Cyberpunk: I didn't cheat.

None of Sieg's men answered the phone, and he felt a sense of despair. Vito was a ruthless man, and he was sure he was doomed this time.

He told Vito all the information and begged Vito to spare his life.

Vito got the information he wanted and had Cha tie up Sig and stuff him into a box.

He threw a bottle of steroids into the box.

"You fake drug seller, I'll give you a bottle of the real good stuff so you can smoke it on the go."

Twenty minutes later, Sieg slept with the fish, if there were any fish left in the sea.

Chapter 110 Me and Myself

On the way back, Vito called Tommasino. The old man always looked so shrewd and composed, often smoking a cigar and pretending to be a wise man. He didn't even know he had a ghost in his house.

When the call connected, Tommasino hid his face in the shadows.

"Figured out?"

Vito was speechless. Old Tom Cruise was getting on in years, yet he was still doing this kind of performance art, indulging in the interest of playing the role of a behind-the-scenes boss every day.

He said this in an annoyed tone.

"Stop playing mysterious. It's not like I haven't seen your face before. You have a mole on your side who betrayed me!"

Thomasino's tone was calm, without the slightest fluctuation.

"Tell me what happened."

Vito recounted the information he had obtained from Sieg to Thomasino.

Thomasin smiled.

"That's not surprising. If you were in my position, you'd experience betrayal every day."

Vito no longer wanted to talk to Tommasino; the world was just a giant makeshift operation.

Thomasino lit a cigarette.

"What are you planning to do? Do you want me to help you? We can cooperate in a mutually beneficial way."

"I need C7 explosives, lots of C7 explosives."

Thomasinho exhaled a smoke ring.

"Oh? What are you going to do? Chew gum for fun?"

Vito was outspoken.

"I want to blow up the photovoltaic base of biotechnology."

“Great idea. You’re the epitome of an extremist, Vito.”

"What can you do for me?"

Thomasino awaited Vito's reply with great interest.

"Don't you want to weaken the idea that Arasaka is invincible in the minds of the people? Rather than having me do some petty theft in the Arasaka Industrial Park, I might as well just put your trademark logo on the Arasaka Tower."

Thomasinho's hand, holding the cigarette, hung suspended in mid-air.

"You're talking about this over the phone?"

"What, it's not okay?"

"Of course not, how the hell can this kind of thing be made public? Come to my house and I'll help you clean up that mess. We'll make a fake chip for biotechnology. I hope that middleman wasn't ruined by you?"

"He has already moved to a new home in Haili, and I heard there are quite a few neighbors there."

Thomasin looked as if he had expected this.

"I admire your execution skills. I will find another way to get the chip to the biotechnology company. Do you still want the explosives?"

"want!"

"Alright, then I'll set off a firework display for the people of Night City, but you'd better wait a few days before making your move. I still have some biotechnology stocks that I haven't completely sold off."

Vito glanced at the time.

"At most three days. The C7 isn't exactly in high demand. I can always buy one in Dogtown."

Thomasin smiled.

“You’ll receive the package, Mr. Extremist. I really admire you. How about you become my son? Romero is always engrossed in the news and ignores this old man. I really don’t have anyone to talk to.”

Vito was speechless again. When he first met Tommasino, the old man seemed like a loyal and cunning capitalist warrior, but after doing dirty work for him for a while, the old man started to mess with him.

"Once you're about to die, I'll consider going to your house and fighting Romano for the inheritance."

"Oh? Then remember you're wearing a Vito Musso sign around your neck, otherwise no one would let you in."

Vito, tired of Tommasino's ramblings, ended the call abruptly.

After the call ended, Tommasino's expression turned somewhat somber.

He could accept betrayal from his subordinates, but not long after, these same people couldn't wait to sell him out, which infuriated Tommasino.

He ordered his subordinates to find and control the mole, while he began to ponder Vito's words.

Defeat the Arasaka Tower.

This kid is truly fearless; it's been many years since anyone has forced Tommasino to use the tactic of blurring their positions to build rapport.

If Vito truly possessed this capability, Tommasino wouldn't mind sending him a nuclear bomb.

……

Li Ying underwent surgery at the Gunfire Children's Movement Center.

At this moment, Li Ying lay unconscious in the chair.

In a daze, she returned to the day she first entered Night City, only this time, Night City was deathly silent, all the lights had disappeared, including the pillar of light that shot into the sky.

A countdown began to appear before Liying's eyes, and a sense of fear arose deep within her.

As the numbers gradually decreased, she found herself starting to run.

She kept running until she tasted blood and rust in her throat, the terrifying countdown still vivid in her mind's eye.

She can't stop, or she'll die.

She dragged her lead-filled legs forward.

