Free Web NovelChapter 301: 301 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 12
"Ugh... I think we’re definitely going to have to throw out this mattress..."
"Tell me about it..."
Whether it was because we had enjoyed ourselves too much last night or not, the mattress was completely soaked, and moreover, whether the springs inside were damaged or not, certain parts were visibly sunken in. Lucy saw that and frowned.
"To have done it until the mattress ended up like this..."
"We did go a bit rough yesterday. Let’s go exercise first, then clean up."
"Okay."
We showered first and then moved to David’s house. But David wasn’t waiting in front of his house. He’s not the type to be lazy. With yesterday’s incident and all, I thought he might be sleeping from exhaustion, so I went up to David’s apartment.
DING DONG~! DING DONG~!
"David, are you asleep? Time to go exercise!"
I rang the doorbell and called David. There was a sound of something moving busily inside, and then the door opened.
"Ah... hey. Sorry, I’m really tired today..."
David was scratching his head, looking somewhat troubled, so I used [Spectral Vision] to look inside the apartment — there was one more person inside besides David. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"Oh ho! So you have someone else in there besides you right now?"
"Wh-what are you talking about? There’s no one here but me... he-hey!"
I pushed David aside and went inside. On the sofa, I saw a black jacket that looked very familiar, and on the bed, someone was under the covers, whether sleeping or not. At that moment, Lucy saw it too, grabbed my shoulder, and spoke.
"Can’t you take a hint? Let’s go. David, rest today and see you tomorrow."
"O-okay..."
Lucy and I went back outside and started running without David today.
"How can you be so insensitive! David has his own private life — you should pretend not to notice."
Lucy scolded me for acting insensitively.
"I was just curious."
"Still... That’s not it. But I’m surprised. I thought he’d end up with Sasha."
"I know, right."
That black jacket was unmistakably Rebecca’s jacket. And as for the person on the bed, since they were covering their entire body with the blanket, and Lucy said to leave, I couldn’t see properly, but from the body size, it seemed certain that it was Rebecca.
We finished exercising, bought a new mattress, blanket, pillows, etc., and returned home. After eating, we cleaned and showered.
From this day on, I began customizing rifles and sniper rifles, not just pistols. Because I was getting a bit tired of pistols. Moreover, the Cyberpunk worldview has many interesting sniper rifles. For example, railguns, and semi‑auto anti‑material sniper rifles using explosive rounds. And being sniper rifles, I thought I could use them funly in other worldviews as well.
After customizing guns like that, I ate with Lucy and went out. Today was the day for Lucy’s implant check‑up. So Lucy and I went to Viktor’s clinic.
"Long time no see, Viktor."
"Oh~ welcome! Already time for your check‑up? Time really flies. Oh, right — I was supposed to tell Gloria when you came, you see."
Viktor went to a curtained‑off area in a corner of the clinic and spoke.
"Gloria, that friend I mentioned last time is here."
"The person who saved us on the day of the accident?"
"Yeah."
Viktor said that and opened the curtain. Inside, Gloria was lying down, receiving an IV drip. From her face, it seemed her health had recovered considerably.
"I’ve heard a lot about you. They said you saved us that day. And even paid the hospital bills..."
"I happened to be driving nearby. I just couldn’t just pass by."
"I see. Thank you for saving us. I’ll pay back the hospital bills somehow."
"You can pay them back slowly after you’ve recovered your health."
I held out two lunchboxes. I had packed them together when preparing lunch.
"I didn’t want to come empty‑handed, so I packed these. Please share them with Viktor later."
"Thank you. I’ll eat them well."
Viktor also spoke, grateful.
"I’ll eat them well. It’s lunchtime, and I was wondering what to eat, so this is good. Well, I need to check on the princess first."
Lucy didn’t really have anything to replace or anything today, so it was over quickly. I paid Viktor, including a large tip.
"Wow... are you sure you didn’t give me too much?"
"I heard about it, you know. You said you’d look after her for the time being, didn’t you?"
"Yeah. Well, having Gloria here gives me someone to talk to, so I wasn’t bored. So I decided to just help out."
"That’s good. There are so few hospitals you can trust to leave someone with, after all."
"That’s true. How did the world end up like this, I wonder..."
Viktor sighed, lamenting the desolate world.
"Anyway, see you later."
"Yeah, see you later."
"Ah, right! I heard there’s a place with a nice view behind this clinic — since I’m here, I think I’ll check it out."
"I don’t know who you heard it from, but the view is nice. Go take a look. You take the elevator in the back. I go up there sometimes when I feel stifled too."
There had been various incidents, and meeting the original characters had made me forget for a while, but it was a place that any fan of the original absolutely had to visit. It was the rooftop of the building next to Viktor’s clinic, a place with a really amazing night view. It’s the very place where, at the final branch point of the original game, V is lost in deep thought. It wasn’t night yet, but I decided to go up to that rooftop with Lucy.
