Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 155 - 136: Taking Matters into One’s Own Hands

Chapter 155: Chapter 136: Taking Matters into One’s Own Hands

Xu Yang saved the image of Lila’s new body and reflected on it repeatedly. The body was realistic enough that even if Farosa were truly willing to resurrect Lila’s soulless original form, it wouldn’t be any more beautiful than this synthetic body. Moreover, it was more durable and robust than a human body, wrapped not in frail flesh and blood but in extraordinary steel and machinery, a condensation of the crystallization of modern technology, with a KM Rating of 55 points, quite outstanding.

With this new body, Lila could expect a leap in her abilities upon her second rebirth.

"The total weight of the body you’ve ordered is 65 kilograms, employing our company’s latest ’Drawing Life’ technology to precisely craft a bionic humanoid with multiple service and combat functions, guaranteed to provide you with an unimaginably delightful experience," the customer service continued, then sent a confirmation for the final payment.

The cost of this flawless new body reached a staggering 5 million Funds, and with the new consciousness chip and mind transfer equipment included, the total expenditure amounted to 8 million Funds.

After making the final payment, arranging the delivery time, and requesting encrypted logistics information and special packaging, Xu Yang ended the communication with the research institute.

Lila was about to come upstairs; she had sent the financial reports of Nestor Corporation to Xu Yang in advance. After studying them, Xu Yang had a deeper grasp of the company’s operational status.

After operating for such a long time, Xu Yang still had 40 million Funds available for use, but the actual value of his assets was very high. After the Nestor Industrial Park was fully restored, its own valuation reached a colossal 300 million Funds, becoming a fixed asset that could continuously generate returns.

Xu Yang’s monthly income included: 570,000 Funds profit dividend from Jumen Commerce import and export, 240,000 Funds dividend from Cui Junyou Prosthetic Clinic Center, 2.2 million Funds from iron ore sales of Nestor Industrial Park, and 1,500 Funds net income from Highway 90 Community after public expenses, totaling around 3.01 million Funds per month.

Due to the imminent corporate war between Kyoto Infinity and Black Fire Innovation, the arms trade was booming, resulting in soaring prices for military upstream components, raw materials, and metals, which was a significant boon for Nestor Corporation.

The industrial park had mined 2,500 tons of high-quality iron ore since resuming production, all of which were smoothly sold to buyers, most acquired by Global Express Trade, a purchasing enterprise subsidiary of Kyushu High Pavilion. The ore was transported to North Spirit Mansion in the Kyushu metropolis, using logistics channels connected by Jumen Commerce. They also extended an invitation to establish a stable partnership with Nestor Corporation, making it a designated supplier for the equipment manufacturing department of Kyushu High Pavilion.

This was profitable, allowing for a share in the kickbacks from the purchasing department of Kyushu High Pavilion with Global Express Trade, harmless in every way. In this circumstance, it would have been odd to refuse the offer. To keep up appearances, Xu Yang accepted the invitation.

It was ironic to serve his former employer in this fashion. The iron ore from the depths of the sea would be transformed into high-quality steel through complex smelting processes, used to cast vast armies of shuttle machines for Kyushu High Pavilion or become part of the armor worn by Battle Witches.

The company’s expenses included: approximately 150,000 Funds for machinery maintenance and equipment repairs, around 100,000 Funds for personnel expenses, and about 30,000 Funds in subsidies for the Highway 90 community. After deducting these expenses, Nestor Corporation’s monthly profits were around 2.73 million Funds.

The profits were considerable, amounting to an annual income of 20 million Funds.

If he operated steadily until the end of the year, the book Funds were expected to surge because the production capacity of the industrial park was still expanding. It was mid-August now, and Xu Yang planned to take control of Aizu City by the end of the year. By then, he would have even more manpower and Funds at his disposal.

Highway 90 Community was an impoverished area, not bringing in much money, and still required subsidies. Once order stabilized, the next step was to improve residents’ quality, increase individual labor productivity, and improve the business environment. Only then could the subsidies be phased out.

No matter how much money he earned, it did not change Xu Yang’s original intentions. His ambition was not in profiting but in experimenting with and exploring the reconstruction of the underlying systems. As the contradictions of the Cyber Era intensified, the world’s majority, the lower strata, needed order, justice, and opportunities for free development—all things that capital could not possibly offer generously out of benevolence.

