Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 126 The Azure Pact

[Caller: Jack Wells]

Lin Yue and Sasha were walking slowly down the streets of Night City when Haywood called at just the right moment.

"Sorry... I didn't expect something like this to happen on my mom's turf. That bastard Kirk obediently handed over the money, paid the compensation, and didn't utter a single word. I can only say my mom doesn't hold grudges—"

"You know what? This kid was trying to rip off some Arasaka student, and he messed things up!"

Jack couldn't help but laugh as he recounted this.

The saying "dog meat is not fit for formal occasions" probably applies to Kirk as an example.

In Lin Yue's memory, Kirk was just a scoundrel. He claimed to be a middleman backed by the mafia, but in reality, he did all sorts of low-level jobs...

As for lending money to others, that's his old profession.

Pepi has been scammed before.

Jack's tone was full of apology:

"Seeing you leave in such a hurry, I know you're unhappy—"

Jack thought that Rin left halfway because of his mother's attitude, and also because the fact that Wild Wolf could shoot someone... seemed more like the unreliable one.

Lin Yue shook his head and interrupted, "No... it's just that there's an urgent matter at the company. Let's reschedule."

Jack was taken aback, thinking his colleague was going to give him the cold shoulder, and he felt even more embarrassed. "Alright! We have to take this opportunity to please you, buddy. How about this, come to Lizhi—it's on me. It's past midnight, so how about we go back and get some sleep... and then tonight?"

Lin Yue looked at the schedule he had set on the Ara Sakako website; he needed to take care of Emma's matter.

"Not today... How about tomorrow? I'll come over and finalize this with you, just you and me."

The phone hangs up.

Sasha skipped and hopped around, looking left and right. Having not been out of the Aragaka Tower for a long time, she was enjoying the prosperity of Night City.

"That female hacker has a location tracking program in her head, which seems to be a method used by hackers from other countries."

Sasha tapped her chin with her finger and recounted all the information she had gathered.

Other countries... it must be the work of the Polish Arasaka branch, right?

Lin Yue shook his head, "She is an asset of Arasaka herself, so it's normal for her to have Arasaka's tracking program in her head..."

Sasha's expression was strange. "Arasaka's? No, no, no... It's an anonymous user, and seems to be a very capable foreign hacker—as long as this girl connects to the [Regional Network], they should be able to confirm her location."

Lin Yue had no idea that this was Lucy's mother's doing.

Sasha taunted, "Then why did you make the decision for Arasaka to release her, and then make me erase her memory?"

Lin Yue looked at this quirky guy and said, "Do I look like someone who's trying to curry favor with the other Arasaka branches? I'm not so crazy as to arrest a data-digging hacker, and there's no point in doing so. I'm too lazy to abuse my power."

"But look at that kid, his eyes are practically glued to that girl, hehe." Sasha had clearly noticed David's dilemma as well.

Lin Yue gave a bitter laugh, "It seems... some people and some things just can't be changed."

Sasha was taken aback by these words. "What?"

Lin Yue walked several steps with his hands in his pockets before Sasha realized what was happening and quickly followed, calling out, "Hey, wait for me!"

Sasha followed slowly beside the guy, her hands behind her back, occasionally stealing glances at the cold-looking man.

I always felt that Rin was strange, like a complex collection of contradictions. Sometimes she was ruthless, sometimes kind, and sometimes she was more like a living, imperfect person.

I really miss the days when I worked with Lin Yue outside Dogtown; he was at his best back then.

Lin Yue: "You haven't come out of the Abandoned Tower for so long, don't you have anything to do for yourself?"

Sasha shook her head. "There's nothing I need to do. If it's to see my sister, there's even less need. I don't want to drag her into this..."

Lin Yue nodded, guessing that Sasha was probably already on the list of people in the biotechnology company who violated company law, and that the biotechnology company would keep pursuing her until the body was found.

Sasha took a small step to the side, her elbow lightly brushing against Lin Yue. "How was it? Calling you boss felt pretty good, didn't it?"

Lin Yue sneered, not intending to answer.

Sasha muttered, "Tch, I thought you were going to get a raise! I'm just doing you a personal favor!"

Lin Yue waved his hand, "The program you want, Suzuki will buy it from Taipingzhou when he's on his way to do business."

Sasha's eyes immediately narrowed into a smile, "Not enough, not enough."

Lin Yue was speechless for a moment. "What? You really want a few hundred thousand euros or something?"

Sasha: "Of course! I'm your teacher now... your cybercat teacher! Cough, shouldn't I get some reward for my hard work?"

Lin Yue: "So what do you want?"

Sasha gazed at the sky in thought for a long time, then said, "I want to eat."

"..."

Lin Yue shook his head helplessly.

"It's this late, where can we find a place to eat? Would you eat at a food truck in a place like Japantown?"

Sasha shook her head. "They're all synthetic. I might as well go back to Arasaka Tower and drink nutrient solution."

Lin Yue walked silently for several minutes.

Sasha thought this guy was definitely trying to renege on his debt.

