Chapter 158: Anime Broadcast

Chapter 158: Anime Broadcast

After finishing a tiring night shift, Liao Zijun stretched his weary limbs before heading home.

His work required him to work nights, so he was accustomed to this schedule—sleeping after work and then going back to work. However, seeing that it was only nine in the morning, he wasn't ready to sleep just yet.

Liao Zijun even ordered some takeout. While waiting for it to arrive, he logged onto his computer and entered a chat group for anime enthusiasts on the Penguin platform.

The group was quite lively early in the morning, with messages already piling up to over 99.

As the name suggested, it was a group for anime fans. Liao Zijun, being an anime fan himself but not much into manga, was curious about the buzz.

"Finally off work," he typed in.

**Aisijinmianren:** "The big guy is off work!"

**Wansui Daozu:** "Damn, I just started my shift!"

**Junzhi Woyi:** "You know I work the night shift."

Liao Zijun was slightly annoyed, but this was just the usual banter among the group members.

**Liangban Jianshouqing:** "Hey, have you all heard about the new anime 'Edge Walkers'? Have you watched it?"

**Aisijinmianren:** "Of course! If you haven't watched 'Edge Walkers,' you haven't seen a good anime this March!"

Liao Zijun's curiosity was piqued. Since he didn't follow manga much, he wasn't aware of it until now. Manga's limitation often meant that unless it was adapted into anime, few people outside the manga circle would know about it. Even if it was as famous as Lin Qingshan's previous work, "Spy x Family," many might not know of it without the widespread anime promotion.

**Junzhi Woyi:** "'Edge Walkers'? Is it any good?"

**Wansui Daozu:** "It's okay... I watched the first episode last night. It seemed pretty average, but I've heard the rest of the series is amazing?"

**Aisijinmianren:** "It's great! I finished the whole series online yesterday. You won't see much from the first episode alone."

**Wansui Daozu:** "? They only aired one episode on TV. Where did you watch the whole series?"

**Aisijinmianren:** "Didn't you know? Besides airing on TV, 'Edge Walkers' is also available online, on a small site."

**Wansui Daozu:** "Send the link quickly!"

**Aisijinmianren:** "It's paid though. It costs three bucks per episode, but you can get a membership for ten bucks a month to watch the whole series."

**Junzhi Woyi:** "Ten bucks for the entire series, one buck per episode isn't too bad."

In this world's republic, people were generally inclined towards a better standard of living, so they preferred supporting official content rather than spending twenty bucks on takeout while refusing to pay ten bucks for official access.

Seeing this, Aisijinmianren copied the website URL and sent it.

[Translator: sauron]

Liao Zijun clicked the link, which led him to a neatly designed website with the name "Cilicili Bullet Screen Network."

The name seemed a bit odd, but he thought nothing of it.

He was there to watch anime. The website's scrolling cover featured an anime poster labeled "Cyberpunk 2077: Edge Walkers."

Great, that saved him the trouble of searching.

He clicked on it but found that the page required him to register and log in.

A bit of a hassle... he frowned.

But he followed the instructions to complete the registration and log in, and he purchased the ten-dollar monthly membership.

Soon, he clicked on "Cyberpunk 2077: Edge Walkers," which displayed "All Ten Episodes" and "Completed" on the video page.

"Ding-dong—Hello, your takeout!"

Just then, his takeout arrived. Liao Zijun went to get it and then returned to his desk to start playing "Edge Walkers."

As the opening song ended, the story of "Edge Walkers" slowly unfolded before him.

However...

"What is this?"

Liao Zijun looked at the scrolling subtitles on the video with irritation.

"First!"

"Welcome to the Cyberpunk world!"

"Cyber-psychos, hello!"

"There's a knife ahead! Get ready!"

"Hahaha, everyone's here!"

...

The somewhat annoying "bullet comments" on the video were distracting Liao Zijun.

He noticed an option to turn off the bullet comments and promptly did so.

The video screen was now clean again.

"Why bother with this? Isn't it better to just watch the anime properly?" Liao Zijun grumbled.

He continued watching "Edge Walkers."

Trigger Animation had invested heavily in producing "Edge Walkers," and the animation quality was on par with Lin Qingshan's previous work, making the series vividly come alive for the viewers.

The adrenaline-pumping action scenes, the crazy and desperate futuristic tech world, and the powerful yet insane cybernetic enhancements...

Liao Zijun watched as David, initially a poor kid with nothing, lost his mother but met Lucy by chance.

Later, he met reliable companions like Mann and Doriu through Lucy. Yet, David continued to experience loss.

Pila, Doriu, Mann, Rebecca, Qiwei...

Liao Zijun remained silent, his appetite lost as he looked at his takeout.

Classic scenes from Lin Qingshan's previous "Edge Walkers" replayed in his mind.

"I'll take you to the moon!"

The romantic background music "Moonlight Romance" played as David and Lucy's moonlit embrace appeared more touching.

...

In the sixth episode.

"Damn! Stop trembling!"

David's face was covered in sweat as he held a gun at the door, his fear palpable.

"Damn riot squad! Bring it on!"

The screen lingered on David's face for a few seconds, making Liao Zijun almost think his network had stalled.

At that moment, Mann placed his hand on David's.

He gave David a gentle slap and David looked up at him.

"This is my end," Mann said, "But you must live."

David stared at Mann in disbelief.

Mann's face, half gentle and half twisted with madness, appeared on the screen again.

"Now... run…"

(The End of This Chapter)