Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 318 - 288 Joy City

Chapter 318: Chapter 288 Joy City

The Black Fire Remnants were defeated, but Asa Katsuragi was severely wounded.

The gang members of Aizu City, spanning three streets and five miles, all loved to add some iron to their bodies. With their abundant experience, they decided to simply lift Asa Katsuragi onto a white medical truck, placing her lower half in a freezer to be frozen. The driver with the best skills took the wheel and headed straight out of the port frontline towards Aizu City to get her a mechanical arm.

Soon, Asa Katsuragi was delivered to Cui Junyou’s Prosthetics Clinic. Old Cui’s craftsmanship was beyond reproach, if only one could overlook his explosive temper.

Everyone had initially thought that Old Cui would be sitting in his private operating room as usual. He would be staring at the terminal, making bizarre faces, or recording unintelligible, frantic ramblings on his phone. When he wasn’t performing surgeries, he would curse corporatism with all his might, night after night, to the point that it became a routine.

But today, they came up short.

Where could Cui Junyou be? The gang members started to mutter. They had thought Old Cui would always stay in his room forever since he was such a disagreeable old man, with no social life, no relatives, and constantly on the Century Pure Land’s top surveillance list. The Corporate Alliance had investigated him before, so he rarely ventured out.

But then the dreadful thing happened, Asa Katsuragi was brought in, but Cui Junyou wasn’t there.

The gang members immediately began buzzing about like headless flies; they couldn’t afford any delay.

The Invisible Imperial Guard had been defeated, but not without cost. They had shattered Asa Katsuragi’s dominant hand. Even a slight delay could cause them to miss the optimal window for treatment, potentially leaving her disabled for life.

So, Asa Katsuragi’s subordinates began to shout and scream, chasing around like rabid dogs, almost tearing the entire clinic upside down with their baseball bats and crowbars, unable to contain their rage.

"Ay!"

"Don’t do this!"

"Careful—" Cui Junyou’s apprentices and assistants heard the commotion, were forced to pause their surgeries, stepping away from ongoing operations, leaving behind patients’ severed limbs and spare organs. They rushed to open the door and, with great effort, managed to calm the furious crowd.

"Master Cui went that way," Nidelaide, the most astute among them, quickly pointed out the direction.

Cui Junyou was going stir-crazy and needed to get out for a bit.

He pulled out a Suzukawa brand motorcycle from the clinic, hopped on, and suddenly charged into Anjiu City. He maxed out the throttle, speeding down the six-lane highway, nimbly avoiding the burning wreckage of armed vehicles.

Along the way, bystanders occasionally stopped to watch the slightly maniacal old man. He rode with one hand on the handlebars and the other waving frantically at the urban streets on both sides, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Freedom! Freedom!"

It seemed like the happiest day of his life as he reveled in the high-speed rush of the motorcycle, the strong winds smoothing out the wrinkles on his face.

His gaze swept across the scene before him, his mind filled with visions of the golden days of corporatism. Back then, everyone was confident and fighting with high spirits, dedicating themselves to corporatism like fuel for a giant rocket. The rocket would shoot up into the sky, and only then did they realize that their direction was opposite that of the rocket. They were left with chaos and ashes everywhere, and everyone who had served the corporations seemed to carry original sin.

But now, he had finally redeemed himself, speeding through a city without surveillance systems and corporate armies, enjoying a moment of freedom and revelry on his motorcycle.

"The clinic’s people are looking for you," Xu Yang contacted Old Cui.

"To hell with it!" Cui Junyou shouted into his headset, "I’ve retired, damn it!"

This was the first time in ten years he didn’t have to be aggressive and quarrelsome like a rat in the Underground City; he could finally breathe the air of the surface freely.

This damned Century Pure Land with its surveillance system had chased him like a rat, forcing Cui Junyou to relocate repeatedly. It wasn’t until Xu Yang gave him a sum of money some time ago that he was able to return to Hui City District and start something. That was when his plummeting life finally began to look up.

And today, the day had reached its most hopeful moment... freedom!

The people of Anjiu City had driven out Blackfire, erased the citizen information of Century Pure Land, and the lapdogs of Kyoto Infinity could only flee one after another!

At last, the scum were blasted out of the city. The corporations could no longer monitor everyone’s residences, relatives, and online accounts indiscriminately, and he could freely speak his mind and roam the streets.

It was such an exhilarating feeling!

The oppressive Anjiu City had never been so inviting to smiles and laughter.

He had never imagined such a day. The more manic he became, the more it represented the deep-seated skepticism in his heart that corporatism was invincible.

And today he was particularly spirited, having finally driven his motorcycle onto Butterfly Square in Anjiu City, the place where he first got caught. Having secretly traded unregistered black prosthetics here, he was arrested, whipped thrice, and fined 700.

"I’m free now!" Cui Junyou shouted.

His response echoed through the city streets, Cui Junyou raising his hands high, the past adventures and struggles, when recalled, flared like flames, turning all sacrifices into the resonating freedom of this moment, making life feel exhilarating. The sunlight bathed his shoulders as bygones eased by.

"Sounds like you’re having a good time," Xu Yang could feel the joy in Cui Junyou’s tone.

