Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 335 Shadow (New Cybernetic Body DRAR·Shadow) (23)

"Hey bro! Time to get on the court."

The moment the audio device successfully connected, a piercing static sound came through, lasting for a long time before abruptly stopping, as if reminding him to quickly perk up.

"Um…"

The young man with his wildly unruly hairstyle patted the studded leather chair he was wearing, and the stinging pain in his palms cleared his hangover head considerably.

He took a deep breath, tightened his jacket, habitually lit one of Night City's most potent cigarettes, and walked forward with his flashy guitar beside him.

"Go, big star!"

"We're flashing our headlights and cheering for you from below!"

The slang for Night City is quite self-explanatory.

"Humph…"

The young man glanced at the powder and rouge with a gloomy look.

The girls in rock bars never shy away from being stared at. They're happy to use minimal clothing to grab attention. Wherever these "rock 'n' roll guys" are, there are bound to be plenty of girls.

It seems that rebellious girls like these kinds of people and things.

"screw you."

The young man raised his black prosthetic hand, painted with a sinister white skull, as his best way of retaliating against the girls.

The girls weren't annoyed; their laughter, like silver bells, mingled with the smoke in the corridor, while the shouts in the distance grew louder and louder—

"K—Let's get this party started!"

The bassist's expression was unspoken; he was like a rock youth sculpted from a standard mold, with hippie-style long hair and intricate tattoos covering his entire arm. Unfortunately, his legs were prosthetic, or rather... a modification made out of necessity.

But there was a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Let's not go too far this time, okay?"

The younger guy across from me was smoking silently, his head down.

"Hey, K! Look at me!"

The young man called K had the bassist's forehead taped to his own—a gesture the man used to question someone.

"Tone it down, the company is already watching you."

The young lead singer shifted his body, rubbed his forehead, and said, "Damn, this really hurts."

Under the bassist's worried gaze, the young man walked towards the steps beside the stage.

He sighed, briefly withdrew his gaze, and followed them up.

now.

Beneath the cheap carpet on the stage was a hollow shipping container, and every step made a dull sound.

The breathing sounds were quite distinct, as were the surrounding sounds—

Is it tinnitus?
The chaotic crowd below rose several octaves as figures appeared on the stage!
"Bro, I fucking love this band. They're so energetic and powerful. Even the phantom pain of a severed limb doesn't hurt as much."

The veteran of the Sixth Street gang swung his empty left arm. The hardships and poverty that Night City had brought him had repeatedly shaped him. His service more than ten years ago felt like a dream, and now, in his thirties, he looked like he was sixty.

Excessive use of stimulants had already made him live a very frugal life.

Rock and roll is his favorite.

"hiss…"

The person next to him took a drag of his cigarette and shouted, "I've never heard of this team before—which team are they from? Are they new here?"

"KIA? The band that died in action? They sound a bit like those old bastards from 20 years ago (short for 'killed in action,' meaning those who died in combat)." The man shook his head, looking suspicious. "Could it be another bunch of scumbags singing sad love songs up there? Thinking they can make some money and then have affairs on both sides?"

"It's not right at all."

The veteran clicked his tongue, "What nonsense are you spouting? Just watch, these guys have something to do."

Is there work available?
"Wait a minute! Could it be that the thing that's been making headlines in town lately is about these guys—"

Seemingly remembering something, the young man hurriedly went up to ask...

Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a sound check came from the stage.

The veteran left with a meaningful expression, quietly watching the stage. He didn't start the show with the kind of hype typical of rock enthusiasts; instead, he seemed to be watching a calm, theatrical performance.

The young man swallowed hard, looking at the sparse crowd around him—he suddenly wanted to leave.

Clearly, the crowd behind them had no idea where this group came from; they all watched with amusement, as if it were nothing more than a spectacle.

"Hold!"

The young man quickly ducked behind him.

however--

A synthesized electronic sound effect came from the stage.

“Annihilate the company…”

A gasp of surprise rippled through the crowd.

The word "annihilate" already reveals the band's purpose...

That is a desire for extreme destruction through violence, innovation, and military force!

The crowd was like a dry powder keg, which exploded instantly!
The young man was instantly pushed forward by the crowd. When he looked back in alarm, he saw a black-haired man above him holding a microphone upside down. His eyes had a calm that was frightening. Accompanied by the night breeze of the hot city, the man's hair swayed.

