. If they are local families with weapons and power, then it's better to return everything completely.

The woman robbed today evidently carries that vibe.

"She's my classmate; I'm the one facing the brunt. You just focus on tomorrow's affair."

Wang Qing has been quite low-key; only today due to a sudden major Divine Sense covering event rarely seen in decades the surrounding people discovered something amiss.

He can't fathom why these two are tracking him, finding minors genuinely scary.

"Classmate..."

Yuan Jingang recalled Wang Qing wanting to destroy a watch earlier and can't help but continue thinking in terrifying directions. Fangcang is poor in literature and rich in martial arts, but Brother Qing does not meet the elitist's children criteria. Attending school requires perfect attendance; it's impossible to have such skill so young without family support, and his style of handling matters is entirely unlike that of a seventeen-year-old, seemingly harboring someone else within.

The rule of Fangcang is:

Being Black Gloves for big companies is greed, having connections with Demon Path is rebellion. The former allows significant room for maneuvering; the latter is a taboo slide one must not even touch.

Wang Qing didn't continue the conversation; whether Yuan Jingang is aware or not isn't important; what is important is whether Yuan Jingang will pretend ignorance.

Sometimes feigned ignorance is the key to keeping one's head.

"The prosthetic doctor we're meeting soon, does that doctor know about the Zhou you previously associated with?"

Wang Qing asked seemingly casually.

Yuan Jingang's throat rolled, and a light sweat broke out on his back, "Know... not really know, just regular business relations,but my relationship with that doctor is quite good."

"Better not be some old acquaintance looking to trouble me."

"Absolutely not."

Yuan Jingang assured by patting his chest.

Wang Qing nodded.

Two minutes later.

[Hard Core Transfer Center]

Due to the daytime Divine Sense covering event, some people carrying inferior Consciousness Detectors had theirs burned.

Several guests were waiting in the illegal clinic.

A few were sitting on couches scrolling through their phones, while complaining about the terrorists that flew over Gray Core City's sky that afternoon.

"Seventy thousand square kilometers? What's that concept? I reckon it must be a super big shot in the Golden Core Realm, right?"

"More so, the Public Security Minister in the state government is a Golden Core, cowardly like a grandson. Cangzhou is now filled with anti-terror bases overlapping in functions, meddling in everything, extortion, taxpayer money fed to dogs. I think it's stronger than Golden Core; this was the first time in my life seeing a real Dragon Clan, diverging from TV dramas, unexpectedly appearing on a legal program."

"Not only extortion,our Gray Core City's anti-terror bases have many half-demon mongrels; these beastly things, the girls ironically like asking soldiers for gun money."

"In my opinion...we should attack the Heavenly Court."

"Let's check that box; war is economic war. By the time Heavenly Court sends partners, Yuan crosses over, there's a polar reversal; Cangzhou's fools change faces faster than dogs."

"Don't paint everyone with the same brush; when [United Front] airdrops Immortal Armor, I'll be the first, if not then may my whole family perish."

United Front's full name is [Fangcang All-Nation United Liberation Front], a notorious Demon Path terrorist organization, rumored to span multiple levels, active on the 21st level, infamous for its deeds.

With that said.

"Can you not talk about greasy political stuff in the shop, damn it, it's so gross... Besides, I'll call the cops right away and have you all executed."

The punk girl smoking at the counter gave them a dumbfounded look. These college dropout LOSERS only brag in places without surveillance. If things really went down, even if the cops didn't come, they'd pee their pants in front of a real Demon Path member.

Yuan Jingang held the automatic door open, waiting for Wang Qing to come in.

"Is this the place?"

Wang Qing was skeptical. It wasn't as high-tech as he imagined. Is it one of those "hidden in plain sight" setups?

"Old Jin, rare guest, haven't seen you in over half a month. Where's Brother Zhou?"

The flower-armed chick with blue hair and smoky makeup stubbed out her cigarette. A major client had arrived.