"I didn’t know a place like this existed. Overlooking the city, and not as noisy as down below — it’s a really calming place."
Lucy looked around at the scenery and expressed her impressions.
"It is. It’s a good place to sort out your thoughts."
We looked around the rooftop for a while, then went back down and returned home.
The next day, David was waiting on time. We ran without saying anything, and then David spoke first.
"Hey, um... about yesterday... after the request, Pilar drank way too much, you see. I took him home, and he suddenly started vomiting at his place, so I had no choice but to let Rebecca sleep at my place."
"So nothing happened between you and Rebecca?"
"W-well..."
"You did, didn’t you?"
"..."
David couldn’t say anything. David, unlike other protagonists, seemed to be the type who acts when it’s time. Moreover, this brought me closer to the happy ending I wanted, so I felt good.
"It’s all over your face. So you’ve finally become a man, huh. Even so, you can’t skip training. Training is something where once you skip, you keep skipping."
"Haa... fine."
After that, several days passed. The rifles I customized also sold like crazy. So V also had to be busy with deliveries. But I didn’t sell the sniper rifles. Because after customizing and using them myself, the accuracy increased too much, making them dangerous. So I only made them for myself.
While spending time like that, I suddenly received a call from Dorio.
– Lately, Maine has been acting strange. He sometimes spaces out, or he’s started muttering to himself. Honestly, I didn’t know who to consult about this, so I contacted you.
"Oh no, that’s serious. Those are early symptoms of cyberpsychosis. You need to replace his implants with ones that don’t strain his brain right away!"
– Haa... I knew it... I’ll try to convince him first.
Dorio seemed to have already suspected it to some extent. But perhaps she found it hard to accept that her own lover was on the verge of becoming a cyberpsycho, so it seemed she had contacted me to confirm.
"If he becomes uncontrollable, contact me right away. I’ll come over."
– Yeah, I’ll contact you right away.
It seemed that the time when Maine’s cyberpsychosis manifested, like in the original, was finally approaching.
"What is it!? Cyberpsychosis, you said!?"
Lucy, having overheard my conversation with Dorio, also asked, surprised.
"It seems Maine is showing symptoms of cyberpsychosis. It seems it’s still early, but I don’t know if Dorio will be able to convince him."
"Then isn’t that serious? The Maine team itself could be in danger."
"I told them to contact me right away if it gets dangerous, so let’s wait and see."
"I hope it’s not too late."
"I know."
Late that night, a call came from Dorio.
– Maine snapped. His symptoms manifested, and he lost control and hit Kiwi. freewebnovel.cσ๓
"Oh no, so the persuasion failed. No one else got hurt, right?"
– Not yet. Maine won’t listen to a word I say. I’d like you to help.
"Got it. I’ll go now."
I prepared to leave. Then Lucy, hearing that, sighed and asked.
"Haa... so it’s come to that. Should I come too?"
"No, don’t come. It’s not a sight you want to see, someone you know ending up like that. I’ll contact you when it’s over."
"Okay, be careful."
I drove and quickly moved to where the Maine team was. The Maine team was inside an abandoned building — Rebecca and Pilar weren’t there, only Dorio, Maine, David, and Sasha. From the looks of it, there had been a struggle when Maine snapped — there was a wound on Dorio’s face. Maine, seeing that I had arrived, got angry at Dorio.
"Dorio!! So you called him!! Did you think we couldn’t handle it ourselves!? Even without Jin, this is something we can do!!"
"It’s not about the job. It’s about you. I called him because he knows about cyberpsychosis."
"Shut up! I know my own body! I’ve fought well up until now, I can’t back down here!!"
I pointed to the wound on Dorio’s face and spoke.
"Maine, look at this. Look at Dorio’s face! You’re lucky it ended with just this right now, but this wound could have been a bullet hole. I don’t know what request you’re on right now, but drop it and quickly swap your implants for ones that don’t strain your brain. Surely you don’t want to kill your own lover, your own teammate, with your own hands, do you?"
At my words, Maine looked at Dorio’s face for a moment, then punched the wall and left.
"Fuck!!!"
CRASH!!!
"Maine!"
Dorio quickly stood up and followed Maine. I asked Sasha what had happened so far.
Then Sasha showed me the next room. In that room, some middle‑aged man, his face swollen from being beaten, was tied up with chains, unconscious. According to Sasha, he was an Arasaka executive named ’Tanaka’. She explained that because Faraday had given them the job without any explanation, they had investigated and ended up here.
Kiwi, they said, was being treated by Falco. Falco was a guy with black hair, a stylishly grown mustache, dressed in Western style — a freelancer who was an extremely skilled driver and helped out various mercenaries.
