Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 972, Section 183: The Black Prosthetic Hand
Is 500,000 euros considered a large order in the Lazarus Group's business?
That certainly doesn't qualify as the absolute top tier.

The top echelons of the group are hired to mobilize an entire combat legion, which may number in the thousands or tens of thousands. In comparison, if this 500,000 were to be distributed among tens of thousands of people, it would be like throwing a stone into a pond—at most, it would create a few limited ripples, and then it would be difficult to find any more ripples.

However, if it's just for hiring an elite squad, 500,000 is more than enough, even excessively so.

For an ordinary mercenary, 500,000 euros would be enough to retire from the trade after pulling off such a heist.

If we calculate the monthly rent of a super skyscraper in Night City at 1,000, this amount of money would be enough to cover 500 months—a full 40 years, which is practically a lifetime in this precarious city.

Even after deducting food, drink and other expenses, it would be enough for that mercenary to live comfortably for decades. Moreover, this only applies to mercenaries who are slightly particular about their quality of life. If it were a vagrant outside the city or a citizen crammed into an ordinary apartment in the suburbs, this family would probably not be able to spend all of it in a lifetime.

A standard Lazarus combat squad typically consists of no more than ten people—in the complex urban environment of Night City, ten people is the optimal size to balance firepower and flexibility. Therefore, the 500,000 euros would amount to 50,000 euros per person.

Even with Lazarus Group's cut, and given their usual practice of "rewarding good performance," outstanding performance would result in additional bonuses, ultimately leaving each member with at least 30,000 euros – a truly tempting sum.

It's not just a good job for Lazarus' mercenaries, it's a good job for Lazarus himself.

Because Lazarus Corporation's core business is not in Night City, this giant, which is used to wartime-level labor dispatch, is not very good at the 'delicate work' of Night City, which is not about a large army pressing in, but about surviving in the cracks between the streets and the company.

They lack the ability and energy to fight for those benefits like local middlemen do, which is why few people truly trust them—nobody's a fool, and anyone knows how to choose between a seasoned local familiar with the rules of the street and an outsider who knows nothing about them.

For this reason, for the Lazarus Group, this $500,000 order from Night City is more than just money; it's like a stepping stone. If they do it well, it might open up new avenues for business in Night City.

While it's unlikely to take over the street businesses—after all, various companies are watching over things and won't give Lazarus the chance to dominate this city of companies—it's still a way to make money. Opening up new avenues for wealth, would anyone really refuse?

Obviously, that was impossible. Therefore, the Lazarus Group attached great importance to this hiring. The personnel they sent were all people who had completed countless major missions in their resumes. Some of them had even made enough money to retire comfortably and were ready to serve Lazarus one last time.

"Nice to meet you all, Lazarus."

In a café in the heart of the city at night, Karl welcomed the Lazarus mercenaries who had come to meet him.

In the eyes of these ten battle-hardened mercenaries, the employer was a handsome young man with a somewhat mixed-race appearance.

He was dressed in loose, comfortable clothes, and although he was sitting in a private café, he was as relaxed as if he were sitting in his own living room. Beneath his golden-brown hair was a face with a handsome, sculpted face, and at a glance, he exuded the air of an ancient Roman nobleman.

If the Roman Empire hadn't long since vanished into the annals of history, they would almost have thought they had stumbled upon a young member of the Senate.

However, considering that there is never a shortage of people in the world who like cosplay, this employer may have this preference, or perhaps, there really is a trace of ancient genes from the banks of the Tiber River flowing in his blood.
However, this idea about Italy's mother river only lingered in their minds briefly before being forgotten by the mercenaries.

For mercenaries, excessively probing their employer's information is a major taboo. At the very least, for a professional mercenary, doing such a thing is tantamount to ruining their reputation.

Lazarus Group does not go about investigating everything. To prevent potential losses from employers, Lazarus will still verify the employer's credibility before hiring them and conduct a little investigation without being overly inquisitive.

