Chapter 591 The Worst Times
【Good evening, audience of Night City! 】
[Tonight's guest is Martin Coleman, an ordinary citizen of Night City. He...Hi, Martin, how would you introduce yourself? ]
On top of a neon-colored high-rise building, a TV program about Night City was playing on a hanging screen, and a host in a glittering yellow shirt was introducing the guests invited to the show.
Tonight's talk show is about disabled laid-off workers!
[Well, you can see that I... I have no arms. ]
[This is so tragic, Martin, was this an accident or was he attacked by homeless people?]
[No, it's not like that, um... well, since 2056, I have been working for the New American Automobile Manufacturing Company...]
[Then the company encountered some problems and decided to start cutting costs. One day they called us all to the lounge and said that we were inefficient, slow, incompetent, and so on. They let us choose: either replace our arms with Zeta Technology prostheses, or fire us without severance pay.]
So what do you do?
[If it were someone else, they would be the same as me. I have two daughters, my wife can't work, I have no choice, and the surgery is not free. They force us to buy their loan and pay it off in 20 years, and the money will be deducted directly from the salary...]
"Tsk, why hasn't the target come yet? I'll remember the grudge against you for making me blow the cold wind on the top floor."
At the top of the big screen where the program was being broadcast, Xia Yu sat on the edge with his legs hanging down and a cup of steaming noodles in his hand.
After taking two mouthfuls of hot synthetic noodles, Xia Yu grumbled a little unhappily. Fortunately, there was food to warm his stomach so he didn't have to drink the cold wind.
There is no purely natural food now, all is synthetic food, but... who cares? As long as it is edible and tastes good, that's enough.
Pure technology, nothing ruthless.
"Gulp gulp...ha."
After finishing the hot noodle soup in one gulp, Xia Yu threw the garbage away casually, not caring at all whether he was throwing objects from a high place.
In Night City, it is normal to fire cannons in the street. Of course, most people don’t even have cannons to fire and can only use inferior Mewtwo to paralyze their nerves.
Life is random, death is casual, this is the cyberpunk era of the future!
【Do you have a story to share with the world? Tragic accident? Family dispute? What are you waiting for? Call 1900ZIGGYQ now! 】
Listening to the host's closing remarks, Xia Yu yawned. This show was really boring, just a pure show without a trace of truth.
But no matter which world it is, TV shows are like this, they are all scripted.
After waiting for a while, Xia Yu's eyes suddenly focused, and the target he had been waiting for for a long time finally appeared.
On that busy street, a sports car was driving, and there were many colorful motorcycles around the sports car.
The side of the sports car is spray-painted with tiger stripes, the symbol of Night City's Tiger Claw Gang.
Night City is a melting pot of cultures and nationalities. The Tiger Claws are a brutal criminal gang from Japantown and one of the largest criminal groups in Night City.
The gang members are mainly Asian, and their goal is to maintain control of their territory and occasionally swallow up other gangs and their businesses.
The members have very similar characteristics: glowing tattoos, speeding street motorcycles, as well as katana and wakizashi, which are the symbols of the Tiger Claw Gang members.
Although the Tiger Claw Gang basically only operates in Japantown, Little Chinatown, Kabuki District and Charter Hill, there are occasional exceptions, like this time.
A blue data stream lit up in Xia Yu's eyes. After comparing it with the information provided by his employer, he once again confirmed that it was the target.
"OK, time to work."
Xia Yu, who was sitting on the big screen, twisted his arms, pushed himself up with both hands, and immediately fell down under the force of gravity.
The strong wind blew on Xia Yu's face, making his hair rustle. Looking at the densely packed little people below growing bigger in his eyes, Xia Yu opened his arms and shouted loudly.
"Good evening, Night City!"
The speed of free fall was not slow. It reached the middle of the building in just a few seconds. When he felt that the distance was about right, Xia Yu's mind moved, and his whole appearance changed.
In layman's terms, he covered the skin.
After hiding his true identity, Xia Yu swung his left hand, and a glowing blue rope shot out from his wrist and hooked a fulcrum.
The rope instantly became tight, and he was swung high up like Spider-Man.
Although the original name of this move is Rift Interference, he prefers to call it Grappling Hook directly, which is more clear at a glance.
After swinging high into the sky, Xia Yu used the grappling hook to leap over the sports car, and then pulled out the ghost crane feather on his back.
