Cyberpunk: I didn't cheat.

"Valerie hasn't recovered yet, has she? They'll either try to contact us, or they'll..."

The two immediately spoke in unison.

"Vito!"

Vito will definitely come. Whenever the team runs into trouble, Vito will immediately descend from some unknown corner like an angel.

"Jack! V! Joaquin wants you to come over here!"

The wanderers at the Free Man's Camp called out to the two men, saying that the sandstorm had passed and the two free, high-combat-power laborers now had to get back to work.

As they approached Joaquin's tent, a man brushed past them. Vincent seemed to recognize the man's scent; it was a high-end perfume.

Without much thought, Vincent and Jack went into the tent to see what Joaquin had to say.

Upon entering, Joaquin was instructing his men to remove the Romulus gin from the table, and the perfume scent in the tent became even stronger. Vincent was trying hard to recall where he had smelled this scent, which could not possibly exist in the Evil Land.

"Ah~ Freedom Fighters, you've arrived! On behalf of all the free vagrants, I'd like to thank you both for your recent efforts. Thanks to you, we now have enough supplies to feed the hundreds of new free vagrants!"

Joaquin was exceptionally enthusiastic. He had tasted the benefits of having Jack and his two naive fools at his disposal. These two idiots had helped him resolve a lot of trouble for the Snake Gang, and he now had complete control over the entire northeastern region.

Soon, he will be able to use his resources to negotiate with large companies.

"Uh, hello Joaquin, what can I do for you?"

Joaquin handed each of them a bottle of beer, a bright smile on his face.

“Something’s happened! My men have returned and have told your companions about your presence here.”

Vincent sensed something was wrong. He had always been very punctual when he was delivering goods, and a round trip from here to Night City shouldn't have taken this long.

"Why did it take so long to deliver the message?"

Joaquin paused noticeably, then immediately offered a beaming explanation.

"The people from Snake State are in cahoots with the border checkpoints, so our people have to disguise themselves to get in, which naturally caused a delay."

Before Vincent could press further, Joaquin changed the subject.

"We're in trouble, fighters. Snakebang is furious and has threatened to kill every man, woman, and child in the camp. We can't just sit here and wait to die!"

Their advance force has already established a foothold nearby and attacked our convoy, causing us to lose a significant amount of life-saving supplies. I would like to ask you two to help me eliminate these people so that our goods can be transported in.

Jack nodded in agreement. He had witnessed firsthand how miserable the homeless people were these past few days, and how small families were finding it increasingly difficult to survive in this desolate place.

"After we finish this, we need to go back to Night City. We haven't been back in a long time. The signal is too strong, and we can't contact the team."

Joaquin looked up at Jack and patted him on the shoulder with a smile.

"Of course, of course, I will have my brothers see you off!"

Before leaving, Vincent casually asked Joaquin a question.

"Who was that person who just came out of your tent?"

"Oh, him? He's... he's the leader of a nomadic family from the south. He's here to discuss an alliance with me. Is there a problem?"

"It's nothing, just asking."

After Jack and Vincent left the tent, Joaquin summoned his confidants.

"Follow them with a signal jammer, and as before, don't let them contact Night City."

I've heard that their team is no pushover. Our collaboration with biotechnology can't afford any mishaps during this time. If those two idiots realize what's happening, you two take them out!

Chapter 313, give it to me.

Near Joaquin's camp, a carload of homeless people were just rescued from a biotechnology company vehicle by their companions.

They arrived in the north with hope, but the tribesmen and friends who arrived first either said they had been placed in a temporary camp or had disappeared without a trace.

Finally, a group of veterans hijacked a biotechnology truck and discovered the truth inside: Joaquin of the ditch had sold the homeless to biotechnology as experimental subjects.

With their last hope dashed, these homeless people, despite their lack of ammunition and supplies, continued to attack the biotechnology vehicle, hoping only to rescue their missing companions.

The land is now a mess, and living a good life has become a luxury.

The rescued homeless people were still in shock; they thought they were going to die, but they never expected to be given a second chance at life.

The truck was too big a target, so the homeless people drained the fuel from the biotechnology truck, removed a few tires, and returned to their tent camp.

The makeshift campsite was drafty, and there weren't enough tents. Several people had to squeeze into one tent and were freezing cold. With no other option, they burned truck tires to keep warm.

Nighttime always stirs up deep emotions in people's hearts, perhaps because they think of lost friends, perhaps because of the cold, or perhaps because of the pain from a bullet wound.

Suppressed sobs could be heard from inside each tent.

The veteran on guard duty held his rifle with his back to the fire. His prosthetic body had been neglected for days, and a weak electrical leak was visible at the connection between the steel and his flesh. The agonizing pain made the veteran increasingly irritable.

He desperately wanted to rip the prosthetic body out of his body and let the pain kill him instantly. He hoped that after he died, there would be no more iron in his soul or body.

With a slump in taxi business, a shortage of medicine, and a lack of supplies, they will die in the wilderness.

boom!

boom!boom!

The gunshots startled the apathetic veteran on guard duty. He quickly raised his gun and scanned the danger in the darkness with his prosthetic eye.

Bang bang bang!

Gunfire could be seen flashing in the distance, and several SUVs turned on their headlights.

