Night City Levi’s eyes lit up with a faint blue glow as countless streams of data flowed within them.
His fingers touched the two heads in Jujutsu Levi’s arms, performing a comprehensive electronic scan on them.
In the Grey Mist Space, matter could not be exchanged; those who entered were merely projections of themselves.
But the projections themselves possessed a complete physical structure.
As long as the physical structure was correct, the recorded data would also be correct.
All the Levis grew excited.
“Are we finally going to kick things off this time?” Marvel-Vought Levi licked his lips nervously.
Wizarding Levi looked forward to it even more: “Am I finally going to be able to escape this ‘Muggle’ status?”
Since his installed cyberware handled the scan without requiring his conscious attention, Night City Levi had time for a little small talk.
He said to Jujutsu Levi, “Speaking of which, you actually got into a fight with Sukuna directly?
You faced the dungeon boss on your very first day of transmigration.”
“Though he can’t kill you, and you can’t hit him either.”
Jujutsu Levi laughed, “When I was activating the Dragon Talisman, it was hard for thoughts of ‘chickening out’ to arise in my mind.
It felt like I absolutely could not allow myself to bow my head.”
But he added, “Of course, it’s mainly the Dog Talisman carrying me.
Without the Dog Talisman, no matter how much the Dragon Talisman influenced me, I would’ve turned tail and run.”
Marvelverse Levi thought for a moment, “In Jackie Chan Adventures, there were many people who used the Dragon Talisman after Valmont, but they were all normal and didn’t show signs of their personalities being affected.”
“I don’t think the Dragon Talisman is influencing your spirit; rather, it’s resonating with and strengthening certain specific emotions of yours.”
Wizarding Levi didn’t pay attention to the Dragon Talisman, only saying enviously, “Must be nice.
The Dog and Horse Talismans…
if I had either one, I wouldn’t have spent so much time lying in the hospital.”
Jujutsu Levi encouraged him, “It’s fine.
Once I obtain cursed energy, I’ll immediately start learning ‘Reverse Cursed Technique.’ With that, everyone will essentially have a budget version of the Horse Talisman.”
Night City Levi wasn’t quite as optimistic and gave a helpless laugh.
“Marvelverse Levi doesn’t need to worry.
In his world, I feel like any power can operate unhindered.”
“The Hogwarts world is also okay.
All abilities probably just need to take on a magical nature to work—it’s just a slight detour.”
“But the Cyberpunk world is hard to say.”
Although there were plenty of metaphysical things in the Cyberpunk world, most mysteries could be traced back to rogue AIs rather than supernatural forces.
It was hard to imagine what kind of extraordinary power could be used in the Cyberpunk world without restrictions.
The other Levis wanted to comfort Night City Levi, but he shook his head, signaling he was fine.
“It’s fine.
Metaphysical powers might not sync, but your basic stats can, and that includes lifespan.”
“The Cyberpunk world doesn’t have a way to achieve immortality.
If any of you obtain eternal life, it can also help me live a little longer by extension.”
“So don’t worry.
I’ll act as your logistics and technical support.
If you have any wild ideas, tell me.
I’ll run experiments for you in the Cyberpunk world.”
With that, Night City Levi retracted his hand from the heads of the two Curse Users, indicating the scan was complete.
Afterward, he waved to everyone with flair, smiling confidently.
“Wait for me.”
Then, Night City Levi’s figure vanished into the grey mist.
“Are you sure you want to do this surgery?”
The ripperdoc looked at the Tyger Claw member in front of him with some hesitation.
But this Tyger Claw member didn’t threaten him with a mouth full of profanities as usual.
Instead, he said calmly while wearing sunglasses, “It’s just a brain tattoo.
It shouldn’t be that difficult, right?”
In the Cyberpunk world, the human brain could even connect directly to the internet, using mental capacity as computing power for hacking.
Simply etching circuits like a tattoo onto specific areas of the brain wasn’t considered high difficulty.
“But you’re clearly touching the main structures of the cerebral cortex, especially the prefrontal lobe.
I can’t guarantee you won’t end up as an idiot afterward.”
The ripperdoc took a deep breath and got to the point: “So, you need to pay first.”
Lest he turn stupid and forget his payment password.
He then saw the Tyger Claw member turn his head toward a patch of empty space.
“What’s your payment password?”
“Stop talking, just say it.”
“Don’t you want your body back?”
“Someone really values money over their own life.”
The Tyger Claw member muttered to himself for a while before turning back to the doctor.
“How about this: my arm is a Mantis Blade.
You can dismantle it and sell it second-hand.”
“I don’t care how much you sell it for, just do this surgery for me.”
