In Night City, Even Gods Got Smacked Around

Bang!

The deafening gunshot echoed through the dark alley.

Qian Renxue knelt in the filthy water, clutching her right leg as blood poured from it.

Waves of agony battered her nerves, but what frightened her more was the helplessness she had never felt before.

She was the young mistress of Spirit Hall!

A peerless genius born with level-twenty Innate Full Soul Power!

Even when facing a Titled Douluo, she had always carried the absolute pride her Seraphim Martial Soul gave her.

Yet here, in a world without a trace of Soul Power, a few beggar-like commoners had wounded her with a hidden weapon that looked like a fire poker?!

"Hahaha! The girl's not even running. She's still posing!"

Several street thugs fitted with cheap cyberware closed in, grinning viciously.

A hulking man with metal covering half his face raised a battered shotgun and pressed its barrel against Qian Renxue's forehead.

"Vermin..."

Qian Renxue looked up. Murderous intent flared in eyes she usually kept disguised as gentle.

Even without Soul Power, the physical training she had undergone since childhood put her far beyond these street thugs!

Ignoring the searing pain in her leg, she launched a textbook high kick straight at the man's temple!

Thud!

Flesh struck metal with a dull impact.

To Qian Renxue, it felt as though she had kicked a block of ten-thousand-year cold iron!

The recoil numbed her leg to the bone. The man's head merely tilted to one side.

"Well, look at you. Got some fire, huh?"

The man rubbed his solid-steel jaw and gave her a cruel grin. Then he swung the butt of his shotgun, sending it whistling into her beautiful face.

Bang—!

[Flatlined]

Huge blood-red letters appeared in the darkness.

"Hah—!!!"

Inside the Origin Internet Cafe, Qian Renxue's eyes flew open. She tore off the headset and gasped for air.

Cold sweat had soaked through her luxurious Crown Prince's Robe.

The pain of a bullet tearing through her right leg and the horrifying sensation of a gunstock crushing her skull had given the lofty young mistress of Spirit Hall her first true taste of the fear of death.

Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!

I'm the heir to the Seraphim!

How could a few mortals without a shred of Soul Power slaughter me like a chicken?!

Qian Renxue's hands trembled slightly.

She turned toward the main hall.

Behind the counter, the mysterious young owner was still drinking that black concoction called "Cola."

Meanwhile, Ning Rongrong and the girl in black were shouting from their gaming pods, helmets on and having the time of their lives fighting.

Even that famously delicate little support-type devil from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could thrive in this world. Was she, the heir to the Seraphim, really worse than a support type?!

"Your Highness? Your Highness, what's wrong? Is this illusion a trap? I'll tear this place apart!" Seeing the crown prince drenched in sweat, the Guard Captain immediately drew his sword.

"Shut up! Stand down!"

Qian Renxue came to her senses and sharply dismissed her subordinate.

She took a deep breath and forced down her frustration. A fierce desire to win lit her eyes.

So that's how it is, Night City...

You strip away every privilege and power, then test your challengers by the raw rules of killing?

I, Qian Renxue, will never admit defeat!

Qian Renxue put the headset back on.

She entered the game for the second time.

Qian Renxue had learned her lesson.

When the system reset and she climbed into the battered car with the NPC Jackie Welles, she stopped trying to summon her Martial Soul. Instead, she forced herself to stay calm and used her sharp mind to absorb the rules of this world as quickly as she could.

"V, take this." Jackie handed her a Kinetic Pistol called Unity.

Qian Renxue regarded the lump of metal with mixed feelings.

That thing had pierced her leg with a single shot.

Just pull this thing called a trigger, and it fires those hidden projectiles...

Ten minutes later, inside the Scavengers' hideout.

When Qian Renxue saw the girl in the bathtub, cruelly stripped of her cyberware, anger surged through her.

As the heir to the Seraphim, she could be ruthless in her bid to seize a kingdom, but deep down, she still recoiled from evil.

These people called Scavengers were even more revolting than Evil Soul Masters!

"Cops! Kill them!"

At the familiar shout, a Scavenger thug charged out with an Assault Rifle.

This time, Qian Renxue did not rush in to fight hand-to-hand like a fool.

She rolled deftly behind a metal counter.

As bullets screamed through the air overhead, Qian Renxue gripped the pistol with both hands, her heart pounding.

She drew a deep breath and leaned out. With the exceptional visual tracking she had honed since childhood, she quickly fixed on the enemy's head.

Bang!

The recoil of the exploding powder numbed her wrist, but the bullet slammed straight into the thug's forehead!

Blood sprayed!

The thug dropped where he stood!

"I... I killed him?"

Behind cover, Qian Renxue stared at the thin wisp of smoke rising from her pistol's barrel. Her heart hammered wildly.

She had not broken a sweat. With a mere movement of her finger, she had taken the life of a strong thug.

That brutal efficiency, that deadly weapon capable of bypassing the barriers of talent and bloodline, shook Qian Renxue's understanding of the world.

If weapons like this appeared on Douluo Continent...

Wouldn't Spirit Hall's armies of low- and mid-ranked Soul Masters become sitting ducks against a hail of gunfire?!

"Nice work, V! Come on, I'll take you to see Vic. We'll get you some good stuff!" After the fight, Jackie patted Qian Renxue on the shoulder.

"Vic? Why are we seeing him?" Qian Renxue asked warily.

"To get you some cyberware, obviously!" Jackie said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "You can't make it in Night City with just flesh and blood. Get some steel installed, and you'll live longer and earn more Euros!"

Cyberware?

Flesh and blood aren't enough?

Qian Renxue froze.

She looked down at the pale hands of her game character.

She possessed the Seraphim Martial Soul, a bloodline closer to divinity than any other!

Her body was the very embodiment of purity!

And now this game was telling her that flesh was weak? That she had to visit some underground back-alley clinic and stuff cold scraps of metal into her sacred body?!

Absurd! Utterly ridiculous!

Even if I die, even if I'm stuck using this lousy pistol forever, I will never install a lump of metal that desecrates the flesh!

With an inward sneer, Qian Renxue made herself an unshakable vow.

Half an hour later, at Viktor's Clinic in Little China.

"Lie down, kid! This Kiroshi Optical Eye is good stuff. It'll automatically pick out your enemies' weak spots. Oh, and there's a Smart Link for your hand, too." Viktor the Ripperdoc approached with a gleaming scalpel.

Qian Renxue lay in the surgical chair, eyes squeezed shut, humiliation written across her face.

The reason was simple—she had just taken an NCPD bounty on the street. Without a Neural Interface, the recoil had been too much for her. She had missed a Cyberpsycho three shots in a row, and one slap from the target had sent her straight back to the respawn point.

In ruthless Night City, without cyberware, she could not even beat a stray dog.

I'm doing this to grow stronger... to uncover this world's secrets... I'm enduring humiliation for a greater purpose!

Qian Renxue frantically tried to convince herself.

Click.

A crisp sound of machinery locking into place came with a faint sting.

Qian Renxue slowly opened her eyes.

In an instant, the whole world changed.

Clear data scrolled across her vision. Every detail of the once-dim clinic stood out.

When she looked at Jackie, his name, threat level, and even his bounty appeared in midair.

When she picked up the Kinetic Pistol again, the interface beneath the skin of her palm linked seamlessly to it. Mechanical assistance reduced the once-punishing recoil to almost nothing, as though the gun had become an extension of her arm!

"This... this is..."

As Qian Renxue felt that power, a boost so intimate it seemed implanted in her soul, undisguised shock finally spread across her face.

"The power of cyberware..."