The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 37 - 36 Crime Consultant
Chapter 37: Chapter 36 Crime Consultant”The application ’Main Brain’ is not responding; if you continue to wait, the program may respond.”

- Continue waiting.

- End process.

Su Xiaoou was still in a state of a Main Brain crash, unable to utter a single word.

”Xiaoou?” Jiang Shu saw the person at the door and instantly sped up to push past the bald man blocking the entrance.

”Let’s go!” He grabbed Su Xiaoou’s hand and quickly fled the so-called Entanglers Bar.

——

”I really didn’t know that ’Dicky’ meant that, so I asked the bartender for Dicky...” Jiang Shu sat on a bench in a small park, patiently and meticulously explaining to Su Xiaoou.

After a long and detailed explanation, he looked at her with naive and kind eyes, testing the waters, ”So, do you understand why I was there?”

”I understand,” Su Xiaoou nodded, then shook her head, ”But not completely.”

She was still somewhat puzzled as to why Jiang Shu would come to help her, especially since she had deliberately made a bad impression to distance herself from this guy.

This Magician was somewhat different from the teacher previously assigned to her in the theater.

”...” Jiang Shu made a face, then his tone became resolute, ”Anyway, it’s not what you were just thinking!”

”Alright then.” Su Xiaoou accepted his explanation; at least he made sense and was coherent, but she still had one question, why didn’t he look it up if he didn’t understand?

Is English-to-Chinese translation that hard?

Seemingly sensing Su Xiaoou’s perplexity, the four Tablet Spirits blinked their adorable big eyes, then simultaneously turned their faces away.

Jiang Shu took a moment to collect himself, feeling a bit buzzed; that fruit juice drink must have had a higher alcohol content than RIO!

After running for a while, he was feeling somewhat dizzy.

After a bit, he felt better and looked at Su Xiaoou, ”Now, it’s your turn to talk, why were you in the bar?”

Although his tavern adventure had dispelled the suspicion that Su Xiaoou was ”earning extra money,” he knew things weren’t that simple.

Otherwise, why didn’t she work when she was poorer? Now that she officially became an apprentice, she should theoretically be better off financially and not need to work part-time.

Su Xiaoou’s gaze shifted awkwardly, ”I... was just doing some part-time work.”

”Mei said that you were up to no good.” Jiang Shu straightened up and leaned back, ”If you don’t tell the truth, do I have the right to fire you?”

”You! Who...” Su Xiaoou, flustered, instinctively wanted to give up entirely, but remembering how Jiang Shu had gone through that kind of place to find her, the words ”Who cares” just wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

Jiang Shu saw her inner turmoil and struck while the iron was hot, ”Tell me, I can help you.”

”You might not help me, but at least don’t stand in my way.” Su Xiaoou gave him a deep look and chose to lay all her burdens before him.

Jiang Shu was the second person she had chosen to trust in her life; the first was Sister Ran, who was dead.

Three to four years ago, the apprentice dormitory had poor security and lax management, situated in such a chaotic region, some apprentices had even become completely despondent.

Anyway, filthy dealings permeated that tube-shaped building at the time, but beyond the willing, there were coercion and threats.

At that time, Su Xiaoou’s roommate wasn’t Casey but Ye Weiran, a girl pure and kind enough to make her believe in the goodness of the world.

Ye Weiran was five years her senior, so she called her Sister Ran.

They were both orphans, but Sister Ran took good care of her, giving her all the goodness she could offer.

From Sister Ran, Su Xiaoou could feel the warmth that she had never experienced in her previous twelve years.

”Life back then, though poor, was really happy.” Su Xiaoou said expressionlessly, ”Sister Ran was naive, immature, she couldn’t see the dirt in this world.”

However, Su Xiaoou, who had grown up in the streets and became an apprentice halfway through, could see clearly, and she certainly knew that a girl as optimistic and pure as a little white flower like Sister Ran was a huge temptation to those men.

Men, after all, love to see two things: a fallen woman reforming and a good girl going astray.

So in the shadows, at merely twelve years old, she did everything she could to protect Sister Ran from the filth.

On a rainy autumn night, someone told her that the theater corridor was full of mud and wet leaves, and it was her turn to clean the theater, so she quickly ran back to tidy it up.

But when she returned, all she saw was an open door, a disheveled bed, and Sister Ran sitting in the corner with a vacant stare, the red on the bed burning her eyes.

In District E, kindness was an original sin, and Sister Ran paid the price.

She was beautiful and slender, had exceptional dancing talent, had a boy hidden in her heart, and should have had a better future.

——

The perpetrator went to jail, but at that time, Su Xiaoou didn’t understand why ruining someone’s life only resulted in three years behind bars.

Life had to go on, and things between the two seemed as sweet as before, with occasional unexplained silences.

