When he returned to the office, the food on the table was still warm.
Xu Wanxue and Liu Ruoying were chatting idly, their soft conversation echoing in the spacious office, making the place feel a bit cold and empty.
With his sharp hearing, Lin Mo heard the tail end of a sentence before he even opened the door:
"When you did surgery on him, did you mess up his kidneys or his stomach or something? How is that brat still in the bathroom after all this time?"
Before the innocent-looking Liu Ruoying could defend herself, Lin Mo pushed the door open.
Two pairs of eyes immediately locked onto him.
Without exception, both "big sisters" had the same questioning look in their gaze.
Lin Mo said nothing.
He just sat back down in his seat, picked up his chopsticks, and started eating, using food as a cover while he forced down the anger he still hadn't fully cooled.
"How come you took so long? Did today's implantation cause some sort of physical problem?"
Xu Wanxue's eyes were full of concern as she leaned in slightly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Deep down, she was already mentally prepared:
even if her brother told her he'd ended up with some kind of permanent condition, she wouldn't mock him for it.
"No, I was just on a call in the bathroom. Finished talking just now."
Lin Mo replied casually.
He took another bite, then suddenly paused, lifted his head, and glanced at Liu Ruoying, who was grinning at him a bit too eagerly across the table.
That sudden, focused stare made her shiver.
She instinctively began wondering if she'd messed something up.
But his gaze also caught Xu Wanxue's attention—
and made her even more certain of her suspicions.
She glanced sideways at Liu Ruoying, her eyes heavy with meaning.
This shameless woman… did she actually screw something up during surgery?
Hit with two death glares in a row, Liu Ruoying started to feel guilty.
She ran through everything that had happened today in her head—
and still couldn't think of a single thing she'd done wrong.
"Lin Mo, I was talking with her just now. I don't know if you're free tomorrow—if you are…"
Seeing how quiet he was, Xu decided she needed to stir up the mood a little.
She had just started to speak when Lin Mo cut her off.
"Let me guess—an amusement park, right? And not just any amusement park, but a special braindance theme park."
Lin Mo spoke ahead of her with a small, easy smile, like he'd seen this scene already.
Xu Wanxue froze.
She'd been about to ask how he knew—
but then she caught his eyes.
He looked at her silently, and just that one glance was enough for her to understand.
Liu Ruoying completely missed the visual exchange and instead stared at him in awe.
"Whoa, how'd you know we were just talking about that? You weren't listening at the door, were you?"
Before Lin Mo could answer, Xu cut in.
"Let's not talk about that for now. Ruoying, could I trouble you to step outside for a bit? I have some private matters to discuss with Lin Mo."
Liu's face stiffened.
Her expression twisted into a pout, full of reluctant resentment.
"What's there you can't say in front of me… Fine, fine, I'll go. So I really am the outsider here, huh."
She dragged herself to her feet, grumbling:
"Just remember to call me back in when you're done, okay? Don't leave me out there freezing in the hallway all alone like some sad abandoned dog…"
She trudged out, theatrically miserable.
Once she was gone, Xu Wanxue gracefully poured herself a glass of red wine, took a sip, and asked leisurely:
"Alright then—tell me. What did you 'see' this time?"
She already had a rough idea why Lin Mo had wanted Ruoying out of the room.
"Tomorrow, we'll go to the amusement park together.
And we'll all have a great time."
Lin Mo said.
"That doesn't sound bad at all."
Xu's eyes shimmered and she smiled softly at him.
"And then, on our way back to the company in the evening, our car is going to be hit by a sniper ambush."
Lin Mo's tone grew heavier.
"The person he'll be aiming at… will be you."
"So in your story, I'm going to end up blown open on the roadside tomorrow, dying in some random street for no reason?"
Xu didn't look worried at all.
She watched him with amused, gentle eyes.
"No. I'm going to save you.
I'll get you back to the company safe and sound.
Then I'll hunt down the sniper and end him."
Lin Mo said firmly.
Xu smiled.
"Then what's there to be so shocked about?"
"The hit is MooreTech again."
Lin Mo's face was stern.
"Mhm. I figured as much.
Who else would be that bored?"
Xu nodded lightly.
"You're really not worried at all? Sis… this is your life we're talking about," Lin Mo said, scalp prickling a bit.
When he'd just seen the simulation, his heart had been on fire.
Yet the person actually being targeted didn't seem remotely panicked.
"What good would worrying do?