In the Valley region, a place deeply deceived by corporations and the system, these lyrics are undoubtedly a signal.

In the first verse, a highly infectious verse bursts forth along with the drumbeats!

Like a flood that has been suppressed for a long time, it only needs a little change to cause a hysterical collapse and screams!
"We're glitches in the system, sparks in the machine!"

(Our system malfunction is like a spark in a machine.)

The lead singer's black prosthetic hand made the electric guitar in his arms look so fragile. The microphone, hanging upside down on the microphone stand, made him crane his neck. Whether it was makeup or not, his throat looked like gleaming silver metal—the guy, like a warrior, stood with one foot forward, expressing this lyric with a roar—

"boom!"

The crowd's emotions were completely ignited, and the shouts created an almost explosive effect!

A light appeared in everyone's numb and weary eyes.

It seems like a blessing to hear lyrics from a band of this quality in an open-air setting.

The entire band glanced subconsciously at the lead singer, who was facing away from them with a somewhat aloof expression, and a hint of satisfaction appeared on their faces.

The people below are going crazy—

how come? !

This is completely unlike the performance expected of a rookie band!

It would be more reasonable to say that this is a group of well-established rock veterans, especially the lead singer's unadorned voice, which is just like those guys who played rock in the early days!
The violent accompaniment continued.

It was the instruments and the emotions in their hands that took over the lead singer's position.

The perfect rhythm returns once again, and the lyrics elevate the music to its absolute peak!

"Unplug their gods, rewire the night—"

(Reconnecting the nerves of the night with their god)

"We'll fight the future in the acid rain!"

(We declare war on the future amidst acid rain!)

The crowd was now indistinguishable from fanatical believers. Among this group, who had undergone the stimulation of a dream, the only way to achieve this effect through music was through resonance…

The speech became increasingly rapid, the veins bulging on the lead singer's neck, and the guitar strings looking worn thin...

"Scream into the static, let the glitch choir rise—"

(Shouting at the noise to make the malfunctioning hymn rise)

"We are the crash in their perfect design!"

(We are a system crash within a perfect system!)

The lead singer's fist and microphone flew out together, and the crowd began to bounce rhythmically to the beat...

The situation has spiraled out of control.

The "perfect" world is one of "errors," and the only solution is to "crash" and then "reboot."

"Go to hell with your company!!!"

Someone in the crowd started chanting this phrase, and in the blink of an eye, the impact was enough for the company to treat the lead singer as an enemy…

The company didn't really like serious, upright rock kids. Those guys used their instruments and lyrics as blades, peeling away the company's facade layer by layer. This powerfully persuasive effect made Arasaka hesitant to act, and he paid a heavy price for it.

But no one dared to write lyrics like KIA; they practically painted the phrase "Damn Company" in the center of the company square!

The lead singer's gaze seemed to be searching; his eyes were looking for something...

But this does not affect his impressive singing skills in terms of output.

A truck was parked quietly by the roadside, while a luxury car slowly drove into the alley in the distance, unnoticed by anyone.

His eyes looked away again the next second.

"They cloned our rage, sold it back as VR hymns,"

(They cloned anger and sold virtual hymns.)

After that lyric ended, the lead singer's cheap jacket fell to the ground. His distressed punk-style inner T-shirt bore the biotechnology logo—no, to be precise, it was an insult to the life sciences company, because the two saplings representing minimalist lines and scientific beauty were now filled with green by the lead singer, surrounded by blood-red demonic claws, and holding the euro's unique symbol in the center…

"Damn it... K!"

The bassist's expression changed.

Today's performance was a reluctant affair; nobody knows if there are company agents lurking below.

Other members shared his expression, instinctively glancing down to see if anyone was aiming a gun at them.

“But we spit zeros and ones till their servers dim.”

(And we kept spewing out 0s and 1s until their servers crashed)

Amidst the shouts of the crowd, no one noticed a garbage truck that had appeared in the sky flipping its storage container in mid-air…

White paper fell from the sky like snowflakes, bearing a line of words that seemed highly credible at this moment:

"They are creating humans!"

call out!
A gunshot rang out, accompanied by a large-caliber bullet that instantly tore through the air!

……
-
"I never expected that after decades of not being back here, Night City would still be so awful."

