Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 528 Who is it? Everywhere (Part 2)
Atlanta, North America.

There are hardly any peaceful and stable places in this area now. The metropolis that was once hailed as the "fifth most livable city" in 2025 will have become a city with a clear divide between the rich and the poor in 50 years.

Here, people don't call those who cut off kidneys "cleaners"; they call them gangs.

Gangs are only bad, and nobody benefits from them—at least in Atlanta, police officers are still subject to the new American government…so as long as you avoid dangerous areas, your safety is relatively guaranteed.

only…

Recently, several federal states have received orders from the White House in New America to arrest two “traitors” who have nearly jeopardized the interests of the entire New America.

Sure enough, there were two thugs on the street holding wanted posters. One of them was a girl who looked like she was under 18, with gray-green pigtails and eyes that were different sizes. She was making a face and seemed very unwilling to have her picture taken. The other one had set off a frenzy in the entire new America.

Morgan's Black Hand - Number Two!
Although it seems absurd, the guy in the wanted poster photo looks so much like him…

With his stubble and all-black attire, his stereotypical image makes it seem as if New America is actually hunting down Night City's number one lone wolf from decades ago!

He was the first person to thwart Arasaka's evil plan in Night City, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a national star. Unfortunately, he was an imitator—many TV stars, including the old guys from Night City who had retired from their criminal activities, have clarified this.

"Lowell (Little Wolf)...what was it again?"

The thug, smoking a cigarette, squinted at the writing on it. Unfortunately, this thing had been used by countless people for amusement, and the paint on it had been almost worn away. The only thing that was clearly visible was a line of numbers slid by fingernails.

A bounty of one million!
That girl is also priced the same.

"Bro, do you think those two would have raped Miles's mom? A million euros, I've never seen that much money except in games!"

Behind the man, yawns were coming incessantly; clearly, someone was getting into it and muttering to themselves.

"You better be alert! You're going to kill yourself sooner or later! Son of a bitch!"

The man turned and glared at his underling, wishing he could kick the troublesome bastard in the ass. Then, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, he held up the poster in one hand, the airship engine between the buildings making the paper rustle. He sighed, "Damn... if we could run into these two bastards, we'd never have to worry about food or drink in this lifetime."

The younger brother, who had just sniffled, saw through the situation but kept quiet.

It's like everyone dreams—

"Alright, time's up. That dog has a peculiar habit; he likes to come here to find girls."

The man looked disgusted. "If you ask me, these corporate dogs are the real perverts!"

The two quickly put the matter on the poster out of their minds; they had to focus on the task at hand.

Kidnapping company personnel: the ultimate challenge for gang criminals…

Almost every seasoned criminal has turned their attention to companies at some point because of money, and some organizations that are completely opposed to companies even launch attacks against them.

However, no one would be foolish enough to provoke the ACPA. Company employees, who were rendered powerless after their combat cybernetic bodies were compromised by hackers, naturally became the prime targets.

Of course, the fact that many "wealthy individuals" refuse prosthetic body modifications is also one of the primary contributing factors.

I don't know if the company's work pressure is too abnormal, but there are always some weirdos who risk being discovered by the company to come to this shady, noisy place for thrills.

"Okay... forget about this lottery ticket thing."

The man tossed the arrest warrant aside.

Perhaps it's the anger stemming from the inability to achieve something ethereal?

“Going to Sean’s place is like going to a clinic disguised as a pharmacy. That guy is coming today, and the hacker I contacted is already online.”

"When that thing collapses, dismantle whatever needs to be dismantled. We won't show our faces at all. We'll be all done and leave before the company's rescue team and trauma team arrive—"

The man kept rambling on and on.

But the guy next to him, who was barely able to suppress his craving, was a little suspicious. "Can we still get out? The western border is full of cops... Kos and the others said they wouldn't even let a dog pass."

The man leading this big heist sneered repeatedly, "What did I tell you in the email? That road is guaranteed to be safe. The wall has been breached. Even if the two of us are chased to Night City, we can still sneak in. Once we get there, forget about the federal government. Even if Miles himself comes after us, we're helpless."

"Watch the news more. The new US president's plane crashed in that area, and not a word was uttered."

The henchman sniffled, watching longingly as his older brother took out a remedy commonly used by mercenaries. Like cough syrup, it was a controlled substance.

With the supplies, the guy who had almost passed out looked much more energetic.

The two, one in front of the other, quickened their pace as they watched a hovercar slowly pass above the complex slum buildings, their faces beaming with excitement.

"This guy is extremely upright on TV, but the new Americans are full of bad intentions. Those 'Jacky Chans' (slang for Asians, used jokingly, not discriminatory) have chosen the wrong person. Let's kidnap him and make a quick buck. Don't keep thinking about eating a few more bites, understand?"

What does it mean to issue repeated orders and injunctions?

