Looking at the chip in his hand, Li Chen’s eyes were filled with confusion.

It wasn’t because he didn’t know what information the chip contained.

On the contrary, it was precisely because he knew its true value all too well that Li Chen suddenly didn’t know how to respond to Liu Yu.

“What, do you think my compensation’s too little?”

Beside him, Liu Yu casually stretched, a smile curling at the corner of her lips as she leaned slightly closer to Li Chen.

Her delicate, flawless cheek carried a hint of ambiguity and a trace of cunning flashed through her lively eyes.

“Don’t worry. Even though your fiancée is just a corporate dog, that’s exactly why this chip will bring the greatest benefit in her hands.”

Assuming Li Chen’s silence meant he looked down on the chip, Liu Yu cleared her throat and explained with evident pride.

“You might not know this, but recently a large number of unregistered smuggled genetic modification drugs have appeared on the black market. You know how the Security Bureau treats crimes that infringe on corporate patents, they never show mercy. But to steal such detailed data and still manage to mass-produce it… There’s deep water behind this. Even a high-tier martial artist like me could end up dead if I wasn’t careful.”

She paused briefly, then put on a world-weary smile and spoke lightly.

“But the bigger the waves, the more valuable the fish. High risk always comes with shocking rewards. I remember that the last time a similar case was cracked, the City Hall reward was granting Uppermost Hive citizenship. Hehe, now you understand how valuable this data is, right?”

Liu Yu’s lips curved upward, dimples appearing on both cheeks as she whispered flirtatiously,

“If you weren’t this good-looking, I’d have just paid you off with credits. Who would hand over all this information so easily?”

She was telling the truth.

Li Chen understood the value of this data even more clearly than Liu Yu.

Back in the game, the guild that ultimately cracked this special side quest had dominated the entire season, only dropping in rank after later version updates.

Uppermost Hive citizenship wasn’t some ordinary honorary title.

It came with massive benefits.

Just the “highest-level security service” alone was enough to make countless people salivate.

Top-tier medical resources, martial arts secret technique databases, pre-civilization ruin technologies… the list went on and on.

It could be said that within the vast Hive City, once you obtained Uppermost Hive citizenship, you could immediately stand above countless lower-tier people and wield power at will.

Only those Uppermost Hive citizens could truly be called “people.”

Aside from a tiny number of those born noble into consortium families, ordinary Hive City residents could struggle for an entire lifetime and be lucky if their ancestors’ graves were honoured as true heroes just to get an Upper Hive citizen card.

As for Uppermost Hive citizenship?

Unless you became a top-tier martial artist and got lucky excavating major technology from a pre-civilization ruin, such as singularity technology capable of changing the existing system, or made a monumental contribution recognized by major consortiums, you shouldn’t even dream about it.

And now, that ticket to freedom and happiness had landed in his hands so simply?

“Hah…”

Li Chen’s breathing grew a little rapid and the look in his eyes as he watched Liu Yu became increasingly complicated.

“W-why?”

He couldn’t help asking,

“To obtain this data, Miss Liu Yu, you must have paid a huge price, right? If you give it all to me, then what about you…”

There was no such thing as a free lunch.

If Li Chen had learned anything in the ten years since transmigrating, this saying was his greatest takeaway.

“Hehe, didn’t I already say it～”

Seeing the confusion in Li Chen’s eyes, Liu Yu smiled smugly and once again reached out shamelessly, running her hands over his enticing face.

“I want you to remember me for the rest of your life.”

She said each word clearly,

“Sigh, you don’t understand women. You don’t understand the pain of having the prince who saved your life, your dream man, already belong to someone else. Of course, if you’re moved by me and want to throw yourself into big sister’s arms, that’s not impossible either. Besides, these days, a man being with multiple women isn’t exactly strange, right?”

Seeing Li Chen’s expression constantly shifting, Liu Yu immediately launched another attack with pitiful eyes.

“Look, little man, big sister has already gone this far for you.”

Hearing this, Li Chen fell silent.

