Flesh Is Weak, and Ning Rongrong Goes Melee!

"Boss! I wiped the tables! I mopped the floor! I even watered the plants by the door!"

Inside the Origin Internet Cafe, Ning Rongrong—the little devil of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—stood before the counter in a floral apron she had found somewhere, rag in hand and an ingratiating smile on her face.

Her bright eyes shone with the longing of a girl hopelessly hooked on gaming.

"Mm. Not bad."

Lin Ye took a leisurely sip of water from his chair and nodded toward computer number one. "Go on. I saved your spot. You've got four hours of playtime left today."

"Yay! Long live the boss!"

Ning Rongrong cheered, ripped off her apron, tossed it aside, and dashed to the computer like a gust of wind. She swiped her card and put on the headset in one smooth motion.

There was no trace left of the pitiful girl who had been wiping tables moments ago.

Night City, Watson District, Little China.

With that familiar sensation of weightlessness, Ning Rongrong slipped into the protagonist V's body once more.

After Lin Ye's advice the night before, she understood Night City's iron rule: if she wanted to get stronger and acquire the mechanical soul bones called cyberware, she needed money!

Fortunately, the game had given her superhuman reflexes. Armed with her little Kinetic Pistol, Ning Rongrong became Night City's most ruthless Scavenger hunter, taking NCPD bounties all over the streets.

After hours of relentless grinding, combined with the rewards she had saved from yesterday, she finally had a tidy sum of Euro in her account.

"Vic! Come take care of a customer! I've got money!"

Ning Rongrong kicked open the basement door to Vic's clinic and slapped the table like she owned the place.

"Oh? Looks like our little V has come into some money." Vic adjusted his glasses and opened the cyberware catalog with a smile. "So, what'll it be this time? Reinforced bones? Subdermal armor?"

Ning Rongrong remembered the cool names Lin Ye had mentioned yesterday, and her eyes lit up. "Do you have those... Mantis Blades? Yes! The ones with huge blades hidden in your arms!"

"Mantis Blades? Those things are deadly in close combat. You sure that little body of yours can handle them?"

Vic raised an eyebrow, but he still took two long, silver-gray metal cases from the freezer.

Lying in the surgical chair, Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth as she watched Vic use precision instruments to cut open her game character's forearms.

After a faint sting came the sound of machinery connecting. Two gleaming, folding polymer blades were fitted perfectly into her arms.

"Installation complete! Try giving them a mental command. Let's see them pop out," Vic said.

Ning Rongrong took a deep breath and willed it.

Click—shing!

With a crisp metallic snap, her forearms split down the middle, and two long, sharp carbon-fiber blades sprang out like a mantis's forelegs!

Faint blue currents played across their surfaces. Just looking at them sent a chill down her spine.

"So gross... My arms actually split open..." Ning Rongrong shuddered instinctively. But a moment later, she gave her arm a gentle swing.

Whoosh!

The blade cut through the air with a vicious whistle!

The effortless control and powerful mechanical feedback drove every thought of "gross" from her mind.

"But... this is so cool!"

Ten minutes later, at an abandoned factory in Watson District.

Several Maelstrom thugs sat smoking around a burning barrel. Their faces were thick with flesh, their bodies packed with cheap cyberware, and their eyes replaced by red, multi-lensed cameras.

Bang!

Someone kicked open the factory doors.

A stunning girl with shoulder-length hair and a sharp biker outfit swaggered inside.

It was Ning Rongrong, fresh from her Mantis Blades installation.

"Where'd this little brat come from? Got a death wish?" A Maelstrom leader sneered and raised his heavy shotgun.

Yesterday, a sight like this would have scared Ning Rongrong out of her wits.

But now?

"Me, a death wish? Against a few lumps of scrap like you?"

An almost feverish grin spread across Ning Rongrong's face.

She did not draw her gun. Instead, she lowered her center of gravity and snapped both arms outward.

Click—shing!

Two long, deadly Mantis Blades sprang from her forearms!

"Die!"

Ning Rongrong pushed off with both legs. The miniature servomotors implanted in them unleashed a terrifying burst of force, launching her forward!

She was too fast!

That mechanical burst of power overturned everything she knew about agility-type soul masters!

Before the Maelstrom leader could pull the trigger, her small figure was already in front of him.

Slash!

A cold gleam flashed.

No flashy soul skill. No drawn-out incantation.

Only the addictively smooth sensation of polymer blades slicing through metal and flesh.

With a single stroke, Ning Rongrong sliced straight through the leader's steel shotgun—and the half of his head fitted with a metal jaw!

"My god..."

Even Ning Rongrong froze.

She stared at the blood dripping from her Mantis Blades and felt their faint vibration.

That cutting power, that explosive speed—even the sect's agility-type battle Soul Ancestors in their forties and fifties could never have done it so cleanly!

This was a one-sided slaughter!

"Open fire! Kill that Cyberpsycho!" The remaining thugs finally came to their senses and unleashed a storm of bullets.

"Hahaha! Come on! Let me show you what I can do!"

Ning Rongrong lost herself in the fight.

All the frustration she had bottled up from years of being kept behind others as a support-type soul master broke free at that moment.

She became the battlefield's most graceful and lethal dancer. Every sweep of her arms sent severed limbs flying.

Steel was as fragile as tofu before her Mantis Blades. The gangsters who had once seemed terrifying were now perfect targets for her to test them on.

By the time she pinned the last Maelstrom member to the wall, the entire factory had become a bloodbath.

Ning Rongrong stood in a pool of blood, breathing hard, fascination shining in her beautiful eyes.

"So strong... Is this what makes close combat so thrilling? No chanting. Every slash really can cut an enemy's throat..."

"Even Sword Grandpa's Seven Kill Sword Qi couldn't cut much better than this without a high-level soul skill, could it?"

The thought sent a surge of excitement through her.

Beep—

"Your playtime has expired. The system will now log you out automatically."

Back in the real world, the Internet Cafe system mercilessly kicked Ning Rongrong out of the game.

She yanked off her headset, both hands still poised mid-slash. Her face was flushed with excitement, and her chest rose and fell rapidly.

It took a full half-minute for the rush of adrenaline to fade enough for her to collect herself.

"Boss!"

Ning Rongrong slapped the counter and stared at Lin Ye, eyes shining.

"I want to pay for more time! As much as it takes! Give me another hour... No, ten hours!"

"These Mantis Blades are an unbeatable External Soul Bone! I want to replace every bone in my body with mechanical soul bones like these, on the level of hundred-thousand-year soul bones! I want to take on ten assault-type Soul Emperors!"

Watching Ning Rongrong show all the early signs of a Cyberpsycho, Lin Ye spread his hands helplessly and pointed to the bottom of the price list on the wall.

"I told you: six hours a day, maximum. Even if you brought the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect here, you wouldn't get one extra second today."

"You—! Heartless boss! Stubborn jerk!"

Ning Rongrong stamped her feet in anger, but there was nothing she could do about the mysterious Lin Ye.

She was about to throw a tantrum and beg for a little more playtime when the wind chime by the Internet Cafe door gave a clear ding.

A cool, faint fragrance drifted in from outside.

"Excuse me..."

A young woman's voice, cool but tinged with exhaustion, came from the doorway:

"Can I get a room here?"