Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 375 Parnan Palmer's List (Part 1) [6.3K]

"You haven't forgotten what we did, have you?"

Lin Yue, who was looking up information in the car, received a call from Luo Ge.

Repay kindness with kindness and evil with evil.

Lin Yue's style of doing things in Night City has always been like this.

Even seasoned middlemen in Night City might not know the intricacies of Rogge's past, but Lin Yue did.

To put it nicely, a middleman is a big shot in the gray area who is well-versed in the rules of the streets; to put it bluntly, he always has to do things for the people behind him.

Lin Yue never forgot that Rogge had done things for Arasaka. She even teamed up with that guy for a while when Heavy Hammer was thrown out by Arasaka to undergo training in Night City to observe whether the prosthetic data was stable.

But this doesn't mean Lin Yue and she can't work together temporarily.

Most importantly, Roger is smart enough.

If she were in a company, she would definitely be a sharp-eyed HR professional. She has contacted all the big shots on the street who have made a name for themselves, as well as notorious outcasts, including V, who was kicked out of the company in the original timeline.

If Lin Yue remembered correctly, Roger seemed to be quite close to the Vortex Gang.

So when Johnny Silverhand appears in V's body, she is the reincarnation queen who once dominated the underworld of Night City, not a black hand broker who obeys company rules and is backed by the Vortex Gang.

She clearly remembered that her former lover and partner had died at the hands of Arasaka.

Only then could the flames of revenge spread unchecked.

This is why, after being killed by Rogue, Hammer's second-in-command cursed Rogue as a "bastard" and a "traitor."

But not anymore.

Lin Yue's appearance has already changed many things.

Rogge is now more like a middleman endorsing the dreamers; she's still feigning friendship with Arasaka near Little Chinatown…

But she did know a lot about Lin Yue.

Rogge's cleverness lies in her willingness to set aside her pride and her clear understanding of her position. If Lin Yue's affair were to be exposed, she would have to face a guy even more terrifying than a heavy hammer.

"Judging from your tone, it sounds like you haven't slept well in a long time."

Lin Yue's tone was relaxed.

Perhaps it was the increasing number of major events that made him more and more composed, which impressed Roger greatly.

"I envy you. Such a big event in Taipingzhou caused an earthquake throughout Night City... As for me, I already have a headache just taking care of the kids."

It seems that Rogge has really been disciplined by the "wild children".

As for who this child is, everyone knows perfectly well.

Parnan Palmer.

A proud girl.

Lin Yue smiled and said, "So you asked me to share the burden, but you didn't intend to let me rest."

Okay, enough joking around, time to get down to business.

In fact, Lin Yue even knew what had happened to Panan. If he guessed correctly, Panan had most likely been taught a lesson by the Chaotic Knife Society.

Sure enough, I was absolutely right.

The world is like a giant Rubik's Cube. Some of the colored blocks have changed, but it doesn't affect its overall integrity. As long as Lin Yue and V don't interfere, things will probably continue as Lin Yue remembers them.

only…

"With your face in Santo Domingo."

"Ever since this girl met you and Blackhand... she can't listen to a word Thor says anymore. All she can think about is starting a company. She's a cynical young woman—a bit like an old friend of mine."

"Who knows what kind of trouble this child might cause? There's a lot of fighting at the company right now. She just had a fight with me, and it'll happen in the next life."

Lin Yue said he understood.

Unconsciously, Roger regarded Lin Yue in front of him as having similar experience to himself.

A strong force often gives people a sense of reliability and stability, but Lin Yue himself did not realize it.

But Parnam…

Lin Yue fastened his seatbelt. "Okay, I'll do as you say."

At this moment, Roger seemed to feel that he had exaggerated Panan a bit, and hesitated before saying, "She is a capable girl. If only she were half as steady as Adcado, that would be great. Thor values ​​her highly."

“She’s been looking for work in Night City that involves her in company matters lately, and she’s keeping an eye on things for me.”

Lin Yue finally understood what a mother's nagging meant.