Instinctively, he wanted to hand the chip back to Liu Yu.

Although he longed for the noble status and generous treatment of an Uppermost Hive citizen, if it meant betraying his wife’s feelings, that was impossible.

“Sorry, but I can’t…”

“Don’t reject me so quickly.”

Liu Yu stepped closer, smiling brightly as she asked, “Besides, even if you don’t think about yourself, don’t you care about your fiancée? I know the Special Operations Unit. The pay is good, sure, but the workload… tsk tsk. Anyway, I don’t want to be a corporate dog for the rest of my life.”

Hearing this, Li Chen immediately thought of Bai Wei’s hardworking figure, constantly rushing about every day.

His firm resolve to refuse began to waver.

With Uppermost Hive citizenship, all problems would be solved.

Xiao Wei could use high-level permissions to access more martial arts manuals, purchase evolution drugs at extremely low prices, even undergo genetic optimization surgery to improve her aptitude…

Even… even his own low talent would no longer be an insurmountable chasm before miraculous pre-civilization singularity technology.

The image was simply too beautiful.

“I… I…”

His eyes unfocused as he hesitated, allowing Liu Yu to take advantage and pull him into her embrace.

In that soft, elastic bosom, Li Chen caught a fresh fragrance.

Between Liu Yu’s crimson lips, white teeth faintly showed, glinting seductively under the dim lights.

“Come on, Xiao Chen.”

She whispered into his ear with an aggressively teasing gaze,

“Hehe, that woman calls you that, right? Then I can use this nickname too, can’t I?”

‘Like this… maybe it wasn’t wrong?’

Just yielding to this woman once would bring such great benefits to his wife and himself.

Though it felt humiliating, Liu Yu wasn’t bad-looking either…

Beep beep.

Just as Li Chen’s mind was about to collapse, a notification sound shattered the inescapable atmosphere.

[You have received a new voice message…]

It was from Bai Wei.

Seeing the image on his fiancée’s personal interface, the two of them walking side by side, gazing deeply at each other, Li Chen jolted awake.

“No. I can’t.”

Li Chen forcefully pushed Liu Yu away, breaking free from that terrifying gentle trap and said righteously, “I won’t betray Xiao Wei, Miss Liu Yu.”

He firmly handed the chip back to her.

“This chip, I’m returning it to you. As for the better life you mentioned…”

Looking at Bai Wei’s happy smile, a surge of heroic resolve welled up inside Li Chen, the fighting spirit crushed for years by bad women now surging endlessly once more.

“I’ll fight for it with my own hands.”

‘The old me might have only sighed in despair, but now, glancing at the daily intel panel of the player log beside me, I spoke confidently.’

“So I can’t accept this reward.”

Liu Yu froze.

She never imagined that after laying out such a tempting bargaining chip, she would receive such a clean rejection.

She stared blankly at the chip Li Chen returned, only then realizing what had happened.

‘Tsk. He was so close.’

Rolling her eyes internally, Liu Yu stuck out her tongue slightly, her expression unchanged as she laughed.

“Ahh, don’t be so serious～Actually, I was just joking earlier.”

She waved her hand irritably.

“Even the same thing can have very different value in different hands. This chip is just a hot potato in my hands as a free mercenary. I only realized that after this incident.”

She looked at him seriously and said, “So dear Xiao Chen, just take the chip obediently. After all, no matter what, you saved my life.”

“But—”

Hearing this, Li Chen hesitated, rubbing the chip in his hand.

“Then what about you? You paid such a huge price to obtain it, only to give it to a stranger you just met?”

‘She cares about me?’

A burst of secret delight rose in Liu Yu’s heart.

‘Looks like my scheme is actually working pretty well. Heh heh, hardball doesn’t work? Then I’ll just switch to a roundabout approach.’

“A stranger? Then we just won’t be strangers.”

An idea flashed through Liu Yu’s mind as she cheerfully opened her personal interface.

“If I can’t be your girlfriend, I’ll just acknowledge you as my little brother.”

