Luciano’s wording made it clear, he was here to settle accounts.

“Even though in the original story, I didn’t turn traitor this fast, it also didn’t mention him coming to settle scores with me…”

Chu Zu thought carefully.

“But logically speaking, it is quite strange. The author seemed to have forgotten about me. I didn’t even appear during his final showdown with Tang Qi.”

“Readers asked about this, too. The author answered in the ‘Author’s Note.’ Let me find it…”

The system quickly looked it up.

“Found it. Got into trouble, but didn’t die. Probably held up by diarrhea during the final battle… Is the author brain-dead?!”

“You don’t mean I actually have to go along with that, do you?” Chu Zu began to feel a headache coming on.

“No need!” The system was adamant. “‘Anything not written in the main text is bullshit. He’s just a novelist, what does he know about Neon Crown?’ That’s how readers evaluated it. I think it has great reference value.”

Chu Zu: “…”

He should have observed Luciano’s reaction immediately after changing his persona, but Chu Zu had unfortunately passed out at that time. After waking up, all feedback regarding Luciano was secondhand.

‘Ruthless capitalist’ was just a general term. Chu Zu wasn’t clear on the other’s more nuanced attitudes.

And nuances often decided life and death.

If I really get kacha (cut down, beheaded), would that mean I’m truly dead? Or could I still keep shining and contributing to the ‘Side Character Correction Cause’?” Chu Zu asked tentatively.

“I didn’t realize your dedication was this strong…” The system was somewhat moved to tears. “You can only die at plot points. A few days early or late doesn’t matter much; I can submit a situation report to the higher-ups for you. But dying over two hundred chapters early is not allowed! That would mean really dying!”

Chu Zu sighed. “Then I’ll just lie low, scraping by however I can.”
The system could also see that the situation was urgent and quickly simulated possible plot developments. But no matter how it was calculated, every path reeked heavily of death.

It was true Luciano was short-handed, but what he lacked was people he could completely trust.

As an ambitious schemer, during a period of rapid expansion, having a time bomb by his side was far more deadly than being short-staffed, especially when the bomb was powerful enough to blow Luciano to smithereens.

It began to empathize with the readers who cursed Neon Crown.

What kind of crap did the author write? Just writing whatever felt good without thinking! Who else should we curse but you!

The system frantically scanned the manual, trying to find a path to salvation.

Aside from the six months learning how to act, the system and its host hadn’t actually worked together for long, but it really liked Chu Zu.

Good temper, didn’t act recklessly, all actions were for the mission, highly efficient, and he himself enjoyed it too. Where else could it find such a good host? It had waited so many years only to find this one novelist who died from overwork.

The hovercar stopped at the entrance of the Esposito residence. In just that short time, the system actually managed to dig something up.

“Do you remember the reward mentioned before?” Seeing the urgent situation, the system sped up its speech. “According to the mission rating, we will pay you credit points. You can use the credit points to purchase any needed items from the credit store.”

“Remember.”

“There’s an item called ‘Physics Divine Beast,’ three thousand points. You could use it!”

“I don’t seem to need a pet.”

“Schrödinger’s Cat.” The system said. “To put it simply, a fake death pill. Use it and immediately fall into a fake death state. The effect lasts three hours.”

Chu Zu: “…”

Chu Zu: “I’m a newbie. I have no credit points.”

The system had already calculated this. It provided a solution.

“You can sell me.” The system said. “Because I have no performance record after binding with you, my current valuation is three thousand credit points, just enough. I will only be recycled after the task is completed. By then, you’ll already have enough credit points to buy me back!”

Chu Zu: “…”

Having lived a long time, this was the first time he’d seen a system teaching someone to exploit a bug.

Seeing Chu Zu’s lack of response, the system grew anxious.

“According to my log, I’ve been sold many times. The number of times I couldn’t be bought back is also not few. The worst result is just being stuck in inventory for a few hundred years, waiting for the store to refresh, initialize, and load into the log, then going back to work.”

“But if you die, you die for real!”

Chu Zu was surrounded and walked into the main Esposito residence.

Unlike most upper-district dwellings, the Esposito residence was a typical European-style building.

Specialty materials mimicked marble textures. Symmetrical layout, colonnades, archways, pediments, and geometric patterns are all present.

The most frequent motif was a two-headed ouroboros, the two snake heads encircling a sixteen-sided mechanical flower. This was the Esposito family crest.

In Chu Zu’s opinion, this already counted as post-modernism in his understanding. Placed in this highly developed world, it could still only be called ‘retro.’

“You’re a very talkative system. Occasionally, your remarks are quite tactless,” he suddenly said in his mind.

The system said dryly: “… Do I annoy you?”

“Not being able to talk for centuries would be stifling, right?” Chu Zu said. “Actually, I quite enjoy chatting with you. If I had gotten a silent system back then, I estimate it would have taken me a long time to adjust.”

In Chu Zu’s mind, the system stutteringly typed three characters: QAQ

“I want to leave the decision to you,” Chu Zu said softly. “If you think it’s worth it and believe I can buy you back, then do it. If you don’t want to, then don’t.”

Static buzzed. Just as the system was about to say something, Chu Zu added.

“I promise you, even without the item, I will do my best to live until it’s time to die.”

Chu Zu ascended the stairs to the second floor. Luciano’s office was right in front of him. As he opened the door, the system finally sent a series of notifications.

“You have successfully sold the usage rights of your bound system.”

