Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 162 - 140: The Gold Tree Branch

Chapter 162: Chapter 140: The Gold Tree Branch

Fight with all your might, and do the same when you date.

Inside the repair shop, A40 used cheap replacement parts to swap out the punctured metal plate on its leg and patch up the broken circuits; now, it felt full of energy, like a bouncy ball.

For a long time, A40 thought that it only knew how to fight and was only suited for battle.

Shattered by Pan Ruiyi, A40 was repaired by Tanaka Intelligence under the direct guidance of Taro Tanaka, who lived in its eyeball. After that, it found that all its modules, including the social interface, had been improved.

Taro Tanaka repeatedly fine-tuned all of A40’s systems and gave it a comprehensive upgrade for free. For the small local company Tanaka Intelligence, Taro had done his best to provide A40 with the best design he could support, perfecting it to compensate for all previous shortcomings.

He wanted A40 to explore all possibilities, and A40 did so silently. Combat was still what it was best at, but it was not the only thing it could do.

Be meticulous in your actions. A40 remembered Xu Yang’s instructions. Take responsibility for yourself, and don’t affect others.

Arriving at Warehouse No. 100-IA on Niaohui Avenue, A40 discovered it was an old arcade machine storage occupied by a gang, filled with many outdated gaming machines, most of which had been discarded and sealed away amidst dust and cobwebs.

"Let’s go." Huang Feng leaned against the door of the warehouse. She wasn’t wearing a veil now and had changed into a black windproof motorcycle leather outfit.

Who was this guy? A40 scanned a suspicious figure, an armored gunman standing across the street, silently watching Huang Feng. But A40 didn’t ask, and immediately understood why Xu Yang had told it to be careful—It was under too much surveillance.

"Okay." A40 followed Huang Feng.

She moved unsteadily, as if she were drunk.

Upon entering the factory, the gangsters, who belonged to the Chainsaw Angel Gang and recognized someone from Black Fire Innovation, bowed and scraped to her, dreaming of the day they could switch to Black Fire Innovation and stop living as small-time crooks.

"Sister Huang Feng!" They were very happy.

"Need a healing injection? Beer? Stamps?" A burly man asked.

In their eyes, Huang Feng was a sickly, talented, and interesting Witch. At first contact, they might get a scare, but after getting to know her, they would see her endearing side.

"Hello! Give me a handgun!" Huang Feng stretched out her right hand.

"Err..." The burly man didn’t know what Huang Feng was planning, but he unbuckled a handgun from his belt and handed it to her.

"Goodbye!" She fired at the burly man’s chest, and after the gunshot, his face was filled with astonishment as he slowly fell.

"What are you doing?"

"She’s crazy!"

"Ahh!" They quickly lay on the ground, checking the condition of the burly man, hoping he wasn’t yet dead.

Without a word, Huang Feng continued shooting at them with the handgun. These gangsters were familiar with Huang Feng and never expected her to shoot at them. Huang Feng first killed those she remembered as moving fast, then dealt with those with less discipline, slaying seven in total.

She moved deeper into the warehouse, shooting at every gangster she saw. When the bullets ran out, she tossed away the gun, took another from a corpse, and continued through the warehouse, killing anyone who moved.

A40 followed close behind, knife in hand, stepping in whenever Huang Feng couldn’t handle someone. In this way, they slaughtered everyone in the warehouse.

Combat had never given A40 this kind of feeling before; it didn’t feel like it was fighting against the underworld but walking in an electronic-edited dream, the kind a synth would dream if synths could dream.

All the way to the back of the warehouse, there were two arcade machines still powered on, a type of fighting game that could be networked. Huang Feng turned on the overhead light and sat down at one of the terminals, indicating for A40 to use the other machine.

"When I first came to Aizu City, I often came to this warehouse to hang out, like it was my own private base," Huang Feng pressed the buttons, competing against A40," Then it was taken by the gangsters, which was shameful. I’ve long wanted to do something about them."

"Okay." A40 responded briefly.

"You don’t feel anything about this? Don’t want to make any comment?" Huang Feng kept her eyes on the game screen.

"I want to accompany you," A40 said, "This is a date, right?"

"From today until September 1, we should date every day," Huang Feng said without turning her head, "Okay?"

"Definitely."

Huang Feng’s guardian was close behind her, silent.

They played the fighting game for a long time in the dark warehouse, crowded with corpses.

"Are you a mercenary?" Huang Feng asked A40.

"Sort of." A40 couldn’t say much; when Huang Feng pressed for answers, it just fell silent.

"You must be the diligent, pragmatic type," she mused.

"I like battling strong opponents," A40 stated.

"I just get a base salary, no rewards," Huang Feng looked at the arcade machine, the light reflecting on her sallow skin, "I never pursue promotions, don’t care for any company’s promises, work just for the sake of clocking out, without any life goals, and slack off whenever possible."

A40 tapped at the keyboard while Huang Feng rambled on, pouring out her messy thoughts as if A40 was a giant trash bin for emotions and illusions, and A40 patiently repartitioned its memory storage, carving out a 25T segment from its 50T memory disk, dedicated to storing everything Huang Feng had said.

After that, they swung on swings, rode the carousel, watched movies, and ate ice cream. The second and third days were the same.

"I haven’t kissed anyone in my life," Huang Feng said.

"Let me help you."

"Why don’t you go and have a spar with my new guardian?" Huang Feng pointed towards the Armored Gunman.

