Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 541 Bait [5.1K]

As Rogge pondered, his gaze sharpened.

Her pretty side-parted short hair was being tousled by her hand, and she looked anxious and uneasy...

"Hold…"

Rin didn't tell me about this!
Johnny clearly knew Roger's temperament, and she was now questioning herself for betraying him—just like decades ago, Johnny had shamelessly approached Roger, who was with Santiago.

Love is clearly just a small part of the survival rules of street kids; what people rely on is friendship and trust.

Johnny trusts Roger.

"Relax, Roger. At least we've found some clues."

Roger scoffed, "MaxTac? Consciousness upload?! How the hell can you even say that—am I supposed to keep doing business in Night City? Isn't constantly provoking the company dogs enough? Now you have to add a bunch of cyber lunatics too?!"

God knows why people these days like to mess around in their own heads.

He had no choice but to use Rebecca's brain to make a call to the Black Hand Boy clone, with whom she seemed to have a fairly good relationship.

Upon hearing Rebecca's youthful voice, the other person immediately adopted a nonchalant tone, and their words became brief.

"explain."

Johnny didn't seem to care about his lukewarm attitude. "There's something good that could save this girl's life—I've made contact with Ott… Ott Cunningham. I know you have the complete memories of the Black Hand, and at least New America needs you to be the perfect replacement."

The black hand in the holographic screen had a slightly somber look in its eyes.

It could be said that... the military technology targeting Arasaka, with Ultraman, the genius hacker, being the most important hidden thread in it.

Having learned of Ultraman's investigation results, Black Hand shrugged. "So it really was a wasted effort. So Ultraman, Arasaka, and... you guys are all waiting to deal with those cyber lunatics who're armed to the bone?"

Silver Hand's tone was neither warm nor cold.

"Finding the right method can achieve twice the result with half the effort. I don't think Otto is sincerely willing to cooperate with this girl's boss, even though that guy can deal with us like it's nothing."

"So? To do it or not?"

Lowell rubbed his temples with one hand. To be honest, in his remaining memories, Johnny was hardly a reliable teammate.

"Honestly, it's really hard for a rock star to make a name for himself without fans. And I found out some things from that guy who's like a stand-up comedian. I'm sorry, but I'd like to know what Rin thinks."

Black Hand is not a reckless person.

He just felt that it wasn't a good idea to do these things without going through Rin.

"And you, Rogge? The leader of the next life, you're practically Rin's partner now, are you planning something serious?"

Roger was exceptionally skilled at manipulating people's minds.

"Don't tell me you want this girl dead. Rin has been taking good care of her. In this situation, she's just waiting to die. Don't you want to try a different approach?"

The mastermind made a gesture of surrender.

This is clearly the crux of the contradiction.

Silver Hand's follow-up shot was also crucial. "Although we don't know if that guy is a complete bastard, it's not a big deal to earn your own life back, don't you think? Besides, you still need to investigate things in those cyber lunatics' companies, right? We have ready-made intelligence."

Seeing this, Black Hand said no more and quickly had Takemura connect to the phone.

This guy, somewhere in Night City, glanced down at the camera and asked in broken Japanese, "What is it?"

"This is the bastard who's been in that girl's head. Now he's come out and wants to talk to us about saving lives, but he's brought up the Terrorist SWAT team—let's hear what he has to say."

Black Hand gave a brief introduction.

Upon hearing that the soul within the Relic chip was currently controlling a body that didn't belong to him and talking to him, Takemura's expression immediately changed.

He wondered just how far Relic's terrifying technology could go, and his eyes seemed to be trying to see through the screen to Johnny Silverhand's very soul. "You're the one who was executed by Arasaka... the 'kongbu'?"

Johnny never had a good impression of people with Arasaka roots.

In his rant to Rebecca, he simply thought she was just an untrained dog under Saburo's command... and his words immediately became quite rude.

