The sudden voicemail interrupted Yun You as she was about to put on her VR glasses to explore the "Ethernet".

At the same time, it shattered her good mood for the entire day.

[Insect Gang · Zhou Kui]

The person who called wasn't one of those digital scammers, but an underground gang member.

Due to the lack of police force in Nest City and a certain degree of deliberate neglect, there are numerous gangs operating in the gray areas of the mid and lower districts of the city.

Some are small in scale, doing minor jobs like "collecting protection fees" or "brawling and running errands" to earn pocket change; larger ones often have their own industries, such as illicit weapon workshops, prosthetic clinics, and unregulated synthetic food production.

The "Insect Gang," where Zhou Kui belonged, was a small gang occupying half a street.

Established a year ago, it relied on its members' ruthless methods and bottomless ways of doing things... like kidnapping infants to use as human shields, forcing opponents to surrender, and using those methods to secure half the street.

However, due to their weak foundation and narrow vision, the Insect Gang couldn't handle big businesses like weaponry and prosthetics, so they resorted to shady activities like running private casinos, collecting protection money, usury... and people trafficking.

Yun You had borrowed money from these people.

And this matter had its origins in an assassination plan from half a month ago.

At that time, Yun You had just obtained intelligence about an Apprentice Death God and knew his movement route.

Excited, the young girl immediately decided to execute the assassination plan.

However, at that time, Yun You was just a dishwashing worker in a fly-infested diner, and her monthly salary was barely enough to feed herself, let alone purchase the poison and bombs for the assassination.

So, after some considerations, Yun You turned to the Insect Gang, using her father's relic—a rare natural Blue Crystal as collateral, and borrowed 4000 bucks for her mission expenses.

At the time, Yun You never thought she could repay this money, and felt heartbroken for a long time when she handed over the Blue Crystal, thinking she would never see this heirloom again in her life.

But now it seems, it's about time to redeem it.

Moreover, the Insect Gang suddenly tightening their debts, shortening the originally one-year repayment period to just a day, clearly seemed fishy.

Listening to Zhou Kui's tone, the gang's threat was probably not just for fun.

Among them, there were quite a few hackers; they should be able to trace Yun You's home through her phone number.

If this group were to storm her place, things could get troublesome.

Out of duty and emotion, Yun You needed to go and see for herself.

She wanted to see what this group was truly planning.

Yun You put down her glasses, casually grabbed two small knives from the table, and stuffed them into her pocket.

She had originally planned to first check out the "Ethernet" and spend all 200,000 Silver Cannon in her card before dealing with the Insect Gang slowly.

But after a little thought, Yun You abandoned this idea.

The instruction manual for the VR glasses mentioned that first-time users of the Ethernet often lose track of time perception... spending hours or even days in virtual space.

In such a situation, the user's physical body in the real world would be in danger.

Even a small hungry dog could take the user's life away at that time if encountered.

Yun You certainly didn't want to take such a risk.

She'd rather suppress her shopping desires than make a mistake at this time.

"Anyway, money doesn't get moldy just sitting there, I'll spend it when I get back,"

Yun You thought to herself.

Moreover, with the little girl's ability now, a small gang shouldn't be that challenging...

She silently changed into a new robe, tucked away her gold card and glasses, and left the house.

Yet, before going downstairs, the girl still wrote a timed SOS message, setting it to send to her mentor Old Jin if she didn't operate her phone within ten minutes.

"If it's really dangerous, I'll let Old Jin help..."

This girl practically had the word "cautious" engraved in her heart.

...

Bottom District, R3 Street.

The ranking of regions in Nest City is arranged in the order of the letters ABCD from high to low.

The most prosperous area is Zone A at the top, while the lowest naturally is Zone Z.

As for R Zone, ranked 18th, it has always belonged to the Bottom District since Nest City's establishment, filled with sprawling slums and garbage processing plants.

This place has nothing to do with "prosperity"; the only relatively developed area is R3 Street, which has several electronics factories and a black market.

The current time is 7:30 in the morning, and while the noble folks from Nest City's upper and middle areas have just ended a nightlong feast and fallen asleep under the care of massage robots,

the lower-class workers have already awakened from brief sleep, dragging their weary bodies, grabbing a bite at diners and street stalls, before returning to the electronics factories for a grueling 16-hour work streak.

The road on R3 Street isn't spacious, and people come and go densely like sardines packed tightly in a can, moving only through "wiggling" in the crowd.

Almost everyone rushing to the early market here had to go through such an ordeal.

Except for the guys walking down the center of the street.

This was a group of hooligans uniformly dressed in motorcycle vests, wearing sunglasses, and covered in iron chains and LED strips.

They numbered around 20, all robust adult men, with none shorter than 1.9 meters, standing like imposing black walls.

But the surprising thing was, the leader of these "giants" wasn't a stronger big guy but a short-statured, hunched-backed middle-aged man barely reaching the others' waists.

In contrast to the hooligans, the man appeared exceedingly comical.

Yet at this moment, not a single person on the street dared to laugh at him.

Because on his exposed right arm, a green mantis tattoo was menacingly imprinted, appearing extremely hideous under the LED lights.

It was this thing that instinctively made the surrounding people retreat, creating a path even in the crowded space.

The people recognized the symbol.

The emblem of the R3 street rulers, the [Insect Gang].

And those who could have the gang emblem tattooed on their hand, could only be the head of the Insect Gang—"Qian Sanjin".

Legend has it he weighed exactly three jins at birth, thus earning this peculiar name.

Qian Sanjin was born as a premature baby; his mother was a student doing part-time work in a dance hall, and his father... was a client long gone to who knows where.

Such a background was indeed an unfortunate start.

But he didn't succumb to fate, climbed and struggled, eventually ascending to a gang leader position from a grassroots background, an admittedly inspirational story.

However, these tales were beautified by the Insect Gang; the real story of Qian Sanjin's rise, they say, was through selling tricks...

But that was just gossip and not taken seriously by many.

...

Qian Sanjin led a group of Insect Gang hooligans majestically down the street and stopped in front of a well-decorated bar.

Here, a one-eyed young man was already waiting at the entrance, eagerly anticipating.

Seeing Qian Sanjin and his people arrive, the one-eyed youth hurried over with quick steps.

"Zhou Kui."

Qian Sanjin casually called out the one-eyed young man's name.

And this guy was the one who just sent Yun You the debt collection message.

"Is everyone here?"

Qian Sanjin glanced at the silhouettes inside the bar, took out a cigarette, and muttered, "Is anyone still missing?"

"Almost everyone's here."

Zhou Kui fawningly extended his hand, using the lighter prosthetic embedded in his finger to light Qian Sanjin's cigarette.

"Except for the little one called Yun You."

"But I just sent her another message, urging her to hurry over... she should be on her way."

"..."

Qian Sanjin took a deep drag on his cigarette, the flame at the tip burning instantly to the end.

"That's it, let's not wait for her."

"Start ahead, don't keep 'that esteemed person' waiting."

"Yes."

Zhou Kui nodded without hesitation, leading everyone into the bar.

And when the last member of the Insect Gang stepped inside, Zhou Kui cautiously peeked out, scanning the surroundings. Seeing no one glancing his way, he gently shut the door, putting up the [Closed] sign.

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