100: Chapter 99 [Bai Ze]: You didn't expect that, did you? I can move.

Hera's body pierced through the quiet night of North Oak like a bolt of lightning, speeding all the way toward Watson.

V's brows were tightly locked in the driver's seat, her foot pressing firmly on the accelerator, while Lin Yi in the passenger seat could only helplessly fasten his seatbelt, watching the neon lights blur past the window and feeling the worry that seemed to solidify around V.

With a clean, sharp drift, the car came to a precise stop in front of Misty's psychic shop, with its beaded curtains and atmosphere of mysticism.

Before the engine had even cooled, V had unbuckled her seatbelt, pushed open the door, and grabbed Lin Yi by the wrist, dragging him out of the car and diving straight into the shop.

Lin Yi stumbled as he was pulled along, "Hey, slow down, V. We're already here, and we don't even know if Viktor is in."

Inside the shop, the scent of incense curled in the air, creating a tranquil atmosphere that felt completely out of place with the cyberpunk world outside.

However, this tranquility was currently being broken by the two in the corner—Jackie and Misty were curled up on an old sofa, Jackie's sturdy frame almost completely enveloping petite Misty, and the two were whispering, their faces filled with the sappy smiles only those in the throes of new love possess.

Catching a glimpse of the two rushing in from the corner of his eye, especially V's frantic posture as she practically dragged Lin Yi like a sack of potatoes, Jackie couldn't help but be amused, raising his thick arm to greet them:

"Yo, mano! V! What kind of show are you two putting on?" He grinned, revealing white teeth, and teased, "V, go easy, you're going to dislocate Lin Yi's arm! What's the rush? Trying to save the world?"

V had no mind to banter with Jackie right now; she merely nodded briefly in the direction of Jackie and Misty as a greeting, then asked urgently: "Where's Viktor? Is he free right now?"

Misty peeked out from Jackie's embrace and replied softly: "Viktor? He just sent off a client, the clinic is free right now."

"Thanks, Misty." V dropped this line, used force again, and practically hauled Lin Yi through the inconspicuous small door at the back of the shop, heading straight for Viktor's ripperdoc clinic.

Watching their retreating backs, Jackie's eyes, full of street smarts, instantly lit up with the light of gossip.

He stood up abruptly from the sofa and said excitedly to Misty beside him: "Hey, chica! I smell a huge scoop! Look at V, she looks like she just caught Lin Yi cheating! Come on, let's go join the front lines to watch the drama, can't miss a good show like this!"

Misty pulled on his sleeve, somewhat hesitant: "This... isn't that bad? What if it's a private matter between the two of them? It's normal to have some friction during the honeymoon phase, it'll be so awkward if we go watch..."

"Nah! What's so bad about it!" Jackie waved his hand dismissively, his face full of the excitement of someone who loves a good spectacle, "Lin Yi is my best mano, and V is a close friend, what's wrong with a buddy showing some concern? Let's go, if we're any slower, the gossip won't be fresh anymore!" Saying this, he dragged an unwilling Misty along and walked quickly toward Viktor's clinic, looking like he was rushing to the front lines of a battlefield.

By the time Jackie dragged a half-reluctant Misty to Viktor's clinic, which was filled with various medical instruments and smelled of a mixture of disinfectant and machine oil, the scene before them made them both freeze.

Lin Yi had already been forcibly pressed by V into that familiar diagnostic chair with its slightly worn leather.

Viktor—Viktor Vektor, that ripperdoc who always appeared steady and reliable, was standing at the console, skillfully operating the instruments.

A series of complex biological scanning probes were swarming around Lin Yi, emitting a faint buzzing sound as they conducted a comprehensive medical diagnosis.

"V, what are you two lovebirds up to?" Jackie asked, unable to help himself as he looked at the setup, his tone full of curiosity.

Viktor, who was operating the instruments, didn't even lift his head as he replied, his voice carrying a hint of imperceptible teasing: "This girl, she came in like a whirlwind and insisted I give the kid a full medical checkup immediately, calling it... a 'routine checkup'." He deliberately emphasized the words 'routine checkup,' his tone conveying a clear 'this is a terrible excuse, I don't believe it at all' vibe.

Seeing this, Misty quietly moved to V's side, who was looking tense and staring fixedly at the scanning screen, and asked in a low voice, with the tone of a girl sharing secrets: "Hey, V, what's actually going on? Tell your girl, did your man go out and fool around, and you caught him?" As she spoke, she gestured with her eyes toward Lin Yi, who was sitting on the diagnostic chair with an expression of helplessness mixed with indulgence.

V, who was just picking up a bottle of water to take a sip and ease the awkward and tense atmosphere, almost spat the water out when she heard Misty's earth-shattering guess, choking and coughing repeatedly until her face turned red.

"Cough, cough, cough... No! What are you thinking!" V finally caught her breath and waved her hands to deny it, her face filled with the shame of being misunderstood, "It's... it's business! Right, business!" She tried to make her tone sound more credible, "It's just that we haven't had a detailed checkup for so long since we upgraded our implants together. It's reasonable to check the overall compatibility and operating status, right? Yes, that's it!" The faster she spoke, the more the final sentence, which seemed to be added to convince herself, sounded to Misty like the best footnote for 'the thief protesting his innocence.'

Just then, Viktor, who had been focused on the screen data, suddenly let out an exclamation of disbelief, interrupting their conversation.

"Holy crap! Kid!" Viktor's voice was full of shock. He adjusted his glasses, leaned forward, and almost pressed himself against the screen, "You... has this access port 'come alive' inside your body?! What is this situation?!"

"What?! What's wrong?" V felt the string that had been pulled tight in her heart plucked violently when she heard this. She sprang up from her chair like a coiled spring and rushed to Viktor's side, looking anxiously at the screen, "What's wrong? What came alive? Where's the problem?!"

Then, she saw a scene even more outrageous than Viktor's description, one that completely exceeded her understanding.

On the deep biological scan imaging, the 'Bai Ze' network access port, which should have been firmly fixed at a specific position behind Lin Yi's neck, had actually... 'disappeared'? No, not disappeared!

Its core body, that structure emitting a faint glow, had actually 'moved' from its original implant position! Now it seemed to have merged into the bones of Lin Yi's cervical spine, or rather, had formed some kind of unprecedented symbiotic state with the spine! This wasn't even the most shocking part; even more staggering was that those extremely fine data neural connection lines that should have been neatly connected to the access port were now, in the scan image, like some kind of living, self-aware neural network, radiating outward from that 'drifted' access port and spreading throughout Lin Yi's entire body!

They were slender and dense, like a huge, invisible fishing net emitting a faint glow, enveloping and connecting Lin Yi's entire central nervous system, and even wider areas of his body! What this image displayed was not some conventional cyberware implantation, but more like a... leap and fusion of life forms!

The clinic fell into a dead silence.

Jackie's mouth hung open, unable to close for a long time; Misty covered her mouth, her eyes filled with shock; Viktor's brows were tightly locked, his fingers operating rapidly on the console, trying to pull up more detailed analysis data; V stared fixedly at the screen, her golden eyes reflecting the eerie neural network diagram, her mind a complete blank.

Only Lin Yi, sitting in the diagnostic chair, sighed helplessly in his heart:

(Europa... and Guixu... you guys really made quite a stir with this 'fusion'... how am I supposed to explain this to Viktor and V now?)