Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 207 - 183 Compensation

Chapter 207: Chapter 183 Compensation

Kanako closed her eyes, and the visualization panel of the "Think Tank" still left afterimages on her retina, making her distressed.

"You think I’m not Kanako," she caught up with Xu Yang, bursting out of the luxury car, "then what am I? What do I have to do to become Kanako?"

"Go there." Xu Yang pointed to an abandoned arcade on one side, "Prove it to me there."

"Sure." Kojima Kanako found playing video games utterly boring, yet with a mission at hand, she had to play the part to some extent.

The "Think Tank" AI had now given Kanako a new mission guide, requiring her to first comply with this important character, cultivate goodwill, and enhance the chances of a final recruitment. In doing so, the odds of conquering the ultimate mission "Take control of Xisheng Group" would increase.

A pair of rhythm game machines was still operating; Xu Yang sat down, hacked into the program, and unlocked the game "Giants’ Party" for the two of them, entered the main interface, found the in-store battle mode, and swiftly completed the match-up.

"Come on." Xu Yang placed his hand on the key.

"Giants’ Party" was a quite popular music game, featuring a blue giant full of cold air, striking a bodybuilding pose on the ground. Its image was based on the mythical creature "Frost Elride." Like the "Zenith," this giant was an external race, originally a massive celestial body life form in the immortal cosmos who fell to the ground in ancient times and joined this world.

Kanako watched the screen silently, tried the keys, the arcade was dark, and she unconsciously turned to look at Senzoune who stood outside the store. As a professional ninja, she ensured her safety, which allowed her to turn her attention back to the screen.

Her hand on the key, Kanako felt completely alienated.

She vaguely remembered she had played before; "Giants’ Party" was a game she used to be obsessed with. She also dimly remembered playing many other games, all sorts of games, and was very good at them. She roamed all over Aizu City, walked through every arcade in every alley, borrowed money, did rank boosting, dived into gaming pods, played over a thousand different games, spent tens of thousands of hours in diverse games. She was 10 years old when she broke into esports competitions. What was that game called again? What was it that made her have a huge fight with her family, got kicked out of her home, and ultimately—ultimately she—

Kanako pressed the confirm button hard, aiming straight for the highest difficulty.

—Anyway, Kojima Kanako would not be defeated in a game!

Exciting music synced up, filling the room. Xu Yang could calculate the rhythm game content in front of him using the high performance of the "Flying God 4" processor, no matter how fast the music rhythms were, his brain processor could catch every beat, just like a cutting-edge script written specifically for rhythm games. Even SSS difficulty songs were pressed rapidly, with each keystroke hitting the perfect timing, and the score in the top-right corner surged steadily. However, modern games had also adapted to this kind of scenario by automatically unlocking "Tech Mode," which could make a player’s brain processor run in overload, challenging the heat dissipation system of the modified humans.

At another machine, Kojima Kanako scored 8 million points, simultaneously unlocking "Tech Mode." The game’s difficulty increased exponentially, and she too had a brain processor installed in her brain, a model exclusively developed by the Xisheng Family called "Yu Jiang," which outperformed mainstream devices on the market.

In theory, she could beat Xu Yang. Her processor was nearly as powerful as Xu Yang’s, and she had played this game before, practiced many songs, had a better touch, was in a better state, and had sufficient muscle memory buried deep in her memory.

But her mind was in turmoil.

Especially the damn "Think Tank" AI, now bringing up some nonsensical options right in front of her, blocking her view, hampering her game, actually persuading her to back down, telling her to stop playing!

Damn, miss a beat and drop three, miss a beat again, drop another three, Kanako couldn’t bear it any longer, it was too much of a hindrance.

In a fit of anger, she shut down the "Think Tank" directly, entering the shutdown code three times for complete confirmation.

Get out of my sight!

The world became clear.

Kanako felt a refreshing sense of relief throughout her body, her legs kicked straight out, and she furiously pressed the circular keys to the rhythm of the music blasting in the store.

In this game, with each beat struck perfectly, the Frost Giant on the screen would accelerate its run. Because both players were doing so well, it was already moving quickly, and the game background passed by in a flash. It streaked around the Northern Arctic at a breakneck pace, showing a scene typically only seen when looking out from a high-speed train, where everything is a blur.

Xu Yang’s fingers were getting sore, but he still didn’t miss a beat, and the score in the top right corner skyrocketed, reaching 20 million points, breaking the in-store record.

As the game progressed into its later stages, Xu Yang woke up a few more cores of his processor to keep up with the speed of the music rhythm.