A discreet luxury car pulled into the alley and someone got into the back seat. After getting in, the person patted the dust off their clothes and said, "And those rock 'n' roll idiots, those brainless bastards are the biggest headache in Europe."

The driver's side mirror reflected a fierce eye, belonging to a woman.

"Military technology seems to be working well for you?"

The company agent who made the contact seemed to know the person in front of him very well.

"If you see those idiots calling your name in your next life, wouldn't you feel like laughing out loud?"

"To be made into a wine? Good heavens, I've never seen such an outrageous way of commemorating someone."

A moment of silence fell over the carriage.

The woman didn't seem particularly interested in answering these questions, which were even more boring than the wine list for the afterlife.

He simply crossed his arms and quietly looked at himself in the rearview mirror.

The man was somewhat embarrassed.

"Okay, it seems you're not too keen on reuniting with old friends? You should have her... uh? memories? experiences? Whatever it is—you should know me quite well, right?"

Upon hearing the inquiry from the back seat… a woman's hoarse voice came through.

That was a very impatient explanation.

"I have absolutely no connection with anyone you know. I'm only here to take the information you have; the rest is none of my business."

The guys behind them made a fool of themselves.

The woman picked up a weapon case that looked like a violin case from the passenger seat, and skillfully assembled a brand-new sniper rifle inside.

"Moreover, a lot of people have recently infiltrated the biotechnology industry, and we are trying to find a solution, so we had no choice but to choose this location."

"Time is limited."

The warning was very strong.

The man reluctantly pulled a chip from behind his neck, and the woman inserted it into his neck without blinking. The contact's eyelids twitched wildly.

The light in the woman's eyes went out.

"You're free. The company's exemption is in effect, and the money has been transferred to your account through a shell company in Europe—if you want to change your payment method... cash is fine too, provided you can carry it."

The man was covered in cold sweat.

Can I trust you?

The woman lifted her eyelids slightly, looking at the person behind the mirror.

"Do you have a choice? You can leave now while my hands are still on the steering wheel."

However, it seemed the man had been watching for too long, and the woman finally relented.

"These are her belongings. They've been there for over twenty years. I'm afraid they're only of use to a clone like me to fool myself into thinking I'm the real her. You can take them."

As the woman handed him the lighter, a look of reminiscence appeared on the man's face.

"What? You want to work for this company for the rest of your life?"

These words brought the man back to his senses—his face flushed red and then pale, and after hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and made a decision.

"Damn clones!"

He cursed.

Of course, he still glanced at the woman's profile with a hint of reluctance.

The woman from the military technology company was equally blunt, saying, "Speak more politely."

For a moment, the man seemed to be targeted by a venomous snake.

So he got off the bus dejectedly.

After the car doors closed.

The carriage immediately became much quieter…

The figure in the rearview mirror disappeared around the street corner, and the woman made no move.

Her hands were indeed on the steering wheel, but her fingers were tapping lightly, as if keeping a rhythm…

If you listen carefully, you'll find that the good sound insulation inside the car has masked the reason for her tapping rhythm; it's a rock singer in the square playing his own songs.

I listened to it for quite a while...

"It seems Old Wei was right, you really are suited for this."

A smile that didn't belong to her sinister face appeared at the corner of her lips.

almost.

Biotechnology will soon be unable to resist punishing this madman.

She already knew a lot of information, and the countdown in her eyes was very close...

1...2...3...

The woman's finger slammed down.

That one second seemed to stand still.

Immediately afterwards——

boom!
A muffled gunshot rang out, but screams quickly drowned out the echo of the gunshot.

The woman subconsciously turned her head to look in that direction, and a stream of light appeared on her face, revealing a beautiful woman who was completely different from before.

No one but V could have such a face.

They don't seem worried about how chaotic it is there.

She hummed that guy's song as she drove onto another road. As the car shook, a few drops of crimson color appeared in the gap of the trunk and dripped onto the ground.

"Take action."

She gave the order.

……

……

　【Rock Kid】: One of the professions in the cyberpunk board game. Its characteristics are high charisma and persuasiveness, which can get fans to do many things for it.

　　[Old V is right]: The protagonist had played guitar at Old V's place before, and V knew about it (refer to the foreshadowing in previous chapters).

　　
　
(End of this chapter)