She doesn't want to die, she can't die!

As if mocking her overestimation of her abilities, a metal box of goods fell from the sky in front of her, and she could not move forward unless she lifted the box.

She struggled to lift the iron box, her lungs already feeling like they were being torn apart.

Finally, a light appeared ahead, and she carried the iron box towards the light source like a moth to a flame.

She didn't know if the light would stop the countdown, but it was the only thing she could do, the only thing she could gamble on.

It'll be soon!

very close!

Just a few dozen meters from the light source, Liying collapsed, and could only watch the countdown in front of her slowly reach zero.

She looked back at the road she had come from.

A madman from the Vortex Gang with a composite prosthetic eye, a member of the Mox Gang who was shot, and a drug addict lying on the roadside—they brought a sandstorm of evil soil as they approached Li Ying step by step.

She watched all of this unfold before her eyes, but she no longer had the strength to even scream.

Li Ying Wesley closed her eyes, waiting for Night City to devour her.

After an unknown amount of time, Liying opened her eyes, and the terrifying scene before her disappeared.

Vito and Gloria stood guard by the operating chair, while Chapman changed the artificial blood plasma.

A layer of tears welled up in her eyes.

It was a dream.

Thankfully it was just a dream.

That was Li Ying's deepest fear; she had been terrified of the city ever since she arrived in Night City.

She is gentle, sensible, never causes trouble, and shoulders everything on her own. This gentleness is not due to her nature, but rather to her extreme fear of death and being swallowed up by the City of Night.

Her strength was forged in dire circumstances, and her gentleness is a precious gift from surviving a catastrophe.

"Liying is awake!"

Vito and Gloria immediately checked on Li Ying's condition.

Liying's left kidney was punctured. Although the kidney transplant surgery went smoothly, she had previously had a behavioral chip inserted. Vito had never tested the chip, and he was afraid that Liying would become one of those people in glass domes.

"Gloria, give Liying a full-body scan and pay attention to her brain nerve data."

Vito crouched down beside the operating chair and asked softly.

"Besides the wound, does anything else seem unusual?"

A faint smile tugged at Li Ying's pale lips.

"I'm fine. I feel safe with you all here. I just had a nightmare."

Vito didn't feel relieved by Li Ying's words. She always liked to take on some things herself and try to help Vito.

He gently held Li Ying's hand, waiting for Gloria's detailed answer.

Time ticked by, and everyone waited for the show to end.

Finally, time returned to zero.

Gloria nodded.

"It's alright. The brain nerve data is normal, but the circulatory system data is a bit abnormal. However, it should be due to the gunshot wound. We'll test it again after Liying has rested for a while."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the worst outcome did not occur.

Chapter 111 Life is Hot Because of You

The evening breeze in Night City seems to have become even more foul lately, carrying an indelible industrial rust smell, mixed with the pungent odor of prosthetic engine oil and waste chemical reagents, sweeping across the desolate suburban development area.

The biotechnology company's photovoltaic base is situated on this temporarily deserted wilderness.

Unlike the neon-lit, bustling skyscrapers of the city center, this place is eerily quiet.

The endless expanse of black photovoltaic panels stretches across the barren ground and steel frames, layer upon layer extending to the edge of the night, like a giant black net imprisoning the entire wilderness.

A huge corporate metal sign stands beside the base, its silver alloy surface reflecting the pale moonlight. The engraved blue biotechnology logo is cold and glaring, silently demonstrating the company's monopoly on the Night City biological experiment and new energy industry.

Vito loaded a car with a heavy load of C7 explosives, played a shouting FM radio program, and slowly drove to the highway outside the base before stopping. He then leaned back in the car and smoked.

Thomasin, always eager for drama, not only gave Vito a truckload of explosives but also opened a stock account for him, suggesting he buy up biotechnology stocks at rock-bottom prices.

This is one of Tommasino's little tricks. You, Vito, don't like the company, so let you easily gain wealth in company affairs. That way, Vito will eventually become entangled with the company.

Vito didn't need to stealthily sneak around, nor did he need meticulous planning.

For Vito now, this poorly defended solar power base is hardly a dangerous battlefield; it's just a junkyard that can be easily destroyed.

The evening breeze lifted the hem of his black coat, revealing glimpses of the metallic outline of Levi's shirt at his waist.

He glanced down at the simple holographic timer on his wrist; the screen glowed blue, and there were still three hours left before the public opinion explosion he had agreed upon with Tommasino.

With an absurd amount of time, Vito could even play a board game by himself in the solar park.

"It's Vito!"

Vito chuckled softly, his tone casual and relaxed, without a trace of the tension one would expect from a high-risk infiltration, and even cosplayed Johnny from The Shining.