Perhaps in the next life, Roger, who argues with Panan with a stern face, will only utter a few cold, sarcastic remarks, but behind Lin Yue's back, he will express so much concern...

"This might make you a little..."

Roger didn't know how to express himself.

Lin Yue guessed that she meant to say it was a waste of talent.

Although many major events have changed, some side events might still proceed according to the original timeline...

The future leader of Adcado is Panan.

Besides corporations, the wanderers are an indispensable force that Night City can unite.

Even without this incident, Lin Yue would have already arranged for Emma to try to make contact with them.

The results were poor...

Saul, a staunch conservative, has been keeping a close eye on large biotechnology companies, which is why Parnan reacted so strongly.

"It's alright, I can only do what my identity dictates."

Lin Yue smiled slightly.

The phone hangs up.

Lin Yue glanced at the message sent by Roger and thought to himself that she really cared about this girl, even knowing exactly where she was right now.

It seems that if it were an ordinary mercenary, Roger would most likely just make a phone call and tell them to contact Panan themselves, and he would probably get a scolding or two from this hot-tempered girl.

However, Lin Yue understood the feeling of suddenly having one's whereabouts known when one is alone.

Just to be on the safe side, Lin Yue still made a phone call to the girl.

The straightforward Adca people's first call from a stranger turned on a holographic video.

Compared to the awkward few glances we exchanged in the strong wind that day, this time we could see each other much more clearly.

It must be said that Panan is a girl with a wild beauty. She has slightly curled, tousled hair at her temples, healthy brown skin, and some small freckles on her face that only appear when exposed to sunlight, compared to the more refined and luxurious makeup of Night City.

wheat.

Lin Yue didn't know why he associated this girl with this plant; it seemed that such a vibrant girl represented abundance and health.

"Who the hell are you?"

alright…

His speech is indeed quite wild.

Where did you get my phone number?

Seeing the wary look in the girl's eyes, which could be felt even through the screen, Lin Yue replied, "My name is K. Rogello contacted you... saying you needed help?"

Panan on the other end really has a serious and adorable quality, as if he wants to see through the screen whether he recognizes this person.

"What else did she say to you?"

Am I being interrogated?

Lin Yue was both amused and exasperated. "Well... she said you two didn't get along very well, and she suggested you go home quietly and not cause trouble for the desperados."

Panan became even angrier upon hearing this.

"I knew that old woman wasn't saying anything nice!"

Lin Yue could only respond with an expression that said, "Go ahead and curse me. If I say something negative about Roger, I'll consider it a loss."

In fact, very few mercenaries in Night City would be so foolish as to curse Rogge.

Lin Yue adapted well to this life of a masked person; he knew exactly what each identity entailed and what his role entailed.

"Alright, then come to the abandoned factory east of Santo Domingo."

Take a deep breath.

This girl is far too fierce...

However, since the job had already been arranged, Lin Yue immediately started the car and drove there.

Along the way, Lin Yue continued to review the documents he hadn't finished reading through his prosthetic eye.

Artem Sokolov, the founder of Girafa, is truly a remarkable figure.

Lin Yue even wondered if this guy was from another world like himself.

Lin Yue quickly stopped this absurd idea as soon as it came to mind.

It's no wonder Lin Yue thinks this way. When Artyom was young, he also clearly recognized the importance of a stable and secure job, even if it was a ruthless company that preyed on people.

The unique situation in Russia and the Soviet Union is that Soviet Petrochemical has a monopoly among its giant enterprises.

At that time, Artyom was just a farmer's son in Moscow. In the Soviet Union and Russia, where the system was deeply controlled by Soviet petrochemicals, there was virtually no room for upward mobility for those from the lower classes. Even so, the intelligent Artyom managed to get a job at Soviet petrochemicals, albeit in a rather undignified way.

After all, he was just an outsourced soldier working for a company facility.

Even so, it still went through multiple rounds of assessments…

However, for some unknown reason, Artyom broke his contract and smuggled himself back to Russia from Nigeria, where the company was stationed, and became a mercenary in the city of Moscow.