"Then you should be very glad that your mother gave birth to you a few years later. If it were our year, you should be lying in the Arasaka building with Fuyushiro, roasting 'Christmas torches'."

Verbal offense.

Takemura recalled the day he met Rebecca at the hospital.

This strange feeling is odd, like having the same body but being two completely different people.

"What…"

Takemura muttered to himself.

The thought of Arasaka Saburo appearing one day in an even younger form sent a chill down Takemura's spine.

"I'm not interested, but I advise you not to ruin my plans."

Silver Hand's words seemed to have struck at Takemura's weak spot: "Do you really hope that Hanako will get things done?"

Takemura was stunned.

Johnny continued, "If we ruin those cyber lunatics' plans, it just means we're not getting what we want from Hua Zi. But if the technology inside can save our lives, why not? So—let's coordinate our intelligence, don't act like women."

Takemura was clearly not very familiar with how to deal with these scoundrels.

With a somber expression, he slowly propped himself up from the railing. "You've been ill for so long and there's no cure... You have nowhere else to go."

"This medicine may not be suitable for you right now; it may be very bitter."

A hint of anticipation appeared on everyone's faces.

Just as Rebecca was mentally joining Johnny in complaining about how slow and indecisive this Japanese man was, he suddenly spoke up without warning.

"honeycomb."

Takemura used the term in Japanese, saying, "There's a 'queen bee' that handles the diversion of consciousness, similar to centralized management. In short, the daily life of these cyber lunatics is to lie down and continue serving their sentences in prison. They are completely unable to live a normal life or socialize; they are just lunatics who obey orders."

"Otherwise, why is it that only the Terrorist Mobile Unit is responsible for killing but not for burying, and why is it acceptable for some civilian casualties to occur during missions?"

While everyone was still processing Takemura's words, the sheer volume of information left them unsure of where to begin.

"Where is the thing?"

Rogge hit the nail on the head.

However, Takemura decided not to say anything; he wanted to see the sincerity of Johnny and his group.

Johnny also recounted everything about Otto Cunningham, and some of the specific information he provided perfectly matched Takemura's investigation.

"Looks like this online search was worthwhile!"

Johnny seemed to have rediscovered a bit of the feeling he had when he was at home in Night City.

"Let's meet first, if possible, at the sewage estuary on the outskirts of the city."

That's what Takemura said.

Just as the people in the private room were getting excited about identifying their target, Lai Sheng's security guard suddenly came in and whispered a few words to Roger.

This is just another typical incident of a disturbance at a bar.

Generally speaking, upon entering a club or other established club, one must immediately undergo a scan of the business premises' subnet. Some combat prosthetics may have excessively high permissions that cannot be turned off. At this point, everyone relies on their own initiative, since no one would refuse to give Roger face. Of course, there are still some scoundrels who attempt to cause trouble using their prosthetics.

"The person died? How did that happen?"

The people inside the private room then realized that there was a commotion outside the bar.

The security guard said in a muffled voice, "This guy was holding something and scanning around, which triggered a hacker's ICE, and his brain was burned out in no time... The thing is here."

On the coffee table sat a prosthetic component, marked with mottled red stains, which seemed to be emitting a low-frequency buzzing sound.

Johnny instinctively stood up and moved closer to the thing, while Rebecca muttered something to herself—

"What is this thing? It feels just as disgusting as that chip."

at this time.

The remaining part emitted a barely perceptible red light that flashed across the damaged optical components.

Rebecca's gorilla arm instinctively sputtered, and Johnny, as if afraid he had seen wrong, asked in a low voice, "Did you see that?"

"What is trying to access Relic?"

Upon hearing this, Roger was horrified and instantly drew his sidearm from his waist and cocked it. "Clear the area, quickly!"

Almost simultaneously, a heavy alarm sounded from the rooftop of the Laisheng building, deeply embedded in the ground, sounding like a giant metal beast charging towards them. As it drew closer, the penetrating power of the sound increased with each passing moment!
The piercing and rhythmic beeping filled the night sky of the Laisheng area instantly. It wasn't the ordinary model used by NCPD officers; this sharp, high-pitched, and heart-pounding sound was naturally the MAXTAC's dedicated clearing frequency!
"Fuck you!"

