Chapter 1 Cyberpunk

"Ayumi... huh? Ayumi!"

Ayumi Ito was dazed for a moment, then turned her head and bowed deeply to the man behind her, saying in a panic:

"I'm sorry! Sir! I couldn't respond to you in time!"

Yang Dahai scratched his head, opened his mouth, and said helplessly:

"There's no need to be so polite, and no need to call me 'sir' or anything like that. We don't have that kind of seniority culture here."

But he understood Ayumi Ito. After all, she was a "model worker" from Japan.

It's said that this kind of seniority culture is still prevalent among the older generation in Japan. If the younger generation doesn't respond to their elders promptly, the consequences can be quite severe.

However, new colleagues from Japan, like Ayumi Ito, will gradually adapt to the environment and culture here sooner or later.

"Alright, Ayumi, you've just joined our Manjie Culture Company, and it's hard to find much work for you."

Yang Dahai said:

"It so happens that the company is holding a comic competition for newcomers. These are your comic submissions."

He patted a stack of comic manuscripts piled on the table in front of him. When placed on the table, they seemed almost as tall as Ayumi Ito.

There were a total of thirteen submissions, and due to the contest rules stipulated by the company, each submission had to contain at least 10 chapters or 150 pages before submission.

It would keep Ayumi Ito busy for several days.

And after all, these were comics submitted by newcomers, so there was no issue in assigning them to a junior comic editor like Ayumi Ito.

"Do you want me to pick out some comics?"

Ayumi Ito said nervously:

"How many comics do you want me to pick?"

"Don't be so nervous. You don't need to select them forcefully. You can just eliminate them all..."

Yang Dahai said casually.

After all, these were just part of the submissions, and they were all works by newcomers, so it would be normal to eliminate all of them.

But then he thought, what if there were some good ones that Ayumi Ito didn't notice?

He quickly added:

"Forget it, Ayumi. Just pick three books that you think are good and hand them to me."

"Okay!"

Ayumi Ito nodded and then grabbed the stack of comic manuscripts, taking them back to her workstation.

After returning to her desk, Ayumi Ito let out a sigh of relief.

She had recently joined this comic company, one of the top ten in the world. It was a big company, and the colleagues here were all quite friendly.

But she still felt a little uncomfortable with it. There wasn't a strict seniority culture like in her hometown in Japan, and colleagues who didn't know each other didn't address each other by their surnames, but by their first names.

Still, this place was much better than her hometown.

"Ayumi! If you want to stay here, you have to complete your tasks well!"

Ayumi Ito silently encouraged herself, saying:

"Let's start with these submissions and work hard to complete the job!"

She looked at the stacked comic manuscripts, grabbed the top one, and started reading it carefully.

The first comic manuscript was titled "The Sorcerer King" on the cover. The art style was quite good, and it followed the typical hot-blooded shounen manga plot.

Ayumi Ito read it carefully. She didn't find any issues with the plot or the art style, but she didn't feel much from it either.

"Is this book... considered good?"

Ayumi Ito was puzzled.

Her task was to select three good books and hand them to Chief Editor Yang Dahai.

This book seemed quite good, but Ayumi Ito didn't feel anything from it.

"I'll set this one aside for now and decide after reading the other works." Ayumi Ito immediately looked at the next manuscript.

Soon after, she encountered endless difficulties in making her selections.

"This book, 'Piaomiao Immortal Path,' seems okay..."

"But this book, 'The Spellcaster of Darkness,' also seems alright..."

"This 'Lord of the Fire Dragon'... is... okay..."

...

After reading seven books, Ayumi Ito felt that six of them were fine. The only one she rejected was because the art seemed too immature.

But for the other six books, she felt like whichever one she chose, they all seemed the same.

These were works that had no flaws but left no impression or feelings after reading.

What Ayumi Ito didn't realize was that if these works were shown to Yang Dahai, all of them would be eliminated.

Because the plots of these works were almost identical to outdated trends, with the same recurring worldviews.

If a work doesn't evoke any emotion or leave any memorable plot points for readers, it's bound to fail in becoming popular.

"Let's keep reading..."

Ayumi Ito picked up another manuscript and looked at the tenth submission...

"Cyberpunk 2077: Edge... runners?"

She read the title, which was unexpectedly long and sounded a bit strange.

