Boss, I'll Do Anything for You!

"No takeout?!"

Dugu Yan looked as though she had just heard the most unreasonable rule in the world.

Her grandfather was Dugu Bo, the renowned Poison Douluo!

In the Heaven Dou Empire, even Xue Ye showed her grandfather respect.

And the owner of this shabby little shop dared turn down a shopping spree from the Poison Douluo's granddaughter?

"What? Going to smash up the place?"

Before Lin Ye could speak, Ning Rongrong, who had just finished a street shootout, took off her helmet and poked her head over the back of her chair. She looked delighted by the prospect of a scene.

"Hey, purple-hair, take my advice. Even the crown prince follows this shop's rules. If you dare let loose that stinking snake poison of yours, the boss will slap you all the way back to Heaven Dou Royal Academy!"

"Ning Rongrong! Who are you calling purple-hair? I'll tear your mouth—"

Dugu Yan was ready to explode, but halfway through, she remembered the miracle that had happened when she drank the Cola: the snake poison inside her, which even her grandfather could not cure, had been suppressed.

Then she glanced at the helmeted Crown Prince Xue Qinghe at Computer Two.

Even the crown prince spent his days here. The owner had to be a hidden master...

And if I can't take that miraculous black drink away, I'll just come back for it every day!

Dugu Yan forced down her temper and pushed the Gold Soul Coins on the table toward Zhu Zhuqing.

"Fine! I won't take it away! Didn't you say there was some kind of illusion? Set me up with a machine and that 298-Gold-Soul-Coin thing! I want to see what has all of you so obsessed!"

"That'll be three hundred Gold Soul Coins for one hour. Computer Four, please!"

Dugu Yan snorted and walked over to Computer Four. Copying the crown prince and Ning Rongrong, she put on the futuristic silver-white helmet.

"Bzzz—"

Her vision went dark. Then deafening heavy metal and blinding neon lights flooded her senses!

"Cough, cough... What kind of place is this?!"

Standing on a filthy Night City street, Dugu Yan immediately covered her nose and mouth.

As an expert in poisons, she was acutely sensitive to what was in the air.

Night City's air reeked of engine oil and industrial exhaust. Even the fine drizzle falling from the sky was strongly acidic and corrosive!

What terrifying poison rain! Is this some enormous poison formation? How could ordinary people survive here?

Before she could finish marveling, several Maelstrom members with glowing red eyes and cheap Cyberware embedded in their bodies surrounded her. They carried metal bats and Kinetic Pistols, grinning viciously.

"Nice purple hair on this chick. Let's take her back to the boss and make her the star of a braindance!"

"You're asking for death!"

Dugu Yan's eyes turned cold.

Who on Douluo Continent would dare speak to her like that?

Instinctively, she tried to channel her Soul Power and release her Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, intending to melt these arrogant thugs into pools of pus.

One second passed.

Then two.

...Nothing happened.

"Where's my Soul Power?! Where's my snake poison?!" Dugu Yan's mind went blank.

Bang!

A Maelstrom Thug answered by smashing the butt of his gun into her without mercy. She fell to the ground, blood running down her forehead.

"What snake poison? Did this chick fry her brain on drugs?" The thug roared with laughter.

Just as Dugu Yan thought she was about to die in this illusion, her hand found the starter items the system had given her. Alongside the Unity Kinetic Pistol at her waist was a small metal canister marked with a green skull.

Is this... a Hidden Weapon?

With no time to think, Dugu Yan pulled the pin and hurled the canister into the crowd of thugs.

Hiss—!!!

Thick, sickly green gas gushed from the canister, engulfing every one of them!

"Cough, cough! Shit! It's a Chemical Grenade!"

"Aaah! My lungs!"

Dugu Yan watched in shock as the metal-studded brutes, so menacing a moment ago, began foaming at the mouth after inhaling the gas. Horrific chemical burns ate into their skin. After a few brief struggles, they collapsed and fell silent.

"What... what kind of poison is this?!"

Dugu Yan stared at the bodies on the ground.

Without using a trace of Soul Power, she had released a terrifying poison simply by throwing a little metal canister—and it had taken effect almost instantly.

Its volatility and destructive power were no less than those of her Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison!

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

Jackie, an NPC, had brought Dugu Yan here. Still shaken and intensely curious, she sat down across from the Ripperdoc, Vik.

"Hey, new V! What are you looking for? If you want to improve your chances of survival, I just got a batch of schematics for internal organ upgrades." Vik brought up a holographic shop menu.

Dugu Yan's gaze locked onto the dazzling array of mechanical organs on the display.

She read through them one by one, her frown deepening.

[Synthetic Lung: Increases lung capacity and filters out 99% of harmful gases in the air.]

She stared at "99%" and quickly ran the numbers in her head.

If the airborne concentration of Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison reached that level... then wouldn't...

She did not dare finish the thought. She kept scrolling.

[Blood Pump: Accelerates blood circulation, greatly increasing explosive power and endurance.]

That's no use against poison.

Faster circulation would only make the poison take effect faster.

She mentally crossed it off.

But two unusual pieces of Cyberware in the corner of the display nearly stopped Dugu Yan's breathing altogether!

[Toxin Extractor (subdermal armor attachment): Grants immunity to all standard chemical toxins and converts toxins into stamina.]

[Metabolic Editor (cardiovascular Cyberware): Alters the body's chemical metabolism. When you take poison damage, your body heals itself with the toxin instead of losing health. (Poisoning becomes a healing effect.)]

Dugu Yan stared at the Metabolic Editor's brief description. Her jade-green slit pupils trembled, and she felt as though a hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation had struck her brain!

On Douluo Continent, poison was an attribute of Soul Power that struck fear into people's hearts.

The Dugu Family had studied poison for generations, yet every generation had suffered the backlash of its own Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison.

To suppress the poison within him, her grandfather Dugu Bo endured pain beyond most people's imagination, clinging to life in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

She had thought it was a curse of fate, a destiny written into their blood that could never be changed.

But here, in a place called Night City...

These lunatics who replaced flesh with steel had used things called "science" and "chemistry" to lay bare the nature of poison!

Poison backlash? Corroded organs?

They needed neither a peerless Immortal Herb nor the vast Soul Power of a Titled Douluo to suppress it.

The solution here was almost absurdly blunt: cut out the liver and blood vessels you were born with and replace them with a hunk of metal called the Metabolic Editor!

It could turn a deadly poison into a restorative tonic that healed your wounds!

"How... how... how is that possible?"

Dugu Yan slumped in the surgical chair, tears streaming down both cheeks.

If Grandpa could have a mechanical liver like this—one that made him immune to poison without Soul Power and even let him absorb it—wouldn't the nightmare that had haunted the Dugu Family for centuries become one enormous joke?!

"Beep—"

"Your balance is insufficient! Please add funds!"

Dugu Yan's short hair was a mess and her cheeks were streaked with tears, but her eyes burned with a frenzy more frightening than even Ning Rongrong's gaming obsession!

She rushed straight to the counter, leaning so far over it that her face was almost pressed against Lin Ye's.

"Boss!!!"

"How do I get that metal organ called the Metabolic Editor into the real world?! Tell me how, and you can take your pick of the Dugu Family's treasures!"

"My grandfather is the Poison Douluo! If you can make that thing real, I'll have him be your bodyguard! No—I'll do anything for you myself!"