Chapter 13: Spoilers Aren't Much Fun

### Chapter 13: Spoilers Aren't Much Fun

"It's been so long since I last had meat. It feels so good to eat meat—living is all about eating meat!"

Lin Qingshan was also indulging heartily.

It had indeed been a long time since he had any meat; he'd mostly been eating bread and noodles.

From time to time, he would give a piece of grilled meat to Pochita, who was sitting next to him.

This barbecue restaurant didn't seem to mind them bringing Pochita along, probably because Pochita was just a small dog.

Gu Qianli, however, wasn't as focused on eating as Lin Qingshan and Ayumi Ito were.

"Miss Qianli... is something on your mind?"

Ayumi Ito, noticing Gu Qianli's distracted expression, felt a bit embarrassed and asked.

"No, no... And you can just call me Qianli."

Gu Qianli waved her hand, then said helplessly.

"Alright then. By the way, have you known Teacher Qingshan for a long time?"

Ayumi Ito asked cautiously.

She was curious about how Gu Qianli knew Lin Qingshan.

After all, the two didn't seem like they belonged to the same world, and Gu Qianli appeared to be a university student or a recent graduate.

Gu Qianli didn't have the worn-out look of someone who had been through the grind of the workplace. Plus, her style of dress was more typical of a student.

"We've actually only known each other for about a month."

Gu Qianli thought for a moment and said.

"You've only just met?"

Ayumi Ito blinked.

Lin Qingshan, busy swallowing his grilled meat, nodded, his words muffled, "That's right, uh... water! Water! Water!"

"Water... here it is!"

After hurriedly handing Lin Qingshan a glass of water to help him swallow the meat, the scene finally calmed down.

"It was really just a coincidence that I met Qingshan."

Gu Qianli shook her head and said, "By the way, Ayumi... you're Qingshan's editor, right?"

She actually wanted to be more formal in addressing Ayumi Ito, but then she remembered that she had just asked Ayumi not to add "Miss" when addressing her.

"Yes, I'm currently an editor at Manga World Publishing, and I'm the editor in charge of Teacher Qingshan."

Ayumi Ito responded.

"I know, I've been following Qingshan's first serialized work closely."

Gu Qianli took out the latest issue of *Manga World GoGo* from her bag and said.

It was clear she had already read the serialized manga.

"By the way, how's the popularity of *Edge Runner* in its first serialization?"

She asked curiously.

"We'll only know the specifics by next Thursday."

Ayumi Ito answered honestly.

With this, Gu Qianli had a topic to talk about and started chatting with Ayumi Ito.

But Lin Qingshan wasn't interested in joining the conversation; he just kept eating.

"So that's how it is... By the way, Qingshan mentioned that Ayumi, you've read the first six chapters of *Edge Runner*. How does it start?"

Gu Qianli asked, a bit excitedly.

The first chapter of Lin Qingshan's *Edge Runner* only introduced the general background of Night City and the world, focusing on cyberpsychos and cybernetic augmentations. The protagonist, David, had just appeared, and it was hard to tell what the story would be like.

However, Gu Qianli had seen the 26th chapter draft, where David, Lucy, and Maine appeared, but Maine had already died.

This made her curious about what had happened between David and Maine at the beginning.

"The first six chapters? David gets bullied in Night City, then he and his mother get caught up in a gang fight..."

Ayumi Ito remembered this part quite vividly.

Mainly because the first six chapters already depicted the cold and ruthless nature of Night City, a cyberpunk city where ordinary people without money didn't even have the right to be saved.

[Translator: sauron]

Even the storyline where David's mother dies early on was completely unexpected.

After all, how could a mother, who's supposed to be the protagonist's companion, die so soon and so casually?

Ayumi Ito felt a bit uncomfortable.

But in the following plot, there's a little satisfaction as the protagonist begins to rise. That makes things a bit better.

In any case, seeing David fight back against that arrogant rich kid after implanting the Sandevistan, Ayumi Ito felt a sense of gratification.

"Enough..."

But at this moment, Gu Qianli quickly interrupted, "I'll just read it myself later..."

Listening to Ayumi Ito describe the plot made her feel it was boring; it was much more fun to read it directly.

"By the way, Qingshan..."

Gu Qianli looked over at Lin Qingshan, who was still eating.

"Hmm? What's up?"

Lin Qingshan blinked and put down his chopsticks.

"In the cyberpunk world, is the power system just cybernetic modifications?"

Gu Qianli asked, "Wouldn't that mean that the stronger a corporation is, the more powerful and numerous their strong individuals are?"

"Yeah."

Lin Qingshan blinked and said, "But that's not entirely the case."

"Not entirely?"

Ayumi Ito said, "It probably has something to do with cyberpsychosis, right? After all, Teacher Qingshan set it up so that when cybernetic augmentation reaches a certain level, people turn into cyberpsychos and lose themselves..."

"No, no, it's not just about the level of augmentation. Even a single implant, if it exceeds the human nervous system's limits, can turn someone into a cyberpsycho."

Lin Qingshan said, "For example, the Sandevistan is like that, but everyone has different limits for cybernetic augmentation."

"So, David has one of those protagonist physiques with a high tolerance for cybernetic augmentations, right?"

Gu Qianli's eyes lit up as she asked.

"Yes, his tolerance is indeed much higher than the average person's."

Lin Qingshan thought for a moment and said.

"How far can cybernetic augmentation go? Could someone end up with everything except their brain being cybernetic?"

Ayumi Ito asked, curious.

Lin Qingshan thought about it—it was hard to say, given that in the game, even V had cybernetic modifications in the brain.

In fact, the netrunner and gunslinger builds for V should be the lowest in terms of overall cybernetic modification. The netrunning system was probably connected to the brain's interface, and it likely only involved the brain. Installing a netrunning system should be similar to cortical implants, only accounting for about 1% to 2% of cybernetic augmentation.

Overall, based on V's level of augmentation in the game, if you chopped up all the meat from their body, you might be able to make a dish of ginger-fried pork...

"In the cyberpunk world, everyone has brain modifications. There's a network access port in the brain. The most extreme case would be someone whose entire body is cybernetic, with just a tiny bit of original flesh left."

Lin Qingshan said.

"I see..."

Gu Qianli and Ayumi Ito both nodded in understanding.

"Alright, let's stop asking about this. It feels like Qingshan, you're making it less interesting by explaining everything."

Gu Qianli said.

"Alright then, by the way, I'm almost done eating. How about you guys?"

Lin Qingshan smacked his lips and asked.

"We're almost done too."

Gu Qianli and Ayumi Ito said in unison.

"Great... then let's go!"

Lin Qingshan picked up the now full Pochita and got ready to leave.

Immediately, Gu Qianli and Ayumi Ito followed suit.

(End of Chapter)