Cyberpunk: I didn't cheat.

"Don't worry, these are just superficial injuries. I went to see Old Wei, and it's nothing serious."

Liying nodded vigorously, afraid to blink for fear that tears would fall.

"I'm going to pick up Gloria. You need to change your bandages!"

Li Ying gently withdrew her hand, as if afraid of breaking a bubble.

She put down her breakfast, grabbed the dangerously driven turntable, and ran out.

The engine's deep roar suddenly exploded, the tires screeched against the ground, kicking up plumes of blue smoke. The accelerator was floored, and the car shot forward like an arrow, instantly leaving the road in its wake.

Li Ying slammed on the gas pedal, constantly overtaking the vehicles blocking her way.

A bend suddenly appeared ahead, but she showed no sign of slowing down. Instead, she lightly turned her wrist, deftly shifted the steering wheel, and coordinated the clutch and accelerator perfectly.

The rear of the car suddenly swung sideways, the tires screeching on the asphalt, white smoke billowing everywhere. The car body hugged the curb perfectly as it cut into the curve. The whole drifting maneuver was smooth and fluid, without the slightest hesitation or loss of control.

As the car slid sideways around the bend, she slightly straightened the steering wheel, gently pressed the accelerator, and instantly straightened the car, the engine roaring up again.

beep~ beep~

"Hello, Liying, why are you calling so early?"

"Gloria, have you gone out?"

"I was just about to leave, what's wrong?"

"I'm almost at your building, right away! Vito, Vito's injured! Dr. Viktor bandaged him up, and he said he's fine, but the wound is bleeding!"

Gloria immediately grabbed her coat from the sofa and rushed downstairs to the apartment building.

"Don't panic, Liying, I'll be right down."

Just as Gloria rushed downstairs, Liying's car arrived. She executed a drift, stopping smoothly in front of Gloria while simultaneously making a U-turn.

After Gloria got into the car, Li Ying slammed on the gas, driving Gloria towards the Gunslingers.

"How is Vito?"

“When I saw him, he was assembling Xiaocha’s body. He was covered in gauze. He told me not to worry, but I couldn’t help but worry, so I came to pick you up first.”

“You did a great job, Liying. Let’s go over there now.”

Liying nodded, focusing on the complex road conditions ahead, weaving through the morning traffic, and soon arrived at the Guns N' Children's Sports Center.

Before the car had come to a complete stop, Gloria jumped out. Li Ying gripped the steering wheel tightly, and after letting out a sigh of relief, tears streamed down her face.

“Wuhu~ Look brand new, get dressed, Cha.”

Inside the operating room, Vito patted Cha's simulated abs.

The door swung open, and a red-haired figure rushed in.

Good morning, Gloria.

Gloria didn't reply; she quickly put on her medical gown.

"Lie down in the chair, you're bleeding!"

"It's nothing, it's just..."

"Lie down!"

Vito had no choice but to obey.

Gloria sat down and gently and steadily soaked the gauze stuck to the wound with sterile saline solution. Her movements were gentle and calm, without any haste or impatience.

With fingertips pinching the edge of the gauze, she gently moistened and softened the wound, avoiding the newly formed tender flesh, applying the fabric with perfect precision.

Once the dried scabs had completely softened, she gently peeled them off with a very steady hand, following the direction of skin growth, her movements fluid and efficient throughout.

When encountering areas where the fibers are tightly stuck together, use a cotton swab dipped in salt water to gently massage in circular motions, patiently loosening the stuck fibers and preventing the wound from being pulled further.

Gloria used a skillful balance, quickly and completely peeling away the adhesive gauze while minimizing damage to the wound, without unnecessarily pulling on the surrounding skin and flesh.

After cleaning the wound, she skillfully disinfected it, applied new gauze, and neatly bandaged it.

After doing all this, Gloria breathed a sigh of relief. She had just carefully examined the wounds and found that they were not very serious; some of the minor wounds were even healing.

"Thank you, Gloria."

"Mr. Vito, please take better care of yourself next time!"

"Uh, I will."

The operating room door opened once again.

Liying, her eyes red, was carrying a large bag of food.

She smiled, but the smile looked very unnatural compared to usual.

"The breakfast I just had got cold, so I bought some new breakfast. Let's eat together!"

Chapter 97 Aftermath

No one asked Vito what he had done; the deed was done, and everyone was doing what they could.

Vito wanted to get Jack involved in the business, so that Jack wouldn't nag.

Unfortunately, Jack rushed to the Gunfire Kids Club as soon as he heard that Vito was injured. To Vito's surprise, Jack didn't even ask himself what he had done to get himself into this state.

Jack's loud voice was gone, he said to Vito.

