Su Xiao winked at the three of them.
He gestured for them to leave first.
All three were confused.
They were just letting them go like this?
However, out of trust in Su Xiao, V, Jack, and Lucy still left the studio one after another.
"Th... thank you."
"Don't thank me just yet. Let me ask you—if I let you go today, can you promise me that you'll never do this again?"
Gottfried nodded frantically. "I promise. I promise."
Su Xiao's gaze shifted from him to the terrified Frederick beside him. "Can your son promise that too?"
"Me?" At his father's signal, Frederick hurriedly said, "Yes, of course, sir. We won't ever do this again. We... we'll find some other way to make a living."
Hearing their promise, Su Xiao seemed to believe them.
He broke into a sunny, radiant smile identical to Homelander's.
"Really? I don't believe you."
The father and son both froze.
Then they saw Su Xiao step out of the studio, pull out a grenade, and throw it inside.
He shut the studio door along with the father and son's screams.
Boom!
An explosion rang out.
The father and son were blasted into a bloody mess.
They were dead beyond dead.
Some people might not understand.
They might even think that the father and son were merely trying to make a living, and that they didn't deserve to die.
But that wasn't actually the case.
Let's use an example everyone can understand:
Ordinary braindances were like the Japanese adult films people shared in group chats.
When someone downloaded one, they would thank you afterward.
Black Market Dreams, on the other hand, were the kind of thing that made normal people intensely uncomfortable. They elicited no positive emotions whatsoever, only negativity. Anyone who shared a link would simply be beaten up by furious group members.
Given the father and son's editing skills, they could have easily edited ordinary braindances.
There was absolutely no way they would have ended up unable to feed themselves.
Why did they have to edit Black Market Dreams?
When you put it bluntly, it was all for money.
The money earned from editing one Black Market Dream was ten times that of an ordinary braindance.
Perhaps even more.
It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to return from luxury to frugality.
By editing Black Market Dreams, they had already made a fortune.
Now, if they went back to editing ordinary braindances for only a tenth of their former income—
Would they do it?
If they would, they never would have entered the Black Market Dream business in the first place.
Besides, although many people worked in the Black Market Dream editing industry, the explicit content of Black Market Dreams led many to change careers after making a quick buck.
Editing Black Market Dreams damaged one's body and mind as well.
No one could stay in that line of work for long.
Yet when Su Xiao and the others entered the studio, the father and son showed not the slightest discomfort toward the content of the Black Market Dream.
Instead, they enthusiastically discussed how to edit those disgusting scenes for the best possible effect.
Those two were actually enjoying themselves.
Even in Night City, people like that were not exactly common.
The father and son were freaks among freaks, the cream of the crop among degenerates. They truly deserved a free one-way ticket to heaven.
Let the old man upstairs judge them for himself.
The group left the factory district and arrived at the designated drop-off point.
Su Xiao stuffed the original Black Market Dream—the one depicting the murder of the priest's son—into a hidden slot above the delivery opening of the vending machine.
Then he called Regina.
"Regina, I've placed what you wanted at the designated location."
"Good work, Su. Damn it, I'd rather never have taken this job. I hope this is enough to flush out the mastermind. Consider the job done."
Chapter Fifty-Three: The Mercenary Holy Land! Afterlife!
A few days later.
Early one morning, Su Xiao was exercising when he received another call from Regina.
"Su, it's Regina."
"Hey, do you have another job for me already?"
"You could put it that way, but not entirely. Strictly speaking, it's a follow-up to the previous job."
"The previous job?"
"Bryce Stone. Do you remember him?"
"The traveling priest from the television station?"
"I'm glad you remember. He needs your help once again."
Bryce Stone's son had been murdered and turned into a Black Market Dream.
Su Xiao had brought V, Jack, and Lucy to a Black Market Dream dealer on Winding Street and obtained a lead.
They had followed the trail to the original recording of the Black Market Dream, then asked Regina to deliver it to the client.
Su Xiao had thought the matter was over.
How was there still a follow-up?
"Did the original recording fail to help him find his son's killer?"
Not just anyone could find clues in an original Black Market Dream recording.
More importantly, if the other party was an expert as well, they might very well have left no clues behind.
"No, that's not it. In fact, he found a clue, but it brought him a great deal of trouble."
"It isn't convenient to explain over the phone. Come over and we'll discuss it in person."
"All right. Where should I meet you?"
"Afterlife."
After Su Xiao ended the call with Regina, he called the others separately and arranged to meet them outside Afterlife.
V and Lucy were fine.
But when Jack heard the location, he became visibly excited and said eagerly, "Su, where did you say Regina wants to meet us? Afterlife? We're finally getting into Afterlife!"
"Why are you so excited, Jack?" Su Xiao couldn't understand.
"Afterlife! Do you understand? That's the heart of Night City. Susan Foster, Old Snake, Morgan Blackhand—all the most formidable mercenaries and fixers you've ever seen, heard of, or imagined are there."
Jack grew more and more excited. "Being able to discuss a partnership with someone in Afterlife means we're not far from making it big."
Afterlife was nothing like Ember Nightclub.
The latter was a place for the wealthy to indulge, so it had been built inside a grand and magnificent high-rise.
But as the Mercenary Holy Land, Afterlife was hidden among the streets and alleyways.
It was extremely down-to-earth.
"Isn't this a little too down-to-earth?"
After climbing out of the SUV, Su Xiao couldn't help commenting as he looked at the entrance to Afterlife before him.
He had been in Night City for some time.
He had heard of Afterlife more than once.
But when he came here for the first time, the sight before him left him puzzled.
As the Mercenary Holy Land, he had expected to see shining neon signs and holographic projections.
But there was none of that.
It was far too ordinary.
So ordinary that if Su Xiao hadn't known beforehand that this was Afterlife, he would probably have assumed it was just another ordinary bar.
Jack laughed.
"The filling's inside the bun, amigo."
With that, Jack took the lead and headed inside.
Not upward, but downward.
The walls of the stairwell were plastered with small advertisements and graffiti, while trash had been piled in the corners.
Perhaps because Su Xiao, V, and Lucy were all visiting for the first time, Jack—also entering the bridal chamber for the first time—began explaining everything like a tour guide.
"This place used to be a morgue. Interesting, right? It's older than all of us. Back then, when people died, they still had to be buried properly."
They went down the stairs and passed through the corridor.
Following Jack, they reached the end of the passageway.
A burly mercenary stood blocking the door.
After him lay Afterlife.
When the burly mercenary saw the four of them approaching, he didn't move an inch.
"Stop. Who are you?"
Jack pointed at himself first, then introduced the others. "I'm Jack. This is Su, V, and Lucy."
The burly mercenary wasn't impressed in the slightest.
"Uh-huh. Are those names supposed to mean something?"
"They will soon. We're friends of Regina Jones. She reserved a table for us inside."
The burly mercenary said nothing. A light flickered in his eyes.
He was clearly using an internal communicator to contact Regina, who was seated in a private booth inside.
"Ms. Regina, I have three people here who say they're here to see you."
"All right, got it... She says you can go straight to Booth Four to find her. If you don't know where Booth Four is, ask Claire at the bar."
The first part of the burly mercenary's words was addressed to Regina, while the latter part was meant for Su Xiao and the others.
Before you continue