Dual Worlds: I Have a Doomsday World

"HGPD personnel, my ass! What do you hicks know? That’s a private vehicle that just has HGPD authorization. Only members of the corporations that manage the Cyber City have those. In other words, that’s someone from the Liu Family."

Someone in the crowd was clearly in the know.

The flying vehicle came to a stop. Lin Qi stepped out nonchalantly, calmly accepting the stares from the clients of the No. 1 Prosthetic Clinic.

Then, without a backward glance, Lin Qi went straight inside the No. 1 Prosthetic Clinic.

The murmuring in the crowd didn’t stop; it only intensified.

"He just walked right in?"

"Duh. You’re not from around here, are you? That’s Lin Qi!"

"Divine Power Lin Qi? Holy shit, I saw him in the flesh!"

In that moment, countless clients cast gazes toward the No. 1 Prosthetic Clinic as if looking upon a holy site.

Near the back of the line, next to the scalper who had just sold his spot.

"Bro, five thousand. I’ll take it!"

"Sorry, bro. Price just went up. It’s ten thousand now!"

"Fuck! You son of a... I’ll take it!"

...

Entering the Prosthetic Clinic, he saw the interior looked no different from the last time he was back.

Except, in the clinic’s reception area, Lin Qi saw no fewer than a hundred brand-new, unopened Divine Iron Bull Prosthetic Bodies.

A delivery slip was lying on the table.

[Liu’s Heavy Industries Shipping Order: 130 Divine Iron Bull units. Recipient: Doctor Lin]

[Note: Payment deferred. Billing based on number of activated units.]

’One hundred thirty units?’

’Can the old man even install all of those?’

’And what’s this about deferred payment?’

’Liu’s Heavy Industries is a major corporation. How could they allow this kind of arrangement for such a bestselling product?’

"My influence must be pretty damn impressive," Lin Qi muttered sarcastically.

After the quip, he started searching for the old man’s location.

He opened his Spiritual Vision and clearly saw Doctor Lin in the underground workshop, performing surgery on a woman.

A freshly unboxed Divine Iron Bull sat by Doctor Lin’s hand—an L-Class extended model, no less.

It looked like he was just about to begin the procedure.

Lin Qi sent a message directly to Doctor Lin: "I’m at the Prosthetic Clinic."

Doctor Lin received the message instantly and said to the woman, "I’ll give you the anesthetic first. Don’t worry, it’ll be installed by the time you wake up."

With that, he controlled a mechanical arm to automatically inject the woman with the anesthetic.

Once the woman had lost consciousness, Doctor Lin stopped his work, left the workshop, and came upstairs.

Seeing Lin Qi, Doctor Lin said, "It’s good you’re back. Lucky you didn’t die in Alliance City."

He sounded just like Lin Xin.

Lin Qi replied, "I’m pretty hard to kill. I came back this time because there are a few things I need to talk to you about, old man."

Lin Qi’s voice wasn’t loud; in fact, it grew even quieter as he spoke.

Doctor Lin sharply sensed something was up.

He said to Lin Qi, "Don’t say anything yet. Wait until I finish this surgery. The profit margin on these Divine Iron Bulls is great. Installing one L-Class brings in as much profit as a regular A-Class job."

After saying that, Doctor Lin left Lin Qi standing there and turned to go back downstairs.

Hearing Doctor Lin’s words, Lin Qi immediately began to calculate.

’Profit equivalent to an A-Class?’

’Based on the prices for second-hand A-Class Prosthetic Bodies at the No. 1 Prosthetic Clinic, the cost for a typical prosthetic plus installation is between 200,000 and 300,000 Credit Points.’

’The profit margin is around fifteen percent, so that’s about thirty to fifty thousand.’

’The price for a brand-new Prosthetic Body is much higher, but the profit isn’t that much more, usually not exceeding sixty thousand Credit Points.’

’In the prosthetics industry, most of the profit ends up in the corporations’ hands.’

’Prosthetic Clinics mostly just earn wages for their hard labor.’

’One hundred thirty Divine Iron Bulls... he can do at least ten surgeries a day. Dad’s skilled, so if he works overtime, he could probably do twenty.’

’The profit is substantial. That puts my mind at ease.’

Lin Qi’s main purpose in returning to the Prosthetic Clinic this time was to seek financial support.

His expenses over the past month had been enormous—an eight-figure sum of Credit Points.

On top of that, Lin Qi was also eight figures in debt.

Setting aside the nine million he owed Guang Ling, the seven million he owed King Arthur had to be paid as soon as possible.

