Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 28 First Encounter with Parnam
"Thanks, bro. You're Adcardo too?"

The middle-aged man at the front was smiling at Cassidy, probably thinking that the leader of the car team, which was painted with the Adcado family logo, was a seasoned old cowboy.

Cassidy returned the smile and said, "Cassidy, Adcardo's man. You're Saul Bright's men?"

"Hmm. Ah! You're the guest Thor was talking about, right? Great, I was just thinking of calling you when I was done to ask why you weren't here yet!"

The middle-aged man slapped his forehead and laughed, "Saul told me yesterday that your only requirements are that you, along with your vehicle and cargo, pass through the checkpoint and then be taken to the family's camp? No other requirements, right?"

"Yes, these kids requested that they not leave any border crossing records, and that the goods they were carrying not be found. We will all be staying at the family camp here for a while."

Cassidy then asked, "What's your name?"

“Norman, these are Parnan, Mitch, and Scorpion.”

Norman introduced them one by one, and then praised them, "Mitch and Scorpion are both retired soldiers. Mitch is excellent at driving and repairing cars."

Scorpion is a veteran from the special forces, an expert in assassination. Panan is our own girl; don't let her young age fool you, she's already an outstanding soldier.

Then, Norman's gaze fell on Cassidy's back, where a group of children, the oldest of whom looked to be around fourteen years old, mostly of Asian appearance.

Although they were all dressed in the gear of a homeless person, the cool neuro-tattoos and prosthetic eyes on their faces told you that these kids didn't seem to come from an ordinary homeless family.

"Are these people someone you brought from your family? Or did they hire you as their guide?" Norman probed.

Cassidy shrugged and said, "Rather than that, we came together as a group, and he's the boss."

The old cowboy tapped the brim of his hat, pointing to Mercer behind him who was quietly observing the situation.

Cassidy's words made Norman's eyes widen, and the others behind him, including Panan, exchanged bewildered glances.

Mercer, however, walked over with a smile, extended his hand to Norman, and shook his hand.

"Mercer, Alex Mercer, Cassidy's friend."

"Wow," Panan muttered under his breath, "this guy looks like a little kid."

Mercer's lips twitched slightly. He turned his head and saw the girl with wheat-colored skin and a few freckles on her face give a somewhat embarrassed smile.

Mitch patted Panan's head hard: "Don't mind her, she just sometimes speaks too directly, uh, I mean, she just doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut."

Panan turned his head away unhappily, but still smiled somewhat embarrassedly and said, "I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that you look too young."

"Yes, that's true, I am indeed only fourteen years old."

Mercer smiled, completely unconcerned.

“You’ve come here for…” Norman had to ascertain the purpose of this group of mysterious children.

"Being chased, I plan to come to Night City to find a way to survive. I need to find out more about what will happen next."

Therefore, we would like to use Adcardo's camp for a temporary rest.

Mercer paused, then added, "We won't be eating and drinking here for free; I'm sure you can tell that."

As he said this, he turned to the side and pointed to the neural interface slot on the back of his neck, saying:

"We are all hackers, and although we are a bit young, our skills are still decent."

I can help you with network infrastructure, equipment upgrades, network security maintenance, and so on.

If you encounter any problems while at camp, we'd be happy to lend a hand.

Seeing that the other children agreed with him, Norman roughly understood their situation. He wasn't too concerned about them being hunted down, as this wasn't uncommon among homeless people.

“Norman, I’ve spoken with Thor. These kids are all very nice and know their place. They won’t cause any trouble.”

Cassidy vouched for them, having gotten to know the group of children quite well along the way and gained some understanding of them.

Mercer is the type who is warm on the outside but cold on the inside. He seems carefree and easygoing, but it's actually not easy to really connect with him.

It's not that he's hard to get along with, it's just that I always feel like I don't know what to talk about with him.

Xingzi is easy to get along with; you can tell at a glance that she has an optimistic personality and a kind nature.

