Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

...

hum.

Driving towards Bradbury Street, Jack dialed an encrypted number.

"Hey, V, are you busy?"

Jack said with great enthusiasm.

"The details of the commission have been sent to Mann... Don't worry, old Jack never leaves a trace. I specifically arranged the meeting and handover at 'Afterlife,' which is where I met him. Today happens to be the day the middleman queen revealed the business adjustments, yet quite a few people showed up. It makes perfect sense, unless military technology gets involved, but do they have the time? Faraday doesn't have that kind of power."

"Hmm, safety? I'll be careful... You too, little sister."

"That big shot of yours, Vera Adelhead, is really something else, really impressive. The scenes in New Mexico and Arizona on the news, wow... is she going to start a war of independence?"

------

Chapter 114: Under the Light and Shadow of Vera, Vastly Different Fates (5K)

"Araka, your wolfish ambitions are now crystal clear! Russell, do you think what you've done is foolproof?! Ugh—"

With a muffled thud, David Martinez, dressed in a light combat suit, swiftly slammed the head of a protester who was about to climb onto the "Rebirth" monument to spray paint and make outrageous statements, slamming him against the base of the monument.

"Lackey... Waaaaaah!"

They had barely finished their rant when the Washington-supporting protesters were unable to utter a complete sentence.

With two powerful punches aimed at his forehead and eye sockets, David, behind his compound eye tactical goggles, controlled the force exerted by his arm after installing a military-grade combat prosthetic body, knocking him unconscious before throwing him off the base. Then, looking at the crowd gathered in front of the monument, the Kijiro Tsukasa prosthetic eye, perfectly matching the original iris color, focused, his thought process synchronized, and the scanner activated.

Accessing the NCPD database

Facial recognition, biometric scanning.

【civilian】

【civilian】

[Civilian...behavioral record, political leanings...Myers supporters]

Suddenly seeing Arasaka's henchman fixate on him with the compound eyes that had flashed the indicator light, three passersby in the crowd, carrying backpacks and wearing baseball caps, realized something was wrong and took off running.

David took off after him.

The increased jumping power from his strengthened tendons allowed him to knock one of them down on the spot. The immense force sent the tattooed black guy flying more than three meters away, landing face-first on the ground until his head hit the curb and stopped.

He fainted on the spot without even uttering a sound.

The second one ran while looking back. Seeing that things were not going well, he actually pulled out a pistol from his chest bag. But David was faster. The bullet-time-like reaction speed brought by [Krenzikov Amplification] allowed him to grab the other's hand and twist his wrist with one hand.

The third one didn't get far either, and was knocked to the ground by Sheriff Arasaka.

The crackling stun gun swung down on his nose with a 'whoosh,' sending bone fragments and bits of flesh flying.

"A bunch of things that don't know how to live or die."

The sheriff cursed under his breath and led his men to surround the area from other directions. After arresting two more people in the crowd, they dragged the group of rioters who intended to disrupt the Lijiang scenic area together.

Seeing David examining the pistol in his hand, he glanced at it and said, "A Lexington with military technology." With that, he stunned the thug at David's feet, who was clutching his arms and screaming in pain, with a stun baton.

"Three of yours."

The veteran security officer from Arasaka, who was in charge of patrolling the Lijiang area, pulled off the backpacks and shoulder bags of the two men David had knocked unconscious. After checking that there were no bombs or booby traps and removing the bottles of liquor with tampons and rags stuck in them, he patted David on the shoulder and said, "Be mindful of your image. Go check inside the patrol car, rookie."

David blinked belatedly, "Oh...oh? Oh!" with a hint of excitement.

Is this the unspoken rule?

David quickly jumped into the armored patrol vehicle, carefully selecting the cash from the information he had gathered from Sheng Nan.

It wasn't much, but he estimated it to be a few hundred euros, which was enough to make him happy.

The first pot of gold from gray income in life.

Compared to the homeless and gangsters who work as foremen at the Watson North Badlands construction site and have no money to be made from, these urban natives, unsurprisingly, are street urchins who have been paid by certain companies to do errands and have a fair share of the profits.

This is one of the reasons why security department employees have many additional sources of income when they are on field duty.

"Sir, inspection complete."

After taking what he thought was acceptable, David stuffed the stolen goods into the trunk of the patrol car.

The seasoned sheriff glanced at it as he passed by and thought, "Wow, quite restrained. He only took the cash. He didn't touch the separation chip, medicine canisters, methamphetamine crystal powder, or anything like that. He only took the Lexington gun and its matching ammunition box."

"I heard you live in the Lijiang area?"

"Yes, sir, we just moved here not long ago. Before the housing prices went up."

Reaching the base of the 'Rebirth' monument, David picked up the high-pressure spray paint can that had rolled onto the ground and looked with emotion at the circular clover symbol carved on the marble surface, the miniature bust of a woman with hair carved with gold thread and a woman with blue mohawk hair, oh, and a round, short, bald figure.

Chief Executive Vera, Executive Director Michiko, and Deputy Mayor Wilton.

Undoubtedly, this monument is newly erected.

This is to commemorate the new treaty agreement reached between Arasaka and the Night City government at the Azure Mansion in January 2076.