This is…

The hovercar landed slowly on an open space filled with containers. The guy had brought a security guard with him. The first man in the suit to get off the hovercar put his hand to his ear, scanned the surroundings with his prosthetic eye, and only after confirming that there was no danger did he gesture for his boss to get off.

Judging from his appearance alone, Mr. Law (derived from the English pronunciation of law) looks like an elite lawyer as the legal advisor of Contour's fifth division in the federal state. It's just a pity that his current sneaky behavior has ruined the persona he has cultivated for so long.

After jumping to the ground, he dusted off his trousers, waved his hand, and the security guards obediently stepped back behind him.

As for the security guards' suggestion, based on their years of security experience and their desire to follow suit, it was naturally ignored.

Mr. Lao pressed the weapon at his waist. At only 300 meters away, he didn't think there was anyone nearby. Besides, the hovercar had already scanned the area from high above and found no one else except some drunkards rotting in the shadows.

His footsteps echoed through the empty alley, and Mr. Lao remained within easy reach of the security guards.

After turning the corner, Mr. Lao arrived.

The security guard raised his wrist to check the time, his straight back relaxed slightly, and just as he was about to turn around, two extremely fast shadows rushed to his side in an instant!

The silvery-white trail was a samurai sword!

The man stared dejectedly as his body collapsed to his knees. At that moment, the engine of the hovercar let out a low growl, and the computer inside the vehicle was simultaneously hacked.

Two slender black shadows... just like the ninjas that Lin Yue had personally dealt with on the bridge that day, and Sasha's appearance was the same.

Mr. Lao went into a clinic with a tacky sign that looked nothing like a medical clinic, but had symbols and pill illustrations painted on the door.

"What do you mean there's no response from over there?"

As Mr. Lao walked through the underground manhole, he hastily loosened his tie. Two thugs hiding in the shadows were communicating in hushed tones with the hacker on the other side—

"Damn it, I didn't know anything. I successfully hacked into the vulnerability of that hovercar, but damn it, I never expected it to cause such a commotion!"

The hackers over there panicked; clearly, their actions had caught the attention of the Kangtao hackers.

"Hold…"

The man looked up and saw that Mr. Lao was still walking towards the well-hidden inner room without any reaction...

"Damn it, what do we do? Are we just going to give up like this?"

"What if Kangtao's security comes up with them?"

The urge of his henchmen behind him and the greed within him made the villain unable to bear the internal struggle any longer. "Let's go!"

He said it fiercely.

I'm going to do this job no matter what!
When the two entered one after the other, the guy was talking politely to the old man in the clinic. The guy had a rotating optical component on his one eye. When he saw the two thugs who suddenly barged in, he immediately stood up and quickly fell backward.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lao didn't even get a clear look at what he was doing when he was hit hard on the ground with a baseball bat!

"You two little brats, you're fucking asking for trouble!" The man breathed heavily, his eyes filled with pure malice. He looked at Mr. Lao, who was lying on the ground with blood seeping from his head, and suddenly remembered what was in his pocket.

"What are you looking at, you old blind man? Get the hell over here and help!"

"Find a quiet spot so we can 'unload' our goods."

This kind of street slang is nothing more than trying to strip Mr. Lao of every single penny of his valuables, and at the same time, taking advantage of the fact that the system's defenses haven't been activated yet, quickly accessing the hacking software, and perhaps even stealing the euros from his personal credit account.

Either way, you're making a profit.

This sum starts at at least over 100,000 euros!

The old doctor was grabbed by the collar and shoved inside by the man's henchman, who was waving his arms and shouting, "That's the fucking upgraded system!!! You think I haven't had my eye on it? Kangtao's people are already here in their hovercars in a few minutes! Run, everyone!"

Blinded by greed, the two naturally didn't take the old doctor, who rarely spoke the truth, seriously.

Soon they pushed open the first door of the clinic. The old doctor, forced at gunpoint, could only mutter "It's over, it's over" as he trembled as he set up the surgical environment for them.

"Like a fucking...dead pig!"

With great effort, he lifted the person onto the operating table. The man wiped the sticky bloodstains from his palms onto his clothes. "See, old man, nothing happened—the trauma team's procedures will be running for the rest of their lives! Now help us out, and you'd better tell us what the good stuff is..."

"Otherwise, you know what I'm talking about!"

The old man watched the two men nervously, glancing back every now and then, but this reaction was naturally ignored by the two gang members.

Just as the two were getting ready to steal money from Mr. Lao's credit account, the entire clinic's power supply suddenly went out, plunging it into darkness. Only the neon lights connected to the emergency power system emitted a faint glow.

The young men and women accompanying the old doctor's guests also let out shouts one after another—

"what happened?!"

In the darkness, only the old doctor's regretful slapping of his thighs could be heard: "It's all burned! Kangtao's hackers have located us! Run—"

"Hey?!"