"Mano, call me next time you need something, otherwise if Xiao Cha becomes the second-in-command, won't I lose to the newcomer?"

Vito understood what Jack meant; he seemed rough, but was actually gentle and sensitive.

"Thank you, Jack."

Gloria leaned against the gate, calmly watching the traffic flow at the entrance, while Li Ying practiced shooting at the Gunfire Kids shooting range.

Under the bright sunshine, it seemed that many of the city's sins that couldn't be brought to light had been killed by the ultraviolet rays.

An armed off-road vehicle pulled up at the T-junction, and Carlo got out of the vehicle.

"Vito, your goods have arrived."

"Thank you, Carlo, you got a new car?"

As he spoke, Vito walked over to Carlo's car and began inspecting the goods.

“This was given to me by Max. He said I’m now leading a group of guys on my own, so I need to get a new car.”

After checking the goods, Vito sent Carlo a list.

“That’s good. I heard that Snake Gang is quite powerful now, and the Bet family is about to merge with you.”

Chapman and Jack moved the goods to the delivery booth. One of them offered Vito a cigarette, but Vito waved it off.

"You're quite well-informed. What's up? Quit?"

Vito shook his head slightly and glanced in Gloria's direction.

"I haven't quit. My parents are watching me, so I'll stop smoking for now."

Gloria and Vito's eyes met for half a second, after which Gloria continued to look at the cars on the road as if nothing had happened.

"I have something to tell you, something you absolutely don't know."

Carlo lowered his voice and said mysteriously.

"What is it?"

"Last night, a large group of company personnel started a chaotic battle on the highway leading out of Taiping Prefecture; even armed helicopters were deployed!"

"last night?"

"Yes! There were several companies involved. They started fighting each other, then one of the companies blew up an SUV, and then all those company dogs inexplicably scattered and ran off in another direction."

This was the same situation Vito had encountered last night; those Zeta's external armored squads and that bastard Adam Hammer all seemed to have received some unified order and left.

After the cargo was unloaded, Vito patted Carlo's arm.

"Let me know if you get any updates. I'm quite interested in this. My next shipment is coming soon, and I'm in a bit of a rush."

"Wow! Your business is so good? I'm about to send you an armory."

"Of course, we use up a lot of stock every day. Oh, by the way, do you have any external combat armor, military-grade, old-fashioned is fine too."

Carlo was somewhat embarrassed.

“This thing is not easy to obtain. Even if there is some, the family will use it sparingly. I will try to think of a way for you.”

"Thank you, Carlo."

After seeing Carlo off, Vito called Rebecca to let her know that the goods had arrived.

beep~ beep~

"Hey, Vito."

"Hey Rebecca, your shipment has arrived. You can pick it up today."

“Vito, not today, Mann and Dorio are dead…”

"Dead? When did that happen?"

“Last night, I was preparing a columbarium niche in the North District.”

"I will come to mourn them."

After the call ended, Vito was somewhat lost in thought; two more people he knew had died.

He took out two Malorian Overtures and a bunch of parts from the cargo, connected them to the robotic arm, and prepared to begin the modification.

Gloria placed a glass of real water for Vito.

"Mann is dead."

Gloria's reaction was not as strong as Vito's.

"Perhaps this is the fate of cyberpunk. Sometimes I dream that David is injured, and I try to stop the bleeding, but I can't stop it no matter what I do."

Only when I woke up did I feel grateful that it was just a dream, but I knew that one day it might become reality, and I couldn't stop it from happening.

Mercenaries are people who risk their lives; in Night City, Gloria had no choice but to accept this fate.

Vito began modifying the gun, with the robotic arm assisting him in first disassembling parts for modification.

"Would things be better elsewhere?"

Vito asked Gloria.

"Maybe it will get better, but wherever there are companies, it's probably pretty much the same everywhere."

Gloria gave a wry smile.

"Don't worry, Gloria, these damn corporate colonies will be destroyed one day!"

"I hope I can live to see that day."

……

As evening fell, before the lingering heat of the sun had completely dissipated, Vito and Gloria arrived together at the North Cemetery.

He saw Rebecca and Kevyn, and standing next to them was someone Vito had never seen before.

Vito looked at Rebecca's gorilla arm with a helpless expression.

"So you still installed it? You couldn't even wait a little while?"

“The squad has a mission, and I don’t have much time left. Oh, let me introduce you, this is Falco, our new member, the squad’s driver and backup.”

"Hello, Falco, I'm Vito."

Falco had heard of Vito's reputation before, and he shook hands with Vito.

Vito took out a modified Malorian Overture and handed it to Rebecca.

"The gift I promised you last time is exactly the same as the one you mentioned. Now that you've installed the gorilla arm, I think recoil won't be a problem."

"Thank you!"