Free Web NovelChapter 297: 297 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 8
The next day, the news reported that there had been a major explosion at Biotechnica. Due to that explosion, several executives of Biotechnica died, and the server room was completely destroyed, causing the stock price to drop somewhat, but still, as expected of a global corporation, there was a forecast that recovery would be quick.
As expected, blowing up one or two buildings wasn’t enough to deal them a serious blow. And they said the cause of the explosion was still under investigation. There was no way I would have left any traces.
During the operation with Maine, besides the hacking that Lucy did, I had also hacked and erased all the nearby CCTV footage. Unless the Maine team opened their mouths, there was no reason for us to be caught.
Several months passed after that, and I went to the Afterlife for a request job, and there I met the Maine team.
"Oh~ Jin! Long time no see."
"Long time no see. Anything new with you guys?"
"We’re the same as always. Oh, right, we got one more netrunner on our team."
I looked in the direction Maine was pointing. There was a tall woman with short blonde hair, wearing clothes that were overall red and brown, and part of her jaw had been replaced with an implant.
"Nice to meet you, I’m Kiwi."
"Nice to meet you, I’m Jin. This is Lucy."
"Nice to meet you."
The character that people who have seen the original have very divided opinions about is Kiwi. There was a reason for that — because after the protagonist of Edgerunners, ’David Martinez’, took over the team, the situation itself flowed in a way that was too irreversible. The reactions were split between ’Even I would probably betray to survive’ and ’Betrayal is still betrayal, no matter what’.
At that time, Lucy, knowing that David had become a target of Arasaka, kept causing incidents here and there, which caused the investigation net to narrow, and David also left various traces while doing requests, so the situation worsened more and more. By that point, it should be seen that there was no longer any future for the members.
When the situation became like that, Kiwi ultimately chooses the option of betraying to survive. In a way, it could be said that it was a decision fitting for Night City — which is chaos itself, where the boundary between good and evil is blurred. Even though the outcome wasn’t good in the end.
Personally, I have regrets — if only David had acted a bit more like a leader, had enough conversations with his lover and teammates, and made a bit more effort to understand each other. If that had happened, perhaps neither Lucy’s incident nor Kiwi’s incident would have occurred.
"I’ll go check on the job first, so see you in a bit."
"Yeah."
So we met Rogue and talked about various things regarding the request, then went back to where the Maine team was and had a drink together. Having done many things together with the Maine team, we had become close enough to exchange jokes. Lucy still kept a bit of distance, but she didn’t dislike these drinking get‑togethers.
"Come to think of it, Maine, you’ve gotten bigger. Did you replace your implants?"
"Yeah, how about it? Cool, right?"
Maine raised his thick arm and boasted.
"I understand that in this business, you need good implants to increase your survival rate, but it’s good to do it in moderation. If you chase after implants too much, the result is obvious."
"This guy, you’ve only gotten more naggy since I last saw you. I know, so let’s just drink."
He didn’t know anything. The moment a decent implant came out, he was already thinking of installing it.
Actually, I had even thought about passing on [Strong Will] to Maine to prevent him from becoming a ’cyberpsycho’. But it would be meaningless — Maine wouldn’t stop modifying his body until his mental strength hit rock bottom. So it should be said that Maine’s future was already decided. I only felt sorry for his lover, the handsome Dorio.
"Old lady here may look like this, but she’s seriously skilled! Last time, when things got dangerous, she overheated eight people’s synapses at the same time."
When Rebecca called Kiwi ’old lady’, I suddenly became curious about Kiwi’s age, so I decided to ask.
"How old is Kiwi, exactly, that you call her old lady?"
Then Kiwi answered curtly.
"Secret."
"I see..."
In the Cyberpunk worldview, because aging is prevented with cutting‑edge technology, you can’t determine a person’s age just by their outward appearance. Even looking at ’Yorinobu Arasaka’, the heir of the Arasaka corporation, he looks like he’s in his thirties outwardly, but his real age is close to eighty. I think Kiwi is probably at least in her sixties.
