The rainy night at Clinic Thirteen was so thick, the air thick as unyielding engine oil.
Shen Qingqiu sat beside the operating table, her fingertips gently tracing the sleeping face of Seventeen. The dark golden [Nano Divine Gold] source chip had been implanted in his chest, emitting a faint glow as rhythmic as a heartbeat.
He was evolving.
Silver-white hair spread across the black leather countertop, and countless fine golden codes flowed across the surface of his perfect prosthetic body. He was reconstructing his bones, upgrading his firewall, polishing that body born for slaughter into something even more indestructible.
"Sleep." Shen Qingqiu leaned down and kissed his tightly closed eyelids.
"This time, it's my turn to watch over you."
She turned and sat back down at the control panel piled high with screens.
She picked up a can of chilled cherry-flavored synthetic soda and opened it with a "click."
Just as the bubbles began to rise,
all the screens in the clinic turned red without warning.
[Alarm! Alarm!]
[High-level spiritual energy fluctuation detected!]
[Intrusion Level: Foundation Establishment Stage (Level 2 Hacker)] There was no knocking, no footsteps.
This time, the enemy came from the thin network cable connecting to the outside world.
"They've arrived already?" Shen Qingqiu tilted his head back and took a swig of soda, his eyes instantly turning cold.
"The lackeys of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, their noses are quite sharp."
…
[Virtual Space · Firewall Perimeter]
The defense system of Clinic No. 13, modified by Shen Qingqiu, manifested as a **virtual fortress** of blue bricks and black tiles.
But at this moment, above this fortress, hovered a huge "Azure Phosphorous Serpent" composed of green data streams.
That wasn't an ordinary virus.
That was a natal magic weapon that only a Foundation Establishment stage hacker could control—[Logic Worm · Devouring Version].
"Here." Atop the serpent's head stood a phantom dressed in a Taoist robe but wearing VR glasses.
He was "Ghost Hand," a top assassin from a security company under the Myriad Immortals Alliance, at the early Foundation Establishment stage.
"Hmph, a mere shady clinic in the lower city dares to harbor a wanted criminal?" Ghost Hand sneered, his hands forming a hand seal.
"Go!" The Azure Phosphorous Serpent roared, opening its maw and spewing out a thick cloud of green poisonous mist.
The poisonous mist touched the walls of the fortress (firewall), immediately emitting a sizzling corrosion sound. The bricks began to peel away, revealing the fragile source code beneath.
In reality, the clinic's server began to smoke, its fans whirring under the strain.
"The hardware gap is too big." Shen Qingqiu's fingers flew across the keyboard, so fast they were just afterimages.
Although she had administrator privileges, this was just a cobbled-together, dilapidated server. Facing a Foundation Establishment hacker with enterprise-level computing power, it was like using a wooden sword against a tank.
"Want to get in? Not so easy." Shen Qingqiu's golden eyes flashed.
She conjured a handful of **"electronic talismans"** from the void.
[Command: Mirror Reflection.]
[Command: Logic Maze.]
The virtual fortress suddenly changed.
It resembled a blooming lotus flower, layer upon layer, sprouting countless false entrances. The Azure Phosphorous Serpent crashed into the maze, biting its own tail.
"A mere trick!" Ghost Hand roared in fury.
He increased his computing power output (burning spirit stones).
"Ten Thousand Swords Technique - Data Torrent!"
Countless data swords rained down from the sky like a storm. Each sword was an attack script targeting system vulnerabilities.
This was a saturation attack.
Boom boom boom—!
The clinic's screen shattered.
Shen Qingqiu groaned, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.
Her mental energy was being rapidly depleted; her brain ached as if being pricked by needles.
"Still asleep, Seventeen…"
She glanced back at the man on the operating table.
The golden light still swirled; the evolution was not yet complete.
"I can't let him be disturbed." A ruthless glint flashed in Shen Qingqiu's eyes.
She pulled the IV drip (replenishing nutrients) from the back of her hand and inserted a thicker data cable directly into the back of her neck.
[Using herself as a shield - Full power output.] She would use her brain as a backup server to withstand this attack.
...Just as Shen Qingqiu was preparing to fight desperately.
A cold, hard, metallic hand gently covered the back of her hand that was typing on the keyboard.
Shen Qingqiu shuddered.
She turned her head.
Seventeen had already sat up at some point.
All the cables connected to him had automatically detached.