"Of course," Cui Junyou took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air on the ground, "...I still have to thank you. Without you, I’d have been long gone, and I wouldn’t have seen this day."

"It was nothing," Xu Yang said.

The ground was once a place Cui Junyou dared not tread, for surveillance was everywhere, but now he entered the city like a true human, head held high and chest out. He was human, just like those who built the city; what gave some people the right to elevate themselves while casting others into the Underground City?

But those days were over. Cui Junyou extended his aging arms proudly toward the sky, throwing punches as the towering buildings split the gray heavens, the sun casting an almost unreal, cherry blossom-like pink glow.

"I’m free, I’ll live life on my own terms; who can control me!" Cui Junyou muttered, "The whole city is free, earned through so many deaths, fought for in one bitter battle after another."

"Don’t let your guard down; there are still plenty of Black Fire spies and soldiers scattered around the city," Xu Yang warned, "And space motherships too."

"The Martinez? It..." Cui Junyou stopped short as the pale pink sun was obscured.

The Orochi, a steel behemoth roughly two kilometers long, streaked across the sky, trailing a black trail, like a whip descending from on high, ready to lash at the ground at any moment.

Cui Junyou rubbed his eyes, watching as white or cherry blossom-painted light fighters and shuttle machines slowly spewed out from both sides of the Orochi, dispersing like countless spores from flowering blooms, along with dozens of Battle Witches equipped with personal flight devices scattering across the city from the iron behemoth.

The Orochi itself bore a paint scheme of dark purple and deep green, the colors smudged across its segmented body, making it appear a wild and dangerous monster.

Kyoto Infinity’s "Orochi" had arrived, an ace mothership in service for nine years. Assembled in the Shangjing Shipyard, it encapsulated the spirit of the corporate military industrial workforce, its combat capabilities formidable.

The citizens of Anjiu City, who had been immersed in the joy of having survived a great ordeal, froze as the massive ship loomed into view; they stopped what they were doing and watched as it approached the city.

The previously pervasive joy in the city dissipated instantly, everyone’s delight and vivacity seemed to be pinched off abruptly as if doused with cold water, immediately extinguished, all dreams and beauty shattered to pieces, necessitating the reassembling of past logic models. People quietly began to reapply the psychological shackles they had only just managed to remove.

The Orochi decelerated and drew nearer to the Kyoto Infinity branch in Anjiu City, connecting its bridge to the roof of the building as thousands of trained, disciplined corporate personnel descended with alacrity. Alongside them were Professional Ninjas, High-leveled Samurai, and Mechanical Sumo Wrestlers, the reserve forces of Kyoto Infinity brought by the Orochi into Anjiu City to reestablish order.

They were organized and efficient, just returned from the front lines, silent and driven. They swept through the city, rooting out and exterminating any remnants of the Black Fire Revolutionary Soldiers. The corporate staff were in charge of assessing the damaged assets and tracking down those who had previously harmed their property.

The Orochi was only two hours behind its scheduled noon arrival, imposing an icy authority over the city that sent chills to the bone.

"Both motherships are back," Xu Yang said, "...You should head back to Aizu City."

Cui Junyou looked towards the others at Butterfly Square. The people were no longer basking in the atmosphere of freedom; instead, they inadvertently showed faint smiles, indicative of their compliant and peaceful nature, easily managed, and a sign of good citizenship.

Previously, some avant-garde artists, university students, and members of the Citizen Army had worked together to hang a massive banner atop the city’s prominent landmarks, featuring slogans encouraging people worldwide to unite. Now they were scrambling back onto the rooftops, rushing to remove the banner before anyone came to look, to avoid future meetings within prison walls.

Cui Junyou swallowed hard, scratching his head uncomfortably. Opening his phone, he saw the message from the clinic urging him to return and perform surgery on Asa Katsuragi. He suddenly realized the safest and best place for him was the noisy Underground City, a thought that filled him with despair.

After so many had died, after waging corporate wars for so long, has nothing changed? Cui Junyou’s eyes reddened as he swung back onto his motorcycle, cursing and muttering as he headed towards Aizu City. The motorcycle engine sputtered weakly the whole way, sounding like a sick patient.

"What’s the point?" Cui Junyou was still connected to Xu Yang’s communication channel, fuming with incoherence, "This amounts to nothing; I’m the biggest coward in the world, can’t achieve anything, only capable of meddling with the tasks in my hands! Damned ant trying to shake a tree!"

"Both the corporations and the motherships can be defeated," Xu Yang said solemnly, "You can’t lose heart before then. Victory is not far off."

As Cui Junyou crossed an intersection, the billboard for Century Pure Land blinked a few times before coming online. To him, the cameras looked as menacing as knives aiming to poke out his eyes, too intimidating to face. He put on a black mask and pulled his hat down low, speeding away as if fleeing.

He spoke in hushed tones, venting his frustrations to Xu Yang, who patiently listened to him rant about this and that, earning Cui Junyou’s sincere gratitude.

In the end, Cui Junyou came out with a deep sigh, "Don’t blame me for making such a mess, I know patience is important. But I’m already 50, how much longer can I wait?"