Cyberpunk: I didn't cheat.

"This isn't junk; it cost me a lot of money!"

"Damn, you dogtown bosses make a living off yourselves!"

Vito, braving a hail of bullets, unleashed a powerful attack. The part of his body that had been meticulously crafted with the most materials and effort was his subcutaneous armor, which he used to test the quality of the Ghost Hounds and see how the Ghost Hound soldiers compared to Agent Arasaka.

"Holy crap, you've gone mad!"

Watching Vito rush out, Big Joe gritted his teeth and followed, only to be hit in the shoulder by a bullet that pierced through a gap in his armor.

Despite the pain, Joe continued to fire additional shots for Vito.

The Ghost Hound soldiers' manual didn't explain how to deal with this kind of insane, relentless attack. They immediately split the squad into groups A and B. Group A continued to suppress the enemy with firepower, while group B prepared to throw grenades to intercept them.

Just as the members of Team B took out their grenades and stun grenades, Vito accurately hit one of the soldiers' grenades.

Boom!

Vito, wielding a Saratoga kinetic submachine gun in his right hand to spray water and a Euro gun in his left, multitasked and quickly cleared the battlefield.

At this moment, three hunter drones fell from the sky, failing to complete their mission of tracking down and killing the sniper.

After taking care of the last enemy, Vito looked up at the twenty-third floor.

beep~ beep~

"Hey Vito, Cha has gone missing!"

In the underground parking lot, Xiao Cha was originally going to act as an observer and report the situation to Li Ying so that Vito could get into the car and leave in time.

But Liying waited a long time without receiving any messages from Xiaocha, and no one answered when she called Xiaocha.

"Something's gone wrong with Cha. I'm going up to check it out. See you on the highway later!"

After ending the call, Vito rushed toward the building.

Thump!

Big Joe collapsed to the ground, feeling his body was too heavy.

Vito heard the sound of Big Joe falling to the ground, but he ignored it; Big Joe didn't have any fatal injuries and wouldn't die anytime soon.

He had to go see Cha first. Whether Cha had been hacked, controlled, or had a program malfunction, he had to personally confirm the situation.

Vito didn't stop, rushing directly into the dark building passageway.

Waaah————

High above the rooftop, a deep, rumbling engine roar suddenly erupted from the hovercar.

By the time Vito arrived at the twenty-third floor, the airship had already left.

Vito opened the door, picked up a tripwire grenade, and threw it at the hovercar.

The grenade exploded in mid-air, but did not damage the hovercraft in the slightest.

The hovercraft made slight adjustments to its attitude in mid-air and then instantly activated its invisible optical coating.

As the light and shadow distorted, the outline of the vehicle gradually melted into the hazy sky of Dogtown.

"Fuck your mother!"

Vito, in a fit of impotent rage, kicked over the pre-set sniper position.

This operation was clean, efficient, and well-prepared; it was all thanks to Xiao Cha.

They seemed to have waited specifically for Vito to be bogged down in the ground battle and unable to spare any attention, so they could perfectly kidnap Cha.

With Cha missing, Vito had no choice but to suppress his anger and retreat. Ashura was also taken away by those people. The shooting and disruption he caused earlier was probably part of their plan.

Vito returned to the first floor, and on the way he called out to Li Ying. As he walked to Da Qiao's side, Li Ying stopped beside him in her Tianluo 400.

Vito tossed Big Joe into the trunk, got into the passenger seat, and the group evacuated along the planned route.

There was such a commotion just now, an entire squad of elite Netherhound soldiers was killed, but the rest of the Netherhound force didn't make a sound at all, not even a single drone was sent to track them.

In the car, Vito thought about all the mess that had happened today. Little Cha had mentioned that Zeta's people wanted to steal the research results from Little Cha's father. And this mission was so coincidental. Could it be that Zeta had made the move?