"Then, here I go!" A40 swung his sword at the Armored Gunman.

The gunman was still holding the large sniper rifle "Iron Inkstone". Seeing A40’s attack, he grabbed the gun with his right hand, and pulled an ion shortsword from the belt of his armor with his left, ready to counterattack. Ion weapons had excessively high armor-piercing and attack efficacy, so A40 did not wish to clash head-on, and instead danced around his opponent.

"What’s his name?" A40 maintained defense against attack but avoided clashing blades to save his beloved battle sword from the ion weapon’s damage.

"Rolo," Huang Feng said.

The Armored Gunman moved incredibly fast, able to perform tactical evasion maneuvers despite the heavy armor.

"This is not something a human can do," A40 finally concluded.

"Witches have conducted so many supernatural experiments," Rolo let out a strange laugh, "some of us have been turned into non-humans."

A40 pivoted and slashed from above. It had repeatedly missed sensing the opponent’s breath, but after a long time adapting, it found an opportunity. A40’s blade struck the Blackfire logo on the opponent’s armor, leaving a faint scratch.

Rolo grabbed A40 with one hand and tossed it far away.

"I’ll teach you how to cut bullets," he said, "that way, you might still make for a decent pastime."

"Please teach me!"

Through this, A40 came into contact with a higher level of power.

Elsewhere, in Farosa’s territory.

The safe was shredded into pieces by an industrial mining crusher, leaving behind only remnants of the Golden Branch and bits of the safe itself.

Using the Law of Recovery, Farosa restored the shattered Golden Branch, the slim and faintly glowing golden twig, making it her possession.

The Golden Branch was a crucial key to reestablishing contact with the Ancient Mystics known as the Forest Master.

Farosa had planned many rooms in the industrial park to become the Witch Division’s domain. She also learned to manage them properly, drafting applications and plans to the corporate president Lila as per the procedure.

She now had two sets of clothing.

One was a classical royal attire, luxurious and vibrantly colored, with long sleeves and wide robes, accompanied by a custom-made glass crown, pearl bracelets, and a gold necklace, costing funds worth 150,000, borrowed from Xu Yang. Farosa often wore this set when summoning Little Witches. It complemented her mysterious and somber aura, making her feel reborn. She wanted to seize vast stretches of land, forcing Humans to submit and labor, rallying the Witches to crown her as the New God.

The other was formal business attire, with a pale shirt, black trousers, a pitch-black tie, worth 20,000 in funds. This was her outfit when walking through the Nestor Corporation, where she felt more confident, efficient, and professional. In the extreme world of corporate ideology, possessing a specialized skill was essential for survival. Farosa was proud of her personal abilities, meaning she was equipped to meet any challenge.

She was slowly changing, eventually being driven to completion by Xu Yang.

Xu Yang visited Farosa, reminding her to focus more on the real world.

"I hope you’re prepared to grow up," Xu Yang said, "you can’t slack off anymore."

Farosa’s face remained expressionless, as if she wasn’t being reminded by Xu Yang but rather it was she who was examining him.

Exposed to the web cultures and subcultures, Farosa increasingly realized the vast complexity of the Cyber Era, with its diverse cultures, art, anime, movies, novels, games, advanced technology, and a grotesquely developed commercial market. The pleasures were endless. Every corner of the world was opening its doors to Farosa, inviting her to come in and revel.

In her era, the Human population was merely 200 million, with only tens of thousands of Witches. Now, Humans had reached tens of billions, and the number of Witches had surged to millions.

This gave Farosa an opportunity. Historically, Magic Power was cast anew almost every thousand years. Sometimes, rare and powerful Magic Power would be lost without an heir, weakening the Witches’ control over the world.

Now, due to the abundance of Witches, a situation never seen before had arisen—nearly all recorded Magic Powers had living bearers, and almost instantly after the death of one, a new inheritor of that power would be born somewhere else in the world. At the same time, countless unprecedented Magic Powers emerged. The most powerful bearers of these could have been considered "Empresses" in their respective eras.

While the Corporate Alliance still had sufficient coercive power, they managed to track high-quality Magic Power, ensuring its inheritance from one generation to the next, perpetually preserving the most dangerously powerful Reality Manipulators and Battle Witches.

Farosa had an even stronger appeal to Witches. She aspired to enlist all the historically renowned Magic Power bearers under her command.

Moreover, due to developments in physics and astronomy, magic Powers like gravity, magnetic forces, energy conversion, molecule manipulation—which had been limited in the past—could unleash unprecedented Power in modern times. They would forever remain Lower-rank Witches in the company’s labs, but Farosa could reforge their connection to the stars, elevating them to the rank of Empress.

Such a New Witch Council would be more terrifying than any in history, capable of firmly establishing the Witches’ rule in all aspects.

Ruling over a small village or a tiny nation no longer satisfied Farosa. She knew that, with current technological forces, anything she wanted to do was possible. The stage for Farosa to showcase her talents had never before been so vast.

After Xu Yang’s reminder, Farosa officially retracted her playful heart.

"Of course," she said indifferently, looking at Xu Yang, "I’ll do as you say. I’ve always listened to you and won’t play anymore."

"There’s someone you might want to contact," Xu Yang, aware of Farosa’s rekindled ambition, said, "Her name is Huang Feng."

"I look forward to it," Farosa’s expression remained unchanged, impassive.

... Perhaps sending her back to that joyous cocoon of information would be the best thing for Humanity, Xu Yang thought to himself.