Besides, I'm still alive, aren't I?
And I trust that as long as you're by my side,
no matter what happens,
you won't let that kind of tragedy play out."
Xu sipped her wine, smiling softly.
"But aren't you angry? MooreTech just tried to assassinate you today.
It's not even hit the news yet, and they're already lining up a second attempt for tomorrow."
Lin Mo's voice carried a chill.
"Maybe I'm just used to it.
Even if this hadn't happened, MooreTech is still our direct competitor.
For companies in the same industry, if you can't cooperate, you're bound to clash," Xu said patiently.
"Since today's assassination failed and their conspiracy's already exposed,
then from MooreTech's perspective,
they don't need to hold back anymore.
No more scruples."
Lin Mo had to admit—she was right.
Now that everything was out in the open, whether out of rage or fear of failure, MooreTech had no reason to show restraint.
"But what if they still won't give up on you after tomorrow?" Lin Mo asked.
"Then that's no longer your problem to worry about.
And you don't need to stress over it either.
The day after tomorrow, I'm flying back home to the mainland.
Once I'm there, even if MooreTech wants to pull something,
they won't be able to take action the same way."
Xu smiled.
"Back to the mainland? Since when? How come I didn't know?"
Lin Mo blinked.
"This was decided a while ago.
With the Qianchi Mk.4 release date so close,
I need to return to HQ to give a full report.
I should also visit those two old geezers.
It's been eight years since I went back.
I don't even know what things are like back home anymore."
She gave a brief explanation.
Lin Mo nodded, still a little dazed, and his expression grew faintly gloomy.
"Don't worry. Even if I'm not here, you can always talk to Ruoying if something comes up," Xu added, seeing his expression and assuming he was reluctant to see her leave.
"Don't be fooled by how unserious she acts in front of you all the time.
That's just the way she is around you.
She's Kang Tao's top cyberware specialist.
She actually has quite a bit of authority in their Night City branch.
Her father is one of the branch heads."
Lin Mo looked even more surprised.
So she was some rich big-shot's daughter too?
Then again, it made sense.
Someone who could run with his sister in the same social circle wasn't going to be ordinary.
"No, that's not what I'm worried about.
What I'm afraid of…
is something happening to you once you're outside my protection."
Lin Mo finally voiced his real concern.
"If every time I face danger I need you there in person to protect me, I wouldn't be qualified to sit in this vice president's chair."
Xu smiled warmly.
"I have to admit—fate has a funny way of balancing things.
Back then, I was the one terrified that you'd become a merc and die out there somewhere…
And now, it's your turn to worry about me."
Lin Mo was stunned for a moment, then smiled from the heart.
She was right.
"That way of putting it… yeah.
And just like back then, it looks like nothing I say is going to talk you out of this either," he said with a small laugh.
"As long as you understand.
So tomorrow will probably be my last day in Night City for a while.
You're really telling me you won't come out and have some fun with me?"
Xu asked.
Lin Mo thought for a while, then slowly nodded.
If he couldn't even grant his sister this one small wish,
if he kept shrinking back and hesitating just because of what he'd seen in the simulations,
then what was the point of having lived this long?
The events shown in the Simulator were warnings—
not shackles.
They existed so he could prepare and change the outcome,
not run away.
"Don't worry, Sis.
Tomorrow, your little brother will personally ensure your safety."
Lin Mo said with a jokingly formal tone.
Xu's smile softened.
"Then I'll be counting on my little hero."
-
-
-
-
-
-
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🧠 MY CYBERPUNK 2077 SIMULATOR
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🧠 WHAT IF YOU COULD SIMULATE THE FUTURE BEFORE LIVING IT?
One choice.
One simulation.
One completely different path through Night City.
My Cyberpunk 2077 Simulator has 100+ chapters ahead available now.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⚡ CALCULATE. ADAPT. SURVIVE.
🧠 Simulation
🤖 Cyberware development
⏱️ Sandevistan technology
🏢 Corporate intrigue
🔫 Combat & assassinations
🌃 Night City
♟️ Planning several moves ahead
Knowledge is power.
Preparation is survival.
And in Night City...
Knowing what comes next can make you terrifying.
🔥 300+ CHAPTERS AHEAD.
👉 See how far the simulation goes.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌐 SrMagnusCorp: https://srmagnuscorp.com/
🔥 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus
🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnuscorp
⚠️ More Power Stones = greater release priority.
🧠 The next simulation has already begun.