Johnny cursed aloud, and Rebecca's attempt to control her body triggered the activation of her prosthetics, causing her pupils to contract. "Why is the Terrorist Mobile Squad here? Is it Arasaka Hanako's doing, or... is that crazy woman Ultra using us as bait?!"

The next life is already in chaos.

The group staggered behind, the piercing alarm sounding almost tangible, mingling with the sounds of panicked escape from the soundproof door and the private room.

"How could the Terrorist Mobile Unit have targeted you? What a joke!"

Goro Takemura's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

Black Hand's voice was calm: "That thing is a scanner, specifically used to bite hooks to mark Rebecca."

Roger tossed the thing behind the bar. NIX, who stumbled out, still had some charred marks on the back of his neck, and it seemed he had also escaped with his life.

"Damn, how come the things they did on Vortex Gang's territory are being targeted at us?"

Damn, is that Ultraman?

No, that can't be true.

Johnny roared in Rebecca's mind, a surge of anger and a chill running through him. "She's deliberately giving us this information; she must have tampered with the internet!"

"Your lovely little girlfriend basically used us as bait. We were responsible for luring out the Terrorist Mobile Unit, and then she took advantage of the chaos to mess with that system, right?"

"They're not even connected to the internet, this insane AI!"

Johnny was furious.

Rebecca's consciousness was restless within her body like a trapped beast, and Johnny was still trying to forcefully suppress her resistance and continue to take control of her body.

Despite Rebecca's pounding heart, she knew that Night City's formidable Terrorist Mobile Squad was a notorious killing machine known to everyone in the city!
"rush out!"

Rogge said no more.

No matter how things turned out, she wasn't one to wallow in self-pity, and quickly rushed to the backyard of the next life.

The blinding crimson and holographic matrix, along with the howling engine of the hovercar above, caused everything in the yard to sway and tilt.

"Bang!!!"

A series of muffled and chilling explosions came from all directions. The security guards in the courtyard had been locked down and had no choice but to raise their weapons to fight back.

What fell weren't metal objects, but rather members of the Terrorist Mobile Squad, all wearing helmets with bright blue prosthetic eyes, their bodies entirely black with glowing stripes on their sides, falling amidst the sounds of tearing metal and shattering glass—

The dense footsteps and the roar of activated weapon systems brought a chilling, deadly aura that swept over us like a tidal wave!

"boss!"

The security guards' voices were torn apart by the wind not far away, and the violent sounds of technological weapons and screams rose and fell.

"Damn it, we're not on the same team!"

Four hovercars were suspended above. A fierce glint flashed in Roger's eyes. She turned and pushed aside the stairwell with beer bottles piled up at the entrance to the future.

"Hurry down there!"

Roger barely dared to turn her head to look; she practically screamed it out.

After drawing and cocking the gun, he fired without aiming at anything behind him!
"Not now, we can't afford to lose our minds!"

The moment of alternating consciousness was fatal; Johnny was merely trying to comfort Rebecca in his mind.

The holographic image of Takemura had disconnected at some point, clearly indicating that it was already on its way to its current location.

The voice of the Black Hand came, "Those who follow Rogge, don't hesitate."

Rin has now entered the European online community, and having failed to find a way to use the same method as Takemura.

Johnny screamed in his mind, "Run, chick! You fucking—"

Her body wouldn't obey her commands at that moment. Rebecca looked at Roger's back, which was a few steps behind, and felt the cold pressure getting closer and closer from above. A fierce rage, which was accompanied by fear, rushed to her head.

With the effects of the drug wearing off, Johnny was completely unable to resist Rebecca's will, so he stopped resisting and instead actively relinquished control.

"Damn it, Johnny! He just ran away like that?!"

"Ha, that's more like it!"