However, there wasn't much investigation for this mission. Firstly, the employer offered enough and explained that the matter was urgent. Secondly, if the employer had indeed caused Lazarus any losses, and if it was intentional, then Lazarus would naturally settle accounts with him later.

Ultimately, Lazarus was an extremely pragmatic organization. They regarded every soldier and officer under their command as a valuable asset, and would do everything in their power to save those lives as long as the cost of protecting those assets did not exceed their intrinsic value.

This approach may seem cold-blooded, placing human lives on a scale and weighing them in money, but in the year 2077, it is an extremely benevolent act. At least, for Lazarus' mercenaries and officers, as long as you can prove your worth, you will never be discarded.

Their reputation is far more reliable than that of 99% of the middlemen in Night City.

When the leader of the mercenaries from Lazarus led his squad over, he did not choose to sit down opposite Karl. They were there to work for their employer, and there was a distinction between superiors and inferiors. Sitting directly opposite the employer was a bad habit of street mercenaries, and they would not do that.

In fact, the professional Lazarus team had already started working the moment they stepped into the coffee shop.

The four team members silently spread out, occupying the four corners of the hall, their sharp eyes scanning everything around them. The other four began to systematically check the interior of the café, identifying potential threats and the best escape routes. Finally, the captain and vice-captain stood guard on either side of Karl, like shadows.

The captain then took out a special device and gently placed it in front of Karl.

“Mr. Brutus, please allow me to confirm one more time,” he said. “Please enter your employment code into this device. After that, we will officially take over the responsibility of protecting your personal safety for five days.”

There's nothing wrong with double-checking.

Under the watchful eyes of the mercenaries, Karl quickly entered the employment code, and the captain, who had confirmed that it was correct, visibly breathed a sigh of relief. He put away the device and nodded to Karl: "From this moment on, we will officially serve as your bodyguards, Mr. Brutus. However, please inform us in advance before carrying out any operations."

"I know the rules."

Carl nodded slightly, indicating that he knew what he was doing, and then stood up: "I believe we will have a fulfilling five days."

The captain, who sensed a hidden meaning in Karl's words, didn't pay much attention.

The fact that they were urgently hiring and paying a high price already indicated that the job was difficult, and they were mentally prepared for that.

As the Lazarus members closest to Night City, they were chosen to gather together for the purpose of doing good deeds.

As long as Mr. Brutus doesn't deliberately provoke the various gangs or storm into their gang centers to say he wants to see the sights, they are confident they can protect him.

At the same time that the mercenaries began their protection mission, Karl also sent a message to the NCPD, confirming that the Lazarus mercenaries in front of him were indeed transferred from outside Night City.

This makes it even more suspicious that another group of 'Lazarus mercenaries' is lurking in the city. After all, who would believe that the Lazarus Group has no secret deployments in Night City?

However, the relevant investigation work will have to be left to River to handle.

What Carl had to do was simple: wait for River to find out the location of the group that might be Lazarus members, and then lead the real Lazarus squad directly to their doorstep.

Lazarus VS Lazarus (?)
We can't let that 500,000 euros go to waste.

If the trouble was indeed caused by someone within Lazarus, then it would be reasonable for Lazarus' own people to handle it.

If it wasn't done by Lazarus's people, then it's reasonable for a professional hired team to handle it. Of course, Karl wouldn't be without testing the waters.

He sipped his coffee leisurely, enjoying the protective barrier built by Lazarus's squad, but his thoughts drifted to his subordinates.

Although hiring outsiders was to eliminate suspicion, if they knew that he had chosen Lazarus instead of them to serve as guards, many people would probably complain about him.

Or perhaps they harbor resentment towards the people of Lazarus?

Fortunately, it was Brutus sitting here at that moment.

After finishing the remaining coffee in his cup in a few gulps, Brutus, as if suddenly remembering something, spoke casually to Captain Lazarus beside him:
"Speaking of which, before you came here, had you heard any of the recent rumors circulating in the city?"

It's like an employer casually striking up a conversation with someone because they have nothing better to do, and the Lazarus mercenary captain naturally has to accept.