The mess that had been happening in Dogtown these past few days had already given Vito a psychological suggestion: Zeta was powerful, greedy, and ruthless, even ruthlessly exploiting his own people.

The seed of doubt was sown.

The upper echelons of Zeta are shrouded in mystery, their power structure unknown to outsiders, and they have also obtained some secret technologies by digging into OldNet Technology.

Today's events are strange no matter how you look at them. Dogtown, the center of the flush toilet, has stirred up too many forces, making it difficult for Vito to figure out where the enemy came from.

Vito clenched his fists.

do not care!

Let's start by investigating Old Tang first. That damn old bastard sent a document to frame me!

Da Qiao also needs to ask this fatso why he's usually so shrewd, why he's doing this suicide mission today.

Chapter 140 Finally Speaks

"Is he Xinghuo? He's quite handsome."

Jin Yan's cheerful voice rang out as she stroked Xiao Cha's face with her fingers.

The person who kidnapped Cha was Scarporo, who took Cha to an underground base in Night City.

At this moment, Xiao Cha was lying quietly on an operating chair, as if he were asleep.

"It took a lot of effort to get rid of him. Everything they buried in Dogtown was destroyed, and Zeta's inside game is about to be exposed. Hopefully, he's as useful as they say."

At that moment, a middle-aged man with blue eyes walked in, followed by several technicians.

"Of course he's useful, Jin Yan. Your task list is ready. There are two important task targets who live on different floors, which will save you a lot of trouble."

"Scarpro, go and assassinate Nils of the Crossroads. We've found someone to take his place. Also, you need to retrieve some documents."

Blue eyes were giving orders, and also kicking the two out of the operating room.

After the two left, Blue Eyes gave orders to the technicians.

"Extract bodies from the Night City residents' inventory, sculpt bodies for Starfire, and remove him from this pile of scrap metal... Leave these prosthetics behind, transfer him into the body, and call the prosthetics researchers over to take a look at this pile of prosthetics."

The people present were either wandering AIs or related to wandering AIs. Their purpose in gathering together was not to get some fries at the pier, but to pave the way here and then guide other wandering AIs.

Cha has great potential and is a key step in these people's plan.

After Kim Yeon was brought here, the Dream Project officially began. This project focuses on subconscious transformation, shaping people into individuals who can help the organization without their own awareness.

His memories will be altered, and his personality will change imperceptibly.

Kim Yeon, who was preparing to begin her mission, looked through the list of mission targets.

"Ugh, work is so annoying! And all the targets are big-bellied old men, aren't there any handsome ones? Hmm, this one is alright, Perares, and they're a couple."

This one's not bad either, Romero Musso. His public image seems quite righteous. Was he a journalist before? He must know a lot of gossip. Let's start with him!

……

Meanwhile, Vito led Big Joe to a temporary safe house in an abandoned building in Dogtown.

Li Ying made a simple power generation device using a Thunder engine, a skill she had mastered in the Badlands.

Vito secured Big Joe to a table, preparing to remove the bullet from his body. Big Joe was in poor condition, but still conscious.

Watching Vito bite open a bottle of alcohol with his teeth, and then flick out a hidden blade to perform surgery on himself, Joe panicked.

“Vito, I did send you to the cleaners’ shop, but that was to test you. We don’t have any personal grudges, do we? You didn’t have to save me and then torture me!”

Vito deftly ripped open Big Joe's clothes.

"I'm not in the mood for your nonsense today. Tell me, why did you attack the Ghost Hound's car?"

As Joe watched Vito's hidden blade sway back and forth, he broke out in a cold sweat.

"I'm a mercenary, I take any good job. This one's not cheap, 20,000 yuan, that's enough for me... Ah!! Aren't you going to give me anesthesia?"

Vito's hidden blade cut open the wound, and Li Ying quickly used tweezers to remove a bullet, then took it aside to check if it was poisoned.

"How can we chat after being anesthetized? How can we establish our new doctor-patient relationship? Tell me, who sent this order, Hanz?"