“Don’t think about cheating me; another buddy will be coming for surgery later.”
The ripperdoc’s mouth hung open.
Fine, this guy was definitely crazy.
Fortunately, this guy’s cyberpsychosis manifested as a love for brain tattoos instead of firing guns and killing people with Mantis Blades.
The Mantis Blade on his arm was indeed good stuff.
Even though it was last year’s model, it was still valuable second-hand.
Thus, the ripperdoc agreed to perform the surgery.
The Tyger Claw member lay down obediently on the operating table.
Just a second before the anesthesia was injected, he suddenly widened his eyes and shouted, “Holy shit…!”
It was unclear who he was cursing at, but he passed out immediately.
In the air, Levi’s soul watched the entire surgery.
This Tyger Claw member was, of course, not Levi’s original body.
They had simply met on the road, and the man had tried to provoke and extort 500 Eurodollars from him.
After Levi paid the money, he went home, used the Sheep Talisman for astral projection, and then went back out to find the man.
He pushed the man’s soul out of his body, occupied the Tyger Claw’s physical form, and hurried over for the surgery.
As for the brain circuit information, when Levi gave the man the 500 Eurodollars, he had conveniently dropped a read-only storage card on the ground.
Once he controlled the body, he simply picked it up.
He was just worrying about a lack of test subjects, and this one had delivered himself to the door.
A few hours later, the ripperdoc’s surgery was complete, and the anesthesia wore off.
The Tyger Claw member opened his eyes, continuing the shout from before he went under: “You bastard, don’t dismantle my Mantis Blade!”
The ripperdoc said angrily, “This was the price we agreed on!”
The Tyger Claw member suddenly calmed down neurotically and nodded at the ripperdoc.
“Right, that was the agreed price.”
Levi stood up and moved his limbs, confirming the surgery hadn’t negatively impacted the body.
This Tyger Claw member only had a Mantis Blade installed in his right hand; his left hand was still intact.
He squeezed his fist and found his fingers were still nimble.
“My head feels very clear.
You did a good job on the surgery.”
Levi smiled.
As expected, the cursed energy circuits themselves didn’t affect the brain’s thinking.
This was only the first step of the experiment.
Levi needed to first confirm that etching cursed energy circuits into the brain via surgery wouldn’t turn a person into an idiot as if they’d had a prefrontal lobotomy.
Bidding the ripperdoc farewell, Levi controlled the Tyger Claw member and went to a small alleyway.
He pulled out a grenade with his remaining left hand and bit the safety pin off.
The soul of that Tyger Claw member immediately changed drastically.
“No!
Please don’t kill me!
I promise I won’t tell anyone what you look like!”
“Please!
Ghost!”
Levi smiled.
“Since you guessed I’m the Ghost, do you think I’ll still let you live?”
The appearance of Levi’s soul could not be disguised.
Whenever he occupied someone’s body, the person would see his face.
So how could he keep it a secret?
Naturally, by killing the person he occupied.
To this day, in all of Night City, no one knew any information about Ghost—not even whether the person was male or female.
They only knew there was someone with incredible stealth skills who could enter any seemingly impenetrable fortress and kill any big shot who thought they were safe behind their security.
They could even frequently make it look like a suicide!
From high-level executives of major corporations to mercenaries in every bar, speculating on Ghost’s technical methods was a long-standing hot topic.
While lower-level mercenaries admired the legendary assassin, the corporate executives lived in constant fear.
After all, no one would specifically put a bounty on a nobody, but these big shots all had contracts out on them in the black market.
The cybernetic eyes of the Tyger Claw member controlled by Levi flickered with data.
This was Levi reading the man’s information.
“Let’s see…
Hmm, setting aside the Tyger Claw gang business, you’ve been taking private jobs on the side.”
“Every time there’s a clash with other gangs, you go out onto the highway and intentionally shoot at passing vehicles, pretending it’s stray fire.
Afterward, for every victim a Scavenger successfully hauls away, they give you 90 Eurodollars.”
Seeing that the man had killed people for only 90 Eurodollars each, Levi was so angry he laughed.
He released the grenade, and before it hit the ground, Levi left the body.
With a loud boom, the Tyger Claw member in the alleyway was blown to pieces, leaving nothing behind.
Levi’s soul floated in mid-air, deciding on the second step of the experiment.
He would occupy another person’s body and, while they were under anesthesia for a craniotomy, keep his soul inside their body.
He would maintain the link between his soul and physical body to see whether he could etch cursed-energy circuits onto the soul itself.
If that couldn’t etch the circuits onto the soul, he would move on to the third step…
“I hope the second step works…”
Thinking of the third phase, even Levi couldn’t help but look solemn.