The guy next to me suddenly said, "The company square—my apartment is over there. There are some things to eat at the restaurant bar and the company apartment manager's place. They're convenience foods, but they're all top-quality and taste pretty good."

Sasha jumped up excitedly, "Yay!"

Lin Yue felt that his subordinates all had a common problem, which was that... sometimes they would forget that he was their boss.

But it doesn't matter. What's wrong with a child with such a tragic background eating some of your food? Let the child eat!

Sasha looked at the map in Yi's eyes and found that they were now near Japan Street, which meant that it would take at least two hours to walk back.

Arasaka should be able to send a company car to pick them up, right?

Seeing that Lin Yue didn't seem to want the company to send a car, Sasha swallowed her words.

The city is beautiful at night.

Let's just go like this!
Walking quietly is also a good thing.

Sasha enjoys taking walks because she also loves seeing the Night City at night—just like the time Rebecca walked with her.

Lin Yue took off his oversized coat and draped it over Sasha's shoulders.

"Bring your own clothes next time. You can't wear the cooling suit alone when you're out on field duty. Have you forgotten the employee handbook? If the temperature control system fails one day, you'll freeze to death."

Sasha, a hacker who spends most of her time online, is naturally not afraid of the cold, but it must be said that her body is indeed very cold.

Lin Yue frowned slightly. Night City was still quite cold at the beginning of the year, but once the company car arrived, various operation reports needed to be submitted, which was quite troublesome. So—

He took a Delaman taxi for the first time.

The comfort version.

The price for this distance is 7000 euros, and of course, Dellaman's package includes necessary combat expenses and emergency medical services, yes, mandatory.

A car with white squares painted on its side, resembling graffiti for a race car finish line, slowly came to a stop in front.

"boarding."

Lin Yue opened the car door and pointed inside.

Sasha wrapped her coat tighter around herself and got into the car. "The service was great, boss. You must be rich. You even took a taxi to Delaman for this distance."

Lin Yue rolled his eyes and got into the car as well.

……

Sasha let out a "Wow!" as soon as she entered Lin Yue's apartment.

No wonder people are desperate to get a foothold in a company; these material benefits are precisely what motivate these corporate dogs to work so hard.

Just as Sasha was stroking the texture of the leather sofa, a cat suddenly jumped up from somewhere, stood on the back of the sofa, and tilted its head to examine Sasha, this "big cat".

Sasha tilted her head to look at him.

"Meow?"

Sasha smiled and reached out to pet it. "Boss, you're so rich! You can even afford a pet." Lin Yue made a hot drink, walked over to Sasha, and handed it to her. "V gave it to me."

Sasha looked surprised, and after a while, she stroked the cat and said, "Oh, so it seems Miss V is a rich woman?"

Lin Yue shook his head, wanting to casually pet the cat to show his good relationship with it, but the cat quickly jumped away when it saw Lin Yue trying to pet it, leaving Lin Yue looking embarrassed.

Sasha covered her mouth and laughed nonstop.

Lin Yue felt that this cat was just like V, turning on him in an instant.

……

some where.

A beautifully decorated room.

V emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a bath towel, her eyes still bright, muttering some work-related remarks.

After negotiating with the other party for a long time, V finally hung up the phone.

After a busy day, she reclined on the sofa, her well-maintained feet resting on the armrest, oblivious to the towel slipping off her body—she propped her head up with one hand as she checked the news.

V was casually applying skincare products developed using biotechnology to her body when she noticed a notification in the subnet information:
[Your residence, Night City Corporate Plaza, has a new visitor verification notification.]

V was somewhat puzzled.

Is this Lin Yuejin's own residence? He shouldn't have any identification.

After carefully examining the apartment's ID, V realized that she hadn't cancelled her registration at Lin Yue's residence, which meant someone must have gone to Lin Yue's house.

She opened the certifier's records as if they were a bedtime story.

She was sleepy, but also very curious—

Although it's not good to pry into other people's privacy, she just couldn't help wanting to see what this security supervisor, Arasaka, was doing.

The message popped up immediately; it was a screenshot captured by a scanning camera on the first floor of the company plaza.

In the video, a girl wearing an oversized jacket that clearly doesn't belong to her stares at the camera and makes a peace sign with her hand.
(ω)y
V's expression froze, the joints between the golden prosthetic patterns on the back of his hand turned white, and his hand immediately clenched.

……
-
The Azure Building.

The sapphire-blue thugs drove slowly and finally stopped on the roundabout in front of the hotel.

The doorman, whose face was completely covered by a metallic prosthetic body, stepped forward, and Lin Yue, sporting the stern face of a middle-aged man, got out of the driver's seat.

"Welcome to the Gum Pik Building."

The doorman bowed at a ninety-degree angle, and Lin Yue's eyes lit up, granting the doorman the authority to park the car.

He buttoned up his suit jacket and strode toward the scanning system at the entrance of the Gumpi Building.

The security guard gestured for Lin Yue to slow down. He had already noticed the Arasaka badge on Lin Yue's chest and respectfully added, "Please slow down. The system needs to scan you. I hope you don't mind."