Just like Lin Yue, he built his own team, gained fame, and established the Gilafa Company in the Far East region where the control of Soviet petrochemicals was gradually weakening.

Artyom's brilliance is not only reflected in his choice of life path. It can be said that the large mechanical designs of Giraf were the brainchild of this genius. There is no doubt that he is an excellent technical expert and network hacker.

The dragon slayer becomes the dragon himself; it seems that in this world, those who wield power and resources will ultimately betray the past.

Artyom is not like that.

The Giraf III's excellent lifting capacity and modular compatibility have revitalized many war-torn cities, yet its price is not high. Its ruggedness, durability, and affordability are already excellent qualities of the Giraf—but this guy doesn't seem to think so.

The ruins of impoverished areas and cities are difficult to change, and people no longer have the extra property to afford even the already inexpensive Giraf III.

At this time, Artyom requested that the company launch a short-term leasing business, which is why Giraffa has become very influential in some poor and weak countries in Europe and the Far East.

The data continues until around 2050.

Lin Yue closed the file and quietly watched the street scenes rushing past on both sides.

Besides myself, Lai Xuan, Artyom... are there any other people in this world who dare to change all of this?

Has Artyom maintained his youthful ideals more than two decades later?
All of this is now shrouded in big questions.

Thinking about the current situation in Night City, Lin Yue felt more than just grateful for the opportunity given by the enemy; he was also temporarily satisfied with the current outcome.

With the elimination of the Voodoo Cult, Taiping Island became somewhat "peaceful" again.

The future Taipingzhou will become the stronghold of dreamers, allowing the rights lost by Night City to return to the poor. This has always been Lin Yue's idea.

In this process, some things may not seem to be done in a "just and kind" way, but Lin Yue learned one thing from Lai Xuan: to use all available rules to achieve his goal.

After driving across the bridge filled with abandoned cars, Lin Yue arrived at a dilapidated factory area with weeds growing on its walls.

There are probably dozens, even hundreds, of factories like this in Santo Domingo. Some of these factories still have automated production lines in operation, and apart from maintenance workers, there are basically no living people around... so traces of gang gatherings can be seen everywhere, and the graffiti is also very distinctive.

Most of the communities in Santo Domingo cluster around the factory because their most essential water and electricity supplies have long been disrupted, forcing them to resort to theft.

It's quite remote.

Lin Yue realized this wasn't the factory area where he might meet with the Panan from his memory, but he didn't pay much attention. As soon as he parked his car, Lin Yue saw a vehicle with a distinctly vagabond style. Only Panan would be so bold. Vagabonds usually hide when they come to the city, and the NCPD and biotechnology have a very high level of hostility towards them.

The official media of Night City also referred to the homeless as villains of the wasteland; in short, if something happened in the bad land, only the homeless could be held responsible.

But most of those vagrants were night owls from the Chaotic Blade Society.

"Your car isn't broken?"

After getting out of the car, Lin Yue noticed the girl's wary gaze. He remembered Panan currently hunched over the hood, fixing the car…

Of course, it wasn't that he wanted to see a cowboy-style physique, but rather that he didn't know what Panan was up to with his well-prepared appearance.

"How do you know whether my car is broken or not?"

Panan looked amused and exasperated.

"That's awesome."

Lin Yue spread his hands, lit a cigarette, and chatted with the girl slowly, saying, "Don't be so resentful, sis."

Panan lowered her arms from her chest, clearly having lost the first round. "Who the hell is your sister?"

She opened the hood and rummaged around inside with a dark expression. It seemed the little girl's pride was getting the better of her; she was afraid of being mistaken for a destitute homeless person and rejected...

The jobs that the middlemen in Night City send out, as long as they involve the homeless, are actually not many people who take them. The Badlands may seem deserted, but they are more terrifying than the city. Who knows if those people are members of the Chaotic Blade Society?

"The throttle body is blocked, the transmission has a problem, and the vehicle's infotainment system has been hacked. We need to find someone to rewrite it."

Lin Yue stood to the side, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and said indifferently.