Big Joe gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. He suspected that Vito had deliberately refused to administer anesthesia, making this both a treatment and an interrogation.

"It's not Hantz, it's someone from the Hound of the Underworld named Leipzig. He's at odds with Bennett and wants to kill him and take over! Dogville is full of this kind of dog-eat-dog stuff!"

Vito skillfully dug out another bullet from a wound. Li Ying's examination was complete; the bullet was non-toxic, and the wound could be cleaned and sutured normally.

"A member of the Hound of the Underworld? Bennett is Hansen's right-hand man, isn't he? Twenty thousand dollars is enough for you to risk being wanted by the entire dog town to do this?"

After the bullet was removed, Big Joe calmed down a little; he was so angry he almost ground his teeth to powder.

"Damn it, isn't 20,000 yuan a lot? After my old man passed away, I relied on the neighbors for help to survive. To meet such a good person in this shitty dog ​​town is already a blessing."

Last year, his child was tricked into going to some sports academy, where he was equipped with a lot of metal gear and told he could develop his career in Europe. However, when the child arrived in Europe, he was returned like a piece of merchandise and ended up with a host of illnesses.

I couldn't just stand by and do nothing after receiving such kindness from someone in the past. That kid is about to collapse; I have to earn money to save their only child. I... Ouch... You fucking be gentle!

Vito ignored Da Qiao and quickly cleaned the wound in preparation for stitching it up. Da Qiao was sturdy, and the blood flowing like a small can of cocoa didn't even make his face turn pale.

"Almost done, please continue. When you get to the touching part, remind me so I can wipe my tears."

Big Joe was speechless, but looking at Vito's skilled appearance, he certainly didn't seem like a complete novice.

"I knew the deal was ruined when people jumped out of that car. They reacted too quickly; I couldn't even get out."

Vito asked as he stitched up the wound.

"Your teammates are gone, haven't you thought about holding a memorial service for them?"

Da Qiao gritted her teeth and laughed, a laugh that was hardly more beautiful than a cry.

"These teammates were put together at the gymnasium on short notice. They don't use their real names. I'm number one, and they're numbered in order. Dogtown has no shortage of people like this who want to stick their necks out."

After stitching up the wound, Vito wiped his hands and lit a cigarette. Liying untied the fixation and put on gauze for Big Joe. Since Vito was injured before, Liying had learned a lot from Gloria and was considered a qualified nurse.

Big Joe sighed that it was finally over. He looked at Vito, who was smoking and acting nonchalant, and said with dissatisfaction.

"Hey, can't you see the injuries here? Your smoking etiquette is really low!"

Vito shrugs his shoulders.

"Sorry, I forgot."

Vito then put a cigarette in Big Joe's mouth and lit it for him.

Da Qiao took a big sip.

"That's more like it!"

Vito slowly walked to the window.

Seeing that Dogtown remained completely undisturbed, he knew that he had fallen into someone else's trap, perhaps Zeta, perhaps Hansen, or perhaps another company.

Their goal is to take Xiaocha away. Xiaocha's core and intelligent AI are extraordinary, and the company should be very interested in this technology.

Vito called Tommasino to test whether the old man had sold him out.

"Hey, little Vito, missing old man Tommasino?"

"What's the deal with the task you assigned me?"

"A mission? Wade's? Didn't he say..."

"Alright, I get it now, Old Tang. You sent me a message asking me to kill a bunch of assassins. That order was a trap. If it wasn't you, then something went wrong on your end. If it was you, let's enjoy the Mussol Estate fireworks show together."

Upon hearing this, Tommasino on the other side immediately became serious.

"I didn't assign this job. We'll meet at Wade's place. This is no small matter. There's something fishy going on around me!"

"He's always preoccupied with his own thoughts, acting like a big shot all the time. He's practically a sieve around himself!"

Chapter 141 Our Half-hearted Life