Cashiers Have Dignity Too!

"Hiss—"

Following Lin Ye's instructions, Zhu Zhuqing pressed the strange red plastic injector against the artery in her neck.

The next second, an extraordinary energy far stronger than anything a high-level healing Soul Master could produce surged through her body.

The tears in her flesh scabbed over and healed at a speed that defied reason. Within a few breaths, she was as good as new, without even a scar!

What... what kind of miracle drug was this?!

For once, Zhu Zhuqing could not maintain her usual icy composure.

"No need to stare. That came free with the beginner's medical kit. I've included it in your medical bill."

Lin Ye pushed the Employee Employment Contract toward her. "Now, let's talk about working off your debt. Since this place has only just opened, the system... ahem, the shop has only one trainee attendant position, and that young lady has already taken it. So you'll have to settle for being a cashier."

[Current Internet Cafe level: Lv1.]

[Attendant positions: 1/1 (full).]

[Cashier positions: 0/1 (recruiting).]

"A cashier?" Zhu Zhuqing paused. As she read the contract's peculiar terms—including requirements to keep herself presentable and not snap at the boss without cause—conflict flashed in her eyes.

"Thank you for saving my life."

Zhu Zhuqing bit her lip and bowed deeply to Lin Ye, but her voice remained stubborn. "I'll find a way to repay your kindness someday! But... I can't stay here and work. There's something I must do. I have to get to Shrek Academy in Suotuo City as soon as possible..."

"Shrek Academy? What kind of dump is that? I've never even heard of it."

Before Lin Ye could reply, Ning Rongrong, who had been eavesdropping, came over. Her wide eyes studied the black-clad girl whose figure made her secretly grit her teeth with envy.

"To find someone." Zhu Zhuqing lowered her gaze. Her voice was cold as ice, yet tinged with sorrow.

In the Star Luo Empire, she faced relentless pursuit every day, while Dai Mubai, her fiancé in name, had fled to the Heaven Dou Empire long ago to drink and chase women.

She was going to Shrek Academy to seek one last sliver of hope—to ask that man whether he still intended to fight their cruel fate.

"Find someone? Someone who can protect you?"

Ning Rongrong was quick on the uptake. One look at Zhu Zhuqing's restrained expression, and she had imagined an entire tragic romance.

She folded her arms, struck a haughty pose as though she had seen it all, and sighed like someone twice her age.

"Hey, you're so pretty. How can you be so dense?"

Ning Rongrong reached out a delicate finger and poked Zhu Zhuqing's shoulder. "You want to go to that lousy academy because you're too weak, right? You want to grow stronger—or find someone to rely on so you can change your fate."

Zhu Zhuqing stiffened. The words had struck home, and she looked at the girl in the pale green dress—who seemed even more pampered than she was—with conflicted eyes.

"Relying on yourself beats relying on anyone else! The old ways are over!"

Ning Rongrong borrowed the words Lin Ye had used to persuade her, then seized Zhu Zhuqing's wrist and dragged the aloof Hell Spirit Cat over to the gaming chair at station two.

"As this shop's one and only senior attendant, I'll be generous and teach you for free today!"

Ning Rongrong shoved the silver-white VR helmet into Zhu Zhuqing's arms, then waved at Lin Ye. "Boss! Start her up, and launch that 2077 game! Charge it to my account!"

I've got plenty of money in my Soul Tool anyway. First, I'll recruit this gorgeous girl as my sidekick!

Lin Ye was happy to oblige. He tapped a few keys at the console. "Station two, login successful!"

"What... what is all this..." Clutching the helmet, Zhu Zhuqing was utterly bewildered.

How had she, a noble of the Star Luo Empire, suddenly become the cashier at a shady shop—and been forced by a little girl to enter some kind of illusion?

"Less talking. Put it on! Close your eyes!"

Without waiting for an answer, Ning Rongrong helped Zhu Zhuqing put on the helmet. Then she stood behind her, just like one of those Internet Cafe spectators from Lin Ye's previous life who hovered over a player's shoulder and offered unsolicited advice.

Three minutes later.

In Night City, torrential rain washed over neon-lit skyscrapers.

Zhu Zhuqing stood in the flooded streets of Little China, staring up at the Aero Cars roaring overhead and the holographic advertisement of a mechanical woman towering dozens of stories high on the building opposite. She was speechless.

"Wh... where am I? Is this the Divine Realm?!"

