The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician
Chapter 314 - 198: Shatter the Darkness with Thunder!

Chapter 314: Chapter 198: Shatter the Darkness with Thunder!

Tang should be planning to spend time dealing with the Dick Family’s affairs.

It’s just unclear how much time it will take.

Jiang Shu was carefully considering this in his mind.

He had not chosen to directly reveal Tang’s secret to the Dick Family because he did not have conclusive evidence in his hands.

All of this was derived from his conjectures, and the questions he raised at Du Yuyi’s had verified his suspicions one by one.

He could now be certain that Tang was indeed Hunter, but he had no proof.

It was just like Tang also consistently believed that he was "Smiley Face," without evidence either.

In such a case, informing the Dick Family’s collateral branches of Tang’s secret would not necessarily lead to armed confrontation; the infighting would more likely turn into a controversy over interests and entanglements.

Therefore, this was not the outcome Jiang Shu wanted.

Given the current situation, Tang would definitely choose to deal with these collateral branches of the Dick Family first.

With Tang’s caliber, even if he hasn’t cultivated his own forces, he could still carry out perfect crime-like assassination operations.

And to say that Tang hasn’t developed any power of his own over so many years...

Jiang Shu didn’t believe that for a second.

Tang’s personality would not allow him to leave his fate entirely up to the choices of the Dick Family’s collateral branches.

As long as Tang resumed calm thinking, he would realize that Jiang Shu actually had no evidence to prove he was Hunter.

After all, if there was evidence, handing it over to the Dick Family would clearly be the better choice.

Of course, Tang would not abandon his decision to make a move for that reason, because he was not sure whether the collateral members of the Dick Family would get the message, nor was he sure if those who did receive it would take the risk of striking at him first.

Tang took the initiative, and the collateral branches struck back in defense.

This was the outcome Jiang Shu desired; he wanted Tang to be completely indefensible on moral grounds, then he could step in to help the collateral branches and thoroughly destroy Tang as a person.

Whether it was Tang’s body, spirit, or reputation, he wanted to destroy it all.

This was a clear strategy; even if Tang knew his intentions, he could only follow along, since the longer the matter dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him.

Information asymmetry.

That was the key to victory.

As for another major reason...

Of course, it was for Sister Ruo.

With internal strife brewing, he would have a reason to forcibly take Sister Ruo away.

And by the way, take down the entire White Eagle Company as well.

He too needed a high-tech company to help himself with some matters, and a ready-made high-tech firm was undoubtedly the best outcome.

Inside the underground parking lot, Jiang Shu stood at the entrance and looked into the darkness for a while, then walked towards the only light in the underground parking lot.

It was a black sedan, and the light was indeed coming from inside the car.

Jiang Shu approached and glanced inside; it was a standard sedan that had been driven out from a taxi service. He opened the door and sat in the passenger seat.

In the driver’s seat was Lang Tai, who was fiddling with a plastic knife that he had somehow acquired.

It was a sharpened plastic knife, and despite being made of plastic, its edge was fearsome.

"Put it away, let’s go," Jiang Shu said.

Lang Tai nodded, sheathed the knife, and then threw it into the storage compartment in the car.

Even though Jiang Shu had already told Lang Tai to rent a car, Jiang Shu was still somewhat worried that Lang Tai might bring Wu Ci’s car.

Fortunately, Lang Tai did not do so.

The sedan started and slowly headed towards Black Currant.

Jiang Shu, lying sideways on the seat, also opened his wristwatch and began casually browsing recent hot topics.

First and foremost, naturally, was the premiere of "Nameless Extras," and in the entertainment news briefs, Jiang Shu also spotted his own figure.

Looking at the comments, most were fans of Li Yuntang expressing their support for the box office, with quite a few also expressing their anticipation for the film.

Beyond that, amongst the many comments, Jiang Shu spotted one that stood out.

Little Deer Home: Ten thousand signatures petition for the return of Magic Performances! (1/10,000)

This comment quickly reached the ten-thousand-signature mark, and it cleared up many people’s confusion.

It turns out that Jiang Shu hadn’t performed magic in the past three months because he had gone to film a movie.

And the fact that his magic, after three months without any news, could still maintain such high popularity was somewhat surprising to Jiang Shu, but it was more of a pleasant surprise.

Overall, the atmosphere for magic in Lonely City was much better than in his previous life, perhaps because it was a completely new form of entertainment, and Jiang Shu had always kept a good control over the mysterious and novel aspect of magic, resulting in a consistently high level of interest in magic performances.

Although three months had passed, the progress in decrypting magic in Lonely City had been slow.

Regarding this issue, those who discussed magic were roughly divided into four camps.

First Camp: I don’t care, Jiang Shu just has magical powers!

There’s not much to talk about with this camp; it mostly consists of those idolizing Jiang Shu, although there were also quite a few who were playing dumb with clear understanding.

Second Camp: Magic is incredible and scientific, but appreciation is the most important; there’s no need for demystification.

This camp, on the other hand, is quite rational, treating magic simply as a form of performance.