His silver hair moved without wind, and the golden light beneath his skin had completely disappeared, replaced by an extremely restrained depth.
He didn't look at the alarm on the screen.
His purple eyes reflected the bloodstains at the corner of Shen Qingqiu's mouth.
[Emotion Module: Rage.]
[Status: Evolution Complete.]
[Current Body: Nano-God Gold - Immortal Body.]
"Qingqiu."
His voice was soft, yet it instantly silenced the noisy clinic.
"Put down the keyboard."
"But he's attacking the firewall..."
"That's a software issue." Seventeen stood up.
He was shirtless, revealing muscles as perfectly sculpted as a Greek sculpture. His black-gold right arm wasn't deformed, but every finger radiated a chilling light.
He walked to the window and pushed open the rusty blinds.
Outside, the rain continued.
But in Seventeen's **[God's Eye]**, the world was no longer just rain and neon lights.
He saw lines.
Countless glowing lines representing network signals intertwined above the city.
Among them, a thick, malicious red data cable was directly connected to the server of Clinic Thirteen.
He followed the red line, looking towards the distant horizon.
It stretched past the garbage heaps of the lower city, through the neon-lit clouds of the mid-city, all the way to a luxurious apartment building suspended in mid-air.
"Found it." A cold smile curved Seventeen's lips.
"He's…on the internet?" Seventeen turned his head, asking a very cyberpunk question.
Shen Qingqiu paused, then nodded.
"Foundation Establishment cultivators have fragile physical bodies; they rely entirely on their consciousness to fight in the network. Right now, his physical body should be wearing a helmet, completely defenseless."
"Good." Seventeen walked to the wall, took off the long black overcoat, and draped it over his shoulders.
His movements were elegant and swift, carrying the composure of someone about to attend a banquet.
"Qingqiu, you just need to guard the network."
"I'll go…disconnect him from the internet." Before the words were finished,
Boom!
The clinic door was blasted open by the shockwave.
Seventeen's figure vanished instantly into the rainy night.
The speed was so fast that even afterimages couldn't be caught. This wasn't ordinary movement; it was an incredible speed, like shrinking the distance to an inch.
...Central District · Cloud Top Apartments.
This was a high-end community where only mid-level managers of the Myriad Immortals Alliance could reside.
Inside the room, the temperature control system maintained a comfortable 24 degrees Celsius, and the air was filled with expensive ambergris.
Ghost Hand lay on a comfortable ergonomic chair, wearing the latest **"Tai Xu Huan Jing"** connected helmet.
His hands waved wildly in the air, a cruel smile playing on his lips.
"Almost there...almost there!"
"That woman's firewall is about to collapse!"
"Once I capture her consciousness, I'll turn her into an electronic furnace and torture her day and night!"
He was immersed in the thrill of impending victory, completely unaware that the apartment's security system was shutting down layer by layer.
Downstairs.
Seventeen stood in the apartment lobby.
Two fully armed bodyguard robots hadn't even had time to raise their guns.
Whoosh.
A flash of black and gold light.
The heads of the two robots slid off cleanly, the cuts as smooth as mirrors.
Seventeen stepped over the wreckage and entered the elevator.
He didn't press any floor buttons.
He simply raised his right hand, his index finger lightly tapping the elevator control panel.
[Physical Intrusion: Authority Acquisition.]
[Target Floor: 33rd Floor.]
The elevator rapidly ascended.
Reflected in the mirror was his handsome yet expressionless face. In his purple pupils, reflected was the red "line of killing intent" visible only to him.
"Ding." The 33rd floor arrived.
Seventeen stepped out of the elevator and stood before the heavy blast door.
This was the lair of the Ghost Hand, heavily fortified.
But for Seventeen, now possessing the [Nano God Gold] prosthetic body, this door was no different from paper.
He didn't force it open.
He extended his black and gold right arm, his five fingers digging into the crack in the door.
The nanometal instantly liquefied, seeped into the door lock structure, then reformed and expanded.
Click.
The door opened.
It was as quiet as a cat walking across a carpet.
...Inside the room, Ghost Hand was still laughing maniacally.
"Hahahaha! It's broken! The first layer is broken! Woman, you can't hold on any longer, can you!"
Seventeen walked up behind him.
He looked at the man lying in the chair, wearing a helmet, gesticulating wildly.
His eyes were like looking at a monkey having a blast.