Until.

The boy who had also always liked Sister Weiran rejected her. It seemed that it was at this time that Sister Weiran realized she was different from before.

The New Year was approaching, and on New Year’s Eve, like always, the two of them had a nice meal and then went to bed amid the noise of the apartment building’s courtyard.

The day before, she was twelve. After that day, she was thirteen.

The day before, Sister Weiran was seventeen. After that day, Sister Weiran was still seventeen.

——

”Sister Weiran doesn’t even have a grave.” Su Xiaoou sighed, ”Combined, our savings can’t even afford a burial plot.”

Jiang Shu frowned, ”The cemetery plots in Lonely City... they’re that expensive?”

”Mm.” Su Xiaoou nodded helplessly, ”If you’re really rich, you can take the ashes to the top of Sky Tower in the First District for storage, that’s the highest and cleanest place in Lonely City.”

”The middle class will buy a burial plot,” she continued, ”cremating Sister Weiran and buying a black wooden box to hold her ashes already cost us all of our savings.”

Jiang Shu could only express his helplessness at this.

”But this is already very good, at least we can properly place Sister Weiran. It’s much better than being dumped under Guillotine Road,” Su Xiaoou smiled slightly, ”That would really be an insult to her.”

”Guillotine Road?” Jiang Shu puzzled.

”That is, on a mountain road in the outskirts of Area F, there’s a sharp turn. If you’re not careful at night, you can easily crash down the cliff,” Su Xiaoou explained, ”In Area F, near the slums, there’s almost a shooting or gang fight every day. The bodies that no one cares about are also dumped under Guillotine Road.”

”No one takes care of it?” Jiang Shu continued to inquire, ”Piling up bodies could easily cause an epidemic, right?”

”They clean it up every three or four days. The local management office of Area F has come to accept it,” Su Xiaoou shrugged, ”After all, Area F, it can’t be managed.”

”Alright.” Jiang Shu stated, ”That bald guy is...”

”Jabba Clark,” Su Xiaoou continued, ”he has some influence in both the underworld and the legitimate world in Area F...”

”Mm.” Jiang Shu’s face carried the flush of alcohol, and he could only feel rage surging up within him. Ye Weiran’s experience made him empathize involuntarily because he too had experienced the oppression and despair of Areas E and F in his dreams.

Su Xiaoou gave him a deep look, ”If it weren’t for you, he would probably be dead by now.”

”If it weren’t for me, you would be in jail by now,” Jiang Shu replied tersely.

Su Xiaoou lifted her head high, ”I don’t care!”

”Revenge at the cost of yourself is pointless,” Jiang Shu shook his head.

”I’ve told you, you can’t stop me,” Su Xiaoou stated angrily, like an enraged little lion.

”I didn’t plan on stopping you.” Jiang Shu sighed, handing over his identification, ”The next performance is the day after tomorrow, get ready for the performance first.”

Su Xiaoou subconsciously took the identification, which bore the embossed gold letters— ”Crime Consultant.”

”The matter of revenge can wait.”

Jiang Shu’s voice was leisurely and carefree. Such matters were a mere trifle for him, and he did indeed need a character like Su Xiaoou.

He needed the relationship between Magic and Main Brain, and Su Xiaoou, as a native, could help him verify many things.

Of course, the most crucial thing was that it was interesting and kept him from being bored.

——

”What kind of magic do you want to learn?” Jiang Shu led Su Xiaoou into the office and slumped into the plush sofa.

”I want to learn it all!” Su Xiaoou declared without hesitation.

”You can’t bite off more than you can chew, you have to learn slowly,” Jiang Shu replied, then phrased it differently, ”Which type of magic do you want to master first? I mean the kind that can fill your belly.”

”What options are there?” Su Xiaoou asked.

”Let me think.” Jiang Shu closed his eyes.

Actually, the categorization of magic has always been quite vague. Should it be divided by props or according to the performance venue? By magical effects or magical principles?

None of these have a clear definition.

Or rather, magic should not be categorically defined, because its essence is deception, and deception doesn’t need to be clear, only confusing.

”Poker, coins, small balls. These mainly require sleight of hand,” Jiang Shu continued, ”Use of various small props, like a Magic Wand, Magic Hat.”

He went on:

”Or there’s Spirit Magic, where the effects are abstract and necessarily involved with the audience.”

”Or large-scale Illusion Technique, deceiving people’s eyes with scientific methods, all big spectacles, something I’ve wanted to try for a while.”

”Or escape acts, like being locked in a box and thrown into a river, where if you can’t escape, you drown.”

”Or is it large-scale stage prop magic, like Big Transformation, dismembering limbs, and the like.”

What to learn?

Su Xiaoou fell into deep thought.