A gunshot rang out, and two desperate madmen, whose nerves had been pushed to the limit, shot and killed the old doctor without hesitation.

They were completely dumbfounded as they looked at the man on the operating table, who was like a hot potato.

"What the hell have you been doing?!"

"We're counting on this old bastard to help us preserve our prosthetic bodies!"

The man's younger brother was also stunned by this sudden scene and could only keep complaining.

Before the two could finish arguing, the clinic's power was suddenly restored, and the intermittent screams from before were gone... Apart from the electrical current and the buzzing of the instruments, the entire clinic was eerily quiet, as if it had been suddenly shut out.

"Well…"

Mr. Lao on the operating table was showing signs of waking up. His legs went weak, and without hesitation, he tried to turn and rush out—

My shoulder slumped!
"Hey, are you fucking kidding me?!"

The henchman who had pushed aside his boss and rushed out made an unexpected move in a split second. However, the henchman who had just used his boss as a stepping stone to rush out quickly and slowly retreated.

A black submachine gun was held against his head with one hand, and all he could see was darkness.

"You are... Holy crap?!"

The underling, his hands raised, had a wet crotch. He had just been watching the mastermind complaining about the wanted criminal on the street, but now he saw that guy, who looked like "Morgan Black Hand," blatantly pointing a gun at his underling... If his heart hadn't been pounding so fast, he would have thought he was watching Mewtwo.

"Thank you... for bringing Mr. Lao."

Morgan's face showed an undeniable weariness, as if he hadn't had a proper rest in a long time.

"what!!!"

Just as the man who wasn't being held at gunpoint was about to make a move, Morgan Blackhand used a small knife to sever the man's femoral artery. The man was now kneeling on the ground, groaning in pain.

The younger brother was terrified and could only mechanically move with the gun pointed at him.

"Alright, you've got such a valuable clue. The guy's wallet is yours. Now you have six minutes."

"You need to help me push the girl lying on the hospital bed behind the curtain out, and then carefully take out the chip that Mr. Lao carries with him, which may be stored in the cavity of his prosthetic body above his heart, and then insert it into the girl's neck."

"Understand?"

Morgan Blackhand leaned closer to the underling and said, word by word, "After all, you betrayed your boss without hesitation, and now only I can save your life."

The man, whose thighs were weak and powerless, tried to struggle to stand up, but the blood on the ground was too slippery, so he could only keep kicking his legs while gripping the hospital bed, cursing incessantly.

"You really are a bad person, you deserve to go to hell!"

The man cursed viciously.

Morgan Blackhand chuckled. "Your underling had a hacker pass your information to Kang Tao. He's after the company's whistleblower money. Tsk tsk... There's always this drama of good brothers going their separate ways. I never get tired of watching it."

"Now, do as I say!"

The younger brother trembled as he lifted the curtain in the direction the prosthetic doctor had been looking, and sure enough, there was a pale-faced girl lying on the hospital bed behind it.

Morgan watched as the chip representing the latest research achievement of Compto's Atlanta branch was slowly removed from under Mr. Law's suit. It was a sample he was preparing to use during negotiations with the company later.

To be precise, the chip is a biological program used to repair neurological problems caused by age-related conditions or injuries.

"Hold on a little longer."

Morgan silently recited this in his mind.

The metallic scent was spreading to his nose, but Morgan seemed unconcerned. In reality, he was staring intently at the chip that the trembling man had inserted several times. During this time, he even muttered a sarcastic remark, asking if he needed to give the man he was pointing at a bullet a wake-up call.

Morgan only breathed a sigh of relief after the chip was inserted into his brain.

Keeping one of these two around is certainly useful; Morgan Blackhand and Rebecca still need to escape, and they need these two people who have arranged their escape route…

If the contact doesn't show up, these criminals will definitely hide far away, so Morgan has no choice but to follow the rules.

Morgan's black hand, unsure how long this process would take to take effect, was finding it difficult to manage both ends simultaneously. Fortunately, he only bound Kang Tao and the two gang members; as for Mr. Lau…

Without hesitation, Black Hand raised his gun and quickly dispatched him.

After the gunshot, the underling was so frightened that he fainted, while the boss, whose carotid artery had been pierced, was pale and clearly about to collapse.

Every decision has meaning; the mastermind never does anything futile. He's simply using this unconventional and straightforward torture to get the other party to confess on their own…

"The tourniquet is right here in my hand. I just left it to dry for almost 3 minutes. You have a blood pump, and in 5 minutes, Satan will come to take you home, kid. So now tell me, who exactly are those people who said they'd help you deal with the hackers?"

"My time is precious—"

"Because I'm also curious about who these ubiquitous crawlers are with; they don't seem like people from New America."

……

……

(End of this chapter)