Lucy, on the other hand, was relatively aloof. She seemed to have difficulty trusting people and listened almost exclusively to Mercer, whom she relied on and trusted quite a bit.

In contrast, Tetsuya Daichi has a much better relationship with Leon.

They were both warm and cheerful children, and he practically raised them as half sons.

Tetsuya Daichi and Leon also had a very good impression of him—after all, apart from Mercer, who was an oddball, everyone who ran away from Arasaka actually needed some emotional support.

But overall, Cassidy can assure you that these are all good kids.

"My opinion doesn't count. But Thor has already prepared tents for you at the camp, so I think there shouldn't be any major problems."

Since we've run into each other, let's wait until we've packed everything up and then go back together.

Today was unlucky; usually, hardly anyone comes here, but today we ran into a bunch of thugs from the "Rogue Gang" who were out looking to freeload.

Norman sighed, then warmly greeted them, "Panan, you talk to them, I need to patch the tire here first."

"Scorpion, go keep an eye on things from the sidelines, just in case the Chaotic Blade Society sends reinforcements."

I'll go search around and see if those guys from the Chaotic Blade Society have anything valuable—it's a windfall, you could say.

Mitchie said with a smile. He was a middle-aged white man who was balding, with an M-shaped bald patch on the front and a circular bald spot on the back of his head.
Mercer guessed he might have British ancestry.

Scorpion, looking somewhat aloof, wore a hood, revealing only half of his cold, hard face as he cautiously stared at Mercer for a while before suddenly saying:

"Did you hack their car just now?"

"Yeah, their car infotainment systems are all ten years old, so it's not hard to hack them."

Mercer's nonchalant tone made Scorpion nod slightly. He turned to look at Parnan and said:
"Don't underestimate him. Even the hackers in my unit couldn't hack into those cars as fast as he can. He's really skilled."

Scorpion had something else to say—those cars seemed to have crashed almost simultaneously, and judging from the look of it, more than one quick-crack program was uploaded at the same time.

Only a hacker with top-tier 'intelligence' could accomplish such a hack so easily.

If some less-than-ideal hacker had done this, their brain would be burning with rage by now. "Really?"

Panan now held Mercer in much higher regard; Scorpion rarely praised anyone, but she simply waved her hand dismissively.
"Alright, kids, come and lend a hand. Help us check the car and loot the battlefield, then we'll take you across the border."

Lucy and her companions began cleaning up the battlefield with practiced ease, looking no different from these seasoned wanderers.

This made the Adcardos who had been observing them nod in approval.

Mercer then walked over to Parnan and looked her over closely for a while.

Panan looks only eighteen or nineteen years old now. Compared to the wild and mature woman in the game, her skin is fairer and more delicate, and she looks more energetic.

As for her figure, it's the same as in the game; she looks to be about 1.7 meters tall, with a curvy figure and long legs. She looks even better than in the game, exuding a youthful and energetic vibe.

“How do you plan to get us in? Cassidy should have told you that we don’t intend to leave any entry or exit records, and we also have some troublesome smuggled goods that we can’t be discovered.”

Mercer asked, while Panan, who was inspecting the engine of the car belonging to the members of the Chaotic Blade Society, simply chuckled confidently: "This is our profession as wanderers."
It's very simple. Our car will be in front of you in a bit. When we get to the border checkpoint, you'll just line up with our car.

When it was our turn, I went in and handed the money to the prosecutor in charge of the inspection. It was 500 euros per vehicle, including people and goods. Then he would let us cross the border one by one according to the amount I gave him.”

After Panan finished speaking, he smirked and said, "How was it? Surprisingly simple?"

"Indeed. Won't they check the goods or the inspectors?"

Mercer confirmed again that this matter could not be taken lightly; otherwise, he would not have asked Cassidy to contact the group of people to come and pick them up from abroad in advance.

"Don't worry, unless some accident occurs that leads to a curfew being imposed, it's that simple."

This is Night City; they don't care where you come from or what you bring.

Do you know Dogtown? It's the Dogtown in the Taipingzhou district of Night City.