"Tch! Even when I told you not to get tangled up with that four‑eyed bastard..."
I clicked my tongue and inserted a shard I had prepared in advance into the socket behind Tanaka’s neck. Then Sasha asked me.
"What did you just put in?"
"Sloppy work. This guy is clearly a Trauma Team VIP... no, since he’s an Arasaka executive, he’s probably a Platinum customer. If this guy dies, a lot of forces will swarm here. The shard I installed is a jamming device to prevent that."
"I see."
"And when morning comes, Arasaka will realize an executive is missing, and those bastards won’t stay still. They’ll tear the place apart looking. I think it’s best to go to the next room first and discuss what to do."
"Okay."
We moved to the next room and talked.
"So, what’s going to happen to Maine from now on?"
David asked me.
"It’s still an early stage, so if he downgrades his implants and receives treatment, he might be able to function to some extent. But given his personality, if he continues being a mercenary, he’ll eventually try to upgrade his implants again. In my opinion... if you want to save him, the only answer is retirement."
"I see..."
"David, I’ve told you many times. The end of those who rely on implants."
"Ye-yeah..."
"Maine crossed that line."
At my words, the room fell into silence for a moment. Then, breaking the silence, Maine and Dorio also returned. It seemed Dorio had managed to calm Maine down and bring him back. So I explained the plan I had thought of.
"Here’s my plan. Now that you’ve touched an executive, with the evidence left here, Arasaka will find you guys somehow. So I’m going to plant bombs and blow away all the evidence. When Faraday contacts you, just play dumb."
"Tch! We had him..."
"Maine!"
Dorio called out to Maine, calming him down. From Maine’s perspective, it seemed he still had a lot of attachment to this job. That was understandable, because if they could hack Tanaka’s head, they could get the information Faraday wanted first.
"Where are the bombs?"
"In my car."
At that, David seemed a bit surprised.
"Eh? You mean you always carry something like that around?"
"Yeah. Things like this happen sometimes, you see. So I use them often to not leave evidence."
Actually, it was a lie. Because the bombs were in my inventory from the beginning.
Then Sasha spoke, as if she understood.
"Ah! It’s that thing you used last time!"
"Yeah. So I’ll go get the bombs, and you guys go somewhere safe and get ready to watch the fireworks."
"Got it."
When the Maine crew left the building like that, I planted the bombs well so that not a trace of Tanaka’s body would remain, then drove out. I thought I had saved Maine and that everything would work out well. But then, I suddenly got a call from Dorio.
– Big trouble! Maine suddenly disappeared!
"What!? Weren’t you together?"
– He disappeared while I was tidying up the car for a moment! He’s not answering his calls either! The team members are searching urgently!
"Got it. I’ll go right away."
KABOOOM!!!
I immediately set off the bombs, took out [Jack Sparrow’s Compass] from my inventory, and began searching for Maine. Then I was able to find Maine quickly — he was under a bridge, brutally killing some punks.
"Fuck!!! It’s a cyberpsycho!!!"
"Call MaxTac quickly!!!"
"I did!!!"
I had no choice but to quickly take out my gun and quickly take out the punks that were still alive. I had no choice. They had seen Maine’s face, so I had to eliminate the evidence.
Bang bang bang bang!!!
"Gah!"
"Ugh!"
Then Maine discovered me and aimed his gun at me as well. But I moved faster, severed the gun Maine was holding, and immediately injected Maine with the strong suppressant I had received from Viktor in advance for dealing with cyberpsychos. Then Maine began to regain consciousness.
"Uh... Jin... what is this..."
Maine looked around at the gore and blood‑soaked surroundings and was extremely flustered.
"Di-did I do this?"
"Yeah."
At that moment, Dorio, David, and Sasha were also urgently coming this way. They had probably heard the gunshots.
"Maine!!!"
I urgently said to them.
"Listen carefully, all of you. MaxTac is coming here right now. Take Maine and contact Regina immediately to take him in. She will treat him."
Then I handed Dorio a bag containing a generous amount of suppressant.
"Don’t take your eyes off Maine, and if his condition seems strange, use this right away!"
"What about you?"
"I have to divert MaxTac’s attention."
Then David grabbed me, his eyes wide open, and shouted.
"Jin!!! Are you trying to get yourself killed??!!!"
"You know my ability. Trust me! I can escape on my own. So don’t worry! And keep this a secret from Lucy. Because she’ll worry."
At that moment, a MaxTac surveyor — their airship — was seen flying toward this way from afar.
"Go quickly!!!"
"Damn it!!!"
After sending Maine and the others off like that, I immediately put my car into my inventory. And using the [Nano Buckle], I changed into clothes and a helmet of a different design than usual. The exact same design as Genji from Overwatch, that is.
"Since I came to the Cyberpunk worldview, I’ve gotta slice up MaxTac at least once!"
