Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 373 It's All Luck [5.7K]

"Fuck me!"

The man in the passenger seat suddenly woke up, his hands flailing wildly in the air, his whole body pressed tightly against the backrest, seemingly due to muscle memory from before he fainted.

"Hey hey hey..."

"Relax, buddy."

Lin Yue, who was in the driver's seat, looked quite disheveled at the moment. Of course, it was hard to say which of the holes and wounds on his body were real. But for now, it seemed to be just a broken-down car and two desperate criminals.

Reyes, like a suffocating person finally getting a chance to breathe, muttered words like "fuck," his hands gripping the handle above the car door tightly, when suddenly he remembered something—

Looking back suddenly, they realized that they were speeding all the way from Taiping Island. The flat Taiping Island was still as dilapidated as ever, but in the distance, a thick black smoke was rising from the central core area. It was hard to imagine how much burning was required to make the smoke so thick.

Is this a nuclear bomb?
“K…”

Reyes then realized who was driving. He pointed at the rock-and-roll kid who was also a part-time mercenary, and pointed into thin air with his other hand.

He seriously suspected that he was going insane, and that he seemed to see the company's public enemy who was causing such a stir in Night City.

Her name is Rin, right...?

How could he be so similar to this guy in front of me? That feeling just wouldn't go away.

"Hmm, looks like you still remember who I am. You didn't get blown up in the head."

Lin Yue held a cigarette between his fingers, his face grim as he looked at the scene in the rearview mirror. Above the column of smoke were the hovercars of various media outlets from Night City. NCFD (Night City Fire Department) vehicles were also exceptionally allowed to enter Taipingzhou. Perhaps this was the only way for Night City's least noticeable organization to appear in the vortex of events.

"this…"

It's not the old captain's fault.

Today's events are something few people in Night City, especially those outside the company, could handle: the roaming AI, the terrifying fighting style, and this massive explosion... even Reyes, a seasoned middleman who has seen it all.

Perhaps even if it weren't for his own appearance, the greatest thing the old captain could have done in his life would have been to steal a truck loaded with medicine and vaccines from the industrial park in Arasaka.

"OK..."

Lin Yue also acted as if he were an insider, taking a few deep drags on his cigarette. "All the brothers' cars went out of control, and the company got involved too, that company in Taipingzhou... uh, Dreamers?"

“We were kidnapped. If that place hadn’t become chaotic, I wouldn’t have had a chance to escape—I saw you were still breathing on the way, so I risked my life to drag you back, you tell me…”

Lin Yue gripped the steering wheel tightly, making the old captain's face look as ugly as a pre-made pizza that had been left out to dry for five months.

"Are we in big trouble?"

Clearly, K's question left the old captain unsure how to make a crying expression.

"Oh shit!"

"That Mewtwo is real!"

Mewtwo?

Lin Yue's doubts this time were not feigned.

He had no idea what the old captain meant by Mewtwo.

The old captain calmed down a bit, or perhaps he forced himself to stay calm, before speaking in a slightly trembling voice what he knew.

At this point, Lin Yue was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

If they had seen that thing earlier, they wouldn't have hastily devised a plan when the company's data fortress was attacked. If that massive explosion hadn't burned everything, this plan, devised by Lin Yue himself to kill three birds with one stone, would have been riddled with flaws.

"Devil! Fuck!"

The old captain preferred to believe he was mentally impaired, otherwise he simply couldn't accept that those things had actually happened.

"In addition, all the companies are clustered in Taipingzhou, they're all corporate dogs."

"Then it exploded, and as you can see, the explosion wiped out everything around it."

Lin Yue was too lazy to say anything more, so he turned on the car radio, which was now exploding with activity on various news stations—

"WNS News, this is Arif Iqbal."

"A sudden public crisis occurred. Following Night City's first cyberattack by an external artificial intelligence in twenty years, the network monitoring system has forcibly kicked out all users in the area and is not responsible for any losses suffered by any user or organization. However, five hours after this high-risk incident was not yet resolved, a horrific explosion occurred in the area of ​​Pacific Island where the AI ​​server data was suspected to have exploded."

"It is speculated that it was most likely caused by a large amount of TNT explosives, and no nuclear radiation has been detected at the scene so far."

"Arasaka's spokesperson just stated that this was a crisis incident involving the manipulation of public trust, and the purpose of the explosion was to divert attention from the current pressure on several poorly managed businesses in Night City that are mired in commercial competition—"

"It is widely speculated that this is likely a negative consequence of the failure to renew biotechnology land use rights in North America in a timely manner."