This is a straight-blade long knife. The matte black blade coupled with various patterns and serrations gives it a low-key and handsome look.
Xia Yu, who has not unlocked other weapons yet, can only use this exclusive weapon.
Sooner or later he will use the rainbow knife to chop people!
Xia Yu was thinking silently in his heart, and his body in mid-air suddenly exploded. His senses were enhanced at the same time, and he also entered bullet time.
Looking at the Tiger Claw Gang members below him who were unaware of the danger at all, and the sports car in which the target was sitting, Xia Yu stabbed down with a long knife in his hand!
boom!!!
The ghost crane feather pierced directly into the hood of the bulletproof sports car, and then pierced out of the chassis, leaving .
Suffering a sudden impact, the sports car flipped over violently. Xia Yu pulled back in time to avoid being crushed by the sports car.
It was not until this moment that the motorcycles escorting the sports car reacted.
BANG BANG BANG!!
Then, these Tiger Claw Gang members on motorcycles did not hesitate at all, and very martially fired a continuous stream of bullets at Xia Yu's retreating figure.
Clang! Clang! Clang——!
Xia Yu also followed the ethics of martial arts and held the knife in both hands, dancing it rapidly in front of him. The afterimage of the knife formed a black curtain, which knocked away all the bullets without missing a single one.
Some of the bullets even returned directly to the original route, piercing the heads of some members, and a large amount of brain matter splashed out, staining the ground bright red.
It was not until the scene became quiet and the Tiger Claw Gang members, who had just finished a wave of attacks, could see the attackers clearly.
It was a slender humanoid figure, wearing a hooded jacket and holding a matte long sword. There was not a single piece of skin exposed, at least the visible part was all mechanical structure.
"Full body cybernetics!? Damn, it's the Ghost Walker!"
"Damn it! Why are we being targeted by the Ghost Walker!"
"Kill him!"
Even though they learned that the attacker was the recently famous Ghost Walker, the Tiger Claw Gang was not discouraged. They were all gangsters and no one would be so cowardly as to not step forward.
Besides, in Night City, neither your own life nor the lives of others are that important.
“Kill!”
Realizing that guns were useless, the Tiger Claw Gang members simply threw away their guns, drew out their swords, or popped out their mantis knives and slashed at Xia Yu.
Because most members of the Tiger Claw Gang prefer close-quarters combat, almost everyone of them carries a knife and wears light armor.
On the streets, a melee ensued.
When passers-by saw this scene, they all stepped aside or drove away at high speed.
As residents of Night City, they know what to do to save their lives.
In this city where there's a small disturbance every three days and a big disturbance every five days, if you don't know how to protect yourself, you'll die without knowing how you died.
But even so, lives could still be taken inadvertently, perhaps by gang conflict or a cyber madman going crazy. Anyway, life is the most insignificant thing in this city.
In the center of the melee, Xia Yu held the knife in one hand and tilted his head slightly to avoid the mantis knife that was chopping towards him. Then he swung his hand back and the person attacking him was immediately cut into two pieces.
The internal organs flowed all over the ground, and the smell of blood spread. This smell seemed to stimulate the others, and the speed of the attack increased again.
Faced with the densely packed attackers, Xia Yu directly activated his sensory enhancement!
The knife that was originally cutting down at a fast speed seemed to slow down in his eyes. While dodging, he swung the Ghost Crane Feather. Every time he swung it, a head would fly up.
Then a column of blood gushed out into the sky, dyeing everyone else's vision red.
This was a massacre without any resistance. After all, with the Ghostwalker's mobility, ordinary prostheses could not keep up with its speed unless they had military-grade implants.
Puff——!
As the last column of blood spurted out, no one was left standing at the scene. The ground was littered with headless corpses or corpses chopped in half.
Anyway, none of them are complete, and they all die with their eyes open.
There's no way around it, since the Ghost Walker can only use cold weapons. The only way to kill someone with cold weapons is to behead them or cut them in half. Unlike guns, just blow the head off and it's over.
"Not bad, my proficiency has indeed increased."
Xia Yu wielded his knife, stepped over the corpses that covered the ground, and walked towards his target with the sound of treading on the pool of blood.
With a swing of the blade, the ghost crane feather covered with blood became smooth as new again. Although it was just a cold weapon, the technological content on it was not low.
Bang!
