"My plan is to encircle Night City from the Badlands—build strength there first, then gradually erode the city from the outside. Kirk can also effectively paralyze the upper class until the entire city falls!"
After Xiao finally managed to make Rogue accept the reality that Arasaka Yorinobu was already on his side, he immediately laid out a plan he had only just conceived.
The Badlands were a vast expanse of wasteland outside Night City—resources scarce, tribes of nomads scattered across the plains.
Resource plundering, burning oil fields, and horrifying levels of pollution defined daily life there. Compared to the Badlands, even Night City looked like a lush oasis.
Xiao's true targets were the Nomads and the Wraiths.
These two groups represented opposite extremes of the Badlands.
The Nomads were family-centered, disciplined, mutually supportive—a cohesive whole.
The Wraiths, on the other hand, were people who had completely surrendered to desire. They committed every conceivable evil, worshipping nothing but money and indulgence.
The two sides loathed each other. Their conflicts had dragged on for years. Both had suffered losses, yet neither could truly wipe the other out.
"It's feasible. I happen to know someone—"
Rogue smiled faintly, about to make an introduction.
"No need," Xiao cut her off with a wave of his hand.
"The Nomads won't trust us. If we approach them directly, they'll just think we're using them as test subjects. I'll start with the junkyards or the Wraiths. Once that's done, the Nomads will come knocking on their own."
Given how wary the Nomads were, handing them new weapons outright would only raise suspicion.
After all, the Badlands tribes—stateless and unprotected—had long been the favorite experimental subjects of morally bankrupt corporations. After being deceived countless times, caution and cunning were the only things they had learned to rely on.
"Then what do I do?" Rogue asked.
"Just do what you're best at," Xiao replied casually.
"Build connections, raise resources, organize operations, issue missions—whatever you like. As long as the dimensional chips keep selling, that's enough."
Xiao gave her no specific assignments. Her greatest value lay in her network and influence. He simply granted her independent authority to replicate dimensional chips.
In any case, each replication consumed her own nanomechanical insects. If she overused them, her coverage rate would drop—forcing her to gather resources to replenish them.
"Fine. You clearly have a plan," Rogue said, standing up.
"I'll head out. Call me if you need anything."
With the manufacturing authority in hand, she picked up her bag and left without hesitation.
...
...
After seeing Rogue off, Xiao instructed the guards that he would not be receiving guests today.
He was going into seclusion.
Ever since defeating Wapol Xiao, Xiao had been contemplating one thing:
Creating a cultivation system of his own.
Xiao was destined to confront countless versions of himself across different worlds. Each Xiao possessed an independent power system—and sooner or later, those systems would conflict.
To avoid that outcome, Xiao wanted a unified cultivation framework, one capable of absorbing all forms of energy, matter, and knowledge.
If Xiao from the Dimension Farm had attempted this, it would have been sheer arrogance. But with the universal converter, such a system was no longer out of reach.
His previous growth methods had been effective—but unsystematic.
A little of this, a little of that. Nothing fully refined.
It was the reckless pioneering phase: do whatever comes to mind, patch the holes later. By the time the real problems emerged, it would already be too late.
What Xiao wanted was a step-by-step cultivation method, advancing from the lowest level upward, with a rock-solid foundation.
His first thought was immortal cultivation.
The system had been refined and proven over countless generations. And let's be honest—Chinese people were always inexplicably obsessed with cultivating immortality.
Xiao was no exception.
Unfortunately, reality didn't allow it.
Immortal cultivation wasn't something you could achieve just by wanting it.
No spiritual energy.
No cultivation techniques.
No understanding of meridians.
How was one supposed to absorb spiritual energy without any of that?
Yet Xiao refused to abandon the idea.
If reality lacked the conditions—he would create them.
If there was no cultivation system—he would build one himself.
If there was no spiritual energy—then he would invent cyber cultivation.
To cultivate immortality, the most fundamental requirement was clear:
Spiritual energy.
So Xiao asked himself:
What is spiritual energy, really?
After deep thought, he arrived at an answer:
A special form of energy that strengthens both body and spirit in a universal sense.
As long as that condition was met, it qualified as spiritual energy.
And that meant it could be used for cultivation.
Enter: Nano mechanical insects.
Xiao couldn't create a brand-new form of mystical energy—but he could create something invisible, intangible, yet undeniably real.
The original prototype of the Nano mechanical insect was a Trauma Team Nano medical robot, capable of minimally invasive bodily repairs—cutting-edge medical tech that could save anyone short of actual death.
After acquiring it, Xiao modified and miniaturized it further and further—until it reached 0.1 nanometers, roughly the size of an atom.
Creating an atomic-scale machine was absurdly expensive. Xiao poured an enormous amount of resources into it—nearly exhausting himself.
But in the end, the Munch-Munch Fruit and the Dimension Farm did not disappoint him.
The impossible design was realized.
With the foundational Nano mechanical worm complete, everything else became much easier.
All that remained was conceptual integration.
The first power Xiao incorporated was Haki—the only extraordinary ability he currently possessed that could be cultivated.
Haki used life force and willpower to continuously temper both flesh and metal. That gave the Nano mechanical worms the basis to break through their own limits.
Next came the Munch-Munch Fruit.
Xiao granted the Nano mechanical worms the ability to devour all matter—to bite anything, consume anything, record technologies, and even merge completely with living flesh.
The Munch-Munch Fruit allowed the worms to be fully absorbed by the human body and to fundamentally transform one's physique.
Then came Energy Absorption.
Whether faced with physical or energy-based attacks, the Nano mechanical worms could absorb and convert the impact into usable power—making them extraordinarily difficult to destroy.
More than that, the absorbed energy could be used to strengthen the worms themselves.
Once Haki, Swallowing, and Energy Absorption were combined, the Nano mechanical worms already possessed the core attributes of spiritual energy.
They could absorb.
They could merge.
They could strengthen the body.
They could break through limits.
A near-perfect artificial spiritual energy system—
And the foundation of Xiao's Cyber Cultivation Path.
(T/N: I've begun to dislike cultivation and all their bs but the cybercultivation path is kinda based.)
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