"So, do you know where she is now? Why is she so rich?" Xiaoying asked curiously upon hearing that Linda Linda was no longer at Club 69.
Just as the woman with the long beard was about to speak, a man with tear-stained tattooed cheeks came out and looked at her warily. "What do you want with Linda Linda? Does she know you?"
"I had a thing with her once, and suddenly I missed her, so I wanted to come and see her."
After hearing Xiaoying's words, the man scanned her data and facial armor with his artificial eye, and after confirming that she was also somewhat of a public figure, he turned and left.
Seeing him leave, Xiaoying curiously asked the bearded woman, with a hint of jealousy, "Who is that? What's his relationship with Linda Linda?"
"Jack, Linda Linda bailed Jack out when he ran into trouble before. If you're here to cause her trouble, I suggest you drop it. Even though she works for Borrow King now, she's helped and slept with a lot of people over the years."
"Borrow King? That Sun Jack who destroyed the Holy Grail?"
In the end, Xiaoying did find Linda Linda, but she barely recognized the former prostitute when they met again.
Linda Linda was now dressed in formal attire, sitting solemnly in an office chair. With various chips inserted into the back of her head, her hands split into over a dozen mechanical tentacles, typing rapidly on a floating keyboard, looking every bit the business elite.
"Take a seat for a moment, I need to finish up here first," Linda Linda said, continuing her online meeting.
Xiaoying didn't sit down; instead, she began to wander around Linda Linda's office, examining the minimalist and stylish decor, along with the various virtual, animated wall paintings. Apart from the spare prosthetic bodies hanging next to the door, the office looked completely different from the past.
A few minutes later, Linda Linda's split fingers reassembled, and the chips behind her ear stopped flashing. She looked at the beautiful young girl in front of her with a complex expression. "I never thought we'd see each other again."
Xiaoying walked over, wrapped her arms around Linda Linda's waist, and asked curiously, "What are you doing? Why are you so busy?"
"Consolidating all the resources to fully transform Metropolis into a major corporation. We hired a lot of people recently, so naturally, I got busy," Linda Linda replied, politely kissing her.
"I've been jamming my brain with all sorts of skill chips recently."
"You're working that hard?"
"No choice, now is a critical period. If you can't keep up, Sun Jack won't show any sympathy, he'll just replace you," Linda Linda said as she ran her fingers through Xiaoying's hair, feeling the sensation of the fiber-optic wig against her fingertips.
"And you? How have you been lately?"
"Just so-so. After I ran away, I became a livestreamer."
"Livestreamer?" Linda Linda quickly searched online and found a highlight reel of Xiaoying's livestreams made by her fans.
Seeing those explicit images on the system interface, Linda Linda's heart felt a pang.
After gazing seriously at Xiaoying's face for a while, she said, "Xiaoying, come help me. I need an assistant right now."
Xiaoying shook her head, stood up from Linda Linda's embrace, and declined without hesitation. "I don't like being a corporate dog."
Upon hearing this, Linda Linda frowned deeply. "If you don't want to be a corporate dog, then what do you want to be? Go back to being your little streamer?"
"What's wrong with being a little streamer? At least there's no one bossing me around, I'm very free, and the feeling of being liked by others is really nice."
When Linda Linda heard what the other person said, she suddenly became angry. "Wake up, do people watch you for you? They're looking at your boobs! You are worth less than your boobs; without your boobs, you're nothing. With your current situation, do you even count as a person? Are you a person pretending to be cool, or just a pair of legs with a pussy?"
Hearing the other person belittle her like that, Xiaoying suddenly got mad and turned to head for the door.
"Stop the pretense! You have no right to tell me what to do, where I want to go is my own business! Don't think just because you're a prostitute who's put some clothes on, you can look down on me and give me charity!"
Just as she was about to reach the door, Linda Linda chased after her and grabbed her, forcibly pinning her against the wall. Xiaoying, furious, started pounding on Linda Linda's back with all her might, but Linda Linda knew her personality and how to properly calm her down.
She reached down to detach her own genitalia and forcibly fitted it onto the other person. Then she quickly took down a replacement tool from the wall next to her and attached it to herself. Right after that, she ripped off the transparent raincoat from the other person's body and pounced.
Half an hour later, the two of them lay on the floor, sweating profusely and looking at the intricate decoration on the ceiling.
Linda Linda took out an electronic cigarette and took a deep drag, then passed the e-cigarette into the other person's mouth. Finally, they could talk calmly and peacefully.
"Sell all your streaming equipment, come here with me, that's settled. If anything happens, I'll be able to take care of you."
Xiaoying showed a hint of sarcasm on her face and blew a smoke ring towards the ceiling, "Why should I come here with you? Didn't you say that you've lost the ability to love? You just want to live freely on your own."
"I don't want to start over with you, I just want to help you. Seeing you living like this, I can't bear it."
"Tsk, Mr. Nice Guy. If people didn't know any better, they'd think you used to have it better than I did. Didn't you used to sell yourself too?" She moved her head closer and rested it on Linda Linda's smooth and flat abdomen.
"But Borrow King pulled me out of that situation, so I want to pull you out too."
Xiaoying glanced at her in surprise. "You're really in contact with such a big shot?"
Linda Linda gazed off at the ceiling for a while before saying, "Don't you think Borrow King is really charming?"
"Tsk, not really. You can find a better-looking face in the armor shop for over 10,000 Dogcoins."
"It's not about the looks, but the charm of his personality. He's changing Metropolis, and Metropolis is slowly getting better."
"Do you like him?"
Linda Linda took the e-cigarette and inhaled dreamily. "No, because he's helping us. He's the only one in Metropolis who helps us without any conditions, even if I don't sleep with him. That's the only instance in Metropolis."
"And... because of him, life in Metropolis has improved a lot. The things we couldn't stand before have decreased significantly. Although my abilities are not very strong, I still want to do what I can to help him."
Hearing that this was the reason, Xiaoying shook her head speechlessly. "You're still the same old do-gooder. Why do you care whether others have it good or not, just take care of your own business, right? You've suffered so much and you still haven't changed."