"Rogue, you were so beautiful when you were young."
Xiao lounged lazily on the sofa, smiling as he praised Rogue, who had just barged in. Honestly, the biggest difference between a real cyberpunk world and the one portrayed in games was the women.
The creators of Cyberpunk had deliberately uglified nearly all the female characters in the original work—afraid of getting dogpiled by a certain crowd of perpetually disgruntled people. They only dared to sneak a few genuinely attractive women into random street NPCs or DLC.
But reality was different.
In a cyberpunk world where facial models could be altered at will, as long as you had money, a beautiful face was the easiest thing to obtain.
At the very least, Evelyn Parker—the woman who drove even Arasaka Yorinobu to obsession—certainly didn't look the way she did in the game.
Otherwise, Xiao would seriously suspect that Prince Yorinobu had some kind of mental disorder. After seeing so many beauties, could his taste really have shifted like that?
"Cut the flattery," Rogue snapped. "I'm here to talk about something serious."
"Go ahead. I'm listening."
"I know what you're trying to do," Rogue said bluntly. "But you have to shut down that time-based currency—at least don't expose it so early. Otherwise, we're finished. The European Community will never allow something like this to exist. You're digging straight into their core."
Rogue could already picture it clearly: the moment large numbers of people started exchanging euros for Xiao's technology, the European Community would roll an aircraft carrier straight over to sanction him.
Because Xiao wouldn't spend the money at all.
His goal was to hoard euros—pile them up until they rotted in his hands.
Once money stopped circulating, a liquidity shortage would hit the world. The European Community would be forced to print more euros, triggering devaluation.
And Xiao? He would simply switch to using time as currency, replacing euros entirely and further eroding the monetary system.
Xiao controlled vast quantities of top-tier technology—things that were priceless, yet cost him nothing. He could extract endless euros without paying a single cent.
On the other hand, time as a currency was immune to inflation. Time was tied to energy and materials. Life created time—and also consumed it. Time only ever decreased with use.
And Xiao could expand time at will, giving him wealth he could never spend away.
It was a flawless plan.
A perfect way to crush European banks and replace the euro with his own system.
But the problem was—
This wasn't an ordinary financial war.
As the world's dominant power, the European Community didn't play clever games. If they were unhappy, they would simply kill you.
(T/N: This is so funny because most companies and governments do this. You'll be found dead after committing suicide and taking seven shots to the back of your head.)
There were no conspiracies—only hot war.
If you dared stab them in the back, they'd prove it and wipe you out.
With their current strength, there was no way Xiao's side could withstand European sanctions. Energy sanctions alone would be enough to kill them outright.
Su Petrochemical, based in the European Community, controlled the world's largest energy conglomerate. With a single order, they could paralyze Night City completely—no power, no fuel, nothing.
"Start your show," Xiao said casually.
He tapped lightly, a stream of data flashing by, and then handed full modification authority over to Rogue.
"Change whatever you like."
Rogue froze.
On the Dimension website, beneath the original time-based unit, a new row had appeared—euros.
The number next to it represented each user's euro balance deposited on the platform.
And that balance also decreased as the countdown ran.
It was still one euro per sixty minutes, but every product on the site had now been repriced entirely in euros, skipping the recharge step altogether.
Time now served only one purpose: maintaining access rights to the Dimension chip and the website itself. It had no other function.
"It makes no difference," Xiao said dismissively. "Which megacorp doesn't have its own bank and currency?"
Rogue nearly blew a gasket.
"Damn it, the difference is huge!" she snapped. "Time currency belongs to you. Euros belong to the European Community. That's legitimacy! That's authority!"
She scolded him fiercely, then let out a long breath of relief.
At least Xiao could listen.
That alone made her feel much better. What she feared most were people who became stubborn tyrants the moment they were convinced they were right.
"And one more thing," Rogue added. "Register the license at the gateway and install the Blackwall. You don't want to accidentally connect to rogue AIs and let those big rats crawl in. Unless you enjoy having your head blown off at random."
"You can relax," Xiao replied calmly. "The Dimension website runs in an independent cyberspace I created myself. There's no way to link it back through the Dimension chips."
He was extremely confident.
The servers and core programs behind the Dimension website were bound directly to the Dimension Farm—his Daluo Dao Fruit.
Hackers, network watchdogs—hell, even the legendary hacker-god Bartmoss himself—if they dared step into his cyberspace, they'd end up as nothing more than a plate of bean sprouts.
Maybe with a splash of vinegar.
"All right," Rogue said, shaking her head. "If you're that confident, I won't argue. The NetWatch dogs aren't pushovers, though."
She wasn't trying to persuade him anymore—just offering a professional reminder.
After all, she had no authority to comment on his tech. Xiao's abilities were already far beyond common sense. The dimensional seeds alone—enough to restore her youth—had shattered her worldview three times over.
"If they're not afraid of getting their brains burned, let them try," Xiao sneered. "I don't mind killing one or two hackers."
As someone who'd grown up in Heywood, Xiao had always been watched.
In his early days, hackers tried relentlessly to steal his tech. Dozens attacked his personal terminal every single day.
But against the Tyrant System, their fates were always the same—
Either their brains exploded, their prosthetics burned them alive, or they went cyberpsycho and were put down by MAX-TAC.
"I know you're confident," Rogue said patiently, "but other people don't know that. Without a Blackwall, they'll feel unsafe."
She reminded him one last time, then shifted the topic.
"You can decide about the Blackwall yourself. Now let's talk business. What's your plan? How many people do we have?"
"…What plan?" Xiao asked, blankly.
"Huh???" Rogue stared at him. "Isn't this what you told me yesterday?!"
Veins popped out on her forehead.
"…You didn't just come up with a name, did you?"
"..."
Silence.
Absolute, textbook silence.
"I quit!"
Rogue grabbed her bag without hesitation and turned to leave. She felt like she'd just been tricked onto a pirate ship.
"No—wait! Rogue, my good sister, don't go!" Xiao hurriedly grabbed her arm.
Her connections and influence were indispensable to his plans. He couldn't let her walk away.
"I already pulled in Arasaka Yorinobu yesterday!"
"…???"
Rogue blinked, then asked again, slowly, just to make sure she'd heard right.
"You mean that Arasaka Yorinobu? Of the Arasaka Corporation?"
"The Iron Dragon's eldest son?"
"Arasaka Yorinobu… is ready to work with you to overthrow corporate rule?"
"Yeah~ that's what I mean."
Rogue stared at him for a long moment.
Then she said, flatly—
"…Is he sick?"
⭐ Enjoying the story?
You can read ahead and support the translations by joining my Patreon!
Your support helps me update faster and take on more projects. Thank you for reading!
Read up to 50 chapters ahead!
patreon.com/AminaSims