It wasn't that his Oracle Eye was so powerful that he could diagnose the vehicle's problem in a second; it was because he had the memory of where the Panan's car was, as if he had experienced it firsthand.

The sun is about to come down.

If we don't hurry, we'll be wandering aimlessly in the pitch-black wilderness, and who knows, something might happen.

After all, in the dark ocean, car headlights make you a target. Night owls are night owls because they frequently rob and attack vehicles in this dangerous place at night…

Panan raised his head.

Lin Yue thought the girl would ask him how he knew or question him about something, but to his surprise, she acted immediately and followed his instructions.

upright.

Lin Yue likes working with teammates who don't dawdle, at least there are fewer mentally taxing moments.

"It really is…"

Panan chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Well done."

"Rogge is really meticulous. He knows all the problems with my car. Rogge really does a good job for Saul. He didn't even spare my car."

Ok.

Lin Yue wanted to roll his eyes.

So this girl was waiting here for him to be sarcastic and sarcastic.

Lin Yue didn't care and was too lazy to argue. Seeing that Panan was having some trouble prying open the gearbox parts with both hands, he didn't mind the oil stains and helped her. The girl really looked determined when she gritted her teeth and used brute force.

"call!"

"We're really awesome."

Panan looked at the oil stains on his hands, but didn't care much and just wiped the sweat with the back of his hand. This world is indeed a bit unfair; Panan's rough skincare routine didn't cause him any skin problems.

They can even withstand strong ultraviolet radiation without biotechnology products, which piqued Lin Yue's curiosity.

Lin Yue smiled slightly, "Alright, let's go."

After saying that, he tried to get back to his car.

Unexpectedly, Panan pointed to his car and said, "Two cars would be too obvious. If we're going to launch a sneak attack, my car is much easier to hide than your city car... Besides, you seem to know a lot about cars. Are you sure the rims won't break if you drive this thing onto a pile of rocks?"

It is clear.

Lin Yue was treated like a greenhorn from Night City…

"Wait a minute, why does this sound like such a big commotion?"

Lin Yue wanted to tease the girl. He had seen plenty of inhuman and ghostly people in Night City, but it was rare to see someone as innocent as her.

Panam is indeed a little tiger—

"what?!"

"Didn't that retired old woman tell you about this?"

Lin Yue scratched his head...

"She just said she had work available—"

"Fuck me!"

Panam suddenly exploded.

Before Lin Yue could even speak, Panan launched into a tirade like a machine gun, "First they sent me [Nash] (non-biotechnology), I got tricked, the truck is empty and the cargo is gone! I've been delivering goods for so long, Boz's side already recognizes my reputation!"

"I finally managed to fucking get this done!"

"Now I've lost my things and my car, and Roger knew but didn't tell me. Now he's putting a new guy in my car?!"

Lin Yue felt he should seriously ask the person who commissioned him.

It was obvious to the naked eye that Parnan's opinion of Rogge had reached a certain level.

Lin Yue reached out his hand. "Calm down, okay?"

Panan shrugged, pointing at herself, and said, "Why should I believe you? I should have just gone by myself instead of waiting for you to fix the car."

Lin Yue shook his head repeatedly.

"Let me put it this way, I'm the one who drives all the cars in Santo Domingo. I'm the one who handles seven out of ten deals for the good cars. Don't think I'm an idiot, okay?"

Panan paused for a moment, looking closely at Lin Yue, as if trying to recall.

“K…”

"Have not heard."

Lin Yue looked helpless and spread his hands, saying, "It doesn't matter if you know me or not, I just want to tell you that this is my livelihood. The problem is that if you go to find those idiots from the Chaotic Blade Society by yourself, you might get killed in the ghost town of [Stone Ridge Mountain]. More people means more strength, at least I dare to fire a gun..."

Panan looked deflated.

He plopped down on the car hood, holding his forehead with one hand and shaking it repeatedly, "Damn... I'm so annoyed, sorry."

Lin Yue sighed.

If ordinary mercenaries were to stay now, they would likely be considering retreating unless they were risking their lives. Panan does seem rather unstable.