"More than that, could you customize my guns too? I’ll pay. During that last request, there was a guy using a gun you made, and after I took him out, I picked it up and tried it, and I really liked it. So I tried to buy one, but they sell out the moment they’re listed, so I couldn’t get one. So I was wondering if I could use the friend discount..."
Rebecca asked me to customize her guns.
"Kid, if you ask me to do that, your tech brother Pilar would be sad, wouldn’t he?"
"So what? I can just ignore my idiot brother."
Pilar was busy today as well and didn’t come — perhaps it was fortunate that he wasn’t here. Otherwise, he might have been upset by Rebecca’s words.
"Hmm... really? Then sure, why not. The gun you were using was the Militech M‑76E Omaha, wasn’t it?"
"Yeah. Two of them, please. I’m going to use them akimbo."
"So you’ll be the first kid I custom‑make for."
Then Dorio, looking a bit embarrassed, also spoke to me.
"Well, while you’re at it, could you do my gun too..."
"The gun you were using was definitely a Malorian Arms Overture, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good, since I’m doing it, I’ll do yours too."
When I said I would do it, Dorio and Rebecca happily high‑fived. Actually, the Overture revolver is a gun I like, so I had a few pre‑made. I was planning to give one of them to Dorio that would suit her.
At that moment, the guy I hated seeing the most in Cyberpunk approached our table.
"Long time no see, Jin. Still not interested in working with me?"
"Faraday, long time no see. I don’t work with guys who treat mercenaries like horses or use them as bait. So don’t contact me again. I might get annoyed enough to kill you."
At my words, Faraday broke into a cold sweat and spoke.
"It’s frightening when you say that. But I hope you understand that everything comes with risk. If you change your mind, contact me."
Ever since I made a name for myself, this guy had been constantly contacting me. But I had ignored all of those contacts. Moreover, what I disliked even more about this guy were his eyes. Faraday is gay. I have no intention of criticizing someone for being gay — it’s a personal preference — but the problem is that whenever he looks at me, he looks at me with a suggestive gaze. If I acted on my temper, I’d want to just gouge out all four of his eyes.
"And Maine, I liked how you handled that last job. I’ll be calling on you again."
"Yeah."
Faraday said that and left.
"Maine, it’s best to avoid that multi‑view four‑eyed bastard."
When I said ’four‑eyed’, whether it was funny or not, Rebecca sprayed her drink, clutched her stomach, and started laughing.
"Pfft—! Gah! Cough! Puhahahaha!!! Four‑eyed!!! Hahahahaha!!! Multi‑view!!! Hahahahaha!!!"
Even Sasha and Dorio, who heard that, seemed to find it funny and laughed along.
"I know too. If you want to live long, you should avoid jobs from guys like that. But high risk, high return. I’m choosing carefully, so you can rest assured."
"Right..."
Maine, to put it nicely, was stubborn — to put it badly, he didn’t listen well to others.
After having a drink with the Maine team like that, I returned home.
For several days, while taking requests, I finished Rebecca’s and Dorio’s guns, but the Maine team was also busy, so I couldn’t manage to meet them. So, having some free time, I decided to stop by ’El Coyote Cojo’ for the first time in a while. Lucy seemed busy with netrunning, so I told her I was going out for a bit and went alone. On this day as well, the bartender ’Pepe Najarro’ welcomed me.
"Oh~ welcome, Jin. Long time no see."
"Good to see you, Pepe. Anything new in Heywood?"
"You know as well as I do. This neighborhood is always a shithole."
I was drinking and chatting with Pepe about various things. Then, at that moment, I saw someone grumbling as he entered the bar.
"Fuck! This shitty neighborhood! I need to get out of here quickly or something..."
He was, without a doubt, the male protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077 as seen in the game — V. I hadn’t seen V for so long that I thought he might be a Nomad or a Corpo, but it turned out that wasn’t the case — the Street Kid story seemed to be the main route in this worldview. It was a bit disappointing. Honestly, I would have preferred female V.
Anyway, V had short brown sports‑cut hair, and was wearing a t‑shirt and jeans, torn and bruised from getting beaten up somewhere.
"Who’s that guy?"
