Free Web NovelChapter 295: 295 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 6
Rogue led us to a soundproofed briefing room in the Afterlife and began the briefing.
"You all know about the Arasaka supply convoy that was hijacked a while back — it was big news."
Then Maine spoke.
"I saw it on TV last time. I heard it was the Wraiths gang — they took a lot."
"Right. It happened in the Badlands, so Arasaka conducted a large‑scale search but couldn’t find it. Then, perhaps because the Wraiths had a lot of goods and had trouble disposing of them, they looked for buyers through various channels, and Colonel Kurt Hansen, the ruler of Dogtown, showed interest, so they made a deal."
"I see."
"But the problem is that the Wraiths got greedy. I heard they asked for too much. But the goods were too tempting to give up. There were various Arasaka new weapons, drones, and high‑end implants for the wealthy — not combat‑use, but quite a lot, I heard. So the client hired us to wipe out the gang and retrieve the goods."
"If it’s Kurt Hansen, why would he hire mercenaries instead of having his own men handle it?"
When Maine asked Rogue with a question, I answered instead.
"Because they’re worried about Arasaka’s eyes. The goods are originally Arasaka’s, after all."
When I said ’Arasaka’, Sasha and Dorio giggled. Rogue also saw that and smirked, continuing the briefing.
"As expected of a veteran. You know how this business works. Anyway, Kurt Hansen sent us their location and armament. The payment is half of the sale price of the recovered goods."
"Can we trust the leader of Dogtown?"
"Because Arasaka is involved, it’s hard for him to pull any tricks. That’s not the problem. The problem is that not only the Wraiths, but also the Arasaka combat drones they stole are guarding the stash."
Rogue handed us a shard. It contained information such as the location, the types of drones, and the approximate number of Wraith members. We passed the shard around.
"Wow... can we really do this alone? Fifty gang members and thirty drones."
"The fortunate thing is that the drones were taken before their software was installed, so the gang is using makeshift software, and I heard their movements are a bit erratic. So we’ll need to exploit that. If someone infiltrates directly and connects to the gang’s own network, I think we can disable the drones through hacking."
Rogue pointed at me and spoke.
"That’s why I called him. When it comes to infiltration and stealth, he’s the best in the business."
I don’t know when my image became that. Probably because on the requests I took, almost all of the opponents got sliced up before they could even fire a single shot properly.
"Once the job is done, I’ll deliver the goods, so you don’t need to worry about that. Good luck. My role ends here."
And then Rogue left.
"Hmm... then we need to come up with a plan. First, Plan A."
With Rogue gone, I made the plan. For infiltration and support, it would be me and Lucy, who have been working together for a long time. Sasha would handle the drone hacking. Once the drones are disabled and the combat proper begins, the fire support team — Maine, Dorio, Rebecca, and Pilar, who hasn’t arrived yet — would take over.
Plan B was: if the hacking takes too long and the infiltration team is detected, while Lucy and Sasha directly hack the drones to temporarily stop their movement, the fire support team and I would take out both the drones and the gang together.
Plan C was: if everything fails, everyone scatters and hides in safe houses prepared in the Badlands.
"I think this is enough. Sasha’s role as netrunner is important in this request. But if you try it and it seems impossible, request support immediately and switch to Plan B. Got it?"
"Yeah."
"Got it."
"And Maine. While watching the situation from outside, if it seems impossible, call Plan C immediately. The authority for Plan C is yours."
"Good. I’ll do that."
"We’ll execute the operation in two days, so have a drink today or something, and rest well tomorrow."
When the briefing ended like that, Maine stretched and stood up.
"Well then, shall we go taste the Afterlife’s liquor? What do you all say?"
"Good!"
Lucy and I also sat with the Maine team at a table and drank. While drinking, we chatted about various things. The Maine team said that they had been doing various odd jobs until now, and had finally made it to the Afterlife. But Lucy seemed to keep a bit of distance from the Maine team, just drinking and listening to their stories from beside me. Whether it was still because of her trauma, she seemed to have difficulty getting close to other comrades besides me.
"By the way, are you two a couple?"
Sasha, seeing Lucy being quiet, asked me.
"Yeah. Originally, I worked alone, but I happened to find a good partner. And it ended up like that."
"You two make a good pair. I wish I had someone like that too."
Sasha, for some reason, both in appearance and personality, seemed similar to a high school girl. At that moment, Lucy tapped me, so I looked at her, and she signaled with her eyes that she wanted to go home.
"I should get going now. Don’t drink too much, everyone."
"Okay. Then see you on the job day."
With that, we said our goodbyes, and Lucy and I went home. That day, strangely, Lucy wanted it actively, so we enjoyed ourselves for quite a long time. I don’t know if it was because she had been drinking, or because it wasn’t an easy job and she was worried someone might die.
