What the hell was this?
What was going on?
And what was he supposed to do now?
Looking at the prompt that had suddenly popped up, Lin Yuan—who still had no idea what had just happened—scratched his head, then turned to the group chat.
And there, he saw David's message.
So his ability had worked.
At once, a look of realization appeared on Lin Yuan's face. Then he began typing, asking David for details.
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] What exactly happened on your end? I need a proper description.
[Let Night City Burn:] Ah, okay. My soul seemed to be stuck in some kind of chaos, and then just now I suddenly became able to see the things around me…
[Let Night City Burn:] It was kind of like I came back to life for a short while. I couldn't interact with anything around me, but other people seemed able to see me?
[Let Night City Burn:] I don't know whether she could hear my voice… but anyway, thank you so much. You let me settle one lingering regret. If there's anything I can do to repay you, just say the word.
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] About how long did that revived state last?
Lin Yuan didn't say anything about repayment. He only asked urgently.
Come on. They were all dead right now—what use was repayment from a dead man?
You could talk about that after he won his resurrection bracket.
[Let Night City Burn:] About… half a minute?
Half a minute?
For a moment, Lin Yuan was stunned. He turned and looked at the lifespan he had just sent over.
Yep. No mistake. A full twenty-four hours.
A total of 1,440 minutes…
What the hell kind of loss rate is this—over 99%? Are you serious?
[This level of loss has been determined to be normal.]
[When soul power crosses the Primordial River, enormous loss will occur. In addition, because the quality of your soul power is relatively low, a large amount of loss will also occur during conversion.]
Looking at the chat group's explanation, Lin Yuan felt even more miserable.
Then he looked down at the long strings of footnote-like annotations that seemed bloated enough to pass for a watered-down graduation thesis. After struggling through them for quite a while, red-faced and grinding his teeth, he finally understood.
Put simply, it was like an electrical circuit.
Lin Yuan was the battery.
The Primordial River was the wire.
And David was the electrical appliance being powered.
The only problem was that Lin Yuan, as a battery, had rather low voltage; the Primordial River, as the wire, had rather high resistance; and the appliance in question also just happened to have somewhat high rated power requirements…
God damn it, my dead high school physics is attacking me.
Still, when he thought about it, it did make sense.
This was the Primordial River, after all. This shitty place was practically killing him already, so having high resistance wasn't exactly strange.
And David… before dying, that guy had been on the verge of becoming a cyberpsycho. For Lin Yuan's bit of soul power to be converted properly and affect him normally, it was understandable that the loss rate would be huge.
Unless Lin Yuan could somehow improve the quality of his soul power, there was probably no way this situation would change.
But the real headache was this: if it was already this troublesome just to send David a bit of energy, then how absurd would the requirements be later when he tried sending energy to someone like Jonathan?
There was even Jie in the group.
Just imagining that loss rate made Lin Yuan feel awful all over.
Sigh. Forget it. That wasn't something he could solve right now…
At least this had not only accomplished what he wanted—it had even brought an unexpected bonus.
Thinking that, Lin Yuan gathered his thoughts and looked back down at the chat.
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] You really… came back to life?
[Let Night City Burn:] Yeah. For me, it was basically that, even if only temporarily…
Before the glowing chat screen, Carmen typed out her question in almost outright shock.
At the same time, she turned her head to glance at Ayin, who was still silently working beside her, and waved a hand at him.
Mm. As always, there was no response.
Ever since Carmen's suicide, her consciousness had sunk into silence. It was only after this chat group appeared before her eyes that things had become what they were now.
In a certain sense, she was probably the one in the best condition among all the group members.
She could move around relatively freely and still retained basic senses. The only problem was that no one else could see her…
It could only be said that the innate talent of an urban ghost was truly terrifying.
Ah, though honestly, watching her former colleagues like this—especially Ayin—didn't feel entirely bad…
But Carmen did want to live.
Being able to come back to life would be even better.
A desire to survive that had somehow awakened only after her suicide.
Thinking that, Carmen laughed at herself softly and resumed typing.
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] @Lord of the Pure White Throne, how exactly did you do that? And can you take it any further?
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] It's a bit troublesome to explain. Put simply, it's just burning money. In theory, if I burn more, I can take it further.
Lin Yuan hesitated for a moment before giving a rather vague explanation.
Which wasn't really wrong.
It was just that the "money" in question happened to be his own lifespan.
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] Then could you still…**
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] Not for the moment. I already said it—I'm in critical condition myself right now.
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] Understood. Sorry, I overstepped.
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] Then is there anything I can help with? If that kind of result—or something even further—is possible, I'm willing to assist, even pay a price for it.
[Founder of the Golden Spirit:] …That sounds like a spirit of sacrifice worthy of admiration. If you need my help, then I too will do my duty without hesitation.
Seeing Carmen and Jonathan state their positions, Lin Yuan let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Not bad. At least now he had secured the most basic level of trust…
But still, the same old problem remained.
Even if you all wanted to help, there was no actual way to do it!
Everyone here was dead!
Still, Lin Yuan felt that since this was a chat group—and the group rules explicitly mentioned mutual assistance—then there had to be a channel for that somewhere, right?
He guessed that this "channel" was very likely tied to the chat group's still-locked functions…
So the top priority now was to find some way to gradually unlock those functions.
Which brought him right back to the most classic of problems.
Unlocking features required points.
Then go get points!
Getting points required chat group features.
Then go unlock the features!
Unlocking the features required points!
Then go get the damn points!
Jesus Christ, this never ends!
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] I really appreciate everyone being willing to trust me… but even if we want to help one another, there's no channel for it yet.
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] Still, I'll do my best to think of a solution. I'm dead too, after all, and since this chat group exists here…
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] Then no matter what, everyone wants to come back to life, right? In that regard, I hope we can work together honestly from here on out, and strive toward that shared goal…
Anything further—about one person reviving first and then carrying the others afterward—felt too distant and empty. Lin Yuan thought for a moment, then stopped typing there.
Because next, he had something even more important to do.
As he thought that, he turned his head and looked once more at his ability, [Angler].
And at the new text that had appeared above it.
[A level 1 "fate" relationship has been established with the world Cyberpunk 2077.]
[Current bonded world: Cyberpunk 2077 (Level 1)]
[Soul Ability: Angler text updated.]
[When you fish, you may randomly obtain related items from bonded worlds. Item rarity depends on the world's level. Some items may be used to exchange for resources such as points.]
Well, there it was. Now he really had become a genuine fisherman.
Though the idea of anglers often coming back empty-handed was painful to think about, one thing was undeniable…
The moment Lin Yuan saw that text, his first reaction was that the deadlock trapping him might finally have a way out.
When I get skunked, you can call me a fisherman and I won't argue. But now that I've turned the tables with cheats, what should you call me instead?
And beyond the excitement of realizing he might be saved, there was also something else that naturally made a person curious.
What exactly could he fish up?
From the world of Cyberpunk 2077?
So, driven by curiosity, Lin Yuan couldn't help chuckling twice as he cast that fishing rod toward the wide Primordial River.
Then he waited quietly.
Until, after several long hours had passed—so long that the people in the chat had already gotten bored enough to start idly chatting away—Lin Yuan, who had been sitting there like an old monk in meditation, finally lifted his eyelids.
He felt it.
Looking at the float bobbing up and down, Lin Yuan yanked the rod without hesitation.
Something had taken the hook!
I didn't get skunked, damn it! You hear me? I did not get skunked!
And so, in that instant, Lin Yuan excitedly hauled up the fishing rod.
[You have successfully fished up an item!]
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