The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

The hospital room was bright and clean.

It was a simple single room, not luxurious but equipped with all the basic necessities.

On the bed, Gary lay quietly, his gaze fixed intently on the ceiling.

The door opened, and Wolf and Jiang Shu walked in.

"You only have three minutes. The patient just finished surgery, so it's best not to disturb him." The nurse's tone was somewhat displeased. Normally, visitors wouldn't be allowed during this time, but with a special permit from above, she had no choice.

"Understood, sorry for the disturbance."

Jiang Shu and Wolf nodding repeatedly and bowing, the nurse turned and left, only then did the two lift their heads and exchange a glance.

"You... don't seem the type to be so polite." Jiang Shu finally spoke his mind.

Wolf waved a hand, "We as police, can offend anyone but not the medical staff, right?"

"That makes sense." Jiang Shu agreed.

Inside, Gary, growing impatient, called out, "Come in, you guys."

"How are you feeling?" Wolf asked as he nonchalantly sat on the edge of the bed.

Gary assessed his now incomplete body and replied, "Not too bad."

"Don't worry, the higher-ups said they'll prepare a set of custom prosthetics for you." Wolf smiled, "Rest assured, they won't shortchange a hero."

"I'm no hero," Gary laughed bitterly. "You guys resolved everything. I was just running around."

"No, without you, I might have died." Jiang Shu looked at him seriously. "This operation, your action led to zero deaths at the police camp. That alone is enough to carve your name in the milestones of your police department."

"A great favor should not be thanked with words." Jiang Shu continued, "If there's anything I can help you with in the future, just say the word."

"No, Mr. Jiang, I know, you saved me," Gary shook his head, clearly aware that his survival hinged upon that seemingly celestial voice.

"Huh?" Wolf was unaware of this and looked at Jiang Shu in surprise, "You can save people too?"

Jiang Shu smiled sheepishly, "A little, a little."

"I really found a treasure then." Wolf looked at him with amazement.

"Anyway, I guess this is a blessing in disguise," Gary smiled resignedly. "Once I get the prosthetics, I'll be much stronger than I am now."

"Indeed, now that you mention it, I'm somewhat envious of you." Wolf couldn't help saying, considering that the prosthetics customized by Seks Group might even function better than the original limbs.

Knock, knock—someone knocked on the door.

The nurse spoke unhappily, "Time's up, you all need to leave and let the patient rest properly."

"Alright, Gary, see you later," Wolf gestured with his hand.

"Goodbye." Jiang Shu followed.

Gary smiled, "See you later."

With their departure, the room fell silent again. Gary returned to his blank stare, his eyes on the empty half of his hospital gown, silent.

That place… it hurts.

—

"Did they leave?" Jiang Shu walked out of the hospital.

"Yes." Wolf lit a cigarette, feeling somewhat drained himself, "Should we find a hotel or just head back?"

The autonomous driving technology was well-developed; they could rest in the car.

Jiang Shu glanced at him, "Let's just head back, I have some bad memories of hotels in Thirteen District."

Ding: Rest assured, Thirteen District is very safe.

Jiang Shu: "…"

I'm not Uncle Dragon, goodbye.

The two got into the car, and Wolf tapped a few times on the simulated light screen at the sports car's dashboard to activate the autopilot, and the car smoothly headed towards Seventh District. The two reclined their seats and lay down.

Moments later, the car returned to quietness, with only the occasional "clunk" sound as it passed over speed bumps.

Jiang Shu looked out the window as the night scene of Thirteen District rapidly receded into the background, the dazzling colorful lights causing his eyes to ache.

"Wolf, have we forgotten something?" he elbowed the driver, Wolf.

"Hmm?" Wolf closed his eyes, his voice muffled, looking ready to fall asleep.

"The fox," Jiang Shu sighed. "How could we forget about the fox? We've been led around by the nose by the fox all this time."