“Little brother?” Li Chen couldn’t quite keep up with Liu Yu’s sudden train of thought.

“What, you despise me?” Liu Yu sighed exaggeratedly.

“Well, I guess that’s normal. You’re so handsome, of course you’d look down on an old woman like me…”

“Not at all!”

Though his first impression had been poor, after further interaction Li Chen had once again confirmed that Liu Yu was exactly the righteous woman from the game.

“Then it’s settled.”

Liu Yu eagerly looked at him.

“Big sister takes care of little brother, little brother looks after big sister. Isn’t that only natural? When you use this chip to obtain City Hall rewards, just take good care of big sister then, alright?”

Indeed.

This chip involved multiple forces behind the scenes. Handled poorly, it could even trigger corporate wars.

Though Liu Yu was a high-tier martial artist, she was still just a lone free mercenary.

Even if she got lucky and obtained the chip, she could easily be swallowed by the darkness behind it.

But Xiao Wei was different.

Backed by the Security Bureau and always upholding Hive City order, if she submitted this chip, she would only receive rewards from the Uppermost Hive elites, even becoming a model to encourage others.

“Alright.”

Li Chen didn’t think long before nodding firmly.

“Then I’ll… I’ll thank you, big sister.”

“Ah?!”

For some reason, when Li Chen spoke the word “big sister” in his gentle voice, Liu Yu felt an electric current surge through her body, filling her with excitement.

“Little brother? Heh heh heh… Big sister will definitely take good care of you from now on!”

She narrowed her eyes and rubbed Li Chen’s head.

“Oh right, good little brother, can you, um, call me big sister again?”

‘This feeling…’

Feeling the solid warmth of Liu Yu’s hands, Li Chen felt a wave of warmth inside.

Come to think of it, he didn’t really have any family either.

Well, aside from that “good little sister” he once took care of in the slums, who later kicked him out of the mercenary group.

This feeling of being taken care of… wasn’t bad.

“Okay, big sister～”

Li Chen lifted his head and cooperated.

“Oh my, again!”

“Big sister, good big sister!”

For a moment, the gloomy underground safe house was filled with lively energy.

* * *

At the same time, at the very center of the beast tide.

Core of a pre-civilization ruin.

“Captain, didn’t we already submit a complete singularity technology to the Foundation last time?”

The legendary mercenary group Judicator’s chief quartermaster wiped sweat from her forehead, exhaustion all over her face.

Looking at her companions panting behind her, she gathered her courage and asked the silent captain, “The Senate has already decided to grant you Uppermost Hive citizenship and even allow you to establish a new consortium… so why are you still in such a hurry to continue excavating the ruins?”

The mercenary queen, famous throughout the mercenary world and having risen from obscurity to legend in just a few years, remained silent for a long time.

“It’s not enough.”

“Not enough?” The quartermaster froze in surprise.

She never expected her captain to harbor such lofty ambitions.

‘As expected, I didn’t misjudge her!’

In an instant, all her previous resentment dissipated.

“I understand!”

The quartermaster nodded vigorously.

“I’ll go explain it to the other members right away!”

Watching her subordinate leave, the mercenary queen Lin Caining showed no passion in her eyes, only a suffocating deadness.

“Xiao Chen… he actually went with that woman. It must be because what I obtained still isn’t enough.”

Crack.

Lin Caining stomped her foot hard and the alloy floor forged from top-tier pre-civilization technology instantly filled with cracks.

“Bai Wei, is it?”

The hollow eyes of Lin Caining suddenly ignited with raging battle intent.

“I will not give Xiao Chen, the brother who once relied on me for survival in the slums, to a wild woman of unknown origin! After all, I am his only family in this world, his dearest little sister!”

Ding dong!

[The user you follow has added a new family member: Sister. Please send your congratulations～]

Lin Caining, whose momentum had been steadily rising, suddenly stiffened.

“S-sister?”

She stared at the flashing screen.

Where did he get another sister from?

‘Clearly… clearly I’m his only family!’