"Brother Zhou... went back to his hometown."

"Hometown? Didn't he grow up working at the orphanage? Where's his hometown?"

"That's none of your business."

Yuan Jingang was speechless. His hometown's in the heavens.

"Who's this little... dude?"

Seeing Wang Qing's tall figure, the blue-haired girl considered flirting, but swallowed the words. This guy had an inexplicable aura of power just from his stance!

Yuan Jingang didn't overstep. From their time together, he understood Wang Qing wasn't just a natural talent. If he really unleashed his Foundation Establishment power, universities would have to skip him to the 22nd level for advanced studies; he had terrifying secrets he couldn't reveal.

"Where's the doc?"

Wang Qing didn't answer the question, countering with his own.

Seeing Wang Qing was clean and untouched by modifications, the blue-haired girl figured Old Jin brought him to try something new.

"You'll need to wait a bit to install prosthetics. Because of what happened in the afternoon, lots of burnt-out chips need repairing. Also, we don't have fully compatible models; if you need them, you'll have to order ahead, or buy your own and we'll install them."

"I'm not here to become a cyber psycho. I've got something that needs unbinding, and what's it... ROOT access?"

Wang Qing thought he got the name right.

There was a feeling of powerlessness akin to old folks who can only use handwriting input.

Since taking this watch from that woman's hand, it had stayed black-screened and couldn't be operated.

With the proliferation of self-running chipsets, many people, striking gold, wanted their wealth and power to grow, crazily buying techniques, mental methods, and body mods. Amidst chaotic frenzies, they reached their load limits; even if the body didn't collapse, their psyche would be toast. This irreversible damage was incurable, and in the Fangcang's terms, called cyber psychosis, classically known as getting lost to demons.

The anti-terror units directly under the Heavenly Court Security Council and local police functions often overlapped due to these demon-possessed individuals.

But for Wang Qing, these were secondary. Mainly, besides communication implant modules, the Fangcang educational system prohibits mods before university graduation to ensure adaptability, or you get expelled.

At this moment.

The prosthetic doctor from the Hard Core Transfer Center, having completed a prosthetic repair job, pushed aside the anti-glare, anti-static green curtain of the workroom.

Hearing the outside conversation, he realized something big had come in.

The cheap consciousness detector implant modules outside – separated into thousands and ten-thousands, repairing a hundred more of those wouldn't earn as much as a big job like this.

"The store's closing early today,"

said the middle-aged man wearing orange safety goggles to the rest of the customers inside.

"Closing? Uncle Mo, it's only seven, the nightlife hasn't even started, and we're all regulars who've been waiting for ages."

One customer sounded a bit annoyed.

"Old Jin."

Mo Zhenxiong washed his hands by the sink, wiping them with a towel.

"Come back tomorrow, folks. You who skulk around, the cops aren't trailing you; waiting another day or two for repairs doesn't matter."

Yuan Jingang began to shoo people away.

He had some influence in the Underground Street, and the three or four people lined up knew Mo Zhenxiong was gearing up for a big job, so they didn't make trouble and had to leave.

"Fresh face, eh? Old Jin, you know, compared to modding, cracking biological locks carries much higher risks. Damaging those interests, the corporate dogs are harsher than the police. Who's this?"

Mo Zhenxiong looked at Wang Qing.

The subtext was clear: no business with strangers.

Yuan Jingang was embarrassed to say he was the new group leader. After all, Wang Qing was still in high school; it would be embarrassing if word got out.

"I need to know if you can crack this, then I can tell you."

Wang Qing placed the watch on the table.

He urgently needed funds to buy materials for crafting magic treasures, or else he couldn't suppress his many foes.

Mo Zhenxiong took off his safety goggles, his eyes showing slight wrinkles as he picked up the watch and examined it thoroughly. After pulling over an arm-mounted spotlight to inspect the engravings around the bezel, his expression grew more serious. "This is no ordinary item. Where'd you get it?"