As an important part of Arasaka Global Industries, the hotel in the Konpaku Tower aims to provide a service level that surpasses that of any hotel on the ground.

Japan's service industry is known for its harsh and demanding treatment of its employees, but it is extremely accommodating to its guests. The Royal Blue Hotel is ranked among the top three in the world's top ten hotel list.

It's no wonder that Lai Xuan came to Night City and didn't go to Arasaka's mansion, but instead chose the Azure Mansion.

In his view, Gumbi offers excellent privacy and protects guests' privacy 100%, provided that you are a member.

Just as Lin Yue walked through the dense red lines, a faint alarm sounded.

The security guard gestured for Lin Yue to stop again. "Please inform us of the serial number of the unauthorized military-grade prosthetic body on your body, and also—there is a prosthetic body operating on your face. We hope you can turn it off."

Lin Yue raised an eyebrow slightly.

Is Ganbi making things difficult even for her own family?
But Lin Yue had no intention of backing down. The elegantly dressed customers around him, all high-society figures from Night City, were staring at the middle-aged man who had raised the alarm. The brooch on his suit jacket naturally sparked a lot of discussion.

Seeing that Lin Yue made no move, the security guard had already placed his hand on his waist.

Lin Yue then spoke up, "Those who know the situation would think you're just doing your job as security guards, but those who don't... might think you're dogs that are about to bite."

The security guard's face stiffened. "Please watch your words, sir. Please cooperate!"

Lin Yue, however, was not afraid and instead took a step forward, an action that immediately ignited the tension among the security guards.

The surrounding guests began to move away.

"Want to know my prosthetic body's serial number? Has anyone told you that Arasaka's employee serial numbers are traceable? Have you eaten too much rice and ruined your brain? Or do you want to pack your bags and get the hell out of here?!"

Lin Yue particularly admired these idiots.

As the security chief of Night City's Abandoned Tower, Lin Yue had the authority to oversee the security personnel allocation for the Azure Building, and a portion of the hackers on the Azure Subnet were under his control.

The serial number check led back to my own account; it seems the staff at the grassroots level in Arasaka haven't been properly trained.

This…

The security guards exchanged bewildered glances, gritted their teeth, and uploaded Lin Yue's scanned employee serial number to the Ganbizi network for comparison.

屮!
The security personnel quickly placed their hands in front of them and bowed at a 90-degree angle.

"Uh, I'm sorry, Mr. Rin, it was our procedure that was not in compliance with regulations."

Lin Yue sighed, "Then get out of here—remember to write a report to your boss and send you to the Arasaka Industrial Park to learn the rules."

The security guard was pale and bowed his head, saying, "Yes, sir."

Lin Yue walked to the front desk and looked at the receptionist who was wearing a red dress and whose face had been modified to look like the doorman's, with a mirrored metal finish.

This style of transformation is exactly the same as Liz Vicky's; simplicity is the standard that Arasaka Enterprises adheres to.

The receptionist knew who this guy was, and didn't even dare to ask for an authorization code. "It's a pleasure to serve you."

Lin Yue didn't bother to argue about why she was so happy, but instead pointed to the system screen in front of her, "There's a woman named Emma, ​​in which room?"

The receptionist respectfully informed Lin Yue of the floor and suite specifications.

See? It's so much easier when someone is perceptive.

Lin Yue looked at the bustling elevator entrance, took a deep breath, and walked forward.

……

Emma has already drunk her third glass of red wine.

She made no attempt to maintain her image, and a trace of crimson blood still clung to the corner of her mouth.

The bitter wine not only failed to suppress her nausea, but she even felt like she might vomit at any moment.

Ever since Hans did that beastly thing, Emma has felt an indescribable disgust when she's around men. She knows she's sick, and seriously so.

That Rin…

Emma shook her head, knowing that this time she had been presented as a piece of meat on the table for others to devour.

But aside from working even more actively for this Arasaka guy, all she has left is this original body with a figure and appearance that can be considered "collectible-grade"—which is a decent starting point for her business.

I hope that guy likes women.

She sighed and looked at her extremely thin silk nightgown and the barely visible curves of her skin below—the skirt was a little short, and the exposed white skin made her feel even more despicable and cheap.

The wine-red liquid slid down her chin to her alluring collarbone.

"Just this once, you'll definitely succeed, Emma. It's just a deal; he'll give you some benefits."

She was trying to convince herself.

Emma got up. The appointed time was getting closer and closer. She stood up, wiped her mouth and collarbone with a napkin, and tried to look her best.

Emma knows that drinking red wine can make her more attractive.

However, just as she was frantically getting ready, an AI notification sounded at the door:
"You have a visitor. Do you wish to grant permission?"

Emma's hand, which had been resting on her silk dress, froze instantly. Her heart pounded, and she could no longer suppress her nausea.

It took Emma several tens of seconds to straighten up.

Taking several deep breaths to calm himself, a soft voice came from the room—

"permit."

……

(End of this chapter)