Only after paying this off could Lin Qi shamelessly ask King Arthur to sell him three more T2-class Spacecraft on credit.

Lin Qi couldn’t count on his company dividends for this payment, so his only option was to scrounge up some funds from the Prosthetic Clinic.

The old man had probably figured out his intentions, which was why he’d mentioned the clinic’s recent income.

It was to help him calculate how many Credit Points he could take from the clinic.

After all, Lin Qi’s public identity was now a board member of United Pharmaceutical. If he needed Credit Points, the amount was unlikely to be small.

Lin Qi mulled it over for a moment before moving to sit at the Prosthetic Clinic’s front desk.

He subconsciously glanced at a drawer and happened to see a few more slips.

[Liu’s Heavy Industries Advance Order: 130 Divine Iron Bull units. Recipient: Doctor Lin]

[Delivery Date: March 32, 2089]

[Liu’s Heavy Industries Advance Order: 130 Divine Iron Bull units. Recipient: Doctor Lin]

[Delivery Date: April 7, 2089]

[Liu’s Heavy Industries Advance Order: 130 Divine Iron Bull units. Recipient: Doctor Lin]

[Delivery Date: April 14, 2089]

Holy crap, three more order forms!

A new shipment of one hundred and thirty units every seven days!

Lin Qi’s estimate of the old man’s Physical Strength was quite accurate.

’He can perform about twenty surgeries on average per day.’

’The old man is really taking care of himself, leaving enough free time for ten units a week. He can even get at least four hours of sleep a day.’

’He’s not working hard enough.’

’How can a man his age even sleep?!’

Seeing these order forms, Lin Qi knew the old man must have a lot of Credit Points on hand.

Especially with the custom payment method Liu’s Heavy Industries arranged for him.

The old man had zero pressure when it came to his Credit Point cash flow.

Delivery before payment!

Liu’s Heavy Industries was really showing him face.

Lin Qi didn’t have to think for long. In less than forty minutes, the sound of a metal Prosthetic Body stepping on the floor came from the stairs.

A sweet, feminine voice drifted over. "Dr. Lin, your skills are just incredible! If I ever need another prosthetic installed, I’ll definitely come back to you!"

’A forty-minute surgery.’ It seemed Lin Qi had underestimated his old man’s speed.

"If you need anything, just email me. There’s no need to come all the way to Red Fruit City. I know some other skilled Prosthetic Doctors in other Cyber Cities I can recommend."

"As for a direct supply from Liu’s Heavy Industries, I can help you figure something out, but..."

The woman’s voice came again, "Don’t worry, Dr. Lin. I get it!"

The client and Doctor Lin seemed to have a pleasant conversation.

Perhaps this was one of the reasons many clients traveled from so far away to have Doctor Lin install their Divine Iron Bulls.

Doctor Lin had a direct line to Liu’s Heavy Industries’ prosthetic supply chain; he could get stock that many other Prosthetic Clinics couldn’t.

Doctor Lin’s network was one of the highest-quality connections that many people from the middle and lower classes could easily access.

And the price for that access was merely paying a slightly higher price than elsewhere to get a Divine Iron Bull installed.

It wasn’t a loss at all!

In fact, they could even ride this wave and do some effective networking.

After finishing with the client, Doctor Lin changed the status sign on the Prosthetic Clinic’s door to "On Break (1 Hour)" and then came over to Lin Qi.

He leaned sideways against the counter.

"Alright, spit it out. How many Credit Points do you need? I’ve actually got quite a bit on hand. Got deposits for over six hundred Divine Iron Bulls. After all this work to get rich, I was thinking of getting a couple S-Class Prosthetic Bodies to play with."

Hearing this, Lin Qi said, "Just don’t install those S-Class Prosthetic Bodies on yourself. If you go crazy, Lin Xin will come back to Red Fruit City and kill me."

Doctor Lin waved his hand dismissively. "I know, I know! Cut the crap. I finally managed to send that girl Lin Xin off, so don’t you start lecturing me. Just hurry up and say it. How many Credit Points? Don’t ask for anything too crazy. I know you have needs for the company now, but these are my hard-earned..."

Lin Qi smiled. "Not much. Ten million should be enough."

Although he only needed seven million for King Arthur, Doctor Lin’s Credit Points were strictly regulated by Red Fruit City’s financial system.

Lin Qi would need to use Guang Ling’s methods to launder these "clean" credits into "dirty" ones before transferring them to King Arthur.

A certain amount of loss during the process was to be expected.