Everything cannot be achieved overnight. Xu Yang intended to start by restoring order among the few thousand people of Highway 90 and then gradually expand to influence the 300,000 residents of Aizu City, changing their living conditions.

Witches were used to win wars and guaranteed absolute force. A new order was used to change the social ecology, embodying the beliefs he had held all along. Both were indispensable.

As Lila walked up, the sight of her reminded Xu Yang of the stunning image of Lila he had seen earlier at the research institute, instantly stirring his feelings.

Seeing the way Xu Yang looked at her, Lila knew what he was thinking and could not help but feel embarrassed, but she did not want to become a tool just to satisfy her master’s common needs.

"Let me go defeat Huang Feng and reclaim the Golden Branch," Lila expressed her desire to be more useful.

"Right," Xu Yang nodded, "Let’s take care of Huang Feng and the Golden Branch first."

He sent all the intelligence he had collected to Lila, and she quickly understood it all.

"This one has a sting," Xu Yang cautioned, "We’ve also seen it in the recordings; she has some kind of reality manipulation ability, able at least to turn glass into water. Moreover, her entourage is always on guard, not even relaxing when she speaks. We must take measures to suppress her."

Upon reading this, Lila’s consciousness chip began to accelerate its operation.

The time had come.

She wanted to break free from her emotional shackles and accomplish something she had long desired to do.

——To defeat a Reality Manipulator with her own hands.

Reality Manipulators could achieve feats not even technological methods could accomplish.

Lila’s magical power was the perception of subtleties, not particularly unique. Although she was a High-Ranking Witch, her powers could be matched by any technological scanning device with a KM Rating of over 60 points.

Moreover, her consciousness had been transcribed to a chip, and her body had been prosthetically modified, preventing any further growth. She could never reach the next level—Dominator status. Her perception had reached its limit and would become blunted due to the wear of the consciousness chip.

These worries dragged down Lila’s computational speed. She had to undo this emotional knot, defeating a Reality Manipulator as vengeance for the pain she had suffered over the years.

"I want to give it a try," Lila said calmly.

Engaging with a Reality Manipulator, defeating, subduing, or killing them by her own hand—any of these outcomes would soothe her past resentments. Could her scouting magic defeat a Reality Manipulator? She intended to unravel the answer firsthand.

"I’m not comfortable with you going alone," Xu Yang gripped her hand, "we must go together."

"You are the lord; you cannot expose yourself to danger," Lila shook her head, "You should delegate tasks to your subordinates and servants."

"You are neither a subordinate nor a servant," Xu Yang said firmly, "you are an extremely important person to me, do you think I could rest easy letting you take action alone?"

"Lila is not a useless person who needs Your Honour’s concern," Lila said softly, "Please rest assured and send me to carry out the mission, I will return with good news."

"...Very well."

With the conversation at this point, Xu Yang had to respect Lila’s wishes.

As a scout within the Battle Witches, Lila had her own pride.

Xu Yang stayed in the Industrial Park, coordinating issues left from his previous departure and met with Farosa to discuss matters, lest she spend all day scrolling through those short videos. This software, designed to appeal to the instincts of intelligent beings, indeed possessed an unstoppable allure. Farosa’s favorite video creator battling depression was a source of regret for her.

Lila rented a motorcycle, dressed in a black leather jacket, donned a metal helmet, and drove towards the arms dealer’s vicinity.

Having already captured related magic traces at Sun Biotech, it was easy for her to identify the signals. Lila only needed patience to detect every target’s characteristics in her mind.

For Lila, this resembled her early days serving Thousand Lakes Electronics; covert operations, solo action, carrying out complex tasks and always coming back unscathed.

Thousand Lakes Electronics, a giant corporation in the north of the Taixi Continent, made its name producing high-quality cell phones and held considerable technological reserves in communication equipment and network infrastructure. Its security department included 700 Battle Witches.

Previously, she served merely for the expansion of Thousand Lakes Electronics’ assets. High-value targets died by her hands, and countless high-value pieces of intelligence were stolen by her, yet her own treatment never improved. She continued to operate on the most dangerous frontlines, numbing herself amid the daily killings.

But now it was different. For the first time, she was acting out of her own volition and thoughts, and not manipulated by a few lines in an operational briefing. The goal of her work was not to kill the company’s arch-enemies, but to stitch up her own wounds from the past.

It felt good.