They say they can even airdrop military-grade Centaur armor over there. Compared to that, what do you think our smuggling of a few gadgets is?
"Besides, we Adcado people aren't pushovers. If they pay us, they'd better let us through. If they really want to cause us trouble, we won't just stand by and watch them steal our goods."

When Panan mentioned Dogville, his expression turned somewhat displeased:
"It's all thanks to that idiot... cough, I mean that new American traitor Colonel Hansen, that high-end goods are being airdropped from Dogtown."

Our income as homeless people has also decreased significantly, and we basically can't get any big orders anymore.

Therefore, those checkpoints won't waste any more time; pay the money, leave, and they won't say a single unnecessary word.

Mercer nodded, indicating he understood, but still asked as a precaution: "What if someone releases our personal data and demands that these border stations pay close attention?"

"What the hell have you guys done? You're all so scared!"

Panan was getting impatient, but he still thought about it seriously and said:
"That's settled then, you kids can go in in Norman's big van."

His carriage had been modified, with a special metal layer inside that prevented the border station's inspection lights from penetrating; all the instruments could see was a black mass.

Put your vehicles and goods inside, and just stay inside and don't make a sound. Leave the rest to us.

Once you're inside, just wait by the roadside. We'll go through the hassle of making another trip to bring your car in too, and then we'll be done.

Parnan's words made Mercer nod:

"Okay then, we'll move the things inside in a bit."

Before I settle into my new identity, it's better to be safe than sorry—to be honest, we've gotten ourselves into quite a bit of trouble.

Whether it's people or goods, once discovered, it could lead to serious trouble.

"Understood, I won't ask any more questions."

As Panan spoke, he looked at Norman, who had almost finished patching the tire, and said loudly, "Norman, you drive in a bit, use your precious car to take them in. They need to use your car to get there."

Norman understood immediately: "Got it."

He glanced at the several vehicles belonging to the Chaotic Blade Society and said:

"That's settled then, Mitch, Scorpion. I made a call to the family and asked them to come over and take these cars away in a bit."

Aside from the one with the broken engine, the others can be repaired and sold.

"You two help them get in the car and take them across the border. After that, I'll bring you back to get your own car."

Mercer and his group only had three cars in total. Cassidy drove one, and Scorpion and Mitch each drove one. They could all fit in the cars. Once they crossed the border, Mercer and his group could get in the cars and drive themselves to the camp in the east of the city.

Since they entered from the south of the city, they could also take a stroll around Night City and see the city of dreams that Mercer had longed for for so long.

"it is good."

Scorpion didn't say much, and started helping Mercer and the others move things.

As soon as the carriage was opened, the group was startled by the sheer volume of contents inside.

Are they all high-end Arasaka refrigerators or combination lock cases? That's quite rare.
But they were very professional and didn't ask a single question; they simply put the things into Norman's Columbus van.

Mercer touched the metal body of the van. The thickened body appeared to be coated with a special black material, which was probably what allowed it to evade the security scanning lasers at checkpoints.

Soon, the main supplies were all transferred to the delivery trucks.

Mercer's hacker prosthetics, along with the valuable prosthetics he had removed along the way, including those from Agent Arasaka, were all stuffed together and stored away in a freezer.

He planned to repair them and then sell them. Also, there were the several professional laptops with the Arasaka logo that Mercer had brought with him.

In addition, other weapons, valuable gold jewelry, electronic components, and other items seized along the way were all piled back onto the original vehicle.

Mercer planned to dispose of all the trash right there at Adcado's camp.

After that, you can start by raising some money and then find a reliable prosthetic doctor to complete the modification.

First, I need to install this top-tier hacker prosthetic body that I've been using all this time, and then see if I can add anything else.

After packing their things, Mercer and the others checked the details of the operation one last time before voluntarily climbing into the van that was already piled high with goods.

Just sitting in this cramped space, Mercer's heart began to race involuntarily, not from claustrophobia, but...
He's almost there!

This city of night that haunted his dreams!

(End of this chapter)