Mercenary Holy Land! Afterlife!

Su Xiao gave the three of them a meaningful look.

He signaled for them to go outside first.

All three were puzzled.

Was he just going to let them off?

Still, trusting Su Xiao, V, Jack, and Lucy left the studio one after another.

"Th... thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet. Let me ask you something. If I let you go today, can you promise me you'll never do this kind of work again?"

Gottfried nodded frantically. "I promise. I promise."

Su Xiao shifted his gaze from him to Frederick, who stood beside him, badly frightened. "Can your son promise that too?"

"Me?" At a look from his father, Frederick hurriedly said, "Yes, of course, sir. We'll never do this again. We... we'll find another way to make a living."

At their assurances, Su Xiao looked as though he believed them.

He flashed the same bright, sunny smile as Homelander.

"Really? I don't believe you."

Both father and son froze.

Then they saw Su Xiao step out of the studio, pull out a grenade, and toss it inside.

He shut the studio door, trapping their cries of alarm inside with them.

Boom!

An explosion rang out.

The father and son were blasted into mangled flesh.

They were as dead as could be.

Some people might not understand.

They might even think the father and son had only been trying to earn a living and didn't deserve to die.

But that wasn't really the case.

To use an analogy everyone could understand:

An ordinary braindance was like a Japanese porn movie you shared in a group chat.

People downloaded it, then thanked you afterward.

A Black Market Dream, on the other hand, was the kind of thing that made normal people feel deeply disturbed, produced no positive emotions, and left them feeling nothing but negativity. Post a link to one, and your enraged groupmates would gang up on you.

With their editing skills, this father and son could easily have worked as ordinary braindance editors.

There was absolutely no way they would have struggled to put food on the table.

Why insist on editing Black Market Dreams?

To put it bluntly, it was all for the money.

Editing one Black Market Dream paid ten times as much as editing an ordinary braindance.

Possibly even more.

It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go back.

They had already made a fortune editing Black Market Dreams.

Now, if they were told to go back to editing ordinary braindances for a tenth of their previous income...

Would they do it?

If they would, they never would have gotten into Black Market Dreams in the first place.

Besides, although plenty of people worked as Black Market Dream editors, their graphic content drove many to switch careers after making some quick money.

Because editing Black Market Dreams took a toll on their own

physical and mental health as well.

No one could stay in that line of work for long.

Yet when Su Xiao and the others entered the studio, neither father nor son had shown the slightest discomfort with the Black Market Dreams' content.

Instead, they had been enthusiastically discussing how to edit those nauseating scenes for the best effect.

The two bastards actually enjoyed it.

Even in Night City, people like that weren't exactly uncommon.

But these two, freaks among freaks and the worst of the worst, really did deserve a free one-way ticket to heaven.

Let the Almighty judge them for himself.

The group left the factory grounds and headed to the designated drop-off point.

Su Xiao slipped the original recording of the Black Market Dream depicting the pastor's son's murder into a concealed slot above the vending machine's dispensing compartment.

Then he called Regina.

"Regina, I've left what you wanted at the designated location."

"Good work, Su. Damn it, I wish jobs like this didn't exist. Hopefully, this will help us catch whoever was behind it. Contract closed."

Chapter 53: Mercenary Holy Land! Afterlife!

A few days later.

Su Xiao had gotten up early and was exercising when Regina called again.

"Su, it's Regina."

"Hey, got another job for me already?"

"You could say that, but not exactly. Strictly speaking, this is a follow-up to the last job."

"The last one?"

"Bryce Stone. Remember him?"

"The traveling pastor from the TV station?"

"I'm glad you remember. He needs your help again."

Bryce Stone's son had been murdered, and his death had been made into a Black Market Dream.

Su Xiao had brought V, Jack, and Lucy along to get a lead from a merchant on Winding Street who specialized in selling Black Market Dreams.

They had followed that lead to the original recording and entrusted Regina with delivering it to the client.

Su Xiao had thought the matter was settled.

Why was there a follow-up?

"The original recording didn't help him find his son's killer?"

Not just anyone could extract clues from the original recording of a Black Market Dream.

More importantly, if the other party was an expert too, they might not have left any clues behind.

"No, that's not it. In fact, he found a lead, and that lead has landed him in serious trouble."

"It's not convenient to discuss this over the phone. Come over, and we'll talk face-to-face."

"All right. Where should I meet you?"

"Afterlife."

After ending the call with Regina, Su Xiao called the others individually and arranged to meet them at Afterlife's entrance.

V and Lucy took it in stride.

But as soon as Jack heard, he grew agitated and spoke excitedly.

"Su, where did you say Regina wanted to meet us? Afterlife? We're finally getting into Afterlife!"

"Why are you so excited, Jack?" Su Xiao couldn't understand it.

"Afterlife, don't you get it? It's the heart of Night City! Susan Foster, Old Snake, Morgan Blackhand-the best mercs and fixers you've ever seen, heard of, or could imagine are all there."

Jack grew more excited as he spoke. "Getting to talk business at Afterlife means we're not far from hitting the big time!"

Afterlife wasn't like the Ember Nightclub.

The latter catered to the wealthy, so it occupied a lavish high-rise.

Afterlife, however, was a mercenary holy land tucked away among the streets and back alleys.

It was decidedly down-to-earth.

"Isn't this a little too down-to-earth?"

Stepping out of the SUV and looking at Afterlife's entrance, Su Xiao couldn't help making a snide remark.

He had been in Night City for some time now.

He had heard Afterlife's name more than once.

But on his first visit, the sight before him left him baffled.

As a mercenary holy land, he had expected gleaming 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 regular bar.

Jack laughed.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, amigo."

With that, Jack took the lead and headed inside.

Not up, but down.

The stairwell walls were plastered with ads and graffiti, and trash lay piled in the corners.

Perhaps because this was Su Xiao, V, and Lucy's first visit, Jack began playing tour guide, even though it was his first time too.

"This place used to be a morgue. Interesting, huh? It's older than all of us. Back then, when people died, they still got a proper burial."

They went down the stairs and through the passage.

Following Jack, they reached the end of the corridor.

A burly mercenary stood blocking the doorway.

Afterlife lay just behind him.

Seeing the four of them approach, the burly mercenary didn't budge.

"Hold it. Who are you?"

Jack pointed to himself, then introduced the others. "I'm Jack. This is Su, V, and Lucy."

But the burly mercenary wasn't

impressed in the slightest.

"Uh-huh. Am I supposed to know those names?"

"You will soon. We're friends of Regina Jones. She's reserved seats for us inside."

The burly mercenary said nothing, and his eyes lit up.

He was clearly using his built-in communicator to contact Regina, who was seated in a private booth inside.

"Ms. Regina, I've got three people here who say they're here to see you."

"All right, got it... She says to go straight to booth four. If you don't know where it is, ask Claire at the bar."

The burly mercenary had addressed the first part to Regina and the rest to Su Xiao and the others.