"Right!" Wolf suddenly opened his eyes, he got it too. They had come to Thirteen District to investigate the fox's death, and after confirming it was a fake death, shouldn't they have continued to trace the fox's whereabouts?

"Should we go back now?" Wolf looked towards Jiang Shu, who had closed his eyes.

"No need." Jiang Shu shook his head. "The fox has already cut off all the clues."

Wolf thought carefully for a while, then sighed as well, "Right."

The only clue worth pursuing in the fox's fake death case was the armored vehicle, but the fox had taken care of the armored vehicle using his Disciples, all of whom were dead.

With no one to counter the evidence, the main thread of clues drew to a period. As for the rest…

They could be handled by the Thirteen District Police Station; they didn't need to be there.

"However, we haven't gained nothing," Jiang Shu slowly said. "Now I am certain that the fox is not Ryan."

"Hmm?" Wolf became interested; he knew Jiang Shu was very meticulous and never leapt to baseless conclusions.

"The style of operation," continued Jiang Shu. "In both Deception cases, the fox cared about human life, whether civilians, police, or anyone else; in fact, no one was hurt, which is different from Ryan."

"Ryan… he stops at nothing, but the fox doesn't."

"Hmm?" Wolf thought for a moment, then looked up, "Gary?"

"Gary was an accident, not in his planned scope," Jiang Shu spoke calmly. "And because of Gary, he exposed himself."

"How so?"

"Because of Gary, he showed himself and used hypnosis to take away the last Disciple," Jiang Shu said. "I only saw his hand and snap, but I'm well acquainted with his hand. It's almost identical to the hands in the Huang Kong case videos."

"I am now thinking, if it weren't for Gary, that knife might not have been pulled," Jiang Shu frowned. "The fox probably put a Psychological Suggestion on that Disciple, making him unable to harm me, and possibly you too, but Gary wasn't part of that scope."

"Hmm… makes some sense." Wolf thought hard; he too found the three Disciples possessing Hercules quite odd.

The Disciples had Internal Armor, yet couldn't overpower him, who only had cold weapons; he didn't even have a scratch; originally it was two Disciples against him, and after gaining the upper hand, one of them unexpectedly went to find Jiang Shu.

Moreover, their thinking as "people" was overly chaotic, puzzling.

"So why would the fox save Ryan then?" Wolf had another question.

"Maybe…" Jiang Shu furrowed his brows. "It could be about identity."

"Ah?"

"While framing Ryan, Light also stole the fox's identity," Jiang Shu continued. "Moreover, the fox wouldn't want the Police to discover Ryan's real identity, so by saving Light, he also saved his own identity. He needs the 'Ryan' identity."

"This… why?" Wolf thought for a while but still couldn't understand.

Jiang Shu closed his eyes and smiled briefly, "Who knows?"

"Also, can you block out the lights from outside?" his voice suddenly went lower.

"Oh, sure, I can blackout the windows." Wolf tapped a few times, the five car windows were sealed up with black material, a function only available in autonomous driving mode.

The car was engulfed in darkness, and suddenly, a sound rang out.

"Hoo—" it was the snores from the passenger seat.

"This…" Wolf was puzzled; falling asleep just like that? You didn't even finish speaking!

Oh well, might as well sleep.

Wolf closed his eyes.

Five minutes later, Wolf opened his eyes again.

"Hey, Jiang Shu." He called out, the snoring was so loud he couldn't fall asleep at all; it was hard for him to imagine that someone as delicate-looking as Jiang Shu could snore so aggressively.

But with no response, Wolf gave up.

To think someone so small could produce such a loud noise. Of course, this "small" was relative to his own burly stature.

Ji: Trumpet, suona, small tune, big tune.

After delivering this barrage, Xiao Yi's camera stretched out, took a turn, glanced at Jiang Shu, who was deep in sleep, saw he hadn't awakened, and then comfortably breathed out through the cooling vent.