"The Mayor of Night City issued a statement requesting all parties to remain calm and resolve the dispute peacefully in accordance with the Night City Agreement of the Unification War."

For the average person, this information is sufficient.

However, News 54, WNS's competitor, revealed almost all of Emma's evidence against biotechnology.

The two ordinary citizens from Night City on the bus were so shocked their mouths dropped open, especially—

“DRAR, a new company in Night City located in Taipingzhou, announced that it will retaliate against the biotechnology apartment facilities in the Valley area for the unreasonable behavior of biotechnology, and demanded that the companies involved in this hoax compensate Taipingzhou for the damaged assets and citizens.”

Lin Yue wanted to say that Channel 54 truly lived up to its reputation as a pure and innocent person...

Of course, WNS is not far behind, after all, they are all the cleaning machines for various companies, so it's not too much for them to do anything.

Lin Yue just wanted to watch the tigers fight.

"The Arasaka acquisition, the new company is putting pressure on the whole city, what kind of luck do we have..."

The old captain seemed to have survived a calamity.

Being targeted by the company is not unusual; what he fears more are those guys who are like evil spirits from horror stories.

"Thanks, K."

The car drove smoothly for a long time before the old captain finally spoke.

Lin Yue knew that thanking him was a must, but he didn't know what this guy was up to, especially regarding his identity, and he didn't know how the old captain would handle it.

Lin Yue was still somewhat worried about this matter.

"Sigh... If only my brother could be like that guy, and slap the company's face to pieces."

"That way we might be able to fight these company idiots to the bitter end! Damn it!"

[Transfer: 4000 Euros]

Lin Yue was taken aback.

First, he felt a sense of unease as the old captain sat right next to him, and then he wanted to see how the old captain would react to "Rin's" appearance. Before he could even test the waters, he received a transfer from the old captain.

This amount…

It's not that Lin Yue is a snob; it's just that he has fewer lives to live.

"Dude, this is all I have."

The old captain looked like a defeated rooster. "I'm afraid all the money I put into the car dealership is going down the drain... I need to go back to Santo Domingo to see if there's anything valuable left. Don't laugh at me, but I have to run away, or the Night City creditors will chase me to death."

"I can survive even if I lose one or two of those sports cars. Now I have to head to the new America."

"What a fucking bastard!"

The old captain's fist pounded against his palm.

Lin Yue fell silent for a moment.

Emma probably didn't have the energy to pay attention to these cars. For a big deal like a biotechnology acquisition, a few sports cars were really insignificant.

But these cars were the old captain's personal property.

His nice car is in the hands of middlemen, and if he had the ability to foresee the future, the old captain would rather pay more "deposit" to Westbrook's agents than pass through this wretched place, Taipingzhou, again.

"Speaking of which, wasn't Rin dead?"

Lin Yue casually said, "You're probably seeing things. Once the mental impact is too great... well, you know."

The old captain shook his head firmly.

Lin Yue's expression darkened slightly as he pondered the unspoken meaning behind the words of the Night City middleman.

"Don't say anything more. If the company finds out about this, your life will be gone just like your money."

The old captain thought about it carefully, then suddenly burst out laughing.

"Sorry, buddy, the way you said that doesn't sound like Santo Domingo jumping around and begging for trouble in front of the company at all."

Lin Yue neither confirmed nor denied it.

"Because I originally intended to make those companies pay the price."

The old captain waved his hand.

"Don't fucking look down on me. I hired you to cause trouble in the old town of Santo Domingo. My purpose is even simpler than yours—to make the company miserable, that's what I like to do."

"Running away would be letting down my fellow villagers, but I'll use my own money to pay off all these debts!"

Perhaps it was a revelation of her true feelings.

The two grown men felt a sense of bewilderment and helplessness, like brothers in distress.

Lin Yue regretted not including the sports car aspect in his mind.

Just figuring out how to think critically about things at work is already exhausting enough; it's really hard to manage everything else...

With the old captain gone, the anti-company sentiment in Santo Domingo can only rely on the KIA band... Fortunately, I'm doing well in Santo Domingo, KIA has a small fan base, and the dirty trick of the Petrified incident in Santo Domingo has been leaked. This kind of thing is a powder keg, it just needs more people with good intentions to ignite it.

As the saying goes.

People only seek comfort when they have no other choice.

Lin Yue naturally couldn't do something like, "I'll give you money from the company, and you'll continue to go against the company." Everyone has their own destiny, and he had already realized that he had interfered with the storyline of this world to a terrifying degree.

