Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 30 Arrival at the Camp
Mercer has a natural talent for driving—he's quick-witted.

When highly focused, one can even experience a bullet-time-like sensation, making it easy to drive at extremely high speeds even without a synaptic accelerometer.

Panan initially only intended to play around with him, but he didn't expect the kid to actually have some skills.

Intrigued, the two sped all the way from the Santo Domingo district to the countryside on the eastern outskirts of Night City before finally stopping.

Cassidy and Earth almost got lost while driving, but fortunately Mercer didn't lose his temper and waited when they couldn't keep up.

Even so, it only took them a little over an hour to drive from the southern entrance of Night City to the eastern camp of wanderers.

Once outside the campsite, after parking the car on the perimeter, Panan opened the car door and exclaimed with a big laugh, "Awesome! You know what, I've never really raced in the city before!"

"Oh my god, I feel like throwing up," Leon said, while Dadi, who was driving him, was also pale. He felt like he was about to break his pickup truck apart.

After getting out of the car, Cassidy took a while to calm down before shaking his head and saying, "You guys are really crazy, Lucy. Why don't you try to persuade him?"

Lucy's face was still flushed with excitement. She smiled and shook her head, then took a deep breath of the wilderness air and said, "Isn't this fun?"

She also has a crazy side deep down.

Mercer, needless to say, touched his pounding heart; this was far more thrilling than racing in a game!

Night City. Ha!
"The car will stay here; we'll move the stuff later."

Panan proudly pointed to the camp in front of him and said, "This is Adcardo's camp. What do you think? Not bad, right?"

This is a campsite made up of RVs, tents, and houses that look like various converted shipping containers; it looks rather rudimentary.

But looking in from the entrance, you can see that everyone's face carries a sense of ease and peace.

Next to the parking area at the campsite, there was an old man sitting on a box early in the morning, drinking beer and playing and singing. He was holding a guitar.

A man repairing a car nearby occasionally hummed along.

Looking inside, some of the RVs or container buildings had small signs hanging outside, making them look like gun shops, prosthetic body shops, or something similar.

"Is this Adcardo's camp?" Lucy exclaimed.

"Hmm, how is it? Better or worse than you expected?" Mercer asked with a smile.

“Hmm, I heard that Adcardo used to be a large family with millions of members.”

Lucy was a little curious: "Why don't we see many family members along the way? I've heard you talk about it a lot, and I thought this place was very big, but now it seems there are only a few hundred people at most."

"Who knows?" Mercer didn't know much about it either, but he figured Adcardo must have a main base, though he didn't know the exact location.

"Your tents have been set up in that corner over there, where it's convenient for you to connect to electricity and water."

We got everything set up for you yesterday; there are four tents in total.

"There's no other way; we don't have many extra rooms here, so you'll probably have to squeeze in and sleep together, or we could go to town and buy two new tents."

Panan pointed to a corner of the campsite, and after parking the car, he led them around while introducing the campsite's facilities.

Mercer finally had the chance to get a good look at her up close.

Panan, who looks only eighteen or nineteen years old now, is at the peak of his youthful vigor and wildness.

Her skin looks much smoother than in the game, but she's already started wearing the heavy makeup that's ubiquitous in the cyberpunk world.

The eye circles and lips were painted with dark makeup, but it didn't look bad.

“Okay.” Mercer agreed and had Panan lead the way.

Lucy glanced at him subtly: "You seem to have been eyeing her several times already. What, are you interested?"

"I've already said, any pretty girl over eighteen is within my range of interest."

Mercer's words made Xingzi, who was standing next to him, nudge him with a grin: "Then I'll ask for you later?"

"Save your breath. Does she look like someone who'd be interested in little kids?"

Mercer suddenly felt a pang of sadness, shook his head, and sighed—he saw Lucy and Apricot as children, but how did others see him in the same way?
Panan, with his sharp ears, turned his head and glanced at Mercer, chuckling, "You kids are really something. You're all incredibly precocious."

"I'll go talk to Thor first."

As Cassidy spoke, Panan pointed in a direction for him: "He's over there, in the biggest tent. I won't go over there for now."