There are two interpretations of why it is named 'Rebirth': one is that it embodies a bright future, and the other is that it refers to the Lijiang scenic area itself. This area, which ranks at the bottom in both the Haywood Economic Index and the security level, has indeed benefited greatly from this agreement, as if it has been reborn.

With the Valentino gang wisely withdrawing, the Sixth Street gang's rule collapsed, the Cleaners' kidney-donating incidents decreased, and in the new monthly statistics, the economic index is still unknown, but Heywood ranks first in terms of public safety.

"You picked a good time," said the seasoned sheriff.

David just gave a simple, honest smile.

Continue on duty.

As dusk fell, the holographic advertisements on the streets remained dazzling, but compared to the daytime, more neon lights lit up amidst the interplay of light and shadow, mingling with the fading sunlight and casting dappled light and shadow across the metal forest of the streets and alleys.

"Sir, will we send troops in retaliation directly? The council member...?"

As night fell, before leaving get off work, David and his team dispersed three or four more groups of Arasaka opponents who were trying to storm the Lijing Scenic Area to attack and question the truth of the assassination of Commander Vera in this model area of ​​public security. David then asked thoughtfully.

After the news of the assassination attempt on the board member was made public, the Night City security department became much busier. He could no longer follow the established procedures and had more time to himself, and finally began to practice the company culture—working overtime.

As a newcomer, based on the need for training and exposure to various types of work, in addition to working with Shengnan and Xiaofu in the Badlands to monitor the homeless and intermittently eliminating the clueless idiots of the Luan Dao Society, David's original rest time was directly assigned to duty in the Lijiang Scenic Area because his family lived there.

Watson and Haywood were running back and forth.

David had very real feelings about it.

Night City is in even greater chaos.

Violent protests were happening everywhere.

Supporters of the Free State and Arasaka, and supporters of Washington and military technology, frequently engage in full-blown brawls in the streets, even in city halls and company plazas, resulting in daily deaths. Hospitals and black market prosthetic doctors are also overflowing with wounded. The authorities are completely exasperated by this "deadly lottery."

Unfortunately, NCPD is problematic, and we dare not forcefully regulate it.

It goes without saying who the operators and supporters are behind these incitements and extreme political acts.

"That's not your business. Do your job, rookie." The veteran sheriff patted David hard on the shoulder and said sternly, "Three monkeys imply four don'ts."

After the veterans and their colleagues left, David took off his winged helmet, rubbed his hair, and turned to walk towards the skyscraper apartment building not far away.

His new home is now settled.

Ding.

The entrance to Building 17 features an automatic door with a columned porch.

"Welcome back, Mr. Martinez."

Only a poorly intelligent AI-synthesized female voice echoed from the front desk.

There was very little graffiti on the interior walls; although old, they were clean. The floor was spotlessly swept, and trash was neatly bagged. There was no filth or dirt in the corners. The lobby had been treated with deodorizer and air freshener. It was far better than that run-down place, Santo Domingo.

NCPD patrol cars were parked outside.

It is said that due to the upgrading of the Lijing area and the relocation of a large number of junior employees of companies, developers and investors are eager to make a move. If it weren't for the sudden assassination of Director Arasaka, the construction team would probably have already started renovating the front desk and public facilities of the apartment building.

18th floor, ta-da.

David stepped out of the elevator.

Before arriving home, he tidied up his tactical gear from his bags, removed his firearms from their ready-to-fire mode, put on safety, and walked to room H913. The neon-projected nameplate read: [Martinez]. As he prepared to swipe his card, he asked, "Is this Mr. Martinez?"

"Huh?" Someone called me?

David looked puzzled, turned around, and saw a young woman who had come out of the elevator bowing slightly to him.

She is of Asian descent, of medium build, with black hair tied in a short ponytail with bangs, wearing oval frameless glasses, and her hands are folded in front of her abdomen. She has a scholarly air about her, and her facial features and temperament are very gentle.

Behind him followed a shy boy wearing a stand-up collar, button-down Arasaka Academy uniform.

She looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, and was looking at him with a little excitement.

"you are?"

"Excuse me for bothering you, my surname is Tang, and I work in the research and development department of Arahabaka. I recently moved to Lijing District and live at No. H918. This is a small housewarming gift." After saying this, the gentle woman took out a gift box from her bag and handed it to David.

"From the R&D department?"

David paused for a moment, then quickly waved his hand, "My mother and I... cough, my mother and I only moved here recently. No need to be so polite."

Ultimately, David couldn't resist his new neighbor's politeness and accepted their housewarming gift.

It was buckwheat noodles and red bean soup. In Night City, that's considered a relatively expensive meal.

"Um, senior, did you also graduate from Arakawa Academy?" asked the shy boy wearing the same frameless glasses.

“Yes.” David nodded. “I graduated less than two months ago. I joined the security department. I was on duty at the Lijiang Scenic Area today and just got off work.”

"Wow! Having an older neighbor... No wonder everyone says the Lijing area is safe; my mom and many of her classmates want to move here..."

After exchanging a few simple pleasantries and seeing off Mrs. Tang, David unlocked the door and went inside.

"Sigh..." He sighed as he looked at Gloria, who habitually covered herself with a coat and lay down on the sofa to sleep.

David reluctantly picked up his mother and laid her flat on the larger master bedroom floor, pulling a blanket over her. "Looks like Mom's been working overtime too," he said, rubbing his forehead.