"Look on the bright side, maybe... your car is still here."

"Luck is a thing..."

"It's impossible to tell."

Lin Yue no longer dared to glance at the old captain's resentful eyes out of the corner of his eye.

"Dude, don't talk nonsense. With an explosion like that, not only would a car be blown to bits, but even a mecha would be pulverized!"

Haha.

Lin Yue could only reply to the old captain in his heart.

"I'm lucky, at least I'm still alive."

Perhaps having survived a life-or-death ordeal, the old captain wanted to share his thoughts before he passed away.

Compared to Santo Domingo's good buddies, I'm really...

"Night City is no good at all."

Lin Yue sensed the dejection in the old captain's tone. Everyone was a participant in this matter, and everyone was responsible for their own fate, so Lin Yue didn't dwell on it too much.

"I was born and raised in Santo Domingo. So many of my buddies, with their tattered pants, worked their way up from the streets." "Come to think of it, I haven't been out of town much!"

Lin Yue nodded.

"With your abilities, you could easily make it in Atlanta or the East Coast, you'd be a great success there."

The old captain sighed.

"But I love Santo Domingo..."

As the steel towers that formed the undulating factory area of ​​Santo Domingo drew ever closer, the old captain murmured, "Do you know what we were most afraid of when we were kids?"

Lin Yue shook his head.

"Drink water."

Before Lin Yue could even ask questions, the old captain evoked a poignant memory deep within Lin Yue's mind.

"You only know if the water drawn from the ground in Santo Domingo is poisonous after you drink it."

At that moment, Lin Yue suddenly realized something.

That day was at the market.

The neighbors handed the shop owner a glass of water, but the owner glanced at the time and pushed the water aside.

Do you drink water at set times? Maybe the water is safer at certain times.

The old captain nodded with some satisfaction.

"Only those who genuinely want to do something for Santo Domingo would pay attention to these little things, right?"

Reyes' expression turned furious at this point.

"The factory in Arasaka has polluted the underground river. The children are afraid to drink the water because they might die at any moment. Even if they do drink it, like me and my buddies... I'm afraid they won't live for long."

Lin Yue already knew what was going to happen next—

Even though he retained his memories of this world, he was still deeply moved when he heard the local residents of Santo Domingo say these words in calm language.

“We and a group of people found Arasaka’s people, wanting to see if these corporate dogs really feel guilty about this kind of thing.”

The old captain's gaze was like steel needles, even though it didn't reveal much emotion.

"We caught those company bastards and found out they were drinking this water too; the company was just fooling them by saying it wasn't poisonous—"

"Tell me, what the hell is this?!"

Lin Yue pursed his lips, feeling more and more that he hadn't done enough whenever he heard about this.

"If it weren't for this incident, I could have used the money I had to find medicine for the neighbors and figure out how to get some clean water... Forget it, unless you have the money to drink real water every day, or that kind of non-toxic distilled stuff, eating anything else will shorten your lifespan by a day."

"K, just pretend I'm talking nonsense."

"I'm looking forward to it now..."

The old captain's breathing became rapid.

"That guy named Rin is the thorn in the side of everyone in that company. He can make those dogs pay the price."

Even if—

Lin Yue reached out and placed his hand on the old captain's shoulder.

it is more than words.

"Look on the bright side, you still have a chance."

Lin Yue still tried to comfort him.

Compared to the street kids who want to do something for their hometown, no amount of praise seems quite adequate.

"Just in case I get lucky..."

The old captain chuckled.

This guy in front of me really doesn't know how to comfort others.

"I feel like if you didn't know how to sing rock, a moron like you definitely wouldn't be popular with women. Didn't you hone your smooth-talking skills in bars?"

However, Lin Yue simply stated frankly.

"You are the child of Santo Domingo."

The old captain seemed stunned and remained silent for a long time.

But it seems that's just his style; he likes to take things that can change a person's life in a nonchalant way.

"If someone could give me back my car and let me do some more favors for Santo Domingo, I'd fucking call him daddy—"

Squeak!

A sudden screech of brakes!

The old captain was still daydreaming when the sudden braking almost caused him to slide through the glass.

That guy's driving skills are fucking awful!

"Holy crap?!"

Just as the old captain was starting to take a liking to K, he pressed his head, wanting to ask him something, but then he saw Lin Yue staring straight ahead.

The old captain's face turned deathly pale the instant he turned back...

company?!
On the road ahead, soldiers dressed in company uniforms emerged, fully armed, and the logos on their bulletproof vests did not belong to any well-known company; they were just four variant letters.

