The entire next morning.
Everyone who encountered Berry and V felt a strange atmosphere.
Their boss's face was red like anything, sitting there smiling foolishly. When asked anything, it took several repetitions for her to barely snap back to reality and respond a couple of times, her whole being seemingly wandering in the heavens, unaware of her surroundings.
And V, the boss of The Hive, wasn't much better. Although a bit clearer-headed, her face was also unusually red, almost filling up the red family on a color palette. Her hands were like she had Parkinson's, hitting wildly at the shooting range, missing every target, and leaving holes all over the wall.
Of course, as the people involved, Berry didn't care about what others thought at all.
Who would know what happened behind closed doors?
Not only did she not hide it, but she intensified it.
After spending the morning slacking off in the office, she retreated into the room and snuggled with V.
The TV was playing a news channel, but no one was watching.
The two were on the sofa, researching the influence factors of physical touch and pheromone transmission on love, organizing notes that could directly be published in a journal.
Her head buried in V's chest, her hand aimlessly stroking V's elastic abs.
What can humans think of when it comes to the abdomen?
Is it a fragile, undefended weakness, or the beauty of alluring curves, full of vitality and charm?
But thanks to last night's play.
Berry, somehow, connected it to life.
Ah, this is the source of the abdomen's beauty, the vitality and hope of life itself, which makes it so desirable.
Every person in this world is born of a mother.
This is not superstition; it is a truth.
The famous incorruptible politician Qi Tongwei summarized it well: people come from the womb and go to the grave.
In just two sentences, he saw through the essence of the world.
It shows his solid theoretical foundation.
But Berry was a bit different; compared to a philosopher's contemplation, she preferred to appreciate the abdomen from an aesthetic perspective, like a pure aesthetician.
But this appreciation was not abstract like 'white horse is not a horse'; it was concrete, practical, a part within the whole, and a manifestation of the part contained within the whole.
Life itself is beauty, and this beauty has many complex manifestations. Even if one spends an entire lifetime, it is difficult to grasp that moment of beauty.
But Berry believed she had achieved it.
Because she could not only touch it with her hands, but she could also feel it with her tongue.
Traditional Chinese medicine diagnoses by looking, listening, asking, and feeling the pulse; why should her appreciation of beauty be any different?
Alright, so much for the rambling, but Berry just wanted to say one thing.
V is truly amazing; I really want to carry her for ten months and give birth to her.
V:?
V, who was still enjoying their intimate time, didn't know that while she saw Berry as her girlfriend, the other party wanted to be her mother.
But this also came with a price.
The price was that Berry wore a collar and meowed for the first half of the night yesterday.
But what does it matter?
Humble origins are not a disgrace; being able to bend and stretch is the mark of a true man.
To see V shyly calling her 'Mama,' no price is too high.
It's just integrity, what's it worth... Although the two of them were just being intimate and didn't accomplish anything, isn't the meaningful part of life precisely this time that belongs to oneself?
Life is made up of breaking down, absurdity, and sweetness.
And absurdity occupies most of it, with pitifully little sweetness.
See, sitting at home, trouble comes from the sky.
Berry soon couldn't smile anymore.
It was a normal day. Berry in the office suddenly received a call.
"Berry, you need to come out."
On the phone, Dr. Viktor, who hadn't appeared in a while, spoke with a serious tone.
"What's wrong, Viktor? Why so serious?"
Berry leaned back on the sofa, still not fully recovered from her casual routine.
"The Tyger Claws are here; they want to see you."
"What? Tyger Claws?"
Berry instantly sat up straight, her expression serious.
Matters involving gangs are usually not good.
Especially since Berry and the Tyger Claws had been at odds several times.
Berry, a legitimate businesswoman, had always scorned these Gangers who infest Night City like cockroaches.
Yes, perhaps these Gangers all have various difficulties, poor backgrounds, impoverished lives, and are forced into this line of work.
But while they have their difficulties, Berry absolutely cannot condone taking the path of a gang, which relies on large corporations to exploit the populace.
Not only could she not condone it, but she also struck back hard.
She had killed dozens, if not a hundred, Gangers, so when the gang came knocking, she naturally couldn't think positively.
The meeting room was soon almost full.
Viktor was already there, Berry had just entered, and V also hurried in behind her.
"Where's Jackie?"
Berry looked around but didn't see Jackie's large figure.
"He's not at the Hive right now, so he can't come. It's just the three of us."
Viktor said, pulling out chairs for the two of them.
"Who are these Tyger Claws, and what do they want?"
As soon as she sat down, Berry began to question Viktor, but only received a shake of his head.
"I'm not sure, but they're not just any nobodies; they seem to be from the Tyger Claws' main branch. Whatever they want, we'll know once we let them in."
With the three main people in charge of the Hive assembled, Berry notified someone to bring in the Tyger Claws' envoy.
Whether the visitors were guests or not would soon be known.
The door opened, and in came a middle-aged man in a suit, with an East Asian face and a perpetual business smile, looking exactly like an insurance salesman.
Berry was stunned for a moment.
Given the Tyger Claws' background, she had expected someone covered in tattoos and wearing a large gold chain around his neck.
"Hello, my name is Togo Saji, and I am very grateful that the esteemed members of the Hive have granted me an audience."
The visitor was extremely polite, even excessively so, sitting with his legs together and his back not touching the chair, a stark contrast to the Gangers the three had in mind.
Something out of the ordinary usually indicates something sinister.
Berry didn't relax her guard; she just watched the man in front of her, waiting to see what he would do.
"I humbly represent Boss Bukit and have presumptuously brought a very favorable contract for everyone at the Hive. My apologies."
As soon as this Togo fellow sat down, he repeatedly bowed and apologized, full of the demeanor of a corporate drone.
Until he took a contract out of his briefcase and respectfully handed it to the table with both hands.
"My boss, Mr. Bukit, is prepared to acquire the Hive for five hundred thousand. In the future, all Hive earnings will be split three-seven. What do the three esteemed sirs think?"
After speaking, Togo, with his fake business smile, looked at Viktor in the middle, awaiting a response.
Looking at the contract laid out, Berry and the other two frowned.
During the silence, Togo maintained his fake smile without a change in expression, but hearing the guy's words, the anger that had flared up in Berry after a brief moment of surprise was almost impossible to suppress.
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