The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 427 - 244 The Formation of the Wisdom Mutant_2
Chapter 427: Chapter 244 The Formation of the Wisdom Mutant_2”You’re a Wisdom Mutant, which means you used to be human?” Jiang Shu asked.

”Yes, no, I am still human!” Rafam Phil expressed dissatisfaction with Jiang Shu’s words.

”Okay, how did you become what you are now?” Jiang Shu selectively ignored what Rafam Phil had just mentioned, ”you humans.”

It seemed that subconsciously, this guy felt closer to rodents, but he still insisted on his human identity, which meant that he probably retained memories of being human.

”I used to be a background actor, only played minor roles.” Rafam Phil’s eyes filled with memories of the past, confirming what Jiang Shu had guessed. He truly remembered everything before he turned into a mutant.

”What happened next?” Jiang Shu listened intently, sparking Rafam Phil’s desire to tell more, as he always enjoyed chattering.

”Then... well,” Rafam Phil thought for a moment, ”every day I’d rush to act, eat at the theater, and live in my small apartment. Although life was a struggle, I quite enjoyed it.”

”Enjoyed?” Jiang Shu repeated, ”Enjoyed acting or something else?”

”I enjoyed my identity. I was a minor character. I lived in a small house. No one noticed me, and no one restricted me.” Rafam Phil’s expression turned somewhat strange as it spoke these repressed words with great longing, then realized how weird it sounded and questioned, ”Do you understand how I feel?”

”I somewhat understand,” said Jiang Shu vaguely. He felt this related somehow to Lonely City itself.

Or perhaps to the ”urban malaise” brought about by rapid urban development.

The vast city seemed to offer those minor characters only tiny apartments as a sanctuary. Looking out over the city from above, the bustling activity had nothing to do with them, fostering a sense of alienation.

Excessive labor also took away time for social interaction and relaxation, leading many to develop psychological issues.

Could the Wisdom Mutants be a result of these factors?

Urban malaise or a psychological affliction inherent in humans themselves?

”Somewhat understand...” Rafam Phil repeated, then nodded, ”Right, you’re a star of this city; we are different. I can’t expect you to understand.”

”I also used to scramble for days for a few hundred or thousand dollars from a commercial performance. After getting the money, I’d hesitate to spend much because I never knew when the next gig would come,” said Jiang Shu, his tone becoming unintentionally somber. ”Back in your rented room, just a few square meters with a bed waiting for you, where eating, drinking, and everything else had to fit.”

Compared to background actors, the career of a magician was even more dismal. There was always a need for extras, but not always for third-rate magicians.

For an average professional magician, there were only a few ways to make money, like performances or publishing magic books.

Thus, if you treated magic as a hobby, you’d be broke; if you treated it as a profession, even more so.

”Uh-huh.” Hearing this, Rafam Phil felt the hardship Jiang Shu had once endured, making him seem more approachable and significantly shortening the emotional distance. However, he laughed, ”But I don’t dislike that kind of life. I like confined, narrow spaces. In such environments, I feel more comfortable.”

”Opposite to claustrophobia?” Jiang Shu grasped the meaning.

Rafam Phil nodded continuously, responding, ”Exactly, that’s what I mean. Don’t you think such environments are very secure? Dim sewers, enclosed coffins, the closets in a married woman’s house...”

Jiang Shu: ”???”

He could understand the sewers and, tentatively, the inside of a coffin, but what was with the closet in a married woman’s house?

”Anyway, I really like that feeling.” The expression on Rafam Phil’s face seemed genuine; he truly enjoyed those gloomy, enclosed spaces.

Jiang Shu could not understand but still respected these unique preferences.

Rafam Phil continued sharing his feelings bit by bit, ”I always thought I was a bit strange, but one day, it suddenly all made sense to me. When we were very young, we all grew up in a dark, enclosed place.”

”The womb?” Jiang Shu blurted out the answer Rafam Phil meant.

”Yes, that was where you were before you were born, and the place that gave you a sense of security, and all I did was extend that sense of security into adulthood,” King Rat Phil continued, ”One day, while I was walking because of road construction, I fell into the sewer, but no one noticed me, and no one came to rescue me. When I woke up, I had already become like this.”

At this point, King Rat Phil had finished explaining the entire process of how he had transformed into this rat-like form.

Most of it was a journey of the mind, and after undergoing some kind of mental transformation, his body had substantially changed into its current state.

”But I don’t dislike it,” King Rat Phil said.

This was already the third time he had used the phrase—”I don’t dislike...”

”Maybe this is my true form; maybe I am really a rat-man who lives in the sewers, and going up to the human city on the ground was just following the flow. After all, I’m not meant to live on the ground; I will eventually return to the sewers,” he shrugged, his face indifferent, and then he showed his wristwatch, which displayed a character card.

King Rafam Phil

Sequence: Mutant Sequence.

Gradient: ?

Mysterious Coefficient: 1.1

Entries (hidden)

...

”I understand,” Jiang Shu said without adding much more. He would not oppose King Rat Phil’s decision nor urge him to try living on the surface again.

Even though he noticed there were still some contradictions in his words.

For instance, whether he considered himself human or non-human, or the repeated emphasis that he didn’t dislike that state, or his liking for the sewers despite keeping himself very clean.

This was a somewhat contradictory King Rat, but his intentions were not bad.

”You are the first person to whom I’ve told all this,” King Rat Phil sighed and then looked up, his sharp rat-like snout twitching, ”Just like the magic performed on stage, you truly are a kind person.”

Beta: Here comes the all-powerful Asashi!

”Thank you,” Jiang Shu smiled, noticing that King Rat Phil had seen his magic performance, and he asked, ”So what are you going to do next? If you plan to return to your original organization, I might not be able to let you go back, as your abilities pose a risk to me.”

”Of course, I’m not going back,” King Rat Phil continued, ”There’s no place for me there, only the sewers are my home.”

”In that case... I give you money for rat food, and you help me gather some information, how about that?” Jiang Shu proposed, seeing that what King Rat most cared about were his little rat followers and if money could motivate him...

That would be just perfect.

”That’s exactly what I was thinking,” King Rat Phil’s eyes lit up immediately; he had already had such a thought, but when it came to issues affecting the interests of his little rat followers, he needed to retain some dignity, so he cleared his throat and with a serious face made a bold demand: ”A hundred thousand a month, that’s the minimum, any less and I simply cannot control the rats of the Fifth District.”

In his worldview, this was already a huge sum, surely one that the organization would never give him for feeding rats.

Previously, he had no choice but to mess around with Skyscraper, but now things were completely different.

”How about I give you five hundred thousand, can you control five districts?” Jiang Shu’s response stunned King Rat.

”I think... that should be possible,” King Rat Phil suppressed the joy on his face and then asked, ”So what’s my mission?”

”Find some things,” Jiang Shu said with a smile, having his plans in mind.

Compared to Ding’s perfect stealth, what he needed now was more informers, only omnipresent informers could help him find Tang’s last Fake Body and help him locate Tang’s laboratory.

After that, Ding’s stealth (referring to opening unparalleled) would be useful.

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