Cyberpunk: I didn't cheat.

Chapter 111 Me and Myself

On the way back, Vito called Tommasino. The old man always looked like a shrewd strategist, occasionally 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, Thomasino hid his face in the shadows.

"Have you figured it 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 big shot every day.

He said it in an annoyed tone.

"Stop playing mysterious. I've seen your face before. You have a mole on your side who betrayed me!"

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

"What happened? Tell me."

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

Thomasino 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 need my help? We can have a mutually beneficial partnership."

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

Thomasino 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 for 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 public's mind? Rather than having me do some petty theft in the Arasaka Industrial Park, I'd rather just put your trademark logo on the Arasaka Tower."

Thomasino's hand, holding a cigarette, hung suspended in mid-air.

"You're calling to talk about something like this?"

"What, is that not allowed?"

"Of course not! How the hell can this kind of thing be made public? Come to my house, and I'll clean up your mess. We'll make a fake chip for biotechnology. Hopefully, you didn't ruin that middleman's job, did you?"

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

Thomasino looked as if he had expected this.

"I admire your execution skills. I'll find another way to get the chip into the biotechnology company's hands. Do you still want the explosives?"

"want!"

"Alright, then I'll go with you and set off some fireworks 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 sold off completely."

Vito glanced at the time.

"At most three days. The C7 isn't exactly a hot commodity. I can always go to Dogtown to buy one."

Thomasino smiled.

"You'll receive a package, Mr. Extremist. I really admire you. How about you become my son? Romano 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 play tricks on him.

"When you're almost dead, 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 will let you in."

Vito, not wanting to listen to Tommasino's nonsense any longer, hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Tommasino's expression turned somewhat gloomy.

He could accept betrayal from his subordinates, but not long after, these 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 allowed Tommasino to use the tactic of blurring the lines of status to build rapport.

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

Inside the Gunfire Children's Clinic, Gloria performed surgery on Liying.

At this moment, Liying lay on the chair and fell into a coma.

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 decreased little by little, she found herself starting to run.

She kept running until she tasted blood and rust in her throat, and the terrifying countdown was still in front of her.

She can't stop; if she stops, she'll die.

She dragged her leaden legs forward.

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

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

She struggled to lift the iron box, her lungs beginning to ache as if 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 bad 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 was changing the artificial blood plasma next to them.

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 always shoulders her own burdens. 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 testament to the preciousness of surviving a catastrophe.

"Liying is awake!"

Vito and Gloria immediately checked on Liying'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, perform a full-body scan on Liying and take note of her brain nerve data."

Vito crouched 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 was not relieved by Liying's words; she always liked to take on some things herself and find ways to help Vito.

He gently held Li Ying's hand, awaiting Gloria's diagnosis.

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

Finally, time reset 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.

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