Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty: The Cost of Power

"Xida?"

"... Five more minutes..."

January 13, 2074, 6:00

The rain had cleared.

The sun labored across hundreds of millions of kilometers just to glimpse the girl's sleeping face.

The man smiled helplessly, sat up on the bed, and pulled her into his arms, shielding her from the intrusive sunlight.

"You're jealous of the sun too... Yahweh, you're so childish." Xida half-closed her eyes, leaning against him, her left hand playfully tracing his lips.

"When did you learn mind reading?" He raised an eyebrow, brushing away her mischievous hand, and kissed her half-closed eyelids.

"Hehe..." She laughed softly, savoring his tenderness.

"Get up, I have a gift for you." He looked helplessly at the lazy lump curled in his arms, gently shaking her.

"Tell me what it is first..." She pouted, climbing out of Yahweh's arms, turning sideways and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"The kind that makes you stronger..." He winked mysteriously, lightly biting her cute nose as it leaned in.

"Ah! Tell me, tell me now! Or else... I'll torture you!" She wiped the saliva off her nose with disdain, glaring at him with beautiful, feigned ferocity.

"Crystal Yuan..." He touched the Neural Interface at the back of Xida's head, "The kind that turns you into a top-tier Hacker."

"Where is it?"

"It's already inside your head..." Yahweh rolled his eyes, "That prototype I left some things in."

"Left some things? Did it affect you?" Her playful mood vanished; worry filled her beautiful eyes.

"No," he stroked her tense back, "My power remains unchanged, it won't diminish."

"Oh, then let's see it right away!" She relaxed, slumping lazily against him.

Yahweh shook his head gently—he always had no way to resist this clingy little thing.

"Switch your cyber-eye to scan mode." He poked her cheek.

"Switched... now what?"

Xida tilted her head in confusion. In scan mode, the man right before her appeared as a mysterious shadow, indistinct and blurred.

She disliked this distance from him, eager to end this phase.

"Patience, Xida... look around..." Yahweh chuckled, gesturing to the surroundings.

Xida looked around, mouth agape in astonishment.

She saw an entirely new world.

Every electronic device within her field of vision was connected by a faint white thread, none crossing, stretching endlessly outward.

She quickly turned to the window.

A vast network loomed overhead, crushing Night City beneath it.

"What is this, Yahweh?" Her voice trembled—half exhilaration, half terror.

She had glimpsed the glorious illusion of the God Realm, one foot already stepping into the clouds, forever leaving the mortal world behind.

"You can think of it as..." He frowned, choosing his words, "My perspective. A part of my perspective."

Xida hopped lightly onto the floor, shuffled to the window in her slippers.

She rose on her toes, gazing down at the tiny, bustling figures on the street below.

"Do you see those people?" Yahweh got out of bed and hugged her from behind, her excitement and fear palpable.

"I see them..." She murmured, intoxicated by the sensation of a god overlooking all life.

"If you want... they die. They die the moment you think it." He whispered into her ear.

"How?"

"Just think... just think about it..." He tapped her little head.

"Unlike Cyberhackers, who make choices when infiltrating targets—choices based on their installed plugins..." He paused, giving the stunned Xida a moment to absorb it, "I—or rather, we—we only need to think..."

"Think the guy below has ugly cyberware and want to rip it off? The moment you have that thought, it becomes reality." Yahweh pointed to the exhibitionist below, his Big Steel Cannon exposed.

He sighed in disdain—and the exhibitionist's Big Steel Cannon detached itself at the root.

"I*! That's terrifying!" Xida gasped, lightly pinching her own cheek to confirm she wasn't dreaming.

"Can I do something like that?" She gazed at the exhibitionist writhing on the ground, bleeding profusely, and grinned with malicious delight.

"Almost..." Yahweh paused, "But I'll impose limits on you—to prevent your brain from overloading and becoming a Cyberpsycho."

"What exactly is a Cyberpsycho?" She turned off scan mode, sat down on the sofa in the living room—the brief God's Eye had left her weary.

"The outward manifestation when the brain can't handle Cyberware Erosion..." He walked beside her, gently massaging her temples.

"For example..." He searched for the right analogy.

"For example?"

"Like driving..." Yahweh snapped his fingers, "You install cyberware—it's like driving a car..." He stood beside the sofa, pointing to the vehicles speeding past on the elevated highway.

"The more cyberware you install, the faster the speed... At first you can handle it, but eventually you'll tire—because this road has no end." He smiled faintly, "When you're driving at high speed while exhausted, every second of distraction is fatal. One moment of daze, and you've teleported a thousand kilometers. Your tired brain frantically orders you to avoid the car ahead—but you're dodging only a phantom from minutes ago..."

"*Crash. * Before the brain even registers it, the accident happens." Yahweh gazed at the black smoke rising in the distance—today's death lottery had gained another number.

"That's Cyberpsycho, Xida..." He stroked her head, "When the brain is exhausted to overload, the person breaks down..."

"And real-world factors accelerate the brain's fatigue, right?" Xida looked up at the man standing in the sunlight, his face blurred against the glare.

"Added cyberware, life stress—they all intensify the fatigue... It's like chasing death itself..." He nodded in agreement with her guess.

"Gloria!" She sprang up, rushing to go downstairs and convince the kind woman to quit her job.

"I've implanted Nanobots in her— they'll absorb part of the burden," he held back the frantic Xida.

"I'm still going to make her change jobs! Eighteen hours a day is too dangerous!"

"There'll be a chance, Xida..." He sat her back on the sofa, soothing her softly.

"Let's finish today's commission first; the phone just rang." He whispered softly.

The next moment, Xida received a message from Rogue.