Goodbye, Iris-My Perfect Ticket to the Top!

The four of them took their work order to a temporary warehouse nearby.

The Patrol Police officer guarding it glanced at the order and nodded for them to go in.

They packed twenty neatly folded colorful flags into four boxes, tucked the boxes under their arms, and strolled away.

Around them, the other thugs were hauling sacks weighing over a hundred pounds, sweating as they trudged outside.

Seeing how easy the four had it, a tattooed young man lost his temper. "Why do we have to do so much?"

"How come those guys get to leave after moving so little?!"

The middle-aged Patrol Police officer walked over and drove his baton hard into the young man's stomach.

"Aah!"

The young man screamed and dropped to his knees.

"Who said you could shout in here? What, are you trying to rob the warehouse?!"

With that, the Patrol Police officer drew his gun and pressed it against the tattooed young man's head.

One of the young man's companions hurried to smooth things over. "Sorry! Sorry, officer. My nephew doesn't know any better."

Su Yi didn't care what happened next, but Alton and the others were delighted. At last, they had come out on top.

The three of them savored the feeling of being treated better than everyone else.

After all, people only hated privilege when they weren't the ones benefiting from it.

Rijia said excitedly, "It feels great following the boss!"

Mota sighed. "Yeah. Without him, we'd be no different from those guys."

"We'd either work ourselves to death or get killed."

At that, all three looked at Su Yi with deep emotion, their eyes full of admiration!

Su Yi dangled an even brighter future before them. "This is just the beginning. Stick with me and work hard."

"One day, we'll not only live in Vine City—you'll be able to have your pick of those actresses you like!"

The three sucked in a sharp breath, longing filling their eyes.

As the four walked on, they could see just how many people had been mobilized at short notice.

Their group of debt-collecting thugs alone numbered nearly five hundred.

At least 120 Patrol Police officers had come as well.

In the distance, Aolong and the others stood in a row, mouths open as they shouted over and over. They seemed to be practicing a song.

Leading them was a tall, composed young man in a suit.

He was too far away for Su Yi to make out his stats.

After delivering the twenty colorful flags, they hung them up.

Only then did Su Yi understand why they had made such a production of this.

Less than a hundred meters opposite them, the Rhodes Alliance was also building a stage and setting up a venue.

Large numbers of laborers, border police officers, and noble knights were busy at work there.

So this is going to be a livestream showdown!

Su Yi finally understood.

Colt really had given the four of them an easy job.

Once they had hung the flags, they waited until seven thirty in the morning.

The sun had fully risen, and Alton and the others were dozing off when a sudden commotion broke out.

Su Yi stood and saw the thugs in the distance being hurried into four formations.

At some point, the exhausted thugs had changed into matching teal uniforms. Panting and fighting off sleep, they followed the Patrol Bureau's orders and struggled to keep their ranks straight.

The Patrol Police officers on either side had also lined up. At the same time, four more vehicles full of Patrol Police officers arrived to maintain order.

An untold number of people—tens of thousands, perhaps—had gathered around the perimeter, all staring excitedly at the sky.

Su Yi looked up and saw a silver-gray personal flagship Aircraft descending from above.

The Aircraft resembled a bat. It was 180 meters long, with a wingspan of 300 meters.

An AX-401 Void Ray Aircraft. Su Yi's eyes lit up.

Though it was a personal Aircraft, it could break through the atmosphere and fly directly into high orbit.

Its normal speed within a planet's atmosphere could reach 5,000 kilometers per hour; in space, it could reach 80,000 kilometers per hour.

It had a presidential suite and all manner of luxurious fittings inside, with room for up to twelve passengers.

At around 50,000 Void Abyss Coins, it was a popular private Aircraft among businesspeople.

Amid waves of astonished cries, the Aircraft landed under the protection of two 200-meter-long Blade-class escort craft.

The escort craft opened, and two squads of forty imposing guards in black-and-red Ash-X4000 Powered Armor marched out.

At their head was the arrogant intermediary Su Yi had seen before: Rick.

Alton stared at the heavy, majestic Powered Armor and murmured, "When do we get a set of that?"

Su Yi chuckled. "Soon enough."

Then the Void Ray's hatch opened, and a tall, slender figure emerged before the eyes of the entire crowd.

Today, Ilis wore a fitted gray-white women's suit.

Its high, pointed collar, swallowtail hem, and crisp, sharp cuffs lent her an air both mature and dignified, yet noble and aloof.

Her long silver-brown hair was tied in a ponytail that fell freely down her back, while her side-parted bangs framed her cheeks.

Her cool violet eyes and flawless face—the product of six generations of genetic modification—stirred boundless admiration in anyone who looked at her, along with a deep sense of inferiority and awe.

Though Alton and the other two were dozens of meters away, they bent at the waist and lowered their heads, unable to bring themselves to look straight at her.

Su Yi wasn't afraid, but he had no intention of drawing attention to himself. He obediently lowered his head too.

She must have just turned ruthless and be getting ready to seize power.

Damn. This woman's going to be my perfect ticket to the top, at work and in life!

Iris Barrett was the woman whose story ended the 0.9 closed beta and ushered in the 1.0 open beta. She remained prominent until version 4.5, when she died in a stellar explosion.

According to information Players uncovered later, she was twenty-five now. As a child, she had been obedient, sensible, innocent, and cheerful, the delight of everyone around her and dearly cherished by her father.

But after her mother died when she was twelve, her father married a domineering woman. He grew especially cold toward Iris after her stepmother gave birth to a clever son who awakened his Void Abyss Projection at the age of four.

Then, the day after Iris turned eighteen, her father wasted no time finding her a noble fiancé.

That fiancé joined the Black Sun Group's nineteenth Homecoming Expedition and had yet to return.

Her father lost patience and tried to betroth her to another nobleman. When she refused, he told her outright that her only reason to live was to expand the family's influence.

Then came the crash Su Yi had witnessed when he first arrived in this world—Iris's failed suicide attempt.

The Players had never uncovered exactly what changed her.

Whatever the reason, she suddenly became cold, independent, and ruthless.

In the future, she would deliberately allow the House of Loving Kindness to operate, using them to help her kill her father and sacrifice her stepmother and half-brother.

Then she would join forces with the Players to wipe out the House of Loving Kindness. Hailed as a heroine and commended by the company, she would inherit her father's faction, bring Rhode Star to heel, topple the Rhodes Alliance's nobles, and, after unifying Rhode Star, set about reforming it.

Within two years, she would turn Rhode Star into a model company planet and rise rapidly through the ranks.

By the time she died, she had reached Rank L81. She was about to become a candidate for the company's board of directors, oversaw two hundred prosperous star systems, and was known as the Goddess's Ash-Red Hand.

Su Yi looked at her shapely, long legs and black high heels, and a faint smile touched his lips.

That's one powerful woman I'm sticking with!

I've been debating these past few days whether to go into this much detail. I was worried it would slow the pace, but in the end, I decided to include it. Without showing life at the bottom now, I don't think the climb through the ranks later would have the contrast that makes it satisfying. If you have any concerns, please tell me. I do take advice. One person can only keep track of so much, and I might not notice if the story goes off course or gets too slow. Please leave your comments. I'll take your words to heart and reflect on them every day.