Just like Ning Rongrong before her, the cold, agility-type prodigy felt her entire understanding of the world shattered by Cyberpunk aesthetics.

"Hehe, scared you, didn't it? Welcome to Night City!"

Ning Rongrong's smug voice came through the system channel in Zhu Zhuqing's earpiece. "Forget those outdated ideas about Martial Souls and Soul Power! Here, flesh is weak, and Mechanical Ascension is the answer!"

"See the Attributes screen? Max out Reflexes and Cool. Put a couple of points into whatever else you want."

"...Why?"

"Because you're an agility-type fighter! Speed! You know what speed is, right? Think about how you usually fight. Don't you circle your enemies? In this game, if you're fast enough, even bullets can't catch you!"

Zhu Zhuqing fell silent for two seconds, then quietly maxed out her Body attribute too.

"Hey! Why are you putting points into Body? That's for tanks!"

"...What if I get hit?"

Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes, looking as though teaching a newcomer was the hardest job in the world.

With Ning Rongrong guiding her through every step, Zhu Zhuqing stumbled through the opening stages. Before long, though, she displayed her astonishing talent as a top-tier assassin.

Relying on her keen combat instincts and a basic knife, she carried out a nerve-racking stealth assassination in a Scavenger hideout.

Then the story led her to the Ripperdoc Viktor.

"Want to run faster? Want time itself to slow down before your eyes?" With a cigarette between his lips, Vic took a spinal implant made of metal from a cabinet.

Zhu Zhuqing stared at the silver-gray metal spine, her pupils narrowing.

She had seen soul bones at auctions in the Star Luo Empire.

Every time one appeared, the great noble houses fought over it like mad. A single one could cost enough to buy a small city.

Yet Vic had pulled this one out of a cabinet as casually as if it were a length of pipe, cigarette still dangling from his mouth.

"Don't worry. You'll be under anesthesia."

"This is a Sandevistan, a piece of Operating System Cyberware. As long as your nerves can handle it, the moment you activate it, everything around you will seem to slow almost to a stop. To everyone else, you'll be death itself, teleporting from place to place."

After Zhu Zhuqing had the metal spine implanted in the game, she headed out onto the street. The instant she tried to activate it with her mind—

Hum!

The world lost its color, turning a pale blue that flowed in slow motion!

Drops of acid rain hung before her eyes. Cars speeding in the distance crawled like snails. Even bullets fired from guns traced clear paths through the air!

Yet she was completely unaffected. Her body felt as light as a breeze!

Th... this kind of speed boost...

Zhu Zhuqing's mind reeled.

Her Nether Civet Martial Soul excelled at speed, but even the Soul Saint elders of her family, all above level seventy, could never move so fast that time itself seemed to stand still—not even with their Martial Soul Avatars active!

And this was only a "mechanical soul bone" she could buy with money in a game!

Swish—swish—swish!

While the Sandevistan remained active, Zhu Zhuqing drew her Katana and darted between three Maelstrom thugs.

When the blue veil of slowed time lifted, all three thugs lost their heads at once. Their blood had not even begun to spray!

"Did you see that, Zhu Qing?!"

Back in the real world, Ning Rongrong was so excited she kept slapping the back of Zhu Zhuqing's gaming chair. "With that thing and my Mantis Blades, why would we go to Shrek Academy? Why bother looking for some lousy man?!"

"All we have to do is work hard at this Internet Cafe. Once the boss is in a good mood and makes the Sandevistan real for us, the two of us can wipe out every assassin the Star Luo Empire sends after us and fight our way straight into the Imperial Palace!"

In the game world.

Zhu Zhuqing sheathed her bloodied Katana. She looked at the enemies lying on the ground, then at her hands, now fitted with tiny interfaces.

The light returned to eyes that had once been full of uncertainty.

"You're right."

Zhu Zhuqing's voice remained cool, but its weakness was gone, replaced by resolve.

Go to Shrek Academy to find that cowardly prince?

Pin my hopes on some impossible rescue?

What a joke!

With power that surpassed the gods, a man would only slow down her blade!

Back in the real world, Zhu Zhuqing removed the VR helmet, rose from the chair, and strode to the counter.

She picked up the pen and signed her name in the "cashier" section of the Employee Employment Contract.

"Boss, starting today, I'm this shop's cashier."

"Give me all the dirty work and hard jobs. I only have one condition... Can I play for two extra hours every day?"