Cassidy nodded, gestured to Mercer, and then went to talk to Thor, the boss here.

"Well, looks like you really have no chance."

Anzu took the opportunity to joke with Mercer, then winked at Lucy, making Lucy awkwardly turn her face away and cross her arms.

This pose does look a bit like something out of an anime.

Mercer's lips twitched, but he didn't reply.

Little brat.
He quickened his pace to Parnan's side and began to talk to her.

"With so many of you, how do you usually make a living? Do you only rely on smuggling and transportation?"

Mercer's words made Panan turn to look at him. She was about 1.7 meters tall, and now, wearing boots, she looked a little taller than Mercer.
"What else can we do?"
Besides occasionally taking on construction site jobs or odd jobs in the city, we also do some car repair and parts work.
In short, they do whatever makes money.

Parnan sighed:

"Last year was a little better. Right after the war, Night City needed everything, and we were so busy driving around every day that we couldn't keep up."

But now
That stupid, stinky American named Hansen from Night City stole the most lucrative part of the smuggling business, leaving us only with odd jobs.

The animal gang and the Haitians also took on most of the labor force in Night City. What we could really do was mainly long-distance transport, private runs, and small jobs like dealing in contraband.

"how about you?"

Mercer was quite curious, wondering if Panan had gotten involved with "Queen Roger" of the "Afterlife" nightclub in Night City.

Rogue is a legendary figure in Night City. He and Johnny Silverhand stormed Night City's Arasaka Tower twice, and the second time they even detonated a nuclear bomb.

Although Johnny Silverhand was crushed and killed on the spot by another legendary Adam Hammer, another legendary Morgan Blackhand also disappeared after a nuclear explosion following his battle with Hammer.

But Rogge survived.

She spent several years hiding with Adcado's wanderers and even had a child with the head of a wanderer family.

But in the end, he couldn't let go of his old lover Johnny Silverhand, nor could he let go of the memories of the past. He returned to Night City and became a renowned middleman.

Rumor has it that she only returned after she apologized to Adam and Arasaka.

But to be fair, blowing up Arasaka Tower and admitting his mistake would allow him to return to Night City and continue being seen as a 'living legend' by most people.

This is enough to demonstrate the prestige of the legendary name Rogge.

And the Laisheng Nightclub became a legendary sanctuary in the eyes of the outskirts of Night City, a place only big shots could enter.

Many people even use the possibility of leaving behind a cup of wine named after them in the afterlife as a standard to judge whether someone qualifies as a legend. "Me?" Panan looked at him amusedly. "Little brother, you wouldn't actually be interested in me, would you?"

Mercer looked up at her speechlessly: "If you keep this up, we can't have a conversation—come on, I'm in high demand too."

"Hmm~ Who knows?"

After joking with a smile, she said:
"I don't have much work to do. I just do whatever my family asks me to do. But recently I've been thinking about finding some ways to make money on my own."

There was no other way; things weren't going well at home either, and there were only so many ways to make money.

If I take work from home, some people won't earn money. I might as well think of some new ways to make a living.

Last year we had nearly a thousand people here, but now, look, there are only a few hundred.

If the family still can't make money, even more people will probably leave.

Panan pondered:

"I heard that being a mercenary in the city is quite lucrative, you know, the kind of 'marginalized traveler'."

I think I'm a pretty good driver, and I'm also pretty daring. Who knows, maybe I'll even make a name for myself in Night City someday.

Panan seems to still have high hopes for Night City.

Young people always have bright expectations for the future.

"Fringe Walker. I'll probably start with this line of work too. It's quick and easy, so I'll do a few jobs first to save up some start-up capital."

After Mercer finished speaking, he paused and said, "I need someone to come with me to Night City to do something. Are you interested?"

"From now on, I'll need a reliable driver in Night City."

Panan smiled and said, "Sure, let's see what ways you have to make money."

Mercer didn't say much for the time being, because he needed to investigate on-site before giving a definitive answer. He only said:

"In the early stages, it will most likely be just taking on odd jobs."

I'm a hacker, so I need a few quick and efficient people to do the work for me outside, while I provide technical support from behind the scenes.

"Okay, we'll discuss it further later."