"Ah, that’s just a solo named V. He earns money by doing odd jobs around here. I don’t know anything else besides that."
"Really? I happen to need someone, so that’s good. Another drink for me, please."
"Sure."
I took two glasses and went over to where V was sitting.
"I heard the story. You’re V, right? A solo?"
"My mood is really shitty right now, so don’t talk to me... gasp! You’re Jin, aren’t you? What’s a big‑league guy doing in this shitty neighborhood?"
V recognized me right away, because I was so famous. With silver hair and gold eyes, and with ’Jin’ engraved on my jacket, I was easy to recognize.
"I grew up in this neighborhood too. I come by sometimes to hang out. I miss Mama Wells’s food too."
"I see. So what do you want?"
I handed V a glass and spoke.
"I’m looking for someone to safely deliver my goods to customers."
V took the glass I handed him, took a sip, and spoke.
"If it’s something you make, it must be custom guns. Those guns are famous, after all."
"You know your stuff. I’ve had guys steal them during delivery sometimes. The losses are big."
It had actually happened. Of course, I had tracked them all down and taken care of them. But I had requests to do, and I had to spend time with Lucy, so I couldn’t do that every time.
"So why me?"
"It’s just coincidence. I heard from Pepe that you’re a solo. I’m from Heywood too, so when I heard that you were doing that kind of work here, I thought you’d be a guy who knows Night City’s ecosystem. What do you say, will you do it?"
At my suggestion, V thought for a moment, then downed his drink in one go and spoke.
"Alright, I’ll do it."
"It’s settled. Then come to my building tomorrow and contact me. The address is..."
I sent him the building location, not the apartment number, via communication. Because at home, Lucy often walked around completely naked, so that was a bit much.
We parted like that, and the next day, I got a call from V.
– I’ve arrived.
"I’ll come out now."
When I tried to go out, Lucy asked.
"Is that the person you mentioned yesterday?"
"Yeah, my new errand boy."
"Is he trustworthy? What if he runs off with the guns like last time?"
"I got a good feeling about him. And even if he runs, I can just track him down and take care of him, and find someone else, so don’t worry."
"I suppose. Alright."
I finished talking with Lucy, drove out, and picked up V.
"Today, I think it would be good to get you what you need first. You probably don’t have a car, after all."
"Th-that’s true."
"You know how to drive, right?"
"Yeah."
"Guns?"
"Heywood, remember? You know as well as I do. Don’t worry about that."
"Alright."
V and I first went to a used car lot and looked at vehicles. Unfortunately, the ’Archer Hella EC‑D I360’, V’s starting vehicle, was there, but it was too old and not usable.
"Are you looking for something in particular?"
When I was taking a long time walking around looking at cars, V, perhaps impatient, asked.
"We might have to go into the desert, you see. I’m looking to see if there’s a decent car."
"Really? Then how about this one?"
V showed me a car he had picked out. That vehicle was a different version of the Thorton Colby I had bought for Lucy before — a version that had been tuned to increase horsepower, had its tires replaced, and its bumper reinforced. So it seemed like it would be fine for off‑road as well. The color was also nicely coordinated in black and dark gray, and there was nothing that particularly needed repair, so it seemed like it could be driven without problems for a while.
"Hmm... good, let’s go with this one. The person driving it has to like it too, for it to last, after all."
"Yes!"
V was very happy that I also agreed on a car that he liked. I paid immediately and tossed the car keys to V.
"It’s yours now. If there’s anything that needs repair or tuning, earn the money and do it yourself."
"Got it."
We each drove our own vehicles, and this time went to Viktor’s private clinic. Viktor welcomed us happily.
"Long time no see, Jin! Is your girlfriend doing well?"
"Doing well, thanks to you."
"So who’s this friend?"
Viktor didn’t seem to know V yet.
"This is V. He’s a friend who will be delivering my custom guns from now on. So, I’d like to ask you to give him some Kiroshi optics. It seems he’ll need to be moving around a lot."
"I see. Have a seat."
V lay down on the ripperdoc chair as Viktor told him to. Then Viktor connected medical devices to V’s sockets.
