Chapter 16 - Gambler

"What are you doing? Can’t you see I’m busy?"The girl in front of the workbench sighed, put down her work, pushed up her protective goggles, and let her lustrous black hair fall down.

Upon seeing Xu Xiaoyou’s appearance, the girl called Gloss’s eyes lit up slightly, showing excitement:

"Oh my god! Is it a girl? A girl has joined our department, really!"

"Hey, what’s with all this girl talk? The person is a real man, alright?" the bald man said. "Calling a man a woman is quite a blow to one’s self-esteem!"

A hint of disappointment flashed in Gloss’s eyes, but she quickly adjusted her demeanor, scooted her chair closer, and studied Xu Xiaoyou carefully.

"Strange, clearly looks like a girl no matter how you see it."

"My name is Xu Nian, you’re standing too close."

Feeling the other person was too close, Xu Xiaoyou silently took a step back, her expression indifferent.

"Oh my god!" Gloss exclaimed, "He’s even prettier than me!"

"I told you, that really hurts a man’s self-esteem!" The bald man couldn’t stand it, he patted Xu Xiaoyou’s shoulder. "Doesn’t he speak? Xu Nian, this name... seems a bit familiar, feels like I’ve heard it somewhere."

Suddenly, the bald man frowned a little, remembering something, staring at Xu Xiaoyou’s face, as if trying hard to recollect.

"Alright, alright, Theroux, stop joking."

Gloss brought over a chair for Xu Xiaoyou, and once the girl sat down, tossed a book in front of her.

The cover of the book was simple, with the words ’The Art of Communication’ written on it.

"This is about conversation techniques, if you have time tonight, memorize it."

Xu Xiaoyou: "?"

Did she accidentally walk into some scam den?

"Look at your expression, don’t worry, we’re not some unscrupulous scam group, only the dwarf green-skinned race likes to do that. This is for online debt collection."

Debt collection?

Xu Xiaoyou realized something but didn’t show it.

"Our security department, you know, our job is pretty simple, we just go after the people who owe Cosmic Heavy Industries money, for example, those who took out loans like ’Sunshine Prosthetics’ to purchase our mechanical prosthetics in installments, when the time comes, we give them a call."

"If they cooperate, then it’s simple, just transfer the money over through online channels and we’re done."

"What if they don’t cooperate?" Theroux asked.

"Shouldn’t ask questions on behalf of the newcomer!" Gloss gave the bald man a side-eye.

"If they don’t cooperate."

As she said this, the girl’s gaze became colder, as if the temperature around dropped a few degrees.

"Turn off the air conditioner, Theroux."

"Oh, I thought it was useful now."

The bald man obediently turned off the air conditioner.

Xu Xiaoyou glanced up, then turned her gaze back to the girl in front of her.

"We have to employ some violent methods, go directly to collect the debt," Gloss’s eyes were shadowed, "A debt should be repaid, isn’t it only right and proper?"

"If the person has money at home, we make them sell what they can, repay the money."

"If there’s no money at home, it doesn’t matter, we’ll find a way to get money from them, in this city, people always have value."

Gloss didn’t continue, just maintained a smile, though it seemed a bit chilling at the moment.

Xu Xiaoyou thought of the large quantity of unknown organs circulating in the black market of District 13, which is controlled by the Fresh Meat Restaurant. Every day, lots of fresh goods are trucked into the restaurant for those with peculiar tastes to enjoy.

Her eyes slightly lowered.

No wonder the Siren girl named Aphra’s attitude changed so much upon knowing she was part of the security department.

Openly called the security department, in reality, it was Cosmos’s external violent debt collection agency.

"Should I say you’re lucky or unlucky? Debt collection is just a task for our C Department, A Department is company security, B Department is about taxing the residents living in the area."

"Only our C Department, laboring thanklessly, doing the most dangerous work, yet bearing the ire of the outside world."

"Debt collection is fine if it’s just unfortunate narrow-minded people, but if we run into those tough nuts, like gangs and such. If not handled well, you can lose your life, and if the debt becomes bad, the company will charge it to our department’s fund, and we’d have to split the cost among everyone!"

Gloss complained, then her eyes darted around, and she suddenly leaned in front of Xu Xiaoyou, taking hold of Xu Xiaoyou’s hand, her gaze sincere:

"That’s why I said I don’t know if you’re lucky or not, how about this, instead of thinking about fighting and killing, just follow me!"

"Hey, Gloss, the security department only has a few new recruits in a year..."

"Theroux, shut up."

Xu Xiaoyou’s face twitched a bit, realizing that the girl was not as delicate and slender as she appeared, as she couldn’t break free from her grip at all.

"I just like you looking so good, if you ever end up like Andrew, becoming a muscular brute, that’d be such a waste! How about learning a craft with me?"

Gloss said, quickly moving to the workbench, taking something off the model rack, and placing it in front of Xu Xiaoyou.

"Look at this, this is a Gelish model mechanical arm, you must have heard of this model, right? Quite common among those gangs and First Tier Cleaners, I designed it, impressive, huh?"

The mechanical arm’s streamlined surface had a metallic sheen, enveloped in a blue glow. Under Xu Xiaoyou’s gaze, it began to transform, the metallic forelimb retracting and reshaping, revealing a dark barrel like something out of a sci-fi movie.

"These mechanical prosthetics are quite expensive, just this B1 model can sell for several thousand credit points! And a lot of people are clamoring for it!"

"Every year, the company allocates a lot of budget to designers, especially for prosthetic neurology, which is Cosmic Heavy Industries’ main field. As long as you propose a better design improvement direction, or design a new model of prosthetic, you could spend the next few months just lying in bed counting money until your hands go numb! You’d get a commission for every set sold too!"

"How’s that sound? Isn’t it tempting?" Gloss blinked repeatedly. "Even if you know nothing now, it’s fine, learn slowly with me for a few years, you’ll grasp it!"

She originally thought the girl would hesitate a bit longer, but to her surprise, the girl straightforwardly refused.

"Sorry, no need."

"Huh?" Gloss was utterly shocked.

Theroux beside her was equally astonished.

The number of people who would do anything to become a designer at Cosmic Heavy Industries was countless, yet this newcomer in front of them refused so decisively!

"Thank you for your kindness, Miss Gloss, but no need." Xu Xiaoyou calmly repeated.

Gloss looked disappointed: "Alright then..."

Xu Xiaoyou, of course, had her own considerations.

Starting from zero, just getting into it would take years, not to mention the effort required. When would she even start earning her first bucket of gold?

She didn’t have the time or patience, not to mention a Three Wings investigator possibly surveilling her, like a ticking time bomb.

She needed to earn quick money, needed to quickly elevate her position in the company.

High risk equals high reward, not only those with no way out walk the tightrope, but gamblers as well.

Door-to-door debt collection, what could be more fitting than this path right before her, matching her appetite?