Suddenly, a bullet shot towards Xia Yu, but Xia Yu just swung the blade and bounced the bullet back.
"ah!!"
A shrill scream was heard, and the target, who had already escaped from the overturned sports car, was now twitching while covering his bleeding palm.
He was the one who fired the bullet just now. Everyone has a sense of luck, but Xia Yu told him through reality that luck is just a thought.
clang!
The long knife stabbed down. The target looked at the black blade so close to him, his throat moved, but he dared not scream again.
"Cooperate well and you will survive."
Under the hood, a steady male voice came from the mechanical mask with yellow light stripes. It didn't sound like a synthesized electronic sound.
"Uh-huh!"
Hearing this warning, the target nodded hurriedly. Since he was not killed, he had to stay alive at all costs.
Crackling!
Seeing this, Xia Yu took out an electric shock device and put it directly on the target, shocking him so much that his whole body convulsed and his eyes rolled back.
After the target lost consciousness, Xia Yu stopped the electric shock, picked up the target with his backhand, and then escaped before the trauma team arrived.
He didn't want to experience unnecessary battles. Although his proficiency would increase through fighting, continuing to fight would only cause more trouble.
He is not a real Ghost Walker. A real Ghost Walker may not get tired, but he will definitely get tired.
There is no need to worry about the traces of battle at the scene. In Night City, there will always be someone to clean it up.
Xia Yu, carrying the target, used a grappling hook and floated in the neon-colored city. The dazzling light pollution did not affect him.
He had to deliver the target to his employer as soon as possible, otherwise if he was caught up, he would have to go through another battle.
"Tsk, I should have known not to take this kind of mission. Assassination missions are more suitable for Ghost Walker."
After walking around in circles for a long time, Xia Yu fell to the ground, muttering to himself in an unhappy tone.
However, if there really is such a task, he might still accept it, but there is a prerequisite.
You have to pay more!
After landing, Xia Yu turned a few more places and then quietly entered a warehouse. In the middle of the warehouse, there was a figure with his back to him.
"The man has been caught."
Seeing that the figure was motionless, Xia Yu could only cough lightly and remind him.
Suddenly, a sound was heard in the empty warehouse. The figure with his back to Xia Yu suddenly tensed up, but after realizing it was a familiar voice, he relaxed and turned around.
"As expected of a ghost walker, he moves like a ghost and cannot be detected at all."
Of course, you have to know that the Ghostwalker is equipped with a stealth module. No matter whether it is a camera, infrared or network monitoring, its trace cannot be detected. This is why the Ghostwalker is called a ghost.
But he wouldn't be stupid enough to explain to others, it's enough for him to know the reason.
"Let's pay the bill."
"Um."
The figure nodded, data flashed in his eyes, and 25,000 euros were immediately deposited into Xia Yu's account.
In the world of Cyberpunk 2077, the Euro has replaced the US dollar as the world's currency, and its value has skyrocketed, unlike before.
Night City, as a city jointly managed by several giant multinational corporations, also uses the Euro, abbreviated as EUR.
Looking at the final payment received, Xia Yu's mouth curled up. This was the reason why he accepted the task despite the hassle.
“Looking forward to our next cooperation.”
Xia Yu put down the target he was carrying, waved at his employer, and disappeared in a flash.
"Next cooperation? Hehe..."
The figure sneered, walked forward, dragged away the target brought by Xia Yu, and quietly left the warehouse.
On the top floor of the warehouse, Xia Yu opened the account and took another look. He couldn't help but sighed: "Tsk, tsk, so many. This must be a lucky day."
Seeing his money increasing, his mood really became happy. Even though he already had a lot of money at his disposal, in Night City, no one would complain that they had too much money.
"And my proficiency is increasing steadily. I really want to know if I can chop off Adam's heavy hammer with one blow when I reach the maximum proficiency level one day."
After closing his account, Xia Yu looked at another light screen in front of him.
【Name: Xia Yu】
[Card slot: Ghost Walker]
[Proficiency: 66%]
[Owned Cards]
【Draw Cards】
【Extraction Points: 2】
【Recycle Bin】
As long as you wait until the proficiency reaches the maximum level, the Ghost Walker card can be used without taking up space, and the card slot can be freed up to replace the next card.
He was lucky enough to get the Ghostwalker that suits this cyberpunk world in his first draw. He was able to escape from Africa and enter Europe.