"This guy’s lucky. I just got some good Kiroshi optics in. It’s a bit overkill for just transporting goods, but well, it probably doesn’t matter."
Viktor said that, then connected the Kiroshi optics to the device, communicated with V, and tested them, then inserted the Kiroshi optics into V’s eyes. There was some pulling out, blood splattering, and reinserting, but Viktor, as a skilled professional, seemed to have installed them cleanly without any problems.
"How is it, can you see well? Does it seem to be working properly?"
"I don’t know, I can’t really tell much difference?"
"Turn on the scanner."
"Oh, I can see various information? Viktor Vektor, ripperdoc in Watson..."
"At first, it’ll be a bit annoying as you get used to it. But that’s how everything is at first. As you use it, the scanner will fully synchronize with your brain. Then it will work based on your intentions, so just hold out until then."
"Got it."
"And I added a backdoor NCPD (Night City Police) file search program. If you meet someone with a star, you’ll be able to see why they got the star. Then you can reduce the danger beforehand. You’ll be meeting a lot of people from now on, so you’ll have many opportunities to use it."
Then Viktor suddenly looked at me and spoke.
"Jin, give me any pistol you have."
I took out an Overture revolver, a backup gun, from my coat and handed it to Viktor. Viktor then gave that gun to V and spoke.
"Aim the gun. Then you’ll see the ammo count and a new aiming point. This feature is meant for mercenaries or soldiers, but since there might be guys after your delivery goods, it’ll help you too."
"Oh~ nice, isn’t it?"
"You’re lucky. I shouldn’t say this in front of him, but Jin is at least not the kind of guy who would stab you in the back."
"Yeah, that seems to be true... but if that guy did stab me in the back, is it even possible to survive?" freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
"Hahaha, well, that’s true too. Anyway, all done."
V stood up and asked.
"Thanks. What did you say your name was?"
"Geez, I install Kiroshi optics and you can’t even use them."
"Ah, right. I’m not used to them yet."
"Viktor Vektor. Just call me Viktor. If you have problems with your implants or need a check‑up, come by. I’ll fix you up."
"Okay, I’ll come if anything comes up."
V seemed to like Viktor too. I paid Viktor for the Kiroshi optics plus tip and came out.
"It’ll take some time to get used to them, so rest and get accustomed for about two days. After two days, come to my building again. You’ll start working from then. And do you have a decent gun?"
"Until now, I’ve mostly used my fists rather than guns."
"I see."
I took out a pistol I had prepared in advance from my coat and handed it to V. That gun was the Militech ’M‑10AF Lexington’, a gun that I had customized. It’s a gun in the position of a modern Glock, so it’s easy to conceal, and it can fire on full auto, so its firepower is decent as well.
"Use this for the time being. If you find a gun you like, let me know. I’ll give you one." freewebnøvel.coɱ
"Is it okay to just give me such an expensive thing? What if I just sold it and ran?"
I smirked at those words and spoke.
"Are you really going to try that? Go ahead. It might be fun."
"..."
V couldn’t say anything at my words. He knew too. That in Night City, crossing me and getting away with it was practically impossible.
"I’ll give you some money for now, so live on that, and start working after two days. I’ll pay you per delivery."
"Got it."
"Then see you then."
I gave V some money and returned home.
Two days later, as it happened, the Maine team also had no work and was resting at home, so I had V deliver the customized guns for Rebecca and Dorio. It took a bit of time, perhaps because it was his first day, but I got word from Rebecca and Dorio that they had received them well, and I sent V 5% of the gun sales profit.
– Wow~ is it okay to give me this much?
V seemed surprised at the amount I sent him.
Well, from getting beaten up for pocket change doing solo (thug) work in Heywood, to just delivering things and getting a decent amount of money, it was understandable that V was surprised.
"It includes hazard pay, and you delivered three guns as well."
– I see.
"Anyway, good work. I’ll be counting on you again."
– Got it.
I was quite satisfied to have successfully made contact by having V do work for me like this. Besides, V’s situation would gradually improve as he worked, so it seemed he wouldn’t be going to Atlanta.
