Xisheng Grand Hotel’s 128th floor, Kanako Kojima’s VIP room, where Xu Yang captured how the sun rose. The true sunlight scattered down from the sky, bringing waves of warmth as it touched the skin—a sensation no sun lamp or canopy could ever replace.
The balcony was stifling while the room was chilled by air conditioning. Kanako changed into a milk-white nightgown and cleansed herself. For the rest of the day, they did nothing else. Kanako gradually adapted to the rhythm and became increasingly skilled at this activity.
Then, the time to part ways arrived.
"Regardless," Kanako kissed Xu Yang’s face, "I will still pursue Xisheng as my ultimate goal. My mother... she doesn’t have much time left. And you guys are my closest companions, I’ve prepared gifts for each of you, please take them back for everyone."
"These are indeed a series of generous gifts," Xu Yang examined the gifts Kanako had prepared, each one tailored to the recipient’s preferences. She hadn’t forgotten anyone on the shuttle machine, even including a share for A40.
"I know it’s not convenient for you to appear in public," Kanako said, "I assure you, after collaborating with me, you’ll have unfettered access all over the Archipelago Continent. I will provide you with the utmost convenience."
"We’ll be in touch later," Xu Yang prepared to return to Aizu City. Lila had been urging him to go back.
"Have we agreed on that?" Kanako asked, "You... you will help me, right?"
"Apart from helping you, there’s no one else worth assisting at Xisheng," Xu Yang shrugged.
"That’s good," Kanako sighed, "So, we’ll stay in touch?"
"Sure," Xu Yang received an encrypted channel from Kanako, a connection that could not be traced and had high security.
"Then, I’ll see you next time," Kanako bid farewell to Xu Yang seriously.
Taking a rented taxi, Xu Yang returned to the underground city. To avoid any trouble, he did not leave any "seeds" behind.
Now, through his connection with Kanako, he had officially started to engage with the invisible behemoth that was Xisheng—an empire built on the bones of companies, with capital as its blood, trampling over countless ordinary people’s remains.
Xu Yang intended to dismantle it.
Once the Xisheng Group fell, the entire balance of the Eastern Hemisphere would change dramatically. From the widespread chaos, the most powerful force for change would rise to dominate the new order, holding the supreme authority to allocate resources, and reshaping the social form.
The taxi descended along the flight path, and as Xu Yang looked out the window, he saw everyone with a smile on their face, polite and courteous in their speech. In Century Pure Land, surveillance systems were installed in every block, walkway, and building, scanning everyone’s every move, real-time marking of their current status, and identity information, monitoring their personal smart devices.
This was when Newspeak really came in handy. In Anjiu City, apologies were mostly sarcastic, and sarcasm always beat around the bush. People had precise language filters installed beforehand, screening their thoughts through neural filters to select appropriate phrases from a green lexicon to construct their sentences, careful not to say what shouldn’t be said, to avoid giving others a handle.
With such severe division, the present and future were bleak, so most people chose to install a "Nanaco" series of implants to think like "Nanaco~" The processor could powerfully block neurotransmitters that spread unhappiness and pain, leaving only positive emotions.
Those happily implanted, those with smiles plastered on their faces to avoid supervision, formed the majority of Anjiu City’s population, and they would maintain their proper smiles until the day "Century Pure Land" was completely taken offline.
It was only upon returning all the way to Aizu City that Xu Yang saw those familiar "normal people." Insulting each other, losing their tempers, noisy and moody—even though they were hostile, they felt more like his kind to Xu Yang. Hui City District remained busy and chaotic, while Katsuragi Gang’s territory was much more stable, with many members moving towards Hui City District to form battle formations, ready to suppress and attack the unruly Chainsaw Angel Gang.
To distribute the gifts that Kanako had prepared, Xu Yang first visited Old Cui’s clinic.
Cui Junyou was the same as always, cursing corporatism while preparing to perform implant surgery on a client, and with anti-corporatism activities breaking out everywhere recently, he was in high spirits.