Despite the stinging pain in her lungs and the sweet, metallic taste in her throat, Rebecca, now in control of her body, had a wildness in her eyes that was unique to the street girls of Night City. She grabbed the vending machine next to her and smashed it behind Rogge, while her other hand pulled out the holster from her gun with incredibly smooth movements!

The instantaneous barrage of fire momentarily halted the movements of the cold-blooded pursuers behind them. Their heads, hidden behind their gun sights, paused only briefly, their bodies momentarily slowed by the recoil, but in that brief instant they aimed and fired again, as if they were indestructible iron men…

boom!
A hole was blasted open in the floor by some kind of heavy weapon, and half of the body wrapped in the violent terrorist mobile team squeezed in. Rebecca's eyes widened the moment she grabbed Rogge's hand, and the world seemed to quiet down a bit.

But this shock didn't last long. In the blink of an eye, Rebecca had left Roger behind. In this extremely short time, Rebecca seized a sliver of opportunity, and her gorilla arm slammed into the guy who hadn't yet squeezed in.

The force of the collision and the heat from the prosthetic body directly lifted Rogge's hair.

"go!"

Rebecca no longer lingered for the fight.

They could only buy themselves a very short time. The heavy footsteps that seemed to have crawled through the wall had already entered the passage on Rebecca's floor. The scarlet scanning beam, representing the search for the enemy, pierced through the smoke and dust, like the gaze of death.

"Damn it!"

Rebecca's eyes suddenly widened!
The burly body of the terrorist mobile unit member who had just squeezed in and been blocked by a punch squeezed in again, his skin, covered with jagged, serrated scars, was slightly dark beneath half a mask.

Without hesitation, he raised his arm, and the projectile launching system fired a powerful attack, with howling wind and dust sweeping in along with the blinding flash of fire!

Until… everything quieted down.

Footsteps approached, followed by questions.

"Are you trying to kill the captured target?!"

A cold, inhuman voice rang out from a teammate.

The burly man, whose arm was slowly emitting smoke, suddenly flashed forward; Sianwistan's speed was so great that he completed a series of actions to point the cannon at his teammate's head—

"damn it…"

The sound of guns being raised...

The member of the terrorist squad who was questioning him gritted his teeth; his eyes, hidden behind the helmet's optics, must have looked terrible.

For reasons unknown, the burly man suddenly smirked, revealing a set of white teeth. He retracted the prosthetic arm, pushed past his teammate, and slowly walked away.

The members of the terrorist mobile unit who missed their target exchanged hand gestures, which didn't mean they were retreating, but rather... they were cleaning up the mess.

……

Inside the underground pipes of Night City, someone is running frantically.

Rebecca, whose head felt like it was about to be ripped apart, faced a situation that forced her to regain her senses—

She endured the stench from the sewage pipes while clutching something in her hand—it appeared to be a piece of plastic with a faint orange coating.

Rebecca knew what it was almost immediately.

Mann's favorite glasses, he wished he could wear them all the time, but they weren't very transparent. Mann, who frequented various bars in Night City at night, also had a history of being a gangster. To appear more confident, he would often wear these cumbersome glasses and pretend to be deep in private rooms.

When he couldn't see the other person clearly, Mann would slowly slide those damn sunglasses down his nose and stare at them with his rather small eyes—

Don't even say it.

Mann fooled a lot of people with this trick.

The lens, which was roughly an acute triangle, was already broken; it was just an ordinary piece of junk.

But she couldn't help but be excited about it.

Like a scar that seems to have healed in life, it will ache again when it rains, and when the scar is exposed, it has never truly healed—but the appearance of these lenses is undoubtedly a signal.

Rebecca was still running, but unlike Johnny, who felt resentful at being tricked by Ultraman—

She understands the situation clearly.

There's nothing wrong with bait; at least you know who wants to take a bite out of you. As for survival or destruction, this race for survival has only just begun.

……

……

(End of this chapter)