DRAR.

The two looked at each other without saying a word; one was surprised, the other solemn.

Lin Yue didn't know why the Dreamers' soldiers had appeared to stop them. Could it be that martial law had been declared?

The soldiers stood in neat rows at the front. The leading officer stepped forward, and the old captain, whose hand was already on his waist, was quickly pressed down by Lin Yue, signaling him not to do anything reckless…

The officer was also very familiar with the way people communicated in Night City. He knew that if he rashly approached the car, the person calling him from inside might be a bullet. So he stopped four or five meters away from the car and said, "Reyes, Emma, ​​the CEO of Dreamers, would like to speak with you. Please get out of the car."

“Your shipment suffered significant losses in Taipingzhou, but we managed to salvage it.”

"Let's discuss a deal with the middleman for the luxury car business. We'll guarantee the business in Taiping Island. I wonder if Mr. Reyes would be interested?"

Lin Yue's brows twitched.

My feelings suddenly became complicated.

Emma seems to have never gone astray in what she remembers.

But what happens to intermediaries who explicitly oppose the company using this approach?

"Wow, Dad really came?!"

Lin Yue admitted that he still lacked a proper understanding of people's shamelessness.

So much so that he grabbed the old captain's sleeve, "No, buddy, this is the company, you idiot..."

"What company? I need to protect my capital. If I can't make it in Santo Domingo, I'll go to the Badlands tomorrow and blow myself up!"

"Isn't it the same whether you make money from the company or run the company again?"

Selling a car is not illegal!

Lin Yue was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

This level of integrity...

However, the old middleman's shrewdness was not lost at all. The old captain had connections, and 70% of Night City's computer or other users could see the "Good Car Middleman Page". Most of the goods in it were from the old captain, and the rest were from the middleman in the company square, etc.

The old captain struggled with Lin Yue's men for a long time. Fortunately, these men didn't recognize him, and Lin Yue remained silent, like a mercenary worried about his own safety.

In the end, the old captain managed to recover most of the cargo at the cost of losing a Lake Maiden's Sword and scratching the Shadow of the Stone Sword. At least he wasn't completely devoured by the Night City buyers. In addition, the contract renewal for the Dogtown Good Cars middleman had been suspended for some time, and the old captain, thanks to the website, became the only vehicle seller in Dogtown with a source of cargo.

The price is that 30% of the profits go to dreamers.

Overall, the old captain has lost money for now.

But Emma's cleverness lies here: in her eyes, Reyes is also a guy who needs to be tested. If he only talks about doing things for Santo Domingo but secretly makes a fortune, Emma naturally won't continue these one-sided agreements.

It was just tough on Lin Yue.

The old captain felt no burden whatsoever when calling someone "Dad."

"Fuck you! You're a genius! Oh no, a lucky charm!"

Lin Yue chuckled, shook his head, and thought that human joys and sorrows come and go quickly...

For some reason, the old captain felt that the guy in front of him was quiet and reserved, but also incredibly reliable. Even the disdainful look he gave the guy seemed like a powerful figure.

But there are clearly dozens, if not hundreds, of rock 'n' roll kids like this...

Could it be... a feeling?
The old captain felt a chill.

The same expression appeared on Lin Yue's face.

God knows how disgusted V must have felt if he had been kicked out of the company and this guy had called him "daddy." It must have been tough for someone as aloof as V.

"Oh my, you're the kind of guy who always says the right thing. I almost thought you owned this company."

"Please say more of these kinds of things to me in the future. Santo Domingo depends on your mouth."

Seeing this guy's two big front teeth sticking out in the wind, Lin Yue was in a pretty good mood.

"What are your plans?"

The old captain dropped his playful expression.

"I've been hit with the luck of winning the lottery, so I have to work like crazy."

"Interested in helping me with some projects? Let's do it together?"

Lin Yue didn't agree so quickly.

This hastily devised emergency plan placed a considerable strain on his mental and physical health. He needed to return to his "core business," letting everyone in the company do their own thing and observe the battle from the sidelines. Emma and her team already possessed this capability.

"We rock 'n' roll guys are really busy..."

"We need to take it slow."

Lin Yue felt that the old captain was similar to himself, and he was more patient with people he liked.

Unexpectedly, Lin Yue, this "fussy and particular" guy, put on airs, and the old captain responded with the middle finger.

"My mom says that luck is brought by someone."

"With that in mind, you're not getting away!"

……

……

(End of this chapter)