"Damn it, I've been doing a great job in Night City lately."

Lin Yue roughly knew that Panan probably wanted to prove himself in Night City because of his feud with Adcardo's Thor...

The naive girl didn't realize that this was a setback Rogge was giving her to adapt to, to make her understand that Night City, where betrayal could happen at any moment, wasn't so easy to survive in. But the girl was holding onto a grudge and refused to go back.

"You're one of Adcardo's people, right?"

Lin Yue could only patiently guide her to think more and come up with solutions.

From my own perspective, this is nothing to be upset about. But it's different for a girl like Panan. As a delivery driver, losing both her goods and her vehicle is basically a collapse of her reputation.

"Hmm... What's it to you?"

People are wary of the mention of family homeless individuals.

Panan may have a disagreement with Thor, but he would never betray his family, as would any wandering tribe.

"How about... we try going back?"

If I can persuade the girl to leave, would that count as exceeding my mission objective?

But when Panan looked up at him with that intensely competitive look, Lin Yue knew that this matter would probably have to be dealt with seriously.

"Do you even know what happened before you start trying to fix things up? You should be more concerned about whether or not you'll take this job."

Lin Yue wore a thoughtful expression.

But in reality, he had his own plans—

"Okay, I'm fine with helping you with this, but you have to help me too."

Panan didn't expect this guy to be so bold. "Speak, what do you want me to help you with?"

Lin Yue asked, "You're very familiar with Badlands Ridge, but what about the landfill area? It's the place near the back of Dog Town, close to some of the company facilities guarded by the Chaotic Knife Gang."

Panan shrugged. "Mitchell and Scorpion often go there to scavenge for batteries, especially after dark, so—"

Lin Yue: "Finding a body, or more accurately, finding some clues."

Unexpectedly, Panan shook his head.

"I can't guarantee that. I need to find two guys who know the area very well. How about this, we'll stop somewhere along the way when we're on business."

Lin Yue hadn't expected Panan to be so meticulous.

According to my memory, this should be the time after Anders Herman (Relic's chief neuroscientist) defected to Contau, and V used the opportunity of shooting down the company's hovercar and retrieving the goods to trade with Panan... But in this life, I still have to go find these two wanderers.

Hermann is still in Japan.

Lai Xuan also did not come to Night City.

Saburo didn't die in Night City either...

Will those things follow the same trajectory as what happened today?

Lin Yue sighed.

Panan thought Lin Yue was sighing about this matter, and offered a rare word of comfort: "Alright, stop being so down. Scorpion and Mitchell are veterans, they drive armored vehicles, and they know the way very well."

"Finding the body is still an option."

Lin Yue nodded.

The collaboration with Adcardo's future new leader thus began.

Before that, however, he sent a message to Roger, who could only reply with a smiling emoji to show that Lin Yue had worked hard.

Once in the car, Panan didn't say much.

Lin Yue wasn't going to be so bored as to comment on whether Panan's car was good or not. After all, she had just lost her beloved vehicle, and there was absolutely no need for her to run into trouble at this moment.

However, quietness is sometimes an admirable virtue.

"Thank goodness you're quiet. When I'm angry, I just want to grip the steering wheel and stare blankly out the window. I feel much better now."

Lin Yue hadn't expected this girl to be so straightforward, her anger flaring up and subsiding just as quickly.

Lin Yue: "Speaking of Nash..."

Panan snorted coldly, "My partner tricked me, stole the goods and sabotaged my car. The middleman, Roger, knew everything, damn it! He tricked me too!"

"I can't get over this anger, who told me to be such a suicidal idiot."

"And you? Why do you have to be so reckless as to pick a fight with us criminals and homeless people? Aren't you afraid of being sold to some hellhole? Are you really that short of money, or is that dead man really that important to you?"

Lin Yue looked out at the blazing sun and the increasingly barren landscape: "I'm not afraid—because I'm also a suicidal idiot."

Panan looked satisfied with the answer.

……

……

(End of this chapter)