The next day, we lazed around at home and rested, and on the job day, Lucy and I went out to the arranged meeting place and moved to the job location with the Maine team.
That day, I saw Pilar for the first time. He was Rebecca’s older brother, with a Mohawk hairstyle and very long arms. I don’t know if that was because of implants or natural. Pilar, having heard that Lucy and I were a couple, didn’t hit on Lucy like in the original. But he did hit on Sasha. This guy seemed to do that to any woman with a good body who looked pretty.
We arrived at the job location, slowly drove the car and hid it nearby, then moved to a high place and did reconnaissance first.
The Wraith gang had set up in a large building in a ruined village. From the fact that there was a playground, it seemed to have been a school building in the past. Drones were patrolling and guarding the perimeter and entrance of the building. Seeing that, Sasha, perhaps nervous, swallowed. Then Maine patted Sasha’s shoulder to ease her tension.
"Good, I think we’ve reconnoitered enough. I’m going in. Is everyone ready?"
"Yeah. Let’s start."
Lucy also prepared and spoke to me.
"Be careful, Jin. I’ll support you."
"Okay."
I carefully approached through the village, timed it, and climbed the building wall to get inside. Perhaps feeling safe because the drones were blocking the outside, the Wraith gang was inside playing cards or watching porn BDs (virtual experiences). So, fortunately, the approach was easy, but to prepare for combat, I took out the ones who went to the bathroom or were smoking alone to reduce the numbers as much as possible, hiding the bodies as I moved.
Lucy also helped by hacking the cameras so they couldn’t see me moving, or paralyzing two when they were together.
"I’m in position. I’ll connect."
– Sasha.
– Got it.
I connected the network device I had prepared in advance to the Wraith gang’s network. Then, I hid and immediately took out anyone who came to the room I was in.
"How is it? How much longer do you think?"
– I think it’ll take about 10 more minutes.
"Got it."
While waiting like that, suddenly the floor below became noisy, and I heard Lucy’s urgent voice.
– Damn, we’ve been caught! The gang found a body!
– Sasha, how much longer!?
– Almost done!
But there was only commotion — it seemed they still hadn’t located where I was, as they were just searching here and there.
SWOOSH—!
THUD!
"Gasp! He’s here!!"
Two came into the room, so I took them out immediately, but a guy outside who saw his comrade die shouted.
– Jin, the gang is swarming toward that room. Let’s switch to Plan B.
"No, I can hold out for about 5 more minutes."
– Sasha! Are you done yet?!
– Yes! Success!
When Sasha loudly announced that the hacking was finished, the drones flying in the sky all began to fall to the ground.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
– Good! Let’s go in!
Car sounds came from outside, and then gunfire began. The Maine team had prepared in advance and were waiting, so they could come in immediately. Thanks to that, the guys outside my room were panicking and couldn’t get themselves together, so I immediately took out my dual Malorian Arms, quickly went outside the room, and put one bullet precisely in the foreheads of the guys nearby.
Bang bang bang bang!!!
Pop! Pak! Puk puk!
Whether it was because I had modified the Malorian Arms to be powerful or not, as soon as the bullets touched their heads, with a sound like a balloon popping, their heads either burst or got a big hole blown in them.
"The rule of thumb for the Malorian Arms is to give it a spin when reloading!"
Click!
Bang bang bang!!!
Pak! Pak! Puk!
As I took care of the gang inside, and the Maine team sprayed bullets from outside, the gang couldn’t get themselves together and began to be quickly cleaned up. Because of me, the gang all gathered into the building, which became the worst situation for them.
Bang bang bang! Ratatatat! CRASH!!!
"Waaah!"
"Help!"
"Mommy..."
– Rebecca, watch the containers! If the goods get damaged, the payment drops!
– I know!
When the gang was all cleaned up like that, Rebecca grumbled.
"Tch! I couldn’t do as well as that pretty‑boy bastard."
Sure enough, out of 50, I had taken out about 30 inside the building.
"Haha, kid, you’ve got a long way to go."
"What did you say!? Did you call me kid again!"
When Rebecca tried to freak out again, Maine stopped her and spoke.
"He’s definitely amazing. Now I understand why he’s called the mercenary closest to legend."
"No, if you guys hadn’t drawn their attention from outside, it would have been hard for me to handle them alone."
Then Rebecca, acting proud, spoke.
"Of course! If we hadn’t done our part outside, you wouldn’t have been able to do that."
But Sasha apologized to me.
"Sorry, I couldn’t do it faster." frёewebnoѵēl.com
"It’s fine. Anyway, it worked out well."
I also comforted Lucy, who was a bit sulky because there was a slightly dangerous moment.
"Lucy, good work."
"You did more than me, Jin. But next time, I wish you’d push yourself a little less. I was worried."
"Got it."