Third Camp: Magic is nothing but the use of ordinary means, after all, Jiang Shu did reveal his Mysterious Coefficient, so I might as well try to crack it.

This camp is also rational, but their motives for cracking the magic differ; some do it out of a strong interest in magic, while others do it for popularity and topicality, resulting in uneven quality of the revelations.

This has also led to rational reveal videos often being attacked nonsensically, with few truly rational discussions in the comment sections.

As for the fourth camp...

I don’t care if Jiang Shu uses a plant!

If it’s not a plant, it’s editing, the live audience is bought off, and Black Currant is just spending money to make a star and then profiting wildly from the fans.

This camp is pretty much as hard-core as the first camp, though it’s also a mixed bag, but what they have in common is that none have actually been to the site.

Thus, their IP addresses tend to be from locations far from the Seventh District.

However, Jiang Shu also noticed that all videos revealing the secrets behind magic are not very popular, and several of the related videos he had saved earlier had been taken down after being reported...

At the time, he actually found those people’s approaches to cracking the magic quite interesting.

It seems that someone is purposefully suppressing the popularity and is systematically reporting these videos.

From the most obvious perspective of benefit...

Perhaps it was Sister Mei behind it all?

Jiang Shu stroked his chin, actually it was quite possible, and the Black Currant Theater was indeed the most qualified and capable to request the takedown of reveal videos, as long as the price was right.

And now, with the news of Jiang Shu’s film shooting coming out, the fourth camp had burst into uproar like it was the New Year, as if it confirmed the fact that Jiang Shu and Black Currant Theater were colluding with the entertainment industry to profit from fans.

For a while, the discussions soared, with slightly agitated sentiments in the comment sections of such videos.

But Jiang Shu didn’t pay much attention to these things; what really caught his eye was another trending topic.

"White Eagle Technology Co., Ltd. announces a major breakthrough in artificial intelligence, with the company’s developed AI set to debut at a product launch this Friday. This is said to be the first substantial breakthrough in AI projects in three years, but so far White Eagle has only revealed the name of the AI as ’Shu Bao’..."

The video opened with a brief news introduction, and Jiang Shu keenly noticed the name of the artificial intelligence.

"Shu Bao..." His smile became somewhat awkward, but before the sides’ A, B, C, and D started sending sarcastic comments, he fiercely pointed at them with his index finger, "Shut up, behave."

A, B, C, and D promptly sat up straight and solemn, heads bowed and mouths shut, not daring to make a peep.

Having lived with the Tablet Spirits for nearly half a year now, Jiang Shu could naturally perfectly predict these guys’ thoughts.

"Behave, continue sorting through history, the quicker you finish, the better," Jiang Shu said, exasperated.

A, B, C, and D stood in a row, saluting in unison, and then said, "Yes!"

They then resumed their work, each adopting the appearance of a well-behaved child.

Jiang Shu nodded in satisfaction, then continued to browse through videos.

Today was Monday, and Friday meant...

There were still four days left, he wondered if Sister Ruo would appear at the launch.

If she would, then it might be worth going to have a look.

He also wondered if Tang’s actions after watching the film today would affect Sister Ruo in any way.

Hmm...

If Tang were to strike first, he likely wouldn’t bring the conflict into the open in the short term; concluding with a connected series of moves that deliver a fatal blow would be more his style.

Perhaps he should have Little Ding keep an eye on things for the next few days.

Jiang Shu made the decision internally, and at the same time, he thought about his own main job.

It seemed like he hadn’t performed magic for quite a while.

So he first opened up the weather forecast, searching for relevant information.

"Thursday, hm?" He looked at the rainy weather symbol on the Thursday line and nodded to himself.

Following that, Jiang Shu pulled up the map of the Seventh District, quickly locating Black Currant Theater’s position, right next to Gu River, while nearby the theater, there was also a park and an open plaza.

He decided on a magic performance that would start indoors and extend outdoors.

Outdoor magic performances can be more spectacular and offer more options to work with.

And it would be quite interesting to use such an explosive magic show as his comeback opener...

"Hello?" So he called Sister Mei.

"Mhmm?" Sister Mei on the other end questioned, "What’s up? Are you returning to performing magic?"

"Yes," Jiang Shu affirmed with a smile.

He got guessed right away by Sister Mei, but that’s to be expected, given he wouldn’t call her for anything else.

"When? And what’s the theme?" Sister Mei had grown accustomed to Jiang Shu’s spur-of-the-moment actions. She thought about Black Currant Theater’s schedule for the week, then replied, "Give me at least two days to make arrangements."

"Okay, let’s do Thursday," Jiang Shu nodded.

"Just exactly two days..." You could hear a bit of a complaint in Sister Mei’s tone, but it was undoubtedly a complaint of joy.

After all, as soon as Jiang Shu began performing magic, the money-making machine that was Black Currant Theater would start rolling "boom boom boom."

"This will be an indoor/outdoor magic performance, and as for the theme..." Jiang Shu paused for a moment, thinking of something amusing.

"Son of Thunder, and the tagline for the poster is—With thunder, shatter the darkness."