Master of Kaidan-Chapter 557: The Plain Illegal Zone

"Off work?" Upon hearing this word, the manager’s expression twitched again before their gaze swept over the office:

"None of the others are talking about leaving. I haven’t left yet, do you have the nerve to go?"

"What’s there to be embarrassed about, or is there mandatory overtime today?" Alfred responded nonchalantly, exuding a naïve inexperience, yet managed to leave people speechless.

The manager realised then that this newcomer was just a greenhorn and immediately said:

"Yes, it’s overtime..."

"Great, so is there triple pay? What about travel allowance? Look at you, seems like there’s none, right? So what’s the issue with me leaving?"

Once Feng Xue finished speaking, she grabbed her bag and left without looking back, and by the time the manager figured out a retort, she was already long gone.

...

[Awesome!]

[I’ve wanted to say that for so long!]

[Exactly, overtime, overtime, all the damn time!]

[The worst part is they make it ’voluntary’—no extra pay and they even make you pay for the electricity!]

[You guys only pay electricity? We even have to cover internet and equipment depreciation...]

...

"Man, this really is Cyberpunk, very cyber, very punk..." Watching a stream of chat reactions, Alfred couldn’t help but feel a bit sad for these corporate slaves’ lives. However, thinking again, these people must have mastered the little tricks of the overtime game since they could comment during the stream.

It’s really nothing, just like those drones in the company. Pretending to work during normal hours, then working overtime after hours—that’s their way of not working a second more than necessary.

After all, there’s only overtime if there’s work to do. If you dare finish your tasks early, the boss will dare to give you more. They’ll use you to death. It’s not just in this world; the real world has the same rotten deal.

If they paid you per piece of work, it would be one thing, but the worst is when they mouth off about "fostering your wolf spirit" yet don’t let you "eat the meat." Isn’t that just raising dogs?

Watching the chat move towards positive reviews, and although he wasn’t making much from tips, our young Lord Alfred wasn’t hurting for money. His main selling point was being a fresh graduate without car loans, mortgages, or family burdens, and not being in a relationship.

Leaving the company, he was in no hurry to find a place to live, instead strolling along the streets and musing:

"Speaking of which, is every unlawful district in Isgray City this bland? No graffiti in the streets, no teahouses at the roadside, no cyber lunatics around—feels cleaner than the legit streets."

[We don’t know either!]

[I’ve lived in Isgray City for decades and have never seen such a retro style.]

[What do you mean ’retro’? It’s a hidden paradise. It’s 1774, right? I’m going to check it out these next few days. If possible, I might even switch jobs.]

[Hold on, let the streamer clear the mines first!]

...

"Clearing mines is a must, but first, let’s change some money. This broken place has its own currency, I wouldn’t dare wander without some funds."

Alfred scanned the chat, followed the navigations downloaded from the local network terminal, and made his way to the bank. The exchange process was straightforward, credit points were scanned, and paper money was handed out.

Seeing the banknotes printed with a face of someone they had no recollection of, the entire streaming room went uproar.

After all...

[Paper money, it’s actually paper money!]

"I thought it was just a change in the transfer system, but it turned out to be paper money!"

"Damn, Streamer, maybe you should go home and call some Security Guards over. I’m afraid your rich second gen pockets can’t handle this!"

"Is there any particular reason for this?"

"It’s paper money! In this day and age, to opt for paper money over online payments, what could be the reason?"

Looking at the comments in the live stream, Alfred was indifferent as he flicked the highest denomination bill—just ten dollars—and whistled softly, pondering the simplicity behind using paper money.

Because physical paper money deepens the impression more easily than Virtual Coins, a stack of paper money and a string of numbers, the former obviously makes it easier for people to grasp that this is money.

Kaidan works exactly like this. Only when you recognize and understand it, Power is granted. Labor Hell and School Hell are types of range-based Kaidan illusions in themselves, a giant compound Ritual, through "symbolism" and "Cognition", transforming ordinary actions into Powerful Power.

Not to mention, the portraits on the paper money itself are highly recognizable. With the use of the paper money, that pure "Identity" would provide Feng Xue with a significant influx of "Identity".

Although he had achieved "Identity" freedom through several Kaidan in the real world, after all, this was a strategy for after Resurrection, and possessing the ability to generate this was indeed essential.

Especially since this type of recognition of imagery is very pure, but precisely because it’s pure, as long as it accumulates, its directness and purity could become frighteningly strong. People may not know who is printed on the money, but with the use of the money, they would eventually memorize this person’s face and naturally attribute a kind of "master of this illegal zone" recognition.

Slipping a small stack of bills into his pocket, Feng Xue started moving along a route he had planned earlier.

At first, it was just ordinary venues like accommodations and snacks, apart from terrifyingly low prices, there was almost no other distinctive feature.

But as time passed, the audience gradually began to notice something was off.

Because this illegal zone was just too ordinary.

Forget about those common dark-plays, not even a teahouse or a dream store was seen; even passersby on the street didn’t wear Artificial Bodies. If not for the metal dome overhead and the columns around confirming this place was indeed inside Isgray City, the audience might have wondered if the Streamer had time-traveled back half a century.

"Strange, why is everything so ordinary? If it’s all this stuff, is there a need to specifically create an illegal zone?"

Alfred certainly understood the mood of the audience and mumbled to himself before his eyes lit up and he approached a young guy handing out flyers:

"Buddy, do you have any rare items around here?"

"Rare?" The flyer guy seemed puzzled, and Alfred immediately flashed a knowing grin:

"I mean the local specialties of this illegal zone, you know, local specialties?"

"Oh! We don’t really have specialties here, or rather, anything can be a specialty, as long as you can think of it, you can buy it with Ming Coins, but you might not understand since you’re from out of town."

The flyer guy seemed to ponder for a moment before scratching his head:

"If you really want to understand the quirks here, there are two places you must go, one is the Heavenly Emperor Temple in the north of the city, and the other is the pawnshop in the south, but remember, do not buy or sell beyond what you can afford."

After speaking, the guy handed him a flyer and turned to leave.

Alfred looked at the flyer back and forth for a few moments and immediately stopped the guy:

"Hey, your flyer is for a supermarket!"

"Yeah, what else?"

"I thought it had a map on it."

"Use a navigation app for maps!" The guy looked at Alfred, baffled, and Alfred said, feeling a bit embarrassed:

"Then why give me a flyer?"

"Dude, I pointed out the way for you, and you can’t even help me hold a flyer?"

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