They are professionals.

The captain quickly searched through the known information in his mind and immediately realized what the employer meant.

"You mean the matter concerning the deputy mayor of Night City?"

"It seems the news spread faster than I expected."

As Karl spoke, his gaze remained fixed, carefully observing every subtle change in the captain's face while simultaneously locking onto the vice-captain's eyes out of the corner of his eye.

That's not all—through the coffee shop's internal cameras, which he had already taken over, he was simultaneously scrutinizing the most instinctive reactions of the other eight team members.

In his current realm of perception, time seemed to be stretched out. If he wanted, he could easily capture the other person's heartbeat frequency, the slight tremor of their breathing, the contraction of their pupils—all these physiological details that could not be faked, even muscle twitches that the person themselves had not noticed.

However, under his scrutiny, these ten people seemed to have undergone uniform calibration; they regarded the deputy mayor's news as just another ordinary major urban news item, and none of their physiological indicators showed any abnormal fluctuations.

The conclusion is clear: either these ten people had no connection to the incident, or they knew nothing about the truth.

Karl silently memorized his observations, but outwardly remained calm and continued the conversation:

"Ever since the deputy mayor was assassinated, the whole city has been in chaos. To be honest, I'm now on edge even when I go out. It's very troublesome."

That's why they hired us.

The captain instantly grasped the subtext of Karl's words, but he didn't point it out. The employer clearly needed a listener at that moment, and his most professional response was to listen attentively.

There aren't many employers who can casually offer 500,000 euros to hire them. Many members of the team haven't saved enough money yet, and they might still need to work in this line of work in the future. They might even have to deal with this employer again in the future, so he naturally wanted to be as nice as possible to them.

Carl sat in the coffee shop for a while longer, chatting with the captain and vice-captain about trivial matters until the coffee in the pot was empty.

After a pleasant rest, Carl was about to take his men for a walk when he received a message from River.

River's efficiency is astonishing.

Thanks to the middleman Karl connected him with, and combined with a two-pronged approach of tracking on the streets, he had successfully located an apartment complex. All the evidence suggested that the mysterious man who assassinated the mayor had been frequently seen in the area before the incident.

As planned, Rivers had already sent his plainclothes men to set up surveillance in the surrounding area. At the same time, he used Carl's street connections and NCPD funds to rent a room in each building of that apartment complex for Carl.

In this way, Karl had a good reason to move freely in these places.

With the goal clearly defined, Karl naturally wouldn't delay any longer.

He got into a luxury car that the NCPD had prepared in advance in front of the coffee shop.

This vehicle was generously sponsored by Olivia from the Special Operations Team.

Since joining the Special Operations Team, Olivia has not only provided a comfortable life for her stubborn father and her mother, a former legend of the Valentino gang, but also had the means to buy this luxury car to take her daughter to and from school.

Out of gratitude for Carl's past help, she donated her beloved car without hesitation, even though she was unable to come due to her involvement with the special operations team.

Lazarus's captain naturally took the driver's seat. The mercenaries had driven themselves there—after all, the employment contract didn't specify that the employer needed to provide transportation.

Carl's reason was to go home, but he then took Lazarus's men to visit each of the rental properties.

To the Lazarus team members, the employer's pattern of behavior was crystal clear: an extremely cautious wealthy man who constantly changed his hiding places.

The Lazarus staff did not doubt Carl's actions because Carl's demonstrated financial resources (the ability to rent so many safe houses at the same time) complemented his behavior, perfectly matching their stereotype of an 'important person'.

When Carl moved to his fourth residence, he received a message from River on his personal channel.

"Situation reported by plainclothes officer: A target with a black prosthetic arm has been spotted moving rapidly through the buildings. The individual appears to have noticed the plainclothes officers and is heading towards your building."

A black prosthetic arm?

Upon hearing this, the first person that popped into Karl's mind was someone.

When talking about the black prosthetic arm, that person always comes to mind.

Morgan's Black Hand.

(End of this chapter)