“You have successfully purchased ‘Physics Divine Beast.'”

“‘Physics Divine Beast’ Usage Instructions: You can use this item at any time to enter a suspended animation state. The duration is three hours. Please try to avoid suffering fatal injuries while the item is in effect.”

“I’ll do it,” the system said quietly. “You said we are a team. The advantage lies with us. If there’s no advantage, then I should create one for you.”

As his hand gripped the doorknob, fingerprint and iris verification passing simultaneously, Chu Zu said: “Okay.”

*

Luciano sat at his desk. Jeeves’s terminal contained nearly a hundred pending urgent matters. He asked the butler to prioritize them first; he would look at them later.

He looked up. The man in the white shirt stood firm before the desk.

Black hair, red eyes, expression no different than usual, carrying a faint, unpleasant odor.

The smell of the lower-district junkyards.

“Hank, bring the person up,” Luciano said.

The man with the half-cybernetic head turned and dragged someone in from the side room.

Dai Xi’an, bound hand and foot, her mouth also sealed with magnetic tape.

She was thrown at Chu Zu’s feet.

“Speak.”

The moment Luciano gave the order, Hank responded:

“According to the train conductor’s report, she maliciously spread rumors about Esposito on the train. After getting off, she had close contact with the rebels and was caught by us on the spot. We also found the commemorative coin you gave Mr. Chu Zu on her person.”

Luciano’s eyes shifted slightly. The tape on Dai Xi’an’s mouth was ripped off with brute force.

She lay on the ground, her hair grabbed, forcing her head up. Beneath disheveled hair, her lips were freshly split. Half her face, where the tape had been, was covered in blood.

The information peddler had long lost the unrefined composure she had on the train. Her eyes were filled with terror.

Hank respectfully placed the coin Chu Zu had paid Dai Xi’an in front of Luciano.

The coin was crumpled, covered in red and black fingerprints.

Luciano swiveled his chair, stood up, and walked over to Dai Xi’an.

“Haven’t I treated you well, my dear?”

Dai Xi’an shrank back, instinctively trying to hide behind Chu Zu’s legs, but Luciano stepped on her wrist.

She didn’t dare scream, desperately swallowing the sound.

“You gave me what I wanted, so I fulfilled all your requests, didn’t I?”

“We’ve trusted each other for so many years. Of course, I can understand your difficulties. You should understand me, too, right?”

“But why did you have to let me know you were betraying me?”

Luciano stood shoulder to shoulder with Chu Zu. His sighing voice seemed to travel directly into Chu Zu’s ears through the bone.

“Why?”

And his next words were directed squarely at Chu Zu.

“How interesting. Besides her, I found another traitor very close to me.”

Luciano tilted his head, golden locks falling onto Chu Zu’s shoulder. Sapphire blue eyes, shrouded in shadow, deep and tranquil, met hazy red ones up close. His breath sprayed against Chu Zu’s chin.

“Chu Zu.”

This name had been uttered by Luciano thousands of times. What followed was usually an order, occasionally carrying no meaning, just a simple desire to hear a response.

Just like raising a dog.

Go, kill him.

Good boy, come here.

Well done, Chu Zu.

Even if the master’s commands were sometimes overly harsh, no one could deny that his rewards were equally generous.

This was the first time Chu Zu’s name was spoken with a tone that evoked unbearable fear.

The atmosphere was so heavy that it made everyone in the room struggle to breathe.

“Tell me, how would I deal with a traitor?” he continued.

“You would hand him over to me,” Chu Zu ignored the atmosphere and answered quietly.

Luciano’s smile grew richer, gazing at Chu Zu: “What would you do?”

“Kill him.”

“How?”

No one knew when Chu Zu made his move.

In the next instant, he had already pried open Hank’s thick arm that was holding Dai Xi’an.

His strength actually completely overpowered the mechanical prosthetic. His other hand reached across the man’s chest, pulling the modular pistol from the holster on his waist.

The convenience of modular weapons lies in their customizable components.

This one was equipped with ballistic correction, an electromagnetic launch device, and a silencer module. The ammunition was pure metal, boasting extremely high muzzle velocity and penetration.

If Chu Zu wanted, even with rough aiming, anyone in the room, even the modified iron skull, would blossom open instantly.

The others exchanged glances, breaking out in cold sweat, immediately drawing their weapons and aiming at Chu Zu.

But Chu Zu simply released the man’s arm and, amidst the tense, sword-drawn atmosphere, returned to Luciano’s side.

His finger bypassed the trigger. He exerted force with his palm, spinning the pistol halfway around, pointing the muzzle toward himself.

Chu Zu offered the gun to Luciano.

“Use this,” Chu Zu said.

“Your methods are still brutally simple,” Luciano said quietly.

He took the gun, released the safety, took a step back, extended his arm, and aimed the muzzle at Chu Zu.

“I’m not very familiar with killing. Is this how it’s done?”

Chu Zu answered: “The recoil from metal bullets is quite strong. Lower your arm further, then fire.”

Luciano made an affirmative sound, adjusted his posture, used the muzzle to gently sweep aside the black hair on Chu Zu’s forehead, then aimed squarely at the man’s pale brow.

He didn’t hesitate in the slightest. His finger pulled the trigger!

—
INK HUB
Modular Pistol: A customizable sidearm common in this setting, allowing for various attachments like silencers and specialized ammunition.
The tension in this chapter is palpable.