This was also the first comic title she had seen that was clearly different from the previous nine manuscripts.

Ayumi Ito opened it directly and began reading. The opening chapter was a monologue from a man in a yellow coat whose true appearance was unknown.

"In 2077, the city I live in was voted the worst place in the United States."

"Why? Violent crime continues to surge..."

"The number of people living below the poverty line ranks first in the New United States..."

At the same time, the comic featured futuristic high-tech cityscapes, with maglev cars, holographic projection technology, trains traveling through the city, and...

A semi-cyborg with mechanical body parts.

"This is an undeniable fact, but people still come here. This city always gives you a glimpse of hope..."

"It doesn't matter if it's a lie or an illusion, but it feels so close, as if you could reach out and grab it... It makes people desperate!"

This was the world of the future, or the United States of the future!

Ayumi Ito immediately understood that this was a futuristic story.

She continued reading. The protagonist of the comic was named David Martinez, and the city he lived in was called Night City.

However, the plot started with an unrelated bandit attacking the municipal police during a night patrol.

This confused Ayumi Ito.

At the same time, the police engaged in a violent shootout with the bandit. However, the bandit stood there shooting wildly, as if he had no fear of bullets.

Then, the officers panicked and called for backup, saying, "It's a cyberpsycho! Call MaxTac!"

Cyberpsycho? What is that? Is it the name of a villain organization?

Also, why wasn't the bandit afraid of bullets? Was it some special superpower in this comic's setting?

With these curious thoughts, Ayumi Ito eagerly continued reading.

Then, she understood the setting of this comic. It wasn't about superpowers, but about human modifications and artificial prosthetics.

A powerful prosthetic body would give the transformed person immense strength, but once the human mind couldn't handle the burden brought by the prosthetic modifications, they would become a walking zombie, only knowing endless killing in reality, turning into a cyberpsycho.

This setting was truly unique, and Ayumi Ito immediately remembered it after just one reading.

So, she continued reading with interest and curiosity...

However, she then saw the protagonist being bullied by a wealthy second-generation classmate at school and the protagonist's troubled family situation. She immediately understood that Night City wasn't as beautiful as it was initially portrayed.

On the contrary, the wealth gap was severe, and the poor lived without dignity.

The protagonist had a fight with his mother, but then they got caught in a gang shootout, leading to a car accident.

At that moment, people who seemed to be part of a rescue team appeared.

The protagonist, David Martinez, said:

"Trauma Team, help us."

However, just as Ayumi Ito thought the protagonist and his mother were going to be saved, the cold words from the so-called Trauma Team appeared on the page:

"These people aren't clients, neither is this woman."

"To ensure the safety of the client, just leave these people for the municipal body truck."

And with that, they evacuated directly, with no intention of saving the protagonist and his mother.

"How could they..." Ayumi Ito clenched her fists, feeling a bit angry.

Fortunately, the scene changed, and it seemed like the protagonist and his mother were eventually saved.

It looked like the cheapest "hospital" had arrived.

At the same time, David also discovered the powerful military-grade prosthetic body his mother had hidden at home—the "Sandevistan" prosthetic.

But then he got beaten up by a rich second-generation classmate at school.

"It seems like this is the key to the protagonist's rise."

Ayumi Ito said excitedly:

"David is definitely going to change this hateful and awful world!"

However, in the next scene, the protagonist's mother was declared dead by the casual words of the scavenger...

David didn't even get to see his mother one last time, and he could only take her ashes home...

Driven by the loss of his mother, the bullying from his rich second-generation classmate, the failure of Trauma Team to save him, and more, David went to a black market doctor and asked him to implant the military-grade prosthetic known as "Sandevistan!"

And that's where the story ended.

Ayumi Ito could hardly wait to open the next chapter, but...

"I actually finished reading it without realizing it?!" she said in surprise.

She had read over a hundred pages and three chapters without even noticing.

And unlike the previous manuscripts, this time she wanted to

 keep reading after finishing it.

She wanted to see how the protagonist, David Martinez, would use the "Sandevistan" prosthetic to rise and change this despicable world!

"This one! It's absolutely possible!"

As she read it, Ayumi Ito also confirmed that this was the manuscript she would submit to Yang Dahai!

"The art style of this author is also very beautiful, and the plot is very interesting. What's their name?"

The author's name was listed as two characters: Qingshan.

(End of Chapter)