Kanako’s face turned ugly, her brows furrowed, her eyes reddening, as she desperately pressed the keys on the rhythm game machine. Her fingers felt so sore and tired, but this wasn’t a sensation she should have; she used to play even more, even more maniacally, and didn’t need a brain processor to play as well as she did now. It was all about practice and being willing to spend time. She now remembered, she used to be immersed in games, racing through all sorts of fantasy worlds. She had been a professional assassin, a mage, a sniper elite, a space war god, a demon slayer; in all of them, she was omnipotent, whether going to heaven or diving into the earth. It was extremely fun—

Because the giant accelerated too quickly, the screen became torn, no longer showing its movement, just a crisp sound of keys being struck in rapid succession, like a ceaseless rainfall.

At the end of the track, Xu Yang massaged his swollen fingers, leaned back, and displayed a score of 34 million points; the theoretical limit was 35 million points, leaving room for optimization. Kanako collapsed onto the machine, tears streaming down her face, with a record of 31 million points on the screen.

"Why are you crying?" Xu Yang stroked Kanako’s shoulder.

"I just—" Kanako wiped away her tears, "I have to obey. When I return to that home, I must do whatever mom says. If I don’t become like this they will kill me, no one will like me. Mom is in a lot of pain now, she’s aging and very suspicious. I have to become stronger."

"Becoming stronger means looking for someone like me?"

"You are the closest and best to me, and I also believe you are the most excellent," Kanako repeated. "I know you, Xu Yang, I know you can definitely do it. I was still thinking of you when I first got back home, continually thinking about you, but later these thoughts became less and less, without any emotion. I think you and Farosa are probably worth hundreds of billions, and I want you to help me. Only then can I gain a better foothold in Xisheng, and survive after... in case mom dies."

"Let her go," Xu Yang pointed to Senzoune outside.

"Ninja!" Senzoune drew out her shuriken, "I can’t leave! I must take responsibility for Miss Kojima’s safety."

"No... he can also take responsibility for my safety," Kanako took a deep breath. "... You can go, I’ll give you a bonus in a few days; your family really needs you to earn money."

Senzoune made a gesture on the spot and then disappeared into the smoke.

"The thing that affects your mind, I will eradicate it completely," Xu Yang slowly scanned Kanako, helping her to completely sever the link with the "Think Tank" decision-support program.

Kanako could sense Xu Yang’s scan, but she let herself relax.

"Let’s go have fun," she said. "Just like before, no, wait, let’s meet again in a moment."

"I’ll wait for you right here," Xu Yang sat down at the arcade seat.

Now it was a true reunion, not with an empty creation made by Xisheng, but with Kanako Kojima herself.

Kanako ran outside for a lap and then stepped into the arcade with a look of surprise on her face.

"Xu Yang!" her voice was cheerful, "Long time no see!"

"I missed you," Xu Yang stood up, "everybody on the shuttle machine misses you too, do you want to go back and see them?"

"No... no, never mind," Kanako was a bit nervous, "I don’t know how they would judge me; I’ve caused too much trouble for everyone. Do you still remember Pan Ruiyi, who I brought trouble with? She’s still on missions now, but is trying to find a way to stay in the Archipelago Continent permanently, so that we can join forces."

"Right, we need Pan Ruiyi’s combat power," Xu Yang nodded, "we’ll rescue her from her labor, she is one of the top elites among the Battle Witches."

"After getting back home, a lot has changed!" Kanako explained, "I really need your power to help, otherwise my family will consume me completely! I secured a safety contractor position for you, so now you can firmly establish yourselves in Aizu City, right?"

"But we still have to climb higher," Xu Yang pointed upwards, "to Anjiu City, but Century Pure Land has eyes watching us there."

"I did think of that layer, uh, to be precise, not me, but I will also try hard in the future." Kanako took out 10 exquisite implantation boxes from her inner pocket. Each small box was no bigger than a palm, "These are jamming chips specifically designed to confuse the Century Pure Land System. As long as they’re implanted under the skin, they can completely evade Century Pure Land’s search. Initially, they were meant for Xisheng’s secret forces’ operations, but they must be useful to you as well."

"That they are," Xu Yang received the 10 chips, assuring at least 10 members could move around Anjiu City unaffected, even under the surveillance of "Century Pure Land."

"It’s getting late," Kanako walked to the arcade entrance, looking at the twilight canopy, "we will stay in touch more in the future."

"Why are you leaving?" Xu Yang sat in his place, "It’s also a rare opportunity for you to come out, isn’t it?"

"Hm?" Kanako Kojima stood at the door, suddenly thinking of something.

Her heart raced.

Kanako had witnessed the absurd deeds performed by her Xisheng siblings at those parties, where chaos reigned everywhere. Not only were there the company ladies who normally let on a submissive and elite quality, but there were also famous movie stars and pop artists from Modern Entertainment. Her sisters and niecestas each had their own way of playing, maintaining inappropriate relationships with numerous people, carrying on the style of their mother or grandmother.

Compared to them, her own little adventure was nothing at all.

That was also a Xisheng tradition, wasn’t it?

"Then I’ll stay for a couple more days," Kanako leaned against the doorway, "I caused you so much trouble that day, and I said... I would compensate a hundredfold."