We roughly cleaned up and opened the containers. Inside were intact drones, weapons, and high‑end implants. Seeing that, the Maine team cheered with joy. They examined the containers, contacted Rogue, and rested.
During that time, I also used my [Material Copy] ability to duplicate any usable weapons or implants and put them into my inventory. They weren’t combat‑use, but gold‑plated, strange implants, so it was a bit disappointing, but I thought they might come in handy later.
After duplicating the goods like that, I went outside, and Maine came to me and spoke.
"We should go for an afterparty. There’s a place we go often — how about we go there and have a drink?"
"Lucy, what do you think?"
I asked Lucy first. Then Lucy also nodded in agreement.
"Okay, let’s do that."
"Then it’s settled."
The Maine team’s destination was obvious. Westbrook, Japantown — the ’Turbo Bar’ located next to Megabuilding H8. In front of the Turbo Bar, there was a large parking lot, and when night came, street vendors would set up there and sell drinks.
So it was a place where mercenaries often drove to and hung out outdoors. Unlike the Afterlife, they didn’t screen people, so even mercenaries doing small‑time jobs or ordinary people would come, chat, and have a drink. It was also a place where the Maine team often had their afterparties. Lucy and I had never been there before.
As we were resting, people drove up in large trucks, talked with Maine, loaded the containers, and moved them somewhere.
"All done. Let’s go."
Lucy and I drove, followed the Maine team, and moved to the ’Turbo Bar’ to drink. Since it was a street vendor selling drinks outdoors, they didn’t sell very good liquor. So Lucy, whose palate had become more refined, only drank a little and then just sipped on a soft drink.
And we were able to see an interesting scene — after getting a bit drunk, Pilar used empty bottles to do various juggling tricks with his long arms, putting on a show. Both the mercenaries and the ordinary people enjoyed watching it. Whether it was because I was a fan of the original or not, I also found the show quite entertaining.
After finishing his performance like that, Pilar went to Sasha, put his arm around her, and hit on her again. Sasha, unable to take it anymore, slapped Pilar’s cheek and just went home. Unlike Lucy in the original, Sasha didn’t tolerate it. Then, everyone who was watching that started laughing loudly. The funny thing was that even Lucy smirked at that.
As we laughed and chatted like that, Lucy seemed to get tired. Just as I was about to go home, Maine spoke to us.
"I’d like to work with you again next time. You’re skilled, and I think I can trust you."
"Yeah, I’d like to work together again too. It’s fun being with you guys."
I shook hands with Maine like that, and also said goodbye to the others.
"See you next time, kid."
"Don’t call me kid. Next time, I won’t lose."
Seeing that her freaking out had decreased a bit, it might be just my imagination, but she seemed to acknowledge my skill to some extent.
Anyway, I said goodbye like that and went home with Lucy.
A few days later, Rogue sent a very large amount as the request payment. It seemed that since most of the goods were intact, and the hacking went well so even the drones the gang had been using weren’t heavily damaged, there was a lot to reuse.
Now, Lucy was also very familiar with the work, so I tried to give her 30% of the request payment, but she said that she didn’t pay maintenance fees, didn’t buy groceries, and had contributed only a little to buying the penthouse, so 25% was enough — so I gave her that.
And since I had accumulated so many customized weapons as a hobby, I was considering just storing them in my inventory. But, worried that Lucy might find it strange if the guns suddenly disappeared, I engraved the phrase ’進’ (Jin) stylishly on the guns that used metal appropriate to the worldview, added a custom fee to the base gun price, and sold them online. Then, unexpectedly, they began to sell like crazy. With a premium, at that.
They fit very well, they had good durability so they could be trusted and used, and people liked the design, or so they said. Moreover, the fact that a mercenary with the highest current market value was selling them seemed to add extra appeal. As a result, an unexpected side income appeared.
I didn’t plan to make a lot of money from this. I thought of it as just clearing out the accumulated guns, making and selling a few as a hobby. But Lucy seemed to have a different thought.
"How about we just quit being mercenaries and open a gun custom shop instead? Judging by how they sell, it looks like we could make a living."
"Huh? Why suddenly?"
"To be honest, I’m afraid of losing you."
It seemed that Lucy saying this was the result of her trauma overlapping with the previous incident. But this was something I couldn’t compromise on. Quitting mercenary work was the exact opposite of the path to the happy ending that was my goal. Of course, I could cover it with my abilities, but that wouldn’t be natural.
"I understand your feelings completely. But the custom guns sell because I’m famous as a mercenary, so if I quit being a mercenary, I’d probably go completely broke."
"I see..."
"I appreciate your concern, but I’m not weak. So I hope you don’t worry too much."
"Okay."
I didn’t really think the guns wouldn’t sell if I quit being a mercenary, but I didn’t have any other excuse, so I said that. I wondered if my Swindler skill would just keep increasing like this.