Panan nodded in agreement. Although she called him a brat or a kid, she really felt that this mysterious little devil was something special.

Plus.
She wants to make money, so she's willing to try any approach first, and if she finds it unreliable, she'll just quit.

"Okay, but I'll have to wait a few days. I need to take care of what I've been accumulating first."

Mercer turned and pointed to the prosthetics shop in the camp: "Are your people technically competent?"

"I think it's pretty impressive, but objectively speaking, it can't compare to the top doctors in the city. What, do you want something installed?"

Panan scrutinized him—his hands, eyes, and the network receiver plugged into his brain-computer interface looked like they were all mass-produced, and upon closer inspection, these prosthetics all bore the Arasaka logo.

Did they rob a caravan in Arasaka? Or did they escape from some random, chaotic place in Arasaka?

"We have a truckload of good stuff from Arasaka in our car, we need to find an expert to train it."

Although I know a little bit about it, I don't have the machines or equipment right now, so I can only find people to help me.

And I must say, this thing is definitely a complex, high-end product; the average person can't handle it.

After Mercer finished speaking, Parnan nodded: "Then you should go to the city and find someone yourself. How do we have any connections to get our hands on high-end goods?"

As they spoke, they had already ventured deep into the camp.

"Here we are, this is it."

Panan pointed to the tent in front of him. Mercer looked at it and saw that it was about the same size as the tent V had in the camp in the game, barely big enough for one person to live in.

There was a bed, a clothes rack, and a decorative item made of boxes stacked up to serve as a table and storage box. The room had lights, water pipes, and a washbasin, but no shower or toilet.

"Showers and toilets can only be found in public facilities."

You can shower in the RVs over there, but it's best to go when it's not crowded, otherwise there won't be any hot water. The toilet is the public toilet over there.

If you get thirsty or hungry, you can go to the food truck over there.

If you're bored and want to mess around with something, the prosthetic store sells things your kids like, such as Mewtwo and game consoles.

Gun shops are full of cheap stuff. I see you all have Arasaka guns. If you want to modify them, you can, for example, change the grooved three-round burst to full automatic, but the stability will decrease.

Your pistols probably can't be modified; electromagnetically propelled guns are high-end and rare.

People would go to the general store there to find car repair parts or various electromagnetic boards. If they found them, they found them; if not, it was a matter of luck.

Hmm. Is there anything else I should add?

Panan first gave a general overview of the surrounding facilities, then paused, thought for a moment, and finally said:
"Oh, right, if you want to do that hacking stuff, you can run a network cable. The network is connected to Night City, and it's quite stable as long as you plug it in."

Here's my contact information. Give me a call if you need anything. I probably won't be going out today, but feel free to ask if you need any help.

After Panan finished speaking, he sent him a contact number via the brain-computer interface. Mercer nodded and said, "Thanks, Panan. Just call me Mercer. Consider this a favor I owe you."

"Okay, that's settled then. Tonight, I'll put on a bonfire party for you all and treat you to barbecue." Panan smiled, then turned and left decisively.

After she left, Kyoko sidled up to her, acting a bit cheeky: "Hey, stop looking! You know what, Panan's butt is really sexy."

"No. What have you been learning lately?"

Mercer stared at her silently, while Kyoko looked away with a wandering gaze: "I didn't do anything, I just had some free time and was browsing the internet aimlessly."

"The cyberpunk world's internet is really harmful."

Mercer tapped her head hard: "I'll sleep with Earth or Lyon tonight. Anyway, I'll be going to Night City later, so I won't bother with anything else."

you"

Mercer glanced at the group of children behind him, said nothing for the time being, and simply said, "Let's enjoy these rare peaceful days for now."

Tetsuya Daichi suddenly seemed a little embarrassed to speak. Mercer glanced at him and said, "Just say what you want to say. You don't need to beat around the bush with me."

"Mercury."

Tetsuya Daichi looked somewhat guilty and embarrassed, looking away from him and avoiding eye contact.

Mercer merely raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Alright, let's talk about it then."

He turned his head and looked around, then said calmly, "Let's pack up first, get everything packed, then we'll have a meeting."

(End of this chapter)