Players Invade Cyberpunk

It was a pitch-black night.

The rain outside was pouring heavily.

Bean-sized raindrops fell on the tiles, forming a curtain of water crashing to the ground, sounding like a waterfall.

The stone bricks in the courtyard were almost submerged by the rainwater.

The seven-year-old Lai Xuan curled up in his quilt, finding it hard to sleep with the sound of the rain, his mind filled with recent events.

Someone said big brother was dead.

Died at the hands of those Americans; Lai Xuan didn’t understand what death meant, but it seemed that the big brother whom father loved and he revered would never return.

Father was furious about it; Lai Xuan had rarely seen such an angry and terrifying side of his father, almost as if he was about to grab a knife and kill someone.

Since then, Lai Xuan noticed that father seemed to pay special attention to him.

Initially, he thought that father wanted to groom him to become the future new family head of the Huang Clan, for which he was happy all day.

But gradually, Huang Ban Lai Xuan realized that his father’s gaze was different.

It was a pair of... eyes filled with greed and desire, as if they wanted to devour him whole.

That gaze seemed to be forever etched in Lai Xuan’s memory, constantly watching him.

Even now, Lai Xuan felt as if someone was watching him, as if deep malice lurked in the dark corner of the room.

Suddenly,

The entire room lit up.

Pale lightning flashed across the clouds, illuminating this dark world for an instant.

Even the phantoms hiding in the darkness were revealed by the lightning!

Lai Xuan saw a pair of eyes on the wall!

What kind of eyes were those!

Greed.

Envy.

Covetousness.

Fear.

All desires so intense they seemed to overflow and drown him!

Simultaneously,

A pitch-black shadow was cast upon the screen.

That shadow was so small.

So... familiar.

"Ah!!!!"

Screams and thunder.

Youth and decrepitude.

The shadow retreated, leaving only two hollow eyes hanging on the paper screen wall.

In that pouring rainy night, fear was etched onto the soul of Huang Ban Lai Xuan.

He still remembered the scene when he climbed out of bed, escaped over the walls of the Huang Clan’s residence amidst the pouring rain.

He ran far, far away, all the way to the slums of Tokyo, shivering in a garbage shed.

Until dawn, when the rain stopped, an elderly scavenger couple found the child huddled in rain and trash, terrified and helpless, and took him back to their shabby shanty...

By the shore, Huang Ban Lai Xuan tightened his grip on the fishing rod.

The carbon fiber fishing rod creaked under his grip; even the calm sea couldn’t soothe his tumultuous inner feelings at the moment.

This was a fishing dock at the California West Lake’s mariculture center, not very well decorated.

Yet, globally, it’s the only place with naturally farmed seafood; other fishing places simply throw fish in for you to catch, and if you can’t catch anything, someone dives in to hang fish for you.

Those real fish were cultivated in water rooms by companies using animal fertilized eggs, growing fast, gaining flesh quickly, pollution-free, though the cost was slightly higher, but the higher price compensates.

Lai Xuan watched the motionless float, his artificial eye suddenly glowed slightly.

He silently thought,

"Finally... it’s happening..."

Two hovercars, shielded by several drone teams, landed on the dock’s helipad.

Several brawny men in suits, with slick hair, disembarked first, cautiously surveying the surroundings, organizing drone patrols, confirming no threats before opening the door of the other hovercar.

Supporting an old man, face full of wrinkles, frail stature, off the vehicle.

The old man, like Lai Xuan, wore small round sunglasses, bearing some resemblance.

He walked slowly with a cane beside Lai Xuan, looking at the calm sea, remarking unexpectedly,

"Didn’t expect Night City to have such a place, but fishing requires serenity; can you still calm your mind for fishing now?"

Lai Xuan didn’t turn, but kept staring at his float.

"What are you doing in Night City now, didn’t you say you’d leave me alone regardless of what I do back then?"

The brawny men moved a recliner beside San Lang, even thoughtfully prepared a fishing rod and bait for him.

Huang Ban Sanlang slowly cast the hook, leisurely saying,

"Do you think stealing the chip from the lab can be hidden from me?"

"I don’t care if you know about this, nor do I care about your thoughts."

"That technology is a top secret of Huang Ban Corporation, crucial for the future success of the entire Huang Clan enterprise; yet you colluded with those European barbarians to take it from the research institute, ready to hand it to those Anglo-Saxons, this is blatant betrayal."

"Betrayal of the Huang Clan."

"Also, betrayal of the Japanese Empire."

"Don’t you feel ashamed?"

Faced with Huang Ban Sanlang’s interrogation, Huang Ban Lai Xuan’s arm veins bulged.

If not for the crowd around, he would want to strangle this old man to death with the fishing line.

No rush, follow the plan.

After all, Huang Ban Sanlang can’t possibly leave Night City alive today.

"Betrayal? Huang Clan? Ha, you’re still so arrogant, father."

"Just wonder how many people are in the Huang Clan and Japanese Empire you speak of?"

"Or perhaps, besides yourself, no one else cares?"

Huang Ban Lai Xuan desperately tried to calm his emotions, though his voice still carried a trace of anger.