He didn't act immediately.
He reached out, picked up the half-finished glass of red wine on the table, and gently swirled it.
Then, he slowly poured the wine over Ghost Hand's head.
The cold liquid flowed down the gaps in the helmet.
"Ah! Who's there?!" Ghost Hand finally sensed something was wrong.
He panicked and tried to take off the helmet, to log out of the network.
But the moment his hand touched the helmet... A white-gloved hand (put on in the elevator earlier, for the sake of ceremony) pressed down on the back of his hand.
"Don't move." A deep, magnetic voice, like a devil's whisper, sounded in his ear.
"Your opponent is me." Ghost Hand stiffened.
He felt the terrifying chill emanating from the man behind him. That chill was more terrifying than any virus he had encountered online.
"You...who are you?!"
"I'm a Foundation Establishment cultivator! I have the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance..."
Crack.
Seventeen didn't want to hear any more nonsense.
He crushed Ghost Hand's hand bones.
"I am...antivirus software." Seventeen leaned down, his purple eyes staring directly at the helmet that was still flashing with light.
"You bullied her online."
"Now, I'm bullying you in reality."
"That's fair."
After saying that,
Seventeen extended his black-gold right hand, not directly removing the helmet.
But instead grasping the fiber optic cable connecting the helmet and the main unit.
"I heard that in this direct connection mode, if the physical connection is severed..."
"The brain will boil?" Seventeen tilted his head, revealing an innocent yet cruel smile.
"No...no!!!" Ghost Hand screamed in despair.
Bang!
Seventeen's fingers tightened.
The data cable, the lifeline of this connection, was ripped off by him.
Zzzzz—Boom!
Electricity surged back.
A burst of sparks erupted from Ghost Hand's VR headset.
His body convulsed violently, like a fish thrown ashore. White steam (cerebrospinal fluid vaporization) simultaneously billowed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
His consciousness was still connected to the network, but his physical connection was severed.
This meant that his soul had become a kite with a broken string, forever lost in that data wasteland, becoming a mindless, wandering ghost.
"Physical exorcism complete." Seventeen tossed away the severed cable.
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his gloves, which weren't dirty.
Then, he turned and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window.
It faced the direction of the downtown area.
Through layers of rain and neon lights, he could almost see the woman in red still struggling for him in the clinic.
"Time to go home."
"She's waiting for me."
...Clinic Thirteen.
The red alert on the screen suddenly disappeared.
The ferocious Azure Serpent, just as it was about to bite through the last line of defense, suddenly froze.
Then, as if it had lost its soul, it transformed into countless green code fragments and vanished without a trace.
[Threat cleared.]
[Intruder: Signal lost (Offline).]
Shen Qingqiu was stunned.
Before she could react, the clinic door was pushed open.
Wind and rain poured in.
A tall figure walked in.
He wore a black trench coat soaked by the rain, carrying a bag of…steaming hot oden (bought on the way back).
Seventeen walked up to Shen Qingqiu.
His eyes stung as he looked at the bloodstain at the corner of her mouth.
He put down the oden, extended his cool fingertips, and gently wiped away the crimson stain.
"Solved?" Shen Qingqiu asked, her voice slightly hoarse.
"Yeah." Seventeen nodded, his tone as flat as if he were throwing away a bag of trash.
"Go along the internet cable and unplug it."
Shen Qingqiu looked at him and suddenly laughed.
Laughing until tears streamed down her face.
This was her Seventeen.
He didn't understand complicated hacking techniques, nor did he understand any cultivation principles.
He only knew the simplest truth: If you insult my wife online, I'll go to your house along the internet cable and beat you up.
"Seventeen." Shen Qingqiu threw herself into his arms, hugging his wet waist tightly.
"You're so...cool." Seventeen's body stiffened for a moment, then relaxed.
He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head.
"Next time..." he whispered in her ear, his voice trembling with lingering fear.
"Next time something like this, leave it to me."
"Whether online or in real life."
"I'll always be the sharpest sword in your hand." Rainy night.
The red lanterns in the clinic still swayed.
The oden on the table steamed.
And that arrogant Foundation Establishment stage hacker became yet another nameless figure in this cyber city, dying suddenly due to "hardware malfunction."
Following the internet cable, a remote slash.
This sword severed the boundary between immortals and mortals, and also carved out their foothold in this neon-lit world...