"Take a look at the latest trend on the network," he showed Xu Yang the trending hashtags, "’No More Work!’"
This cry also became popular on social media, with people constantly revealing their own embarrassing work situations, unexpected layoffs, skills that were useless outside the company, long working hours, astonishing health deterioration, zero guarantees... Faced with this situation, people everywhere began to make the same choice—abandon their jobs, stop the unrealistic pursuit, decide to minimize their living conditions, maintain existence with minimal labor, and refuse to burn themselves out.
"Yet people have to live, right? Not working isn’t an option," Xu Yang said.
"Not working is exactly the right attitude!" Cui Junyou’s stance was even more vehement, "Anyone who slaves for corporatism is our enemy! Whoever works a day is our sworn foe!"
"What about the prosthesis doctor apprentices under you," Xu Yang shook his head, "If they skip work, you’ll be hopping mad too."
"That’s different, they are my disciples, and it’s only right for disciples to work for their masters. It’s natural and just," Cui Junyou dismissed the idea entirely.
"I met with Kanako," Xu Yang said, "She still remembers you, and has prepared a gift for you."
"That descendant of a viper?" Cui Junyou exclaimed in shock, furrowing his brow, "Could you have fallen into her trap? Been turned by her? Brought me a bugging device?"
"Kanako gave you a new piece of clothing." Xu Yang pulled out a brand new black coat, exquisitely styled, designer label, with a market value of around 50,000 funds.
"Tsk, tsk." Despite Cui Junyou’s skepticism, he couldn’t let go of the beautiful garment, which felt much better than the street stall goods he had worn before. He wasn’t short of money, but neither did he like to spend so much on clothes. Now that he had finally got his hands on some decent attire, his mood was lifted.
"Not bad, huh." Xu Yang felt the coat suited Old Cui well, making him look more like a normal person.
"Returning home in glory." Cui Junyou placed the coat aside, "I’ll need to go back to Silla someday."
"I wish you safe travels." Xu Yang also left the gift for Nidelaide, "Kanako gave Nidelaide a Blu-ray collection of the Golden Age anime sentiment; hand it over to him later."
"Sure." Cui Junyou took the Blu-ray, "You take care too, kid. On the path to bringing down the Giant Tower and corporatism, you absolutely can’t fall behind."
"I’m tough as nails," Xu Yang left the prosthesis treatment center.
Back at Suzuki Springs, Xu Yang found Lila.
"Lila, I’ve seen Kanako," Xu Yang said, "Kanako has prepared a gift for you, look."
Lila didn’t speak, first carefully inspecting Xu Yang, quickly detecting scents of the high-end hotel bedding, Kojima Kanako, alcohol, leather, the "Dionysus" brand perfume, and heterochromatic pheromones. She couldn’t help but mentally label Kojima Kanako as a top enemy, all the while maintained a nonchalant facade.
"How thoughtful of her." Lila accepted Kanako’s gift, a beautifully crafted gold necklace with a sapphire that looked particularly stunning against her skin and hair color. She put on the necklace, looking quite charming, "Did Kanako prepare gifts for everyone?"
"Of course, and there are some of quite some weight; the gift for Farosa," Xu Yang took the gifts with him to meet Farosa. In addition to those for Li Xiaomin and Rosya, as well as one for A40—Kanako had prepared the gifts for a long time.
At that moment, Farosa was watching a series of unusual reports in the news, her eyes sparkling.
"Look, Xu Yang," Farosa pointed out, "Everything has changed, war fever has erupted, the Ice Giant was sighted within the Thousand Lakes Electronic District, the phoenix has appeared from the volcano, and mysteries are awakening in every corner, they’re starting to move."
"The ancient beings are waking up one after another? For us, this should be a good opportunity as well," Xu Yang remarked.
"Absolutely," Farosa looked up, "Let’s go rescue Zenith."