"Watch out! There's a firefight in the distance!"

Unable to sleep, the homeless ran out of their tents, carrying everything they could use as weapons. The children were transferred to vehicles, as they would have to use the limited number of vehicles available to get the children away if the fighting group arrived at the camp.

The firefight intensified, and the gunfire became increasingly frequent.

The veteran's prosthetic eye saw a dark shadow flashing in front of the car headlights. With each flash, the gunfire weakened, and soon, the gunfire stopped.

"Two cars came up behind us!"

The veteran looked back and saw two cars speeding towards him with their headlights on in the distance.

He cocked the old rifle in his hand, his eyes fixed on the group of uninvited guests. The muscles in his face trembled slightly with tension, and his prosthetic body began to become somewhat uncontrollable.

To avoid accidental discharge, the veteran switched his trigger-pulling hand to his left hand, which was his own hand and the most reliable when the prosthetic body was not being maintained.

"Don't be nervous, we're Adcardo's people! Cough cough cough!"

Tiger stuck his head out and shouted ahead, only to have a mouthful of sand blown into his mouth by the night wind.

Carmela used a high-altitude drone to locate the camp, which is now not far from Joaquin's camp.

Vito promised to let Carmela and Max face off, and Carmela was willing to mortgage her future in order to make that day come as soon as possible.

The vagrants in the camp remained vigilant, raising any weapons they could find against these men who called themselves Adcardo.

They were fooled by Joaquin once, and now no one dares to believe them.

As the vehicle drew near, they saw the Demon Hound Armored Vehicle and a wave of despair washed over them.

"Panan, you guys organize them to set up defenses here. I'll go check out the situation up ahead."

Vito called out over the radio channel, but Panan did not respond.

Vito checked himself and found that he was being blocked by the signal.

"What the hell is this place? Who the hell would be setting up signal jamming in this wasteland for no reason?!"

Vito could only notify Panan in the simplest, most practical, and least obscured way.

The car door opened, and Vito yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Panan!! You guys stay at the camp and organize their defenses, I'm going to check ahead!!"

"it is good!!"

The demonic hound swept past the veteran and sped off toward the point of engagement.

Vito activated the miniature missile launcher of the Demon Hound in advance. An enemy capable of signal obfuscation in the Badlands is no ordinary enemy; a heavy blow must be dealt!

"Jack! An armored vehicle is coming! Let's take cover!"

???

Vito heard that the people on the other side were also communicating in the most straightforward and direct way, and it was a voice he was familiar with. He immediately braked the car and jumped out.

"Hey! Vincent? Jack?"

"Holy crap, it's Vito!"

The two jumped out from behind the car, which they had been using as cover, their voices filled with surprise.

"Mano! How did you find this place?"

As the three approached, Vito noticed that Jack and Vincent's clothes had many bullet holes. Fortunately, the bullets had not penetrated their subcutaneous armor, and the two brothers were just looking disheveled.

“Valerie said you were lost, so I followed the missing person notices all the way here.”

Jack went up and gave his good friend a hug.

"Haha, it's so nice to see you!"

"Come on! Let's hug one too, Vito, your prosthetic body is amazing! We've been so grateful for it lately!"

Vincent raised his mantis-sword arm to give Vito a hug, but Vito gently pushed him away.

"No! You look like a ghost from a horror movie right now, and there's half a intestine stuck in your clothes, so don't hug me."

"Really, I didn't even notice."

Vincent quickly put away his mantis knife and scooped up two handfuls of sand from the ground to rub off the bloodstains on his body.

"Weren't you in some freemen's camp? How come we've run into you here?"

“We’re helping Joaquin take down Snake State, Mano. Snake State has changed drastically; it’s completely different from what it used to be.”

"I know all this, so why aren't you replying to our messages?"

Jack shrugged helplessly.

“We wanted to, but the signal was blocked here. Joaquin said that Snakebang had obtained the company’s new technology.”

Vito was almost laughing in anger. This Joaquin is just out to fool honest people, isn't he?

“I say, Jack, you guys remind me of something Big Joe once said.”

"What did you say?"

"Embrace technology soon! Is Snakebang just bored or what? This signal jammer is clearly Joaquin's! This guy is very suspicious!"

Jack's large hand embraced Vito.

“Vincent thought so too! We sensed something was wrong and fought them!”

After Vincent finished rubbing the bits of flesh and blood off his clothes, he stood up and began to recount the whole story.

“We met someone at Joaquin’s place, and I felt like I’d smelled that odor somewhere before.”

Then I remembered, Valerie took me to a fancy bar, a hangout for corporate dogs, and all the corporate dogs there smelled like that.

Johnny appeared, his phantom embracing Vincent.

"You can smell the company's influence. This kid's a dog, Vito. And this Joaquin is another piece of trash who's got connections with the company!"

Chapter 314 Long nights and many dreams

Regarding Joaquin Tijuana, everyone gathered around the burning tire and started negotiating.

After a thorough reconciliation, Joaquin's false identity as the leader of the free agents was exposed; this scoundrel was nothing more than another human trafficker colluding with biotechnology.

"Damn it, it's biotechnology again! These crazy scientists treat people like toys every day!"

Tiger spat angrily onto the ground.