Cyberpunk: I didn't cheat.

A sense of impending doom always lingers in the darkness of Night City.

The sudden gunshots and the screams of passersby created a symphony.

The drug addicts on the roadside and groups of gang members form an abstract painting.

Jin Yan walked briskly along the exterior walls of the old buildings in Watson District, her hood pulled low, covering most of her face and blocking the ever-present gaze behind her.

Arasaka's agents had already laid a tight net, with plainclothes officers mingling among the homeless, mercenaries, and merchants on the streets. Their eyes were sharp as eagles, scanning every passerby over and over again. Low-pitched search instructions came through the communication channels from time to time, and the air was filled with the unique, cold, and murderous aura of corporate agents.

At this moment, Kim Yeon resembled a resident of Night City rushing home, her movements hurried but her purpose clear.

As she brushed past a passerby, Jin Yan's gaze quickly swept over the middle-aged man walking towards her, and her retina instantly displayed a dense stream of data.

In just four seconds, she calculated and uploaded the facial bone structure, facial features, and skin texture data of the passerby to the chip built into her mask.

When you gently touch the bionic mask that fits your skin with your fingertips, the ultra-thin prosthetic material blends almost seamlessly with your skin, making it feel completely natural.

The next second, the bionic mask rapidly reshaped itself at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, changing the curve of the nose, the height of the brow bone, and the shape of the lips, instantly transforming it into the appearance of the passerby from before, even replicating the subtle lines at the corners of the eyes exactly.

She took off her hat, subtly adjusted her posture, deliberately slowed her pace, and slightly hunched her body, mimicking the slow walking posture of passersby.

Her once highly recognizable figure completely blended into the crowd on the street. Even the plainclothes agent Arasaka who brushed past her only glanced at her briefly before looking away without the slightest suspicion.

This is her survival skill: top-tier hacker computing power combined with a custom-made bionic mask, allowing her to complete a perfect disguise in an instant and survive amidst layers of searches.

As she moved forward, she constantly changed targets, quickly collecting facial data from passersby, reshaping her mask, and mimicking their gait. Within just ten minutes, she changed several identities in succession, calmly avoiding the covert investigation and interception of more than a dozen Arasaka agents.

Those well-trained corporate agents were unable to catch her true whereabouts and could only watch as one irrelevant passerby after another walked past them, futilely tightening the encirclement within the search area.

Kim Yeon dared not relax for a moment, her nerves constantly on edge, each step precise and cautious. She knew that Arasaka's search would only intensify, and she had to find a means of transportation to leave this area as soon as possible.

As I approached the street corner, an unattended Nissan Tingwei sedan was parked on the side of the road, making it the perfect target.

Jin Yan walked naturally to the car, quickly reached out and touched the door handle. Fragments of code flashed across her retina, and her fingertips released a faint hacker signal, instantly invading the vehicle's central control system and cracking the electronic lock.

Just as the car door was about to unlock, a police officer in an NCPD uniform quickly stepped forward, raised his hand to stop her, and spoke in a curt tone as if conducting a routine check.

"ncpd check, your personal information is now open."

"Yes, officer."

Jin Yan's voice carried the unease and anxiety of an ordinary resident encountering an NCPD checkpoint.

In an instant, a faint, fleeting red light flashed in her eyes. It was the silent release of ultimate hacking power. Without any fancy operations, she precisely invaded the neuroprosthetic and synaptic interface of the police officer's brain through direct eye contact.

Click.

The car door opened, and Jin Yan got in. She then added a hacking program to the vehicle to accelerate at full speed. The car engine then emitted a deep roar, and the tires screeched against the ground, leaving shallow marks. The car quickly drove away from the street corner and disappeared into the intricate network of streets and alleys.

The officer who was questioning him stood there blankly for a long time before a gust of wind blew him down.

When passersby went to check, the police officer had already been electrocuted and died.

In the speeding car, Jin Yan glanced at the gradually blurring street corner behind her through the rearview mirror, expressionlessly adjusted the bionic mask, changed into a completely new face, and steadily gripped the steering wheel, driving deeper into the shadows of Night City.

She pulled out an old-fashioned military-grade encrypted phone and dialed a number.

"Many people are looking for me, so I can't go to remote places."

"I don't know who killed him, please arrange a new safe house for me."

"No, the internet surveillance personnel have been sending out fake documents to confuse the public. There's no way I can contact the person I'm in contact with!"

From this point onward, Kim Yeon's tone lost its composure and became tinged with resentment.

"Impossible. All the companies in Night City are watching the airport. There's no way I could get there safely."

"Okay, I understand. I will remain silent and wait for backup."

……

Inside a suite at the Glamour Tower.

Kangtao President Lin Xiaohan is personally arranging the bird-catching plan.

"We kept an eye on the person who was supposed to meet Zhu Yi, but that person immediately went brain dead. There were no external injuries, as if he had just fallen asleep and died. We were afraid of alerting him, so we didn't examine the body."

A group of people are operating portable high-performance computers in a suite.

Lin Xiaohan's expression remained unchanged.

"Is there a problem with the Gum Pik Building?"

"No, our hackers have already been monitoring the hackers in the Glamour Building. Their every move is under our surveillance."

"Alright, Zhu Er is trapped in Night City. Continue tracking down anyone connected to her. The people who were supposed to be there to meet her have definitely discovered your surveillance, so be extra careful!"

"yes!"

"How are the action team's preparations going?"

"We brought in three Panlong teams as cybersecurity personnel under the pretext of visiting the science park."

"Alright, let them lie low and be ready to carry out the bird-catching plan at any time. I will attend tomorrow's event as scheduled, and the cooperation with Lucius Lane should continue steadily!"

"yes!"

……

In an old residential building in the Kabuki district, Kim Yeon, who had just started a new disguise, lay down on a broken mattress at the bottom of the stairs, a place filled with garbage, a place only drug addicts would sleep in.

At this moment, Jin Yan was dressed in tattered, smelly clothes, her face was emaciated, and her eyes were unfocused. She threw several empty sparkling cans around the mattress, and then convulsed on the mattress.

Passersby only glance at them with disgust, knowing that these addicts might suddenly go crazy and scratch you with their virus-laden hands.

No one would notice that this person was the elite agent codenamed Zhu Ai, a rare bird who came to Night City with a secret that even he could not bear.

beep!

[Coordinates have been delivered. Teams from various companies will encounter each other at the fake locations. Please remain silent and wait for backup. Zhu Er, you are about to return home.]

As Jin Yan read the message, a mocking smile crept onto her lips.

"Home? Hmph!"